Celtic Heroes : iPhone MMO (Previously known as Highland Warrior)

There are hundreds of generic mmorpgs, I would much rather play this unique one instead.

 

Not on the iphone.

And, regarding the pc market, why do you think there are hundreds of generic fantasy mmorpgs vs very few unique ones?

Answer that question, then realize that this could be the very first truly mobile "generic fantasy" mmprog on the market...and there you go.

 

It would really kick as if You could travel to Norway and battle vikings. However, what Time is The game based on? Remember, after year 1000, The vikings began to disappear. There was not many left in 1050.

 

The classic high fantasy model has been done to death, i'm personally really excited to see something which is following a relatively realistic theme. It's something I haven't really seen done all that much in an RPG, much less an MMO. It offers themes and storylines which are far more original than elfs and dwarves ever would be.

I'm looking forward to seeing the possibilities of Clans in the proper sense, i hope there's a real rivalry built in to the story. Hopefully customisable kilts and a caber tossing minigame too.

 

What i'm saying though, is that there is a reason it has been "done to death". For the average gamer out there that is actually interested in a mmorpg, they will be much more interested in Tolkenesque high fantasy vs, well...ancient Scotland. That's just the way it is.

And if you can be the first one to bring a decently playable (let alone high quality) high fantasy game to the iphone, you are going to capture almost the entire share of Iphone owners interested in the mobile mmorpg genre. On the other hand if you bring a mmorpg based on Scottish legend with no magic, no races other than human etc...sure some people will play it but it won't be near the number of people that would be interested in the first high fantasy game. Do you think WoW (a game that i've never played btw) would have anywhere close to the # of subs it has now if it was based on ancient Greece, you could only play humans, and there was no magic?

I would normally be the perfect target market for this game. Used to play mmorpgs, loved EQ and played a few others, but now with a demanding job and a family i no longer have time to sit at home and play mmorpgs. But one on the iphone?? /drool Having said that, i'm already losing interest in this game because the setting just doesn't excite me nearly as much as something high fantasy would.

At any rate, i honestly don't expect the designers of this game to make the kinds of drastic changes i'm talking about, and again i wish them nothing but the absolute best. Give them credit for what they are attempting, regardless of whether or not it's a game i'd be interested in.

 

The setting thing is interesting, from a dev point of view it's actually a lot more work to use a real setting - instead of just making stuff up or getting off the shelf art you have to use reference material and make sure things are authentic, even though they make take longer to make or use more polygons etc - also in terms of story, people, quests, clothing etc although we are taking a few liberties with history, we do have to do our research first rather than just making things up . But I think the time is worth it because the real world is the best source of material, if you think about medieval times there was so much cool stuff going on.

Here is some of the history of the starting area castle (from wikipedia):

Before Dunstaffnage
Before the construction of the castle, Dunstaffnage may have been the location of a Dál Riatan stronghold, known as Dun Monaidh, as early as the 7th century.[2] It was recorded, by John Monipennie in 1612, that the Stone of Destiny was kept here after being brought from Ireland, and before it was moved to Scone Palace in 843. However, Iona and Dunadd are both considered more likely, given their known connections with Dál Riatan kings.[3]
The MacDougalls
The castle itself was built in the second quarter of the 13th century, as the seat of Duncan MacDougall, Lord of Lorn and grandson of Somerled.[4] Duncan was unsuccessfully attacked by his Norwegian-backed brother, Uspak, who later died in an attack on Rothesay Castle with Norse forces in the 1230s. He had also travelled to Rome in 1237, and was the founder of nearby Ardchattan Priory.[5] Duncan's son Ewen MacDougall inherited his father's title in the 1240s, and expanded the MacDougall influence, styling himself "King of the Isles". It is probable that Ewen built the three round towers onto the castle, and constructed and enlarged the hall inside.[6]
Following Alexander III's repulse of the Norse influence in Argyll, the MacDougalls backed the Scottish monarchy, and Ewen's son Alexander was made the first sherriff of Argyll in 1293. However, they supported the Balliol side during the Wars of Scottish Independence which broke out a few years later. Balliol's opponent, Robert Bruce, defeated the Clan MacDougall at the Battle of the Pass of Brander in 1308 or 1309, and after a brief siege, took control of Dunstaffnage Castle.[7]
A ghost, known as the "Ell-maid of Dunstaffnage", is said to haunt the castle. A type of gruagach, the ghost's appearances are said to be associated with events in the lives of the hereditary keepers.[8]

Here are some other things that happened in the 13th century any of which we can use for expansion content, characters, quests and backstory(from wikipedia):

1204—Fourth Crusade of 1202–1204 captures Zara for Venice and sacks Byzantine Constantinople, creating the Latin Empire.
1204—Fall of Normandy from Angevin hands to the French King, Philip Augustus, end of Norman domination of France.
1205—The Battle of Adrianople occurred on April 14, 1205 between Bulgarians under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and Crusaders under Baldwin I, (July 1172–1205), the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople.
1212—The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in Iberia sees the beginning of a rapid Christian reconquest of the southern half of the Iberian peninsula, mainly from 1230–1248, with the defeat of Moorish forces.
1213—France defeats the Spanish Kingdom of Aragon at the Battle of Muret.
1214—France defeats English and Imperial German forces at the Battle of Bouvines.
1215—King John of England signs Magna Carta at Runnymede.
1217–1221—Fifth Crusade captures Egyptian Ayyubid port city of Damietta, ultimately Crusaders withdraw.
1221—Venice signs a trade treaty with the Mongol Empire.
1222—Andrew II of Hungary signs the Golden Bull which affirms the privileges of Hungarian nobility.
1223—The Mongol Empire defeats various Russian principalities at the Battle of the Kalka River.
1228-1229—Sixth Crusade under the excommunicated Frederick II Hohenstaufen, who returns Jerusalem to the Crusader States.
1228-1230- First clash between Gregory IX and Frederick II.
1226-1250- Dispute between the so called second Lombard League and Frederick II.
1239–1250—Third conflict between Holy Roman Empire–Papacy.
1237–1240—Mongol Empire conquers Russia.
1241—Mongol Empire defeats Hungary at the Battle of Mohi and defeats Poland at the Battle of Legnica. Hungary and Poland ravaged.
1242—Russians defeat the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Lake Peipus.
1243–1250—Second Holy Roman Empire–Papacy War.
1244—Ayyubids and Khwarezmians defeat the Crusaders and their Arab allies at the Battle of La Forbie.
1249—End of the Portuguese Reconquista against the Moors, when King Afonso III of Portugal reconquers the Algarve.
1248–1254—Seventh Crusade captures Egyptian Ayyubid port city of Damietta, Crusaders ultimately withdraw. Mamelukes overthrow Ayyubid Dynasty.
1261—Byzantines under Michael VIII retake Constantinople from the Crusaders and Venice.
1268—Fall of the Crusader State of Antioch to the Mamelukes.
Portrait of the Chinese Zen Buddhist Wuzhun Shifan, painted in 1238, Song Dynasty.
Hommage of Edward I (kneeling), to the Philippe le Bel (seated). As Duke of Aquitaine, Edward was a vassal to the French king.
1271—Edward I of England and Charles of Anjou arrive in Acre, starting the Ninth Crusade against Baibars.
1282—Aragon acquires Sicily, after the Sicilian Vespers.
1284—Peterhouse, Cambridge founded by Hugo de Balsham, the Bishop of Ely.
1285—Second Mongol raid against Hungary, led by Nogai Khan.
1289—Crusader State of Tripoli falls to the Mamelukes.
1291—The Swiss Confederation of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden forms.
1291—Mamluk Sultan of Egypt al-Ashraf Khalil captures Acre, thus ending the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (the final Christian landholding remaining from the Crusades).

 

Well, in my opinion this MMORPG look excellent, and I will pick it up as soon as it goes live. @jax, if you want an MMO with classes and different species, why don't you play Pocket Legends? As much as I like Tolkien style MMOs, theres a point when too much is just too much.

As for suggestions,
Maybe you can incorporate the Scottish folklore of that era into the game, but instead of tales you could make them into quests, or maybe base a type of magic off of it.

 

Sorry if its already been asked, But are you going to need beta testers?

 

Yes definitely we will be needing beta testers.

 

Glad people are interested ... we feel we have a great product and will keep updating the community!

 

Pocket legends, while a quality game, is kind of like sesame street meets mmorpgs. It just seems aimed at much younger kids...your race choices are all animals if i remember correctly. You can be like a dog, a rabbit or a giraffe (something like that). Not exactly what i'm looking for.

 

Rhasinski, this is a good illustration of what i'm talking about. I'd be willing to bet that 90% of your target audience would just skip right over the bulk of that post because it would dredge up bad memories of some ancient history exam they flunked back in college.

Now, if you were to replace "mongols" with half-evles and "russians" with the evil Orcish Empire etc etc...interest in this post would increase 1000% amongst the closet nerds like myself!

Anyway, i'll keep my eye on this one. Definitely interested in the kind of game you release and whether or not it will be successful and perhaps lead to more games in the mmmorpg (massively mobile multiplayer online role playing game...wheeee!) genre. Please do keep us posted on progress!

 

Awesome, I'd gladly help out

 

Not really lol alot of adults play the game. btw you can be a bear-warrior, bird-archer and a encahantress-magician.

 

Good to see the devs here.
Devs that communicate with, and listen to the players, often receive a lot of praise.
The game is looking great, I would be happy to help beta test if needed as well.

 

I agree ... we're all very much of the opinion that communication with the community can only bring better results. We've been making games for decades between us (I myself have over 10 years development experience with games such as Fifa, Need For Speed, SSX, WWE etc under my belt), but experience is one thing ... feedback is another. It all comes together to hopefully bring you guys a great game that you can enjoy a lot!

 

Wow, you've worked with some pretty high class games!
Hopefully this could be the first decent MMORPG for the iPhone.
I mean...the others are OK, but they are little 2D games that get boring after 30 minutes.
I know it's too early to judge, but this looks/sounds like it could be a big success if things keep going this way

 

Finally nice to see a unique mmo setting on the iDevices. Keep it up developers

 

This looks truely awesome.

One thing that makes a MMORPG is the community, so make sure users really feel like they can interact with each other (Talking, Following, Trading, maybe some emotes)

Also, for MMORPG's on such small devices the mini map is important, when you open it up you should be able to zoom in and find out information about certain areas (Towns, quests that you have encountered yet not accepted, stores, NPC's etc) and maybe a set-route option because it can be confusing while travelling on small devices.

Definitely looking forward to this one!

 

looks pretty cool, and will be eager to test when the opportunity arises, though a question immediately pops out; will spells feature in this game? all RPGs need spells and/or special attacks, but im not sure the lads in medival scotland could blast great balls of fire at each other!