After three years of work, story building, and analysis, I have decided that I need to take an indefinite break from the Heropath design concept I have. I simply do not have the coding chops to create the meta game that I envision would provide the connectivity between games types. Heropath is now considered to be in a stalled, not shuttered, state.
I have to change direction and so now will create a new ‘prequel’ game that will provide a story backdrop for Heropath. This will allow me keep the work I’ve done and also play with the pre-Pulp era of the late 1800s that has fascinated me for a few years. The name of this game will be called Mythway.
The Mythway game concept will be a Visual Novel combined with Reverse Tower Defense, a story-based game with characters, plot, and setting being punctuated by a skilled game acting as a gate to advancing the story. It would share some similarity to Cryo’s Dune (1992) which is one of my favorite games. The skilled-game gates would reinforce the game world and not be an obstacle for its own sake. I’d like to invoke a feeling of accomplishment in the player as they traverse what I hope to be a fascinating story and world.
Helping reinforce this decision is Chris Zuchowski from howtomarketagame.com having said in one of his great videos that a launch game should not be one’s magnum opus. He said to pick a game genre that is doable but has the potential to build on. I’m not content with just creating a simple game for myself. I want to create a game that has a story that touches on myth, imagination, and exploration of the philosophy of play. But because of my limited coding and design skills, I need to find a genre of game that I can implement.
The idea of a simpler prequel is reinforced by the The Hobbit, starting out as a more whimsical fairy tale for adults than what followed in The Lord of the Rings. It was a stand alone story that provided a great backdrop to the main saga. I am hoping Mythway will be that for Heropath.
Heropath.com will remain the website for news and development logs for the Mythway game since they share the same world setting.