Developer Diaries
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Overview
Developer Diaries (or "Dev Diaries") were a commonly-used format for the developers of City of Heroes to introduce, explain, and provide behind-the-scenes information on new features which were soon to be added to the game. Some of these were posted on the official City of Heroes Web site, but many were also used as publicity tools on third-party gaming Web sites.
Alternately, game review Web sites frequently contacted Cryptic Studios and Paragon Studios for exclusive Q&A Interviews. These were often simple questionnaires that were submitted and replied to via e-mail, but other times were actual face-to-face interviews at conventions or in the studio offices.
This article gives a list of the various Dev Diaries, interviews, and reviews published during the development of City of Heroes, as well as when and where they appeared, and who wrote them.
Dev Diaries
Subject / Title |
Author |
Source |
Date |
Official Announcement |
Third-Party Content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Heroes Diary, Vol. 1 | Jack Emmert |
IGN |
July 23, 2003 |
||
| City of Heroes Diary, Vol. 2 | Jack Emmert |
IGN |
August 20, 2003 |
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| City of Heroes Diary, Vol. 3 | Jack Emmert |
IGN |
September 17, 2003 |
||
| City of Heroes Diary, Vol. 4 | Jack Emmert |
IGN |
October 15, 2003 |
||
| City of Heroes Diary, Vol. 5 | Jack Emmert |
IGN |
November 12, 2003 |
||
| City of Heroes Diary, Vol. 6 | Jeremy Gaffney |
IGN |
December 10, 2003 |
||
| City of Heroes Diary, Vol. 7 | Brian Clayton |
IGN |
January 7, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes Diary, Vol. 8 | Tosh Toida, QA Lead |
IGN |
February 4, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes Diary, Vol. 9 | Michael Lewis |
IGN |
March 3, 2004 |
||
| "Weaving the Threads: Storytelling in City of Heroes" | Gamasutra |
September 24, 2004 |
|||
| Invention System | MMORPG.com |
March 5, 2007 |
|||
| Inventing Wings | MMORPG.com |
April 17, 2007 |
|||
| Issue 10 | Ten Ton Hammer |
July 31, 2007 |
|||
| "Standing Apart in a Crowd: Weapon Customization | Ten Ton Hammer |
October 11, 2007 |
|||
| "You Are What You Are at Launch" | Gamasutra |
February 21, 2008 |
|||
| Issue 12 | PlayNC |
March 12, 2008 |
|||
| Giving The Hollows a Makeover | Ten Ton Hammer |
March 19, 2008 |
|||
| Issue 12: The Midnight Hour and Me | MMORPG.com |
April 30, 2008 |
|||
Massively |
May 1, 2008 |
||||
| "Stretching the Genre: Creating Cimerora" | Ken Morse, Senior Art Lead |
Ten Ton Hammer |
May 19, 2008 |
||
| Issue 13 | GameSpy |
August 27, 2008 |
|||
| Issue 13 PvE Power Changes | City of Heroes.com |
October 2, 2008 |
|||
| Designing Issue 13's Day Jobs Feature | City of Heroes.com |
October 9, 2008 |
|||
| Issue 13 New Missions | Ten Ton Hammer |
October 29, 2008 |
|||
| "A Circle of Fifths" -- Designing the 5th Anniversary Task Forces |
Ten Ton Hammer |
May 27, 2009 |
|||
| "A Paragon of Customization" -- Character Customization in Issue 15 |
Massively Ten Ton Hammer |
June 9, 2009 |
|||
| Signature Rogues | City of Heroes.com |
July 14, 2009 |
|||
| Power Customization | MMORPG.com |
August 6, 2009 |
|||
| Power Set Proliferation | MMORPG.com Ten Ton Hammer |
August 13, 2009 August 14, 2009 |
|||
| Going Rogue ViDoc #1: Prelude to Going Rogue | YouTube |
June 1, 2010 |
|||
| "How John Woo Inspired My Gun Fu" (Dual Pistols) | Nelson Tam |
Massively |
June 1, 2010 |
||
| Demon Summoning | MMORPG.com |
June 3, 2010 |
|||
| The Moral Genesis of Going Rogue | Massively |
June 10, 2010 |
|||
| The Making Of: Super Booster V: Mutant | PC Gamer |
June 24, 2010 |
|||
| Going Rogue ViDoc #2: Between Good and Evil | YouTube |
June 29, 2010 |
|||
| Going Rogue ViDoc #3: The Consequence of Power | YouTube |
July 27, 2010 |
|||
| "Be Water, My Friend" -- How We Made Kinetic Melee | PC Gamer |
July 29, 2010 |
|||
| "Electric Slide" (Electric Control) | PC Gamer |
August 5, 2010 |
|||
| Going Rogue ViDoc #4: Brave New World | YouTube |
August 11, 2010 |
|||
| The Alignment System | Shawn "Pit" Pitman |
Going Rogue.com |
September 24, 2010 |
||
| Going Rogue: New power sets, new enemies, new problems | Massively |
October 20, 2010 |
|||
| Issue 19 Task Forces | Massively |
October 27, 2010 |
|||
| "Challenging the Gods" (Incarnates) | Massively |
November 11, 2010 |
|||
| Designing the expanded Incarnate trees | Massively |
March 24, 2011 |
|||
| Designing the task forces for Issue 20 | Massively |
March 31, 2011 |
|||
| Issue 21: First Ward Concept Art | Gilbert "El Topo" Martinez |
PC Gamer |
August 16, 2011 |
||
| Issue 21: Giant Monsters | Gilbert "El Topo" Martinez |
PC Gamer |
August 16, 2011 |
||
| Issue 21: Rogues Gallery | Gilbert "El Topo" Martinez |
PC Gamer |
September 8, 2011 |
||
| Signature Story Arc ViDoc #1: Who Will Die | YouTube |
September 30, 2011 |
|||
| Signature Story Arc ViDoc #2: The Heroes of the Freedom Phalanx | YouTube |
January 3, 2012 |
|||
| Signature Story Arc ViDoc #3: The Freedom Phalanx | YouTube |
January 12, 2012 |
|||
| Issue 22: Designing Dilemma Diabolique | Chris "Baryonyx" Behrens |
PC Gamer |
February 22, 2012 |
||
| Issue 22: Balancing story and combat in Bloody Bay | Cord "Think Tank" Carney |
PC Gamer |
February 28, 2012 |
||
| Issue 22: Designing Darkness Control | PC Gamer |
March 9, 2012 |
|||
| Design insights from the Magisterium Trial | Massively |
May 31, 2012 |
|||
| Life after Statesman -- The aftermath of a major lore change | PC Gamer |
June 1, 2012 |
Q&A Interviews and Reviews
Subject / Title |
Interviewee |
Source |
Date |
Official Announcement |
Third-Party Content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cryptic Studios Introduction | N/A |
IGN |
November 2, 2000 |
||
| City of Heroes Announcement | N/A |
IGN |
September 26, 2001 |
||
| City of Heroes | GameSpy |
October, 2001 |
Link (4 pages)
| ||
| City of Heroes | GameSpot |
October 8, 2001 |
|||
| City of Heroes | ESCmag |
December 17, 2001 |
|||
| City of Heroes | IGN |
January 3, 2002 |
|||
| E3 2002 Preview | N/A |
IGN |
May 24, 2002 |
||
| City of Heroes | Rick Dakan |
GamersClick |
May 29, 2002 |
||
| Community Relations | Aura Manning |
Stratics |
October, 2002 |
||
| City of Heroes | Michael Lewis |
The Adrenaline Vault |
February 10, 2003 |
||
| City of Heroes Preview | N/A |
GameSpy |
December 27, 2003 |
||
| City of Heroes Preview Part 2 | Michael Lewis |
HomeLAN |
March 12, 2004 |
||
| Powers Development | Al Rivera |
Boomtown |
April 14, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes vs. The Competitors | Michael Lewis |
FileFront |
April 20, 2004 |
Link (Page 1 only)
| |
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
Games Domain |
April 30, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
GamersPulse |
May 3, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
GameSpot |
May 5, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
ESCmag |
May 11, 2004 |
||
| City of Villains | Chris Julian |
IGN |
May 13, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
IGN |
May 28, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
GameSpy |
May 30, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
The Gamers' Temple |
May 30, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
ActionTrip |
June 3, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
Gaming Nexus |
June 3, 2004 |
||
| Issue 1 | IGN |
June 9, 2004 |
|||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
GamerzAlliance |
June 14, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
The Adrenaline Vault |
June 16, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes and Issue 1 | Chris Julian |
HomeLAN |
June 28, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
Worthplaying |
July 3, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes and Issue 1 | GameDAILY |
July 12, 2004 |
|||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
1UP |
July 27, 2004 |
||
| Issue 2 Preview | N/A |
GameSpy |
July 30, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes | Unknown Devs |
GamerGod |
July 31, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes | The Armchair Empire |
August 2, 2004 |
|||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
Boomtown |
August 9, 2004 |
||
| Issue 2 | Kevin Sullivan |
GameSpy |
August 19, 2004 |
||
| Capes | GameSpy |
August 20, 2004 |
|||
| City of Heroes Review | N/A |
GamesFirst |
August 25, 2004 |
||
| City of Heroes | MMO Radio / GameAmp |
August 26, 2004 |
|||
| City of Heroes Wrap Report | IGN |
August 30, 2004 |
|||
| Issue 2 | JIVE Magazine |
September 16, 2004 |
|||
| City of Heroes and City of Villains | IGN |
September 27, 2004 |
Link (Login required)
| ||
| Issue 3 Preview | N/A |
GameSpy |
December 3, 2004 |
||
| Issue 3 | Experience Gaming |
January 13, 2005 |
Link (Page 1 only)
| ||
| Issue 4 Preview | N/A |
GameSpy |
March 10, 2005 |
||
| City of Villains | N/A |
Boomtown |
May 23, 2006 |
||
| City of Villains | N/A |
IGN |
May 25, 2005 |
Link (Login required)
| |
| City of Heroes Collectible Card Game | David Williams |
IGN |
June 6, 2005 |
||
| City of Villains | GameSpot |
June 22, 2005 |
|||
| City of Heroes Comic Book | Mark Waid |
GameZone |
June 23, 2005 |
||
| City of Villains | Gamecloud |
July 22, 2005 |
(Missing)
| ||
| Issue 5 Preview | N/A |
GameSpy |
August 9, 2005 |
||
| City of Villains | Boomtown |
September 21, 2005 |
|||
| "Truth vs. Fiction: Entering and Leaving the Gaming Biz" | Gamasutra |
January 25, 2006 |
|||
| Issue 7 | MMORPG.com |
February 23, 2006 |
|||
| New Lead Developer | Boomtown |
May 20, 2006 |
|||
| "A View from Atlas Park" | WarCry |
July 26, 2006 |
|||
| Issue 8 | Ten Ton Hammer |
August 24, 2006 |
(Missing)
| ||
| Issue 8 | GameSpot |
August 29, 2006 |
|||
| Cryptic Studios Interview | FiringSquad |
September 21, 2006 |
|||
| AGC Interview | MMORPG.com |
September 26, 2006 |
|||
| Issue 8 | Boomtown |
October 4, 2006 |
|||
| Europe Meet & Greet Interview | Boomtown |
October 12, 2006 |
|||
| Community Q&A #1 | MMORPG.com |
December 1, 2006 |
|||
| Cryptic Studios Recruitment | Various |
MMORPG.com |
December 22, 2006 |
||
| Community Q&A #2 | MMORPG.com |
January 9, 2007 |
|||
| Alternative Revenue Models | IGN |
January 24, 2007 |
|||
| Issue 9 | MMORPG.com |
February 13, 2007 |
|||
| GDC 2007 | Warcry |
March 16, 2007 |
|||
| "Social Rewards in MMOs" | MMORPG.com |
March 20, 2007 |
|||
| CoH Community Quiz #3 | WarCry |
April 9, 2007 |
|||
| Comic Book Contest | The David Lawrence Show |
April 18, 2007 |
|||
| Releasing the Cryptic Animation Rig | Shayne Herrera |
MMORPG.com |
May 16, 2007 |
||
| CoH Community Quiz #4 | WarCry |
June 13, 2007 |
|||
| Issue 10 | Positron (Developer) |
GameDaily |
June 28, 2007 |
||
| Issue 10 | Positron (Developer) |
Ten Ton Hammer |
July 3, 2007 |
||
| Issue 11 | Positron (Developer) |
MMORPG.com |
October 5, 2007 |
||
| CoH Community Quiz #5 | Boomtown |
October 9, 2007 |
|||
| XP Curve Smoothing | Ten Ton Hammer |
February 8, 2008 |
|||
| "Real Numbers" | CW Bennett |
Ten Ton Hammer |
February 14, 2008 |
||
| In-Game Advertisements | Brian Clayton Matt "Positron" Miller |
Ten Ton Hammer |
April 10, 2008 |
||
| City of Heroes Costume Creator Review | N/A |
EuroGamer |
April 14, 2008 |
||
| Issue 12 | WarCry |
April 21, 2008 |
|||
| Issue 12 | City of Heroes Podcast |
May 6, 2008 |
|||
| Issue 12 | Split Infinity Radio |
May 6, 2008 |
Link (Missing)
| ||
| Issue 12 | Boomtown |
May 19, 2008 |
|||
| Issue 12 | Brian Clayton |
MMOABC |
May 27, 2008 |
||
| Issue 12 | MMORPG.com |
May 29, 2008 |
Link (live stream)
| ||
| Comic Con Video Interview | MMORPG.com |
August 6, 2008 |
|||
| Sale of City of Heroes and Issue 13 | MMORPG.com |
September 8, 2008 |
|||
| Issue 12 Guides and Issue 13 Preview | N/A |
MMORPG.com |
September 17, 2008 |
||
| "Five Most Annoying Griefs" | N/A |
Massively |
September 18, 2008 |
||
| Combining City of Heroes and City of Villains | IGN |
September 19, 2008 |
|||
| Issue 13 - Power and Responsibility | Brian Clayton Matt "Positron" Miller |
Massively |
September 25, 2008 |
Link (3 pages)
| |
| Issue 13 - New Era for PvP | |||||
| Issue 13 - Super Boosters and Beyond | |||||
| Issue 13 | Brian Clayton Matt "Positron" Miller |
MMORPG.com |
September 25, 2008 |
||
| Issue 13 | Brian Clayton Matt "Positron" Miller |
Ten Ton Hammer |
September 26, 2008 |
||
| "Ask a Dev" | City of Heroes.com |
October 6, 2008 |
|||
| Issue 13 Power Changes | w00t Studios |
October 7, 2008 |
Link (missing)
| ||
| Issue 13 Power Set Preview | N/A |
MMORPG.com |
October 15, 2008 |
||
| Issue 13 | GameZone |
October 28, 2008 |
|||
| Issue 13 | Boomtown |
November 11, 2008 |
|||
| "The Line Between Good and Evil" | Ten Ton Hammer |
November 12, 2008 |
|||
| City of Heroes Universe Revisited | N/A |
Ten Ton Hammer |
November 28, 2008 |
||
| Issue 13 and Keeping CoH Relevant | Joystiq |
December 1, 2008 |
|||
| Issue 13 | Gaming Nexus |
December 3, 2008 |
|||
| City of Heroes "First Impression" Redux | N/A |
Ten Ton Hammer |
December 5, 2008 |
||
| "Most Improved Game of 2008" | N/A |
Massively |
December 16, 2008 |
||
| "Hands On with the City of Heroes Mac Client" | N/A |
Massively |
January 8, 2009 |
||
| Mac Special Edition | MMORPG.com |
January 9, 2009 |
|||
| Mac Special Edition | Apple Games |
January 27, 2009 |
Link (2 pages)
| ||
| Mission Architect Full Details | N/A |
Massively |
February 26, 2009 |
||
| City of Heroes Architect Edition Preview | N/A |
Ten Ton Hammer |
March 2, 2009 |
||
| Issue 14 | Ten Ton Hammer |
March 2, 2009 |
|||
| Mission Architect Review | N/A |
Ten Ton Hammer |
March 20, 2009 |
||
| GDC09: Mission Architect In-Depth | Massively |
April 6, 2009 |
|||
| Creation of Paragon Studios | Brian Clayton |
Gamasutra |
April 14, 2009 |
||
| How to Manage Mission Architect | Gamasutra |
April 16, 2009 |
|||
| Mission Architect Launch | Gamasutra |
April 17, 2009 |
|||
| Fifth Anniversary | Gamervision |
April 28, 2009 |
|||
| Fifth Anniversary | OMGRPG |
April 28, 2009 |
|||
| Fifth Anniversary | Massively Ten Ton Hammer |
April 28, 2009 |
|||
| Fifth Anniversary | ZAM Network |
April 28, 2009 |
|||
| Going Rogue | MMORPG.com |
May 12, 2009 |
|||
| Issue 15 | Boomtown |
June 27, 2009 |
|||
| "Creating and Maintaining City of Heroes" | Gamasutra |
July 27, 2009 |
|||
| Issue 16 | MMORPG.com |
July 29, 2009 |
|||
| Issue 16 and Going Rogue | Ten Ton Hammer |
July 30, 2009 |
|||
| City of Heroes - Here to Stay! | Gamesource |
August 18, 2009 |
|||
| "The Future of City of Heroes: Going Rogue" | GameSpy |
August 31, 2009 |
|||
| Going Rogue | Ten Ton Hammer |
September 18, 2009 |
|||
| Mission Architect Rewards | MMORPG.com |
September 30, 2009 |
|||
| Mission Architect Guest Author Program | MMORPG.com |
October 28, 2009 |
|||
| Balancing Ranged vs. Melee | MMORPG.com |
November 13, 2009 |
|||
| "Big Heroes, Little Gods" (Mission Architect) | The Escapist |
December 22, 2009 |
|||
| Mission Architect | The MMO Gamer |
January 10, 2010 |
|||
| New Lead Designer Interview | MMORPG.com |
January 21, 2010 |
|||
| Mission Architect | Dr. Aeon (Developer) |
GamePro |
January 25, 2010 |
||
| Mission Architect Guest Authors | GamePro |
January 26, 2010 |
|||
| Going Rogue | Massive Online Gamer |
February 20, 2010 |
|||
| Going Rogue | Ten Ton Hammer |
February 21, 2010 |
|||
| Ultra Mode and Going Rogue | MMORPG.com |
April 2, 2010 |
|||
| Praetoria | Ten Ton Hammer |
April 2, 2010 |
|||
| Veteran Supergroup Interviews | ICONS Fusion Force |
Massively |
April 28, 2010 |
||
| Going Rogue | Ten Ton Hammer Live |
May 2, 2010 |
|||
| Going Rogue | BigDownload |
June 18, 2010 |
|||
| Going Rogue Preview | N/A |
IGN |
July 16, 2010 |
||
| Going Rogue Preview | N/A |
Ten Ton Hammer |
July 28, 2010 |
||
| Going Rogue | MMORPG.com |
August 17, 2010 |
|||
| Going Rogue | PC Gamer |
August 17, 2010 |
|||
| "Secrets to Six Years of Success" | Gamasutra |
August 19, 2010 |
|||
| Going Rogue | the electric playground |
August 23, 2010 |
|||
| PAX 2010 Review - Going Rogue | N/A |
Newsarama |
September 7, 2010 |
||
| Going Rogue | games.on.net |
September 17, 2010 |
|||
| Going Rogue Music | Jason Graves |
The MMO Gamer |
September 18, 2010 |
||
| Issue 19 | New York Post |
November 8, 2010 |
|||
| "Looking Back and Forging Ahead" | Ten Ton Hammer |
January 11, 2011 |
|||
| "Checking in with City of Heroes" | MMORPG.com |
January 20, 2011 |
|||
| The Future of City of Heroes | Examiner.com |
March 9, 2011 March 10, 2011 |
|||
| Melissa Bianco | GamingAngels |
April 18, 2011 |
|||
| Issue 20 | PC Gamer |
April 19, 2011 |
|||
| Issue 20 | Ten Ton Hammer |
April 19, 2011 |
|||
| "After Seven Years, City of Heroes Still Flies" | Gamasutra |
June 17, 2011 |
|||
| City of Heroes Freedom | Brian Clayton |
Gamasutra |
June 21, 2011 |
||
| City of Heroes Freedom | Brian Clayton |
MMORPG.com |
July 1, 2011 |
||
| City of Heroes Freedom | Ten Ton Hammer |
July 26, 2011 |
|||
| City of Heroes Freedom | N/A |
PC Gamer |
November 27, 2011 |
||
| Death of the Statesman | MMORPG.com |
January 24, 2012 |
|||
| Issue 24 | MMORPG.com |
August 10, 2012 |
|||
| "Behind the Scenes of the Paragon Studios Shutdown" | Gamasutra |
April 10, 2013 |
|||
| "Digging up the History of City of Heroes" | N/A |
Massively OP |
July 28, 2018 |
||
| "City of Heroes' Launch History and the Marvel Lawsuit" | N/A |
Massively OP |
August 12, 2018 |
||
| "City of Villains, Enhancement Diversification, and Going Rogue" | N/A |
Massively OP |
August 25, 2018 |