I have embarked on a new journey...



Approximately one month ago I was approached by an angel investor to explore the possibility of flipping Hero's Realm into a commercial project. Like naive fool that I am who believes he has more time than ever, I tentatively agreed. (Details are still being hashed out).

While the month of June was hectic, July has slowed down and I have earnestly begun my work on cleaning up the game and getting it into a state such that custom resources can be created as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. Hero's Realm is a large game that made very liberal use of Final Fantasy IV, V and VI rips, a ton of MIDIs for every possible mood and locale, and RTP resources. Minimizing this into a smaller more cohesive set while still maintaining the "feel" will be a tedious process, but it must be done.



A few weeks ago I compiled a list of all of the pertinent feedback that the game had garnered over the past 7 years since its release. I noted all of the major and minor bugs, suggestions on class balance and features, and general impressions left by the various facets of the game.

I also have a laundry list of small enhancements. Things like amplifying magic damage (spellcasters are underpowered), rebalancing classes, and rebalancing skills are all on the table. The Master classes will be toned down, weaker classes tweaked, some overpowered skills nerfed. I will also be adding 3 new Elite classes (Death Knight, Freelancer, and Assassin) to make greater use of the class change mechanic.

The numerous overt references to popular media will be changed to be more subtle. Dialog will be reviewed. The story, such as it is, will remain as is. If I have the wherewithal I would add a new final dungeon (something people identified as a weakness), but I am not certain yet.



This is all in the early stages. I don't have a timeline estimated yet (but I hope to get my initial work done within the next couple of months). The tentative plan is to NOT do a Kickstarter (too much hassle), but to do a Steam Greenlight, and then explore other avenues like itch.io. Stay tuned for notices about the Greenlight drive!

I am adamant about leaving up the original Hero's Realm for RM2k3 v1.5 up here on RMN. (It's already out there in droves so it's not like I have a realistic chance of scrubbing it out anyway). I hope that the enhancements, fixes, changes, and custom resources will be sufficient enough to encourage people to buy it over the original free version. And if it gets on Steam, the market is distinct enough that the free version wouldn't even be known. Plus, I couldn't give up the Makerscore.



If you guys are interested, I can post frequent blogs detailing my progress in my prep work. Otherwise I will just post announcements when major milestones have been achieved.

Wish me luck!