We’re sure that all of you have noticed that missions and mission content are the current focus at Ship of Heroes. A lot of the features of the game are already coded, so it’s time to add more and more playable content. Our last newsletter talked a bit about the kinds of missions we’re creating, and the vision for the game. This time, we’re simply wishing everyone a Happy Halloween and showing off a special mission map we created just to celebrate the holiday.

The mission follows the normal pattern for MMOs. You visit the contact to get the mission, and she tells you the background. In this case, you visit Iris the Great, who is the head of the Mage’s Council aboard the Justice. That’s right, for those of you who are new, there is magic in space. In fact, magic is more powerful in space than it is on planets. Iris tells you that on Halloween, the barriers between realities are weakened, and as a result, strange things happen. She directs you and your team to the college dormitories, to investigate reports of peculiar goings-on.

Now you get to see us charge through a map in which a vampire lair has somehow fused with the boys’ dorm at Apotheosis University. As you might expect, both sides of this process are dissatisfied with the fusion. This sort of campy map and mission is in the spirit of both the holiday and special issues of comic books, whose stories inspired the whole superhero genre.

In this case, our technical artists get to use some features of the Unreal engine that we usually do not employ: smoke and fog generators, spooky lighting, and a collection of the Halloween-themed pumpkins, ghosts, and vampires. It’s a bit of fun and a change of pace from the more common science fiction-themed missions we often create. But it is also an example – SoH is not locked into just sci-fi. There are many worlds, even alternative realities, and there’s a lot of powerful magic in space. It’s all in a day’s work for our heroes. Notice that the map is large, powers and FX are plentiful, and FPS is still fine. This mission is in a controlled instance, of course, which improves the player experience.

We’re excited about ramping up our mission content and getting ready for a launch of the game. Hopefully this video gives you a sense of what is happening behind the scenes. And of course, have a wonderful, and safe, Halloween!