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

FeelTheRads

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Maybe Fargo could mention this in an update. You know, kicking it forward and so on...
 

Kz3r0

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Only 11 days to go and still 22k missing till it gets funded. I have to admit I'm a bit buffled about their lack of updates. There were only three and only one is actually really about the game.
Probably they will get the heeded money in the last three days at worst, but dropping the ball so hard means that they still don't get it how things work.
 

twincast

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Well, they do have fairly frequent updates on hero-u.com, which they do refer to in their occasional KS updates...
I question the wisdom of that as campaigns without a healthy amount of updates look abandoned to me and thus not worthy of further attention, but I suppose they don't want to irritate the sort of morons that were complaining about the frequent updates in their inboxes during the first campaign.
 

V_K

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considering the 1st campaign backers are the primary demographic
That's questionable, there's only so much a person is willing to spend on a game. And the way Hero-U looks now is waaay different from what they proposed in the original kickstarter, it could very well generate more interest with the somewhat less hardcore crowd.
 

twincast

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At the current pace, it should get funded round about when the 48 hour reminders get sent out. Hopefully that will also result in a noticable amount of publicity again to make full use of the final rush. Also, these last few days will have daily, meaty updates.
 

Bumvelcrow

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I'm torn by this - the developers have risked a lot and clearly are putting a lot of sweat and tears. Also, most of the backers seem to be QfG fans who really want it to succeed, even if it means throwing in more money. But it sets a dangerous precedent - if you fail just kickstart again until you succeed. If only there was some way for them to make the game I originally backed, rather than this mutant version that requires money and has even less chance of actually appearing. Hmmm...
 

Crooked Bee

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Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire MCA Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
New KS update, talking about the pledges but also about new improvements to the tactical combat system: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/transolargames/hero-u-adventure-role-playing-game/posts/1320207

Programming - The Combat System
Joshua continues to improve the tactical combat system features. We now take account of movement in combat including tactical retreat (also known as “bravely run away!”) Al has improved the combat animation and added more attack and defensive moves and reactions.

Here’s how the tactical combat grid looks in the debugger – the color-coded “pegs” show where enemies are allowed to go, and which areas they try to avoid. The grid makes enemy movement look more realistic and causes some “emergent behavior” that helps make combat less predictable.

I also think the grid is really pretty – maybe we can make it into a different type of game someday. More importantly, it’s useful.

7e444a2d8bc31ce4cadbe4bc88863348_original.png

Combat and Movement Grid Example

Our other team programmers - Cidney, Jonathan, Robert, and Judy - are concentrating on improving the Composer game design tool, cleaning up the game interface, integrating 3D art and animation, and generally raising the quality of the game play and appearance. Every piece of the game needs to be “just so” as we continually refine and polish the game.​

Also, art and animation:

Art and Animation
One of the stretch goals in the recent Kickstarter was “improved animation”. Former Sierra animator Al Eufrasio is now working full-time at bringing the characters and monsters of Hero-U to life.

There’s more to it than meets the eye – for example, students with capes have had trouble sitting down because their capes like to float through the backs of chairs. Some looked disproportionately large when sitting, and some seemed to float in mid-air. All of them tended to slide out of the way if Shawn walked too close to them.

As with everything else in Hero-U, we’re trying to walk a tightrope with character animation – it needs to make the characters feel alive without breaking the budget or adding too much time to the schedule. When in doubt, we try to err on the side of “make it look better”.



Speaking of tightropes, Lori recently added a tightrope challenge back to the rogue practice area. This is a side-effect of reaching the Gog Temple stretch goal. Shawn needs to have good climbing skills for the Temple, which means we needed to add a way for him to practice them. It helped that we can rely on Al to animate climbing and walking the tightrope.

Our dynamic duo of background artists - John Paul Selwood and Aaron Martin - continue to amaze us with great concept pieces deftly converted to full 3D environments. JP is also creating dozens of single-frame images for transitions and exposition. These fill out the story without the need for complex custom animation sequences or movie “cut scenes”. For example, the alley scene after Shawn escapes from the “break-in house” tells the story in a single image better than any movie.

These are just a few of the thousands of details involved in making a graphical adventure game. In some ways, it’s easier than an animated film because we are not creating custom animation for every event of the game. In other ways, it’s harder – each animation sequence has to work throughout the game.​
 

JamesDixon

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I wonder what engine they're using because it does look good. The grid reminds me of how RAIN AI looks after you create a navigable mesh that lets the AI know where to go.
 

LESS T_T

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Codex 2014
Creating the Catacombs

CatacombRoomFdesign.jpg


A Section of the Catacombs

The Catacombs is a huge underground complex where for centuries the dead of Sardonia have been entombed. Once a final resting place for heroes, now the Catacombs is filled with the restless Undead. Only the bravest of explorers or the most foolhardy of tomb raiders dare enter this realm of death.

In the modern world, the Catacombs of Paris are underground warehouses for the storage of bones. In medieval times as cities expanded, old cemeteries were dug up and the bones were stacked in abandoned limestone mining tunnels. These are estimated to hold the remains of six million people. The catacombs of Hero-U are a cross between an ossuary and an underground graveyard. There are tombs, sarcophagi, and crypts throughout the Sardonian Catacombs.

Bring out Your Dead
While Hero-U is an adventure rich with character interactions and story, it is also a turn-based combat role-playing game. The Catacombs provide an eerie setting for exploration and unravelling of mysteries as well as an opportunity to test Shawn’s wits, skills, and equipment against the creatures that defy death.

Slaying the dead is risky business.

But the Catacombs isn’t just a place of doom and gloom. Amidst the blood-craving revenants and the hateful wraiths, there are the ghosts of the heroes.

Memento Mori

SchoolSpirit.jpg


School Spirits

In our original Kickstarter, we offered School Spirits and tombstones as reward add-ons. This means they will have epitaphs on tombs and perhaps a free-roaming vapor haunting the Catacombs and the school.

Twenty-six people wanted to be ghosts in the game. Another 28 wanted to have tombstones. This meant we needed to have an extensive Catacomb to contain them all.

The Catacombs consists of twelve different areas to explore, including one major Boss Monster, a Monster Lair, and the Thieves’ Guild Fence. There’s a lot of exploration and excitement buried here.

School Spirits
In our original Kickstarter, we offered School Spirits and tombstones as reward add-ons. This means they will have epitaphs on tombs and perhaps a free-roaming vapor haunting the Catacombs and the school.

BackerPlaqueWarriorWoman.jpg


Twenty-six people wanted to be ghosts in the game. Another 28 wanted to have tombstones. This meant we needed to have an extensive Catacomb to contain them all. Thus, the Catacombs consists of twelve different areas to explore, including one major Boss Monster, a Monster Lair, and the Thieves’ Guild Fence.

We’re currently creating the Catacombs, transforming the lush concept art into a 3D environment. Ghosts, ghouls, epitaphs, and Undead have to be carefully arranged to create this moody and dangerous region of the game.

There are secrets as well as dangers hidden in the shadows of the Catacombs. Will Shawn be able to explore and uncover the treasures of lore and wealth without sharing the fate of the catacombs residents? Only you can determine Shawn’s fate when you play Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption.

Shawn-Lemure.jpg
 

Infinitron

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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/transolargames/hero-u-adventure-role-playing-game/posts/1370314

User In-Yer-Face
Cidney and JP have been working hard on improving the look and feel of Hero-U. We’ve evolved a long way from the early demos, and want the user interface to match the theme of the game.

807bb5f8e56136d21ff63bf34ec37ac9_original.png

The Hero-U Main Menu

Hero-U is all about conversation and your relationships with the NPCs in the world, so we updated the interface to emphasize that aspect of the game. Character portraits are larger and show more expression rather than being confined to a small box. Conversation menus have a less boxy and more storybook-style look.

4db19d1790ac9f5d70b649166fc8214d_original.png

Screenshot of the conversation UI from April 2015. We used a boxier layout and rectangular portraits with a heavy font.

7ef2368cacdfc0aa71ea90414bcf1f0f_original.png

Conversation UI, as of September 2015. Lighter, more fantasy-appropriate typeface, portraits larger and taken out of the box.

321ab3b48e5ff842362ace968371c674_original.png

New Conversation UI, September 2015

The improvements might seem subtle, but they set the tone of the game. Conversations should feel real, and the environment should be as rich and interactive as we can make it. Shawn needs places to buy school and adventuring supplies, and to sell things he finds in the dungeons – or acquires from their hapless former owners.

11d3febe8032cbade5d66dc988987627_original.png

Two Current UI Examples - School Store and Mr. Terk's Office

In most modern games, you click on something and a fixed action occurs. Hero-U is much more complex, as we try to give the player choices as often as possible. Also, in the Quest for Glory tradition, the passage of time is critical.

For example, students might discuss adapting to school life in the first few days, but later on they have much more important – at least to them – topics. As a result, each character has hundreds of dialogue lines, varying according to the player’s actions and outside events.

The goal is to make you feel that you are Sha
 

kain30

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those screenshots reminds me a lot of veil of darkness :)
 

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