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

[Irxy]

Well, I still want QfG 6 or some spiritual successor, its one of my favorite series.
Won't give a buck for some browser social crap.

 

[udm]

From http://www.hero-u.net/leaders/?p=6

Now that you are here, you are officially a SuperHero. We hope you’ll help us publicize and let everyone know what we are doing. You’ll be posting on the forums, socializing on Facebook and other sites, and writing blogs, comments, and publicity notices to your favorite fan sites.


Hero-U – Rogue Rally

The Hero-U combines turn-based, tactical combat and dungeon exploration with rich character interactions, challenging puzzles, and an immersive story. Acclaimed game designers Corey and Lori Cole – creators of the award-winning Quest for Glory series and Castle of Dr. Brain – take you on an epic role-playing journey.

Your life has not been an easy one. Caught red-handed during your thieves’ guild initiation, you have a seemingly-easy choice – Go to reform school or rot away in prison. The teachers and students are intent on making your life a living hell, while trouble lurks in the catacombs below. It’d help if you didn’t need to worry about being killed and passing midterms.

Corey and Lori Cole have assembled a star development team featuring Brawsome, developers of the award winning MacGuffin’s Curse and Jolly Rover. The School for Heroes features:

1. Tactical combat, where player choices make a real difference
2. Branching conversations that affect your relationship with other characters
3. Characters with unique personalities and their own agendas
4. Challenging puzzles that are an important, organic part of the story
5. Meaningful choices between exploration, study, and social interaction

For now, there isn't any suggestion of social networking bullshit in the game itself, which is a good thing. The rest of it looks very promising.

 

[kaizoku]

I'm not convinced.

Who is to say this won't be a facebook game?

I'm suspicious of I-Troll-U game.

 

[Aeschylus]

I'm not convinced.

Who is to say this won't be a facebook game?

I'm suspicious of I-Troll-U game.

Well, there has been no actual mention of facebook anywhere, at any point connected to this project (other than from posters here) that I have noticed. I'm optimistic about it after the most recent announcement.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I'm not convinced.

Who is to say this won't be a facebook game?

I'm suspicious of I-Troll-U game.

Well, there has been no actual mention of facebook anywhere, at any point connected to this project (other than from posters here) that I have noticed. I'm optimistic about it after the most recent announcement.

Well, there's also this phrase in the Mashable interview that accompanied the announcement:

While the game itself will not be multiplayer or social, the Coles hope to engender a vibrant forum during development and after release. “One of our plans is to really build the website into a community. I can’t talk too much about what we’re doing with it, but it will basically track what you’re doing in the game — if you choose to sign up for that feature — and it will allow people to talk about their experiences. It will be the players interacting, as opposed to their characters.”

http://mashable.com/2012/09/17/hero-u/

 

[Jaesun]

but it will basically track what you’re doing in the game — if you choose to sign up for that feature — and it will allow people to talk about their experiences. It will be the players interacting, as opposed to their characters.

I don't have a problem with that.

 

[The Round Peg]

On October 19, 2012, Quest for Glory creators Lori and Corey Cole will launch a kickstarter for a new adventure-RPG in Gloriana, i.e., the world of Quest for Glory.

That is what being announced on their website, School for Heroes, and flashing on their other website, Hero University.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Awesome.

 

[evdk]

Do I look like I am printing money?

 

[Stabwound]

Please let this not be terrible.

 

[Alexian]

There won't be any Facebook or social elements in the game, or anything required outside it.

We are super excited to get this Kickstarter going, everything that has been produced by the team has been stunning, and we hope by sharing our progress that RPG fans will agree.

In terms of how to think about Hero-U, it will be like this:

* A focus on story. We will be including plenty of real decisions that have permanent effects throughout the story, not just in the ending.
* Character interactions/school similar to the Persona Series.
* Combat that is a mesh of a rogue-like with tactical grid movement, and figuring out monster's weaknesses.
* Puzzles in an adventure game--style (Item-based puzzles, talking to a character that can makes sense to solve the problem, etc) with an emphasis on challenging fun rather than time wasters.

Psst.. here's a monster sketch leak:

If you guys have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.

- Michael

 

[Jaesun]

Hello and welcome Alexian. Are you on the development team working on this?

We at first were horrified by a possible Facebook/Social crap thing, but we now know that is not going to be part of the game (thankfully).

 

[Alexian]

I'm volunteering my time to handle the marketing for the project, so I'm involved in all of the development conversations.

 

[Jaesun]

I'm volunteering my time to handle the marketing for the project, so I'm involved in all of the development conversations.

Then welcome. We have a A LOT of people that are HUGE Quest For Glory Fans here (Myself included).

 

[Curious_Tongue]

I'm volunteering my time to handle the marketing for the project, so I'm involved in all of the development conversations.

Spambot in direct communication with developers.

Welcome.

Edit: I'm joking of course. This place needs more people actually working in the industry.

 

[Alexian]

Hahaha. I'm sooo not working in the industry (I work for a startup). I'm Corey and Lori's son, so I had the traumatizing experience of growing up seeing the utter lack of "competency" from managers and marketers for big game companies. Definitely, not my cup of tea. When you hear those Kickstarter tropes about how everything will be better because they can go completely indie and not work with publishers, I completely believe it based on what I've seen.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Okay guys, so if you have any questions you'd like to ask Corey and Lori - be it about QfG or Hero-U - now's the time to! I'll be collecting your questions, if you have any, for the next couple of days, while we come up with our own questions for the upcoming interview. Ask away.

 

[GuybrushWilco]

I can't wait for this QFG is one of my favorite game series (along with Space Quest). It is also one of the first games that I ever played, back on the Tandy 1000. Will this game have some kind of a themed fantasy setting like the QFG games had? Like how QFG1 was sort of medieval western European, and QFG2 was sort of middle eastern.

 

[The Round Peg]

I'm not sure why the moderator moved my message from the CRPG into the adventure gaming forum. Quest for Glory games were RPG/adventure hybrid, and the new game (based on what I've been reading on Cole's websites) will be 50/50 RPG and adventure.

Michael Cole, Director of Marketing for Transolar Entertainment, posted a message about the new game on GOG.com:

http://af.gog.com/en/forum/general/quest_for_glory_kickstarter_maybe_coming/post50?as=1649904300

"In terms of game play, it'll have two major parts: The school part which revolves around character interaction and puzzle solving. The catacombs part which is a rogue-like with tactical movement and skills built around exploiting enemies weaknesses."

 

[Jaesun]

SCO have you read this yet? Also, have any questions for this new game?

 

[SCO]

Rogue-like hummm. Combat was always the weakest part of qfg, so it's all for the good they're trying something different. As long as the abilities are still integrated with the puzzles/gameworld (but don't make it too easy), i think it's good...
Though rogue-like combat with saves... prefer it party based personally. Would be cool if the school part was about solving puzzles for recruitment.
And if it's RT and a roguelike, i will rage obviously.

Hope for Dwarf-fortress/magicka like levels of environmental & character combat interaction (but expect to be disappointed).

Finally i will suggest that movement abilities are the best part of a party based rogue-like/SRPG, things like rushing (taking more points than attacking but less than moving and attacking), pushback, pull, pinning are all the funnest part of those games, unlike boring mass area of effect spells (verboten!)

 

[GuybrushWilco]

It definitely sounds interesting, but I am only curious as to how they will ballance it. The adventure and RPG aspects to QFG were blended well, as certain combat skills (especially magic) had uses in puzzle solving, as well as in combat. Also, the exploration was done using the same kind of look and interface as the adventure portions, and so all just fit together well. If they separate the too aspects too cleanly, it could end up feeling disjointed. Then again, I am sure they know all of these things, and will do a good job .

 

[SCO]

The combat wasn't (it was actually 'the best' in the QFG2 remake, which really hurts when you play the rest)... I think i'm expecting something like ToEE with/out a grid projected into the normal scenario would be ideal... but i don't think it will happen. Probably something like a chibi SRPG layer for the 'catacombs' ... sigh.

 

[Mother Russia]

Crooked Bee: Here are my questions:

-Will this game be party based, or will you only control one PC as in OFG?
-Will you only be able to play as a thief, or will you be able to choose other classes?
-Will a paladin be possible?

 

[Alexian]

To be honest, combat is going to be the most in flux part of the game at the moment. We have a planned combat system, but it's one that will need testing to make it's fast, strategic and challenging-ly fun..

Right now it's a solo hero, with multi-panel movement (one of the issues with a Rogue-like is that the one movement per turn makes monsters too predictable.)

For the moment, most of your characters options are choosing which poisons and traps to use. For example, you might use a slow poison on a large Minotaur, and then lure out the surrounding minions to kill one by one. Maybe on the Hard setting you're not strong enough to kill the Minotaur by yourself, so you set up a spring trap to launch it into a pit. For simpler battles, it might just be using a burning poison to kill a set of octopus-like monsters quickly. For basic combat a lot of it will be figuring out the monster's weaknesses, and then choosing positioning to pick them off without taking too much damage.

If the Kickstarter succeeds, one of our first focuses will be getting out a combat tester for our backers. We want to make sure the game's combat is more RPG than puzzle game, and that can be a fine line to balance.


As for the school/catacombs, we'll try to balance it so there is never too much of one or the other at one time. One great thing about this setup though, is that it allows us to make it easier to have multiple solution for the more adventure-game style puzzles. For example, there can multiple solutions to problems, some solutions involve utilizing items found inside the catacombs. Rather than a find the one item, use the one item, style puzzle overused by too many adventure game.