Thursday, August 30th, 2018 – Qbix
DOSBox 0.74-2 has been released!
A maintenance release for DOSBox 0.74, which solves the following problems:
Windows: Fix auto/max cycles algorithm on Windows 7, which helps with stuttering audio.
Mac OS X: Bring a 64 bit version and improve performance.
Linux: Fix the 64bit dynrec cpu core and a lot of compilation problems. Add patches for the WINE Team.
The game compatibility should be identical to 0.74.
We have saved all game fixes for the upcoming 0.75 release, which will enter regression testing soon. This release has been created so you can go back to 0.74-2, in case we happen to break your favorite game in 0.75.
PC Gamer: “Hero-U is a worthy successor to Sierra’s Quest for Glory.”
Kotaku: “… a wealth of backstory, role-playing elements, puns.”
Kotaku: “This is a fun new way to experience some classic old-school adventuring.”
Emotional Multimedia Ride: “a love letter to classic fantasy with a bit of humor thrown in.”
Adventure Gamers: “a well-designed and inviting experience”
RageQuit (Greece): “Hero-U exceeds the sum of its parts to deliver an experience that is part journey through time, part heartfelt tribute to an innocence you believed long lost and a damn addictive game in its own right.”
Robert Aspinall: “It’s like Persona had a baby with Quest for Glory, and the baby grew up, and she’s totally hot.”
ComicGate: “After the grim games of recent years, it is refreshing to dive into a world where doing good feels damn good.”
We’ve pushed a beta test version of “Patch 2” to Steam. If you want to help us verify that it’s ok to release this build, right-click Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption in the Steam app, choose Properties, then the BETAS tab. Select “beta – Build Candidate” click “CHECK CODE” – there is no password.
Notable changes in this build:
We upgraded to Unity 5.6.6. This could affect lighting, movies, or other issues.
We fixed the Bossa Nova achievement; it is possible to obtain now.
We fixed romance issues with Thomas and Joel.
Some door and wall collisions have been fixed.
A quest involving the Librarian now works if you complete it before getting the quest.
Shawn can sell more excess equipment.
Assorted graphical polish.
We improved the technical manual resolution and fixed errors in it.
Please report any problems you find to the Hero-U bug forum – http://www.hero-u.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=41&sid=96f2bf7a48f4dcabdb9ddc96a420fe5f. Caution: Some posts there contain spoilers. For now, please prioritize serious problems; we need to get a patch out that fixes those, and we will continue to improve the game for future patches.
We will push beta test builds of future patches from time to time, so be sure to go back to “NONE – Opt out of all beta programs” if you want to have a guaranteed stable build. Your saved games should work in any of the builds.
As usual, contact support (at) hero-u (dot) net if you have problems.
What’s Next?
After this patch goes live, I will post another update with information about our upcoming projects and physical rewards fulfillment. We are currently working on the Art Book, Bestiary, and Soundtrack, to be followed by the Yearbook and Hint Guide.
We wanted to do this update in order to tell you about things that are happening. Before I begin talking about the goings on, I wanted to let you all know that we have a much more exciting update planned for September. This particular update will only feature information about the alpha testing happening now and our upcoming VO sessions starting Monday in Los Angeles, California. Yes, that’s right, Monday August 13th!
The reason we are posting now is because we thought you all might want to see the cast of SpaceVenture and learn a little about them.
The update in September will feature behind the scenes footage of the VO sessions as well as which actors are playing certain roles. We know you are all probably excited to know who is playing Ace and who’s gonna be doing the narration since Gary Owens passed away. Don’t worry, all will be revealed in September, and it will include audio/video for you all to check out!
Lastly, the question on everyone’s mind is when will SpaceVenture be done!? Well the answer will all depend on the Alpha/Beta testing phases. We really want to see the game shipped by the holiday season and that’s what we are working towards. Again though, it will all depend on how well play testing goes and how many bugs gotta be squashed. I will also mention that we do have some sfx/music still missing in the game and some cutscenes that need some love as well. Cross your fingers everyone! 🙂
ALPHA TESTING HAS BEGUN
A little about alpha testing. We have play testers playing the game right now and are working with them on feedback and bug testing to make sure the game is in a proper beta state before handing it over to our beta tester backers! That would be all you fine folks that backed at the $30 and up level. We will announce that we are ready for beta testing as soon as everything is complete in alpha testing.
VOICE ACTORS CONFIRMED IN THE STUDIO AUGUST 13TH-15TH
ROB PAULSEN
Emmy Award winner Rob Paulsen is one of the top cartoon voice actors of all times, voicing hundreds of beloved characters throughout his career. Some of Rob’s other well-known animated characters include Raphael of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Arthur in The Tick, the title role in The Mask, the title role in Mighty Max, Carl Wheezer in Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, Jack Fenton in Danny Phantom, Bobble in the Tinkerbell series of DVDs and hopefully more to come. Paulsen’s extensive credits include on-camera roles in numerous motion pictures including Body Double, Stewardess School, Eyes of Fire, The Perfect Match, and Warlocked. His television acting credits include guest-starring roles on MacGyver and St. Elsewhere. Additionally, he is one of the most sought-after voice actors in the commercial arena, performing in over 1000 of commercial spots.
MAURICE LAMARCHE
Emmy award winner voice actor, Maurice LaMarche began on Inspector Gadget and went on to Dennis the Menace, Popeye and Son and The Real Ghostbusters where he played Egon Spengler. After The Real Ghostbusters, LaMarche became a regular mainstay of the voiceover industry appearing in such shows as Tiny Toon Adventures, GI Joe, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series, Taz-Mania, Where’s Waldo, The Little Mermaid, Batman: The Animated Series, and Bonkers before landing perhaps his most recognized role in 1993 as The Brain on Animaniacs and later its spin-off show Pinky and the Brain. Following this, LaMarche worked on The Critic, Freakazoid!, and The Tick before then reprising his role of Egon in Extreme Ghostbusters. The stretch of two years after this saw LaMarche portray characters in such shows as Hey Arnold! as Big Bob Pataki, Queer Duck, The Chimp Channel, and Sonic Underground as Sleet. During this time Maurice would become the voice actor for Mortimer Mouse whom he would voice in the television series Mickey Mouse Works and Disney’s House of Mouse. It was at this time, 1999, that LaMarche began work on Futurama, and since Futurama LaMarche has continued to work steadily in television, including guest roles on The Simpsons (where he once again parodied Orson Welles).
ROBERT CLOTWORTHY
Robert is a voice actor best known for voicing, Jim Raynor, in Blizzard Entertainment’s award winning StarCraft” Video Game Series. Named one of the top ten gaming heroes of all time, more than one fan has mentioned that the character of Raynor has been a role model and positive influence in their lives. Gamers and reviewers around the world have commented on the quality of Robert’s voice acting and the humanity and quiet strength that Robert brought in creating the iconic role. In feature films Robert has worked with numerous acclaimed directors and stars including Bette Midler and James Caan in Mark Rydel’s WWII epic For the Boys, Seth Rogen in The Green Hornet, Alan Arkin in Rendition, Robin Williams in One Hour Photo and Kristen Bell in Pulse. Fun fact: The pivotal scene where Robert played Bradley Cooper’s psychiatrist in Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper was shown during the Academy Awards Ceremony in 2015. Robert is also one of the most sought after narrators on television, lending his voice to hundreds of hours of programs. George Lucas chose Robert as the narrator of the Emmy nominated documentaries Empire of Dreams: The Making of The Star Wars Trilogy and Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed.
ELLEN MCLAIN
Ellen McLain provides voices for many characters in several video games from Valve Corporation. Among them are GLaDOS, the artificial intelligence antagonist in Portal (for which she won an AIAS Interactive Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance), Portal 2 and Bridge Constructor Portal; the announcer in Team Fortress 2; and the voice of the Combine Overwatch for the Half-Life 2 series. McLain sang “Still Alive” and “Want You Gone”, the ending credits songs to Portal and Portal 2, respectively, both of which were written by Jonathan Coulton. She sang “Cara Mia Addio” at the end of Portal 2. It is sometimes called the “Turret Opera”. In December 2011, McLain won the Spike Video Game Award in the category “Best Performance by a Human Female” for her voice acting as GLaDOS in Portal 2.
JOHN PATRICK LOWRIE
John Patrick Lowrie has performed roles in video games such as The Suffering and The Suffering: Ties That Bind, Total Annihilation and its expansions, The Operative: No One Lives Forever and No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.’s Way. Lowrie is mostly recognized for his voice acting in Valve games such as Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Left 4 Dead and Dota 2.[1] He is noted for playing the roles of The Sniper in the online FPS Team Fortress 2, Agent Gray in the MMORPG The Matrix Online, as well as Odessa Cubbage and the male citizens in Half-Life 2. Lowrie plays Sherlock Holmes in The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a radio show produced by Jim French Productions. In 2011, he published a science fiction novel named Dancing with Eternity
JASON CHARLES MILLER
On top of once being the lead singer of the heavy metal band called “God Head”, Jason Charles Miller has appeared in over 100 animated productions and video games. Some of his credits include work on World of Warcraft, Wonder Woman, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Hellsing, Read or Die and the Nickelodeon produced Avatar: The Last Airbender. His film credits include Danny Roane: First Time Director, the 2008 remake of Day of the Dead and the Sci Fi Channel’s Battle Planet. He worked on a cover album from the fighting game series Guilty Gear, titled Guilty Gear XX in N.Y. Vocal Edition, where he supplied vocals over the instrumentals to create a full vocal album. In 2011, he lent his vocals to another cover album, this time for BlazBlue, the successive fighting game series to Guilty Gear, titles BlazBlue in L.A. Vocal Edition. He provided the voice of Robert Kendo in Capcom’s video game Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles for the Wii. In 2011, he appeared in an episode of the web series The Guild. His voice can be heard in the digital collectible card game by Blizzard Entertainment, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. Since 2017, he is part of the duo The Deadly Grind.
MELANIE STONE
Melanie Stone was born and raised in Modesto, California and began her acting career cutting her teeth in the summer stock musical theater in West Yellowstone. Her first substantial feature role came as the lead in the five movie high fantasy film franchise ‘Mythica’ as the role of Marek; a perfect fit for Melanie, with her love of the genre as well as her ability to leverage her own physical skills and experience in such a stunt-heavy series of films. In her latest film project, she stars as Meg March in the modern adaptation of Little Women, which will be hitting theaters across the nation in September 2018.
JAKE STORMOEN
An avid world traveler, Jake earned his BCA from the University of Southern Queensland in QLD, Australia before moving to Los Angeles. There, he was accepted into the renowned acting program at the Ruskin Theatre where he studied under Sanford Meisner’s apprentice himself, John Ruskin. Jake quickly landed a lead role in the sci-fi fantasy feature film series “Mythica”. The success of the Mythica franchise landed him more than a dozen feature films, and three television series, including the Emmy nominated ‘Relationship Status’, last year’s post apocalyptic series ‘Extinct’, and presently the network series ‘The Outpost’ on The CW, and subsequently on SYFY across the globe. In The Outpost Jake plays the role of Garret – a Paladin of a Knight whose honor and loyalty are often placed above all else, at the risk of often dangerous outcomes. When asked about the role, Jake replies “My oldest childhood fantasy was to be a Knight—to fight for the people, to vanquish monsters and to ride into battle. ‘Outpost’ is literally a dream come true.”
VINCE CASO
Vince Caso is best known for his role as Bladezz in the hit web series The Guild. At a young age, Vince decided to go into acting, and within a year, he landed a role in his first feature film, American Fork, a comedy produced by Jeremy Coon of Napoleon Dynamite. The film premiered at Slamdance in January 2007, garnering Vincent some good reviews and his first red carpet experience alongside fellow cast members Billy Baldwin, Kathleen Quinlan, and writer/star Hubbel Palmer. American Fork was released in a limited number of theaters in fall of 2009, under the new name Humble Pie.
TWO GUYS FROM ANDROMEDA AND THE SPACEPOPE
The Two Guys From Andromed and The SpacePope will be making an appearing in SpaceVenture as well!
SUPPORT LORI AND COREY COLE
If you’ve been living under an asteroid and haven’t heard, Lori and Corey Cole(makers of the Quest for Glory series) have released their new game, “Hero U”. If you haven’t already checked it out, you should! It’s getting great reviews!
The response to Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption has been great so far! We have a Positive rating on Steam, 4.5/5 stars on GOG.com, and an excellent 7.9 user rating so far on Metacritic. The extra time we put into testing and getting the game right is paying off.
This post will update you on the most frequent and important issues that have been raised by backers and other players.
On the same BackerKit page, in addition to your game key, you can directly download the technical manual and the student handbook. As we complete other game books – the Yearbook, Art Book, Bestiary, and Soundtrack Album, we will add these to the BackerKit downloads of backers who ordered them.
If your email has changed and you no longer have access to the original one, use Kickstarter to contact me. Give me your name, old email, and current email. If I can find matching accounts on Kickstarter and BackerKit, I can change the BackerKit email. You will be notified by BackerKit when I do that.
Survey and GOG key requests – I sent the GOG part of the survey to BackerKit on Tuesday, and everyone who requested a GOG key by that time has received it. I’ve received several hundred more surveys since then, and will have to manually add GOG keys for everyone who filled out the survey after the first two days. I’ll check it about once a week since this will be tricky and time-consuming. If you requested a GOG key and don’t yet have one, please be patient.
Art Book – GOG Concept Art
Other Publications and Goods Still in Production
As mentioned in the previous update, most of the physical goods are not ready yet. We plan to mail all of the posters next month after we verify printer proofs of them. The boxed games, yearbooks, and other physical goods will be mailed this Fall, likely around the beginning of November.
We’ve already shipped all of the t-shirts, caps, and “Meeps,” as well as key rings from this 2012 campaign that are not part of a boxed game order. I still have about 100 Meeps, and extra t-shirts and caps – see the “I Want Things…” section below.
For logistical reasons, we plan to do Yearbook autographs on separate bookplates and mail them with the books. That way we don’t need to move thousands of pounds of books between two locations. Physical fulfillment will be done by Geekify.
Some digital goods are also still in the pipeline. We need to completely redo the Yearbook layout (we have finished all the pictures and text for it), so that will take time. We are very far along with the Art Book, which is going to be amazing. We’ve also made good progress on the Bestiary that was announced in the 2015 campaign as an add-on. We have all the tracks for the soundtrack album, but need to compile them into a pleasing sequence.
We’ve had a few requests for a hint book. We haven’t done any work on one (or put much thought into it) yet, but it is something we might do once we have all the other promised items in production.
As mentioned in the first section, each time we complete one of these publications, we will upload it to your BackerKit DIgital Rewards and announce it in a Kickstarter update.
Bestiary – Warrior Gog
How to Get More – Coming Soon
Kickstarter is great for funding creative projects, but it isn’t a store. Steam and GOG.com are great for fulfilling games, but I don’t know if they handle game-related items. That leaves our web site (www.hero-u.com) or possibly a service such as Amazon or etsy.
We plan to reopen a store page through hero-u.com to allow both digital and physical orders not covered by Steam, GOG, or Humble. So far I’ve been mailing packages myself; we may be able to work with Geekify to ship them in the future.
The Hero-U Store will also include some items such as meep toys, t-shirts, and caps that we have left over from fulfilling campaign pledges – we ordered extras for promotions and to get quantity price breaks.
Fixing Stuttery Graphics
Some players have reported problems with Shawn’s movement in the game or with the opening cinematic sequence. Most, but not all of these, have been players with very high-resolution displays or playing the game under Linux.
Fortunately, a player came up with a technical solution and posted it on Facebook. Here are the details:
I have found a fix for the slow mouse movement and choppy and stuttery animations and very slow and glitchy character movement you may be experiencing while playing Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption. These are caused by a problem outside of the game.
Misconceptions:
It has nothing to do with resolution.
It has nothing to do with bad code.
Steam overlay is not causing this.
Everything is caused by NVIDIA G-SYNC and high refresh rates!
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WINDOWS 10 FIX – NVIDIA GFX CARD
Right click the desktop click ” NVIDIA Control Panel “
Under ” Display ” tab click on ” Change resolution “
Change ” Refresh rate ” to 60Hz.
Scroll down and hit apply and accept all popup window prompts.
Under ” Display ” tab click on ” Set up G-SYNC “
Untick the enable G-SYNC tickbox
Scroll down and hit apply and accept all popup window prompts.
PLAY THE GAME! Select any resolution you like on the pre-boot screen.
Once you are done playing you can change these back to your desired settings.
———————————————————————————
WINDOWS 10 – RADEON FIX:
Right click the desktop click ” Display settings “
Scroll down on the Display tab and click on ” Advanced display settings “
Click on ” Display adapter for Display 1 ” (Or your preferred display)
Click on the ” Monitor ” tab on the popup window.
Change the ” Screen refresh rate to ” 60 Hertz ” and hit apply, accept all prompts if there are any.
PLAY THE GAME! Select any resolution you like on the pre-boot screen.
Once you are done playing you can change these back to the desired settings.
(I haven’t received any step-by-step directions for changing the refresh rate or GSYNC on Mac OS X or Linux systems, but there should be a similar process available. Also, this might not fix the problem for all players, but it should help most of the ones having graphics issues.)
We’re also reworking our web site. The front page has links to Steam, GOG, our Facebook page, and so on: http://www.hero-u.com/.
About Those Steam and GOG Keys
Between launch issues and trying to make sure backers got game keys as soon as possible, I managed to create some confusion. Here’s the skinny:
I decided to provide a Steam key to EVERY backer.
All Alpha and Beta level backers have both Steam and GOG keys.
Other backers who requested a GOG key will get one soon.
“Beta-Only” – that’s actually your live Steam key
“Steam Beta Key” – that’s also your live Steam key
The confusing names hearken back to the beta test. Everyone who got a Steam beta key then has been updated to have the live version of the game now.
The Next Game Patch
Even before we launched the game, we were thinking about changes we want to make that we couldn’t safely include in the launch. There are some errors in the game books, a few dialogues and game events that could use tweaking, and at least one known “game-locking” bug.
(If you see a plaque labeled “Pyoter,” it’s best not to click on it. There was a bad line of code that freezes the game.) We will also keep a close eye on player reports and feedback over the next few months.
We will probably release a patch with these and other minor fixes in about a month, after which patches should be rare.
Incidentally, several players with Ultra High Definition monitors have reported serious animation issues in the game. This is a general Unity issue that we’ve also seen reported for other games. The solution – set your monitor refresh rate to 60 Hz. That seems to fix the problem.
Physical Goods and Future Games
We still have some work to do on the Art Book, Bestiary, Soundtrack, Yearbook, and boxed copies of Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption. We expect to ship posters next month, new digital assets as they become ready, and boxed games in late October or early November.
We’ve started concept and art design on not one, but two, upcoming games. One is a smaller casual game we’re calling Summer Daze at Hero-U. The other is of course the second series game, Hero-U: Wizard’s Way. We’re committed to creating innovative, enjoyable games.
Currently on GoG.com – and coming to Steam once Valve approves it.
From Lori & Corey Cole:
Today is the day! Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption is now live on GOG at https://www.gog.com/game/herou_rogue_to_redemption. Steam coming soon – we’re just waiting for Valve to approve the game app. I’ll post again when the Steam page is live.
Mickey Rooney was famous (yes, before even *my* time) for starring in a series of movies in which the answer to every problem was, “Let’s put on a show!”
As we approach the live release of Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, it’s time for us to switch hats from developers to marketers. In other words, we need to put on a show! We’re contacting press and influencers, creating “trailers”, and gathering screenshots and clips of game play to show off to the press and new players.
Once we launch the game in just a few weeks, we hope many of you will enjoy it enough to become “part of the show” by posting about your personal experience and reaction to the game on social media.
Corey at Casual Connect Europe, where we were finalists for the Indie Prize
New Build for Beta Testers
Earlier today, we updated Steam with a new build of the game. This is intended to be very close to the final version. The opening cinematic will get new music and some lighting changes. We have a few bug fixes to make this week, but we consider Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption to be a finished game at this point.
“Finished” is of course a relative term in this digital online age. We expect that we will continue to fix problems and make small improvements to the game over the next several months based on feedback from players. At the same time, we’ll be very busy starting work on the next games and supporting Rogue to Redemption.
How close are we?
We’re trying for a July 9 release, but I think July 16 is equally likely. We will do a “code freeze” on June 30, test for a couple of days, then release it to Beta testers. If that survives a full week without serious problems, we’ll release on July 9. If not, we’ll do a new build and push the release date back a week.
Public release is waiting on three non-game things – finalizing the opening cinematic and finishing the game manual and the student handbook. When we complete those and add them to Steam, Steam will automatically update everyone to the new version.
What about gog.com and the Humble store? We’ll add those later. I’m currently working with gog.com on a license agreement and their requirements for adding Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption to their site. I have an existing agreement with Humble Bundle, but will need to set up new widgets and a download page for their system.
A Kwirk Might Jump Into the Screen at any Moment
Our trip to Europe was fun and hopefully useful. We visited super backer “The Gardener – Protector of the Forest Lands” in Germany, then showed Rogue to Redemption for the first time at the Casual Connect conference in London.
The conference was held in the Queen Elizabeth II center in the historic and beautiful Winchester district of London across the street from the historic Winchester Cathedral, and a block away from Trafalgar Square and other important and impressive sites (and sights).
[audio:http://larrylaffer.net/audio/LEISURE%20SUIT%20LARRY%201%20&%202/01 For Your Thighs Only.mp3]
Leisure Suit Larry: In The Land of the Lounge Lizards was initially released in 1987 by SIERRA ONLINE, INC.
Beginning the game on the streets of Lost Wages, Larry Laffer has come here for one reason – and one reason alone. To finally get “Laid.”
Being 40 years old and living with his mother all of his life, Larry has led a very sheltered life; and is now looking to live it up some!
So now, it’s up to you to help Larry Laffer fulfill that one desire to finally feel the touch of a woman and be satisfied! Along the way you will encounter an assortment of women, who for the most part, will only live to further complicate and belittle our lovable hero, Larry Laffer.
One of the developers has taken to Twitter to speak more about the upcoming game. Admittedly, what he’s said has put me at ease – and I am hopeful for the game. Although it won’t have Big Al (which has historically proven to be a bad thing – sorry for those of you who enjoyed MCL or BOB), they do seem to be genuinely caring about the Leisure Suit Larry game and how it will be perceived. Here’s some things Maurice had to say:
Admittedly it is indeed tough. And pleasing those who feel positively nostalgic and those who are uber critical and luckily progressive enough to fear the worst is something we are losing our sleep over. But we really are not just doing it for the lulz yet we hope to make you lol
We were prepared for skepticism yet it is always a downer when you read people expecting the worst. And who knows… Maybe we fail harder than Larry with a blow up doll. But we will own the mistakes.
Larry will still be an out of time sexist, but the world will react to that now. This is not Social Justice Suit Larry, BUT there are topics that are fun to explore with a character that is out of time. We have a lot of rules for what we can’t do, but what has been done before.
It’s not our first rodeo so we will suck it up and will push forward. We hope to entertain as many people as possible. Everyone who works on the game has grown up with Larry games and is an adventure lover. Fun fact: I dressed up as Larry for a costume party in the 7th grade.
Currently on GoG.com – and coming to Steam once Valve approves it.
Leisure Suit Larry: In The Land of the Lounge Lizards was initially released in 1987 by SIERRA ONLINE, INC.
One of the developers has taken to Twitter to speak more about the upcoming game. Admittedly, what he’s said has put me at ease – and I am hopeful for the game. Although it won’t have Big Al (which has historically proven to be a bad thing – sorry for those of you who enjoyed MCL or BOB), they do seem to be genuinely caring about the Leisure Suit Larry game and how it will be perceived. Here’s some things Maurice had to say: