I often observed that Paragon City was lacking a lot of details that made it seem very unreal. I know you've already gotten well into building COT but if it's not too late there are a few things I'd like to see that would really make the city seem more real.
Children
Schools
Churches and other places of worship
Freestanding fast food restaurants
gas stations
freight trains
residential neighborhoods suburbs with sidewalks and hidden lairs
dogs cats and other urban animals even police on horseback
local events like parades, farmer's markets, festivals etc...
It would also be cool if we could get to know some non super local celebrities like news casters, sports heroes, actors, millionaires, politicians, and activists.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
ooh, and a sports stadium! Lots of big cities have sports stadiums :-)
*taps foot waiting at the bus stop for the bus* That Bus that never comes.
Airplanes you figure there would be some flying overhead.
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Yeah and a whole airport. What kind of major city doesn't have an airport?
maybe some helicopter pads somewhere too.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
Nice list.
I think I remember at least two seperate fast foot places - including the doughnut.
Churches seam a bit complicate. After all, it's an issue many people have ... well different ideas, not always accepted by others. I think it'll be better to leave them out - except ofc for specific mission content.
Also a Stadium might be a bit of a problem. What kind to take? Football (American) and Baseball might be a bit too far on the US side. Maybe an icehockey place? Anyone remember Sudden Death?
Hmm. Speaking of trains, one feature I always wanted in CoX was to be able to ride the elevated train (beside flying thru the tunnels between sectors :))
Serious, using public transit as a fast way to get around would be realy fun.
H.
I believe CoX was set in Rhode Island, and if I remember correctly, the aim for CoT was to be on the eastern coast of the US, so a football stadium or baseball stadium would not be too far out of place :-)
and yes, riding in/on the bus or train would be very nice! Perhaps even random instances inside of the train? (Got on the train, need to fight TRAIN ROBBERS!)
Right, then again, one of the things why CoX worked that well was that there where no real deep knowledge of specific cultural phenomena where needed. If there's a baseball field, it will look quite alien to 80+% of the world. And more important, such a background calls for some missions related to the stadium which naturally will include the sport played - thus making it only understandable for a minority. So it might be wise to select some more widely known sport (having said that: pleas, no tennis :))
And YES, a train robbery sounds great. Peltham 123 as a mission. IIRC there was some 'train robbery' within the police missions. Just not in the trains.
Riding the bus also sounds interesting. Thinking of it, might be a great backgound for som low level missions. Remember when you arrived first time at the city hall and go a mission to clean up some punks in the park? Why not have Lvl2-6 heros have an eye on low life pestering the buses or trains? Sounds quite like the stuff new heroes do in many origin stories.
Can you say low level travel power? Haha instead of having the low level toons walk for a half an hour to get to their mission or giving them travel powers right away as CoX freedom did, have them hop on a bus, which will go faster than running, you just have to wait for your stop and not get robbed!
Are you freeking serious?
Anywhere in the world there would be some places of worship. even soviet russia didn't demolish all the Cathedrals.
If anyone is so offended by the sight of such things that they can't stand to play the game and will vent their rage about it every time they pass by it, then such a person is certainly someone we shouldn't want in our game community.
Seriously, sensitivity to the feelings of a bully only lets him win.
There is another thread on these forums asking whether or not we should be allowed to use radical religious groups as villains. I said it was cool and I've done it a lot in stories I've written. But there would be something seriously wrong with it if we were forbidden to show religion in a positive or even neutral way. Are you seriously trying to send the message that religion is evil?
And finally, If the game is set in America a sports stadium is absolutely essential to making it look realistic. We don't have to make missions where knowing the rules to the game is essential, and frankly I couldn't do that anyway. I'm no sports fan myself, but This isn't about what I like, it's about making the setting realistic and sports stadiums should be there.
Also a garbage dump (full of mutated creatures)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
And some would say that trying to force one's religion upon somebody else is bullying as well. The object is not to alienate people, but rather try to attract as many people as possible. Will there be religious people that play this game? Absolutely. Will there be non-religious people that play this game? Absolutely. Will there be people of differing religions playing this game? Absolutely. So how do you propose we cater to all the desires of all the differing religions and non-religions? Nobody is trying to say that all religion is evil. Although I am sure that there are some that would argue that case.
As far as sporting events go, we could just have some kind of a Colosseum. Make it big enough so that all kinds of sports from all over the world could be played in it. This way everybody would be able to recognize it for what it is and can insert their own form of major sporting event inside it as they see fit.
I got chills! They're multiplyin'. And I'm losin' control. Cuz the power, I'm supplyin'. Why it's ELECTRIFYIN'!!
Having churches, mosques, & temples in the world is not Forcing anyones religion on anyone it's presenting a realistic picture of the world.
In the game Age of Wushu there are Buddhist temples all over the place and if you want to learn Shaolin kung fu you have to become a Buddhist monk. There are probably Taoist images in various places but I wouldn't recognize them. (In a few parts of the game I clearly saw Taoists being used as villains). I enjoyed the game and never felt like anything was being pushed on me I just saw it as an attempt to portray historic China realistically. There were players in the game from all over the world and I never heard anyone complaining about it.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
Better to play safe though. How much would religious places of worship really add to the feel of the game anyway? IMO, it'd be nearly as jarring as a holy powerset with gold crucifix melee and star of David blast. Not that I would be offended, I just see it as out of place for this type of game.
Hm. Champions Online has churches and fallen angels, a major story arc in the game that deals with this, and even a "Celestial" power set that is pretty thinly veiled "angelic" themed powers. I played and lurked the forums for two years and literally never heard one complaint.
DCUO has Cathedral Square in Gotham and major story arcs dealing with things like The Spectre:
I dunno, I'm just sayin I don't think we'd be skating on any thin ice with a church here and there. And I do think things you normally see in the world like churches, stadiums, planes and trains would enrich the game environment and I don't think they'd cause any significant problems.
But... I don't personally feel that strongly either way, so whatever MWM goes with I'll be ok with it.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Well I just said religious places of worship, not just Christian churches. What about other stuff?
Yeah, I was just focusing on the church as an example, but I'd think it'd be the same with a synagogue or mosque or whatever.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
This thread was originally about adding things that would make the city feel more real and it seems to have gotten a bit sidetracked,
but in light of what has been said it now seems clear that the absence of places of worship should be seen as a sign that the makers of the game are hostile to religion.
If that's the case I will not play.
I will not post again until I see assurance from the developers that this is not the case.
So this may be my last post.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
Considering that not a single developer has commented on this thread (and only 3 people have weighed in on how they feel that churches would be disruptive), Paladin's '[i]the absence of places of worship should be seen as a sign that the makers of the game are hostile to religion[/i]' comment is not only leaping to conclusions across the Grand Canyon, but jumping the gun to an astounding degree.
You're right. I was overreacting. I'm sorry.
I'll try to control myself better.
BTW how would I know if a comment was from a Dev?
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
Take a look at the memberbox (with the name, pic, etc). Devs will have a blue-and-red circle in theirs. It's the old MWM logo. Here's an example:
http://cityoftitans.com/comment/78453#comment-78453
Incidentally, speaking as someone who is not religious in the least, I'd have no problem having churches, mosques, temples, shrines, etc as buildings in the game.
Two things people should never talk about unless they want to start a war: Religion and Politics.
I never said anything hostile towards it, was just trying to give you a reason why some people might feel it shouldn't be included. Both of those subjects are highly volatile subjects. Sometimes it's better to just leave those two out to avoid such conflicts.
I got chills! They're multiplyin'. And I'm losin' control. Cuz the power, I'm supplyin'. Why it's ELECTRIFYIN'!!
This thread did get weird really quickly. My earlier post was just meant to show that other Superhero games have not tiptoed around the whole "religion in the world" topic and have had no real problems.
Now let's get back to the OP's original suggestion to ad more things to the city to make it feel real--which is a good one--and other fun ideas that could come from it like stopping or doing train heists!
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
A Zoo!
with a cute little steam engine pulling people around and a villain who lets animals out of their cages to attack people.
Lions Tigers Bears & Gorillas! and a swarm of monkeys!
a circus
a theme park with roller coasters ferris wheels and merry go rounds.
And I hope this subject doesn't come up much more but I think the reason other games don't get backlash for showing religion is because they don't try to suppress anyones expressions of belief. It wasn't the suggestion that we have places of worship that caused problems, it was the suggestion that we Shouldn't. I would welcome anyone's expression of faith. When I played Age of Wushu I thought it was totally cool being a Shaolin monk.
The comics have a lot of characters with religious elements. Superman is a Christ figure, The Hulk is God's wrath, Sabra wears a Star of David on her costume. The Spectre, well someone else posted about him already, and lots of heroes have strong religious convictions without making it their theme. Plus it's just weird to have vampires and demons without having crucifixes and priests to oppose them. I wouldn't have any problem with Jinnis or efreeti either, and why couldn't a Mexican character have an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on his shirt.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
Stuff we might have (and obviously not all inclusive): Animals (wild or pets), children/non-adults, trains, planes, buses (and other public transit such as subways/light rail), zoos, conservatory, museums, fire stations, police stations, stadiums (professional or high school/college etc.), religious institutions, schools (elementary on up, public or private), farmer's markets, fish markets, amusement parks (merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels, roller coasters), day care (with those kids), gas stations/convenience stores, specialized schools (dance, theater, gymnastics etc.), restaurants (fast food or otherwise), public swimming pools, movie theaters, amphitheaters, banks, medical facilities/offices/hospitals, ...
Protests. Civilians in the real world aren't always content, and groups of activists will often make their voices heard en masse. The denizens of Titan City will arguably live in a world even more dynamic than our own. Let the people be heard!
Let them gather outside of major institutions such as City Hall or local labs and universities. Let them march the streets. Let them clamor for what they believe in. Let there be democracy!
I seem to remember some protesting outside of the starting point in the Rogue Isles, but they were just a fixed group of NPC's who didn't really gather or disperse. I'm talking about a noisy, temporary, ad-hoc gathering of NPC's here.
...
Kinda unrelated, but this reminds me of a funny thing I liked to do in CoH. When you rescued civilians on the street, they would run to you and thank you for helping them, and they were very insistent on doing so. They'd climb mountains to thank you if they had to.
On occasion, I would grab a high-level flying Blaster and cruise the streets saving everyone in sight (doing my best to avoid kill stealing). The rescued civilians would then run to me so they could thank me for my deed.
There was just one problem: they couldn't fly! They would run as close as they could and follow me for miles! I was able to gather quite a crowd. I'd lead the thankful mob down busy streets and near trainers just to make other players scratch their heads. It was a load of fun.
Hey if we had a carnival, we could have carnival games with prizes like the mini-games in Zelda! that would be so cool!
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
TAXI shouts our intrepid starting Hero. Heheh I laugh but believe that a Taxi system for travel would be great too.
Airports, even if a small one with the odd light planes coming and going, or better still, a Zeplin dock, for tourists who don't mind a leisurely tour of CoT, with the possibility of danger from thugs and needing rescue by our intrepid Heroes. would be cool. Then again, our equally intrepid Villains might see this as an opportunity for some easy loot, which could be the start of a PvP match in the confines of the Zeplin.
Capt Odee, saving the city one click at a time.
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How about realistic interiors?
I couldn't have been the only player who went through building mission maps half concentrating on the foes while the other half thought "why the heck is there a long out of the way corridor that leads to some stairs only to end in a small insignificant room with nothing or no one in it!?"
I think someplace, either in the Kickstarter or elsewhere the devs said they were going to make maps that didn't feel like dungeons constructed for the sake of looking like dungeons.
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I can assure you that this game will not be hostile to religion. It is one of my pet peeves that you can, upon spotting a priest or highly religious white person in an episode of Law & Order, have an 85% success rate in identifying the "true villain" of the episode by caling them as it. And L&O, a series I happen to actually enjoy despite this, is not the only culprit. That and the idea that all businessmen must be evil. Those are two of my most disliked overused tropes.
(And no, this doesn't mean that no religious people will be bad guys, either. People are people. Some good, some bad. Unless there's reason why the very philosophies of the group should be viewed as inherently evil - e.g. Those Wacky Nazis - or inherently good - e.g. Mom and Apple Pie - it's unlikely that we'll allow all major portrayals of members of such groups to be always evil OR never evil.)
That said, I'm not on the composition team. But if I thought they were heading down such a road, I'd be making a stink about it.
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Regarding having NPC children; there was another thread that touched on this and someone mentioned it can change the games rating to depict a situation placing children in danger.
I can't cite the source for this but it wouldn't surprise me.
"I don't think you understand the gravity of your situation."
Realistic building interiors might make it possible to have a power that lets you walk through walls. That wasn't possible in COH, because a lot of buildings didn't have interiors, at all, and walking through walls in a mission map would most likely just take you off the map.
This would probably still be a difficult power to make work but this would make it more likely that one day down the line it could be possible.
Also, I would like to thank you Segev, for your kind assurance, that religion will be handled fairly.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
While looking for Art, I found the Kickstarter Update about realistic interiors: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/634825
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For the devs to design a power like Phase Shifting through walls would be problematic at best. Nightmarish at worst, and just for the reasons you stated above,
However, this power does pique my curiosity about how to limit it in a mission map, or even out in the games streets, when hunting new missions.
IN MISSION: Any interior wall that would lead to exiting the mission map, other than by the designed entrance/exit, should be considered protected against the use of such power. Think of it as a locked door to burglars. This could be carried over to the outside game world as a de facto building code thing put in place by the founders of Titan City.
In the end, it would be far easier making destructible interiors to knock a hole through, than create a super power that lets you just walk through without damaging the wall. IMHO of course.
Capt Odee, saving the city one click at a time.
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Handling Religion "Fairly" is not as easy as one thinks it is. Does this mean there will be Satanic Churches? Places for Voodoo practitioners to gather? Druids? Wiccans? Illuminati? If so, how does this affect the game? Will it lose it's T for Teen rating? Will there be legal ramifications if a religion isn't portrayed "accurately" according to a practitioner of that religion? You have to be VERY careful when it comes to religion. As I've said, people are VERY touchy about their religions and politics.
I got chills! They're multiplyin'. And I'm losin' control. Cuz the power, I'm supplyin'. Why it's ELECTRIFYIN'!!
I think when you're at the edge of the map you should be able to step into the wall but you should get a warning that you are about to exit the map. "Do you want to exit? Yes or No) You can stand there a few seconds but if you don't click yes you go back in the mission and the cool down on the power begins. You could do the same with the floor or ceiling unless there's another floor below or above.
Characters should have a short time that they can stay inside a solid object. when it runs out they get pushed out in the direction they came from and the cool down on the power begins.
like a lot of powers energy cost and cool down can limit it enough to keep it from being unbalanced. Plus you probably can't use melee attacks while it's active.
the power set could have an attack that lets you grab a foe and push him into the floor, immobilizing him for the same amount of time that you could stay in a solid object yourself. Of course if the animation showed the victim sticking out a bit you could still attack him.
or hilariously, if you do this attack near an exterior wall of a mission you could get a message asking if you want to send the victim out of the mission if you say yes he's gone. Against most foes that would defeat him but if you're supposed to capture him that would let him get away and you would fail the mission.
of course you can't do that at all unless the target is standing by a big solid object (but the floor counts as long as he's not flying)..
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
Interesting. :)
Dev Speak:
Essentially moving the Capsule Collider up for the duration of the immobilize animation. ;)
CoH did have plenty of heli pads, even a badge for finding a specific one. Not much in the way of helis though.
It occurred to me that some villains could be programmed to return after an attack like this by smashing his way back through the wall you pushed him through. That could be an unexpected surprise for some players if they're used to getting rid of foes that way.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
We have evil corps, we have good corps, we have corps with secrets, and corps that are just.... odd.
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I think the crux of the issue isn't making everything out to be good, bad, or even accurate in some rare cases. When I think of fair, I think something should be reasonable capable of being presented in any given light. I think that mostly comes down to the individual character in the religion, such as a pastor in a christian church that's an honestly good person versus the corrupt fathers presented in Law and Order, as Segev said. The trick here is balance.
I'm nonreligious. I think I've been in a church maybe three times in my life, and one of those was a repurposed gymnasium. I'm also made extremely uncomfortable when someone of a religion (ANY religion, wiccan, christian, budhist, pagan, or what-have-you) gets in my face about it. However, I like seeing these sorts of places, as I know that they help people. In a video game or story, I feel they add a level of life to a city that they're in, and the ambiance can be especially potent. By the same token, presenting the audience with a few negative religions isn't a terrible idea - Near as I can recall, the Hellions in CoH were demon worshipers, and nobody ever held issue with them being present in-game. In fact, given you could play as a demon-summoning hero, there's an argument that could be made for a "Bad powers, good people" situation.
Another factor in all this is that the advent of super-powered individuals would have introduced new religions to the world. The first one of the top of my head is that there could very well be a church full of people who believe the road to enlightenment lies in physical training, and breaking the limits of normal human beings in order to become one step closer to "Perfect". Another idea is that a Villain got himself a god complex, and managed to project that onto a few people, not necessarily through the use of powers but because he's charismatic, intelligent, has an ability this group views as divine.
And finally, a church, temple, or something else need not necessarily be just a set piece. There could be a plotline that takes place in a church as a spirit seeks to posses a young man but a priest is warding it off, and they need a hero like you to figure out what the reason for the attempted possession is and how to stop it. That, to me, is just as compelling a story as "Oh no, the local satanic cult has kidnapped someone! Rescue them before it's too late!"
(You may notice I keep coming back to the Christianity example. I'm trying to be inclusive, but it's difficult to use others as examples when I'm only truly familiar with one sort of religion)
Given this is a superhero game? I'd dislike it if religion was at the forefront a lot. But I'd also dislike it if religion was entirely missing, as there's a lot that can be done with religious or pseudo-religious heroes/villains. I want them to be treated like an organization, like any sort of large group made up of individuals. Just my two cents.
An infinite number of tries doesn't mean that any one of those tries will succeed. I could flip an infinite number of pennies an infinite number of times and, barring genuine randomness, they will never come up "Waffles".
Indeed - HiRez Studios took some flak with their game SMITE in regards to the presence of Hindu gods in their game, and particularly the depictions of Kali.
The original Kali avatar was rather scantily-dressed, and many of the complaints were directed towards that - "sexualizing her". Nevermind the fact that she is traditionally depicted has being pretty much nude and barely covered by a necklace of severed heads and a skirt of severed arms. The original SMITE avatar actually wore clothing - albeit skimpy clothing (but I've seen real-life cosplayers wear less).
While they re-worked Kali, they haven't shied away from including more Hindu gods into the game - so maybe the objections died down after a while?
I mean, yeah, it can lead to lots of grumbling--which is, in the end, just buzz and so actually free advertising--but rarely does anything significant come of it unless it's REALLY over the top, which I'm sure MWM wouldn't even come close to.
Again, DCUO basically re-writes the history of Christianity--including the origin of Christ himself--to include their superheroes AND uses this in their MMO and includes it in the DCUO wiki, and they haven't gotten any flack for that.
I'm not saying MWM couldn't possibly cross a line, I'm just saying it's not a significant danger that they will. Even the whole 5th Column thing in CoH didn't end up doing anything but enriching the storyline with The Council.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
See, this is also what I'm talking about by fairness. To those that practice Wicca, Satanism, etc. they don't see themselves as evil. Christianity has branded them evil. Who's to say? Why does one religion that has started more wars than any other conqueror has done get to determine what is good or bad?
I got chills! They're multiplyin'. And I'm losin' control. Cuz the power, I'm supplyin'. Why it's ELECTRIFYIN'!!
Whoa, careful, Static, this is how things go bad in this type of discussion.
I was just posting about how some pretty directly religious--possibly sacrilegious to some--stuff was perfectly tolerated in another MMORPG, and now you're beginning to take a poke at a specific religion. THAT'S the kind of thing that gets people all riled up.
Not trying to fuss, just saying let's not go there. The topic of "religion" is different from inter-religious conflict.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
I did mention something along those lines - that every major organization is made up by individuals that can be good or bad. Spawn wouldn't have been a thing if people went "that doesn't make any sense - there's no such thing as a good demon!"
Empyrean's right though. You're kinda poking the hornet's nest part of this topic.
An infinite number of tries doesn't mean that any one of those tries will succeed. I could flip an infinite number of pennies an infinite number of times and, barring genuine randomness, they will never come up "Waffles".
Don't suppose you can link that or copy paste it here. Sorry, on phone and I don't want to play dcuo to find out.
There are ways to provide the sense of the existence of familiar real world religions without necessarily stepping on toes. The inclusion of a cathedral-like structure sans the associated iconography suggests the existence of a religion without necessarily delving into the particulars of it. Clever suggestion, without labels and iconography can create the atmosphere of the familiar real world to which our game is based upon while side stepping any of the concerns of visual, animated depictions misrepresenting a particular set of beliefs.
An example can be the inclusion of fire wielding bat-winged demons of chaos summoned from the plane of abolishment who are opposed by feather-winged light summoning creatures of order from the celestial plane. Both are suggestive of creatures from a couple of real world belief systems, indeed definitely one can say inspired by, but absent of the specific theologies, and naming conventions, should be separate enough to avoid backlash toward the creator(s).
Another is the inclusion of government titles, like having a mayor. Certainly, Titan City being located in the U.S. has political parties vying for government positions, and there is a mayor. But there is nothing specifically labeling the mayor as attached to a particular real world political party. Really clever writing could even result in the mayor npc's political affiliation open to interpretation by the player, or in-game political parties can be written which can have similarities to real world parties.
One thing that should really be remembered is this is a modern-fantasy setting based upon super-hero themed comics and movies, with all the tropes, archetypes, kitsch that comes with it. The option exists to either suggestively create the inclusion of many of the contentious topics in order to appeal to as wide an audience as possible while trying to avoid offending anyone, or to not include them in anyway which will result in a notable absence of some of what they may represent from the game world.
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Tannim is getting what I'm talking about. Again, I was playing devil's advocate, religion is a very sticky topic. If we have to include it, I'd prefer it to be user created for the purpose of the user. If it's included in the game then I'd prefer it to be generic'd. Otherwise there will be people who will take offense.
(just so you know, I was raised Southern Baptist)
I got chills! They're multiplyin'. And I'm losin' control. Cuz the power, I'm supplyin'. Why it's ELECTRIFYIN'!!
As a fanatically non-religious zealot I would like to offer my stance that for once it would be nice if athiests got the cathedrals and door to door faith salesmen to spread our word, while the deity oriented folks were religated to isolationism and being frowned at from behind stained glass windows (if the stained glass depicted dinosaurs and molecules all the better).
Thanks for your time!
Functional playground equipment.
Imagine jumping onto a seesaw to make the other end pop up and hit a villain or launch him in the air
Imagine tossing a punk onto a roundabout and giving it a good spin
Imagine Climbing on top of the monkey bars and doing a flying elbow drop
you get the idea. It's probably too much and a bit too silly but it would be cool if it were possible
How about electric cables that shock when you touch them and water pipes that spray water when you break them
Non combat missions like rounding up cattle that ran off from the wrecked truck (a super version of Link chasing Chickens)
Monuments to historic characters Other than superheroes. Who is appropriate would depend on the location of Titan City but lots of cities have monuments to soldiers who fought in WWI, WWII, Korea & Vietnam. and countless cities have monuments to civil rights heroes.
Don't get me wrong. I liked the superhero statues all over Paragon but it seemed odd that every statue was a superhero.
Beggars, and street performers can add flavor to a neighborhood also and who knows maybe be sources of info. When you live on the streets you see stuff.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
Things we never saw in COH:
True Invisibility
The Phoenix Rising Initiative Rules Lawyer
What, You didnt See it? :o But it was There! :<
Unfortunately, no, you really don't want to play it :P. I wish that game were better, I'm dying for a place to at least get my tights on for a bit till CoT comes out.
Look at my post #13 in this thread, it has a direct cut-and-paste from DCUOwiki.
Last post I'll do on the whole religion thing since it was a derail and Paladin did a good job bringing his thread back around :).
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Arcade style in game mini-games. For example from the Doom series: Super Turbo Turkey Puncher.
Oh and functional exercise equipment, you know, to earn these muscles.
More buildings that you could go into. I can't remember the number of times my teen SG wanted to be able to go into the Super-Bowl-a-Rama to hang out.
[url=http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Penny_Preston]Penny Preston[/url] in Founders Falls and [url=http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Penelope_Yin_%28Faultline%29]Penelope Yin[/url] in Faultline were as close as we got to "children" ... although they were teens.
I remember seeing (abandoned) food carts Redside and various chain stores Blueside. The Donut Shop in Faultline though was a particularly hard to miss example.
It was a joke for years that Paragon City was filled with NUCLEAR POWERED CARS (designed in the 50s) that didn't run on gasoline.
At the 2012 Player Summit, I complained to Think Tank (the world designer guy) that the closest thing City of Heroes had to railroads was ... a Titan Weapon, the [url=http://paragonwiki.com/w/images//a/ac/TW_Railroad_Pike.jpg]Railroad Pike[/url]. There were no train tracks ANYWHERE! Which meant there were no level crossings at street level anywhere. Which meant there were no railroad crossing signals anywhere to snatch a Railroad Pike from ... anywhere!
I made the argument to Think Tank that a city of the size of Paragon City simply HAD TO HAVE railroads SOMEWHERE ... and then proceeded to point out that given the War Walls situation it was very likely that any railroads connecting Paragon City to the rest of the country must be [b]outside the War Walls[/b] in the current configuration of the (Sim)City. I gave him a map of the city (the same one you saw in the PTA stations) with black lines drawn on it showing where the railroads "ought to be" in the overall scheme of things.
The way I did it, there was a railroad line that came up from the southwest that turned off towards Brickstown and also ran up along the west of Independence Port (for all those shipping containers!) before heading up off to the north and east around Baumton/Boomtown. All it would require to implement is a bit of a retcon of Brickstown, so as to have a spur of the railroad end at a station outside the Zig, and then everything else would be a New Zone to the west of Independence Port ... The Railyards ... with lots of rail tracks and partially destroyed rolling stock and a battle to *retake* that part of the city from Rikti.
Never happened, of course.
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
Perhaps the title of this thread was a bit misleading but let me point out that 2 or 3 children is an unrealistic number for a whole city and so is one freekin donut shop.
Personally I don't even consider a donut shop a fast food restaurant. It's like a pastry shop or something. Fast food restaurants sell whole meals not just desert.
BTW if you decide not to use real life Restaurants for advertizing money. Allow me to suggest a couple of fictional restaurants from my own game. What follows is taken from my book "Knights of Saint George"
Red Baron Brats
a really popular fast food place that sells a variety of sausages, pretzels and strudels.
Master Lee's Kung Fu Cuisine
a Chinese restaurant featuring live martial arts demonstrations and competitions, and several giant screen TVs. Showing action scenes cut from hundreds of kung fu movies. (The restaurant is connected to Master Lee's Kung Fu, Academy.)
I'd love to see these places in your city as long as I can still reuse them in my future books.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
Paragon City did have multiple [b]Up and Away[/b] burger shops. There was also a mexican food franchise ... El Mexicano? ... that was in multiple locations. Cape Radio featured it in one of their ads.
And then there was Paragon Pizza Pie run by The Family ... which again got featured in another Cape Radio ad.
So there were food joints in Paragon City and in the Rogue Isles. You just needed to know where to look (and what you were looking at).
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
The only one I really remember was City of Gyros and I've never heard of Cape Radio
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
Surprisingly, The Cape radio is still going. You can listen to it here - and Redlynne's correct, on that there's a ton of different things that get advertised in it.
http://www.thecaperadio.com/
An infinite number of tries doesn't mean that any one of those tries will succeed. I could flip an infinite number of pennies an infinite number of times and, barring genuine randomness, they will never come up "Waffles".
There was also the "In-Front Steakhouse" and "Major Flanders Chicken"
When I say a freestanding fast food restaurant, I mean something like This:
[IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/15qunox.jpg[/IMG]
Not something that shares a building with other businesses.
The only thing like that I saw in COH was the donut and I already explained why that doesn't count to me.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
I can sympathize with this. While many businesses did exist in CoH, most of them were only identified by signs hanging from a generic storefront. In fact, most buildings in city zones were either generic apartments, skyscrapers, or rows of storefronts. I would welcome more variety in CoT, and free-standing businesses like the Pizza Hut™ example would go a long way towards creating such variety.
Of course, if [url=http://cityoftitans.com/content/carnegie-vanderbilt-and-you]the Mogul update[/url] is any indication, I think we can expect quite a few unique structures.
On the whole religion thing, I'm fine with or without. Just be aware that u may be signing up for an increased lvl of moderator pain/involvement.
Ie what will u do with a character led child abuse protest outside the game's virtual Catholic Church or a PC setting up as an extremist preacher outside a church or a mosque because it fits his character concept. Heck, what will be the method for dealing with offensive character concepts( ie the cartoonist "I've depicted Muhammad 666 times." The columbine sniper "I've escaped prison and am looking for more victims, and Florida Timmy "all I want is to promote godliness and the SEC."
I have tried to use humor to make a point. I apologize in advance to any I may have offended.
moderator involvement will only effect the moderators and people who just want to offend.
And frankly I'm not sure there will be any need for increased involvement.
People who wanted to offend found ways to offend without Religion being visible in the game
and they'll be the same people just offending in new ways.
Besides, most religious groups are used to offensive people lashing out at them.
I wont find it any more offensive in the game than I would in real life.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
I would love to see individual, customizable housing capable of being decorated like in SWG. Maybe not placed in the environment like in SWG, but definitely instanced like in EQII. Also, ground vehicles and maybe mounts. I had several toons in CoX that none of the travel powers worked for due to powersets/story elements. However, a motorcycle, like Captain America, Wolverine, and the premier biker, Ghost Rider, rode would have been sweet.
Blitzkreiger - SecLevel 50 Mutant Incarnate Blaster
I kinda Agree! :)
Even though I know some mentioned Mounts, like Horses... I rather have a MotoBike! ;)
Plus, Devs might have an easier time animating and coding a MotoBike, versus a Horse.
I'd like a skateboard
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
I really like the idea of using customizable housing (A la Wildstar) for SG/Personal Housing.
This may come out when the mission creator does.. the devs have to flag which assets are available to players and how they can/can't be placed.
Crowd Control Enthusiast