Post by Charm on Jun 16, 2013 0:26:57 GMT -5
Greetings Citizens of Sacred Grove,
Soon we will be releasing a feature called “Hero Risesâ€. This is a rolling feature that will be released gradually over the year bringing with it new content and items for those brave enough to take on its challenges.
Something strange is happening in Sacred Grove. A menacing figure has begun to cast his shadow over Sacred Grove and this does not bode well for the realm’s inhabitants. Only a band of heroes can stop this threat and that is where you come in.
The first release of Hero Rises will focus on new players entering the world. Each new player will answer the call of Darkthorne as she attempts to defend the heartseed from an unknown figure. This initial area will serve as a quick tutorial introducing them to the basics of movement, combat, and UI. This will also serve as the starting point for the story we want everyone to experience over the year.
At the end of the tutorial the player will be introduced to a new UI element called the Heroes Journal. This UI element is an interactive book that keeps track of your progress through the chapters of episodic content we have planned. This new UI element will also replace the current quest journal.
For those of you who are not new, the initial story experience is still available as Darkthorne is asking for all adventurers to help in her struggle. When released, you will have a quest to help Darkthorne. Going through this quest will allow you to experience the initial story and learn about the Heroes Journal. As we release new chapters we invite new and old players to participate in this world changing series of releases.
Why are we doing this? Well there are a few goals in mind with this release and they are as follows:
1. Implement overland combat in all of Sacred Grove
2. Give Freerealms a more focused experience like other games of its type
3. Expose the rich background to players right away
4. Give the player a reason to invest in their individual story
So let me break each of these down for you so I can hopefully answer any questions you may have.
1. Implement overland combat in all of Sacred Grove
The first release of Sunstone Valley showed us that overland combat can be quite successful. Unfortunately, in order to see this, a new player would have to level his combat job pretty high to enjoy it. So we locked one of the coolest additions to the game behind a level barrier that seems pretty boring in comparison. On top of this we now have two completely different game experiences, the more popular one being later in progression. So the main reason for this goal is to make the game feel more consistent and, more importantly, fun at all levels.
For those of you wondering if the world will be safe for your non-combat jobs, we have made some changes that will make travelling around this new more dangerous world as a postman less nerve racking. All non combat jobs now have an ability called hide. This ability allows you to make a creature forget about you for a short time allowing you to continue on your journey untouched.
2. Give Freerealms a more focused experience like other games of its type
When comparing Freerealms to its primary competitors, there is one significant thing missing from the game. That is a metered progression towards the goal of defeating a specific antagonist. Regardless of what other tasks come up there is always a bigger goal that will drive their story and that is defeating the menace that has caused such grief for those weaker characters around them.
Of course not every person is interested in being the hero and Freerealms does a great job of providing those types of players with many fun things to do. Now we hope to be able to offer those wanting to focus on smiting evil a compelling and more importantly fun experience within Freerealms.
3. Expose the rich background to players right away
What is the story of Freerealms? What happened to the Elves and Dwarves? What’s the deal with this big tree? While all of these questions are answered somewhere within the game, they are not showcased in a manner I am satisfied with. Freerealms has a rich and dark story that sets the stage for how Hero Rises will play out. Telling this story is something we want to do in the form of a short intro movie that will be released a couple of months from the initial release. Once done, this story will chronicle the background of Sacred Grove and help to immerse the player further into our world.
4. Give the player a reason to invest in their individual story
While this is kind of a sub goal of the previous goals, it is still worth mentioning here. What compels a person to play Freerealms every day? The answer is different for everyone. Regardless of the individual response, it all fuels a desire to invest in their character’s story. This story could be anything from having the most freestyle sets in the most colors or having the largest collection of rides. No matter what, these are compelling individual experiences that result in the player having fun.
With Hero Rises, we want to add to that experience by providing you, the hero, a chance to carve out your own story and experience everything that Freerealms can offer while taking on the challenges this new villain places before you.