2022 in Review

Jan 17, 2023

A Happy new year to all our supporters! Here is a recap of the very fruitful 2022 and a preview of what to look forward to in 2023.

2022 started on a high note with the 2021 Indie MMORPG of the Year award from Massively Overpowered.

We at Heroic Games spent most of 2022 writing, building, testing, and polishing new missions. In the process, we’ve added new maps, new enemy groups, and even new game mechanics. Some new and very cool maps await our players at launch! You will find story mission arcs like the Iris arc, challenge missions, task forces, and massive raids. And for those worried about being limited by the confines of a 20-miles-long ship, fear not – there will be no cabin fever. The game is really shaping up!

Expect many challenging fights like this

In the spring, we added a brand new feature: a player housing system full of fun options and props. Hundreds participated in the two player housing Betas in May and July 2022.  As always, these were open to the public, and we received an enormous amount of positive and helpful feedback that we used to upgrade the system between the two Betas. Housing is now very close to launch-ready. And when the game launches, players will be able to get housing right from level one, even multiple homes for each character.

Give it the old college try…

…Or look down on your domain from a great height.

The options for costumes in the character creator have nearly doubled, including many civilian items that used to be NPC-only.  In addition, we responded to player feedback and created 114 preset faces for those who want to grab a particular look, and then jump quickly into the game.  Each of these faces is completely changeable, just like the original starting faces.

Faces voted #1 for big guy, female and male

After the housing Betas, we turned our sights to several “quality of life” improvements:

  • The keybinding system was rebuilt, fixing some control issues.
  • Countless items have been fine-tuned, including some animations.
  • Mouse oversensitivity was corrected.
  • Gamepad controls were expanded.
  • NPCs are being upgraded. This project is ongoing. We have so many!

The streets are busier than ever; don’t get run over!

2022 was also very good for Heroic Games internally. Three artists joined our mission creation team; two are full-time, and one is a highly talented 3D art student. We’ve also upgraded the sophisticated tools that we, the devs, use to create missions and analyze player metrics from tests. This helps us efficiently create missions while taking into account the experiences of Beta players.

Please stay tuned.  We currently plan to launch at the end of 2023. While we have not published it yet, our Steam store page is in development, and we expect to make it public in the first half of 2023.  This sort of infrastructure takes a surprising amount of time and effort to get right, and it’s the first thing that many new players will see.

What part of the screen draws your eye first?

In the first quarter, we will be putting up registration for Beta-testing under an NDA. If you’re interested, keep an eye out for it, and let us know what you think in the forums and in the polls. We rely heavily on your feedback, and your opinions matter to us.

Poll Results: Do you play games with the sounds on or off?      On 70%      It depends 12%       Off 18%

If you’ve ever thought to yourself “I wish there were some new MMORPGs to try.  Something different, fun and positive.  Something cool and exciting,”, then we’re your game.  We’re a small Indie team, but we’re making steady progress, and we think we are on track to launch by the end of the year. Thank you for your support, and we wish you a happy New Year!

Even the evil snow monsters are happy… we think.

More on this Subject

Ship of Heroes is Now on Steam!

Ship of Heroes is Now on Steam!

The new Ship of Heroes Steam store page shows off the game with a gameplay trailer and screenshots. Some of these have never been seen before, not even by past Beta participants.

read more
2022 Has Begun

2022 Has Begun

Ship of Heroes is looking to a launch at the end of 2022, and between now and then, we’re going to have our seventh public Beta, focusing on superhero bases. But first, we’re pleased to announce that Massively Overpowered has selected us as the 2021 Indie MMO of the Year. Thank you, Massively Overpowered!

read more
Summer 2021 Schedule

Summer 2021 Schedule

Our last newsletter talked a bit about the kinds of events we did in 2020, as well as our winter holiday content. In this newsletter we want to talk about the next upcoming event, our overall plans for 2021, and some new areas of Apotheosis City that we’ve created.

read more

Subscribe to the SoH Newsletter