All answers from Jens Andersen, Creative Director for DCUO, SOE-Austin.

Question #1

Q: At both E3 and Comic Con, we've been able to see great examples of the physics system and the kind of combat we can expect in DC Universe Online. We've also heard that roaming mobs won't have loot drops, rather, loot will come from finishing tasks. We've also been told that loot can both enhance your powers and change the way your character looks. To put it simply, how is loot itemization being handled in DCUO? Is it something akin to the enhancements and inventions system that City of Heroes employs, or is it closer to the traditional MMO loot, where you can upgrade a number of different things about your character?

A: It’s closer to the traditional MMO loot if I had to put it on the Loot-o-Meter you just described. To acquire loot in DCUO players do in fact have to complete encounters, which are made up of a wide variety of objectives. Players are judged on how well they completed each encounter and which factors in to the reward that is dropped. Our goal is to handle this behind the scenes and get rid of looting corpses. This lets us keep the action moving since the game is fast in pace and large in scope.

Moving away from the area concerning acquisition and into one of usability, we allow you to equip these items and they play an important role in how your character improves. We want the items to be both fashionable and functional. This means we need to allow for some level of customization with the items you receive so that you can maintain the look and feel of your character throughout your play experience. We call it our integration system. By integrating an item, say a helmet, into your costume, it takes on the colors of your costume and becomes part of a collection of looks that you can choose from when integrating future helmets. Of course, the stats associated with the item are applied to your character no matter how it is customized. This system allows for players to keep their initial look without losing the ability to grow in power through the items they find. Of course, if they want to change, they have that option too.

Question #2

Q: On the official DCUO MySpace page, there has been quite a bit of talk about character creation, and its importance to a title based on the DC license. What are the challenges your team is facing in attempting to implement character creation, and what sort of unique features of character creation are you excited to show off to players sometime in the future?

A: We have to make sure that players can do two things. First, they have to be able to create a hero that is inspired by one of the great DC characters. Second, they need to be able to create something new, that super hero or villain that has always been in their minds eye. To accomplish this we have to think of all the buckets that you can deconstruct these characters into and how they can be reassembled to create lots of things out of fewer pieces.

It comes down to costume and mechanics. We have already talked about costumes and items a bit, so let’s focus on mechanics. We break characters down into Origins, Super Powers, Power Sources (weapons/combat style) & Movement types. Let’s say you wanted to make Green Lantern. You would choose Technology, Light, Ring & Flight respectively. Let’s say you wanted to make Green Arrow. You would chose Technology, Ballistics, Bow & Acrobatics. These basic categories have a wide variety of choices allowing for combinations that can get you close to all the major characters seen in the comics with plenty of room to create something creative that people haven’t seen before.

Question #3

Q: While DCUO is being billed as a type of action-MMORPG, many gamers enjoy the more social aspects of the MMORPG experience. Do any of the typical social gameplay systems, such as crafting or tradeskilling, fit into this new breed of MMO?

A: Well let’s just say this…I would love to tell you all about our Secret Identity system but we’re not revealing details on that just yet. Secret Identities are a huge part of the DC universe and we want to make sure we handle them just right. One of our goals to achieve that is to make sure that the action game stays about throwing busses and knocking people over buildings, not snapping pictures or taking notes. In doing that it has led us to what we think is something that is really going to take those elements of MMO’s in an exciting new direction for our players.

Question #4

Q: Obviously, this team has quite a bit of MMORPG production experience, how is creating DCUO different than the work you've done on past games in this genre?

A: Well, personally, I have never made an MMO before. This will be my first. I’ve focused on action games mostly in my past, which is why they brought me on here to help direct the vision of the product. By combing my unique experiences with IP’s and Action games on titles like Star Wars Battlefront with the huge amount of MMO experience that exists in this company we’ve been able to work towards what is best for a superhero game, not an MMO or an Action Game. Our motto here in Austin is this: “We’re not making an MMO. We’re not making an action game. We’re making DC Universe Online.

Question #5

Q: Lastly, I hope you'll allow us a bit of self-indulgence. Has the development team seen DCUO Source, and if they have, what do they think of the site?

A: I can tell you that I’ve seen it and it looks really cool. I was so happy to see a site out there that is dedicated to all the hard work this team is putting into the title. I look forward to dropping in here again and giving everyone some more info about this exciting title. You guys are going to love it!!