Cryptic Studios hopes to make this the year of Champions Online by following up their hit City of Heroes with another superhero theme. Currently it’s approaching a “more open” closed beta that you can still register for, and there is still a little development time left before its projected mid-2009 launch. As I mentioned in my SOE vs. Cryptic article, one of the major advantages DC Universe Online has is the ability to play a villain. While Champions does have an interesting and personalized Nemesis system, could players theoretically don the black hat and commit delicious evil full time in a future content update or expansion? What would Cryptic need to do in order to bring playable villains into the world, and would we accept them? Are the mechanics suited for such an endeavor and what will the developers need to overcome in order to succeed?

I was extremely skeptical that this was even feasible enough to discuss until I started putting it down on paper. I mean, Champions Online has been built to be a super hero game, not a super villain game. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there aren’t a few mountains to climb in order to make this a reality, but Champions has a few things going for it that I hadn’t considered in my previous thoughts about the game. Keep in mind that, as the Comic Book Guy , I can tell you that Two-Face appeared first in Detective Comics #66, but at best I’m an armchair developer, so let’s first look what the game has going for it.

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Powers are frequently neutral.

The great thing about superhero powers is they are almost always inherently neutral. Mr. Freeze and Iceman might be from two different universes, but they have the same relative ability and use it in completely different ways. Freeze uses his to open up a bank vault, while Iceman makes a slide to save an innocent bystander. Likewise, the powers in Champions Online could be assigned to either hero or villain with only minor tweaking. For example, the hero could have a mind power that immobilizes a target in the air, while a villain could throw said target into a wall. It’s roughly the same ability but with different results and relatively little change to mechanics.

Speaking of mechanics, there are a number of systems that wouldn’t need to really be changed that much to implement villains. Combat, for instance, is just a matter of skill changes, not something complex like revamps to the physics engine. Character creation would remain almost identical and the progression system, like missions and rewards, are already established. How much change would be required to alter the Nemesis system allowing evil players to make a “good” nemesis, a white hat whose job is to foil you at ever turn? The foundation is already there, it’s is just a matter of adding a few extra floors to the building

One of the most time consuming portions of game development is the creation and adjustment of art assets. Even the slightest addition or change could require these photophobiacs (I’ve been to your offices) to spend countless hours playing with pixels and shades. Champions has much of this completed already so I would imagine it would just be a matter of creating some darker themed costumes and more sinister looking faces. Perhaps they could include a sweet dome helmet like Mysterio or a golden exterior donned by the powerful Amazo. I see art as a neutral issue in this villain attempt, because it’s obvious Cryptic has number of things already completed, but plenty to do in other areas.

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Needs more sinister

That’s the good news and there is certainly enough there to be excited about. On the flipside of this development coin however are three issues that can’t be ignored. The first of these is the need for additional story, which has been geared mostly for white hats. Granted this isn’t an epic problem, but writing stories for an entire second half of a game is no simple task. Unless Cryptic outsourced this to the enormous an enormous writing staff it would take Cryptic’s talented crew months to make a sizable dent in the necessary text.

With great story, comes great content and Champions should have plenty of it, but it’s all currently geared to heroes. The zones and strongholds (dungeons) are very likely all geared around some great evil that must be overcome. While villains are known to squabble amongst themselves, it’s never for such a noble cause meaning many would have to either be revamped or replacements areas created. Asset reuse is the name of the game these days so this would be painful and significantly alter their release date. This could be avoided by dropping it in as expansion content in the first year but as stated above would be one less feature available at launch.

Finally, we run into budget constraints. These are tough economic times and if goliaths like Electronic Arts are trimming the fat, then so is everyone else. If the development team wanted to attempt inserting villains into the game before release, which I doubt will occur, it would take an executive level decision to alter such a course and as much as I’d like to see it, I’m not sure they could take the risk. However, if the game succeeds in its first six months of shelf time in stores, we might see announcements of a “Villains” pack coming right around the corner.

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Creating evil would require a lot of resources.

As you can see Cryptic has so much groundwork laid that the addition of playable villains is not only theoretically possible but very doable as far as I can see. The question is does Champions Online warrant such changes and is the development team willing to make that leap? I hope to goodness they do, because it’s a mechanic I would absolutely love to see in the game. In the meantime, make sure you sign up for Champions Online beta test if you haven’t already. It looks like they’re doing some unusual things with that game, and who can resist the call of the superhero?

Do you disagree or is there something I missed? Drop me an email to let me know. Until then I have to assume I’m right because by federal law, I am still the Comic Book Guy.

Worst…Story…Ever