What is Hero Potential?
Hero Potential is a multiplayer co-op superhero themed horde mode shooter. But that's a mouthful, so what does that mean exactly? Hero Potential is similar to games like Call of Duty: Zombies or Killing Floor, but set in a world of superpowers and heroics. You choose one of the standard heroes and pick their powers from three separate classes, or pick a predefined superhero like Cyberfrog or Silkworm and then try to survive as long as possible as ever increasingly difficult waves of evil robot AI try to take you out.
- Choose from 19 offensive powers, 19 defensive powers and 16 damage/defense enhancing powers and mix and match them any way you want
- in addition to superpowers, there are 13 real world weapons and 7 future tech weapons available to help you survive the extinction level event. It's desperate so our heroes use any means to help them stay alive.
- While intended as a co-op multiplayer game it does have a single player mode if multiplayer isn't your thing.
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Who Is making Hero Potential?
My name is Dwayne Douglass, aka oddjob, aka Harrison Bergeron and I’m a old school Half-Life modder who has been making games for 20 years. If you want to hear more about me, check out this video on my background in video games: https://youtu.be/ywyXQGXkqy8
Hero Potential started back in 2018 as simple project I used as a way to teach myself to code. I would think of a superpower or weapon and then figure out how to make it work in my test game. It slowly morphed into an idea for a game alongside the script I was writing for a comic. And that idea became Hero Potential. This is a passion project that has been my solo weekend project for nearly two years and my "full time job” for the last 5 months as I rewrote all my previous work into this single game. Your contribution will allow me to continue to focus my time and energy in bringing this game to market.
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What do you get when you back Hero Potential and where does your money go?
At the core, for your contribution you get a copy of the game on Steam and any platform it is released on in the future (Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, etc.) and access to Beta testing once it begins. And your contribution will go directly into the production of this game:
- All backers get $5 off the price of the base game right off the bat from the price on platforms like Steam, Epic Game Store and the Xbox.
- I’m asking for $10,000 which will allow me to purchase necessary software and new hardware to replace my aging laptop for production and hire a programmer to fill in the gaps of my knowledge, specifically the integration into the different platforms(Steam, Epic, Xbox, etc) and networking.
- Any addition funding will be put towards production: hiring artists, level designers and animators to polish the game and add features.
- There’s no shipping fee and no need for me to collect your mailing address. You’ll be emailed a Steam Key when it’s ready to release.
- Depending on the rules of the platforms it will be released on (some are strict with crowdfunding), I'll give all backers a copy of the game on any platform it eventually releases on in addition to the initial Steam release at no additional cost. So if it eventually releases on Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 and I am able to give keys out on those platforms, you'll receive those as well as pat of of the original backing of this project.
Why Paid DLC?
DLC is how I am able to offer the chance to play as your favorite comic characters, be it Cecil, the Jawbreakers or Cyberfrog. I’m very honored that creators like Ethan Van Sciver and Richard C Meyer have entrusted me with their characters. The funds received from the DLC will go primarily to the license holders. So it's basically a way to pay those creators for use of their characters. I plan to release a total of four paid DLC to get your favorite characters into the game. No other microtransactions.
All other content added to the game will be free. New characters, new maps, new powers, features or weapons, etc. This includes plans to release free DLC character content to offer an even wider variety of indie comic characters from other creators as playable characters in the game. (And if you are interested in your character making an appearance in the game, hit me up and we'll talk!)
Stretch Goals:
Here are our first three stretch goals with more to be announced as we reach these first two:
- $30,000 First Person Mode. You’ll be able to switch between first and third person on command to play how you prefer to play.
- $60,000 Split Screen Co-Op, aka Couch Co-Op. Play with your friends in split screen mode!
- $100,000 5v5 Team PVP mode added. Why 5v5? So you can play as the whole Jawbreakers team vs whoever wants to try to stand toe to toe with them!
I don't have any others to announce yet but if this campaign ends up successful enough even things like a fully destructible environment using Unreal' Chaos engine (Shown here: https://youtu.be/wZN2ZTzaDU4?t=17 ) or perhaps a Street Fighter fighting game mode as an upper 6 figures perks.
On a side note, the addition of some stretch goal features may necessitate pushing back the release date or having that particular feature added after the stated release date for the start of Closed Beta Testing of Nov 2021.
Risks & Challenges
The core game is already functional. The backbone of the game is there. The rest of production will be adding features and polishing up what is in the game already and then porting to the various platforms for release. Unlike many games that crowdfund, Hero Potential is fairly far along in development. All of that said there’s still a ton of work to do and that’s the biggest risk. But as you can see from the progress already made, I am up to that challenge.
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Other Ways You Can Help
If you care about this project and want to see it succeed there’s one important thing you can do to help make that happen: Spread the word! Tell your friends! Pass it along!
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