Summer Daze at Hero-U is an upcoming lighthearted adventure story video game by Lori and Corey Cole, creators of Quest for Glory and Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, for Win/Mac/Linux/Android/iOS. Summer Daze has been in development for over a year now and a kickstarter campaign has been created with funds being devoted to current and future operations, in addition to repaying some of the developer’s expenses to date.
“Summer Daze at Hero-U is a new direction for us. We’ve crystallized the story and characters into a fast-paced illustrated adventure that can be played anywhere.” – Corey Cole
Earlier this year I played through Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption and revisited my memories of the Quest for Glory series. I love a good trip down memory lane and Hero-U hit those nostalgic feels whilst being it’s own modern take on a pun-filled adventure game. I finished the game with a feeling that I wanted more, and whilst a different style of game, Summer Daze at Hero-U is a prequel to Rogue to Redemption. You play as the studious Wizard Ifeyo or the mischievous Rogue Tilly. Your choices will help you make friends, have exciting adventures, and help the Harvest Festival succeed (or fail gloriously). The game features:
- Interactive adventure story with role-playing elements
- Light-hearted game filled with humor and charm
- Choice of two playable characters – and two very different stories
- Set at Hero University – the school from Rogue to Redemption
- Meaningful and memorable interactions with 23 unique characters
- 25 beautifully-rendered locations
Summer Daze at Hero-U is a dialogue-driven point-and-click game with choice menus and an interactive game map. The focus is on the story and characters with no “hunt the pixel” actions, juggling dozens of inventory items or getting lost in a maze. There is a playable demo available from itch.io at https://transolar-games.itch.io/summer-daze and also Steam. Bare in mind, being so early in development and this kickstarter campaign, anything in the demo is subject to change in the full game.
Aside from Lori and Corey Cole, developers working on the game are lead developer Cidney Hamilton, lead artist John Paul Selwood, character designer and animator Al Eufrasio, all of which who worked on Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption. New to the team is composer and musician Brandon Blume, who composed the soundtrack for Mage’s Initiation: Reign of the Elements which I also played earlier this year and enjoyed.
As of writing this article, the kickstarter campaign has 835 backers for a total of AUD77K of a target of AUD148K. As is the case with most kickstarter campaigns, it’s an all or nothing campaign. However, as we saw over the development of Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, The Coles are passionate about the games they make and especially don’t want to disappoint their devoted fans, some of which have been fans since the first Quest for Glory/Hero’s Quest in 1989! A quick note here, October 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of Quest For Glory. On the early hours of Sunday 6 October for us here in Australia, the Coles ran a live stream of a playthrough of Quest For Glory. They also shared with us many of their stories of working at Sierra on their series, and their love and admiration of so many fans around the world. They will be doing a livestream every weekend this month showing the other Quest for Glory games and doing alot of cool giveaways. It’s definitely worth having a watch if you’re a fan of the series but also if you’re a fan of adventure and RPG games.
I’ve backed the Summer Daze at Hero-U kickstarter project and I hope it’s a successful campaign for the team. For more information about the game, you can head to the Summer Daze at Hero-U website, Facebook page or Discord server and the planned release date for the game is October 1, 2020.
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