Interview with the Team Bringing Back City of Heroes .

Yesterday I stood on the streets of Paragon City. For the first time in years I heard the familiar dance tunes being cranked out by DJ Zero. I stood shoulder to shoulder in City of Heroes with the folks working on what the community right now knows as Soon™. I was there to get screenshots for this interview and to see what Soon™ has to offer. I am incredibly impressed with the work that has been done. I got the chance to speak with Leandro, Codewalker, TonyV, and Angelus Animi who make up the core of the team.

 

Forward from Codewalker:
Thanks for your interest! You’d think after Icon I wouldn’t be surprised by how much attention something like this gets, but the community response still blows me away.

Before diving into the questions, I’d like to take a moment to make a quick announcement. What everybody has been calling  Soon™ is actually named Paragon Chat. We didn’t announce the name at first, but have had it in mind for quite a while and were waiting for the right opportunity. The teaser picture took off a little faster than expected and people ran with the wording on it.

The name Paragon Chat was chosen for the dual meaning of the return to Paragon City as well as to remember the development team who originally created it.

Our Pal

 

Paragon Chat is clearly a labor of love and a massive investment in time and skill, what was it that inspired you to start on this project?

Codewalker: Two things. The first is the community. The residents of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, though currently displaced, represent a diverse and rich community of many different interests. Our numbers have diminished some since the closure, but its spirit is very much alive and in need of a home.

The second is to honor the developers who put their heart and soul into creating City of Heroes. They worked long hours, often did things on their own time, and faced immense technical and logistical challenges in order to create something more than just a game. They created a world, and the community fleshed out that world with its creativity and gave it life.

While our hope is that someday everyone will be able to fully experience the work of art they created again, what inspired this project was the realization that thanks to ongoing reverse engineering efforts, it might now be within our grasp to give some small piece of that back to the community.

After some initial brainstorming, we came up with the idea of using the game client to connect to a chat server. Sure, there would be no gameplay. But the social aspect, the costume contests, even the roleplaying could all exist without that.

I don’t expect that everyone will be thrilled with this project; after all, for many people the gameplay was the important part. That’s okay, they don’t have to hang out if they don’t want to. However, it does represent a step forward for everyone — one step closer to home. After all, you have to walk before you can fly.

Leandro: I’m going to take the answer on a different direction. What inspired the use of XMPP instead of a more conventional server architecture is because a regular server that the game client connects to directly would need to have access to game data, and we do not have the rights to distribute that. By using XMPP, there is no question regarding the legality of the server; there are hundreds of XMPP servers out there that will work just fine with Paragon Chat. All the game data that we use is read directly from the game client’s data files, on the player’s computer, and it doesn’t leave their computer.

Why do you think after all this time people still long for Paragon City despite having other options like Champions Online, Marvel Heroes, and DCUO?

TonyV: Actually, one of the great things about all of these games is that the communities aren’t mutually exclusive.  We have a lot of players who are members of some or all of these communities, just as some people are members of multiple clubs and organizations in real life.  If one shuts down, you may miss being a member of it even if you’re a member of others.

Still, I believe there are a few reasons that people remain dedicated to Paragon City, starting with the length of time our community has been together. Paragon City has been around now for longer than a decade, whereas Champions Online and DCUO are not quite six years old and Marvel Heroes is barely two years old.  Because of the nature of the development of City of Heroes from the early days when MMORPGs didn’t have as many features as they do today and because City of Heroes was the first MMORPG to break into the superhero genre, our community also tended to be more social than others.  Also, City of Heroes was groundbreaking in many ways that other games only implemented much later if at all, ways that heavily promoted the socialization aspect of the game.  For example, we had powerful character customization features, both costumes and abilities, that encouraged a high degree of uniqueness among characters.  The user-generated content system allowed us to tell our own stories and share them with friends.  The base building system allowed us to have places custom made to reflect our unique subcultures and groups where we could hang out with our friends.  The sidekick system allowed long-time veterans and new players alike to share and contribute to completing missions.

I believe it’s also important to note that one of our goals is to change the mindset behind how MMORPGs are sunset in general, making publishers aware that they really need a better plan to keep established communities together and loyal than simply shutting off servers when they are done, leaving communities out in the cold or destroying them entirely.  What we are trying to accomplish here will hopefully have ramifications throughout the industry, including when the respective publishers of Champions Online, Marvel Heroes, and DCUO decide that they no longer want to continue those games.  We want to help all communities stay together, not just ours.

Paragon Chat is set to release in the next few weeks assuming all goes according to plan which suggests that it is very close to completion, is there anything in particular that’s proving more difficult to get taken care of?

Codewalker: Nothing in particular. I insisted that all of the hard stuff be completed and working before we announced the project, much to the chagrin of some of the playtesters who have been helping out. At this point it’s mostly crossing our Ts and dotting our Is, and hopefully preventing anything from blowing up on day one.

Leandro: Everything that was too difficult to complete by April 28th was just set aside for a future release. We really wanted this out in the 11th Anniversary month of City of Heroes… and we still missed that deadline. But not by much!

 

I’d like to move on to some of the more technical questions on how things will work. We know already that combat won’t be available so I won’t ask any questions about that.

 

Can you explain a little bit more about how the inclusion of XMPP means we can be in the game together?

Codewalker: XMPP, which used to be called Jabber before it was formalized into an Internet standard, is at its heart an instant messaging system. It also has extensions that allow it to be used in a chat-room type setting. Both of those seemed like a good fit for this project.

The real magic comes from the ‘X’ in XMPP, which stands for ‘eXtensible’ (I guess EMPP didn’t have the same ring to it). What it means is that we can include our own custom information that is invisible to normal messaging programs, but to someone running Paragon Chat it tells it where the player is, what they are doing, what their costume looks like, and so on.

The XMPP server doesn’t care about the content of these custom messages, it just happily passes them along to whoever is connected. So the server-side doesn’t have to be running anything COH-specific at all! Just a standard chat server that you connect to using our protocol translation software. You can even connect to Google Talk using COH as a chat client if you want.

Leandro: To put it on simpler terms, XMPP sets up a basic connection between many users, and it cares little of what you send to those users. Other messaging protocols are built with specific purposes and mind and reject data that they can’t process, but XMPP has no problem sending data it knows nothing about. It doesn’t need to know what a City of Heroes costume or movement data looks like, it just sends it on its way and lets the recipient figure out what to do with it.

From the screenshots released already we can see that players will be able to chat in broadcast and local. There has also been quite a lot of talk about global channels. Will we also have options for private messages and “teams” as we once knew them? Are there any limitations on chatting in general?

Codewalker: Private messaging works, and was actually the very first thing we did. For a while, you could only run around in an empty city (shades of Icon), but send and receive tells from other people who were using standard instant messaging clients. Even that little bit of interaction we thought was pretty cool to see, but way too niche for public release.

Broadcast and request (which is just broadcast with a different color) work, sending to everyone who is in the same zone as you. Local chat and emote text, such as when somebody types “/em eats a sandwich” also work as expected — they are only sent to nearby players in visual range. Roleplaying tends to depend heavily on local chat, so we felt it was a must-have for release.

Teams and supergroups are something we want to do, but are a little more complicated and we didn’t want to hold back general availability just for that. So you’ll be seeing them in a future version.

The beauty of all this being based on XMPP is that you don’t even have to be “in game” to use it. You can connect using a regular chat program like Pidgin, exchange private messages with people, join global channels and chat with people who are in them, or even join the “Atlas Park” chatroom and speak in zone broadcast to everyone who’s in Atlas. About the only thing you can’t do from outside the game is see or participate in local chat, since that is range limited and requires the presence of an avatar.

 

What kinds of things will you have in place to prevent trolling and antisocial behavior?

TonyV: We will be enabling chat logging on our chat server. Users are expected to abide by our Terms of Service, which explicitly forbid attacking, harassing, or griefing other users.  If we receive complaints about an individual, the chat logs will be pulled and reviewed.  If appropriate, we may block such individuals from using our chat server or even ban them from our sites and services completely.

Codewalker: There is also the ignore feature. It works similarly to how it did in City of Heroes, but in Paragon Chat it’s quite a bit more powerful. Since the messages to and from other people contain a lot more than just text, when you ignore someone, you’re not just blocking their chat but removing them from interacting with you in any way, which includes displaying their avatar.

More simply, if you have someone on ignore, you can’t see them, and they can’t see you. As soon as you click ‘Ignore’ they fade out and disappear from your universe. This is global and applies across ignored person’s account, even if they log into a different character.

TonyV: But one nice feature of the software is that if users do not like our rules or how they are enforced, they may set up their own chat server and allow or restrict whatever behaviour they see fit; that is, trolling and antisocial behavior are truly in the eye of the beholder!

 

The entire community has loved the amazing videos that have come out through the years created by other players. Will demo record work in Paragon Chat?

Codewalker: Demo record didn’t work in Icon, but that was a necessity due to the method it used to interact with the client. We can do better now.

Angelus Animi: Yes, demo recording works.  We wouldn’t want to risk the wrath of demo editors! It records movement smoothly for your character, but the movement of other players can be jumpy or laggy. We are hoping movement issues get ironed out in future updates, but this is still a great thing for demo editors and machinima enthusiasts everywhere.

 

Will Paragon Chat be difficult to use for the technologically challenged?

Codewalker: It’s designed to be as simple as possible to hop online and start chatting. If you already have a Titan Network account, you’ll simply log in with the same account and password that you use on the forums or other Titan Network sites, and will be good to go. If your username does not meet the more stringent restrictions of a COH global name, you might have to take one extra step to change it.

Using Paragon Chat with non-Titan XMPP servers, such as privately hosted ones, requires a little bit of technical knowledge, but not an extreme amount. We’re using standard, freely available server software.

Leandro: I want to add that some functionality in the initial release will only be available to users who are comfortable editing configuration files. For example, emotes in Paragon Chat are defined in a configuration file that experienced users can edit and add custom emotes to; so any animation in the game can be used as an emote if the user is willing to learn how to do it. Similarly, any map in the game can be used as a “city zone” for chatting if the user edits another configuration file. So while normal functionality is available for anyone, technical users will enjoy some extra perks.

On that same vein, are there any tools or resources the City of Heroes community should familiarize themselves with to prepare for the upcoming launch of Paragon Chat?

Codewalker: It will be very similar to Icon in that it requires you to have an existing CoH installation. Even though it was a free download when the game was live, to be on the safe side we don’t want to be in the business of distributing copyrighted client files.

The main difference is that Icon also worked with Issue 23. This project is much more complex, so we unfortunately had to drop the dual-version support to retain our sanity. We chose to target the newer version with more costume parts available, which means you will need an Issue 24 Beta installation. I24 was very popular in beta so many people still have it on their computer.

I’ve heard mention that there are community-created tools for updating an I23 install to I24, but that’s in a grey area so we can’t endorse those.

Leandro: Back when the shutdown of City of Heroes was announced, the Titan Network released a tool called “Sentinel” that read character data from the game client and wrote it to an XML file. Currently, there is a tool called Senticon that extracts costumes from Sentinel XML files, and that is a good starting point. Once Paragon Chat is out for a while, there will be a tool available to import all the data from a Sentinel XML file, so player characters are restored to the state they were in before the shutdown. I believe this is the first time that players will be able to restore their characters after an MMO closed.

 

Will there be any forums set aside for Paragon Chat to coordinate gatherings and help old friends find each other once again? I for one am looking forward to having another massive rally in Atlas Park.

Leandro: The Titan Network already has a forum section set aside for Paragon Chat users, and several playtesters are eager to host events in it. We know the functionality is limited, but that isn’t stopping some from making plans for tabletop-like roleplaying within the game. And of course, we’re looking forward to the Cape Radio and Save COH Radio broadcasting “live” from Paragon City once again.

Will the world be populated with NPCs?

Leandro: only non-combat NPCs, like the trainers, contacts, and tailors will be available. Tailors are the only ones that actually do something; you will be able to edit, save and load your costume. We have also added a couple of easter egg NPCs for the community to find; one of them dedicated to Ascendant, a great City of Heroes player who passed away two years ago.

Combat NPCs are the absolute hardest part of the whole project, the one thing that people should not expect to be done any time soon. Critter AI and pathfinding are extremely difficult to do even without the extra challenges imposed by using XMPP as a server.

 

Are there any things that you think, or you at least hope you will be able to do with Paragon Chat that won’t be available for launch?

Leandro: There is a very long wishlist of features. Personally, base building is the top feature I want done, and it is certainly possible to do through XMPP, but it will take quite some time before it’s ready. Some work was done in the powers system, and PVP combat should be possible eventually.

Codewalker: Travel powers are a big one. Everybody loves to fly, and while it won’t be ready in time for release, we’re hoping to have it in the first major update.

The second biggest in my opinion is the ability to create custom rooms, which is something we’d like to see perhaps in the second big update. Right now, Paragon Chat lets you go to any city or hazard zone that exists in the game. Each one is mapped to a different chatroom on the server — being in the ‘kingsrow’ room means that you’re in King’s Row.

What I’d like to do is add some kind of interface to create a custom room. In this custom room you could choose any map that exists in the client, whether it’s a zone, a mission map, whatever. Maybe even an SG base loaded from a demo record, who knows. When you invite people to this room and they accept, they are teleported into it and appear on the same map. The creator of this custom environment might even have some limited GM-like abilities, such as creating (probably stationary) NPCs and teleporting them around. I could see this being used for all sorts of purposes, from supergroup reunions to pen and paper style gaming sessions.

 

Getting set up and logged in for the screenshots was incredibly easy. Travelling from map to map was as simple as knowing the right slash command. I’d like to say a very big thank you to the entire Paragon Chat team, and all the beta testers who showed up to help me see what Paragon Chat looks like with people in it. The team still has a few bugs to work out before they’re ready for release but it will be coming Soon™.