We’re also taking the opportunity to show off a few other movement-related animations that we’ve added to the game. And we’re planning a future video on improvements to our combat animations.

Travel powers are really important. Players see them much more often than most powers, for the simple reason that we have hundreds of powers in powersets but only three travel powers at launch. For this reason we can’t simply use the Unreal Engine to increase ground speed while keeping the same animations as for running; that actually looks pretty bad. What looks good is to create new animations just for superspeed. We use animations that are specific to our three skeletal models.

We’re planning to allow players to select from five options for the appearance of Superspeed as a power, as a mean of customizing their characters. The possible FX that can play at the feet during a superspeed run are electric sparks, fire, ice, darkness, dust, or nothing at all. These can represent either magic or energy, depending on the character. Superspeed is so fast that the ribbon contrails from the upper body will always be present.

Other animations include things like walking, sitting in a chair – surprisingly complex to animate – lying down, and getting up again. As with most AAA games, we have different versions for the female characters than for the male characters, which again increases immersion. In each case we used a pair of professional animators in concert with our team to perfect our animations.

During the video you’ll see Snow Drift running through Apotheosis City, and it is possible that some scenes will cause supporters to wonder where they are. We haven’t shown the city in a few months, other than the central area under the Arch, but we’re continuing to make architectural improvement and additions that take advantage of the fact that Apotheosis City is not flat. Curves, hills and other changes in elevation make the world more real. You’ll also see one spot inside the Hazard Zone. While we do not expect for the Hazard Zone to be finished when the open Beta begins, we’ve already started building it up.

One of the most common questions we receive about superspeed is whether it can be combined with a superjump power to give a sort of low-level flight power. The answer is yes. Even without superjump, the default jump height is pretty good, and with the Unreal physics engine, the combination of jumping and superspeed is quite powerful.

Another question we often hear is whether a character can superspeed into combat, attack, and superspeed back out before they are hit. We do not allow this right now; if you are attacked, superspeed turns off while you’re in combat. However, we’re adding a small increment of stealth to superspeed to reduce the chance of being attacked by same-level enemies while you speed past them. Higher-level enemies can easily attack you, though, so be careful.