The DC Universe Online team held a panel on Saturday at the New York Comic Con to discuss the game with fans and introduce legendary comic writer Marv Wolfman to the fold. Wes Yanagi, the senior producer for DCUO, welcomed the members of the panel before jumping into questions. As Yanagi pointed out, DCUO executive creative director and famed artist Jim Lee, writer Geoff Johns and Wolfman needed no introduction for the crowd of comic book fans. Creative Director Jens Andersen, Art Director Jared Carr and Studio Creative Director Chris Cao filled out the table to answer numerous questions regarding the upcoming MMO.

Yanagi began the session by asking Lee to talk a little bit about the challenges of turning two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional images for the game.  “When I draw my characters, they’re not necessary meant to be turned around in 3D,” Lee said, noting it was “rude awakening” he learned to quickly overcome. The artist said he envisions the ideal version of the DC universe as he oversees the creation of concept art. For example, he said the Metropolis in the game will be a composite of all other versions. Even smaller details, such as the size of Batman’s ears or the design of his belt, have to be taken into account.

“It’s been a real learning experience,” Lee said, emphasizing he’s had a great dialogue with the other artists on the team from Sony Online Entertainment. “The stuff you’re going to see is really a collaboration among a group of different artists.”

Carr further discussed the issue by explaining that game artists take a different approach to their work than comic artists. He said comic artists generally have an individual style, while game artists do the opposite. The large team has been looking at translating Lee’s style into the 3D world of DCUO, which Carr pointed out to the audience through concept art of LexCorp base assets that was displayed on a large screen in the room.

Yanagi then asked Lee to further discuss the design process behind the LexCorp art. Lee explained that the game will have a lot of PvP where players will be assigned to one faction or another, so he wanted each base to look different so they’re easily distinguishable. He made the joke that green and purple are evil colors, but then said the greens were made to look fatigued so the hue wouldn’t appear childlike.

Andersen jumped in and commented that the game is more than just about Metropolis and Gotham City. “We have locations all over the world that we want you jaunting off to. We have a save the world concept basically, or rule it. These factions tie into that greatly,” he said. For example, alerts will pop up to tell players about major missions, such as heading to a secret LexCorp base.

Yanagi asked Lee what the challenges are behind drawing things he’s never had to draw before for the game. Lee said he’s drawn Batman and Superman, but he had to create concepts for a lot of characters he’s never worked with before. “It’s almost as if I was drawing the DC Universe comic book,” Lee said. He said it’s impossible for one person to do all that, but he has a team that works in one office at Wildstorm where they constantly pass concept ideas back and forth. “There’s a lot of characters I honestly didn’t even know about,” Lee said. As for coming up with the character’s costumes, he discussed Zatanna and said he definitely want to keep the top hat and fishnets. “There’s a huge part of our audience that just loves fishnets,” he joked to loud applause. He also said other characters, such as the Green Arrow, will have costumes unique to the game while still looking familiar to fans.

Yanagi switched direction to the writers and asked Johns to discuss the challenges behind writing for a game instead of a comic book. Johns said he “got what the game was going to be about” when he played the demo and saw you could play as a hero in Metropolis helping Superman fight Doomsday. “I wanted to create a story and environment that would kind of make you the actual person with the secret identity going into the game and becoming a hero in the DC Universe and interacting with all these characters that we love,” he said. Johns said he couldn’t talk about the story, but mentioned he was very happy Wolfman joined the team. “He’s one of my greatest influences,” Johns said.

Yanagi directed the same question toward Wolfman. “They gave me Geoff’s overview and it just blew me away,” Wolfman said, noting Johns managed to take every little part of the DC Universe and create ways to encompass every single type of character. Wolfman, who has been in the comic book industry for more than 40 years, said DC is a very different company than others because it grew over 75 years and has a lot of history. Wolfman said he loves developing the concept that players can dive right in and know their roles from the first time they log in, but said he couldn’t have come up with the story Johns created. “It’s just really, really good, “Wolfman said of Johns’ story.

Yanagi then asked Andersen to discuss the challenges of working with the story from the design side of the game. Andersen said they really want to make sure the action stays in the forefront, but that it’s obviously a universe rich with stories and characters. “We are an action game, so we don’t want people reading a ton of text all the time,” he said. The mission objectives are very clear and you’ll have a personal relationship with the heroes through communication without reading walls of text.

  Andersen gave an example of this concept by touching on the demo that focuses on Superman and Doomsday. Superman fights Doomsday and takes him down, and the creature is moved to a STAR Labs facility. Lex Luthor hires villains to collect samples of Doomsday’s blood and then tries to get Doomsday moved to another location, but things go awry. The villains help Luthor, while the heroes fight against him. These are examples of cases and capers, which are missions for heroes and villains, respectively.

Yanagi changed direction to the development side and asked Cao to explain how some of the earliest decisions were made. “This is the first time all of you and all of us are ever going to have the chance to step into the DC Universe as if it was real,” Cao said, noting that players will have to make numerous decisions regarding their characters, from powers to movement styles. “From an approach, what we’re really doing is bringing an entire universe to life, a universe of stories with Geoff and Marv, and not necessarily just one story or one character’s story,” Cao said. Players will be trying to earn the respect or fear of major DC Universe heroes and villains. He said the super end goal being established is the concept of standing besides these legendary characters as equals.

The panel then entered the question and answer session for fans in the audience.

• Will we see the Atomic Skull in the game? Andersen said they get a lot of questions about specific characters, but they’re waiting to respond to those until Wolfman gets a chance to sink his teeth into it and had a chance to flesh out which characters will be making appearances.

• Is the Blackest Night storyline going to be in DC Universe Online? Johns said he can’t talk about any storylines in game, and Andersen said they’re making ideal version of the DC Universe for launch. For example, Bruce Wayne will be Batman no matter what’s happening in the comics right now.

• Will the PS3 and PC versions co-exist? Yanagi said they haven’t made any decisions yet, but technically it’s possible since they’re supporting it right now during the testing process. Yanagi did say it would be a cool feature to have in the game.

• How will gameplay be different between hardcore raiders and comic fans? Cao said they want to introduce every possible player to the DC Universe. The recognizable DC characters will draw in the comic book fans, and there will be raiding, but not as most players have seen it before. He said to watch the demos to see how players fight and imagine groups of groups doing that alongside major heroes and villains to get an idea of how raiding will work. This most likely means raiding will be highly action-based.

• Is the team building a high resolution opening cinematic? Carr said the internal team is not doing cinematic work.

• Will there be specific specs as far as gameplay is concerned? Andersen said their big goal is making superheroes flexible. They are not trying to create a class-based system. They want you to bring your friends, not their classes. Cao said DCUO is an action game moment to moment and you’ll choose a set of numerous abilities to bring into the fight. Cao said over time you’ll earn dozens of abilities in a given power type or theme. You make choices at character creation that define your character, such as what weapons you use, and you make more choices like that over the life of your character.

• How often will the game be updated? Cao said there will be expansions with more stories because they can’t launch the whole universe at one. There will be plenty of live updates and seasonal events.

• Will the game take place in any specific time period? Johns said it will take place in modern day.

• Will there be a monthly fee on the PS3? Yanagi said that hasn’t been decided yet and mentioned the possibility of microtransactions.

• What was the hardest power to program and show visually? Andersen said they’re trying to make it so they have a bunch of physics toys available and said the most challenging one hasn’t been unveiled yet. Cao strongly hinted that telekinesis, which is the power to move objects with your mind, will be available in the game.

• What’s the scope of customization? Will all ice characters look alike? Andersen said all characters will not look alike. You create your costume when you create your character and you can maintain that look throughout your career if you’d like. You will be able to wear items to increase your stats, but the design of the item doesn’t have to override your costume. Andersen gave the example of Batman having numerous suits to complete different tasks, but they all look like Batman. You’ll be able to keep the signature features of your costume or completely reinvent yourself at any time.

• How does the concept art for the cities carry over to the 3D world? Lee said the goal is that wherever you’re dropped into the world, you’ll know immediately where you are. Metropolis will have a clear atmosphere and narrow streets, while Gotham will be darker and grittier. Carr said they want to make every environment unique and treat them like characters. Lee and Carr both said color and lighting are a major focus. The environments will be very colorful since it’s a comic book palette.

• How does death work from a design and storyline standpoint? “You have to wait a year before we can relaunch you! But you will eventually come back because you are too valuable to the team,” Lee joked to loud applause. Andersen said they have a rally mechanic that knocks players out for a time rather than killing them. “It’s a war of attrition,” he said.

• Will you incorporate power sets such as shrinking, growing and elasticity? Cao said they’re looking at the power types and structures needed to create the main heroes in the DC Universe first, but they’ll always be able to add more.

• Will players be able to create Green Lantern constructs? Cao said there will be preset ones, such as cages.

• Will players be able to mine Kryptonite? Cao took that as a trade skills question and said while they haven’t touched on that issue yet, if a concept makes sense for superheroes, it’ll be in DCUO. If it’s more of a conventional or fantasy concept, then it might not be in the game in a way you’ve seen in before.

• How will NPC civilians react to heroes and villains? Andersen said it depends on where you are. Characters will have threat levels depending on where they are and their actions. If a character is throwing buses, his or her threat will increase. If a villain is walking through midtown, his threat will already be high. But if he’s walking through Suicide Slums, his threat will be low.

• Will the game be mission-based or focus more on free play? Cao said they will be supplying players with content so they can be villainous or heroic as they patrol or prowl through the open world. Andersen said there will be events such as bank robberies, but they won’t happen every five seconds on a continuous loop. He said Wolfman’s cases and capers will also add to the bigger story arcs.

• Are there going to be innocent people walking the streets? Andersen said pedestrians will not be targets. He said it would be unbalanced if heroes had to worry about harming innocent people if villains could harm whoever they want.

Darryl "Togikagi" Gangloff
News Reporter
Allakhazam.com