Here is the first gameplay footage for Pocket Heroes which we shared with TouchArcade at E3 yesterday. This is all very early stuff but we wanted to go ahead and get the word out so we can answer your questions and get your feedback. Please take a look and let us know what you think. GDC Trailer - Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel Original Footage from E3 2011 Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel We also have some more information on our blog. The following post, specifically, has information about some of the gameplay aspects we're shooting for. http://f5games.com/2011/04/prototyping-weekend-f5-rpg/ I'm adding in our most recent video so newcomers to the thread can watch them both in one place. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel
This looks great! I'd love more information... Number of players per party, how character persistence works across games, how death is handled, magic/skills/classes, etc. I know it's early in your development cycle and maybe a lot of those questions aren't yet answerable... But this is just such a fantastic idea. I'm completely intrigued.
I can definitely give you some more information, but it's possible it could all change before we're done. The plan right now is to have parties of 2 - 4 players (at this time we aren't building the game as a single player experience). There is really nothing to keep us from having parties with more players but we're trying to balance the amount of time that transpires between turns and the more people you have the longer that time will be. We've also talked about the ability of a fifth player to be the DM, in that they can control the monsters in each level, but it's likely that will come in an update to the main game. As for the characters, we're building it so that each player will have multiple characters they can role play and level up across multiple games. We're still working out all the details obviously, but the idea is to focus more on your characters and to let you put them into games as you want to. A lot of the other stuff you've mentioned is still very much up in the air but as we move forward we'll try to share as much of it as we can. I'm really glad you're excited about the game, we've had a blast building to it so far and we can't wait to get it in people's hands.
Wow, this looks like an amazingly fun idea! Looks great so far, I can imagine it will only get better as development continues. I think 4 players would be a good group size - once you get too many people in a game, one person taking too long on their turn can really slow things down. Are you planning on being able to have multiple characters, or just one "main" character? I think it would be fun to have a stable of heroes that the player can send out into the field (or dungeon), so that the player could have multiple characters of different classes. Wow, the more I think about it, the more I feel like there is a ton of potential here. I hope the development goes well, and we get to hear and see more soon. Really looking forward to it!
This is my first post here on TA, but I wanted to post my support for this wonderful idea. You have my word that I'll be purchasing on day one. This is such an ingenious idea, I can't believe it hasn't been made already Seriously though please charge a reasonable amount for this when it is done. It may sound silly, but if you charge just $.99 you may be tempted to ruin something beautiful with kooky iAP somewhere down the line in hopes of profit. Surely you folks deserve to profit from this, but I'd suggest just pricing it accordingly up front so that people don't get turned off by feeling nickle and dimed with silly hats or experience potions or something. Anyways, this is also my most anticipated thing I've heard of recently. By virtue of living out in the sticks I only have access to satellite internet, which means that twitch gameplay is quite literally impossible online. Asynchronous stuff is a miracle for me because it means I can still play online By any chance, do you folks have any idea of a launch window ?
Must have must have must have must have must have MUST HAVE MUST HAVE MUST HAVE MUST HAVE MUST HAVE MUST HAVE. *Ahem* Aside from spamming, I really do believe I'll enjoy this game. If there's only ONE thing I can ask of the dev(s) is to always keep on updating this. I will appreciate it so much. How are you able to play, connect, and find other people though? Will there be a lobby, random matchmaking, find from friend list? Etc? Also, hopefully as a DM, there will be more events, objects, maps, and monsters to control? Sorry for bombarding you all sudden with questions and suggestions. Honestly it's what anyone would do when they see an app with SO MUCH potential. ^_^
Thanks for the reply! I'll be keeping an eye on this thread, and definitely spreading the word to my gaming circle. This is an easy day one purchase. Way to go for coming up with such a fantastic idea. This is what indie games are all about!
I just wanted to say that I am more excited about this game than ANY other game. This is an instant day one purchase for me, and I'll likely buy it for my friends as well so we an get started right away.
Will there be a lot of classes and ways to build them differently. This is something Id really like as having control over your own character is always awesome.
Thank you all for your excitement and encouragement, it's been really great to read all your posts! I'll try to answer some of the questions that have come up in the last few posts: We're still working on all this but our hope is to have a lobby along with twitter, facebook, openfeint, and game center integration for finding/inviting friends. It's possible we may not get all of those in at launch though. The DM mode is something that will most likely come along as an update so we're not as far into the design of that. Our thoughts are for the DM to be like the player who ran quests in the board game HeroQuest . Thanks! We're still deciding if the game will be universal or if we'll release an iPad version with additional features after the iPhone version. We completely agree that having control over your character is really important. That is actually why we decided to make the name focus more on the characters (Heroes) aspect of the game than on the Quests themselves. Right now the plan is that there will be different races and each race will have a set of available classes which you can select when you create the character. We're still working out how the leveling structure will work (such as branching skill tree vs getting skills at specific levels) but you'll be able to acquire new skills and loot as your progress through the game. We're not sure how much the graphics of your character will change over time. With sprite based graphics it's harder to have fully customizable equipment than if we were making a 3D game but we're not ruling it out. Also, if you haven't seen it yet, we have some more information on our blog. The following post, specifically, has information about some of the gameplay aspects we're shooting for. http://f5games.com/2011/04/prototyping-weekend-f5-rpg/ Please keep the questions and comments coming, I'll do my best to keep up and answer as many as I can.
So am I right in assuming this will be similar to a multiplayer Rogue game? Will the missions be randomly generated, or will you have a series of adventures pre-programmed in? I for one put my vote in the randomized Rogue levels so there's endless replay value!
I found out about this game from listening to TA's podcast. I've never played D&D, but I absolutely love asynchronous iPod gaming and enjoy RPGs. Your idea sounds great and I am very excited to see where your company takes this game. Oh, and I agree with the thought that it should be priced what it is worth. No need to follow the ".99 cents rush to the bottom." Make it good and price it fairly. I bought Mission Europa: CE during the launch week. I have no problem with higher tier prices for awesome games
Thats awesome. Its good to know ye are thinking about the stuff that I enjoy. Im really looking forward to it now