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Champions Online Returning to Cryptic Studios in Los Gatos, California
trailturtle
Posts: 2,291 Perfect World Employee
Re-posting from the blog:
--
Greetings, Champions!
My name is Randy Mosiondz, a Senior Game Designer at Cryptic Studios. I have some exciting news: Champions Online is returning to its original development studio in Los Gatos, California, and Ill be heading up the game design team!
Id like to thank the team at Cryptic North for their excellent work on Champions while it was in our Seattle office, especially Tom Atkinson-Edwards, Russell Williams, and Raymond Wood. Theyve added some memorable moments to the game, including the Fatal Err0r and Steel Crusade story arcs. Theyll still be helping us out in part with planning of new content.
Im bringing to the development team over 10 years of development experience at Cryptic Studios. I was a Mission Designer on City of Heroes, the original Lead Designer of Champions Online at launch, and most recently Content Lead and Loremaster of the popular Neverwinter game (now available on both PC and Xbox One!)
I and the other developers here at Cryptic Studios are looking forward to creating great new things. Weve already started work on some new costumes including the Variable Robot set and Steel Arachnid set from the earlier fan-submitted costume contest, and planning new content updates.
Stay tuned for more details! As we continue development on Champions, well be sure to let you know whats going on.
-- Randy Arkayne Mosiondz
--
Greetings, Champions!
My name is Randy Mosiondz, a Senior Game Designer at Cryptic Studios. I have some exciting news: Champions Online is returning to its original development studio in Los Gatos, California, and Ill be heading up the game design team!
Id like to thank the team at Cryptic North for their excellent work on Champions while it was in our Seattle office, especially Tom Atkinson-Edwards, Russell Williams, and Raymond Wood. Theyve added some memorable moments to the game, including the Fatal Err0r and Steel Crusade story arcs. Theyll still be helping us out in part with planning of new content.
Im bringing to the development team over 10 years of development experience at Cryptic Studios. I was a Mission Designer on City of Heroes, the original Lead Designer of Champions Online at launch, and most recently Content Lead and Loremaster of the popular Neverwinter game (now available on both PC and Xbox One!)
I and the other developers here at Cryptic Studios are looking forward to creating great new things. Weve already started work on some new costumes including the Variable Robot set and Steel Arachnid set from the earlier fan-submitted costume contest, and planning new content updates.
Stay tuned for more details! As we continue development on Champions, well be sure to let you know whats going on.
-- Randy Arkayne Mosiondz
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
-Just to clarify to avoid any heart attacks, Raymond/RadioScience and Tom/LordGar are still working at Cryptic. They're helping Neverwinter as utility infielders, pitching in on projects that need help.
-I'm still in my same role, combining being the Face and consulting with the devs on sales, reports, community concerns, etc. I'll still be the most active presence on the forums, though you may see some new faces popping up on the forums occasionally. The devs are mostly going to be focused on dev work, much like Cryptic North was.
-Bonus note: The pic in the blog is Randy's live character, for those who are curious.
On a side note....the AF that was meant for Extra-Life back in Dec, is that being lost forever?
No, it's still on the list -- I brought it up with the new devs. Meatiator is also still at Cryptic. It might be another while before it's made, but I'm not forgetting it.
Come to think of it... Maybe that'd be a good training exercise for whoever's going to make future AFs. "Here, get trained up, and make this thing while you're at it." :biggrin: I'll bring it up.
I think AF are a missed opportunity for outreach. I don't know how long it takes to produce an AF (i wouldn't think too long) But we could have all the old Devs as AF. Honor Kaiserin and Biff with moderating the forum and make one of them. Contest for in game players to be a AF...I think it would be a cool thing to bring attention to.
Member of Paragon Dawn: Because some people like friendly helpful communities.
Yeah some things are broken... no I don't use/abuse them.. where would be the fun in that?
http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=272361
So much for the time spent getting the Cryptic North team up to speed to where they could actually do things without breaking other things.
Maybe this will be a good thing in the long run; having someone in charge who knows what the game was supposed to be like can't hurt, at least. And Mission Design as a specialty is defintely something CO needs. Maybe we'll see the UNTIL space station put to more use. Maybe he'll be able to un-do some of the damage from On Alert. Maybe we'll get another bug-sqaush session; that'd be nice. Doubly so if they address some of the costume issues that have crept in - the missing color on the victorian dress, missing materials on arcane tattoos, missing glow channels on psionic dragon pieces with holo materials, missing cyberpunk and superconductor chest pieces for females...
...But I bought my subscription on the promise that we were getting our own dev team at Cryptic North, one that wouldn't be poached for other games, that was dedicated just to making CO a better place. Taking that away... does not make me feel good about the game's future. (Nor does it make me feel good about the future of Cryptic North, for that matter; I hope everything works out alright for the people working there.)
and it's becasue they broke that promise that I'm not going to spend another penny on CO until they actually show some progress and development in it [and no, lockbox does not count as new stuff]
Member of Paragon Dawn: Because some people like friendly helpful communities.
Yeah some things are broken... no I don't use/abuse them.. where would be the fun in that?
We didn't see any QoL changes (character select, bag sort buttons, costumes limits based on level) until CryptNorth. We didn't see any new costumes worth mentioning. We didn't see the high-quality lockbox costumes.
All we saw were the laundry list of known bugs going unaddressed, no new content aside from one Rampage and one Alert. Nothing but new lockboxes and vehicles as a money-milk.
So no, this is not good news. This is things going back to the status quo of Cryptic ignoring CO in favor of their cash cow games, and using CO as a training ground for devs to get familiar with the code before they are poached for other, more popular internally, projects.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
CNorth is good, trust me on that one.
it kills me that, whenever this company tries to do something in the hopes of improvement, if it doesn't go EXACTLY the way a bunch of game elitists want, all it is, is ******** and insulting the company.
regardless of good or bad, all i've seen in the last 3 years is a company trying to maintain and improve this game. we've had additional power sets, new missions, new and updated rampages, cool costumes (which like it or not IS A PART OF A SUPER HERO GAME why do you think CO has the best character creation?!?!), and even mini events (hello Foxbatcon).
you know why other mmo's get major updates/expansions?? THEIR PLAYERS ACTUALLY PAY MONEY.
complaining about "cash cow" on a F2P is just ignorant. the majority of CO players want all these updates, fixes, and content and not want to pay a dime for it. yeah, thats totally how a business is run
to be perfectly blunt, i hope that most of you who just want to complain and act like you're somehow entitled to free upgrades just uninstall.
in the meantime, glad to see CO back at its home. glad to see an original dev back to heading the game, and carry on Cryptic. haters gonna hate.
I still want the cat 'action figure' that Star Trek Online has. Give us that!
Razira's Primus Database Page
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And thanks to Cryptic North for the work they did maintaining and improving the game. Best wishes in the future. If you do develop your own title, I will check it out.
I've forgotten -- are there other four-legged AFs in Champs? Did we ever make an AF of the hound from the Forum Malvanum, or things like that? If we've done that, a cat might not be too hard...
Who better to untangle the spaghetti than those who cooked the first batch?
#63 Demon Dog
People are broken. - Lum the Mad
Notice how many have that Vanguard tag?
People are broken. - Lum the Mad
Yeah, there are a few four-legged AFs, TT...
There's the Mechanon Spider, the Demon Dog, Baby Dino (not all fours, but I think it counts)...
Hrm. A cat AF would probably be a bit harder than most AFs we make, simply because most AFs are just down-sized versions of full-sized critters. Can someone find me a critter in the game that would look good as a kitten? No promises, but that would be way easier, and cats > anything else in the world.
(Why yes, I do have a cat in my household, how ever did you guess.)
Has the at least $1000 I've payed for CO over the last 5 Years not counted as paying money?
Hm, strange, as I've never paid that much money for any other game in my entire life.
I guess literally 16 times the price of a single retail "AAA title" isn't worth having some right to be disappointed in a game that's been slowly dying and having really poor development/management choices overall for nearly 5 years.
Not that I even complain much. Blanket statements, though.
Seriously though. How many times are we going to switch to a new group of people that have no idea what they're doing and have to start over from scratch learning the basics of the engine. Such as the pure RGB,B texture channeling system, and which things use what normal maps, etc..?
Did CN at least send over their wall of post-it notes on what they'd deciphered?
Snark never dies.
I don't think they'd waste a senior person on a game that they're going to toss in the gutter. Don't know why people are being so doom'n'gloom over this.
Is anyone really surprised that the new guys were put onto CO to cut their teeth on Cryptic's game system? How else were they supposed to learn stuff?
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
For a four legged action figure, you'll want to check out:
063 - Demon Dog (linked to the perk Mephistopheles)
Other non-humanoid (though not 4 legged) figures I'm aware of are Baby Raptor, Gadroon Observer, Mechanon Spider, Dr. Destroyer's Robot, Army Helicopter, Civilian Helicopter, Bleak Harbinger, and Submarine.
Sto has non-combat cat pets already, can't those just be adapted for CO?
Also, if we're getting a new dev team with new costumes and such, will we ever see a new powerset? Or are those still on "Never gonna happen" status?
I'm not surprised. People have been getting very "bitter" towards Cryptic North. I wouldn't be surprised if they asked to be transferred because they were fed up with the nonsense.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
^^ That. What he said.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
CN having their own takes, directions, and ideas also meant a bit of a security blanket from some of the more mindnumblingly horrible decisions that hit STO and NW(moreso NW). It's the main reason when someone would gripe about "lockboxes", "cash grabs", "bait and switch"(this one was especially stupid), "Pay 2 Win" and other such garbage I could have a giggle and just say,"This is the only Cryptic Game you play, right? This is 'Pay 2 Play Dressup.' Welcome to Champions Online," and be on my merry little way.
I will attempt, however, to keep an open mind about this but this announcement does not instill any consumer confidence in me as a paying player(before anyone flips that stupidity switch again). To me this basically translates into,"Your people got good at damage control. We'll take them."
So, to sum it up:
1. Currently Apprehensive and Unamused(Please feel free to prove me wrong with action).
2. GL to CN and to the new people. What do we call them? "New" Old Cryptic?
3. State Of The Game. :cool:
4. The way I see it CN raised the bar where as Old Cryptic made decisions that made me wonder if they had their meeting in the bar. What will the future hold?
5. State Of The Game...Pretty Please. :cool: :cool:
Join Date: Aug 2009 | Title: Devslayer
If so, then I am pretty excited about this.
oh god, this guy is responsible for the content in NW.
Hopefully, his great new things will not be gear grinds.
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This is not correct so...uhm...I guess you're not pretty excited? Sorry.
Honestly, I liked the systems like that in their more original STO form(The Reputation/Marks/Related STFs/Tiers) but...yeah...like many(and make no mistake there are many) things ported from Space to Dragonland...they got severely damaged in shipping.
Although, I would not be opposed to CO getting it's own systems like the STO ones(I am currently unfamiliar with Delta Rising so let's just say the ones up to Dyson) have. I was always hoping to see Gateway Station expanded into a Rep System with Tiers, AA(Alternate Advancement), Unlocks, Perks, Titles, AFs, and such and then call it "Champions Online Season 2: This SPACE Reserved for Snazzy Title"(Pun now intended) where we just pretend the entire game up until now was just "Season 1." Perhaps "New" Old Cryptic(NOC) could make this happen?
Yeah, I'd put the juggle emote they took from CO to give to the NW 1st Anniversary Participants over a cat AF(yes, even this is kinda low on the totem pole but it just kinda annoys me so I'm not letting it go anytime soon). :biggrin:
Join Date: Aug 2009 | Title: Devslayer
Hmm.. this is interesting. Although Mr Mosiondz has stated his credentials, he hasn't gone into detail about them, such as how much time did he spend with COH, CO and Neverwinter. This leaves many questions and an air of doubt. How long was he the lead designer of Champions Online? Why did he leave the Champions team for Neverwinter and why did he come back? Some will reply that I shouldn't worry about such things, but I see these things differently. Aside from COH (since it is closed) was the decision to move from Champions to Neverwinter a personal or corporate decision. If it was a personal decision, I will understand; sometimes things dont work out within a certain team environment and you have to know when to move on. If it was a corporate decision then I will have little faith that much will change within this game.
In my opinion, what we need is communication from the executive teams that Mr. Mosiondz is here for the long run, and that his position will not change unless he wants it to. It is not fair for Mr. Mosiondz to post about his arrival without executive supportive communication; this makes me think that he will only be here to create new content to quell the forum masses, then move on. Many posts before mine has refected this uncertainty.
I will admit, it is a nice change to have someone leading the team that knows about COH and CO. However, new costume sets are not convincing enough. How about getting the players involved; why not ask us what we want to see in new content, powers and quality of life services? Since a costume contest has yielded great results, I suggest the next step could be like the Player Studio that Everquest has; players can download software to make costumes and weapons to post on the website. If it is chosen, the costume goes straight to the store for purchase as a featured item, then it remains a permanent store offering. Not only will this generate money for the game, but it will also encourage a strong and creative player base, in my opinion.
So, I'd like to give Mr. Mosiondz a warm and hearty welcome; whether your stay is temporary or permanent, I hope you lead the team to create content that we will want to play over and over.:biggrin:
Well that proves it... a lot of you all will never be satisfied.
I look forward to what is coming in the future!
(BTW we had four legged mechanon spider pet thing, though that is not really the configuration of a cat TBH)
Just lower the price on everything to 10% of what it is now, give us private servers, user made content, turn the demo player into Final Cut Pro level editing freeware, add jiggle physics, pole dancing super powers and advertise on Steam as Champions Online: A-Go-Go ! Featuring a new Alert villain, The Jiggler! With a the full range of jiggle physics in every limb.
I'm really starting to wonder why Cryptic didn't put me in charge.
I'd shake things up around there. No bits would go unjiggled.
Super thanks to Cryptic North for their work.
Best of luck to Randy and his team, I'm curious what you are going to do this time around.
I can quite agree. I listed a bunch of things that I'd love to see in CO (or any MMO for that matter), including:
- More skirts/pants for the monster legs. Not all monsters walk around near naked
- More monster parts (like centaur or lamia). Doesn't have to have powers associated, just would look cool (and is not available on any current MMO). Heck, even a monster device'd be cool.
- some of the monster items converted to parts, ala the genie or ghost.
- comet-flight: a flight where you turn into a ball and fly in the air. Imagine snowball rolling in the air.
- New powersets: Water and sonic have been mentioned a lot in the forums.
- Multi-layered nemesis options: Different types of missions/arcs to choose from (or "Why the heck would a magic-user concentrate on a technological Death Ray?!")
To me, AFs are -very- low on the totem pole.
Example of Comet Flight: Here.
Getting the other costumes from the contest done isn't exactly the stuff that isn't already being worked on.
I say if this reassigned team headed by the original dev team leader finally finishes On Alert, including updating the power replacers and rare drops to the system as originally intended, it will be the best start. That was the defining point of CO's decline simply because it is still not finished.
Give us numbers Cryptic. The players want to know who consists of this team and what their first goals are.
Nevertheless, glad to see one of the original lead designers back on this title.
Though, the only specific thing I see mentioned in the article is more of what we have been getting a lot of lately which are updates focusing on the appearance of our heroes through costume sets, auras, etc. It would be nice to get an update, or at least bug fixes to the Hero Games which have not been touched in years. Here is a short list of some of the most pressing things that need to be addressed.
1. There is a glitch when after a Hero Game instance pops, that you get removed from the instance and even when you try to reenter, you continue to be removed from the instance. (This seems to happen in the Hero Game zones that automatically place you on a team: UTC lava temple, UTC high tech arena, UTC caged match, UTC king of the hill, Stronghold. BUT Bash and Zombie apocalypse seem to be uneffected.
Here is a video of this glitch in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WX721w9_JQ
2. The number of people needed to make a team Hero game instance pop needs to be revised. Needing 8 people (which is more than it used to be long ago) is just too much and causes the games to pop a lot less frequently. (Especially since almost all of the equipment incentive to queue was removed with the introduction of On-Alert. Why they took away incentive to queue while also increasing the minimum amount of people needed to make the queue pop is something I really do not know.) Paired with the glitch that kicks people from matches, usually, we end up with quite a few less then 8 people anyway. It should be possible to have a 2 vs 2 match in the team Hero game zones:UTC lava temple, UTC high tech arena, UTC caged match, UTC king of the hill, Stronghold. So the minimum for those to pop should be 4 people.
3. After a Zombie Apocalypse instance has started, you should have a 50% change of entering as a survivor or a zombie. At first all newcomers entered as a survivor, but that wasn't fair for someone having a hard time as a zombie. Now we have it that all new comers enter as a zombie, which could not be fair if the survivors are already being road-stomped. The logical fix would be to make newcomers have a equal chance of entering the zone as a zombie or as a survivor. Either that or maybe alternate the newcomers. For example, if the last newcomer that enter was a zombie, the next newcomer will be a survivor. To stop people from abusing this, there could be something that blocks a person from reentering a certain game after leaving it. If someone disconnects by accident they would be effected by this block too, but that usually shouldn't be a regular issue.
4. In the Hero Game Stronghold Prison, on the hero's side and the villain's there are turrets that attack you, disable travel powers etc. They are supposed to be attackable and destroyable, but there is a glitch that after a while, the turrets become "immune" and are no longer destroyable for the rest of the match.
5. On the flip side of #4, many people are able to bypass the obstacles (turrets, etc) in stronghold prison all together and go straight to their enemies base pretty quickly. Then, because our characters have gotten power boosts while the heroes/villains in stronghold have stayed the same, the matches can end pretty quickly especially if the teams don't have a healer. An update to buff the obstacles and villians/heroes would be great. Maybe even have the turrets cancel out the flight of ascension.
Those are a few things that would make the Hero Games better in and of themselves. I really do hope that the Hero Games do get some attention since like I have said, it has been literally years.
Time will tell I suppose.
Thank You For Your Time and Consideration.
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
Please...Just some regular ole' tights. I'm up to my eyeballs in armor :redface:
I'm assuming your one of them "haters", funny your Sig stands out..alot now, if I am correct
How many people are now working on CO? part time//fulltime
What happened to the rest of CN? since 2 have been transferred to spares on Nevermind.
all I see in that message is;
we no longer have CN and we have a person in charge who appears to be responsible for the grinds in NW.
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what of SG base's? and bug stomping.....land based vehicle ? or a travel power that's a motorcycle?
ooooh i hope good things come out of this
Hopefully, it will get CO out of its limbo existence and do more than just "chugging along".
Now off to read other posts and bring myself back to reality somewhat.