Hero6 has a hugely tarnished reputation and you'll  have a hard time convincing anyone that the project is anything more than vaporware.

It seems to me that you'd be better off calling time on the project - possibly to regroup, rethink, and start afresh with a new project that isn't saddled with the baggage that comes with this one. Like it or not, Hero 6 is something of a joke now - little more than a community where people used to go to play at game development (issuing "press releases", spending lots of time on the forums, etc.), and, unfortunately, it is now a dying one at that.

Harsh words, I know, but true. Look, I'm sure that there are a bunch of talented people still working on this game, but perhaps their skills could be put to better use on a new, fresh project? Ditch the convoluted, clunky plot that you've inherited, scrap the artwork that either no longer fits the game or needs significantly reworking - basically, start anew.

p.s. the cheesy "Brad Pitt in hero clothing" portrait on the vistor's homepage doesn't exactly give a positive impression either. Do you have permission to use his likeness, by the way?

Hm, I never received it. Perhaps yahoo mail is blocking it for some reason.

Ok, could you try resending the email to "lukesw at blueyonder dot co dot uk"?

Interesting comments, Phattie, thanks!

Ive been thinking about this some more. Whenever I've discussed adventure games with people I've noticed that they refer to the plot, characters they liked and situations that they enjoyed but they almost never refer to the puzzles - it's almost like discussing movies.

I often hear:

"It was so sad when ***** died."
"**** is such a funny character!"
"I love the bit where you confront the wizard at the end and he says..."

but I almost never hear:

"I really enjoyed using the toothpick as a tiny handle for the broken machine!"
"Wow! Combining the lipstick and the wooden nickle to open the trapdoor was so cool!"

So let me throw out a few more questions:

Are puzzles an essential element of adventure games?
Is an adventure game without puzzles still an adventure game?

Sorry, there might be a little misunderstanding here. I don't claim to be reinventing anything and I'm not making a game myself. I'm interest in the idea of reinventing the concept of the genre.

Didn't Lucasarts adventures stick to the old adventure game conventions as much as anyone else? I think they did.

Perhaps I'm looking for suggestions for radical changes that might redefine the adventure game in a positive way.

[1) 2d is out. Interactive 3d is in.]

Lately I've been thinking about 2d point 'n' click adventure games. I've been reminiscing about the good old days of Quest for Glory and Monkey Island. Somewhere along the line adventure games fell out of favour and were usurped by other game genres, but why? And what could be done to reverse this trend?

It seems clear to me that adventure games need to be reinvented, but how? I'll throw out a few of my own ideas and I'd be very interested to hear about yours.

1) 2d is out. Interactive 3d is in.
            - I do not want to stare at static 2d backgrounds, no matter how beautifully painted they might be.
            - I do want to be able to look around my on screen character and manipulate the camera with the mouse.
            - I do want to be able to control my character with keys or even a game pad.
            - I do want text descriptions (or voice descriptions) of interesting environmental objects that I select to examine.
2) So long bottomless pockets and endless inventory based puzzles.
            - I don't want to have to "use the cactus with the gerbil to open the trapdoor".
            - I don't want to waste time mindlessly clicking upon hotspots with every one of my seemingly endless list of inventory icons.
            - I don't want there to be a head spinning number of items to collect.
            - I don't want to have to "hunt the pixel" to find them.
            - I do want every item I collect to have multiple uses.
            - I do want to have only one "use" command rather than many push, pull. open, close, take, give (etc) buttons.
3) Strong, highly compelling and tightly structured stories.
            - I don't want to save the world from an evil wizard or mad scientist.
            - I don't want to begin the game as an amnesiac with a shady history.
            - I do want a strong narrative and plot that leads me through the game and doesn't just make a half-hearted appearance in the occasional cutscene.
            - I do want highly interactive dialogues but I don't want free form, open-ended gameplay. I want adventures to be tightly structured and plotted.
            - I do want plot and game progression to be dependent on character interaction more than the successful completion of puzzles.

I can think of many more things but I'm going to leave it at that for the time being. Over to you now!

Ianfe,

I'm just letting you know that I sent you a quick email yesterday to the address you provided earlier in this thread. I hope you received it. If you didn't then I'll try to send it from a different email address.

I enjoy your wacky banter, guys, but back to the topic at hand...

Swift (or should I address this to Ianfe?),  I never received the email about my application. If someone could send it again then I'll happily send you a writing sample.
 

Just a gentle reminder: I still haven't heard anything about my application...

Thanks, but leaving home and moving to China was easy. The difficult thing was returning to England and realising that China was my home.

Three months ago I climbed Tai Shan - the tallest and greatest of China's holy mountains - and, as I stood in the courtyard of the buddhist temple upon Tai Shan's peak, watched the sun rise above the clouds. I explored the ancient temple of Confucius. I found and lost love. Now my life is boring and predictable.

I think that I left behind a part of me when I came back "home".

I moved to China for a few years and I literally had no time to work on it. Now I'm back home in the UK and studying for an English degree.  I thought that helping out with the writing duties here might be fun and also useful practice for me.

I applied to join Hero 6 and help out with the writing but I didn't receive a reply. This isn't the first time I've applied without received a response either. Is there anyone responsible for checking out and responding to new writing team applications?