Let’s get to know each other!
October 1, 2012 in Off-topic
Let’s get to know each other peeps (meeps)!
Name:
Age:
Location:
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game):
Favorite Cole game:
What do you expect from “Hero-U”:
James (StarRunner) Rolls said on October 1, 2012
Name: James Rolls
Age: 29 (30 as of Oct. 9th)
Location: Delta (part of greater Vancouver) BC, Canada
Tell us your story why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game): Well, my parents had Sierra games quite early in the home. My mom was quite the addict
. I remember her playing Kings Quest V, Police Quest II (but at my age it got a bit scary), and Jones in the Fast Lane. I would play them too when my mom finally got off the computer (PQII only to a point). I would always glance through the catalog and saw other games I would like to play. I think now that it didn’t go unnoticed. My parents knew I loved fantasy, so some years later, I found a copy of Quest for Glory III among my Christmas presents! Eventually I got the other games, not quite in the right order, but I got them all.
I was looking for a patch so I could get QFG V to work when I came across the School for Heroes. It was bittersweet. I finally found my favorite game designers! But it seemed I missed out on the fun. Assignments were no longer being marked, the forum was largely inactive, Corey was addicted to World of Warcraft, and the forum was flooded with spam. There was some activity though and I didn’t want it to die out. The spam was choking out what was left and I wanted to help. I offerered my experience as a moderator and was gladly accepted! I blasted through all the spam in a single day. Eventually, I started to see a glimmer of hope. Corey pulled himself away from WoW and was talking about doing a special project. They weren’t even totally sure what it was going to be, but that they wanted to do something. I felt like I was being rewarded for my service. I had asked to help with a forum that had nearly died and now I find myself put in an interesting position. I feel like a Knight, leading the charge. Using my sword, I cut down the hordes of spam demons as I echo a rallying battle cry to help the Coles! The battle to be desided by you, the heroes!
Favorite Cole game: Quest for Glory III: Wages of War. It’s really what got me started and in my opinion had the best artistic graphics of all the games.
What do you expect from “Hero-U”: I expect a lot! The goal may be $400,000 to $450,00. But if Homestuck can raise over $700,000 in their recent kickstarter, surely we can do more! I want to smash through that goal and beyond!
With their previous experience and having learned from previous games, I fully expect Hero-U to be (dare I say it?) even better than the Quest for Glory series!
Roger said on October 1, 2012
NAME: Roger
AGE: 30
LOCATION: Sweden
ABOUT MYSELF AND HOW I ENDED UP HERE: I started with computer/video games when I was 7 years old. That was when I got my commodore 64. Had it for about a year and then traded it for a Nintendo NES which I still have.
In the early 90′s I played my very first adventure game on a friend’s Amiga. It was “Leisure suit Larry 2″ and it was love at first sight. So I started to explore the genre more and more and eventually it led to my 1st PC in the early 90s. At a flea market I found a game called “Hero’s Quest”. I immediately recognized the Sierra EGA grahics style which I liked so much so I of course bought it.
I was no stranger to RPG:s so I was pretty surprised when I saw the genres combined in a game. The story, the graphics, the characters, the surroundings, the possibilities… I loved the game and of course had to play the rest of them as well.
So, 20ish years later many of my favorite adventure game designers are doing a comeback and I’m thrilled to help them doing that. I got in touch with the Coreys via this “internet” thing and they proved to be really nice people as well, which made me even more eager to help them succeed. And here I am, proud of chance I’ve gotten to do what I can for “Hero-U”
FAVORITE COLE GAME: It’s still “Hero’s Quest”.
WHAT DO I EXPECT FROM “HERO-U””: Yet another great game from the Coreys. I’ve liked every one so far so I have no reason to doubt that I will like this as well. I think it will be something different than we are used to in gaming way in general. To explore the story is what I’m looking forward to the most.
Alan Luckachina said on October 1, 2012
Name: Alan
Age: 31
Location: Florida
Tell us your story why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game): Well, yeah surprisingly enough I grew up playing Sierra games, and having previously aided in the successful funding and borderline obsessive plugging of the kickstarter for SpaceVenture I naturally jumped at the offer to do it all again with equal gusto when the Coles announced thier upcoming kickstarter!
Favorite Cole game: Quest for Glory 4: Shadows of Darkness
What do you expect from “Hero-U”: Humorous ways to humiliate the main character (More belly dancing from the future king! :p)
Richard Baxter said on October 1, 2012
Name: Richard
Age: 29
Location: Australia
About Self: I led role playing in primary school (and don’t think we had even heard of DnD – just based on abstractions from QFG and the general paradigm). I don’t play games any more without a good reason, but I appreciate them. I now enjoy writing software, free style adventuring, telling people what to think (that is a quote from Danny Boyle)…
Favourite Cole game: HQ1 (although this is hard to choose)
What to you expect from Hero-U: I am not sure yet, but they have the expertise to create something pretty amazing
Joseph-Austin said on October 2, 2012
Name: Joseph
Age: 28
Location: USA
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game): I have a very emotional attachment to the Quest for Glory series. As a child, I was given the the first game (as Hero’s Quest) on floppy by a student of my father and a good friend, but she passed away before I could return the disks. I now suspect they were pirated, because although it asked to swap disks when leaving the general start area, that would always fail. So I played the game a lot within the town and castle and just imagined everything else, until it popped into my head to copy all the files into one folder. Hey, I was like 7. But the mystery of those other areas, mixed with the tragedy of losing a sort of ‘nerd mentor’, sort of made the game a bundle of emotions for me. Surprisingly, QFG2 took it further when I finally played it.
Favorite Cole game: Thus far, QFG II.
What do you expect from “Hero-U”: There aren’t enough details, but I’m sure it will be fabulous.
Bradley Macomber said on October 2, 2012
Howdy,
Age: 35
Location: Arizona
The Story: Well, the first Sierra game we had was King’s Quest 1, which was pretty amazing in its time. (Actually, I think I played Apple Cider Spider long before that, but I wasn’t aware of “Sierra” back then.) After about 10 of these “Quest” games, I was eagerly designing my own. I drew at least 60 screens for my homemade Space Quest using a program called PC Paint — later known as Pictor. I had no way of animating anything, but I drew alternate versions of moveable objects such as doors and elevators. I lost almost all of that unfortunately, but I still have a binder of papers where I designed a homemade King’s Quest. I organized everything in sections: screens, characters, items, goals, all painstakingly cross-referenced. Looking back, I see the puzzles I designed were pretty silly, but it’s kinda cool to compare how I went about it with the design docs Al Lowe published on his site. When news came in 1989 that Sierra would release a new “Quest” game that would allow you to design your own character, my imagination was plenty excited. Even though some of the things I imagined didn’t fit what Hero’s Quest turned out to be, some of those ideas continue to influence today… My friends and I had a lot of fun playing Hero’s Quest and arguing about whose character class had been a better choice, etc. Nowadays you and your friends can’t enjoy keeping secrets about a game from each other because the Internet is here to ruin the surprise. I was thus inspired to create a table-top RPG that was loosely based on the Hero’s Quest way of representing character stats and whose starting town was suspiciously similar to a certain Spielburg… though the rest of the campaign deviated quite a bit from that. It was my most successful RPG by far. Anyway, that was all before I knew how to program computers, and that frustration is in fact the reason why I know how to program computers today.
I have only achieved the rank of Wizard Initiate ’cause I was pretty lazy about corresponding with my Famous Adventurers’ Correspondence School… oops. I was also on the School Before That, but that one didn’t last very long… I told my sister to check out the School, and she told me she was classified as a Rogue and decrypted a message or something. I couldn’t find what she was talking about ’cause every time I re-took the test, I came out a wizard even though I thought I should be more of a Paladin… Well, I guess this is fitting, and I can accept it, even the part that you’ve classified my little sister as a lowly thief, haha.
Fave game: Hero’s Quest 1, the original version, of course. I am very fond of Trial By Fire, but the character of the game might have been spread a little too thin within a much larger space, so to speak, for it to overtake the charm of the 1st game. I still haven’t played Mixed-Up Fairy Tales; sorry if it was your hidden masterpiece or something.
Fun Fact: Did you know that once upon a time, LOL stood for “Little Old Lady”?
I expect that “Hero-U” will have a character similar to such games of yore that the mainstream industry doesn’t want to make nowadays. I believe this is the most important part of this potential, as much as we’d like to deny it and talk about progressive mechanics or even merely “good graphics” or whatnot, which are all important too, sure, but the “hook” ought to be something only the Coles could offer. What we all expect is for the game to have a certain quirky sense of humor and character provided by our esteemed designers. And hopefully it won’t take too much unconscious inspiration from WoW…
Bradley Macomber said on October 19, 2012
Man, I forgot to mention the time we got to tour Sierra in the summer of 1988. Although that was before Hero’s Quest, what I saw that day must have had more influence upon me than I could realize. I ought to write up what I can remember sometime…
Roger said on October 2, 2012
Nice reading!
Corey said on October 2, 2012
Corey Cole, approaching 57, Oakhurst, California (near Yosemite Park).
I’m here because some persistent fans said I needed to check out this Kickstarter stuff. But of course it’s much more complicated than that. Lori and I have talked about make a school for heroes game for at least 6 years, but we couldn’t figure out how to do it. We didn’t have a big company, or a team, or money.
Then a fan-turned-pro sent us his latest game. We looked at it and said, “Hey, this is good! And it’s the kind of look we’ve been talking about.” And Tim Shafer kickstarted Kickstarter. Then Al, Mark, Scott, and Jane jumped on the bandwagon.
We looked around and said – We have a team (or know how to find one), the fans will give us enough money to make a small game, and we don’ need no stinkin’ big publishers to make a great game. So here we are.
If we went back even farther, there were lots of other influences, but these are the current ones. Oh yeah, and we need to work; there aren’t a lot of software development opportunities in the Oakhurst area.
My favorite Cole game? Hmm. In paper gaming, it could be The Tower of Indomitable Circumstance, honorable mentions to The Gamemaster of Edath Zema and The Master of Time. By the way, never start a title with “The”.
On computers, probably Castle of Dr. Brain (see, lost the “The”) or Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness. QG2 gets the honorable mention, but also had some flaws (frustrating alley maze and crashing bugs) that lower its rank.
From Hero-U, I expect renewed life and energy, a sense of purpose in once more creating new games. The game itself will be immersive without the addictive quality (or at least the huge time commitment) of World of Warcraft. It will be a game I might buy for myself and play through a couple of times at least.
Joseph-Austin said on October 2, 2012
Always great to meet another Coles fan! ; – )
AztecMonkeyGod said on October 3, 2012
What the heck.
Name: I go by a few. For the School, I’ve always been AztecMonkeyGod. You could shorten it however you wish.
Age: 31
Location: California, USA, Terra, Sol System, Milky Way Galaxy, Universe, Multiverse.
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game): We’ll start with the School. I somehow found my way there when the second incarnation began. I was an active member for some time, but eventually drifted away. Tried to return once or twice, but never for long. Always kept the Quest Log in my RSS reader, though, which is how I found out about Hero-U. Volunteered to help when I found out they were looking for people to do so. I want to help make the game successful in any way I can. The QFG series has given me so much happiness that I think of it as payment long overdue.
As to why I became involved with the School in the first place, it is because I have been a fan of the Coles and their work since Hero’s Quest 1, which I played at a friend’s house when it first came out. Didn’t get any of the games myself until QFG3, but stayed with the series since.
Favorite Cole game: QFG4. The setting and story appeal to me most. I have to hand it to QFG2 for its combat system, though.
What do you expect from “Hero-U”: Puns.
Orion Rezil said on October 3, 2012
Name: Joshua Koss, web alias of Orion Rezil (Oh-ryan Re-Zel)
Age: 27 as of typing this
Location: West-Central Pennsylvania
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game): Instead of finding a way to reword it, or just copy-pasting it, I’ll link you to the homepage of my website that explains it all
http://www.legendsofglory.com/
Favorite Cole game: All of them! Though I hold QFG2 and Island of Dr. Brain fairly high
What do you expect from “Hero-U”: The same classic humor I grew up with. Punny jokes (and maybe Punny Bones!) Oh! And the same replayability of the QFG games in a more modern package!
Joseph-Howse said on October 3, 2012
Name: Joe Howse
Age: 28
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
The story:
I started playing Sierra games with my older brother, Sam, when I was 4 and he was 7. He taught me to read and type so that I could use the text parser interface.
Quest for Glory became our favorite series. We loved the characters and named some of our stuffed animals after them. We made the Hero explore everywhere, question everything, and practice his skills obsessive-compulsively. Then we did the same things ourselves in real life.
We grew up, went to university, and had much less time for adventure games. We started jobs in programming, writing, and teaching.
At 26, Sam became ill with cancer. We decided to make time for adventure games again. During that last year of Sam’s life, many of our happiest times were spent replaying the Quest for Glory games.
Our wizard became a paladin, learned the skills of a thief (never actually stole), obsessively-compulsively maxed out all his skills (spell skills too), won the Rites of Rulership, married Erana, and came to the end of his story.
Let’s make time for more stories.
Favorite Cole game: Shadows of Darkness, where the story all came together, tragicomically. Trial by Fire was Sam’s favorite. I think he liked the complexity of Shapeir, its many human and katta residents, and the Hero’s full schedule there.
Expectations of “Hero-U”: A story that is worth thinking about after it’s over. Replay value. The sense that the main character has a life: a lot to get done in a day; a lot of people to think about; a lot of surprises–things changing overnight.
Adam Johnson said on October 4, 2012
Name: Adam Johnson
Age: 24
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
The Story:
Growing up in a small town in Saskatchewan and not playing hockey, I was always kind of the outcast. Luckily, I was able to find other outcasts, including my two best friends, Mike and Craig. Craig’s older brothers were huge computer gamers (for the time) and introduced us to all of the Sierra classics. The only one that would run on my computer was Hero’s Quest.
Over the course of the next three years, I played the game religiously. Maxing out every character I could, I would write stories in the QfG fiction, and modeled all of my D&D character sheets after the one in the game. Long before I could get bored of the original, my parents were able to afford to buy my younger brother and I our first proper computer. I raced into the city and was able to find a copy of the Quest for Glory Anthology. That pretty much accounts for the next three years.
Despite the prevalence of bro games, I still chose to play many of the games from the Sierra library deep into my college days. After graduating, I took a job with a public relations consultant in Calgary, and have been there for the better part of the past year.
The job hunt is tough in this market, as anyone will tell you. I would love to one day work on creating games of my own, writing and creating the universe, and then be lucky enough to find the programmers and artists to help me fully realize this dream.
Even if that doesn’t end up happening, I’ll still get to say I had some small part of helping the creators of my favorite childhood game create something.
Favorite Cole Game: For three years I watched the Hero, Abdulla Doo and the Kattas ride around that mountain with the dragon breathing those words – “Quest for Glory II – Trial by Fire” – I knew I had to play this game. What I got when it finally made its way on to my computer was perfection. The humor was the same, the puzzles just as intuitive and challenging as ever, and the fantasy dialed up to 11.
Expectations of “Hero-U”: Putting my finger on exactly what it was that made the original games so great is tough. My expectations of this new game are similarly tough to explain. I guess my expectation is that the character and sense of fully-realized adventure gets to be passed on to the next generation.
James (StarRunner) Rolls said on October 4, 2012
Oh! Another Canadian! I lived in Calgary for a while and spent half my life around the Lethbridge area. I know your area well!
Adam Johnson said on October 11, 2012
Nice, nice. I lived in Lethbridge as a kid, but I was far too young to have too many memories. Of course, half my high school went there for college, so I have seen the ‘sights’, haha.
Bradley Macomber said on October 5, 2012
This page offers a pretty realistic view about how to enter the game industry:
http://www.sloperama.com/advice.html
Or you could do what the rest of us are doing and just make that game yourself. Most of the indies I know use Unity, but there are easier tools out there…
(Whoops, I didn’t mean to go into lecture mode, but there is more advice if you want to hear it.)
Adam Johnson said on October 11, 2012
No lecture assumed. I appreciate the advice. I’m quite intimidated by the idea of getting into programming, but I suppose conquering fears is part of what breeds success.
Bradley Macomber said on October 11, 2012
Unity isn’t the easiest tool to jump into, but yeah, in general I approve of the jumping in method of learning. Some people are better at this than others, and of course, every little bit of past experience helps make the next jump easier.
You might try looking around to see if there’s an IGDA chapter in your area. Or if that fails, a school like the Art Institute or even something like ITT or a college might have a little club of game developers. If you’re really lucky, you might find a group containing someone willing to act as your tutor. Also if you’re really lucky, you might find a group of people who occasionally host a game jam somewhere near you. Some game jams are tailored for newbies to show up and force themselves to make some basic little thing for the purpose of learning new tools because “game jam” is an environment where you’re surrounded by people with experience. I know this all sounds like a long shot, but I’ve seen people right beside me learn this way.
I keep a few suggestions for getting started on my links page. The tools at top right are great for putting something on the screen without getting super technical. If you know nothing, the easiest tool to play around with might be Stencyl because it presents programming concepts in a “visual” way. For the purpose of learning tools, you should pick a rather modest goal, like making Tetris, so that your learning exercise has a direction and a finite end.
Sorry, I could go on and on. I’ve witnessed a lot of guys discover their potential, so I can’t help feeling optimistic about a little encouragement.
Whether you get into programming or not, the game industry can’t afford to consider you unless you’re very prolific in one thing or another. So even if you’re just planning out a story or campaign on paper, having something tangible to show is crucial.
James (StarRunner) Rolls said on October 12, 2012
Actually, from someone who has been at Ai, I wouldn’t recommend it. There are other Art Schools out there that teach game design and other things associated with it. I’m actually going to the Visual College of Art and Design right now.
Bradley Macomber said on October 14, 2012
Oh, no, I didn’t mean to recommend attending the Art Institute for game development. I only meant that it would be a good place to find a club that could offer a supportive atmosphere in person.
Apparently I have a lot to say about this, but I don’t want to fill up Lori & Corey’s forum with such off-topic chatter. (Maybe I should try to consolidate all my advice into one big article?)
Wayland Phillips said on October 5, 2012
Name: Benny Wayland Phillips III, but Wayland will do. (aka Brewa, terminalwriter, techemepage in other circles.)
Age: 32 at least until the 22nd of this month.
Location: North Carolina
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game):
Growing up, I <3ed the Sierra games, but my favorite of these was the QfG games. I even had a fan site at one point on the now defunct Geocities back in my college days.
Many many moons ago, I stumbled upon the first school for heroes while it was still under development. I think I was looking up something or other on possible Quest for Glory sequels. Or maybe it was a link to the Cole's site from the QFG2 remake site. I registered and got my class, which I cannot recall now, only there were no assignments on it. So I wandered off elsewhere and forgot.
Then about a year ago, after reading up on potential remakes on some other Sierra titles. (TellTale has the rights to the next King's Quest, btw) I once again stumbled upon the school. Not remembering any info from earlier. I re-registered and started working on the school. Only, I missed the second coming of the school and it and the blog were pretty much a ghost town. I tried to hang out for a while. Only when the posts stopped coming, the forums all but abandoned and overrun by spam. I wandered off again.
I checked the blog occasionally and even e-mailed back and forth with Corey about the school 3.0 some, but once again, I wandered off, mainly due to lack of content.
Well, then this summer, Corey, who unbeknownst to me, was in my former WoW guild posts to Facebook in the guild group, a link to a new post in the blog. All this time, we had been in the same WoW guild, I had retired from WoW about a year earlier, but here Corey was raiding with my wife every week and I didn't have a clue. I rushed back over here to find things active again and I have been mostly active since. (Silly work keeping me busty at times.) I offered to help often along the way up until now, and found this time I was accepted. So here I am, ready to find bugs, spread the word and hell, just do data processing if that's what is needed. Give me a task and I'll line it up and knock it down.
Favorite Cole game:
It’s hard for me to decide between QfG 1 & 3. Three is the first QFG I ever played. One, I played more often than any other. (Usually as a start to get through them all, which usually didn’t happen.) I loved the thief, because points in parry and magic and *bam* I had every skill in the game. Of course, this seemed to confuse the importer in all the subsequent games. I had many export files with every skill maxed. (I had to kill so many gobilns over and over and over to do that, not to mention, random bolts in the forest and picking the doors that were barred in town, and sleeping day after day to challenge the sword master, etc.)
What do you expect from “Hero-U”: The greatest game EVAH!
Seriously though, dungeon crawl + deep but humorous plot + classic adventure feel + all sorts of options. But most of all, fun!
Jen said on October 5, 2012
Name: Jen
Age: 31. We all grew up together in a way, didn’t we?
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game):
When I was very young, our neighbor worked for AT&T and was allowed to bring home a couple of computers. He lent one to our family and I remember playing Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Woods on our green monitor. (A Sierra fan from the start!) Over time, my dad would get to bring home discarded hardware from company upgrades, and he would Frankenstein us a new PC. My younger brother and I hintbooked our way through some of the early _____ Quest games, sometimes playing together, sometimes fighting to take turns. We “rented” a lot of games from a computer store nearby, but on birthdays and Christmas, we’d be allowed a shiny game in its lovely oversized box. One of those boxes was Hero’s Quest, in all of its beige glory.
Quest for Glory has always been a shared language between my brother and I, and only Monkey Island shares its rank as a source of so many inside jokes that have lasted more than twenty years. We both make video games now (he a designer, me a producer) and when one of the characters in his latest quest called me “effendi,” I knew it was just for me.
I’ve been happily contributing to game Kickstarters, one of which was from the Two Guys from Andromeda. I saw there would be a podcast and with the Coles, and I had to be there. And that’s how I ended up here, having been too shy to reach out and just thank them for all the wonderful games without a timely excuse.
Favorite Cole game: Quest for Glory III was always my favorite to replay, but the story moments that touched me the most are from Trial by Fire.
What do you expect from “Hero-U”: Heart. All of the Coles’ games had so much love poured into them, I think that’s why we all are so attached to our Hero and his friends.
Tom said on October 6, 2012
Hey there, just another fellow game designer from LA saying hi. Also grew up a huge qfg fan, it was a big inspiration. I actually came from Florida not too long ago, with no job just my degree and a couple xna indie games I made in college. I interviewed relentlessly because I wanted so bad to be in the game industry. I faced a million rejections. Just before I was totally screwed and out of money I got picked up by Disney.
Jen said on October 21, 2012
Congrats on the Disney gig, Tom! The job market in LA has gotten increasingly frustrating as companies merge and disappear. Working on your own projects in between paying jobs is so important, whether it’s using tools from a game that’s out or an easily accessible engine. I know it’s definitely made a difference for designer friends of mine.
Alistair-Gillett said on October 14, 2012
Name: Alistair Gillett (“Spikey” on various Sierra forums)
Age: 26
Location: Tulsa, OK (originally South Australia, Australia)
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game):
I’m the 10-year webmaster of Sierra game music website, Sierra Music Central (http://www.sierramusiccentral.com). The first two Sierra games I ever played were actually as a kid, Mixed-Up Fairy Tales and Castle of Dr. Brain, I played those near release, and some other edutainment titles over the 90′s. I didn’t become a “Sierra gamer” until much later, the early 2000′s, when I played QFG1 and then the rest of the Sierra series.
Lori and Corey’s quests have always held a dear place in my heart, since I first played them about 12 years ago. My brother and I had a great time trying to figure out what to do, and was genuinely having fun playing as different characters and seeing all the ways to die, which we figured was reserved for a “Space Quest” kind of series- but we were wrong!
Favorite Cole game: QFG4, Shadows. Nearly perfect from start to end, best soundtrack by a long long way, almost movie quality. Great voice acting, probably the best of a Sierra game, best narrator, maybe tied with Gary Owens I guess. Now if only we could convince Lori the bugs don’t matter 20 years later..
What do you expect from “Hero-U”:
I expect something worthy of the Coles’ names, for (kick)starters. Something challenging, consequence driven, where you step into the shoes (probably more than QFG), and where you get emotionally involved. That said, it should be FUN (to quote the Coles), and the plot should keep you entertained and amused, not just in suspense or anxiety.
I also expect to be able to do some good and bad things- many games have a ‘good’ or ‘evil’ path, but who wants to be a protagonist that just chooses moral compass ‘right/wrong’ choices and becomes good or evil? That’s extremely unlikely and doesn’t reflect what you would really do in a situation.
I hope it’s a build on what Dynamix tried to do with some of it’s RP-adventure style hybrid, where decisions have consequences ,but not everything is right or wrong and leads to a dead end or victory.
Adam Luptak said on October 16, 2012
Howdy howdy howdy. Coming late to the party, work has been crazy.
Name: Adam Luptak
Age: 26
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game):
When I was little – in fact, too young to read and comprehend all the text in the game – my old brother heard of Quest for Glory, and we got the VGA remake of Quest for Glory I – the edition that had the hint book bundled with it. As my reading skills improved (and I believe I played Mixed-Up Fairy Tales at some point), I got completely hooked on Quest for Glory, and picked up the Quest for Glory Anthology collection that collected 1-4, and there went the majority of my computer time for the next few years. Beyond the impact that merely playing the games had on my childhood, I went on to create my first website as a fan site (Fenrus’ Rathole), leading directly to my career as a developer in advertising/technology world.
Favorite Cole game:
All the original 4 Quest for Glory games have special places in my heart for different reasons, but I think QFG 2 is perhaps my favorite. Something about the combination of its setting, the cinematic nature of some of the game elements, the beauty of what could be achieved with the art even with such a limited palette, the humor (green saurus – hilarious), the story…
What do you expect from “Hero-U”:
Excited to see some good old-fashioned heroics. Hoping for beautiful 2D art with the level of polish that Sierra had back in the day. Always loved the integration of folklore into the QFG games, so I hope we see more of that here. And as AztecMonkeyGod said, puns.
Ben Lindelof said on October 18, 2012
Name: Ben Lindelof
Age: 37
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game): I’m a big fan of Sierra games! I had contacted Ken Williams about creating games again back in the early 2000s, and worked with him on some .NET tech for his Talkspot blogging website. Since then I’ve been interested in the fan-created games, until this year when kickstarter-funded adventure games got some love! It’s been a great summer! I’m here to help out anyway I can.
Favorite Cole game: My favorite will always be Hero’s Quest/QFG1. I played it when it was released and it totally captured my interest!
What do you expect from “Hero-U”: Looking forward to see what they tease us with during the kickstarter campaign!
Bradley Macomber said on October 19, 2012
I still remember, in December 1989, meeting some other kid at school who had just gotten the game. We compared notes about what we had figured out so far. Something to do with 50 apples, haha…
James (StarRunner) Rolls said on October 19, 2012
Hehehe. I figured the apples out quite easily. At first though I had to keep going back for more though as I didn’t have enough.
Pierre Roux said on October 20, 2012
Name: Pierre Roux
Age: 37
Location: North Carolina
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game):
In short, because QFG, or Sierra games in general, were a big reason why I work in the game industry.
As a long story, I’ve been playing video games since I was 5 years old… During my teen years, Sierra games were extremely popular in France (if you have not guessed from my name, that’s where I’m from) and as the only PC gamer amongst all my friends, the best games to play at the time on PC were Sierra/Origin/Lucas/Microprose games.When I was not hosting a D&D campaign, Cthulhu, or games that we had designed ourselves, I was learning english playing Sierra adventure games.
When Hero Quest came out (thats what it was called when it came out…), I can’t even remember how many times I’ve played it, trying the different classes, mixing rogue and mage, warrior and rogue, warrior and mage, etc… Although, always had to add a rogue element to any classes. The ability to finally be able to pick locks and break into forbidden places was pure joy
Since that time, and almost 20 years making games, on another gaming forum, I found out about the “revival” of QFG. First thing I had to do, connect with Corey via LinkedIn and tell him how honored I was when he accepted my invitation.
After that, this is where the tales begins
Favorite Cole game: Quest for Glory – from 1 to 4. Hard to decide, but ultimately, the original one.
What do you expect from “Hero-U”:
To remain what it was: fantasy inspired game where you can truly be a hero.
Pierre Roux said on October 20, 2012
Shame on me, I just realized I called the “thief” a rogue… Too much WoW influence nowadays…
Robert Kety said on October 31, 2012
Name: Robert Kety
Age: 32
Location: Portland, OR
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game):
Although Space Quest 3 was my first adventure game, I picked up a copy of Hero’s Quest later that year. Hero’s Quest was my first experience in RPGs and my definitive experience in fantasy. I’ll never forget the cover to that game.
I played the Quest for Glory games for several years and it was always my secret indulgence. I had some friends who played D&D, but I was always afraid to play because of my propagandized ignorance of the game. I was in my school library one day in 1994 when I noticed a paperback novel left on a table. The cover caught my attention. The red dragon in the background looked very similar to the cover of Hero’s Quest. I checked out Dragons of Autumn Twilight and the rest is history. I started reading fantasy novels like crazy, my friends noticed my interest in fantasy and invited me to play D&D, and I remain an avid fan of fantasy and RPG to this day. I even DM a 3.5 edition campaign of Dragonlance which you can read about on our wiki!
For me, Quest for Glory was a catalyst for fun, excitement, and socialization far beyond what the series offered in hours of play-time. I owe a lot to the Cole’s for their creative influence throughout the Quest for Glory series. This Kickstarter is my opportunity to repay the enjoyment they’ve provided me both monetarily and with zealous support!
Favorite Cole game:
Quest for Glory, but Shannara is a close second.
What do you expect from “Hero-U”:
Sequels. Specifically, sequels with options to play as a magic-user.
Lori said on October 31, 2012
Corey and I loved the original Dragonlance novels. One of my favorite D&D characters to play is Danieliae, an irrepressible Kender who has been the instigator of many an adventure in my D&D world.
Sameer said on November 3, 2012
Ah, the original Dragonlance (Chronicles trilogy) was quite fun! I still have the cover from Autumn Twilight that you posted, Robert!
Did you guys ever read Death Gate?
Corey said on November 3, 2012
I don’t think we read those. We did read and enjoy the early Dragonlance novels. And loved Hickman’s Ravenloft module.
Robert Kety said on November 5, 2012
I just re-read Deathgate novels earlier this year. Alfred is my favorite character and the sundered-earth history is well thought out as well.
Robert Kety said on October 31, 2012
Whoops! The link to my wiki is broken! Try this one.
Robert Hill said on November 5, 2012
Name: Robert
Age: 28
Location: Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeami
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game): “Have gun, will travel,” reads the card of a man. A Knight without armor in a savage land… My life is actually quite boring. Medical school and blah, blah, blah. My grandfather gave my brother and I an old DOS computer when we were little. It had two games on it – Kings Quest and Space Quest. They started out love of adventure games, which lead to me purchasing Quest for Glory III at a local computer store. It was an impulse purchase based solely on the kick— artwork on the box. My brother and I were hooked and went back to purchase the first two.
Favorite Cole game: QFGIV – even with the bugs!
What do you expect from “Hero-U”: Only awesomeness,
Lori said on November 5, 2012
Yay, RUSM! Glad to have you join our show.
Robert Hill said on November 20, 2012
Thank you! I am glad to be here (even if it is only once in a while and for a short time)!
Kristjan said on November 21, 2012
Name: Kristjan
Age:17
Location:Estonia
Tell us your story, why you are here (chances are that it involves a story about a Sierra game):
I am a huge fan of Quest for Glory games and I’ve played some of them through quite many times. So one day a while back I happened to accidentally find School for Heroes page and I did the test etc… and then later I kept searching for different fangames of Quest for Glory series (all except QfG 2 remake weren’t sadly completed as far as I know), read fanfiction about them and one day when I checked School for Heroes again and found this kickstarter project and well… The emotions which overwhelmed me are hard to explain, it was really awesome to find out that the Coles are working on another game plus now that you’ve gathered the required amount of money, well, I’m just very very happy. I’m high without drugs.
Favorite Cole game:
My favorite game is Quest for Glory 4 because of it’s atmosphere and I remember I was always afraid to play it because of the nighttime and also because of the music which started when monster was near. Speaking of music, I consider this the best video game music ever (deep bows for Mr. Hodges).
What do you expect from “Hero-U”:
I don’t want to critize because this is my favorite video game series, but I hope that the game will be more like QfG 1 or QfG 4. I liked 2, 3 and 5 also but these two are the ones I like quite a lot more than the rest.
Please don’t take me as some sort of hater, I still love all of the games. I hope the game will work out well and I wish you luck in reaching the 600k point
JanusForbeare said on November 22, 2012
Name: Alex
Age: 26
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Tell us your story, why you are here: I’ve always been an RPG nut. My introduction to the genre was through Ultima 7, and not long after that, Daggerfall. One day, my dad (a gaming junkie just like me – the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree) brought home a spiffy new title called Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness. In no time at all, we had it loaded up on the family PC, and I was hopelessly hooked. My dad’s side of the family is Polish, and it was awesome to see familiar creatures like the Leshy, Domovoi, and Rusalka portrayed in a video game context, but more than that, the attention to detail, humour, and complex storyline were intoxicating.
Years past, and I grew up, and became active in the entertainment industry myself. I started a fun little project (well, it USED to be little) to amuse myself and showcase some of my skills to potential employers: a Skyrim modification called Atvir Dres: The Last Prince of Tear. That took off, and has been an ongoing endeavour for the past year. A few days ago, a QFG addict posted on the Nexus (a game modification website) about a cool new indie project from the Coles. I arrived at the Hero-U kickstarter site just as the fundraising was ending, and found myself unable to scrape together enough cash in time to meaningfully contribute. However, I wanted to (at the very least) show my support for some of my favourite artists, and, if possible, lend my time and talents to the project in some capacity.
Favourite Cole game: QFG 4, the game that taught me not to trust naked women in lakes.
What do you expect from “Hero-U”: Humour, depth, replay value, and a return to the essentials of old-school RPGs. It really bums me out that the genre has mostly devolved into action games with dragons and swords. I want to be immersed in a world because of the complexity of its storyline, not because it has flashy graphics and/or ridiculously fast-paced gameplay.
James (StarRunner) Rolls said on November 22, 2012
Ah, we have added to our Canadian numbers! Welcome!
JanusForbeare said on November 23, 2012
Thank you! Yes, after reading through these posts, I can see that we’ve got the whole darn country covered pretty well (Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Halifax). Hero-U is slowly conquering the north! Hail the conquering Hero!