Time to welcome... DOC OPTIK!!

Time to say adieu to Champions Online characters Frostmane and Lasy Sting (sic! Yes, I know! I misspelled my character's name!) as their Closed Beta personas went the way of Doc Mentat before them.

Time to say hello to Doc Optik, the hero with the eye-based powers!






Here we have Defender, offering tips to the new hero on the block:



Funny thing... my screen captures don't seem to grab any of the particle effects depicted in-game. No glowy zaps...

How Superhero MMOs Can Be More Like the Comics They're Inspired By

Giant typewriters and other interactive props.

Can't you just imagine the PVP possibilities?

I betcha even DCUO is too serious to try this out...

The lure of the Glowies. Ooooo... Pretty...

I'm taking a break from playing City of Heroes for a number of reasons:

1) I was bored.

2) It's tough to solo a Level 31 Electric Blaster. It gets pretty lonely on the Liberty server sometimes. :(

3) I've been play-testing Champions Online. It's nice. It's not stellar yet, but the missions and bright colors sure are a nice change.

4) I feel like the COH franchise has to play catch-up. Their Issue 16 announcement offers a feature which comes standard with Champions Online. Wow. A whole issue devoted to being able to change colors? I know that's a big deal in terms of behind the scenes coding and game resources and such, but sheesh! After The Mission Architect release and even the 5th Anniversary Issue (which I couldn't enjoy -- see #2), this seems kinda underwhelming.

5) The screenshots for the DC Universe Online MMO just look so pretty.

They make the environments in COH look so flat.

6) In fact, the character models in DCUO are really, really well done. Better than Champions Online (which remind me a bit of the models from World of Warcraft).
Which begs the question: "Sure the art direction is spectacular, but how does it play?" I'm not sure yet, but that hasn't kept DC and Sony from promoting the game at SDCC.


Seriously, I'm pretty interested in seeing more details about the game.

7) I've been playing other games. Among them, FreeRealms.com, FusionFall, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord. This last one is especially addictive. Unfortunately it has the side effect of confusing my son who is wondering when we'll stop beating up the heroes and start acting like one for a change.

8) I've been working on my own Poser characters.

9) The kids are all home for summer vacation. Who wants to play solo when I can play Super Smash Bros. Brawl with my kids?

Comic Shading

Found a neat article here which discusses the unique look of the Champions MMO.

I thought this quote was kind of telling:

Colin: What can you tell me about comic shading and how it differs from cell shading?

Jim: We’re trying to go for the look you get in a comic book. But comics don’t transfer directly to real time 3D very well. Cell shading often looks really bland and has very little detail in it so we have decided on a more realistic lighting model.

If something is bumpy you’ll see the bumps and you’ll get highlights and shadows and that kind of stuff. But on top of that we have an art style that’s similar to comic books with bright colors and things that aren’t necessarily realistic. And then also we have an outline effect that outlines things that are near to the camera and adds to that comic-book feel.

We wanted to make this distinction because cell shading has taken on an almost negative connotation within the industry of looking boring. Artists get upset about being labeled with this generic term. It implies similarity to games that really aren’t similar at all.

It's something I've noticed in reactions to my own Poser work. People seem really enamored with some 3D work which shows all of the figure's textured pores as if somehow the wall between reality and 3D illusion has finally been broken. I've always felt it was a road not really worth following. I think the reality gap is just too wide. That's why I tend to prefer a cel-shaded look to most of my own work. Recently I jumped from trying to emulate the flat lighting in comics and older cartoons to embracing more complex 3D lighting in my renders and I really like the results. I just found it interesting to see an MMO's creative direction mirror my own.

I think I suggested this a while ago...

Some pictures posted on the City of Heroes website Forums suggest upcoming changes for Issue 16.

Nice, but, I dunno. The graphics still look so 5 years ago. I've really come to enjoy the graphics for Champions Online. I even suspended my COH account because, well, I was bored. Still, we'll see. Maybe we'll see what happens as more info gets released.

Which Champion am I?

You walk a mystical path, and are a creature of the spiritual and the supernatural. You are introspective and self-reliant, but nobody will ever question your bravery or commitment to justice.

Take the quiz!

Wait! I'm like a girl? As a SAHD, I have enough gender-identity issues. Now this...