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I'd like to introduce you to the Beta Testing team for Modson Technologies's newest game in development: Hero Games! Modson is using their proprietary, experimental Neural Interceptor technology in a full immersion virtual setting for this new game. If the Beta trials are successful, they expect this technology to radically change the gaming industry, along with many other applications. Modson has been kind enough to allow us access to this technology to interview their Beta testers. Each one we interview will actually be comfortably at home, hooked into their Modson gaming system. Since this system interacts directly with their minds, we'll be able to get much more complete answers than subjects may otherwise give. It'll be almost like they are having a dream.
In addition, the Beta tester that gets the most attention from their interview (comments, Likes, +1's, etc) will get a special in-game reward AND one of their lucky commenters/Likers/+1-ers will get a cameo appearance in Hero Games!
This week, we'll talk to Calvin Moon! The young, Asian man that steps through the curtain is a shade over six feet. His slender build makes him look taller. Almond eyes peer through the small, round frames that ride high on his nose under the straight, dark bangs. The Hero Games tee shirt clashes styles with the simple slacks, and hangs on his shoulders like a wire hanger.
JACE: Hello, Calvin. Thank you for meeting with us.
CALVIN: Sure, no problem.
JACE: Let's start with you, Calvin. Would you tell us a little about yourself and then maybe your heroic alter ego?
CALVIN: The alter ego is probably more fun to talk about. He laughs self-consciously. Well, I'm 19. I'm a sophomore in architectural engineering at Drexel University. I don't do a lot of sports, well, any sports, and I study a lot. The most exciting thing I do is sometimes I play an RPG game called Elven Fire with a group at school who's into that. I'm kind of a nerd.
JACE: Nerds are important, too, Calvin. What about your hero?
CALVIN: His face brightens up a little. That's where things get more exciting. He's a super hero, obviously. I made him with blond, surfer hair. He's pretty athletic. He has a castle-hemmed cape, and a dragon on his chest. The dragon is for my school. I picked a pair of powers to start with: Statue and Lead Feet. Statue is a single-target freeze, and Lead Feet is an AOE slow. Of course, each one costs energy, so there's some strategy in using them. It's fun.
JACE: And AOE is short for?
CALVIN: Area-Of-Effect. It means it hits several enemies at the same time.
JACE: I see. That does sound like a good combination. Let's talk about powers a little bit. Can you tell us how these powers work, and how you learned them? Press A to shoot, B to jump? Certain hand motions for certain tricks? Is there a tutorial, or do you figure it out in game?
CALVIN: He laughs comfortably. No, this game isn't like that. There aren't controllers; you're completely inside the game. Whatever you do, you're really doing in the game. A lot of players, when using classic controllers, jerk the controller up when they press the jump button. The game doesn't care if you lift your controller or not. In some more advanced games, lifting your controller will make your character jump. In Hero Games, if you jerk your arms up, your character just jerks his arms up. If you want your character to jump, you'd better jump yourself. You and the character are really the same person.
JACE: Okay, so I know how to jump, and walk, but where did the real you learn how to cast "Statue" or "Lead Feet"?
CALVIN: Oh, that happens in the Training Room, with TrainerBot and his TAs.
JACE: That sounds interesting. Can you tell us a little about that?
CALVIN: After you make your character, you go down a mirrored hallway to the Training Room. It has a very high, arched ceiling and is mostly steel walls. You go back to the Training Room any time you learn a new power, to learn how to use it. TrainerBot is a floating robot. He's metallic humanoid on top, but the bottom half of him is a round floating set of equipment. He guides you on using the powers, and the TAs, Training Assistants, are basically the practice dummies. They look like gym class rejects until they start coming at you.
JACE: The TAs attack you?
CALVIN: I think it depends on the kind of power you have. Mine is actively offensive/defensive, so yeah, they attacked me so I could use my powers on them. Using the powers is mostly a matter of concentration and focus. Since the entire game is wired into our heads, it makes sense that using the powers would just be in our heads, too.
Other Hero Games Introductions:
Nick "Virgil Ante"
Paul "The Peace Keeper"
Erin "Vanessa Pyre"
JACE: Hello, Calvin. Thank you for meeting with us.
CALVIN: Sure, no problem.
JACE: Let's start with you, Calvin. Would you tell us a little about yourself and then maybe your heroic alter ego?
CALVIN: The alter ego is probably more fun to talk about. He laughs self-consciously. Well, I'm 19. I'm a sophomore in architectural engineering at Drexel University. I don't do a lot of sports, well, any sports, and I study a lot. The most exciting thing I do is sometimes I play an RPG game called Elven Fire with a group at school who's into that. I'm kind of a nerd.
JACE: Nerds are important, too, Calvin. What about your hero?
CALVIN: His face brightens up a little. That's where things get more exciting. He's a super hero, obviously. I made him with blond, surfer hair. He's pretty athletic. He has a castle-hemmed cape, and a dragon on his chest. The dragon is for my school. I picked a pair of powers to start with: Statue and Lead Feet. Statue is a single-target freeze, and Lead Feet is an AOE slow. Of course, each one costs energy, so there's some strategy in using them. It's fun.
JACE: And AOE is short for?
CALVIN: Area-Of-Effect. It means it hits several enemies at the same time.
JACE: I see. That does sound like a good combination. Let's talk about powers a little bit. Can you tell us how these powers work, and how you learned them? Press A to shoot, B to jump? Certain hand motions for certain tricks? Is there a tutorial, or do you figure it out in game?
CALVIN: He laughs comfortably. No, this game isn't like that. There aren't controllers; you're completely inside the game. Whatever you do, you're really doing in the game. A lot of players, when using classic controllers, jerk the controller up when they press the jump button. The game doesn't care if you lift your controller or not. In some more advanced games, lifting your controller will make your character jump. In Hero Games, if you jerk your arms up, your character just jerks his arms up. If you want your character to jump, you'd better jump yourself. You and the character are really the same person.
JACE: Okay, so I know how to jump, and walk, but where did the real you learn how to cast "Statue" or "Lead Feet"?
CALVIN: Oh, that happens in the Training Room, with TrainerBot and his TAs.
JACE: That sounds interesting. Can you tell us a little about that?
CALVIN: After you make your character, you go down a mirrored hallway to the Training Room. It has a very high, arched ceiling and is mostly steel walls. You go back to the Training Room any time you learn a new power, to learn how to use it. TrainerBot is a floating robot. He's metallic humanoid on top, but the bottom half of him is a round floating set of equipment. He guides you on using the powers, and the TAs, Training Assistants, are basically the practice dummies. They look like gym class rejects until they start coming at you.
JACE: The TAs attack you?
CALVIN: I think it depends on the kind of power you have. Mine is actively offensive/defensive, so yeah, they attacked me so I could use my powers on them. Using the powers is mostly a matter of concentration and focus. Since the entire game is wired into our heads, it makes sense that using the powers would just be in our heads, too.
Other Hero Games Introductions:
Nick "Virgil Ante"
Paul "The Peace Keeper"
Erin "Vanessa Pyre"
