Cryptic Adds Comic Writer

[Jul 17, 2007, 3:03 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Cryptic Studios announces the addition of a veteran comic book writer to help develop Marvel Universe Online, further strengthening the developer's comic bona fides that already included the success of City of Heroes/Villains:

LOS GATOS, CA - JULY 17, 2007 - Cryptic Studios, Inc., a leading independent developer of massively-multiplayer online games, today announced that they have added to their growing talent pool with the hiring of a new Design Writer, John Layman. Layman, a twelve-year veteran of the comic book industry and an accomplished game writer, joined the team in their Los Gatos headquarters on Monday, June 25. He will be lending his expertise to Marvel(TM) Universe Online, the highly-anticipated MMO currently in development for PC and the Xbox 360(TM) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

"Having a creator like John on our side really demonstrates to our players -- present and future -- that we strive for authenticity when we bring a universe to life," said Michael Lewis, CEO of Cryptic Studios. "As a company, we are committed to hiring the most creative people in and out of the industry. It's all about delivering high-quality games that stay true to what both gamers and fans of the genre have come to expect from our studio."

Layman's comic credits include written work for several prominent Marvel Comics series, including Gambit, House of M: Fantastic Four, and Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness. He is responsible for several creator-owned titles, including Puffed for Image Comics and Armageddon & Son for Oni Press. Layman also has several notable games to which he has contributed his writing, including Metroid: Hunters for the Nintendo DS(TM) and Marvel Trading Card Game for the PSP(R) (PlayStation(R) Portable) handheld system.

For more information on Cryptic Studios, visit www.crypticstudios.com.

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13.

Re: MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 18, 2007, 10:36

ColoradoHoudini

creatorswhim: I tried Auto Assault, it had some good features.. but it didnt deliver for me. Anyhow, if the next hero MMO has real crafting and follows WoW in terms of overall depth.. i'm in. If you've every played WoW from day 1.. the rep, the early strat/scholo..to MC/BWL/AQ40/Naxx and the expansion with all the unique content..all the extras that WoW had.. if they can bring that into a new hero MMO.. i'm in.

12.

Re: MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 17, 2007, 22:49

creatorswhim

Looking for a game that had the depth that WoW has? Wasn't the last attempt at that called "Auto Assault?" This comment was edited on Jul 17, 22:52.

11.

Re: MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 17, 2007, 22:12

Cutter

Yeah, I always loved CoX powers and costumes better than any other MOG, but the content was just weak. Far too much recycled content. How many times can you run the same cave/office/warehouse/etc.?

If MUO is anything like CoX for content it'll fail miserably.

"Well that sounds like fun times, Peter. Tell me...where does James Woods fit into the "fun times"."
- James Woods, Family Guy




"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?" - Jack Burton

10.

Re: MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 17, 2007, 21:45

The Half Elf

Fion again your wrong. The developers at Cryptic has 1 way to accomplish things. It wasn't just a 1 person and a Brad McQuaid 'The Vision' sorta thing, it was the whole team. Hell go read the article that was published lately about the Hami Raid encounter. The problem now with Positron, is that he's a pencil pusher. If they can't do it correctly and take the time to do it, they either A)Half ass add it until people complain and take it out (flight animations) or B) leave it broken in the game and ignore the outcry cause 'the minority only does pvp' for example. And I won't even go into the recycled crap they added for 'veteran rewards' or the character renaming scheme they did for awhile. And I don't care what you say at level 2 if your fighting +3 mobs you must be fighting 1 or 2 at a time cause a LT or Boss would kill ya no matter what class ya rolled. And for your 'Awesome new content' it's all recycled crap they had left over. Statesman Task Force takes you to the Recluse Victory Map in PVP, and they didn't even bother to take out all the pvp stuff. Hell all the stuff from that task force is all COV stuff just with name and level changes. Rikti War Zone Co-Op zone? It's the Heroes Rikti Crash Site, with a little base added to it. And to top it all off they keep piling more and more recycled crap with each issue for a system that simply cannot support it networking wise. All it seems they are concerned with is getting their subscriber numbers up and pretty much to hell with the existing players, and outstanding bug issues. This comment was edited on Jul 17, 21:52.

Re: MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 17, 2007, 21:41

The Half Elf

Creators whim, the problem is they don't swing it often enough. Fire/Kin Trollers are running rampant as the power level characters for the Heros side. You have level 1 and 2's standing in the High end zone spamming chat for power leveling, Overall class and power balance, hero and villian is so outta whack it's not funny. What they really need to do is what Blizzard did and go class by class, powerset by powerset and rebalance them all. THEN rebalance them for IO's.

Re: MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 17, 2007, 21:38

The Half Elf

Actually the biggest thing that pisses me off in COH/COV are clones. There are MILLIONS of combinations to make anything you can imagine, but hello Wolverine, Superman, Flash, Xmen clones 23421. But my biggest issue with Cryptic is the game is as shallow as a puddle. Character creation and development is fun, but the game itself just sucks ass. I was actually on about 10 mins ago with a group, and I wish/pray they would steal some ideas from WoW to make the game better.

Re: MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 17, 2007, 19:46

ColoradoHoudini

If the next super hero MMO can have the depth that WoW has.. i will play it.

Re: MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 17, 2007, 19:01

Grounded

Marvel Universe trumps anything CoH can deliver, thats my story and Im sticking to it Time to redo the superhero MMO. Lets get to it

Re: MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 17, 2007, 18:20

Fion

Ever since Statesman left, CoX has become fantastic. He definitely had a 'play my way or I nerf you' attitude, though the game was still great. Since he's left however and Positron has taken over, the nerfs have taken a back seat to the massively fun new content.

Re: MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 17, 2007, 18:10

creatorswhim

As a former subscriber to CoH, I would imagine that almost no one cares about that old news. Simply because after Marvel lost their case in such an ignominious defeat, they went back to Cryptic and hired them to make MUO. Anyone who stays away from MUO is probably doing so because Cryptic swings the nerf bat heavily and frequently. Heaven help you if you play the game differently that "Statesman" wants you to. You'll get "corrected," too.

Re: MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 17, 2007, 17:52

Fion

Um.. you must just suck then. Unless you don't understand how MMOG games work and were attacking stuff in zones way to high level. Cause even at level 2 in CoH I can take on 3+ mobs at the same time with little problem. At higher level I can take on dozens of mobs. I don't think I've ever heard anyone call CoH hard, or that you easily get your ass kicked lol. This comment was edited on Jul 17, 17:52.

Re: MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 17, 2007, 16:42

Grounded

If it has better mechanics and is more up to date than City of Heroes, then it should be a huge success. We need something new in this genre. Lets face it, when you start CoH you dont feel so "super hero" like, in fact you get your ass kicked a lot

MUO vs. COH/V

Jul 17, 2007, 15:29

Kxmode

There's probably enough gamers who are still angry with Marvel after they forced Cryptic to change players avatars. Also Marvel going with Cryptic to make their MMO adds insult to injury. I don't think the game will do that well, at least not the numbers Marvel is looking for. ----- "Well it's true! You're semi-evil. You're quasi-evil. You're the margarine of evil. You're the Diet Coke of evil. Just one calorie, not evil enough." (http://music.download.com/kxmode)

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