Robar also noted that once the game was monetized, there were a small number of hardcore fans that were spending as much as $500 on the freemium game. However, players are burning through the content faster than the team can add it in, and the game originally launched without monetization in place. The gap between entry-level characters and maxed-out characters isn't very large, Minn said, so level-one characters and max-level characters can play together without problem.Īs for how they did, Robar said the game is monetized and the target demographic was reached, which were victories for the team. The team also focused on short missions (15 minutes, ideally) and rapid level progression for new characters. While it can impact their rating at the end of a mission, they can always keep playing until they succeed because success is fun. As a result, Minn said the motto of the development team was, "Let the Wookie win." There is no failure in the game, as players who die simply respawn immediately. Older players leaned toward competitive multiplayer, while the youngest set stuck with single-player action. Robar said the team tried to focus on creating a number of different play styles, such as solo action, cooperative play, and competitive player-versus-player. On top of that, Minn said the players tended to swap out popular characters to play as less-known heroes of their own volition, just because they didn't want to be the same as everyone else. But just as kids aren't horribly upset at Halloween when someone else has the same costume, Robar said they didn't mind not being the only Thor in their world.
However, once the game went live, Robar said the budget to test like that went away and the team hasn't been able to keep up with it as much as it would like.Īnother problem that sprang up was the issue of letting players play as the iconic super heroes, something that other online games have often avoided. The team ran focus groups with continuous testing from kids throughout the production process, which helped keep them on track. The goal with Super Hero Squad Online was to make something parents would also like to play with their kids. Any parents who have had to play the classic board game with their kids probably knows it's a terrible game, something they endure because they want to play with their children. The big thing the team had to solve was "The Candy Land problem," Robar said. The goal then was for Super Hero Squad Online to serve as an introduction to the universe aimed at boys from grades one through six. Comics aren't available everywhere like they used to be, and the ones that are around often aren't suitable for kids.
#WHEN DID MARVEL SUPER HERO SQUAD ONLINE FULL#
He described the team as primarily consisting of veterans, a full 85 percent of them married, and more than half with kids.Īfter showing a clip to get across the heart of the family-friendly take on the Marvel Comics universe, Robar said the goal was to bring the characters he grew up with to a whole new audience. What they talked about: Robar began by talking about the makeup of Seattle-based The Amazing Society. Spider-Man may be going insane here, but it's cute because it's little. Who was there: The Amazing Society cofounders creative director Jay Minn and studio manager Jason Robar appeared at the 2011 Game Developers Choice Online to deliver a postmortem on Gazillion's Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, a massively multiplayer online game made in less than two years.
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