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A Song of Fire & Ice

  • kentona
  • 08/14/2019 04:00 PM
  • 2863 views
Staffing Announcement ::..

First off, I'd like to announce that I have arranged for visitorsfromdreams to do battle animations! This was a longstanding outstanding hole in my resource creation list, and I am glad to have him on board. Welcome, visitor!



Resource Progress ::..

Monsters: 34/73 ...in progress...
Charset: 129/133 (the remaining charsets are the Dreadlords, and Avee will do them when he does the battle monster sprites, so they match!)
Battlechar: 50/50 ** Complete! **
Facesets: 48/48 ** Complete! **
Tilesets: 11/11 ** Complete! **
Panoramas: 6/7
Battlebacks: 0/18
Battleweapons: 99/33 ** Complete! ** (Avee over-delivered!)
Battleanims: 4/39 ...in progress...
Music: 29/39
Sound Effects: 26/36
Misc: 2/5
Promotional materials: 0/??? (to be determined)

Avee has been working hard at monster sprites. The results so far have exceeded my expectations! As mentioned, visitorsfromdreams has just begun work on the battle animations and is making great progress already. I have to reconnect with zDS and pianotm to gauge their continued interest with composing. What I have so far is great and would love more! Battle backgrounds are still in limbo. I haven't addressed sound effects yet.


Remaster Progress ::..

Work to incorporate the remastered resources is well underway. Once I have completed the battlechar imports, I plan on handing off the mapping revamp work to Avee (who has graciously offered to tweak the maps to incorporate his great tileset work). That handoff should be happening in the next 2 weeks.

Significant strides have been made in fixing and finagling with fine-tuning the balance. I believe I have it at a point where the heroes' and enemy stats are more balanced with each other while improving the overall effectiveness AND distinctiveness of the umpteen classes. My next area of balancing focus will be on skills/spells. Spellcasters overall were underpowered in this game (relative to the pure fighters) and I want to address that.

The major defects have been addressed (but not excessively tested, so we'll see). Once I finish my plans for balancing, I will begin extensive playtesting (myself). I have a list of need-to-do enhancements (nothing too extensive), and a longer list of nice-to-haves. Knowing my completionist nature, I will most likely implement them all. Battle events will need to be tackled and revamped to address a couple of the shortcomings (unfortunately) - this is going to be a tedious task due to how RM2k3 handles battle events (and how I implemented them back in 2006-2009). But it has to be done if I expect to deliver a quality product.


Final Thoughts ::..
Hero's Realm is undeniably a classic early-to-mid 90s-styled RPG. It is an earnest loveletter to the games I enjoyed then. However, I fear that the lack of a distinctive hook - like so many other exciting indie games I see posted on here and Twitter and elsewhere - will anchor this remaster. Although my modest hope is to recover the costs (and to tip my resource creators), even that seems increasingly out of reach. Ah well! Publishing a game is a long time dream of mine, and I mean to do so. A stronger marketing push will be made closer to the release date. For now, I will constrain my update posts to RMN and the close friends I have here.

Thanks for your support!

Posts

Pages: 1
I've said it before, but while you probably don't have a super high ceiling, you definitely have a high floor. You're going to get a substantial bump just from people who played Hero's Realm and want to experience the remake. I think if you're diligent with sending keys out and you get some of the nostalgia youtuber crowd playing/reviewing your game, you'll probably make quite a few sales.
I for one am willing to do more music still. Had a rough past year but I've been working on my own stuff again slowly so I think I'm ready to be back at it soon.

I've also been stepping up my music game lately so don't get mad if I redo some songs.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
I really hope you can make it and I'm really cheering for this game. I think out of all of the games on RMN this is one of the best remembered and I'm really really hoping it'll do well once it's released!
author=Housekeeping
I've said it before, but while you probably don't have a super high ceiling, you definitely have a high floor. You're going to get a substantial bump just from people who played Hero's Realm and want to experience the remake. I think if you're diligent with sending keys out and you get some of the nostalgia youtuber crowd playing/reviewing your game, you'll probably make quite a few sales.

I hope so!

author=zDS
I for one am willing to do more music still. Had a rough past year but I've been working on my own stuff again slowly so I think I'm ready to be back at it soon.

I've also been stepping up my music game lately so don't get mad if I redo some songs.

Oh believe me zDS, I will NOT get mad.

author=unity
I really hope you can make it and I'm really cheering for this game. I think out of all of the games on RMN this is one of the best remembered and I'm really really hoping it'll do well once it's released!

Thanks!
Between Lil Z, Blind, and you... I am not feeling the whole we don't do success here thing. Sell outs...

Now where did I put my project I have some catching up to do.
if it makes you feel any better i've never had an ounce of integrity
author=kentona
if it makes you feel any better i've never had an ounce of integrity


Good. Don't ever start. It nnever works out well.
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
zDS
I for one am willing to do more music still. Had a rough past year but I've been working on my own stuff again slowly so I think I'm ready to be back at it soon.

I've also been stepping up my music game lately so don't get mad if I redo some songs.


Yeah, I haven't forgotten either. I'm just swinging between lethargy and being super busy these days.
author=kentona
if it makes you feel any better i've never had an ounce of integrity


What's integrity? Is that like a math thing? Does it go in a damage formula?
I mean, you've got like one sure sale here! So... that's a little money made back. :DDDD


I can't buy out all your debt tho orz

But I'm gonna have to say that the reviews on Steam or whereever you release this will probably expound how fun and great it is. Frankly, it's one of those games I just keep coming back to and recommend to anyone looking for a longer RM jRPG.
YOU'RE MAKING SO MUCH PROGRESS!

Please let us know when you're going to release this well in advance so that, if in some extremely unlikely occurrence we finish development on our projects at the same time, I won't release in the same week as you! Hahahahahaha.

Can't wait to get my hands on this bad boy (again).
author=kentona
if it makes you feel any better i've never had an ounce of integrity


That's my motto.
author=kentona
Hero's Realm is undeniably a classic early-to-mid 90s-styled RPG. It is an earnest loveletter to the games I enjoyed then. However, I fear that the lack of a distinctive hook - like so many other exciting indie games I see posted on here and Twitter and elsewhere - will anchor this remaster.


I think itll be alright mate, the fact it is so strait faced kinds of makes it stand out I think, it worked well for Ara Fell and Shadows of Adam too, some people just want that pure experience.

Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
I hope it will be possible to buy the game locally on rmn.
And good to hear the gammak is under way.
author=visitorsfromdreams
author=kentona
Hero's Realm is undeniably a classic early-to-mid 90s-styled RPG. It is an earnest loveletter to the games I enjoyed then. However, I fear that the lack of a distinctive hook - like so many other exciting indie games I see posted on here and Twitter and elsewhere - will anchor this remaster.
I think itll be alright mate, the fact it is so strait faced kinds of makes it stand out I think, it worked well for Ara Fell and Shadows of Adam too, some people just want that pure experience.


I think Hero's Realm will find that niche in that audience looking for an SNES-style RPG that plays it by the book, which you might find that there's a surprisingly large market for, provided that you do that formula masterfully and polished to a point where players can tell the developers have a clear love and understanding of the genre. Hero's Realm has always been that. And -that- is your hook.

That's definitely the biggest advantage you can have with an indie RPG that plays it straight.
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