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What aspect of the Revelation expansion are you most proud of?

There are many elements that really stand out.  The story is an epic comic book plot, where the players must fight against seemingly unstoppable forces. You experience two versions of Vibora Bay: an awesome apocalyptic environment and it’s relatively calm and gorgeous-looking counterpart in the past. The art is some of the best in the game, and the story is both clever and top notch.

Which was the most challenging part to work on?

The most challenging was probably keeping the time-travel elements and sequenced narrative right. Players deal with a crisis (the Apocalypse) first, and then the pre-crisis (before the Apocalypse happens), along with a lot of story sequences that change based on what part of the story a player is playing through.  As heroes start dying off and the time machine starts getting built, a lot of the story logic and state of the environments become difficult to keep track of.

Looking to the future, with Revelation finished and out there, what are the development team working on now?

We’re working on the Super Power Pack update (which should be released when this interview is available) and our first Adventure Pack.

The Super Power Pack contains major revisions to the Melee and Supernatural power frameworks. It splits Supernatural into two whole sets and adds a couple of other new powers here and there. Melee is almost completely re-built. This update also adds new Unity missions in Vibora Bay, as well as changes to the teaming interface and many bug fixes.

The first Adventure Pack is called “The Serpent Lantern” and takes place in (and under) a jungle. It reveals a lot about where VIPER gets its power. Like I mentioned, any player level 11 or above, with any size team, can play these adventures. They take a few hours to complete and have some pretty exciting and epic moments.

What are your long term goals for the future of the game? Have they changed much with the switch in executive producer?

I don’t think our goals have changed much with me at the helm. When you create a game like this, you have a certain vision in mind. But once it’s launched, it becomes a vision shared between us and the players. So, we’re getting our player base involved in deciding what kinds of things we should work on. I’m focusing on those things that the players want the most (tempered, of course, with our understanding of the game itself).

You recently added a bunch of new perks to the game for lifetime subscribers. Are there any plans to reward monthly subscribers in similar ways? For example, access to special c-store items for having subscribed for 6months or similar. Or the option to upgrade to a lifetime subscription?

Yes, we plan on having a “Veteran Rewards” program, which will provide extra perks for our dedicated players. The details aren’t set yet, but will be announced officially very soon! (Opening lifetime subscriptions up again is still being discussed.)

Let’s imagine I’m a previous Champions player that left the game after launch. Which improvements would you list to entice me to come back and give the game another chance?

The Revelation update is really amazing. It’s adds a brand new permanent zone, Vibora Bat, for characters level 37 and up. (And if you like a challenge, you can try it starting at level 34!) The zone itself is visually stunning and amazingly detailed. But most importantly, the stories and missions in Vibora Bay are probably the best in the game. It’s certainly worth coming back to play through it.

Along the way we’ve made many bug fixes and added other content throughout the game, so the overall feel of the game is better too. But as a person who likes to play brawlers, I’m very excited about the upcoming update. This is up on our test shard now for everyone to try out and tell us what they think. It makes melee a lot more fun to play in my opinion, but we’re looking to our players to see where it really stands. So come back and tell us!