Review Fix 2014 NYCC Coverage: Inside ‘Marvel Puzzle Quest’

Review Fix chats with D3Publisher Producer Joe Fletcher, who discusses “Marvel Puzzle Quest,” the newest addition to the massively popular and successful “Puzzle Quest” series. From breaking down the development process to the game’s future plans, Fletcher gives Review Fix an inside look at how Marvel and D3 have teamed up to create one of the most ambitious mobile games of all time.

Review Fix: How does this game play differently from the other games in the Puzzle Quest series?

Joe Fletcher: All the Puzzle Quest games always have some experiment in gameplay stylings compared to one another and the first Puzzle Quest. Galactrix had a different style board and movement, PQ2 had weapons that you could directly attack and defend with. Marvel Puzzle Quest brings in two major new concepts: Three characters per side and that every match is an attack.  Both of these tie directly into what makes Marvel comics so action packed in general.  In big rumbles, you rarely have one on ones; Instead multiple people on different sides are duking it out.  As well, characters in the Marvel universe don’t tend to be the type that sit and “charge up” attacks.  They constantly throw punches/energy blasts/psionic waves at one another.  To emulate that feel, every match deals damage, not just matches of Skulls like in PQ1 and PQ2.

Review Fix: What was the development cycle been like?

Fletcher: It’s definitely been a different experience as both D3 and Demiurge have both been in the business of making more traditional boxed products before this.  So there was quite a bit of a learning curve leading up to release on how to effectively create and run a game that isn’t just a “Once and it’s out” with maybe a couple DLC packs.  We navigated that at launch, having a product that we felt could stand on its own as it was, and we’re just building on that as we go along by providing constant new content and features as we move forward.  In the long run, making a game like this that persists for as long as people are into it just means that we’re always on the development treadmill. No time for post project cool down breaks on the downside, but on the major upside, we get to constantly keep putting in things that we know our fans will love and adding features that we want people to experience to boot.

Review Fix: What do you think is the game’s biggest selling point?

Fletcher: I’d actually say that there are two things that are kind of intrinsically tied together really.  The first and obvious selling point is that it’s an authentic Marvel experience. We’ve got tons of characters in the game with more coming all the time. We’ve got Events occurring in the game that are written by some of the actual Marvel writers. So it’s something that anyone who has an interest in the Marvel universe can get into and love. On top of that though, and making all that attractive is the fact that MPQ is accessible to players at all levels.  People that want to come in and just match up some colors, maybe throw out a Repulsor Blast or two?  They can do that.  he players that want to decide whether Black Panther’s build is best as 5/5/3 or 5/4/4, and what that means for their gameplay style? That’s all there too.

Review Fix: How important a role has the game’s community played in the post-release development of the game?

Fletcher: Community has been and continues to play an absolutely *huge* role in our continued development.  While we most definitely have ideas and features that we want to put into the game, listening to what fans want as well is extremely important.  Several of our key features in various parts of the game have been brought into being as a direct result of community feedback.   Things like the Iso-8 bonus on Versus wins, showing timers on when points refresh in Events, fan favorite characters like Colossus or Deadpool.  They’re all in because they are things that our fans want and can enjoy in the game.

Review Fix: What will Devil Dinosaur and Goddess of Thunder add to the game?

Fletcher: Both are 4* characters, so they’re both introduced at the higher levels of play which is currently pretty sparse on character selection.  Both characters also have a different color strength variation than the other available 4* characters, so they’ll slot into teams and alter those high end player’s strategies.  And of course, both Devil Dinosaur with his Prehistoric Bite and Thor Goddess of Thunder with Mjolnir Smiting her enemies will bring major hurt on their foes.  They’re both very offensively based characters in different ways, so players will have a strong offensive punch to go with the defensively minded Invisible Woman and the offensive but somewhat more utility centered Nick Fury and Wolverine (X-Force).

Review Fix: The Puzzle Quest games have had a ton of success on home consoles in addition to handhelds and mobile devices, any thoughts on bringing the series to the PlayStation Network or XBox Live in the future?

Fletcher: The Puzzle Quest games have been fun for fans on a number of consoles and systems in the past. There is much interest today from players in experiencing Marvel Puzzle Quest on console and additional devices and it’s something that we do not have in the works yet today but we do hope to have MPQ on as many devices and platforms in the future. We hope to have more updates on this soon and appreciate the feedback from fans.

Review Fix: How do you want this game to be remembered?

Fletcher: We want Marvel Puzzle Quest to be remembered as one of the best Marvel games ever to come out, and in its own right as one of the best Puzzle RPGs to be released.  Given our strong continued fan reaction and the critical reception that we’ve received, we think we’re well on our way towards that goal, but we want to keep things up so that players can look back on their time with the game as one of the best in their entire played libraries.

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Fletcher: Just want to say that we’ve still got a lot planned.  We’ve recently pulled off the “Dark Reign” subtitle from the game as we’re going to branch off into other stories.  We’ve got some great characters lined up to release and will keep that up.  We continually push out new client updates that refine the user experience and make things better for players to enjoy the game.  And we’re always looking to add new features, like Alliances, Seasons, and gameplay modes like The Gauntlet to keep long time players interested.  We’re going to keep on pushing ahead with making Marvel Puzzle Quest the best game it can be and we want to take all the fans we possibly can along for the ride.