Polygon Article on City of Heroes and Interview with Widower

[gameboy1234]

On 11/17/2024 at 10:02 PM, BlackSpectre said:

More than anything, I think Homecoming needs more 3D digital artists to design special effects for powers, costumes, buildings, etc. Without a large team of designers, what you can do is severely limited and you're forced to use the same effects and items that you currently have.

 

Maybe you meant to imply this but I don't think HC is allowed to hire anyone.  The team is required to "not make money" from their CoX license.  They've said that "no one is allowed to make money" which means they're not allowed to pay staff, including artists.  Or that's what I gathered.  The entire effort is a volunteer one.  HC is allowed to collect money for server rental, but that's cheap and the money is going to a previous founded and fully separate company (their hosting provider).  I don't think any other disbursement of funds is allowed.

 

[BlackSpectre]

I’ve never read the contract homecoming has with NCsoft, so it’s kind of hard to say one way or another. Many Non-profits are allowed to hire and pay their people money. But Homecoming? I’d guess probably not but who knows? I do know that there are people that are “agents” or members designated officially as part of the organization. So in a way, they have employees but they’re volunteers. That said, I said nothing about hiring employees and compensating them with money. 
 

I guess I could be more specific to rule out different Interpretations and simply say “Homecoming needs more volunteer artists  More than anything els.”

[gameboy1234]

22 minutes ago, BlackSpectre said:

I guess I could be more specific to rule out different Interpretations and simply say “Homecoming needs more volunteer artists

 

That's kind where I thought you might be going, and I'd agree, but it also feels like a long shot.  Artists are famous for getting dumped on for not doing "real work" and not getting paid, many would be very cautious about this sort of volunteer work.

 

[BlackSpectre]

Yes, of course I agree.
 

You know now that I think about it… One place homecoming might be able to get some volunteer artists is by advertising with digital art schools to give students some work experience on using 3-D modeling and all the other art related stuff that the game needs. Many young artists are very talented. Maybe offer internships? 

[Lines]

5 hours ago, BlackSpectre said:

Yes, of course I agree.
 

You know now that I think about it… One place homecoming might be able to get some volunteer artists is by advertising with digital art schools to give students some work experience on using 3-D modeling and all the other art related stuff that the game needs. Many young artists are very talented. Maybe offer internships? 

 

Speaking from the art school perspective, CoH is an awesome game but it's also crazy old. 3D modelling has moved on a long way and the way you'd create assets for COH are quite unlike the way you'd create using current methods and software. Unless the student is aiming for a specific retro niche, COH models may not be a good use of time for building a portfolio.

 

But I would also discourage learners from working on anything for free. The attitude toward art and design students doing work for the sake of work experience is downright predatory at the moment. Not to say that Homecoming would behave this way, but it would compound the problem.

[BlackSpectre]

How would you go about getting volunteer artists for Homecoming? Is it hopeless?

[Seed22]

On 11/22/2024 at 2:14 PM, BlackSpectre said:

How would you go about getting volunteer artists for Homecoming? Is it hopeless?

I wouldn’t call it hopeless but it’s definitely an uphill battle. I wouldn’t recommend an artist join CoH since artist are already usually starved for funds. 
 

If there ever could be an actual budget for artist? Sure why not. Though you would be working on ancient modeling programs, so you wouldn’t gain any useful technical knowledge for modern games if that’s your goal. 
 

 

Biggest issue is the budget though I think. 

[BurtHutt]

I'm working under the premise that new art assets will be rare in this game. I know another server has done some innovative stuff with costume pieces (underarm wings!) but not here. not yet.

 

HC could make larger strides with innovation and new ideas. The content that has been added is not that great. A writer and mission designer would really be a good add.

 

I appreciate and the HC crew and am glad they're kind enough to volunteer and provide us with this game. It's still awesome 🙂

 

Boy, not on topic at all here! 😉

[Glacier Peak]

7 minutes ago, BurtHutt said:

I'm working under the premise that new art assets will be rare in this game. I know another server has done some innovative stuff with costume pieces (underarm wings!) but not here. not yet.

 

HC could make larger strides with innovation and new ideas. The content that has been added is not that great. A writer and mission designer would really be a good add.

 

I appreciate and the HC crew and am glad they're kind enough to volunteer and provide us with this game. It's still awesome 🙂

 

Boy, not on topic at all here! 😉

 

[Seed22]

1 hour ago, BurtHutt said:

I'm working under the premise that new art assets will be rare in this game. I know another server has done some innovative stuff with costume pieces (underarm wings!) but not here. not yet.

 

HC could make larger strides with innovation and new ideas. The content that has been added is not that great. A writer and mission designer would really be a good add.

 

I appreciate and the HC crew and am glad they're kind enough to volunteer and provide us with this game. It's still awesome 🙂

 

Boy, not on topic at all here! 😉

The fact you even got thumbed down shows the sycophantic and pathetic nature of some in the HC community. It’s an opinion, I know people are for some dumb reason scared of those these days but guess what? They’re not going anywhere. I find the content added to be average, story wise. The writing is fine imo, and some of the arcs have been interesting mechanically, but I always walk away just feeling…ok about it all. 
 

Decent addition, but nothing that’s “wow!” Worthy.

 

Don’t really care where they focus their resources, though I had my preferences back when I was more attentive to additions. I’m just going to play what I like, if I feel like it, and ignore the rest.

 

Back on topic, I’d love a dev response on the topic of material volunteer efforts(art assets, animation designs, etc). 

Edited November 25 by Seed22

[skoryy]

On 11/9/2024 at 11:54 AM, Glacier Peak said:

I see Marvel and D.C. getting billions of U.S. Dollars for the media franchise they built over the last twenty years and think how a superhero game with an established player base could have enjoyed continued relevance and financial success even off said coat-tails.

 

And I see DCUO and Champions in maintenance mode, Marvel Heroes Online closed 😔, and the only successful superhero games during the MCU era being the ones where you play Batman or Spider-Man.  The game market was just never there.

[tidge]

Players will always want more of whatever, but the following strikes me as both narrow and somewhat bitter:

 

12 hours ago, Seed22 said:

The fact you even got thumbed down shows the sycophantic and pathetic nature of some in the HC community. It’s an opinion, I know people are for some dumb reason scared of those these days but guess what? They’re not going anywhere. I find the content added to be average, story wise. The writing is fine imo, and some of the arcs have been interesting mechanically, but I always walk away just feeling…ok about it all.

 

The focus above that ignores the HC additions/changes to power sets, enhancements, markets/fungibility perhaps intentionally... and throws shade at content additions updates that have been made across a pretty wide variety of levels. We've gotten updated content for rogues/vigilantes, revised co-op zones, high-level content with different typse of grind, etc. plus some additions to the lore where there were gaps. I'm not super-excited about everything new, but none of it is sour to me, and it would be foolish to say we aren't getting new stuff.

 

As far as my personal opinion of the flavor of the new arcs: sometimes they require me to pay a little more attention than I'd like, or have in-mission "key objectives" to complete in order for my taste, but there hasn't been much I that I can't just button mash my way through when I prefer. This is a real balancing act when it comes to missions IMO. Generally I think the stuff that has been released has been pretty good about that balance.

[Seed22]

1 hour ago, tidge said:

Players will always want more of whatever, but the following strikes me as both narrow and somewhat bitter:

 

 

The focus above that ignores the HC additions/changes to power sets, enhancements, markets/fungibility perhaps intentionally... and throws shade at content additions updates that have been made across a pretty wide variety of levels. We've gotten updated content for rogues/vigilantes, revised co-op zones, high-level content with different typse of grind, etc. plus some additions to the lore where there were gaps. I'm not super-excited about everything new, but none of it is sour to me, and it would be foolish to say we aren't getting new stuff.

 

As far as my personal opinion of the flavor of the new arcs: sometimes they require me to pay a little more attention than I'd like, or have in-mission "key objectives" to complete in order for my taste, but there hasn't been much I that I can't just button mash my way through when I prefer. This is a real balancing act when it comes to missions IMO. Generally I think the stuff that has been released has been pretty good about that balance.

I didn’t see anywhere in their post where they said HC wasn’t getting new stuff. Nothing they posted came across as throwing shade or hostile. The most “offensive” line I could see was possibly HC could make new additions or something along that line. 
 

And even then, that’s just their opinion. I didn’t see a single word that said they were dismissive of the additions added. They may not have liked the additions, but I didn’t see anything outright shitting on anything added. 
 

I’m thinking a lot of people are reading into something that’s just not there. 

[Octogoat]

1 hour ago, skoryy said:

 

And I see DCUO and Champions in maintenance mode, Marvel Heroes Online closed 😔, and the only successful superhero games during the MCU era being the ones where you play Batman or Spider-Man.  The game market was just never there.

 

I loved spoodermin remastered

[tidge]

4 hours ago, Seed22 said:

I’m thinking a lot of people are reading into something that’s just not there. 

 

You do realize that you literally equated a thumbs-down reaction to

 

19 hours ago, Seed22 said:

 ... the sycophantic and pathetic nature of some in the HC community. It’s an opinion, I know people are for some dumb reason scared of those these days but guess what? They’re not going anywhere.

 

[Seed22]

45 minutes ago, tidge said:

 

You do realize that you literally equated a thumbs-down reaction to

 

 

Sure pal. I disagreed with you and now its a thumbs down. Like I said, sycophantic and pathetic responses from HC cultist 🤷🏾‍♂️

 

I’m starting to get very concerned with you all. When you have no credible argument you devolve into…this. 
 

Anyway, guy gave an opinion and you didn’t like it. Adults would just disagree with the opinion, but this is the CoH forums.  
 

To avoid another demerit for providing commentary on the state of you all, that’s the last response I’ll give you. Publicly.

 

If you want you can DM me with more rabble about whatever it is you want and I’ll promptly ignore and report it. 

Edited November 25 by Seed22

[Sovera]

One thumb down = forum PvP rant. Yeah, not sure who is coming off as a cultist in here.

[tidge]