Hero6 source code is published!!!

deltamatrix · Tue 25/10/2011 22:21:47

Hi all,

I have been a on/off member of Hero6 for too long and seem to be the only 'surviving' member who wouldn't mind seeing it thru to some completion. However, this is simply never going to happen as the Hero6 project is dead as a can of spam and I don't have the time, patience or effort to continue and neither does anyone who was a member.

I was wondering, should I just publish the src code here (it was ported to AGS a while ago) and see if anyone wants it coz I have lost interest in working on it.

Thanks

Delta.

EDIT: Here is the src:
http://s153599580.onlinehome.us/files/Hero6_src_0302.rar

Please note that this never even reached alpha stages so please be prepared for bugs, messy code and many TODOS.

qptain Nemo · Tue 25/10/2011 23:43:49

Well...

Spoiler

yes, of course. why not?

[close]

kconan · Wed 26/10/2011 10:05:25

If the project is dead then why not? At least folks trying to learn AGS could benefit from your hard work.

Radiant · Wed 26/10/2011 11:02:06

I'm sorry to hear that, this has been one of the legends of indie adventure gaming.

I have no idea how feasible this is, but I think it'd be great to release the graphics and music made for the game as free resources to the community (just like how we have InstaGame, the free RON art, and so forth). That way, rather than being forgotten about, the resources would find a place to be used in some fangames.

Of course that's up to the respective artists to decide, but I think it'd be a good idea.

deltamatrix · Wed 26/10/2011 11:20:21

All the other retrospective artists have pretty gone and all private forums used for Hero6 business are deserted. Although this was discuss a while ago between myself, Gron, Ianfe and a couple of other senior members. As I recall, open-sourcing was agreed as a last resort.

I don't have all the old material that was created (theres a lot of random shit) - only the most recent material relevant to the latest pre-alpha release of the uncompleted game. Also the general AGS src is quite messy and will need a thorough clean up (all scripts, room-scripts, dialogues, GUIs etc) - something I don't have hardly any time to do no more (especially since I'm starting a new job soon). I don't have the ancient old Hero6 demo and the old MAD-based version off hand - that'll take some digging.

Very well then - if you're keen on the idea - I will post the URL to the src right here in this thread and announce the death of the project 'officially' on the site.

WHAM · Wed 26/10/2011 11:23:13

Did he drop any good loot?

deadsuperhero · Sun 30/10/2011 01:15:01

QuoteI have no idea how feasible this is, but I think it'd be great to release the graphics and music made for the game as free resources to the community (just like how we have InstaGame, the free RON art, and so forth). That way, rather than being forgotten about, the resources would find a place to be used in some fangames.

Well, they could always donate their art assets to OpenGameArt, I'm sure that all of their work could go to good use.

deltamatrix · Sun 30/10/2011 09:50:51

Here is the source code:

http://s153599580.onlinehome.us/files/Hero6_src_0302.rar

kconan · Sun 30/10/2011 10:13:56

Wow, some stunning backgrounds in there. Thanks for releasing the code!

qptain Nemo · Sun 30/10/2011 16:48:51

By the way under what terms do you release this? Does anybody have the right to use this for whatever or what?

RickJ · Sun 30/10/2011 17:44:52

Also, what version of AGS is required?

deltamatrix · Sun 30/10/2011 19:06:19

RickJ: The latest AGS should work.

qptain Nemo: Ah didn't really think about licensing terms. I suppose since the intention is for others to maybe reuse the source code to either create their own QFG based game (the code should be useful for that), perhaps GPL is the best one. Although the src is not bundled with any licence terms or conditions so any violation of any terms chosen hereby would be impossible to prove.

Ponch · Sun 30/10/2011 22:39:51

Wow. There's some really cool stuff in there. Thank you for releasing it. Sorry such an interesting project went unfinished, but the AGS community still gains something from all you hard work.

RickJ · Mon 31/10/2011 01:49:10

Since your resources may live a long time in one or more place in cyberspace may I humbly suggest you include a readme file in your rar that contains the license, AGS version and other relevant info.

With regard to license terms, you may want to consider a Creative Commons Attribution License

deltamatrix · Wed 02/11/2011 23:33:33

Might do so if I get the chance. Although not sure if I still got access to the FTP server to upload another copy.

Really just wanna leave in the capable loving hands of the AGS community and put it behind me.

oprion · Fri 04/11/2011 18:11:03

Gosh, all these years, and my magic shop interior is still in the game.

I am guessing if someone decides to pick this up, they'll need to find the last version of the plot outline, dialogues etc.

Colt, Bonito, Gron, Sir(sic!)Elthil...memories

deadsuperhero · Fri 04/11/2011 19:32:34

Been playing through it some, just for the sake of seeing the fruit of the labor of so many years.

I'll be honest, it's a little disappointing to see one of my favorite projects still be so raw and unfinished. It has some truly wonderful ideas behind it, and it's a shame to see the project fall apart after so long.

On the other hand, getting all the assets and source to this is a real treat. It'd be neat to see some design docs to better understand how parts of it were supposed to fit together.

oprion · Sat 05/11/2011 00:33:26

Quote from: oprion on Fri 04/11/2011 18:11:03

I am guessing if someone decides to pick this up, they'll need to find the last version of the plot outline, dialogues etc.

Just checked, and the original plotline, setting, descriptions, art, questst lines are still available on the member's section of hero6.com, but these date to 2004-2006 so they probably wouldn't be of much use.

PatientRock · Sat 05/11/2011 00:38:53

Ditto, on the backgrounds. Very pretty and it's a shame things didn't work out.

deltamatrix · Sat 05/11/2011 08:59:52

We did abandon the plot to do with the Golems and Alminisar. We instead tried to go for something less complex and darker (hence the dark forest addition), in which a cult of shadow mages under an increasingly evil influence were rising and threatening the region of Albion.

The exact plot details were never finalised and I don't remember exact details no more. Any plot will do I guess.

Blake00 · Sun 05/08/2012 12:35:11

Hey guys,

It's taken a few weeks and some help from Deltamatrix over at QFMG but I've finally finished my Hero 6 videos showing quick playthroughs of the big 2006 MAD engine demo and the smaller but more polished 2009 AGS demo. If any of you out there have been following the project over the last decade wanted to see how much was done and see all the brilliant work that went into the game over the years (from so many including a few people here I'm sure) now you can! It is my hope that by showing the world this game on youtube it will never be forgotten and maybe more fans will be inspired to help bring the project back from the dead or create great QFG style projects of their own.

I've posted new screenshots, download links and embedded the videos in the Hero 6 page at my website but I'll post the vids here too to make it easier.

2006 MAD Engine Alpha Demo (in 2 Parts)
This demo boasts a very large game world to explore with a town and 2 villages containing many npcs to talk to (with a QFG4 full screen protrait style). There are many monsters to fight and even some jobs to do for the npcs.

2009 AGS Engine Alpha Demo (in 3 Parts)
This demo reflects the downsizing of the project with a smaller game world however it is much more polished and contains story and multiple quests to complete therefore making it much longer to play! In a way it almost feels like a sequel to the 2006 demo as places you could visit before are now dead, overgrown and haunted. The battles are better as well with new enemies and gang fights.

Radiant · Sun 05/08/2012 21:47:31

Quote from: deltamatrix on Sun 30/10/2011 19:06:19
qptain Nemo: Ah didn't really think about licensing terms. I suppose since the intention is for others to maybe reuse the source code to either create their own QFG based game (the code should be useful for that), perhaps GPL is the best one.

Sorry to be nitpicky, but for any licensing terms to apply you would need to contact the original authors of all the relevant art and music and code, and get them to agree with those terms. Not that I expect anyone to make a fuss out of this, of course.

deltamatrix · Tue 11/09/2012 09:46:31

Quote from: Radiant on Sun 05/08/2012 21:47:31
Sorry to be nitpicky, but for any licensing terms to apply you would need to contact the original authors of all the relevant art and music and code, and get them to agree with those terms. Not that I expect anyone to make a fuss out of this, of course.

I'll say. Don't think there is any real quarrel with a few people recycling some of the material especially when the knowledge of who make or drew what is largely lost now. It is best to credit the Hero6 team generally.

torchinomotorino · Mon 17/02/2014 22:46:56

I'll be posting something in the AGS Games in Production forum shortly, but wanted to bump this old thread since it's a popular search engine result for the term "Hero6". A little over a year from the last post in this thread, I decided to start pouring over the source material that deltamatrix published. In December 2013, I launched Hero6.org, opened a forum, and restarted development on Hero6.
My primary intention was to create a place for Hero6 to live on. Hero6.com appears to be dying a slow death and I was worried that more progress would be lost. As for development, we've corrected several sprite issues, made the GUIs operational (some of them still have limited options), and have made serious headway in cleaning up the code.
We haven't really brought up licensing, but I'd prefer that this remain open source. Hero6 was born out of collaboration and will hopefully live on through a developmental approach that mirrors this dedicated effort.

Sledgy · Mon 04/08/2014 18:06:02

Has anybody Hero 6? (old & new demos)

ChamberOfFear · Tue 05/08/2014 06:35:34

Quote from: Sledgy on Mon 04/08/2014 18:06:02
Has anybody Hero 6? (old & new demos)

The most updated executable is available in the "Files" tab on Sourceforge, as well as the demo that was posted by deltamatrix in this thread.
If you wanted to try the demo made in the MAD engine it should be available on Blake's Sanctum in the Hero6 page.

torchinomotorino · Tue 05/08/2014 06:49:59

Thanks for bringing up the MAD demo. I've added a link to that on the Sourceforge page as well.

Sledgy · Tue 05/08/2014 13:09:31

Thanks a lot!

ChamberOfFear · Sat 09/08/2014 08:42:56

The Hero6 - Greenleef Demo from 2001 is uploaded to Sourceforge.

~~If anyone has the Hero6 - Forest Demo from 2002 we would be interested in getting a hold of it.~~
Never mind, found it.

If anyone is interested, I believe I've found all the demos that were ever made of Hero6. They are available on the Hero6 Sourceforge page, as well as the current prototype. The following demos are available:

2001 Greenleaf Demo
2002 Forest Demo
2006 MAD Demo Alpha 14
2009 AGS Demo

So if you feel nostalgic and want to look at old stuff, help yourselves.

Radiant · Wed 13/08/2014 17:42:44

I would be interested to see if you can also locate the demo of Nightfall: Hero Of Odarin, or of Destiny: The Lost Soul. Both games have released a demo either to a small group of friends or to the devteam themselves, and both demos appear to be lost to history. It would be nice if someone could find them

ChamberOfFear · Thu 14/08/2014 12:38:22

Quote from: Radiant on Wed 13/08/2014 17:42:44
I would be interested to see if you can also locate the demo of Nightfall: Hero Of Odarin, or of Destiny: The Lost Soul. Both games have released a demo either to a small group of friends or to the devteam themselves, and both demos appear to be lost to history. It would be nice if someone could find them

You ask the impossible

Interesting though.. It never occurred to me try and find stuff Hero6 members worked on before they started Hero6. I see that several of the project members of those two projects are familiar names of the old Hero6 development team. Pretty much all of them has disappeared from the radar, except Gronagor who has visited our forums. I've messaged him and we'll cross our fingers for a miracle.

If anyone else would happen to have them available, please send them to me and I'll make sure they're uploaded to Sourceforge.

Blake00 · Sat 08/11/2014 11:11:39

Not sure what happened to this forum over the last year or so but something broke all my links in my previous post doubling the https in the addresses. They've all been fixed.

ChamberOfFear:
Thank you so much for collecting all the Hero6 demos and source files. It has been a struggle for me to keep active links to them all on my Hero6 page over the years so now I've updated my page to take people to your sourceforge page. And well done on locating the 2002 forest demo, I requested that here in the game request thread and people told me it didn't exist lol! Even Delta couldn't find it when we talked but I knew it existed and sure enough you got it!!

Radiant:
YES!!! You read my mind! It broke my heart a few years back when I built my Destiny & Nightfall tribute pages and just couldn't get the demos. Found their websites in the internet archive, found the download links but the files they linked to were not backed up. There's gotta be some fan out there who eagerly tried their demos and still has a copy laying around. A few owners of long dead QFG fan projects have contacted me over the years and given me new stuff but sadly I've never heard from the people behind these 2 projects. Wish we could get in touch with them. PS I know you've been at me for ages to split the Heroine Quest pages but I haven't really worked on my QFG page much over the last few years but I'm doing a big overhaul atm and I've finished splitting the Heroine pages and they'll hopefully be to your liking, will upload them very soon.

ChamberOfFear · Tue 18/11/2014 19:27:43

Quote from: Blake00 on Sat 08/11/2014 11:11:39
ChamberOfFear:
Thank you so much for collecting all the Hero6 demos and source files. It has been a struggle for me to keep active links to them all on my Hero6 page over the years so now I've updated my page to take people to your sourceforge page. And well done on locating the 2002 forest demo, I requested that here in the game request thread and people told me it didn't exist lol! Even Delta couldn't find it when we talked but I knew it existed and sure enough you got it!!

No problem, Robert should have tried to contact you right now regarding several other demos that will be uploaded at Sourceforge at some point.

Quote from: Blake00 on Sat 08/11/2014 11:11:39
Radiant:
YES!!! You read my mind! It broke my heart a few years back when I built my Destiny & Nightfall tribute pages and just couldn't get the demos. Found their websites in the internet archive, found the download links but the files they linked to were not backed up. There's gotta be some fan out there who eagerly tried their demos and still has a copy laying around. A few owners of long dead QFG fan projects have contacted me over the years and given me new stuff but sadly I've never heard from the people behind these 2 projects. Wish we could get in touch with them. PS I know you've been at me for ages to split the Heroine Quest pages but I haven't really worked on my QFG page much over the last few years but I'm doing a big overhaul atm and I've finished splitting the Heroine pages and they'll hopefully be to your liking, will upload them very soon.

Again, Robert should have tried to contact you as I'm writing this post. Check you PMs and mail account and whatnot.

ChamberOfFear · Tue 18/11/2014 19:40:27

While I'm here I might as well mention this. We've been spending the entire year doing resource gathering from previous project iterations, organizing and planning a development structure that would work well with open-source development, fixing bugs and doing a major cleanup in the source code.

We feel as if we're ready to start doing major work in moving the game forward now. At first we need to deal with the great behemoth that specifically for this game has always been a major hurdle, the plot. Currently the expertise field of the development team has a 100% shift towards programming, and thus we urge anyone who would be interested in writing to take a look. More info here.

Blake00 · Wed 12/08/2015 07:16:12

Quote from: ChamberOfFear on Tue 18/11/2014 19:40:27
While I'm here I might as well mention this. We've been spending the entire year doing resource gathering from previous project iterations, organizing and planning a development structure that would work well with open-source development, fixing bugs and doing a major cleanup in the source code.

We feel as if we're ready to start doing major work in moving the game forward now. At first we need to deal with the great behemoth that specifically for this game has always been a major hurdle, the plot. Currently the expertise field of the development team has a 100% shift towards programming, and thus we urge anyone who would be interested in writing to take a look. More info here.

Ahh cool I see that 'More Info here' link in your post takes us to a brand new Hero6 forum! It's so great to see you guys working on the game again.

I miss the old hero6 forums but they were in bad shape (spammers etc) so its nice to see Hero6 has a nice new forum for fans to help out in. I'll go sign up now!