About the Hero Games

[Archived Post]

The following is series of Dev Diaries on the Hero Games.
These articles were written by the PvP designer "Lucid" and myself a while back.
Instead of posting links I thought I would grief you with a wall of text. ;)

I will add some more info about the Hero Games and add a FAQ section.

Is there anything else you want to know????

[Archived Post]

The Hero Games is the Player vs. Player system that includes a series of events or locations our players can participate in to earn fame and rewards. The Hero Games are comprised of team-based arena style instances, free-for-all open brawls and team scenario events. Heroes will compete against the greatest of all foes, the heroes and champions of their world.

Bringing PvP to a game of heroes.
One of the challenges of bringing PvP to Champions Online was figuring out how PvP fits into a game where players would not be playing a villain. The Question; Why would heroes fight each other? The answer was actually easier than we first thought. The Champions RPG had always had a Tournament of Champions. Why wouldn't we include that experience into our game? It was decided to add the Tournament of Champions as a reason for heroes to battle each other.

When we looked at the background of the Tournament of Champions we recognized that it was great as an event more so than a complete system. It needed to be spiced up a bit and modernized, but the game was a good start. What it became was the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, or UTC. Once the team decided that the UTC was going to be a game type we immediately started thinking about the other game types we could bring to Champions Online. Lucky for us, or you, the PvP team is comprised of some of the biggest PvPer's in the company (*cough*gankers*cough*.) It took less than a few seconds for a ton of great ideas to flood our little conference room. We all agreed that we would like to have a little PvP for each type of player, (the aforementioned gankers included,) something small and contained, something with objectives, a place for an all-out rumble and the always popular impossible scenario. This was the beginning of the game types within the Hero Games. The UTC, B.A.S.H. and Apocalypse games.

The UTC
You can think of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions as a highly-publicized and grand combat event much like the gladiatorial games of times lost or the more modern wrestling troupe’s that spotlight the fan favorites and create a drama of combat and circumstance. The UTC is the event the citizens of Millennium tune into to see their favorite heroes battle it out in true dramatic arena style.

Players are randomly paired in 2 teams of 5. The arenas are generally small and intimate. Each team begins in their locker room and are given a short period of time to prepare a strategy. Once the game begins the players can leave the locker room and head in to the main arena. When a hero is defeated in the arena they are sent back to their locker room. It is up to them to decide if they want to jump right back in or wait for the team. The goal of each UTC match is to win by defeating members of the other team. There are no time limits in the UTC. The first team to get the required number of defeats will win the match. Not all arenas share the same defeat totals. The number increase as players go up in tier. At the end of the match a scoreboard is displayed and everyone can see how they did compared to the other heroes. The scoreboard will also show the rewards that the other heroes received for their participating in the match (more on that later.)

B.A.S.H.
Early in development we were all aware that players do not want to fight in an arena all the time. Some of the members of the team are really big fans of FFAPvP. Short of making some crazy PvP versions of our regular PvE zones we would not be able to give them what they wanted. The next best thing was a place for solo players to play in a style that felt like a free-for-all game. The BASH is an outdoor zone where heroes fight in large numbers against one another. The BASH allows players to fight in a way that is closer to villainy than heroics. It is because if this that it is not officially sanctioned by the Hero Games and furthermore not approved. Participants are free to gang up on players, steal defeats (kill steal), lie, cheat, and smash their way to victory. In the end the game is all about the last one standing. The game supports 20 players at a time. Participants scramble to earn the most player defeats in the fastest time possible. The first player in the map to earn the required number of player defeats is the winner.

Apocalypse
One of the first test maps we put together, even before the UTC and BASH, was an apocalypse scenario event that turned players into < CENSORED> every time they were bitten by these huge < CENSORED>. The other members of the team would have to choose between their teammate or... I think I saw a post about this recently...

Okay, enough of that... What we did know by then end of that was, it was awesome! It was easy for us to imagine all the things we could do with player vs. player combat and scenarios. What we eventually arrived at was a series of scenarios that would put the Hero in unimaginable situations. The Stronghold Apocalypse pits Heroes against one another on opposite sides of a prison breakout. Players get to battle alongside well known Signature Heroes and Villains in an attempt to subdue the other side. Apocalypse Games will have various game play mechanics like reinforcements, control points and triggered events. The Apocalypse represents more than the end and be all, it is the beginning of what the Hero Games will allow players to do.

[Archived Post]

There's a lot that goes to making a Player-versus-Player system and a lot of different people who contribute to it, but I'm lucky enough to be point man for the whole shebang. We call it the "Hero Games" (a nod to Champions' tabletop roots) and let me tell you, it's fun. Because Champions has no set classes, you're free to mix and match powers to create the ideal build. Character creation almost has a deck-building feel as you try to exploit built-in synergies between powers.

Because of this, our playtests have given us the same feedback more than once: in terms of maps, simple is good. This breaks my game designer's heart, because I'd love to add all kinds of bells and whistles to the maps, but the truth is that there's already a lot going on in PvP. In a five-on-five match, you have your own powers and endurance to manage, plus four teammates, five enemies, half a dozen pets, and all kinds of special power effects. Combat happens quickly enough that you need to pay attention to stay on top of the situation. Since each player is essentially a custom class, you'll need to learn about your enemies by observing them in action, and keep in mind that they could have one or two powers they've been keeping in reserve. You don't have a lot of time to take in the scenery.

Of course, a series of featureless square rooms wouldn't quite cut the mustard (and our environment artists have too much self-respect for that!). But from a designer's perspective, there's an even stronger reason to have map variety, especially in a game type where players are trying hard to optimize their power builds. Different powers have different preferred environments, and that goes doubly for movement powers. Melee heroes and heroes with strong AOEs, like enclosed spaces. While ranged heroes and heroes with pets like to have plenty of room to hit-and-run. Fliers like open skies, while super-speeders enjoy long, flat stretches. Strong heroes are more effective when there are lots of heavy objects around to pick up and hurl at their opponents. So, the design goal for the PvP maps is "straightforward, but different." PvP maps shouldn't be distracted from the actual PvP, but they should be different spaces so that every build has a chance to shine.

The first game type is the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, team maps where the objective is to get a certain number of kills before the other team. UTC fights are "pure" team PvP --if you lose, you've nobody to blame but yourself (and your teammates). UTC matches require the same skills as boss fights: teamwork and coordination. This means teamwork while playing, but it also means teamwork in choosing your powers and roles before the fight starts (and being able to switch roles mid-fight to adapt your strategy!). These are also the maps that we look to for power balancing (something the powers team is working on as I write this).

The first UTC map that players encounter is the Cage Match. A big, open ring enclosed by a cage is surrounded by cheering crowds behind double-reinforced windows. Fights often gravitate to the ring, where there's enough room for a Battle Royale--but don't feel confined to it! You can often ambush enemy players outside the ring where their teammates can't reach them quickly. In true wrestling fashion, folding chairs outside the ring can make dangerous weapons. Keeping your team together is important here, but so is patrolling for boosts in the tight spaces outside the ring.

Did I forget to mention boosts? Movement is a big aspect of Champions in general. You can activate most powers while moving, and it's often possible to catch more than one enemy with an attack if you position yourself correctly. Boosts are another way we incentivize movement in PvP. Fictionally, they represent a brief tactical advantage--the sort of advantage you'd get from outmaneuvering a stationary opponent, or from giving 110%. In game play, they grant a short buff or a quick health recharge, and encourage players to stay on the move to pick them up as they spawn around the arena. Teams that clump together in one spot will leave most of the boosts to their opponents, who can use them to turn the tide of battle.

In the Training Room map, platforms connected by catwalks stretch overhead in a wide open room. The platforms above have a number of heavy crates on them, so holding the high ground gives a powerful advantage, especially for heroes strong enough to lift the heaviest objects. Flying heroes need to watch out for thrown missiles! Jumpers really come into their own here, because they can quickly switch between the multiple levels of the map. However, the platforms can be very exposed, so underdogs may have more luck sticking to the cover offered by walls on the bottom of the arena, or ducking for cover under ramps until their teammates can help them out.

It's worth mentioning that the Training Room was one of our first PvP maps, and it used to be a little on the bland side. At some point, one of Cryptic's environment artists was let loose on it. It still looks like a reinforced superhero team's danger room, but now it also looks awesome.

The last PvP map, the Lava Temple, is a current favorite here at Cryptic, from which I can only conclude that Cryptic is full of sadists, because, the ground is covered in lava. Not all of the ground, but enough that you need to be careful where you step. Knockback can be a powerful ability most of the time, but it's downright deadly here. Roots can be surprisingly nasty, as well. To top it off, teams are split up when they enter to make coordination especially difficult. This map is introduced at a higher level than the others because it's complex and dangerous; players should be comfortable with their powers and with working as part of a team, because the Lava Temple will test both to the limit.

Sometimes, though, all of this organized team fighting is too constrained, and superhero battles royal make perfect sense in the Champions universe. In the Hero Games lineup, they're called B.A.S.H.: Battle Arena Super Heroes. The strategy in free-for-all games is more about choosing whom to engage when, so it's important to give players lots of space to choose their fights. Fliers in particular enjoy the fact that this map is outside, so the sky's the limit for their vertical movement! We do paint the other players on your mini-map, so there's never trouble finding somebody to fight if you're so inclined. Our free-for-all map is pulled right from Millennium City's seedy Westside district; the battle takes place in the streets, across the rooftops of condemned buildings, and inside a construction site. It's classic four-color superhero stuff.

There's one more map that's cool enough to merit its own Dev Diary (stay tuned!). But if you've been following these Dev Diaries, you've no doubt heard somebody mention that the best part of an MMO is that you get to keep adding new content. It's especially exciting to those of us on the dev team, because these maps aren't the limit of Hero Games, they're the starting point--it only gets cooler from here. What comes next? Underwater maps? King of the Hill? Multi-team fights? Organized tournament play? The real decision-makers are going to be the players on the Champions forums.

[Archived Post]

All UTC and BASH maps are variations on the same gameplay. You need to learn to work as a team to overcome an opposing team. The maps provide different environments--they look different and they encourage slightly different play styles and power builds, but 90% of the game is still your build and how you play it.

Apocalypse maps are different. Each Apocalypse map is designed to train heroes for a doomsday scenario. Each Apocalypse map is unique and has unique gameplay built in. Winning has as much to do with learning to play the map as it does with your build. They can also reward different skills than straight PvP: being able to get around a map quickly is handy in a B.A.S.H. game, but indispensible in some Apocalypse maps.

Champions is launching with one Apocalypse map, Stronghold Prison, although I can tell you that we've already started work on the next one. Each Apocalypse map will be a whole new beast, with different objectives and mechanics. We've probably spent twice as much time playtesting Stronghold than all our other PvP maps combined--not because we were skimping on our other maps, but because Stronghold has that many more moving parts. We needed to test not just the map layout, but the mechanics of it.

Early in the PvE game, players will come across Stronghold Prison, the U.S.'s ultra-secure prison for supervillains. How do you imprison a villain who can walk through walls, or teleport away? How do you contain someone who's strong enough to tear through steel like tissue paper? You put them in Stronghold. Of course, that means you've locked up all of the most dangerous villains in the same place. A mass breakout at Stronghold would be a nightmare.

Not to give anything away, but players may need to deal with some sort of trouble at Stronghold in the PvE game (hint: there's a breakout). Because of this, Hero Games develops Apocalypse: Stronghold, to prepare heroes in case of another escape. In the Hero Games exercise, the prisoners have escaped the lower levels, but a few members of the Champions have arrived in time to stop the prisoners from escaping. The supervillain prisoners want to fight their way out, while the heroes need to defeat the prisoners leading the riot so that the guards can restore order. For the sake of the training exercise, player heroes fight on both sides. Five heroes play the parts of super-powered prisoners, while five other heroes try to stop them. The twist is that you'll spend most of the map fighting alongside friendly NPCs, and fighting against enemy NPCs almost as much as against enemy players.

The specifics of which NPCs and how they fight has undergone quite a bit of revision. The first version of this map was filled with waves of weak NPCs, all running from one side of the map to the other. Simple playtesting on this map showed us that we were on to something, because it was a lot of fun. However, there was a lot of work to do before the map was ready for prime time. We spent many lunchtime playtests testing the NPC balance--how many, how often, how strong. The map layout changed at least three times (my apologies to the artists!). We added a spoiler mechanic where controlling the map let one team or the other summon extra-powerful reinforcements in addition to their normal NPC cohorts. We created a custom UI for the game. We experimented with neutral NPCs, ending conditions, and with having the teams take turns on offense and defense.

A lot of these features got changed or cut because they weren't working for Stronghold, but that doesn't mean they're bad ideas. Having lots of NPCs, for instance, created some very fun chaos, with powers flying everywhere. It felt fun, but there wasn't much strategy to it. Removing the swarms made the map feel cleaner and made it easier for players to pay attention to the important things, like switches changing hands and enemy players. Instead, the swarming NPCs are making their way onto PvE maps, where we have a little more control over the difficulty (there's no danger of a player-controlled villain swooping in!).

In the end, we reduced the hordes of NPCs to two groups: some stationary NPCs to slow down enemy players, and extra-powerful reinforcements that can be summoned from time to time to attack the opposing team's base. The reinforcements are actually NPC heroes and villains (well, very lifelike robotic imitations), because it's just cool to be fighting alongside Justiciar (or Talisman!). We added control switches to the map, and made the reinforcements only arrive when summoned, so that players would have secondary objectives to achieve; it's not just about having lots of DPS, but about being in the right place at the right time and being able to split up your team efficiently.

[Archived Post]

Thanks for the information, it will definitely be a good resource for people just starting.

Would be ideal to sticky and lock this in my opinion.

[Archived Post]

Yeah thanks for that, I'm very much looking forward to any PvP you can give us. :cool:

[Archived Post]

interesting read,

does this mean the uber-explosive "Volatiles" crate on top of High Tech actually is liftable? Hmmm..

[Archived Post]

Great info. I'm glad its just the begginning. The more pvp options the better. I am having a blast so far with just the steel cage match and cant wait to try the others.

Though I do hope some day you make a huge PvP zone, like all of millennium city as a battle ground for as many hero's you can fit. Some of my best pvp experiances ever were in ****'s new frontiers... maybe you guys could capture that open feeling and make it even better, champions style, basicly a super brawl zone with group vs group combat. 3 team scenarios would also be fun :)

But you're on the right track. Keep up the awesome work, and don't forget to jump in and fight us all.

[Archived Post]

I have been having a good time with the UTC matches.

The key to winning is for the TEAM to focus fire on one person at a time. If you see one, or two, or three of your team mates fighting someone, drop what you are doing and go and help them make the kill.

There are ways to defeat anything (so-far) and nobody is un-killable.. Especially when the team focuses on the one.

[Archived Post]

The following is series of Dev Diaries on the Hero Games.
These articles were written by the PvP designer "Lucid" and myself a while back.
Instead of posting links I thought I would grief you with a wall of text. ;)

I will add some more info about the Hero Games and add a FAQ section.

Is there anything else you want to know????

Would be great as a sticky ! :)

[Archived Post]

Yay! This made me happy. I enjoyed the read. I already know about the PvP, but it is nifty to read about it from the Dev perspective. I have played some casual PvP garbage in other MMO games, but never enjoyed them (except for rare funny events).

CO however, has made me love PvP. Yeah I get taken out quite often by FotM people until I figure how to counter or avoid them. but it is still a blast.

Good job !