How Hero6 Was Started

(A copy of this article can be found in the Wikipedia.)

Written by Phattie and abbreviated by Yuri

Hero6 is a free, PC-based rpg. It has been in development since 1999 and is based on MAD.

The beginning

Abstract Visions was established in 1997 by Phattie. It was an internet-based gaming development company. Upon completion of the project, payouts would be made, based on the amount of each member's contribution. However, due to lack of interest, this idea never progressed.

Later, Te'ja Laymind's post in the qg5.com forum, which proposed an unofficial sequel to QFG5, would catch the attention of Abstract Visions' founder. Working together, Phattie and Te'ja set up an un-named project on loirak.com under the directory name "hero6", "Hero" being inspired by Quest for Glory, and "6" to imply a sequel.

Te'ja's post had attracted over 30 interested fans. They requested to be informed via email, on how they could contribute to the idea. Thus, a list was compiled and Te'ja mass-emailed those who were interested, about the opening of: www.loirak.com/hero6.

An impressive growth

A primitive forum was set up, sparking off ideas like "Should it be a sequel or a prequel?" or as someone suggested, a "mid-quel?"

Legal issues were debated heatedly, leading the project in a new direction. This meant that usage of characters from previous games and character importing were no longer supported. As a result, the "concept" of the game evolved drastically and a few members left the project.

Programming-wise, there was much debate about creating the game. Then, Rink(Tuoic) submitted a game engine called MAD, which neither Te'ja nor Phattie wanted to use. However, Ben Rhoades, who hosted the site at Loirak, and worked for Saffire, a N64 gaming company, was impressed and persuaded Phattie to change his mind.

The decision to use MAD brought both benefits and downfalls. Having felt that he was no longer needed, Te'ja left the project and so did Apoc, the music guru, as there was no mp3 support. The greatest benefit of MAD, though unseen, was that it guaranteed the success of Hero6.

Hero6 heads yet in another direction

The project continued to expand and after many months, a domain, hero6.com[1] (http://www.hero6.com), was secured. With the help of Tuoic, the coding for the design was revised and a new forum was set up. With Phattie's departure, the control of the project was left with Tuoic.

However, due to differences with the team, which resulted in the departure of many members, Tuoic resigned from the project and at the same time, suspended the forums. The project was then forced to move onto another set of forums.

Since then, H6 has been evolving in many directions. While a number of factors have hampered its' growth, the members are steadily working on completing the game.