Winter
Jinx sat down (virtually speaking) with Dark
Watcher, developer and CoX senior programmer after
the Feb. 14, 2008 in-game wedding of Sister Psyche and Manticore on the Training Room server. She asked for his thoughts and opinions on everything
from recent and planned updates to whether developers secretly join Supergroups or if they have a drinking game for frequent player
demands.
What follows is the transcript of the live, on-air Q&A from Feb. 14, 2008.
WJ: We know,
obviously, that you're a dev. But we weren't sure exactly what your job title
is. Could you tell us more about yourself, and your job? What is it you do?
DW: My official title
is "Senior Programmer." But,
basically, I'm a jack-of-all-trades type. If Positron wants help with the program, I help him; if Jay needs help
coding costumes, I help him; I do a lot of the content for the special events
like Halloween and Valentine's.
WJ: We're always
curious about how much devs play - I assume you do,
though. Do you play the game often?
DW: Oh, I definitely
do. Several times a week, or as often as I can. I like to play incognito a lot. It's
interesting to see what people think of the game from the perspective of
another player. We have nights here at work sometimes where we just hang out
and enjoy the game.
WJ: Everyone has one,
so what's your favorite Archetype or power set?
DW: Well, to solo, it
has to be a Mastermind. But, I also like
Blasters, Empaths for teaming... Bubblers are good if
you know what you're doing. I think all of the ATs have a lot to offer, but I
admit I like to try them all.
WJ: We've seen the introduction
of bases, which obviously use the same layout and wall set ups as the missions. Is there going to be player-run event support in the
future? Like player-created missions?
DW: I can't really
comment on what they're planning at this point, but I can tell you we do
support the RP community. I'm not sure anyone's brought up player made missions
or anything; I've never really thought about it.
WJ: What's this
"Moon Zone?” Is that just a rumor or a hint of the future coming out?
DW: I think it's a
little of both. I mean, obviously it smacks of a joke, but I think there's some
serious consideration and ideas behind it. I can't promise anything, obviously,
but it's an idea.
WJ: How do Back Alley
Brawler and Castle enjoy their celebrity as forum red-names?
DW: They both enjoy the
community very much. I think we all do. I mean, there are moments when things
are less fun and a little more stressful, but CoX offers so much in terms of community and the feedback the players give us.
WJ: We have all sorts
of gaming styles on different servers, but The Cape
Radio hails from Virtue, the unofficial RP server. How important, in your
opinion, is roleplaying to the game?
DW: I'm a bit of a rolplayer and I do think it's very important to the game.
There are people who really enjoy number crunching, PVP, stat grinding, but I
think that as far as the community goes, rolplaying adds a great deal.
WJ: Are there going
to be retroactive updates? The new content and stuff that's coming out is
great, but are there going to be updates to fix issues from past updates?
DW: Definitely, but I'm
not sure what all is on the schedule. We're always working to improve things,
like the new radio content, the upgrades to Faultline,
the Rikti War Zone, and constant new costuming
pieces.
WJ: Do the devs have a drinking game every time they're asked to raise
the level cap or make Instant Healing a toggle again?
DW: Oh, god, if we had
a game like that, we'd never get any work done! We'd be drunk all the time!
WJ: Is there a time
line for updates? Like i10 came out,
then three months later, we had i11. Is
that how it's going to be?
DW: No comment on that,
really. We tend to put out Issues once they're ready, tested, and good to go,
so it's very hard to say when it'll come out.
WJ: There's been a
lot of hulabaloo about villain epics, epic equality
and the irritation over having to choose a patron and being unable to respec it. Are the devs considering changes to the epic AT's for villains, as well?
DW: We haven't gone into
that much, though we notice the complaints. We've tossed around ideas, but
nothing we really like has come up.
WJ: We at The Cape run some biggish events – a few hundred people
sometimes – and we tend to think it's just nuts for us. How crazy do your big
events get?
DW: Very crazy. This event, we had 12 staff members around to
help, and we were all really busy.
WJ: Okay, I have to
ask. We saw a random 'admin message' of some of Manticore's speech to Psyche. Did Manticore really MT his vows?
DW: *laughter* Yes.
Even we do it.
WJ: I find that oddly
comforting.
WJ: I think I read
something about this in an article, but please set me straight. Are Manticore and Sister Psyche a real life couple?
DW: Yes. They've been married for almost a year.
WJ: How do you think
i11 went? With i9 we had a new economy system, and i10 brought a lot of
changes, but i11 was a dramatic change with a new zone and system for missions.
DW: Well. It gave
people a chance to go back and do things they missed. With a lot of players
calling for a way to do old content, the Flashbacks were really the answer.
WJ: How interested to dev's get in the social aspect?
DW: They like to make
sure the players feel support so they enjoy the game. So, they're pretty
interested in the social aspect.
WJ: Do the devs join SG's secretly?
DW: *laugh* Yes!
WJ: Look out folks!
You might have a secret dev in your midst!
WJ: Bases have gone
pretty untouched for a while, though there was talk during i8 of maybe seeing
new place-able items like household stuff or danger room type things. Are there
going to be new base items and is there a time table for their implementation?
DW: There's been talk,
but nothing definite, and there isn't really a time table. I do know that
Positron's interested in doing more with them, but most of our focus has been
on content lately, with Flashbacks and the changes to Hami and the Rikti War Zone.
WJ: The Base Raid
feature – is there going to be a way to turn that off? It would help the
smaller bases a lot and we'd be interested in a way to eliminate some of the clunkiness of “cannot reach entrance” messages and
overlarge item footprints.
DW: We'd like to look
into that, yeah, but again, we don't have a timetable on base changes right
now.
WJ: Why was the
Wedding Pack an add-on that cost money? What sets Good and Evil and the Wedding Pack apart from just normal costume upgrades like the
new hairstyles?
DW: We wanted to
develop it for the people who were truly interested in it, and leave it as an
optional thing that people could have instead of just making it a normal add-on.
WJ: With the changes
to the Real money traders, what other plans do you have to stop them?
DW: Most of that is a
matter for our business department. As far as in game goes, it's a cat 'n' mouse
game, unfortunately. We instate
something to stop them, and they find a way to keep bothering people.
Hopefully, they just get the message and leave. We're doing the best we can to stop them.
WJ: We're seeing new
emotes all the time. Are there going to be interactive emotes like hand
holding, hugging, etcetera?
DW: That's very tricky
to code and currently not in the plans. There's just too much to figure in,
like the fact that you can't really have someone going up hugging people and
giving them no choice to refuse it, the effects on player footprints, those sorts of things.
WJ: Why do we have
collision footprints around players? It tends to make it difficult to move
sometimes, and people can crowd you out of things.
DW: It's to make the
game as realistic as possible. Theoretically, a line of tanks could literally
hold back a wall of people. Other games have the ability to just run through
each other, and CoX is just more realistic in that
way.
WJ: With the drop of
the war walls and seasonal events, are there going to be varying weather
patterns?
DW: Probably not. It's
a lot of work to design and program and it doesn't really add anything to the
game aside from some minor dramatics.
WJ: What about the
anniversary badges? One of our listeners is curious if we'll be able to go back
and get those somehow.
DW: Well, there were
the candy canes this year, and using them to buy the holiday badges you'd
missed.
WJ: I think they
meant the yearly “reveler” and such badges.
DW: Oh, no, those are
specifically for old timers, a sort of badge of honor at having been around
that long.
WJ: Are there going
to be upgrades to the zones that have Wentworth's in them due to lag and such?
DW: I wasn't aware
there was a problem?
WJ: Like in Talos, if you even get remotely close to the Wentworth's
building, the game tends to get slower for a lot of people.
DW: I don't think
that's a server issue, I think that may be a band-width issue. Definitely not on our end. I'd recommend people look into
upgrades if they're having problems with that.
WJ: Do you have any
special, favorite pet projects?
DW: I'd like to see
content developed specifically for the five origins. Aside from the initial
determination of what “starting string” you get heroside and the various ways you get enhancements, there isn't much, and I'd like to do
more with that.
WJ: Would you say the
European servers receive the same attention as the US servers?
DW: Yes and no. We try to pay as much attention to them as
possible. It's difficult to judge whether we do keep as much interest there,
but we do try not to favor one over the other.
WJ: Here's a question
from a listener – The Auto-Doc provides for low greens and blues with the 1st
tier SG Badge, but the 2nd tier doesn't seem to make any kind of
improvement. Are there plans to, maybe,
make that step?
DW: I don't have any
information on that, but again, I know Positron has said he's really interested
in working on bases more.
WJ: Another listener asks: In Safeguards, if you target a
civilian, you can fire off your spell, going through the animation, and
employing the timer, but it doesn't do any damage. Is that going to be fixed?
DW: As far as I'm
aware, no, it's working as intended. I think that's an issue of game flavor,
and was meant to be that way. I'm not sure we ever really saw it as a
detriment; most people were happy to be able to shoot the running civilians.
*laugh*
WJ: Thank you so much
for the Valentine's Event and thank you for talking with us – just one more
question. How often do you listen to The
Cape?
DW: As often as I
can. I love it!
WJ: Thank you again
to Dark Watcher and the great developer team for CoX for having us! And remember, you're not super until you put on The Cape!
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