Craig Hendricks on Facebook posted this. Is it purely coincidental?
The photo of Claudia Schiffer is from: The new Bardot: Claudia Schiffer in Italy, 1989. Photograph: Ellen von Unwerth.
And Leisure Suit Larry 1 VGA was in 1991 – so it would have been two years later. Is it coincidence after all? Or was she the inspiration for Fawn in the remake?
Hey everyone! We hope you are all doing well during the COVID world we are living in right now. We wanted to give you a very quick update on the game and it’s release. As always, the holidays slowed us down a little more than we would have liked, but we are pushing now to get the game out the door very soon.
We got a tremendous amount of helpful feedback from our beta testers. The game breaking bugs that were being experienced are fixed now and the game is feeling much better on the polish front as well. There is one thing that we have had to go back to the drawing board on. The Save/Load system. This feature, admittedly, has bedeviled us throughout development. With the rest of the game now complete, getting Save/Load working reliably is now our biggest focus.
The issue is with handling each scene’s setup at particular points in the scene. Some scenes have many different ‘states’. The challenge has been to get all the variables saved just right or the restored game get’s screwy.
So this is it everyone. The save load system is really the final big fix that needs to happen. The other items are small changes that we are knocking out each day. Once this is done, we are releasing the game.
The game will be released first on Windows and the other platforms should happen not too far there after. Once the game is released digitally, we will begin working on physical backer rewards. Please do not send us anything involving your address updates or anything along those lines at this time. When the time comes, we will send out a survey to gather all that information.
It’s What’s For Launch! Nintendo Switch launch and reddit AMA
We’ve just launched the Nintendo Switch version of Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption! You can find it at https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/hero-u-rogue-to-redemption-switch/.
The list price is $20, but we’re celebrating the launch with a 20% off sale. If you’re thinking about getting the Switch version, now is the right time!
We’re doing an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) on reddit just after I post this – 11 am PST on Feb. 9, 2021. Join in the Q&A at https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/.
Please let your Switch-owning friends and family know about the game that you helped us create. Here’s a quick summary of Hero-U for those unfamiliar with our games:
“Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption is a genre-defying story game – It’s dramatic, but also funny, an adventure and a role-playing game. You’ll play as a young man who is caught between becoming a thief or being a hero. On his journey, he’ll make friends, solve mysteries, and fight dangerous creatures.”
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption is coming to the Nintendo Switch! Silesia Games has done a fantastic job converting the game to work with the Switch interface – both joypads and the touch screen. You could say they needed to switch up the interface a bit. Or that it’s what we alway Nintendo’d to do. 😉
This is the Nintendo eShop page for Hero-U – https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/hero-u-rogue-to-redemption-switch/
We’ll have a pre-release sale starting on Feb. 2, one week before the Feb. 9 release date. Please help your Switch-wielding friends take advantage of the sale by letting them know about the great game you helped create!
If you’re in the gaming press, or know a game reporter, please help get the word out. We’re treating this as a new grand launch of Hero-U, a chance to share the game with many more RPG and Adventure players. I’ve updated our press page at https://www.hero-u.com/press/sheet.php?p=rogue_to_redemption for the Switch release.
We’ve (well, Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye has) finished the first round of voice recording, and we’re working with Cheeseness and Sawa to get the voiceovers into Summer Daze: Tilly’s Tale. We’re also setting up logistics for the Alpha test and handling test reports. Yes, it’s the all-engrossing spreadsheet phase of game development! Or one of the several spreadsheet phases.
We haven’t yet set a release date for Summer Daze: Tilly’s Tale. That will depend on feedback from alpha and beta testers, as well as the logistics of getting all the voices, music, and sound effects into the game. We’re trying for a May or June release, but we might delay that to ensure simultaneous launch on all platforms.
After all, with our New Hope on Twitch for Hero-U success on the Switch, we don’t want to switch horses in mid-Twitch-stream.
Greetings all!
I just wanted to briefly introduce myself. My name is Ken Williams and my wife and I were the founders of an early games company, Sierra On-Line. We were the original publishers for Corey and Lori Cole, who did Hero’s Quest for us (later renamed as Quest for Glory.) We also published games like Ultima, King’s Quest, Half-Life, Leisure Suit Larry (why did it take so long to mention my game? – Larry Laffer), Space Quest, and many more.
The reason I’m here is to briefly mention that I have a book coming out about Sierra. Gamers have been asking me for 25 years to write a book about “what happened?” and how Sierra, which was once dominant in the business, fell apart.
I’ve always refused, but then the virus changed all of our plans (like all of yours) and when I was bored Roberta said, “Write a book” and the book just kind of happened.
Anyway, if you want to know more about the book, check out www.kensbook.com.
The Yearbook is in Beta! Live Readings from Lori’s By the Book novel inspired by Hero’s Quest!
Fan and helper Steve Coupe has completed his massive effort to whip the Rogue to Redemption Yearbook into shape! I’ve posted it as a “Beta version” to BackerKit for everyone who has their name and text in the Yearbook.
If you notice any errors – especially in your entry – please notify me at support (at) hero-u (dot) net. Once we correct any mistakes, I’ll make the Yearbook available to all backers. I’ll also start the process of making a print version for backers entitled to that edition. Lori and I have started signing the hundreds of autographs we owe to Yearbook and premium game edition backers.
We made a great deal of progress on the game between first release in July 2018 to this Spring. If you got one of the boxed versions of the game, how do you feel about having an old (I think it’s version 1.4) version of the game on your DVD? Is that a Valuable Historical Artifact, or an annoyance because you actually play from the DVD and would prefer it to be up-to-date?
The reason I ask is that I’m considering pressing around 300 new DVD’s with version 2.2 to send with the Yearbook and autographs to premium backers. But that leaves 700 backers with the “basic boxed game” with the older version. If you’re in either category, I’d like your opinion about whether we should spend a few thousand dollars updating game DVD’s. Is that something you’d be willing to pay $5 for (covering the disk and shipping) if we did it as an “on demand” upgrade? Or are you happy with the pretty, but obsolete, game disk? Comment here or to the support email.
Lori has been reading from her book – with Mishell Baker – during our Twitch streams. Superfan Maus Merryjest has wrapped each chapter with a musical intro and ending.
Here’s what I wrote about the book in the most recent videos:
“How To Be A Hero: By The Book” is a young adult novel inspired by Lori and Corey Cole’s 1989 game, Hero’s Quest: So You Want To Be A Hero. In this retelling, the four character classes from that game are represented by four orphan siblings who find themselves called to adventure.
Hawk is a sixteen year old boy with holes in his boots and a hand-me-down sword he can barely draw without falling over. He lives with his two brothers and younger sister in an isolated Alpine village. Hawk soon realizes that they all have no future in the village, so he leaves to seek a new life or himself and his family.
Armed with an inspirational manual, “How to Be a Hero,” Hawk sets off for the town of Siegburg, where he plans to win fame and fortune as an adventurer. But he soon discovers that Siegburg is a hopeless mess. Meanwhile, he has his hands full keeping the rest of the family out of his hair… and out of trouble. Unfortunately, the path to heroism is much less glamorous than his dog-eared manual led him to expect.
During the campaign, backers “earned” 13 chapters of the novel. I’m happy to say that we’ve completed that commitment plus a bonus chapter 14! Here are the chapters I’ve posted so far:
Full playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-pxvRIKKQsXNnkDvqPgWLRLxc-RuMwwE
Chapter 1 – Beyond the Gate: https://youtu.be/a5wBMxKCL24
Chapter 2 – Path to Adventure: https://youtu.be/AwemrI2mla4
Chapter 3 – Castle On the Hill: https://youtu.be/2LqixGP0NFc
Chapter 4 – Two Birds in the Bush: https://youtu.be/bE0r17oQKmo
Chapter 5 – Wild Flights: https://youtu.be/9b_6Mpkj318
Chapter 6 – A Daring Rescue: https://youtu.be/lzYFcxPxy4k
Chapter 7 – Unexpected Meetings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMpfCHpHTEM
Chapter 8 – The Sting of the Blade: https://youtu.be/yk34YUUyUSE
Chapter 9 – Strange Doings: https://youtu.be/EODrrlDsPC0
Chapter 10 – Quests and Questions: https://youtu.be/KTjQV9aG5v8
Chapter 11 – Dark Passage: https://youtu.be/w5em9CQ5PdI
Chapter 12 – Alarms and Excursions: https://youtu.be/zi6klGjiaCM
Chapter 13 – Into the Fire: https://youtu.be/RnXJh__lRq8
Chapter 14 – Fox, Books, Crocks, and Crooks: https://youtu.be/GU9cPQRZeu4
Our next live stream will be next Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020 from 3-5 pm PDT (California time). We stream on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/transolargames.
I’m currently looking into doing some more editing on the novel, and eventually publishing it as a downloadable book. The live readings are from the original “Beta” version of By the Book.
As you probably know, the market for indie adventure games is really challenging. As a result, Lori and I don’t take any salary or royalties from Hero-U games. Instead, we are relying on continuing support from our fans on our Patreon.
We think supporting us there is a win-win proposition. Each patron contributes a small monthly amount, and the total adds up to a useful amount of funds for us. What do patrons get? I try to post something new a couple of times a month. Much of the content is open to anyone who visits our Patreon page, while some “premium” posts are only available to patrons
Already-available content includes the entire Birth of a Hobbit comic strip series, posts from our “Quest Log Blog,” recent articles, Lori’s photographic art, images from our games, and more! Patrons who donate at least $10/month get additional content including high-resolution “screen wallpaper” images and premium “heroes” role access to our Discord.
Please consider subscribing at https://www.patreon.com/coreyloricole to help keep us free to make games and do live streams. Subscribe only if you can easily afford it, please!
Also join our free Discord server. You can search for Transolar Games or use this link: https://discord.gg/mAWPeCh. We have some awesomely cool people and conversations there, and I try to contribute regularly.
There was a time, long ago… I once had glorious hair.
Then I met a woman and she cut it all off.
Well, turns out I found an interesting map there…
I used the map to disguise myself and get a kiss from the mysterious woman!
Actually, the map was made by Fabio Marques who had posted it on Facebook –
The map I drew when I was 15 yeas old to play King’s Quest IV. Back then I used to have IBM 10Mhz PC XT, it was very slow to play KQ4, so planning in advance using this map helped me a lot.
I thought it was a great map of King’s Quest IV and just had to share it somehow. So I had some fun with the KQ4 screenshot.
