Hero Panic

OH HO HO, HAS IT BEEN A WHILE OR WHAT?

How have you all been? Good? Great! If you wanna chat about anything I'm going to discuss, please leave a comment down below.



"I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain."


1. Aaaand I'm back!

After a lengthy bit of time spent in Retail Management for over a year which sucked out all of my life and energy, I've now found myself in a much better job which allows me far more free time! So that being said, I am back.

And I'm working on Hero Panic!

This is the only game I plan to work on for the time being. The whole "start a new project and abandon it part-way through" was great and all -- and legit led to some finished games! -- but it stretched me too thin and didn't allow me to focus on one solid project. Which is why I'm only going to focus on Hero Panic, and I want to tell you what's going on with it!

I won't be as active on these forums as I used to be (maybe?), but I'll certainly be around for a while as I work on this project. Chat with me down below!

2. A New Direction!

Hero Panic! Wait, did I drop an extra Hero from that title? I did. Why, you might ask? Because, well, it's headed in a different direction than before. How different? Allow me to explain.

The first iteration of Hero Hero Panic was a short game I was making which focused exclusively on battles. It was a cool concept, and I made some fun mechanics that I think you all would enjoy. The thing is, it was only focused on that, and the story was paper-thin. It was about fighting, getting characters, and doing more fighting. I had come up with plenty of content to keep you all fighting for days! Maybe.

In reality, I burned out early on by making art for everything. So then, I cranked it way down, made everything scarce as far as art went, and then I lost interest in the whole thing.

Funny how that works, eh?

But then I was inspired about another amazing RPG Maker game (and I will tell you all about it if you drop a mention in the comments below!) which challenged my perspective on this whole thing. This developer and artist made an incredible collection of games with their own art, and their story was amazing. And that lit a fire within me. I loved making content exclusively for combat, but the story got to me, and I realized something: I love combat focused games, and there's some people who love that too. But nothing will churn your stomach or flood you with emotions more than a good story. And that's something I want to evoke. I'm not an amazing storyteller, but I want to tell you all a story through this project.


Today's iteration of Hero Panic is shaping up quite differently. Combat is still emphasized. You'll still be collecting heroes with unique skillsets and fun powers. However, everything is much more story focused. There's lots of CGs, large character busts on screen for conversations, and I've made all of the art. Except animations, because forget that. I'll deal with those in post-production if I feel like it.


The art is quite different! My art style has changed and taken on a new life, and I feel it lends itself to the type of story I want to tell. Hero Panic deserves a fresh coat of paint for this purpose. So it's getting one! Character busts, a whole bunch of cgs, and an overall very different aesthetic. If you want to test it, you'll notice a departure from the older, place-holder graphics (all bright and pastel!) vs the newer, sketchy and abstract ones. Enjoy that dichotomy!


Rin running for her life. Such a nice scene!


Tone-wise, the game is much darker now. I want to prepare you for that.

I've re-written the story entirely from the ground up. Things have changed.

Have you played my demo for @JRL / Joanna? It's pretty dark and depressing! That will give you an idea of what I'm going for.

I've noticed that with a lot of my games: the tone shift. From TWIDAIABOY (when I worked with Luiishu535!) to @JRL, my games have taken on a darker, more satiric tone. This one, in comparison... well, it starts out innocent enough, but it doesn't stay like that. And it's not so much satiric as it is... well, just experience it for yourself. I want to know what YOU think about it.


Hero Panic is much more story heavy than its previous incarnation. Now it mirrors something like a VN infused with combat to break up the story beats. It's quite a hybrid, and I don't know too many games which head this route. Either they tend to focus on a traditional story-telling format (cutscenes and battles leading to the next story beat), or they go VN style (de-emphasized combat, if any, and a focus on story beats). In this case, it's both.

There's some great characters here that live in a unique world under exciting circumstances, and I hope you like their stories.


3. LOOKING FOR TESTERS FOR THE DEMO!

What!? That's right, I'm actually about to launch a demo! If all goes well, that is!

I'm looking for some volunteers to play through it and give me feedback, comments, criticism, and generally share your thoughts about the story and where you think I could improve.

It has some placeholder art assets in it, and it's not fleshed out yet, but I want to get some early comments as I push towards a demo.

It takes me 45 minutes to get through, but I know how everything functions. Look forward to about an hour of gameplay (minus the infinitely repeatable stuff).

Let me know your thoughts down below, and click subscribe if you want to keep track of how this is going!