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Posting from a Tim Hortons

  • kentona
  • 01/14/2023 01:35 AM
  • 2908 views
It would be a remarkable feat if there are still many fans following the development of this remaster. It was suggested that I post an update on the progress (or lack thereof) that I've made in the years since I started.

After a half-decade of hem-hawing about going forward with a lifelong dream of mine to commercially publish an RPG, in 2017, I finally convinced myself that it would be worth remastering my dear pet project Hero's Realm as a commercial endeavour. When it started, I was full of vinegar and hope and naivety that it might be a moderate success. I even envisioned that it'd be released sometime in, say, 2 years!

I reached out for commissions, and was graced with the skills of Avee (for art and sprite work), BigWig (for monster art and sprites)(he has since disappeared from my contacts - I really hope he's okay tbh), visitorsfromdreams for animations, and pianotm and zDS stepped up and offered music composition. I am very gracious for all the help I've received to date, and owe a debt of gratitude to all of you, especially for sticking with me after all this time. The works you have done are amazing.

Here is a rough outline of the progressbar (not to scale):


A brief recap/excuses of the past couple years:
(background: I announced this project in mid-2017. At the end of 2017 I received a shock that my company was closing up and was out of a job. I became an independent contractor and a self-employed. This has been the case until January 3rd, 2023, when I started a new position as an employee).
-so in 2020 the pandemic started. Kids were schooling from home, and everything was greatly disrupted. It's been tough, and I wish I had the wherewithal to have completed this remaster before 2020.
-late 2020 my dad died unexpectedly, so that sucked.
-in 2021 I moved to a new home (we had outgrown our first home of 10 years - the boys were sharing a bedroom and bunkbeds and could benefit from more space). Moving was hella-expensive and time-consuming,
-2020-2022 I was hella-depressed, too.
-the project got corrupted (there was a blog post about it) and I had to restore from a backup. Oh well.
-started a new job Jan 3rd, full-time, with a pension and healthcare and everything, so that's pretty cool.
-in conclusion, here we are.


Anyway, mid-2022 I started putting actual effort into the project again. Avee had invested a TON of time and effort implementing the tilesets for me in-game (wow!), so I had a great basis to work off of.

-I revamped the hero classes, and implemented the 3 new classes
-I imported all the great resources that Avee and visitorsfromdreams made
-I mapped the class graphics to the battlechars and weapons that Avee made
-I recentlyish mapped all 401 monsters to the 389 monster sprites (with over 95 unique sprites and recolours!). It was quite the undertaking.
-I documented all of the monsters, spells, items, weapons, battle scripts and more into my Excel spreadsheet (this will come in handy when I make the guidebooks and manuals)
-I am currently in the process of mapping the battle backgrounds to tiles
-I am also currently in the process of refactoring the battle events - they desperately need a cleanup and the new skills (an better implementations of existing skills) need to be added. It'll be fun redoing all 977 battle troops. I am leaning on the work I have done in Generica. Hero's Realm - being the first project I ever completed - was a prototype in a lot of ways, and it is evident the messiness of the scripts.
-As part of this battle events process, I will be implementing the new battle animations from visitorsfromdreams AND revisiting the skills and their balance/implementation.


These pieces are all required before I can truly embark on the next phase of the project - polishing and playtesting. This will include leaning once again on pianotm and zDS to prepare a finalized version of their amazing tracks. And eventually putting a call out for official play testers.

Then in parallel, I will need to reach out and ask for help with
-creating multimedia (like videos!) for showcasing the game
-signing up for Steam and figuring out publishing (so many of you have done this now - I would love your expertise!)
-signing up for itch.io

I will also be making my planned guide material, like
-monster lists
-equipment lists
-maps
-guidebook/manual
-OST (maybe! if zDS and pianotm are up for it!)
-other cool things

Then finally - publish the damn game.

So yeah. I'm almost done my double-double and my son's soccer practice ends soon. I will wrap this up now with a promise to you that I will post updates more regularly. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading.

Posts

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Yo!!! Good luck my dude! I will be feeding off your productive energy in hopes I can finish off my own game this year. Godspeed! And good to hear from you on this!
I usually get a double double and Timbits. Grats on getting through it, progress isn't always linear. Here let me overwhelm you with Steam businessy advice.

-The earlier you get your steam page up the better, make sure the capsule art has your best illustration that evokes the power fantasy (title screen is a really good fit). Just make sure you have a lot of good different sizes prepared because Steam will ask you for a lot of images of varying ratios.

-When it comes to the trailer that autoplays on Steam do not make a cinematic trailer with fancy editing, just focus on the gameplay, show that it's a classic RPG for Dragon Quest/Pre-FF7 fans ASAP, show the UI in screenshots etc. Try not to have panning empty environment shots. You only need like 1-2 mins of solid gameplay footage, so even if you don't have the greatest of highlights available you can always update it later. I'm not saying this because I'm a champion of gameplay or whatever, it's just that you need to demonstrate what your game is ASAP. So if it opens with text over black saying "10,000 years ago... an evil was sealed away" people are just gonna either skim or click to the screenshots. Lore can be at the bottom of description. Nailing the genre and what people are signing up for comes first.

-I think RPGs can do well on Steam and if you can back up 100s of hours game time metrics Steam users will eat that shit up. Also I guess variety of class compositions and general replayability. It's bogus at times but people really care about quantity of content rather than quality. Just like RMN I noticed a pattern of people that follow my game that have 100% almost every game in their library and are usually the first buyers/wishlisters. At the same time there's a lot of dumpster 1 dollar rpgmaker games there to compete with, so it's worth getting across that you're the cream of the crop of sorts. Price it more expensive and demonstrate that you're a premium buffet.

-The only downside to RM2K3 games IMO is the lack of potential achievements, I'd look into asking the rm2k3 hacking wizards here on how to maybe ingame triggers to Steam. Steam doesn't let you get achievements until you hit a certain sales bracket now (same with trading cards) but when you do get it it's going to incentivize the completionism brain people to pick it up.

-Wishlists are kind of the only metric to go off of. It's recommended to have at least 7k to 10k before launch, not because it's something to cash out per say but that you'll likely be somewhere in the Popular Upcoming list and can ride the wave and get even more wishlists, which might boost it even higher. Valve really cares about wishlist velocity. If you can manage 10 wishlists a day you're probably on good pace, if not well, maybe it's time to start experimenting with the tags or changing the capsule. BE VERY SPECIFIC WITH TAGS (sorry for yelling) "Party Based" is way better than "Indie" and it's not about SEO so much it is about popping on peoples recs based on games they've played. To me it really seems to be about the long term and not the big spikes (although I won't say no to a spike), which is why it's good to get a page up early.

-The guaranteed meta right now for getting your game out there is Demo Festivals. Steam will automatically reach out whenever a demo fest is happening soon. Steam will only let you do them once so it's advised to put out a demo as close to release as possible (about a year away). It's also a good idea to have a demo available even after the fest but make it unavailable after launch.

-Streamers/youtubers are probably the #1 generator of interests/WLs right now and they might even discover it from a demo fest. But even after the demo fest you can still shop the demo around, find content creators that actually play RPGs though, it's more about the fit than just their reach. Find the RPG weirdos and go hey I think you might like this! 2nd best is Reddit, though depending on the subreddit theres a weird policy about self promotion, but if you can squeeze your post in on appropriate subreddits you can grab a good chunk of weirdos. A really good timing window is to have a streamer play your game right before release so that Steam detects the wishlist velocity and you can slingshot your way to the charts. Organizing that requires a lot of effort and luck tho.

-I'd also recommend beta testing the game on Steam, even before you release a demo. It's easy to forget a lot of minor things that the Steam backend will throw at you so it's best to get used to deploying on Steam and its weird bullshit that feels like its from 2008. It's also a good way to actually beta test as you can track and disable keys, see how the game appears on the typical steam library etc.

-Get 10 reviews asap after launching. There's no magic algo metric reason, just that there's a little thumbs up icon and the rating that appears when users find your game on Steam. Some reason the thumbs up icon get people more interested to click. The reviews have to be legit bought and can't be gifted copies, you cannot bribe for reviews either. I think you'll have a solid enough fanbase still kicking around here to guarantee that though.

-Localization is expensive especially for RPGs but if you want a clear cut way to boost numbers (especially before launch) localization does really help. 50% of my wishlists are in english speaking countries so it's definitely worth a look into. You can hire freelancers or an agency but it's a bit of a headache to get the ball rolling (I've translated my demo into 8 languages, I find small agencies to be reliable). I recall there being tools for extracting and reimporting message box text for rm2k3, so hopefully it's not too hard.

Good luck. I'm curious as to how well your game specifically does since I think there is a market for RPGs like this on Steam. No pressure though. I respect anyone who not only finishes a game but puts it out on a wider market. Marketing is hard to figure out but I think networking and communicating with fellow devs is the best bet.
That is all great info, Darken. That sounds like a lot of hustle. I know that I won't achieve great heights with this - I hope to make back my budget (eventually). But that will help me get a leg up over where I was in my "plan" (my plan was more or less non-existant).

author=Dyhalto
Vaporware!

So far yah!
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
author=Darken
I usually get a double double and Timbits. Grats on getting through it, progress isn't always linear. Here let me overwhelm you with Steam businessy advice.


As someone who just spent the last few weeks getting their first game ready for Steam, just want to say this is a bunch of really good advice! And he's not kidding about the varying sizes for images, they ask you for like at least eight of those XD

What he said about the trailer is 100% true as well, all advice I've found is to hook people quick with gameplay shots, even for RPGs, apparently that's the quickest way to get someone who's Steam windowshopping to go for the buy.

author=Darken
Steam doesn't let you get achievements until you hit a certain sales bracket now (same with trading cards) but when you do get it it's going to incentivize the completionism brain people to pick it up.


Not to stray off topic too much, but I was curious about this. The game I'm putting on is free, and they let me set up achievements, and I've seen other free RPG Maker games with achievements (Tho my game's not finished going thru the approval process, so I suppose they could reject the achievements?).

I wonder if it's different for free games, or if there's something I'm missing.
unity
Not to stray off topic too much, but I was curious about this. The game I'm putting on is free, and they let me set up achievements, and I've seen other free RPG Maker games with achievements (Tho my game's not finished going thru the approval process, so I suppose they could reject the achievements?).


I might have gotten it mixed up with trading cards, I know trading cards is the thing that often gets abused because people used to make trading card farm games for steam bux. So yeah this prob just applies to trading cards, but also an important thing to have even though it's another very shallow incentive.
I'm excited to see that a lot of big things are put in place that will let you hit the ground running with the rest of it. It certainly looks like a lot of the big stuff is done and out of the way. Hoping the rest goes well!

Steam is a lot easier to get onto and set up now than it was when I did it six years ago, so I don't imagine you'll run into too many issues. They also have a ton of documentation to help you get everything set up, so there should be plenty of resources to answer many of your questions.

Also making an account on itchio is much easier; it isn't much different than setting up a tumblr page. You can probably do that in a matter of an afternoon or two.

author=Darken
Steam doesn't let you get achievements until you hit a certain sales bracket now (same with trading cards) but when you do get it it's going to incentivize the completionism brain people to pick it up.
Not to stray off topic too much, but I was curious about this. The game I'm putting on is free, and they let me set up achievements, and I've seen other free RPG Maker games with achievements (Tho my game's not finished going thru the approval process, so I suppose they could reject the achievements?).

I wonder if it's different for free games, or if there's something I'm missing.

There is a sort of confidence metric they put in place a few years back that your game has to hit before you're allowed to have trading cards and related items. Unless your game is free; then they won't be available at all.

You can still have achievements; they just won't count towards someone's overall achievement count.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
author=Darken
I might have gotten it mixed up with trading cards, I know trading cards is the thing that often gets abused because people used to make trading card farm games for steam bux. So yeah this prob just applies to trading cards, but also an important thing to have even though it's another very shallow incentive.


Yeah totally, the more incentives for people to check out your game, the better!

author=Sgt M
You can still have achievements; they just won't count towards someone's overall achievement count.


Ah, so that's what it is, makes sense! Thanks for the answer Sgt :DDD
Glad to hear the game’s still alive! Looking forward to seeing/hearing more! 2020 was a rough year for me, as well. These last few months have also been rough, but I’m glad you got through it all!

And congrats on the new job!
Dyluck
For thousands of years, I laid dormant. Who has disturbed my slumber?
5184
From my experience, my advice is never get any of the sandwiches because they come in a bun as hard as a rock. The chilli is pretty good though.
I only finished the og hero's realm recently and it is definitely one of my favorite rm games! Always been looking forward to this so I'm happy to hear you're working on it still. Sorry about the rough time you've been having in recent years though D:
fwiw, your progress bar stinks. Make it an enemy we can fight like Unity did in WaUTaH.

(Tim Hortons also stinks now)
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
I hardly get time for games anymore but I'm still looking forward to this, even if only because I want success for everyone involved :)
Yo! If you need help with a trailer hit us up! Ill do it for freeeeeeeee! ;)
author=visitorsfromdreams
Yo! If you need help with a trailer hit us up! Ill do it for freeeeeeeee! ;)

100% because I wouldn't even know where to start
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
Ooh excellent! Let's go. Collaboration! lordbluerouge is also great at trailers, if you need more :D
author=CashmereCat
Ooh excellent! Let's go. Collaboration! lordbluerouge is also great at trailers, if you need more :D

I could swear that he also offered some months (years?) ago but I cannot remember where the comment was :/
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
author=kentona
I could swear that he also offered some months (years?) ago but I cannot remember where the comment was :/


This post, perhaps? The text specifically talking about making a fan-trailer uses strikeout, so, I question the seriousness of it. Though, LordBlueRouge seems to have a tendency to use strikeout as a "speaking softly" effect, so, I dunno.
author=Marrend
This post, perhaps? The text specifically talking about making a fan-trailer uses strikeout, so, I question the seriousness of it. Though, LordBlueRouge seems to have a tendency to use strikeout as a "speaking softly" effect, so, I dunno.


I'm always serious...™

...Speaking honestly however, I think visitorsfromdreams would be a better person for the job, since he's done this professionally and I admire his work greatly, (I'm still pinning for slime knight to be RMN's mascot, I would've thrown him into so many commercials).
I don't work well with deadlines yet, so I mostly do this stuff for fun at the moment.

All I really wanna do is remake this:

...into a short commercial and have like cash, liberty and few others say like "Hero's Realm" at the end of it.
As soon as like a demo or something is released, I'll start gathering footage.
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