In this special case I would suggest an introductory sale, just to get a large player base to play multiplayer. More people will follow automatically. It's like in biology - the bigger the initial cell infection, the faster the virus will spread and infect more.
Thanks! That's definitely our hope as well. We want to get the ball rolling with the initial release so that we can expand on it and put more resources into fleshing out the game and the gameworld. It's almost like this is the Starter box for Pathfinder or the Red Box for D&D. You can get started and play through an initial campaign ( although our first campaign will be much larger than what's available in those boxes ) and then we can update that base game-system with additional quests, content, items, and characters. Our goal is to build the 'D&D' for mobile gaming, a game system and world that we can build on for a long time to come.
Been awhile since I've posted, so I figured I'd break that bad habit! Development is going strong; Brandon is making a lot of progress on feature implementation, and we're starting to make a few more passes at lore and story elements. It definitely helps to come here and see so many people excited for Pocket Heroes, and the communal sharing of ideas and suggestions is fantastic! We love knowing we have a quality community growing around our game already. Have a safe and happy New Years everyone, and keep commenting!
Hey Braaaandoooon! Here is some guy chatting around instead of working on the game. Shall I borrow you my whip?
It's common knowledge that whip don't work... Here's a spiked bat : http://www.icollector.com/images/1202/14989/14989_0863_1_lg.jpg Oh and do remember not to bash it on the head too hard, that's something you need in good shape for a good game :0 Happy new year
Hahah I like it. I'm going to put you guys in charge of 'Programmer Productivity'. We're all still working hard and things are starting to shape up. Our plans are to have all the features of the engine completed by the end of January and then we'll be able to focus solely on gameplay and content. I'm really excited about what this year is going to bring. I can't wait to get Pocket Heroes out for all of you to enjoy and, hopefully, to go on some quests with some of you. I'll be back with some more goodies soon. Happy New Year!
OMFG....I just found this thread and discovered this game...and read through almost every post. First of all, this game looks INSANELY AMAZING. This could become the best game EVER for iOS. No exaggeration. From the day I got my iPod Touch to years later, now that I have an iPhone, I've been hoping for a multiplayer rpg. Second, some suggestions: why not have a campaign where you can repeat missions? and missions can level-up and get harder each time you repeat them. Say each mission has levels 1-4, so you can play it on four different difficulties, unlocking harder difficulties as you beat an easier one. The game world could be managed a bit like Diablo 2, so that you could weave in and out of campaigns with new players who are on the same mission. You could also help players who are on earlier missions advance further and catch up to you. You obviously couldn't have one character in more than one game, but that character could team up with other heroes/players to advance in the campaign at each stage/mission. Diablo 2 might be a good model for: how to develop a storyline, while having randomized dungeons, while being able to play with different people as the story advances and at different parts of the story, and while being able to repeat levels, including repeating those levels or the same or harder difficulties! In Diablo 2 you have all of these things, and I think your game could incorporate it too! Third, I hope you guys have a dedicated healer/support class. Some people might not like having to wait around all day to have a healer on their team, so perhaps each class should have a minor self heal, but I think that the mega bosses on the hardest difficulty levels should almost require a healer. Healers are always my favorite thing to play in any sort of game. Perhaps they can be more of buffers than healers (and give each class a self-heal), but nevertheless, I'd really like a support class that makes a difference. Fourth, I see that you guys are gearing this game to work well with push notifications so that people can take their turn as it comes up. However, I hope that the game is moreso geared to people as well who are willing to sit down for 30 minutes to three hours and just party up and play through together for a while. I'd really hate for my character to be stuck in a game with someone who only checks the game occasionally. Fifth, I agree with the one poster that I hate seeing iPad receive more options. Even if something is going to be cramped on the iPhone, let me worry about it being cramped. I rather have the DM option or any other options on a cramped screen than not have them at all. Sixth, as to the earlier discussion about the appearance of numbers. Yeah, action games don't need numbers, but the essence of rpg games is the excitement of number calculation! When I was little, I'd draw all over my school notebooks in number and gear calculations to strategize about how to have the most powerful character in some rpg. When games take away those numbers and hide them, the player feels like he is losing control over the craft of making his character. Seventh, this game is so promising that I hope you give it a unique name, perhaps a name based on the game's lore rather than a generic name like "pocket heroes" (which at first confused me and made me think this was another thread on "pocket legends" which I was about to ignore until I realized the difference in name). However, since you plan on expanding the game, you might not want to fix the name to the lore, if you plan to have several campaigns in the future with completely different lore, so it might be okay to stick with a generic name; in that case, let me suggest Multiplayer Dungeon for a generic but unique name that really would catch my attention if I naively stumbled upon this game in the app store, and this title already describes to me what the game is about before I've even inspected it further. All in all, This game looks SO fantastic! I can't but wish you the greatest encouragement in your development of it!
Just thought of something: do remember to add the possibility of creating a game only with your friends, because at least you can be assured that the game will be played faster. Also have you thought of adding battle animations (like Fire Emblem)? Finally could there be a sort of single player where you can control more than one character?
Thanks so much! I'm really glad to hear you're excited about the game, and we appreciate your suggestions. The idea of locking characters to parties has been a tough one to decide on. Originally we had planned to let you move your character around as much as you wanted between missions but as we went down that road it became clear that it was going to be a lot more work ( and take a lot more time ) to correctly implement. I'm not saying we won't make that style of play available, but we decided that it wouldn't be the play style for the first release. As we looked at the problem it made sense to focus the gameplay on parties of heroes, so that the players in the party will be more involved with each other and hopefully play better together since the goal is to play through the campaign together as a unit. We're also going to allow you to have numerous characters that belong to different parties, so you shouldn't have to wait long between moves if you're running a couple games. We will definitely have a healer class, as well as allow each class to perform a small heal either through potions or a class ability. I don't want to make players pick a healer class if they don't want to and giving everyone a way to heal seemed like the best solution. One of your questions about push notifications and partying up fits in with this other question from Ap0calypse. We are definitely going to let you invite your friends and party up with them specifically. This is actually the main way we expect people to play the game. Get your 3 friends together, get them in the game, and go on a quest. Also, because we know that not everyone is going to be able to do that, we're going to offer an option to fill a party with another player that you don't know so that you'll always be able to find players. As for the animations, I've actually be thinking about that recently as I prioritize the work that is left on the game. I really want to have animations for the characters, and we will have them at some point, but I'm wondering if that is something we could provide as an update. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this, would the game not having battle animations at launch be a reason you would hold off playing the game? Even if they were coming in a later update? Thanks for all the questions and your suggestions. - Brandon
Sure I'd like to see some character animation but it wouldn't stop me from playing. The main thing I like to see is when you change your weapon or equipment that you actually see the change. But I can see this being another problem as then you'd need the animations for every weapon etc. Hmmmm forget my rants lol. I'll be picking this up on launch regardless of what is included at launch.
With no ability to use one character across multiple games, I'm wondering: will anything carry over between characters? I hate losing progress and getting nothing but the experience of having played the game, and without some incentive, I'd burn out on the game in no time.
I don't really care about battle animations, and I really want to see this game come out. However, against my inclinations, let me say that the game might be better received if it launches in a more complete state, so anything you can do to improve it's first impression and initial reception would probably be better for you and the game. Sure, all of us will pick it up regardless, but I guess you have to decide whether it will have mass appeal. Nevertheless, the kind of person that would buy this game is also the kind of person who doesn't care so much about graphics (since this obviously isn't Infinity Blade 2), so it might be okay to release it without battle animations. I guess it depends how long you think it would actually take.
Thanks for your opinions, I think you've hit on a great point. While it may not matter as much to people on the forum, you're going to show the game to your friends and it needs to present itself well enough that it draws their interest as well. I'll definitely push to get as many animations in the game as we can and then if we need to add to that with updates we'll be able to. I wouldn't worry about burning out on the game. The idea is that each character is starting out on a grand adventure, one that will span more than just the first campaign. There will also be 4 different characters available at launch that will all play differently so there will be incentive to play in other games to experience the other play styles. Also, we have talked about possibly having gold be tied to your player account and not a specific character. That way if you first character has a ton of gold and nothing to spend it on you can use it to outfit another character with better gear to start the game. I really want to have players build a connection with each of their characters and want to continue on after the first campaign to see them battle through additional adventures.
Just a 'story linking' idea for the gold sharing between characters under the same account. You could choose a 'banner' per account. Every hero you create is part of the same family (think Lannister or Stark or Baggins) so gold earned is part of the family richness and can be shared. Maybe this could be applied to objects too. Achivements (if there are any) would be per family, not characters.
Regarding animations. PERSONALLY I would play even with static cards instead of onscreen sprites, but first build impressions will be critical for the hopefully glaring success of the game...so...speaking against my personal gain (I want the game yesterday) I would say definitely cure animations and the global look of the game before first submission. In the strange AppStore economy full of garbage, promises of future things coming in future releases mean absolutely nothing (I'm not talking about people reading this thread). You already choose a pixellated retro look, this will already reduce your odience IMHO so...spend some time with proper animations (and music, and sound effects, and a cool story.... )) I know I'll regret this post but this is my sincere feeling about the argument...
Something like a Weapons Vault? or a Weapons/Treasure Room which could be accessible to "Family members" only, as they start out on the quest? They would have already been "born into" (or married into?) the family, so they would be fighting under the "Family Crest".....?
Very cool idea! We had talked about having a 'vault' at some point that could be used to store a limited number of items and could be accessed by all of your characters so if you find an awesome weapon for a Rogue with your Warrior you could put it in the vault and get it with your other character. I'm not sure if we'll get that in version 1 but we could lay the groundwork by sharing gold within 'families' and then expand it as we move forward. Thanks!
Smashingly great idea, Pitta. Brandon, when you do lay the groundwork for sharing between characters, I truly hope you do so with Pitta's idea of families/clans/tribes/bannermen/clicks/posses/assemblages/band/crowds/crews/gangs/outfits/syndicates/corporations/[arbitrary tight-knit social unit] in mind About characters being locked to a particular party... I take it this means we have to finish one adventure before that character is free to join another group? Or will our character actually be locked to one group of players forever?
