Announcing the Hero, Vol. 2 fan project! ARTISTS WANTED!
Pixelberry: *Cancels Hero 2*
Me:
That's right, I'm happy to announce a project I've been working on for a while: Hero, Vol. 2! This is going to be a full visual novel, with choices, branching paths, and more, which will pick up exactly where Vol. 1 left us all hanging! Read on to learn more about what's planned for the project, to volunteer artwork, or to beta test the first chapter!
Download the first chapter (no art yet, text-only) here. All releases will be forever free to play!
So what is it?
As mentioned above, this is a true visual novel, similar to the Choices books themselves in which you click through the dialogue and make various choices which will affect the story. It will eventually have art, but right now it is text only with choices and point systems implemented. Apologies for the bare-bones setup, but trust me, you wouldn't want to see my sad attempts at drawing!
What can we expect from the project?
Chapter 1 is finished (except for the art); the project will have 15 chapters in all
Fully customizable MCs, including a non-binary option, customizable first AND last name, as well as "importing" certain choices from Vol. 1
Significant differences in the story based on which LI (or none) you selected, as well as one other major choice at the end of Chapter 1 which will result in 20 different story combinations
A point system tracking how close your MC is to either the Prism Realm or to Earth, with different endings and altered dialogue based on the score
Learn more about the Prism Realm and the people who inhabit it, including MC's parents
New Prism love interest to be introduced in a later chapter
Each chapter has an optional upgrade for one of the heroes to unlock more options in action scenes, NO DIAMONDS REQUIRED!
I REPEAT NO DIAMONDS EVER CHARGED FOR ANYTHING, ALL OPTIONS ARE FREE!
How frequently will chapters be released?
In terms of text and coding, I can complete a chapter in about 2 weeks if I push myself (the outline and most of the base script for the project is already written). Art, on the other hand...
(NOTE: Currently Chapter 2 is significantly delayed due to issues with coding a certain section. Once this is completed the rest of the project should proceed much quicker!)
Where's all the art?
Right now, I'm the only one working on the project. I am also very artistically challenged... so if you want to volunteer, please message me! I need sprite and background artists and will let you know what needs doing. Right now... basically everything!
Where's the Grayson option?
As his storyline will be drastically different from Kenji and Eva's, Grayson's path is still a work in progress but I'm aiming to have it done by the end of next week!
Where can I read it?
As mentioned above, the following link will continuously be updated with the latest version of the game. Find it here!
I spotted a typo/the game crashed/something else went wrong/the universe exploded
Message me here on Tumblr and I'd be happy to take care of it!
Advent Challenge Day 19: Find A Way Back (Kenji x MC)
Today’s fic is for the lovely @kenjkats! Max is one of the most talented artists in this fandom and also someone I am lucky to call a friend. Writing this ficlet brought me back because one of our very first interactions was me writing her a Kenji fic because she had won a follower milestone contest I had done. It was my first time writing Kenji, who I hadn’t even been romancing at that point. Max turned me into a Kenji fan and also became a very dear friend in the process.
Find A Way Back
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine.
Author’s Notes- Day 19 of the advent challenge and the prompt is “escape” which seemed perfect for Hero, since we are left in eternal limbo. This is set after the end of ““book 1″ and is just an attempt at the closer we will likely never get.
Pairing- Kenji x MC
Rating- PG
Summary- After finding herself in another dimension, Sarah fights her way home.
Sarah pushed herself. Just a little further. She could see the portal.
But the environment seemed to be fighting against her, it wanted her to stay. Her parents had warned her as much, but she had dismissed it as them trying to persuade her to stay.
And yet... it was like fighting a brick wall, as if her own body was resistant. But she did it. She kept pushing, forcing herself to remember the reasons she was fighting. Her mom. Her friends. Kenji.
She pictured him in her mind, his warm, cocky grin, and felt a burst of energy, as if he was beckoning her home. And maybe he was. She was exhausted, out of breath by the time she reached the portal and flung herself in it.
There was the weirdest feeling of floating through space and then she hit something hard. Sarah opened her eyes and nearly cried when she saw the familiar sight of Northbridge.
Now the question was how long had passed? For her it had seemed like days, but she didn’t know if time was the same there as it was on Earth. Suddenly a terrible thought occurred, what if years had passed?
Sarah anxiously scanned the city. It was dark, so there weren’t many people, but to her relief there was still some visible damage leftover, presumably from the fight with Silas.
“Sarah!!!!”
She blinked at the sound of her name and turned to see Kenji and Eva both running for her.
“It’s really you!” Eva cried, hugging her quickly and then stepping aside so Kenji could wrap his arms around her, pulling her into him.
Sarah clung to him, breathing in his scent, the feel of him,
“I thought you were gone,” he told her, his usual cockiness nowhere to be seen.
“You can’t get rid of me that easy,” Sarah assured him, her arms looped around his neck.
“Good,” Kenji said simply and then he lowered his mouth to hers, his kiss hungry and desperate, channeling all his fear and loneliness from their time apart and Sarah returned it eagerly. She knew they would have to go back to the Tower and catch up on everything that had happened since the fight, but right now she was going to savour this moment and the fact that she was really and truly home.
I can't say I'm surprised by this, I guess by now we all kinda silently came to terms with the fact that there won't ever be another Hero book😪
I am not mad at PB. I understand that there is a ton of other books in the works that need their undivided budget and attention. What I don't understand is why they don't consider making a Hero sequel in their current art style? Sure, it would break continuity but I enjoyed Hero because of the story and the characters which I all loved (something that a lot of other books don't manage to achieve, there is almost certainly a character I don't like, e.g. Lily in BB, Drake and Maxwell in TRR, ... ) - changing the art wouldn't take that away and it'd be cheaper for PB to produce, so the staff hours they put into the script wouldn't go to waste.
But that makes me believe that Hero maybe wasn't as profitable to begin with, like Most Wanted? And the whole "We are working on it" was just a back up plan to see how long-term revenue and other books would play out, before eventually cancelling the sequel.
'Hero is my favorite book ever. It was the first one I played, and Kenji will always be my favorite LI. I seriously can’t wait until pixelberry FINALLY releases book 2 because there’s only so many times you can replay one book but I want to see my MC and Kenji again!'
POST/CONFESSIONS DO NOT REFLECT THE MOD’S PERSONAL OPINIONS!
