Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption Post-funding Updates #36-57
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It's been quite awhile since we last checked in on the development progress of Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, so I thought I'd point you over to the last twenty-or-so entries that have been posted to the updates area of the adventure/RPG's Kickstarter campaign page. Today's entry in particular brings us up to speed on where the game currently stands:
Evolving Art Style
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption has gone through many changes in art direction. Originally we envisioned it as a 2D top-down (dungeon crawl) game in the style of MacGuffin's Curse. We upped the ante on the art by bringing down the camera for an isometric look, but still using tiles to build the images. Then we made it look more like a classic Sierra game, but still isometric.
Since then, the look of the game has continued to improve and evolve. Earlier this year I announced that we have abandoned 2D animated characters in favor of full 3D characters modeled by Concept Art House. We have been using a mixture of 2D and 3D props and furniture, with the code going through contortions to make the 2D props look 3D.
Then along came Chris Willis, former Sierra artist and 3D specialist. Chris has done an amazing job modeling 3D scenes that duplicate the feel of JP's painted backgrounds. As a result, we are moving farther and farther away from the concept of using tiles to create our scenes. Each scene is now a unique piece of 3D art.
Evolving Programming
Our last bastion of tiles in the game was the combat movement interface. By building everything on a grid of tiles, we had an easy way to specify positions and places where the player can move. The problem? Sometimes this resulted in stiff-looking animation or jerky movement.
In the meantime, we've changed some fundamental systems including the combat interface. By eliminating Action Points, we no longer need movement tiles. So Jonathan changed to a smoother movement system that looks much better. It's also simpler, works better with Unity's built-in systems, and has lower overhead.
Result Goodbye, tiles. The system is now fully 3D and the game looks better than ever.
Further result For the rest of the series, we plan to use all 3D assets. Everyone who has been struggling with making the 2D art work is much relieved.
