Hey guys, any fantasy rpg or mmorpg fans out there? If so I have great news, there's this amazing game being worked on by the guys who were behind everquest next, it offers amazing simulation based history and ai based gameplay, also private servers.

So if any of you is interested here's the indiegogo campaign link, perhaps we can have a server for this community.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hero-s-song-game-rpg#/

Thanks for the pointer to this, Sunkenmonk. Nice to see Dave Mark getting some steady work. (I was very loosely associated with Dave on the Storybricks project, from which several developers went to work with Smed on EQN Landmark.)

I might be persuaded to throw some zorkmids at this IF someone can point me at Official Text stating that there there will definitely be a fully offline mode. Otherwise, no sale.

I don't see anything about completely offline access but it does allow you to host your own server

How does multiplayer work?

You can either choose to join a server through our server browser or host a server on your machine. Our goal is to get thousands of players having their data stored on a server with hundreds playing at a time (subject to the machine and bandwidth).

Playing Multiplayer you'll see people's names above their heads and be able to chat with them (racial language DOES matter here) and you can adventure together (or fight on a PVP server).
What kind of controls do I get if I'm hosting a server?

You'll be able to control who is allowed on the server as well as being able to kick or ban people. In addition, you'll determine which Gods are available, whether it's a PVP server and many other options.

Not exactly offline and it depends on if you can connect to a server without using their server browser but it might get close

Yep, I read all that about servers.

What I didn't see -- but thought maybe someone could point out for me -- was any mention of a completely offline mode.

...

I have now done some more digging. Here are a few notes that might be of interest.

1. This is an Indiegogo crowdfunding project that follows a failed Kickstarter project for the same game.

2. The Kickstarter project netted 3037 backers for $136,849 out of a targeted $800,000 goal.

3. The Indiegogo project is shooting for $200,000 (as a "flexible goal") and with 24 days left has raised $58,872 from 1839 backers.

4. The art and text for the Indiegogo project are a nearly 1:1 copy of the Kickstarter project.

5. The developers call this an "open-world rogue-like" game. There will be a lot of features, as well as NPCs with "emergent behaviors"... but it's also billed as a "hardcore" RPG with permadeath.

IMO this means that the developers at Pixelmage, like so many others, have fallen victim to the incorrect belief that you can jam survival and exploration gameplay together and satisfyingly deliver either one. (See my comments on Outward: The Adventurer Life Sim and No Man's Sky on developers creating wonderful worlds to explore and then punishing you -- because roguelike! -- for trying to explore.)

6. Text later on says, "Adventure alone or join a community of heroes online" and "Join an existing community or host your own server." Are those my only two options? Note that "alone" is not necessarily the same thing as "offline play with no server required." I have not been able to find any official comments anywhere, including comments for the Kickstarter, Reddit, or anywhere else via Google, that say Hero's Song will offer a fully offline mode of play.

7. One feature note that sounds wonderful is this: "The core of the game is the amazing world that is created anew based on your choices and the history generator that literally creates the entire population of the world with complete history that has real ramifications for passing down skills through bloodlines over time." That history generation has a very distinct Dwarf Fortress flavor, as well as sounding similar to the plan Josh proposed for how every game of Limit Theory would start.

Overall, I'm leaning toward thinking this one is probably not for me. But that's just me; to others this may sound like something they'd really enjoy playing.

I wish Pixelmage the best of luck with this effort.

Flatfingers wrote:6. Text later on says, "Adventure alone or join a community of heroes online" and "Join an existing community or host your own server." Are those my only two options? Note that "alone" is not necessarily the same thing as "offline play with no server required." I have not been able to find any official comments anywhere, including comments for the Kickstarter, Reddit, or anywhere else via Google, that say Hero's Song will offer a fully offline mode of play.

I'm imagining something like StarMade's setup, with single player offline play accessible through a 'local server' construct independent of DRM trappings.
I would agree that clarification about this is needed.

DF-ish parts are interesting, of course.
But, to be blunt, the art they're showing is downright offensive to my eyecandy tastes.

Baile nam Fonn wrote:DF-ish parts are interesting, of course.
But, to be blunt, the art they're showing is downright offensive to my eyecandy tastes.

Yeah, not much of a looker, and judging from the feedback and funding so far, this one is predestined to die an early death, or be stuck in early access limbo until it expires.

While the basic idea is pretty decent (basically, a pocket MMO realm generator with a few more bells and whistles than your average minecraft server when it comes to worldbuilding mechanics and features), the visuals and interface as presented do absolutely jack for me. I also doubt it'll do much for potential "content creators" (i.e., people whose OCD runs rampant enough to recreate Isengard in Minecraft using survival mode mechanics), as the art style means you're either limited to presets or have to draw assets yourself (which in turn wrecks compatibility across realms).

-Hardenberg

Well, i understand this isn't a game for everyone, honestly i don't mind the art style as long as the gameplay is as amazing as they claim to be, the game is already funded, the indiegogo campaign seems to be for funding some extra staff added, as stated in this interview

https://youtu.be/5QS3Oy19wwU?t=6m25s

"Just think of the possibility to host your own server on your own laptop or even potentially a tablet and play Hero’s Song offline while traveling" -mmochief

http://themmochief.com/heros-song-a-pax ... 16-review/

mind you this is not a statement by the devs, i'll reach out to the guys in HS and see what they say

TBH, i swear these guys looked in my head, and made a game to nearly the exact specifications, and i can't wait to play it.

The initial history of the world that you see during creation can be discovered in greater detail in the world as books or oral history you discover as you talk to NPC’s.

OK, that's cool. The idea of role-playing a genealogist in a Dwarf Fortress-like world appeals to me, greatly. Hence my fondness for Sol Trader.
If this feature is demonstrated to be well developed, I'd be happy to give it a pass on a fair few art and interface shortcomings (as I do with DF).

Flatfingers wrote:6. Text later on says, "Adventure alone or join a community of heroes online" and "Join an existing community or host your own server." Are those my only two options? Note that "alone" is not necessarily the same thing as "offline play with no server required." I have not been able to find any official comments anywhere, including comments for the Kickstarter, Reddit, or anywhere else via Google, that say Hero's Song will offer a fully offline mode of play.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Herossong/comm ... nt/d7f0ypd

Can this be played without a connection to the internet?

j_smed wrote:YES. I know.. a rarity in these days. But yes. Amusingly enough I was trying to do a demo the other day to someone at Valve and this very thing happened to me.. I couldn't launch the game without a connection to the internet. So that's fixed already

Just to clarify, this would be for a solo server that you host on your own machine only correct?

[....]

Unfortunately no response to that request for clarification yet, but the above response from Mr. Smedley does confirm that an offline option is in.

Ha! My search missed that -- thanks for uncovering it!

Needing to run a local server is not a big deal; the main thing was the always-connected requirement. Nice to see the official word of "no" on that.

I'm still put off by the roguelike/permadeath design choice, but that's just me... and who knows, maybe someone can talk Smed into a "Peaceful" mode like another little game that's done modestly well for itself -- I think they call it Minecraft...?

Gamasutra has added an interview with John Smedley, head of Pixelmage.

One of the interesting bits for me, while not a direct/official declaration, is a statement that Hero's Song will offer a regular solo/offline mode similar to Minecraft's:

Rather than rely on a bank of central servers, Hero's Song is being built to work like Minecraft: players can play alone, or they can host their own servers and invite people to play in their persistent worlds.

This game was cancelled in January, they offered refund to players so that's good.

I am very sad though as it was one of my most anticipated games. It's a long story but the I was following the development closely, and was looking forward to seeing the AI programmer's (Dave mark) work come to fruition.

Perhaps josh will someday make a high fantasy LT one can only hope.

Sunkenmonk wrote:Perhaps josh will someday make a high fantasy LT one can only hope.

There has been some extremely vague discussion of something like that from us. But nothing seriously from Josh that I know of.

Still, The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind was popular enough that the running joke of what Josh's next project might be is being called "Morrowjosh."

Personally, I'd like to see someone with Josh's skill realize the Living World idea, which basically consists of:

• The physical world of the game is complex and dynamic
• What you can do in the game is defined by which NPCs (who have role-based skills) you "inhabit"
• Other NPCs know when you've inhabited someone they know
• Legends will grow about you over time based on how you use the NPCs you inhabit

More would be needed, but I'd really like to play this game someday. Maybe Josh could be talked into some aspect of it.

In the meantime, I'm sure we'll see John Smedley and Dave Mark again.