You can help us change the future!
Seven years ago, 6000 intrepid adventurers took the chance of supporting our - Lori and Corey Cole’s - new game project. 2000 more joined over the next few years. That game, released in 2018, became Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption.
Now we need your help again, but it isn’t just us. By supporting the Hero-U series, you can help us draw a road map of the future of gaming! It’s up to all of us to make sure games include real stories, richly detailed characters, and thoughtful game play.
Lori has been writing a prequel to Rogue to Redemption called Summer Daze at Hero-U for the last year. We have a prototype you can play right now on
itch.io or Steam, and we’re running a Kickstarter so we can finish and improve the game. If you haven’t already looked at it, stop right here and visit
landing_page_link.
We’re going to make the goal and the game, but with your help, we can do much more - Add features such as voice acting, add puzzles, and even get a head start on Hero-U: Wizards Way.
You’ve told us that Hero-U is a great game. Reviews have consistently rated it in the 80% - 90% range. More importantly, players on both Steam and GOG have given it “Very Positive” ratings. We managed to include most of the features that players loved in Quest for Glory: * Player as the star * Interesting characters with rich dialogue and side quests * An involving story that you discover as you go along * Role-playing system building stats and skills * Beautiful areas to discover and explore * Combat emphasizing RPG stats as well as player skill * Fun mini-games such as Poobah and trap disarming * Fabulous soundtrack by Ryan Grogan * Challenging but fair puzzles
We also added a few things: * Tactical combat options including traps and runes * “Buffing” potions and magical equipment * More variety of armor, weapons, and equipment * Challenging “time as a currency” mechanic * Much larger text and dialogue for more complex story * Huge environments allowing more exploration and interaction
Let's make another great game together! We’re doing a new Kickstarter campaign for Summer Daze at Hero-U, the prequel to Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption.
This time we’re changing up the formula from “Adventure game with role-playing and a focus on characters” to “Visual Storytelling with adventure game challenges and a focus on characters.” You can find the new campaign at
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/transolargames/summer-daze-at-hero-u, and we hope you will at least visit the page and watch the video.
Thank you to those of you who have already visited the Summer Daze page, and especially to you who have pledged to support the new game! You haven’t just contributed to a game project - You’ve cast a vote in favor of having us make more story- and character-based games.
That means a lot to us, and it’s the main reason we use crowdfunding for our games. We need to know that we have an audience of people who care about, are passionate about, storytelling in games. If we can’t find and reach that audience, we need to question whether we should keep making those games.
We’re committed to finishing Summer Daze at Hero-U regardless of what happens with the Kickstarter. But our future after that is in doubt. We are passionate and excited that Summer Daze is going to be a great game with memorable characters and story, but if our most fervent players and fans say “eh, who cares?” then for whom are we making these games?
We’re also looking to this campaign to decide on the scope of Summer Daze at Hero-U. Currently we have two great stories centering around Tilly the rogue and Ifeyo the wizard. But we’d like to add more interactivity, mini-games, and possibly even Hero’s Quest style “closeup combat.” We’d like to release the game in multiple languages. It would be awesome to add professional voice acting for all the characters.
There are more cool items we can give to backers if we have the funding. Once/if we get close to the minimum $100K goal for the campaign, we’ll announce our plans for stretch goals. But if we get there on the final day of the campaign, as we did in 2012, we won’t have time for that.
Join Us!
Is there a future for Transolar Games, and for Lori and Corey Cole as game creators? That’s largely up to you to decide. For a start, visit
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/transolargames/summer-daze-at-hero-u, watch the short video, and read about the game. Decide whether you care enough about the story in Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption to want more of the lore and background of Hero-U. If you find the project worthy, please pledge and let your friends know about it.
Lori and I learned in Lifespring training to ask ourselves two questions about taking action: “If not me, then who?” “If not now, then when?”
Why now? There are about two weeks left in the Kickstarter, after which we won’t look for or expect many pledges. Helping us reach the goal quickly will encourage many more backers, and will give us a much better chance of reaching stretch goals and improving the game. It will also make life less stressful for us, which is good for our health and writing quality.
You’re our most cherished and special fans. We hope you’ll answer “Yes, me!” and “Yes, now!” to those questions and encourage us to continue making story- and character-based games for years to come.
Corey and Lori Cole
