Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The Genre of HQ-77


Welcome back!
      
      It’s that time again! Time for another exciting dev blog where we reveal more info on HQ-77. With this post we hope to reveal more info on the genre of HQ-77. Namely that this game like many others in a way encompass multiple genres.
      HQ-77 is a Role Playing Game as well as a Tactics game. Within the world of HQ-77 you will play a role, that role may be hero or villain. Regardless of the role you choose to fill, you will play out a story as that role. Like many other RPGs you will have stats and abilities, equipment and items, but the way you navigate the game world, interact with NPC's, engage in combat is very much like a tactics or table-top style game. The combination creates a great environment in which the player can enjoy these to classic genres.
      Role-playing games have been around for a long time, so lets talk about what makes HQ-77 different. One thing we noticed when playing some of the more common RPGs was that they are very limited in what role in the story you play. The overwhelming majority of RPGs have you playing the role of “Hero”, with your job being to save the entire world. While this is great, our idea for a RPG is a little bit more like the old school pen and paper style. In this older style of RPGs the player can play any role in the party, that role could be hero, or villain, or thief or adventurer. Freedom of choice is what dominated the birth of RPGs. We hope to emulate that design. We also know that in most fantasy themed games, Orcs and Goblins are bad and Men and Elves are good, however; our goal with HQ-77 it to make the game world much more gray. None of the races are inherently evil, and none are perfectly good. Each character in the game has an alignment that will make him good or evil based off the action he/she takes. This system will make for a much more dynamic, living, and believable world. In the end, playing HQ-77 will offer that classic tabletop RPG experience with a deep and rich game world.
      Lets take the last part of this blog discussing the tactical aspect of HQ-77. The main feature in HQ-77 that emphasizes tactics like game play is in the movement of characters. Each character has very specific movement range. This range dictates how far they can go, and who or what they can interact with. By moving around the game world in a strategic or tactical way, you can out smart your enemies, aid your friends and move quickly across the map. Another aspect of the tactical game play deals with the hexagon tiles that build the environment. These tiles will be classified into types. An example of these types would be stone, grass, forest, and lava. Depending on where you place your character may gain buffs or status effects. These could be the deciding factor in a battle against a stronger opponent. The other important thing about these tiles is there height. If a tile is too tall, your character might not be able to reach it, and if it’s to far below you, your character will take damage by jumping down to it. You will learn by playing around with the system that the level of depth and tactical game play possible is astounding. Be smart with your characters and you will win more often.
      That’s all for this post. We hope that gave you a clearer picture of our goal with HQ-77 and that you are excited to see this game coming together. In our next post we will discuss the lore and story of HQ-77.

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