Character Blog Post: Human Torch (Jim Hammond) (8/29/19)

Brigby

Hi Everyone,

Starting with Human Torch’s availability in the game today, we want to kick off a new blog. We hope that the blog helps in the discovery process of each new character we bring to Marvel Puzzle Quest and that we can provide information that is interesting not to just for long time players, but players that are newer to the game.

We plan to keep this to a brief read so it’s a nice starter as you get more familiar with how each character fits into the game. We hope you find it helpful!

Check it out here: New Character Blog - Human Torch (Jim Hammond)

ThaRoadWarrior

Cool. Will this be only for new characters, or will there be retroactive ones for characters like Talos or Frost that we all generally think are bottom tier and maybe just can't see the value in? 

I really like to hear the designer talk about the central concept for the powers, it's always cool to get that behind the scenes look. 

I'd also be interested to hear some of the driving concepts behind baffling power changes like Mr Fantastic, or characters generally considered to be problematically powerful like Bishop. 

Daredevil217

Agreed, I’d love to hear a designer’s thoughts on Bishop!

DAZ0273

Daredevil217 said:

Agreed, I’d love to hear a designer’s thoughts on Bishop!

From the future, Bishop is a man displaced in time but that doesn't stop him fighting in the present for the very existence of Mutants. His neckerchief is cool.


Anyway, this sounds like a cool new thing.

ThaRoadWarrior

I legit want to hear their thoughts on it though, not to pounce on them or anything. I'd love to hear their thoughts on just...why? Why anything? Why everything? I'm not mad at y'all, just...why?

Like do they make sub-par characters on purpose or by accident? Do they make OP characters on purpose or accidentally? Is every character created in a vacuum, or is there some attempt to figure out who they do and don't work well with?

DAZ0273

I'm fine with that.

ThaRoadWarrior

I assume also that people designing characters now weren't the ones doing it way back when, so I'd be interested in seeing someone looking at the 2019 game revisiting older character design paradigms, maybe speculating on what a 2019 version of it would be. I love that this blog exists to be honest.

I'd also love to hear from the event designers, assuming they aren't the same ones doing characters. Well, even if they are. But whoever did Fight for Wakanda was obviously trying to do something cool, I'd love read a post mortem of that process. Also the Places of Power. those were tries to get something neat out there, and now they're kind of gone, so I'd love to just hear a retrospective of it. Like a GDC Classic Game Post-Mortem

tiomono

Neat and fun read. I look forward to more of these.

@DAZ0273 the only person to even mention incompetence or nerfs so far is you. Can't we just let a discussion happen instead of trying to censor what hasn't happened.

JHawkInc

I like little blurbs like this, both for the extra game info, and for giving a little bit of a voice to "the Devs" so they're slightly less of a nameless/faceless entity. 

I would also be interested in seeing more than just new characters, whether it's old characters, re-works, maybe little snippits like color theory (we know the colors have themes to them, but it's rarely stated outright anywhere). I would also suggest doing something like these for any new things that aren't characters, as well. Whether it's new events or just costumes. (you could probably get away with doing a costume post once a quarter and talking a little bit about each one that came out in that period, otherwise it'd be a really short blog post)

nordhofsweden

Great addition! Thanks a lot for that!

I’d love to see a post about 5* Wasp and find out new things about her. For example: was she supposed to get a partner who could make her swarm tiles effective?

ThaRoadWarrior

JHawkInc said:

(you could probably get away with doing a costume post once a quarter and talking a little bit about each one that came out in that period, otherwise it'd be a really short blog post)

I'd actually really like to hear from the art team about how they choose what they're going to do for an animation, and what they look to for likeness etc when they get a new character. Also the process of deciding on costumes, how hard or easy various characters are to create them for, stuff like that.

ThaRoadWarrior

I've also never heard a single sound in this game, so hearing from the long-suffering sound designer would be a fascinating read.

tiomono

ThaRoadWarrior said:

I've also never heard a single sound in this game, so hearing from the long-suffering sound designer would be a fascinating read.

Get squirrel girl on your team turn on your sound and use her green. 

jp1

I would love these for all characters as well. Very nice insight into the design process. I think it was a particularly successful effect with this character, but some of the more subtle designs would be especially interesting.

Waddles_Pines

tiomono said:

ThaRoadWarrior said:

I've also never heard a single sound in this game, so hearing from the long-suffering sound designer would be a fascinating read.

Get squirrel girl on your team turn on your sound and use her green. 

@tiomono, do you have any others that you think are worth listening to?  

ursopro

wew lads, just took 2 post for the Bishop mention.

JHawkInc

DAZ0273 said:

tiomono said:

Neat and fun read. I look forward to more of these.

@DAZ0273 the only person to even mention incompetence or nerfs so far is you. Can't we just let a discussion happen instead of trying to censor what hasn't happened.

As I am neither a moderator or a member of the Dev's then I don't really have any control over censoring anybody. Not really sure what your point is? We are told all the time to try and stay on topic. There is a Bishop discussion thread. If this turns into another one by the Dev's design then so be it, otherwise? Not trying to have a fight or anything honestly but this thread is about Torch, no? By all means beat on me etc. if you think I have an agenda but I moved on from the Bishop thread and hoped it wouldn't start following me around. 

This thread is as much about the new blog format as it is about Human Torch.

Expressing interest in the Devs expanding that blog format to discuss more than JUST brand new characters seems perfectly on topic.

Further, your initial comment doesn't make a lot of sense. Someone asked the Devs to give insight into Bishop, and you pointed at a 20+ page thread as to why that shouldn't happen. But those are two entirely unrelated things. That 20 page thread has not an ounce of designer insight in it. And a designer could easily make up a little blog post like they did for Human Torch without addressing whether or not the character needs a nerf. They could simply tell us the ins and outs of why they made the character the way they did. Which could absolutely be useful to the playerbase in discussing the issue ourselves, without the devs having to take a stance on it at all.

I can get not wanting that kind of player argument to follow you around, but honestly, you're the one that dragged it in here. Like tiomono said above, you're the one that brought the mention of nerfs and general tinykitty-flinging into the conversation. Everyone else seeking more designer input seems more interested in understanding, not passing judgement. Which is why we're talking about costumes and animations and sound design right alongside design of characters like Bishop or the MrF rework.

HoundofShadow

They used to do this on Demiurge's website where they talked about colours chosen for characters, their abilities, their design process and also their art designs etc.

I'm glad to see this back again, but in more details.

tiomono

DAZ0273 said:

tiomono said:

Neat and fun read. I look forward to more of these.

@DAZ0273 the only person to even mention incompetence or nerfs so far is you. Can't we just let a discussion happen instead of trying to censor what hasn't happened.

As I am neither a moderator or a member of the Dev's then I don't really have any control over censoring anybody. Not really sure what your point is? We are told all the time to try and stay on topic. There is a Bishop discussion thread. If this turns into another one by the Dev's design then so be it, otherwise? Not trying to have a fight or anything honestly but this thread is about Torch, no? By all means beat on me etc. if you think I have an agenda but I moved on from the Bishop thread and hoped it wouldn't start following me around. 

This is the first blog post in a series about dev insight into character design. Someone asked if this will ever include insight into older characters or character redesigns, or if it will just be new ones.

Someone expressed interest in knowing dev thoughts on bishops design. They said nothing about the devs being incompetent or needing to nerf him. You took the conversation there. You brought that discussion that you "moved on from" over here. And told people not to talk about it because we need a line in the sand. That is an attempt to censor or redirect conversation in the way you feel is appropriate.

I'm not trying to beat on you. I'm just interested in discussion around character design of both new and old characters. And that's where this conversation was until you drew your line in the sand. 

I dont want to argue either. I just want to actually enjoy the fact that we got some dev input on the game. And that we are going to get more in the future.

tiomono

Waddles_Pines said:

tiomono said:

ThaRoadWarrior said:

I've also never heard a single sound in this game, so hearing from the long-suffering sound designer would be a fascinating read.

Get squirrel girl on your team turn on your sound and use her green. 

@tiomono, do you have any others that you think are worth listening to?  

I'm not sure off hand. I mostly play with the sound off but I almost always turn the volume on when squirrel girl is in the match lol.

DAZ0273

OK, fair enough if I have misinterpreted intent then I hold my hands up and apologise accordingly.