Deep Dive: Creating Hero.EXE **LAST 72 HOURS!**
over 4 years ago
– Fri, Oct 22, 2021 at 02:03:30 AM
Turns out the last Post was 3 DAYS and not 72 HOURS, which are different in the Kickstarter universe? Just means we have an extra day to share the Hero.EXE Kickstarter! Anyway, let's get right to the meat:
Deep Dive: Creating Hero.EXE
Hero.EXE started out as an idea to fill a niche: a spiritual successor to Megaman: Battle Network. Hero.EXE grew into it's own unique mechanics, aesthetic, a morality system-- it became it's own game with an overarching mystery guided by a partnership with your character-- your chosen AVA.
Hero.EXE originally was drawn as pixel art, and still keeps the pixel characters on the Overworld map-- we wanted the Overworld to feel like a boardgame, and the pixel caricatures as pieces! Every notable AVA/NPC is also planned to have pixel portraits planted on the map-- so expect to see Roulette & familiar faces there soon!
Combat & Cameras
We figured out pretty quickly the Overworld would need to zoom in and out to see the scope of the "board", but Hero.EXE's camera angle in combat was trial and error to figure out what felt best-- the very first stage rendered was zoomed very far out; we weren't sure how much of the character & enemies would be focused on yet! Afterall, it was only pixel art, and that's always tiny!
But it felt pretty open, and sparse-- especially if there was only one enemy on the other side that would constantly dodge. So we opted for a smaller, condensed stage to start off with:
And it worked great! From there, we simply zoomed in, and things clicked into place. Seeing more of the character felt right-- but, what if we tried a different art style? We tried vector art, with a puppet-based animation system (which was completely new for us to learn):
...But we also wanted to give hand-drawn sprites a go to see how it looked, and that's what we ended up sticking with!
Enemies soon followed after the first set of sprites was completed (Valentine's), and we ended up pivoting to focus on just Valentine's campaign to finish at least one character for the Demo-- after all, the sprites were all based off the Visual Novel Portraits!
Visual Novel Scenes
At the beginning, Valentine & Chip were the first characters drawn for Hero.EXE-- every character started as a sketch, tweaked, then linework, then filled in with color. Valentine needed no tweaking at the design phase-- she was perfect! Though, sometimes there were several palette variants before we decided on the "right" colors (Fury had about 7).
Visual Novel scenes, we find, are a really fantastic way to deliver story beats. Dialogue between characters actively reacting and changing faces/pose can be done in different manners-- but the thing that clinched the method of delivery were not only these large initial portraits with easily legible expressions, but the inclusion of Choices. Choose-your-own-path was always intended from the get-go, and the "Morale" system gave it an excellent twist. Not only are you going through the story how you want to play, you also feel a direct, immediate impact from the "partnership" with your AVA. Each character reacts to what you choose, and has effects/consequences in actual battle. A build-a-passive mechanic (the A.B.S. AVA Build System) is also in place, but this took it beyond that one step further-- and it feels immensely satisfying to implement!
Whether you play to your AVA's wishes or sense of justice-- or just want to annoy them? It's entirely up to the player! But this is all building off the core game mechanic:
Deckbuilding & Codes
Where would Hero.EXE be without Codes? Codes were designed as attacks that would always be more "punch" than a basic or charged attack; strategy is important, and time management factors in greatly. Codes are found from winning battles, purchasing from a merchant, given by an NPC, or found as treasure. Codes have varying "keywords" that use different mechanics-- like Cracking stage tiles, or sapping half your AVA's HP for more damage that turn. Codes also have different tiers of rarity, where you can find powerful Legendary ones that have unique-to-them mechanics that greatly help in battle. It's likely given how OP some of these Legendary codes are, they will end up having a extra limiter per deck. That being said-- they're really satisfying against a tough boss! Balance will also be something we probably spend the most time on during development and player Beta testing. (You can sign up for Beta builds by pledging the Terminal Access Edition or above!)
Building your perfect deck is key in Hero.EXE!
Future of the Game
After Kickstarter, full Development starts up again-- and we want Hero.EXE to be the best it can be. The Full Release will have over 300-400 Codes to play & strategize with, 4 complete campaigns for different experiences with each AVA, and around 7-8 planned Server Worlds to explore. That's a hefty amount of game! We really want to thank you for supporting Hero.EXE-- as a small indie studio, this is a dream come true: to create a videogame which started as hobby, no longer out-of-pocket. We're absolutely FLOORED by the positive reception we received after launching this campaign, and can't wait to get back to grindstone and get builds out to play.
Thank you for supporting Hero.EXE!
Fan Art Spotlight
Today we have a submission from @actuallylichpit, a particularly serious-but-actually-pretty-darn-cute rendition of Target! This is actually the first artwork not made of the main cast-- and it looks terrific! We really love the watercolor effect on her ribbons and stylistically large glasses in the subtle sun. Excellent piece, Lichpit!
One Last Thing-- 72 HOURS LEFT for the Fan Art Contest!
Time is running out not only for pledges-- but also for submissions to the Hero.EXE Fan Art Contest!
Want your artwork in our game forever? What about being published in an Artbook?
If that sounds awesome, check out the rules & prizes: HERE!
