Pay no attention to the woman behind the forums – no, wait – come meet her!  She’s the power behind the forums, the organizer of the contests – meet Tara “IronAngel” Jennings.

I work in the Online Community Relations department, where I get to interact with the Champions Online public and beta communities. I get to hang out in the forums, on IRC, and help get as much feedback as I can to the devs from the Beta Community.

  

Ever wonder who comes up with our hero profiles, Dev interviews, and more?  Meet Diana (Alivet) Sherman, Community Content Writer!

I started playing on the Nintendo NES when I was a kid. I used to play Contra until my hands hurt. And I can remember all the times my mother told me that I ought to be doing my homework instead of playing video games. I’m not sure if she ever actually said, “You’ll never make a living playing video games,” but she said something pretty similar. She’s delighted that I’ve proven her wrong.

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Learn about Brad Stokan - Lead Character Artist for Champions Online!

I have the second best job in the world!  I’m the Lead Character Artist on Champions, which means I help to create our amazingly customizable and always visually stimulating characters.  Being a character artist at Cryptic is fantastic; we have a lot of creative freedom and the best tools and support I have seen in the industry.

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Learn about Bill Roper, design director for Cryptic Studios!

I’m coming into the team to act as Executive Producer, which means I’ll be holding the vision for the project. The immense responsibilities of production remain in the hands of Chris Lena and his team, allowing me to throw some additional muscle into the design process. I’ve literally played Champions since before it was published, having been invited into the back room of a game store to help playtest a new superhero RPG many years ago. I was instantly hooked, so the chance to come in and help bring the Champions Universe to a new generation of gamers is incredibly exciting.

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Learn about Daniel Stahl, one of the producers for Champions Online!

As a producer on Champions Online, every day brings something new. Some days, it is reviewing bug lists and prioritizing the things to fix first. Other days, it could be making sure dinners get delivered for the crew working late. It boils down to helping out in any way needed. It's my job to ask a lot of questions, keep track of the big picture, and never lose sight of our goals.

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Learn about Brian Urbanek, one of the combat systems designers for Champions Online!

Each day I wake up and try to think of new ways to make our programmers' lives more difficult. This usually entails finding new ways to stretch our tech to the limits in order to make whatever power I'm working on really stand out from what other games allow. I think it's critically important that we remember we're making Champions, and that our powers aren't "spells" like in a fantasy MMO, but are instead flexible, epic superpowers.

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Learn more about Stephen D'Angelo, one of the programmers working on Champions Online!

I write a lot of text all day long that somehow makes computers do wonderful and amazing things that are almost indistinguishable from magic. I have been responsible for a variety of systems, ranging from the costume creator to missions and encounters, as well as providing many of the internal tools used by the designers to make the world of Champions Online come alive.

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Learn more about Carlos Montero, the lead environment artist for Champions Online!

I am become life, creator of worlds! In other words, I am the lead environment artist for Champions Online. I get to do lots of awesome stuff like drive the artistic vision behind our epic environments and guide our team of totally awesome environment artists with rocking out and making sweet environments. When I'm not doing that, I'm figuring out how we're going to push the boundaries even more and really make the environments exciting and captivating.

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Today we learn a little more about John Hopler, one of the lead content designers on Champions Online!

I'm the content implementation lead for the Champions Online content team. Zeke (Sparkes) and John Layman come up with the who, what and where of our content; I concentrate more on the HOW. My time is split between implementing cool new mission content and events, answering implementation questions and talking with our programmers and producers about any new technology or tool features the team needs for the areas we are working on.

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Learn a little more about Adam Lee, one of the quality assurance testers for Champions Online!

It is up to us to help ensure that the game is entertaining and fun, while at the same time pointing out bugs, exploits and problems that could detract from the gaming experience.

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