MARVEL: CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS
Working on MCOC is an absolute blast. Without going into the absurdly extensive RPG systems of this nearly decade-old mobile fighting game, designing Champions for the game is both incredibly fun and incredibly difficult.
Making a Champion that is simultaneously fun, useful from a meta-perspective, and hits all of their flavor goals as a character from one of the largest IPs in the world is quite the challenge. But I feel as though many of my Champions, especially modern ones, do a good job of hitting the goals I set out for them.
Misty Knight was my first Champion and her gameplay revolved around timing Special Attacks with Debuffs expiring while amid an animation to inflict extra damage. Her kit was interesting and fun from a gameplay standpoint, but ultimately her tricky gameplay and niche RPG utility meant that she wouldn't be viable to the more competitive side of the player base and is very rarely seen at higher levels of play.
Wong was my second champion, and his core mechanic was building up mythical energy and converting it into Power (Super meter) using his chargeable Heavy attack, this led to incredibly fun gameplay that many members of the community loved! While his gameplay was some of the most fun in the game, his gameplay loop revolved around being in longer fights, which only accounts for a small portion of our game modes.
Thirdly, Galan was a smash hit, being the MCOC version of Galactus, I was set on making a force of nature that should not be messed with. A goal that I hit (maybe a little too hard honestly.) His gameplay loop revolves around building up 'Planetary Mass' and then consuming all of that mass to inflict a massive burst of direct damage. His kit was easy to understand, his RPG abilities were so incredibly powerful that they were meta-defining for a good period and Galan remains a threat to this day.
After the homerun that was Galan, I worked away on a Champion Rework for Rocket Raccoon, a personal favorite Marvel character of mine. The goal for his new and revamped kit was to take the original idea of his kit and add some modern flare to it. His kit revolves around building up scrap metal to build armor systems to protect himself while also powering up his Special Attacks. His kit is super simple and effective, and honestly, I think that many members of the community are still unaware of how powerful this Raccoon can be.
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One of my favorite Champions that I've made is Mantis, as an avid lover of the Guardians of the Galaxy, I called dibs on this character over half a year in advance. Her kit revolves around altering the habits of your AI opponent to make them more or less aggressive. By playing into their current emotional biases, such as hitting their block while they play defensively, you can build up the power to annihilate your opponent with Special 2.
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After Mantis, I was able to work on a sleeper hit: Cassie Lang, daughter of the Ant-man and according to my documentation, "a tiny science gremlin that makes you throw special attacks". Cassie's kit revolves around a core element of Ant-Man's defensive kit, Power Stings, when a Champion activates a Special Attack while inflicted with a Power Sting, the Sting will 'pop' and deal a burst of damage. Cassie's Power Stings reapply themselves when her opponent throws a Special Attack, so her kit is designed around making her Opponents throw as many Special Attacks as possible without letting the Power Stings expire naturally. This was a super fun gameplay loop to make and the community loves it as well!
After Cassie, I took a little break from playable Champions and hopped over to design Cerastes, the final boss of Act 8.3. Cerastes is a corrupted form of Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man) and I wanted to make a difficult fight that makes you feel like you're fighting against an expert strategist that you truly need to outsmart to take him down. His armor is divided across three different resources: Leg, Shield, and Spirit Armor respectively, by targeting these three different sources and 'breaking' them all at the same time, he becomes stunned and the player can go in for crazy damage. This boss fight is incredibly solid, the gameplay loop never feels unfair to make you feel like any time you die is truly your fault. Overall Cerastes is an amazing boss fight that I am incredibly proud of.
Dust was next following Cerastes. Dust is a more niche X-Men featured in a few modern comic runs and I was incredibly excited to work on her kit. Her gameplay revolves around generating sand and converting it into a Sandstorm. Based on how much Sand was consumed to make the storm, her power grows more and more. One of my core goals with Dust was to make her feel completely separate from the gameplay found in Sandman, which I feel as though I did with flying colors. Her gameplay is unique, powerful, and incredibly fun, especially against Skill Class Champions like Kingpin.
Most recently released, Spider-Punk may be my magnum opus of working on MCOC. As an avid lover of rhythm games like Guitar Hero, Osu!, Sound Voltex, and many more, I wanted to craft a moment completely oriented around timing. After speaking to the backend team, I was able to get a tech request in for Swipe Up and Swipe Down functionality, which I used to create a minigame during Punk's Special 2 that forces you to swipe up and down to the rhythm of the attacks (mimicking strumming a guitar). This moment along with his absurdly powerful damage in the form of Rupture Debuffs (from literally rupturing your ears off) makes him a modern threat in the Science class.
Overall, I love all of my children, but there are positive and negative aspects to each and every one of them which made them all a joy to design and play over the years.