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Anyone remember the old Hero's Journey?
harmonica
Member Posts: 339
This game was an upcoming RPG like 5 or 6 years ago and then just died... wondering if the same thing will happen to this one.
Comments
________________________________
The meaning of your life is not found in words but in your actions.
"Put your foot where your mouth is." - Wisdom from my grandfather
"Paper or plastic? ... because I'm afraid I'll have to suffocate you unless you put this bag on your head..." - Ethnitrek
AC1: Wierding from Harvestgain
I wouldn't really say it died. It may have gone into public hibernation for some years, but it's always been there for us, being reshaped and re-envisioned until we hit on the right idea at the right time.
That time just happens to be now.
Skippy
Hero Council Director
The old one's graphics were so much better.
(not a real screenshot or anything... just messing around in photoshop)
The old one's graphics were so much better.
Lol... "yeah"... reminds me of Meridian.
Skippy
Hero Council Director
Hey, Skippy! It's me - the guy with the avatar probs on the council.
________________________________
The meaning of your life is not found in words but in your actions.
"Put your foot where your mouth is." - Wisdom from my grandfather
"Paper or plastic? ... because I'm afraid I'll have to suffocate you unless you put this bag on your head..." - Ethnitrek
AC1: Wierding from Harvestgain
Hey, did we get that problem straightened out? I thought I'd fixed it for ya.
Skippy
Hero Council Director
I'd play it.
Skippy
Hero Council Director
Hey, did we get that problem straightened out?
mm.. afraid not.
I'll check my avatar list again just to make sure.
________________________________
The meaning of your life is not found in words but in your actions.
"Put your foot where your mouth is." - Wisdom from my grandfather
"Paper or plastic? ... because I'm afraid I'll have to suffocate you unless you put this bag on your head..." - Ethnitrek
AC1: Wierding from Harvestgain
Heh. Actually, we had the old demo out and running not too long ago, and it shocked us just how much things have changed since then.
Mike Paddock
Lead Game Systems Designer
Product Developmenet Manager
Simutronics Corp.
Heh. Actually, we had the old demo out and running not too long ago, and it shocked us just how much things have changed since then.
By any chance would you still have it out?... or, I hope that you'll release a character customization demo at least in the near future. I've heard that this game has a good deal of CC in it so I'd be grateful to try it out.
"Put your foot where your mouth is." - Wisdom from my grandfather
"Paper or plastic? ... because I'm afraid I'll have to suffocate you unless you put this bag on your head..." - Ethnitrek
AC1: Wierding from Harvestgain
What we "had out" was a videotape made years ago as a demo for the first incarnation of Hero's Journey, which if I remember, was an isometric view type of game. We dug it out and watched it and had a good chuckle.
It wasn't an application out for public download.
As for character customization, it's definitely a priority. It's amazing to see the combinations possible at our weekly art meetings here in house. We like to joke that our character manager may wind up being a stand-alone game.
Skippy
Hero Council Director
<< We like to joke that our character manager may wind up being a stand-alone game. >>
heh, I'd laugh, but considering how long it takes me to create a character in City of Heroes . . .
I don't suppose there will be some preset configurations to choose from to speed things up for those of us who aren't as adept or seriously interested in tweaking every detail to perfection?
I'm sure we will create some presets, but we'll try to limit it so everyone doesn't wind up looking the same.
We'll help you out in other ways, too. Such as the standard randomizers and the not-so-standard allowing you to store your own creates presets or outfits.
Hope that answers your question!
Skippy
heh, well the thought of everyone looking the same did cross my mind, but I knew you folks wouldn't go and do that.
Thanks for the quick reply!
I would be extremely happy if you would release the character creator before the game release. I for one would have a lot of fun playing around with it I'm sure.
That's one of the things we'd love to do, mostly because it can take so long to get a "finished" character when you really start getting into all the possibilities.
I spent a LONG time working on "myself" in the character manager, getting the facial features as close as I could. The end result is a little "off" around my nose, but it's creepily recognizable as "me".
I'll see what I can do about getting some shots of a real picture of me and the in-game version so you can see what I mean.
Bubba
That's one of the things we'd love to do, mostly because it can take so long to get a "finished" character when you really start getting into all the possibilities.
I spent a LONG time working on "myself" in the character manager, getting the facial features as close as I could. The end result is a little "off" around my nose, but it's creepily recognizable as "me".
I'll see what I can do about getting some shots of a real picture of me and the in-game version so you can see what I mean.
Bubba
Post the screen shot first if possible...I want to see if I can really tell the difference from what I remember from the Simucon I attended.
Oh, and please tell me HJ will have a really nice and expansive selection of axes?
Me.
"Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received
with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him."
- Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce
That reminds me of another issue. With so many players, sometimes it can be difficult to find an available name. I'd hate to go through a long character creation process only to find myself stuck at the end spending even more time trying to get a name for it.
I don't suppose picking a name can be done first? The more involved and lengthy the character creation is, the more important the ability to leave the character creation process and return later too.
Well, in the demo (i.e, on the development servers) now that's the order we do it in. Name and gender first.
I know it frustrated me in City of Heroes especially, because a name for a superhero is very closely associated with appearance. So I'd have a name in mind and spend a LONG time getting the appearance just so and then find out the name was unavailable.
I HATED that. <g>
Skippy
I always have that same issue in most games...making a CHARACTER that has to have a certain name for it all to work...and then the name is allready taken...ARGH. I have several fantasy characters I always try to reserve the names for and many times I just can't get a couple of them so its nice to know which I can have up front.
A question; will we have seperate first and last names? Would be nice so that people with the same first names and last names can exist, but nobody with BOTH the same...or maybe DO have first and last, but with a suffix like Jr, the IIIrd, etc.
We DID try that in our game Modus Operandi, and it kind of got awkard to handle, both for GMs coding systems and for players trying to remember if they hung out with Robert Jones or Robert Smith or Robert Plant yesterday.
They still do it that way in Modus, but it works because their community is relatively small.
Also, as game builders and customer service reps, it's just infinitely more simple to have characters have one name that is unique among all players.
For instance, Robertson Gouletathonation, Jr. has unwittingly found a bug by doing something over and over rapidly and is causing serious problems in some way and I want him to stop now. I can't just send a message to Robertson to tell him to knock it off as a GM, I have to type "/scream Robertson Gouletathonation Jr STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING, PLEASE!" Or whatever verb we GMs will use for that stuff.
It may not seem like a lot, but when you get 12 Robertsons who all need to be taken care of for different issues, and you're trying to keep track which one is which....well. That's how GMs lose hair. <g>
Hero's Journey, at this moment in time, is a single-name only kind of game. I think that's a suitable way to go considering everyone should be a hero. I don't want to name myself Bamfist Banana and get to 40th or 50th level and see a bunch of people with names like Bamfist Gourd and Bamfist Pineapple running around because I'm one of the "legends among heroes" type of guy they want to emulate.
I would want my name to be immediately associated with me or my character and no one else. If someone see the name Hercules, they always think of me. There is only one Bamfist.
GemStone IV and DragonRealms have both gone the way of single-named characters.
The problem was that any time someone made a 2 name character, they reserved two cool names, potentially.
In Hero's Journey, you'll definitely want to have only one name, and you'll want it to be unique.
There should be plenty of great titles to be earned to spice those names up, as well.
Hope this answers your question!
Skippy
Allright. An understandable limitation I'd say. I like titles...those definitely help. Guess I'll just have to live with not playing "Kane" as that will be gone within the first 30 seconds of launch!
<<<I'm sure we will create some presets, but we'll try to limit it so everyone doesn't wind up looking the same.
We'll help you out in other ways, too. Such as the standard randomizers and the not-so-standard allowing you to store your own creates presets or outfits.>>>
Character creation does, in fact, end up sometimes becoming a game on its own, to find "you," your friend, your mom, your girl/boyfriend, JLo... But it is not a necessary part of a good game. It is, however, an essential part of any game aspiring to be not only great but to leave a lasting impression on its players. To have a personalized identity, interacting with the corners of the earth in a virtual world, that goes beyond just what you say and into how you look is a wonderful thing!!!
Some thoughts from a player who takes character customization seriously:
-Some kind of template option, where you could select from pre-configured races or from creations of your own. Being able to save your work, so to speak, is very important to many players (I can't tell you of the frustration I and many-a-guildmate who accidentally hit "Randomize" instead of "Ok" in the SWG char. creation screen... :P ).
-A way to communicate the various slider positions, either by assigning a number value you can see from the char. creation screen or by being able to save and email the character's appearance, then allowing the recipient to download it to his/her HJ folder and further tweak and customize the character.
-Having some way to create your character *before* the game comes out. I'm sure this also helps with the game's hype, as players become attached to the character they create, but it also will let those of use who find the process as "part of the game" still get in on the rush at release. Another option would be to allow customization to continue beyond the beginning of the game, say, to a certain level.
I am extremely intrigued by the possibilities of this game - I'm preparing a post for my guild (which spans several games) to let them know about Hero's Journey, and I'm very pleased with what I've found on these boards. The posts have been (or seemed
) very intelligent and well thought out, both from Simutronics' staff and from fellow players. Thanks, y'all 
See: Beta.
What they need with Beta is a way to export all your settings that you had on your character in Beta so that when Live is realized, you can import those. That way, we don't have to figure out how to make the same character that we've grown attached to again.
I can see it now... I guild full of people who look /exactly/ alike -- and they shall be called, "The Order of Agent Smiths." Heh, in all seriousness I doubt anyone won't want for anything with regards to the character manager -- I have never seen more character customization options in any other game. Ever.
The only bad thing about switching from a text-based game to a graphical-based game is I won't be able to create a supr-l33t looking ninja outfit to wear without going through the artists first.
PS. I've never worn a supr-l33t looking ninja outfit in any Simutronics product.
PPS. On Morada (Modus Operandi) there were no ninjas.
PPPS. My GM outfit was actually a pair of bunny slippers, a bathrobe and a star trek communicator pin that said, "Beam me up, there's no intelligent life down here," when you tapped it.
--
Pssst. Chade. Your geekness is showing. Put that away before someone gets hurt.
Back on Topic, I got to SEE first hand the original version of HJ back in 1999 before it was revealed at Simucon 99. I have a bad habit of showing up to the conventions WAY too early. I remember watching David show it off to me in his office. (It was my first convention as a GM) I got to see the character walking through the town and out to fight that critter and seeing the dragon at the end.
It was cool back at that time.
HJ-Royce
Simutronics Staff (GM)
http://www.play.net/hj/