Roster Selection Process

[Gevth]

This is a copy of what a gamefaqs member (blutoblutarskyX) copied from the VIP boards from the official site:

here is the basis upon which the developers said in the vip forum on the mua2 site, how they chose to include or exclude characters from the INITIAL RELEASE- they said the guidelines are laxed for dlc- so silver surfer, dr. doom, squiirel girl, optimus prime, cyclops, fans have some insight.

[Hi folks,

This is where I'll be bringing you answers from our Game Director, Dan Tanguay.  Originally were planning to select a small number of questions from the "Ask a developer" mission, but since we got hundreds of questions relating to character selection, Dan wrote an in-depth breakdown of how that process works.  Read on!

Choosing which playable characters appear in the game is one of the most contentious issues I deal with. Everyone has a different favorite character, and we only have time to make a certain number of them. Because of this, I developed guidelines to assist me when putting together the playable character list. It allows me to be very clear why we chose one character over another.

Bear in mind that these were guidelines. We made exceptions to the guidelines when it was necessary, but they were exceptions, not the rule.

How popular are they?
Popularity plays an important role on whether a hero or villain makes the cut, since we're making this game for you. I reviewed message boards and online polls for the fans' favorite characters; we also polled focus groups and fans at conventions.

Still, popularity doesn't guarantee a place on the roster.

What value do they provide gameplay?
Simply put, the playables need to be fun to play within our game mechanics.

• Characters need to have an interesting power set. If there wasn't a lot of power depth, they probably wouldn't be fun for combat or upgrading.
• They need to be able to fuse with every other hero on the roster. If their powers didn't fuse well, we couldn't use them.
• They needed to fit in at least one team for a hidden Team/Roster Bonus. Ideally, the characters should be on multiple teams.

How do they fit with the story?
The playables needed to have a role within our story, even if it was a small one. Story guidelines govern the roster on disc; they only loosely apply to DLC.

• The Civil War-inspired storyline definitely pushed the roster towards the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the Thunderbolts. Still, I wanted to make sure there was room for X-Men and other playables in our story too.
• Given the tone I wanted in our Civil War storyline, I decided early on to avoid magical, mythical, and cosmic playables. Powerful characters that disobeyed this guideline would be unlocked via hero artifacts. (Players would essentially need to "summon" those characters after having collected enough artifacts.)
• I also decided to avoid mastermind playable characters. They would not be bothered getting involved in the heroes' Civil War unless they had a direct role in the story, making them difficult to use as playables.

How often have they appeared in this franchise?
As with any sequel, I wanted to have a good mix of returning favorites and new playables.

(continued)

Do they provide enough diversity in the roster?
Diversity in playables is very important for this game. If all the heroes played the same, there would be no reason to switch heroes or replay the game. Some of the areas of diversity I looked for included:

• Playable characters need to play differently enough on top of being fun in their own right. (I'm looking at you, Hulk and Thing.) We accomplished this through gameplay archetypes. There were six general archetypes we explored, including fighters, defenders, ranged, and controllers. In the case of Hulk and Thing, Hulk became an overpowered fighter, while the Thing was a defender.
• The game should have a mix of flying and non-flying heroes, as well as hero power damage types (ex: fire, electricity) to support RPG tactics.
• The game should also feature a variety of character personalities to make sure our conversations had variety on replay.
• I also wanted to have a good mix of default costume colors, so that players could more easily identify their hero in an intense combat situation.

Can we feasibly create these characters?
This is a very important rule. If a character doesn't work in our engine, I can't approve them to appear in the game.

• Our first challenge is a technical one. Can we take a risk in changing the engine for this character? For example, we added support for Mr. Fantastic's deformable meshes. However, there are many technical challenges we can't take risks on. There really isn't a feasible way to make Kitty Pryde's phasing power work in our engine without redesigning how we construct levels.
• Our next challenge is production-based. Can we deliver a character on time? While we could technically implement someone like Doc Ock, it would take the animators more time to do that than most other characters. Going with a different character is a better choice in this situation.

So, in the case of Green Goblin:

• He's a very popular villain, as compared to Hobgoblin.
• He has a variety of unique gadgets, which gives him interesting powers/attacks. It also gives him enough flexibility for fusion combinations.
• Even though he is more of a mastermind character, he's the leader of the Thunderbolts, which gives him a strong role in the Civil War storyline. His origin and powers are more technology-based, which fits with the tone of the story.
• He's never appeared in any of the previous games.
• He's a crowd control archetype who can fly. He uses explosives, fire (common) and gases (uncommon).
• We were able to get him working in the engine. I had a concern about how he'd summon his glider when he flies, but we found a solution that works.

So I hope you all found this interesting. I'll try to answer another question soon.]

here is the link it is VIP member only now so i don't know if you can access it- if you need verification that i didn't just make this up- please ask another vip member to go there and verify this.

http://www.herohq.com/forums/viewthread/10491/

gamefaqs link: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=951211&topic=50781538

herohq vip link: http://www.herohq.com/forums/viewthread/10491/

[marvelfan12345]

That is cool so I'm guessing either Dr. Strange or Scarlet Witch will be playable. Hey at the end of the game Cap and Iron Man are supposed to unite against a powerful force. Everyone thought it was the Annihilation Wave but it could even be Scarlet Witch who is insane and maybe some sort of House of M or Avengers Dissemebled will appear. In that case both have a great chance. I think Wanda would be great cause of these reasons

1. 6th Female
2. Avenger
3. Close Ties to X-Men
4. Magical/Adds New Stuff
5. Has a great chance to be the Secret Character
6. Gives chance for VV to redeem themselves for messing her up in XMLII

Anyway now I doubt Punisher, Nova, and Cyclops cause all he does is fire one optic beams so he wouldn't be fun upgrading and there isn't much power depth. His powers aren't very interesting.

[Josel85]

I think that the last character that Activision said that they never revealed is the principal character of Prototype videogame. Been this of Activision I think that it´s probably but I´don´t like this idea.
Of course I prefier a Marvel character.

[marvelfan12345]

I doubt they will include a non-marvel hero for the 360 and PS3.

[Teancum]

I think that the last character that Activision said that they never revealed is the principal character of Prototype videogame. Been this of Activision I think that it´s probably but I´don´t like this idea.
Of course I prefier a Marvel character.

Dunno where you heard that, but there's no way I could ever see that happening, even as a DLC character.

[BLaw]

That is cool so I'm guessing either Dr. Strange or Scarlet Witch will be playable.

Given the tone I wanted in our Civil War storyline, I decided early on to avoid magical, mythical, and cosmic playables.

I don't think Strange or Wanda will be playable in this game.

[ThePhoenix]

That puts out the chance for Silver Surfer too... Though I never thought he even would have had any chances. I still have hopes for Iceman or Cable.

[Dihan]

I'm happy if the last two reveals turn out to be Ms Marvel and Iceman, to be honest. The main thing I'm disappointed in are the fusions. To be quite honest, Xtremes looked a lot more spectacular. I'm not saying that fusions don't have a place, but Xtremes are nice too.

[Teancum]

The main thing I'm disappointed in are the fusions. To be quite honest, Xtremes looked a lot more spectacular. I'm not saying that fusions don't have a place, but Xtremes are nice too.

Yep -- and on top of that they were made to look much more exciting in the trailers, but once we saw the traditional top-down gameplay all of the sparkle left.  They just aren't nearly as interesting, because there's nothing to put your focus on the fusion itself.

[Shauny7488]

Yep -- and on top of that they were made to look much more exciting in the trailers, but once we saw the traditional top-down gameplay all of the sparkle left.  They just aren't nearly as interesting, because there's nothing to put your focus on the fusion itself.

Sounds like im going to be sticking to MUA then. Is it just me or from what i saw in Iron Fist's trailer, did he look, i dunno, boring?

[Teancum]

Oh I'll definitely get MUA2.  I'm sure it'll be a great game.  I kindof think of it as the transition from XML2-->MUA.  They took out some features that I liked to 'streamline' the game, but all of the things they actually did improve on made me love the game.

[marvelfan12345]

I just need another female besides Ms. Marvel. 5 is not enough and that honestly is the biggest dissapointment. I still refuse to count Spider-Woman and Scarlet Witch out.

[Teancum]

I'd much rather have Black Cat before Spider-Woman.  I can't stand Ms. Drew.  Scarlet Witch I'm on the fence about.  I don't really like her as a character, but I can still see the appeal of why people do.  She sucked in XML2 though.

[marvelfan12345]

Yeah she could have been way better. I really modified her in XMLII to make me like her powerset. Black Cat is cool but I like Spider-Woman better. She has become a big part of marvel now which is why on marvel.com she is on the front.

[Unknown]

Every female in XML2 sucked, but that's my opion. eg costumes for Storm and Scarlet Witch and Jean Grey, they just didn't intrest me. Then there was the powers, Scarlet Witch was a bit down graded and Storm's powers were a bit boring.