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

[suejak]

I mean, there's nothing inherently better about isometric perspectives, but the main reason is they're building off of McGruff's Whatever technology, which was top-down and tile-based.

 

[FeelTheRads]

http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/sp...ure-by-the-creators-of-space-que/#chart-daily

100K in the last 3 days. 175k in the last 6.

They could get the same. Or not. But it's not a sure thing.

 

[Jaesun]

Yeah, I am hoping some big pledges come in near the end. I just really want this project to go forward.

 

[suejak]

If all us $20 pledgers double our pledges, that'd help a lot.

 

[suejak]

On the other hand, here's a quote from Corey Cole on the Kickstarter page:

Corey: We're not sure if you [backers] realize how much power you have. When we left Sierra, the game industry became mired in an endless succession of first-person shooters. Adventure games died overnight because publishers didn't want to spend millions of dollars on games that would only sell a couple hundred thousand copies.
Gaming as we knew it died, except for a few decent MMOs. But now there are signs of life, and you're in charge.

Corey was fired in 1999.

Games released in 1999: Planescape: Torment, Shenmue, System Shock 2
Games released in 2000: Deus Ex, Diablo 2, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate II, Thief 2

Now, some of these are very different games. Some of them are very FPS-like. None of them are classic Sierra-style games, and none of them comparable to QfG in style.

However, neither are any MMOs...

The games listed above released in 1999/2000 are some damn good games.

Has Corey Cole played them?

Maybe the Coles deserve to fail.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Or maybe suejak deserves to be RPGWatched?

 

[Stabwound]

As much as I love QFG, this just does not appeal to me at all. It looks like it's trying to mimic Dungeons of Dredmor.

 

[suejak]

On the other hand, here's a quote from Corey Cole on the Kickstarter page:

Corey: We're not sure if you [backers] realize how much power you have. When we left Sierra, the game industry became mired in an endless succession of first-person shooters. Adventure games died overnight because publishers didn't want to spend millions of dollars on games that would only sell a couple hundred thousand copies.
Gaming as we knew it died, except for a few decent MMOs. But now there are signs of life, and you're in charge.

Corey was fired in 1999.

Games released in 1999: Planescape: Torment, Shenmue, System Shock 2
Games released in 2000: Deus Ex, Diablo 2, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate II, Thief 2

Now, some of these are very different games. Some of them are very FPS-like. None of them are classic Sierra-style games, and none of them comparable to QfG in style.

However, neither are any MMOs...

The games listed above released in 1999/2000 are some damn good games.

Has Corey Cole played them?

Maybe the Coles deserve to fail.

Hmm, I want to clarify that they don't seem to have been fired from Sierra. They stopped working for Sierra in 1999/2000, but it's not clear how or why.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chainsaw_Monday#Major_layoffs in 1999 saw the closure of the classic Sierra studio. All of this explanation would be unnecessary if this site let me edit my original post, lol.)

 

[FeelTheRads]

As much as I love QFG, this just does not appeal to me at all. It looks like it's trying to mimic Dungeons of Dredmor.

Seriously, I think people put too much importance on how it looks.

 

[Zed]

Maybe the Coles deserve to fail.

No. They deserve to succeed.

As for your "gaming is dead" quote, of course he didn't mean gaming overall just dropped dead over night. (Sierra) adventure games did.

 

[LordDenton]

Seriously, I think people put too much importance on how it looks.

Well, it's kind of important when the looks are repulsive... This looks like a fucking Facebook game.

 

[Stabwound]

VS

 

[suejak]

Maybe the Coles deserve to fail.

No. They deserve to succeed.

As for your "gaming is dead" quote, of course he didn't mean gaming overall just dropped dead over night. (Sierra) adventure games did.

Uh... he said, "gaming as we knew it was dead, except for some decent MMOs." Can you name a (Sierra) adventure game MMO? I guess you mean Sierra's 1995 breakaway hit MMORPG The Realm?

 

[Blaine]

Seriously, I think people put too much importance on how it looks.

While the "fanciness" of the graphics used to describe a game may not matter (I've played and enjoyed many text-only games by now), if you do choose to use art, then the art direction (and execution) definitely does matter.

No one in this thread has more nostalgia for Sierra adventure games than I do. It's an impossibility. Some may be just as nostalgic as I am, but not more so. I memorized every detail of each screen lovingly, went through the conversations dozens of times for the sake of re-reading them, and perused the manuals and foldouts until they were grungy and dogeared. Sierra adventure games only offered a few hours of gameplay to an experienced adventure gamer, but there was more to them than just winning. They had character, atmosphere, wit, and artistry to offer. I'd play each once a year for years after I'd beaten it the first time. Of course, games are also more precious to kids and especially so in decades past, unless they were spoiled I suppose.

I know you all have nostalgia for some game or another, so I probably don't need to explain any of this.

I'm rooting for the Coles, I donated to the Kickstarter, and I believe they can make an excellent game despite the engine and art style chosen. But, well, refer to my quote. People will glance at a screenshot of a game and immediately draw conclusions about it, the same way we glance at other people's faces and clothes and draw conclusions about their character and their place in society, all in an instant. Top-down tiled doesn't remind people of the old adventure games (and there are recent adventure games that still do look that way), and a cartoonish art style doesn't particularly remind anyone of Quest for Glory.

 

[~RAGING BONER~]

...this'll probably play real nice on my phone...

 

[Infinitron]

Maybe the Coles deserve to fail.

No. They deserve to succeed.

As for your "gaming is dead" quote, of course he didn't mean gaming overall just dropped dead over night. (Sierra) adventure games did.

Uh... he said, "gaming as we knew it was dead, except for some decent MMOs." Can you name a (Sierra) adventure game MMO? I guess you mean Sierra's 1995 breakaway hit MMORPG The Realm?

Yes, suejak is right. The Cole's puzzling experience gap is something I noticed and mentioned the moment the game was announced.

One gets the impression that they were so traumatized by the rise of the first person shooter genre and the fall of Sierra that they failed to notice that good stuff was still coming out, right up until the early-mid 2000's. In fact, one could say that RPGs started going in a QfG-like direction during this time. Again, other people have noticed this.

 

[Zed]

Maybe the Coles deserve to fail.

No. They deserve to succeed.

As for your "gaming is dead" quote, of course he didn't mean gaming overall just dropped dead over night. (Sierra) adventure games did.

Uh... he said, "gaming as we knew it was dead, except for some decent MMOs." Can you name a (Sierra) adventure game MMO? I guess you mean Sierra's 1995 breakaway hit MMORPG The Realm?

Oh, I misread the quote. You're right. What a silly thing to say. I guess the Coles don't play many games.

 

[Stabwound]

With all due respect to the Coles, Quest For Infamy seems like what this kickstarter should have been like. But I guess you guys have to do what you're happy with, and I guess a point and click adventure isn't that. I do wish you luck, but I think a Quest For Glory 6 (or just a spiritual successor) by you two could have been incredible.

I don't have much interest in this current project, especially because of the Persona 4 comparisons (I hate that game) but we'll see what happens. And since you are responsible for one of the best video game series of all time, I have some faith that it wasn't just a fluke that you put out 4 incredible games (QGF 1-4... I personally think 5 fell victim to the late-Sierra curse where they tried to transition to 3D and failed miserably).

 

[FeelTheRads]

http://www.abload.de/img/7129_1ypb5h.gif

VS

http://www.hero-u.net/leaders/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Hero-U_caverntiles.jpg

Yes, I get that. Thanks. Hence why I said that "people put too much importance on how it looks" and not "it looks great guys".

This looks like a fucking Facebook game.

Yes, but the thing is that the gameplay at least could be expected to not be Facebook style.

Anyway, they have a new update. Why the fuck is Kickstarter so fucking retarded and doesn't notify of updates anymore?

 

[Infinitron]

they specialized in adventure games

No, they actually never really liked them that much. Read their posts.

 

[~RAGING BONER~]

the "troof" is they don't want to do another QfG-like game, they say as much in the video.

Had they actually announced such a thing and set their kickstarter funding mark to account for the needed artistry (say 300k more), they likely would have blown passed their goal by now instead of lagging behind like a 3 legged turtle.

no, they wanna make some "high quality" facebook game that will no doubt be somewhat entertaining...in an angry birds kind of way.

but hey, it's their project, they can do whatever the fuck they wanna do!

 

[Broken Staff Studios]

Hoping the game will be a nice middle-ground between RPG skill checks and adventuring. I felt as though QFG1 and QFG2 were the only games where training and improving statistics really made any appreciable difference (granted if you imported your character in the later games that was inevitable), and by QFG4 they had sort have gone full-adventure and dismissing the RPG mechanics as something of an inconvenience. Examples include finding virtually all the money you'll ever need in Erana's Garden, and being able to train strength by simply clicking on the exercise machine once a day. I could be in the minority on this though, or perhaps the combat systems in the earlier games (especially QFG2) made mindless grinding feel more exciting.

Not to say I wanted the game to be a full RPG, of course. I loved the character progression and storytelling (awkwardly paced as it may have been) in equal measure, and it's a shame adventure games nowadays seem less inclined to do sequels because there's just something incredibly gratifying about encountering old characters again. What are other Codexians' stances on the series? Did you guys prefer one element of the series more than the other? Was Ad Avis canonically wearing his black turban at the end of QFG2 EGA or the red one from his later appearances?

I loved the series - well at least the first two. The later ones didn't really have the charm, I think you nailed it by saying they were more adventure games than RPGs. I went to their Kickstarter and it looks like they will have turn based combat which is good, but top down view unlike the adventure-style painted screens in the first two. I think it would lose some of its charm that way.

QFG1 was one of the few games I played through as a warrior (mostly a mage type player myself) because it was fun to just do another playthrough. In QFG2 I played through as a plain warrior and a paladin as well - those first two games were a lot of fun.

 

[Mother Russia]

Maybe the Coles deserve to fail.

Deserve is an interesting word. Who deserves what? Nobody deserves anything. Thank God we rarely get what we deserve.

I'm not the Hero-U Codex needs, I'm the one it deserves.

 

[tuluse]

Maybe the Coles deserve to fail.

Deserve is an interesting word. Who deserves what? Nobody deserves anything. Thank God we rarely get what we deserve.

Deserve's got nothing to do with it.

 

[Corey Cole]

Let's see: Games released in 1999: Planescape: Torment, Shenmue, System Shock 2
Games released in 2000: Deus Ex, Diablo 2, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate II, Thief 2

I played Planescape: Torment. It was fun, but not really adventure style, story-based puzzles. I did not plya Shenmue. System Shock 2 was unplayable (made me throw up from the jerky 3D graphics).

Deus Ex - Didn't play it. Diablo 2 was pure adrenaline sugar action. In-house at Sierra, Diablo 1 was referred to by others as "poor man's Quest for Glory". Only played a little of Icewind Dale, but it looked good. I played Baldur's Gate, but not II, very good game. Couldn't play Thief 2 (motion sickness); I played a little of Thief and liked it.

Summary: The RPG's on the list were fun, but over-emphasized monster hacking at the expense of the story. The action games were really not much different from first-person shooters in that they relied on action above story.

I was specifically referring to the death of adventure games. Sierra closed shop in 1999. LucasArts continued working on adventures until 2002, but didn't ship them - I think their last adventure game shipped in 2000. There have been some European adventure games since then; I haven't played through most of them.

Does it matter? Lori and I have made some great games for you guys in the past. If you want to see what we can do now, support Hero-U. If you think we suddenly went from successful game designers to drooling idiots, well, you have an interesting world view. I can tell you that most of the people in Sierra and the press thought that Hero's Quest was a horrible idea - They all said adventurers hate RPG's and RPG-players hate adventure games, and nobody would buy it.

Then it broke Sierra's first-3-months sales record and got named Adventure Game of the Year by CGW.

Fine, lots of you have the same insight as those "marketers" to "know" that Hero-U will be a terrible game, just as they "knew" Hero's Quest would suck. We're relying on people who want to see more of what we can make. If there are enough of those, we'll be able to make our game, and you can all critique it next year. But why people like suejak and iamlindoro are threatened by it, and don't want us to attempt to make a new game, that I really don't get.