Marvel is no stranger to games.
Some, likeMarvels Spider-Man, are among the best ever of their kind.
But selecting heroes forMarvel Rivalsactually didnt start off with a huge meeting or brainstorming session.
Key art from ‘Marvel RivalsNetEase Games
How do we play them?
How do they look?
What are their mechanics?
That is then followed up by an extensive trawl through the characters history.
Then Guangguang or our lead combat designer, Zhiyong, would give a final vision.
Part of that is determined by which class role theyre designed to fill, of which there are three.
Duelists prioritize damage, while Vanguards act as beefy tanks that can hold down objectives or push enemies back.
Strategists have support abilities that can heal or buff players.
Our goal is also to extract the characters most essential core concepts, says Guangguang.
For example, Loki being the God of mischief.
While Black Widow has a sniper rifle, she isnt locked into only fighting from afar.
The variety of combinations depends on which characters are selected, and theres tons of pairings to discover.
Thor and Storm both share lightning based powers, so they can enhance each others attacks.
Every heros mechanics and also their core stats are constantly being balanced and updated, Guangguang says.
Spider-Man was the most challenging to balance from every perspective, Guangguang says.
Its very hard to conceptualize and land the concept of combining his web-swinging with our real-time combat.
Spider-Mans core abilities have nothing to do with fighting.
These considerations were part of every characters design process and class assignments.
He really resembles a milestone in our design history.
One such character was Rocket Racoon, whos typically seen wielding a giant machine gun.
But how does that make him unique from, say, the Punisher?
We decided to focus on his genius engineering side and therefore design him as a strategist, Guanguang says.
But the design process hasnt been free from criticism.
Either way, the team isnt ignoring this criticism.
They do emphasize the plural, however.
As part of the base free-to-play experience, new heroes will be added without cost.
In fact, theyre just ramping up.
In the words of Guangguang and Ng, Were cooking.
Marvel Rivalsreleases free-to-play on Dec. 6 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
