KickStarter Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption - adventure-RPG from the creators of Quest for Glory

[Boleskine]

When you compare this project to something like Mage's Initiation or the upcoming STASIS, it shows that having some of the game's development already completed and being able to provide things like finalized screens, in-game videos, or even a demo goes a long way.

From the beginning of Hero-U it was clear that while the Coles were quite passionate about this game, they really didn't even know what kind of game they were going to make. Or rather, they had revealed in discussions that the game they were making was a compromise of what they really wanted to do. It was a tough sell and even though they made it, having so many overwhelming opinions from the backers leading to multiple changes probably kept them from taking off for quite awhile. I recall Corey saying in an update some months ago that they had lost a programmer or two to other projects since Hero-U work was essentially stalled while they redesigned some things.

The Coles are good people who have made some mistakes but still remain genuine and sincere. So, I'm rooting for them.

 

[Bubbles]

Just heard about this today, very excited for how it will turn out. Are pre-orders still possible?

 

[Boleskine]

Just heard about this today, very excited for how it will turn out. Are pre-orders still possible?

They're still taking donations via PayPal but nothing on that page lists rewards or pre-orders. Hmm...

http://www.hero-u.net/KS-store.php

 

[Western]

Just heard about this today, very excited for how it will turn out. Are pre-orders still possible?

As a backer I'd say pre-ordering isn't such a hot idea right now, risk of this falling over is pretty real. Consider waiting until it looks like something will realistically be released or if you're more of a risk taker, the second round of crowd funding.

If I could turn back time I wouldn't have backed this project, at the time I probably only backed near the end as it was close to failing. When it comes to crowdfunding it's best to back established studios or projects that have significant work already poured into them. Also don't back higher than what you'd be comfortable losing (I gave it $20).

 

[taxalot]

My god, you guys could have just looked at Matt Barton's interview. From the very beginning this project seemed like "baah, there's money in Kickstarter, I want money, baaaah, game ideaaaa ? we'll see" . There was no passion, they didn't even seem interested in what they were talking about, except when it was the old QfG games.

 

[Cosmo]

My god, you guys could have just looked at Matt Barton's interview. From the very beginning this project seemed like "baah, there's money in Kickstarter, I want money, baaaah, game ideaaaa ? we'll see" . There was no passion, they didn't even seem interested in what they were talking about, except when it was the old QfG games.

Exaggerate much ?
Granted, they seemed a little deluded about kickstarter and completely off about what people would be expecting from that project.
But the rest is the babbling of your own inner drama queen.

 

[Irxy]

Man. I love their work but it is hard to have sympathy when the problem was mainly their fault. Their lack of planning. There are other adventure games kiskcstarters that are going much better with less Money. I feel more symphaty towards the backers that gave money to them in good faith. I will only start feeling sympathy towards them when (if?) the game is released.

Exactly.
Well, at least they seem serious about completing the game, and not just saying something like "sorry guys, we failed, bye-bye" yet.

 

[Zed]

new update with alpha gameplay video.

would look nice in stills, but sadly the game is animated by either
a) a camel or b) some web/flash game animator.

can't really comment on any gameplay cuz they don't really show anything.

 

[J1M]

Gameplay video only for backers? What a bunch of pricks.

 

[Zed]

uh no it's a youtube video

copy-paste for you J1M



so yeah animation is ass and I dunno what my impression is other than that

 

[DeepOcean]

The animation is shitty and there is too much empty space on the scene. I just hope it's just placeholder animation and they are going to do a second pass on this. It remind me of the hilarious house invasions in QfG 1 and 2. The light hearted music and the message that appear when you are caught are very QfG like.

 

[Stabwound]

Wow, this looks worse than I imagined. It's like a facebook flash game with trial-and-error gameplay like a choose your own adventure book.

I hope there's a lot more to it than this, but 95% of the updates were backer only so I thought this was going to be a completely different kind of game.

 

[suejak]

Jesus, for a bunch of classic RPG fans, you guys are fucking obnoxious about graphics.

It's a little wordy and it does look a bit like a Flash game, but it grew on me as I was watching. I can actually see myself liking this. I hope they never voice it.

 

[DeepOcean]

It's like a facebook flash game with trial-and-error gameplay like a choose your own adventure book.

What I saw was a typical home invasion of QfG1 and 2 with shitty graphics. Is it trial and error? Yes, but not different from the original QfG games.

 

[Name]

They have classic sierra death screen? INCLINE.

Or decline, if you think lucarsarts are the way.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Just saw the link to this vid in my mail. Watched it, and I'm kinda dissapointed right now. Art assets look lazy and uninspired, animation is bad, and without a mouse cursor I can't really judge will there be a pixel hunting and puzzles, or is your character railroaded to "missions" with 3 choices, like choose your own adventure or something. Design of the main character is pretty bad too, especially his face.

Oh well, I got so much fun out of QfG series as a teen, so I won't begrudge my money spent on this kickstarter. Somewhat sad though, 'cause it looks like this project will either tank, or won't see the light of a day at all.

 

[Blackthorne]

You know, for all the mis-steps that CAN happen during game development, this isn't so bad. The little demo definitely has that old-school Cole's charm to it. The animation is stiff, but you can always work on that. I hope development goes smoother for them now - they seem to really have a focused path and design now. I can't say, however, that I don't envy their budget - it's almost 8x what we got for QFI, and if I had that extra money - wow, it really would have sped up production on the game. I saw someone here say something about us working on the game before the Kickstarter - it's true; we worked for about 5 months on our demo, pre-Kickstarter, so we'd have something to show the backers, because we didn't really have name-recognition. That certainly allowed us to plan our development and know what we got into - we expanded the game based on the fact that we got more than our goal, and it's definitely taken some time to finish, but we're closing in now. In the mean time, I had to tighten my own belt quite a bit to get things done. I haven't traveled or gone on vacation in over a year, and I barely drive my car around town at all to save gas! Haha... most of the other team members work other jobs, too, so they put in hours when they can. Thing is, we're willing to put the work in, no matter what, to finish the project because we believe in it. We're used to it, though; we made free remakes for a long time for the sheer joy of it. Getting that first commercial game in can be hard, but hopefully it pay off for us. If not, I can always be a janitor who once made a bad-ass game no one played!!!

Anyway, I digress; I'm definitely interested to see where this project heads over the next few months, and I think they've got a much clearer vision and direction now. I'm interested to see more and more about this project, and I hope from here on out, we get more updates of this nature - visual demos, etc.


Bt

 

[Infinitron]

Blackthorne When are you going to put QFI on Greenlight? Maybe you could just piggy back on the Steam Access of your friends at Himalaya, if they ever get it. Might want to sell the game together in a bundle with Mage's Initiation, too. "The Quest for Glory Homage Pack".

 

[Blackthorne]

We're working on Steam soon - putting it all together, so we're prepared for the process. Making a trailer, etc.


Bt

 

[suejak]

This is actually the most promising gameplay reel I've seen from any of the Sierra comeback kids.

 

[Aeschylus]

I don't see what the problem with the trailer is. Yeah, the animations look like a Flash game, but the game itself looks like nothing but one of the awesome break-ins from QFG1. Remember, save early, save often.

 

[Name]

The demo is supposed to be released 'soon' anyway. We'll know how things really feel like when it's in our hands.

 

[Name]

"The Coles designed the second chapter of Bolt Riley"

So they have spent their time on another project design?

They seriously need more programming and art personnels to compensate their huge design output.

 

[Blackthorne]

Actually, guys, they worked on the design for this project over 2 years ago - they wrote their part, and collaborated with Oded on the design and writing of the game, specifically the "2nd Chapter". They're not involved in the day-to-day production of the game - Adventure Mob is.


Bt

 

[Blackthorne]

Yeah, exactly - they produced the demo that the LSL Kickstarter was sold on - and then Replay decided to go with N-Fusion to develop the game.


Bt