HeroWarz is the latest from the minds behind Dungeon Fighter Online and Cyphers. It is, by all accounts, a "delightfully twisted" ARPG. We chatted with the team behind HeroWarz to find out more.
MMORPG: Give us a background on HeroWarz. How did the project come about?
A.Storm & KOG Games: A.Storm (www.astorm.co.kr) is an online game development company established in 2010, and is the home to lead developer and producer Yoon-Jong Kim. Before A.Storm, Yoon-Jung Kim was the driving force behind the development of Dungeon Fighter Online and Cyphers at Neople. HeroWarz is our first project which took a total of 4 years to develop. A.Storm successfully launched the open beta of HeroWarz in 2014 exclusively in Korea … until now.
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MMORPG: How has the game performed in Korea? Can you tell us about the launch there last year?
A.Storm & KOG Games: HeroWarz (www.herowarz.co.kr) has been in service for roughly a year and four months now, and currently has up to 15,000 concurrent players breaking the 200,000 unique visitor milestone with the help of Naver and Nexon. Now we are looking to release HeroWarz worldwide with the help of KOG Games.
MMORPG: Action MMOs are becoming very popular lately, tell us what HeroWarz brings to the genre.
A.Storm & KOG Games: Dungeon Fighter Online was a 2D Side scrolling game and Cyphers was a 3D Action MOBA game. We took what we learned from 2D side scrolling game, Dungeon Fighter Online, and Cyphers, a 3D action MOBA, and used every experience from developing both games and channeled that experience-personified into developing HeroWarz.
An immediate glance will depict HeroWarz as an isometric, 3D Action MMORPG game. It provides simple, yet deep Action and RPG elements in PVE. However, that only represents a part of HeroWarz. On the flip side, it also provides a dedicated, isometric MOBA environment via PVP; with more on the way.
MMORPG: Do you think there is a growing trend of isometric games coming to the market like HeroWarz? Why do you think they are so popular?
A.Storm & KOG Games: The Action RPG was a game genre that was way ahead of its time. Though popular at one point, ARPGS’s didn’t get a fair shot. In short, we believe ARPG’s offer an easy, fun, explosive, quick and rewardingly cathartic return on investment for gamers. ARPG’s don’t require the mass of time and skill needed by most traditional MMORPGs which can be quite complicated as well. The younger generations of gamers are familiar with online and mobile games, and their requirement for bleeding edge, realistic graphics isn’t what it used to be. Add the evolution and accessibility of the Free-to-Play game industry, and it creates the perfect day and age for the well-made ARPG. Add in the MOBA element in HeroWarz PvP, and we hope to create a perfect storm.
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MMORPG: What steps are you taking to westernize the game?
A.Storm & KOG Games: The first step we’re taking in westernizing HeroWarz will be to skillfully translate and localize the game. Though this may seem like common sense, the character and story dialogue in HeroWarz uses a lot of Korean wordplay and modern pop culture references. Being able to effectively capture the same essence of those concepts without having anything get lost in translation will be paramount to a good start in westernization. A.Storm and KOG Games discussed at length about the play-time limiting Fatigue system that exists in many Korean online games, and we’re happy to announce that we’re removing Fatigue from the western version of HeroWarz. Lastly, though we believe there are a lot of inherently western elements in HeroWarz to begin with, (and to reference the ARPG question above), bringing the deep, unique story, strong anime feel and explosive ARPG and MOBA elements together into one game will appeal greatly to the western audiences.
MMORPG: Can you tell us about some of the character classes in the game? What will players be working with?
A.Storm & KOG Games: HeroWarz does not follow the stereotypical RPG character role system or build-archetypes of the traditional warrior, mage, priest and rogue. Rather, it breathes a comprehensive and functional RPG experience into each character with story-driven lore. However, that’s only for the RPG/PvE aspect. Each character behaves very differently in PvP, and some more traditional MOBA roles exist for each. The RPG and PvP roles are exclusive for each character, but more on that later.
HeroWarz will launch with a number of these characters; only part of an ever-expanding roster of RPG characters. Will you choose a talented swordsman, a princess, gods or goddesses, pain-ridden slashers, masterfully skilled college students (!?!), or a combat master who overpowers his opponents with his massive size and strength ... or something else completely?
However, with an ever-expanding character lineup, there’s way too much information to cover in one question. To find out more about all the other characters, please visit www.herowarz.net
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MMORPG: The artwork shows a modern setting. Can you give us some information on the story of the game?
A.Storm & KOG Games: It’s a delightfully twisted story, so bear with us: The dream reality-shifter Ibrahim almost wipes out the human race when his dreams (and uncontrollable nightmares) begin to manifest into reality. Ibrahim takes full responsibility for the devastation and works his best to rebuild the civilization. However, when the last, remaining leaders of humanity erupt into political warfare, Ibrahim disappears.
500 years later, Maya, a direct decent of Ibrahim emerges. Unfortunately, Maya is born with the same curse of dream shifting. Maya unknowingly creates a new world in her dream, and in this new world, reality begins to twist... Will your character be a survivor of the human race, a realized figment of some twisted dream-state, a living God… or a nightmare, personified? This isn’t a happy place, but if you want to know more, watch the Prologue video HERE.
MMORPG: How are plans going for development and possibly beta over the next few months?
A.Storm & KOG Games: Haha! Development is coming along very well, and we’re enjoying every bit of it. We’re very excited to bring HeroWarz to the west. HeroWarz will be launching in the first quarter of 2016. An exact beta testing period hasn’t been locked down yet, but we’re working to release a schedule very soon. A big announcement will be made February 1, 2016. Please check out, follow and Like the HeroWarz Facebook page for up-to-date news and real-time announcements about the official beta and launch of HeroWarz HERE
