Helping the development team

[Friendofahero]

I just wanna know what there is that i can do to help the team, I cant give any experience on making games or anything, but is there some way I could help them to make game development easier and faster??

[Swift]

Thanks for offering to help out. Do you know how to animate sprites? Having animators in the team will greatly speed up the progress. Can you compose music, or do art, or program? If you want to help out the team, but don't know how to do any of this, then I suggest that you pick one which you think you'll be good at and practise first before applying. I recommend learning how to animate sprites as that's mainly what the team needs right now.

[JohnWWells]

Thank you very much for your offer of assistance!

As a writer/designer for Hero6, I sometimes find myself uncertain of what people expect or want from this game. I would rather not imitate the Quest for Glory games TOO closely, on the grounds that Hero6 should stand on its own; however, the further we venture away from the blueprints laid by the Coles, the more risks we take.

So, one easy, but important, way people can help the team out is to take a few minutes to answer the following casual survey.


QFG-Related:

1. Have you played the QFG games? Which ones? Which was your favorite?

2. What did you like MOST about the QFG games?

3. What did you like LEAST about the QFG games?

4. What is your favorite character class, and why?

5. What sort of puzzles did you enjoy in the QFG games? Which didn't you enjoy? Are there any QFG puzzles or scenes that you really liked or disliked?

6. Did the QFG games have too many stats? Too few stats? Would a simplified system be more involving? Less involving?


Dialogue-related:

7. What do you like to see in game dialogue? Should it be short, punchy, and to the point, or detailed and intricate? Do you like menu conversations?

8. In all the computer games you've ever played, which character's dialogue did you most enjoy? Why?

9. What do you NOT want to see in game dialogue? Would you mind if Hero6 made occasional use of national stereotypes, as the QFG games sometimes did? What about accents and dialect?


Other:

10. Do you like a lot of backstory in your games? Should understanding the backstory be crucial for solving the game? How about optional, but helpful?

11. Hero6 has a day-night cycle system. How much real time do you feel would appropriately correspond to one day? Would you like short days? Long days? Do you like puzzles that require one to take time of day into account? Dislike them?

12. How much combat do you like in a game? How hard should it be to escape from battle? Should the frequency of battles be higher or lower than in the QFG games?

13. Do you keep a map on paper when you play games like this, or do you remember the rough locations of everything in your head?

14. What speed is your computer processor? What platform? How much memory do you have? What is your Internet connection speed?

Thank you very much for your time.

- John W. Wells

[Silverbolt]

Dude, is there anything you CAN'T do?  

Announcement for the visitors: JW is not human. He can't possibly be.

[Raito]

And also some other questions, if you're interested in plot:

a) are you widely read? If so, in what areas?

what is your standard of english?

c) what forms of English can you use or are familiar with?

If not interested in plot, what other form of experience do you have? Programming, art or music?  

Yes, we're badly in need of skilled programmers. 'Twas a pity that it's such hard labour and doubly hard to master. But actually, MAD isn't that difficult but requires extra effort and concentration. And of course, it helps if you're good in Maths and have a bit of programming experience.

And almost anyone can do sprite art which we really, really need.  

[Friendofahero]

ohhh Please please please Sign me up as a sprite animator, i have several months to do absolutley anything, im free right now!!! Come on please please please!!!!

I reckon i could get the hang of it pretty well because Ive fixed up (e.g Airbrushing, Red eye reduction etc) thousands of photos before.

Btw that quiz is too hard to complete right now because i havent played QFG for years and id have to play all of them again to answer properley.

[Swift]

Err... the decision to sign you up doesn't rest with me, but with the Art admins (Gronagor, Paladin Valiant and Scott), and they will need to see samples of your work before they can let you in. You mention that you've fixed photos before. Do you have any other art-related experience? I suggest that you fill up this application form and tell them what you can do and how you can contribute.

http://visitors.hero6.com/modules/apply/

Good luck.

[Raito]

Yep, yep, go ahead and submit!


If you don't, hmmm... then I guess I'll have to kidnap someone else this time round.  

[Silverbolt]

Dun dun dunnnnnn!

[Charles]

okay i would love to be a part of the team, i have to talent whatsoever, im not from this country (you'll have to twist my arm to find out) , also i've heard the adults say i have some mild retardation.

so i was thinking you can make me like.... a scapegoat, for anything wrong that happens. :hero:  

[Swift]

Finding out your country should be no problem since I have your IP address.

Can we please keep this conversation serious and to the topic?

[Charles]

*rubs forehead*

because you asked nicely

(oh uh... btw can i have my ip address back?)

[Swift]

Can't give it to you since the forums don't have such a feature to do so.  

Again, back on topic please.

[Erasmus]

Thanks for showing interest in helping out the Hero6 team. At this time, we really need people who are well qualified in the section to which they are applying. When we first started hardly anyone knew what they were doing. However, over the past 6 or so years, we've developed our skills. This is partly why the game has taken so long to complete. The art of 5 years ago doesn't stand up to the skills our artists now have, so we find ourselves redoing or tweaking old material. Same goes for plot. As many are aware we went through a major revision of the plot a year or so ago after analyzing it with a bit more experience. We've had several years to work on our abilities, so we expect new members to meet or exceed current quality levels. While enthusiastic applicants are always appreciated, at this time we really can only accept experienced sprite animators and programmers.

Having said that, please apply using the application page Swift provided. If the Art admins feel that you are capable of doing hero6 quality sprite work, we'd love to have you. If you don't get accepted at this juncture, you can always work on improving your skills and reapplying at a later time. It would really help to know a bit about you, such as education and experience. However, that info should go into the application and not posted here per say.