City of Heroes Interview, Part One
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Q: What about powers, weaknesses, archenemies, etc. Were there any particular inspirations that went into those?
Jack: The way that I designed powers was that I made a list of heroes that I had created as a youth, and other heroes that I recognized from various forms of literature, then made a list of things that they did. Once I had a list of 100 of the most easily remembered things, then I made sure everybody's powers were well represented. When it came time for the villains, basically we generated really good storylines first. We never designed a villain with certain powers and then worked backwards by created a background for them. Everything is from the storyline view first and foremost. Then their powers and A.I. all stretch from that because we wanted to make our game story driven.
Brian: These guys have gone well beyond the call of duty to stay true to the genre. While most other MMOG's give you items to determine what your character is at that given point, we actually give players powers that they can use throughout the entire game. The very first power that you select can be one that you'll be using at level 40 or 50. Powers and costumes are the kinds of things that define a superhero and those are things that were true to the genre and used throughout the game.
