The Wii U eShop is attracting a number of multi-platform projects that are certainly catching the eye, but the number of exclusives is relatively slim. Thankfully there may soon be another to join those such as Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails; should an upcoming Kickstarter campaign succeed we could see a "party RTS" (real time strategy) game called Hex Heroes on the Wii U eShop.
There's some pedigree behind this project, with artist and co-developer of popular PC title The Bridge heading up Hex Heroes — fans of retro Rare classics may also be excited to know that Grant Kirkhope will be working on the soundtrack. It's easy to see why this will be a Wii U exclusive, meanwhile, as it supports up to five players at once — one uses the GamePad to oversee progress and communicate with four others playing on the ground via the TV. As you'd expect of a real time strategy game tasks will include "harvesting resources, building structures, fending off enemies, and exploring dangerous territories".
The official website for the game's developer, Prismatic Games, explains how the aim is to produce a game suitable for all players.
We’re developing Hex Heroes with all ages in mind. This is going to be a game where the core can become really skilled with their class combo and take their strategies to the online battlefields. It’s also going to be a game where your little brother/sister/son/daughter can play on the TV hacking and slashing and helping you out on the gamepad. WIth the gamepad and asymmetric gameplay, Hex Heroes will be able to cater to all levels of skills and will have something for everyone. We’re core gamers at heart, but with the Wii U, we’ve been able to include our family or friends that aren’t as skilled and have just as much fun – we’re looking to replicate that feeling.
As highlighted at the top of this article, the developers will launch a Kickstarter campaign to try and fund the project; that'll begin on 25th March. A trailer for that — with early development footage — is below, with the initial visuals also showing the board game "model figurines" that'll populate the world. In addition the studio has given us first access to a couple of concept art examples yet to be published elsewhere.
Check them out below and let us know what you think.
Comments 27
Online?
All ages?
RTS?
Grant K?
4 player co-op?
The?
Count me in.
Looks cool, when will the kickstarter start?
EDIT: Oh, March 25th lol
Awesome. Guess I better contribute.
Any game with Grant Kirkhope's soundtrack in it definitely has me interested.
Could be fun, I'll keep an eye on it.
You had me at grant kirkhope
"The Wii U eShop is attracting a number of multi-platform projects that are certainly catching the eye"
Thank you Indie gawds! What would we do without 'em ...
Seriously....We would have had hardly anything to look forward to...
I hope Nintendo isn't waiting for E3 to arrive to announce some new games coming this year.
Kinda off topic but I would love new Nintendo games with crazy art styles or an HD Paper Mario (without Mario ) with lush paper visuals or a whole new other style. Something with crazy gorgeous effects like the ice in 3D World for example.
Anyway, glad we got so many indie games to look forward to otherwise I would go crazy....Not everyone has enough money to buy multiple consoles(+more games naturally).
I thought with the Cars 3 announcement, and all today would be a bad day. But! This has me pretty excited.
I think they need to mock up how they want this game to look in the final build. People are already complaining about the graphics on this and that stuff seems to sink some Kickstarters. Me, I like the direction and it's not a problem for me. It's just something that concerns me given what I've read online thus far.
I actually know one of the guys that worked on The Bridge in real life
See this is the type of game that Nintendo and 3rd parties should be making. Not so much the Indy/low budget grafx....but a game that uses gamepad as an async experience to influence the 4 players on the main screen. Imagine a Bards Tale/Diablo type game where the 4 players hack and slash while the gamepad users plays as a DM and controls aspects of the dungeon, sets traps, plants random encounters, and then fights as the boss in boss battles. Thank the heavens for the Indies as I think they are the ones who will show us some cool stuff like this on the WiiU
Party RTS? Sounds cool to me!
Hmmm looks a little like Heroscape. I'll definitely be looking into this more.
@QuickSilver88 that sounds positively awesome.
Looks interesting, but I'm more interested in single player aspects because I have no friends. Online play never appealed much to me either for these kinds of games.
It's very early footage. If they can tune it up graphically this will be good! Another Wii U-Indie to keep an eye on (running out of eyes here
This game seems interesting. I will be adding this game to my Wii U list along with like 3 other indie games that are coming hopefully soon. Also let’s hope the Kick starter goes well for the game.
Please make it happen!
If this happens, I'll buy it the day it comes out!
I will be keeping an eye on this one. This type of multiplayer gameplay and GamePad use is kind of what I been looking for.
@JustinH We'll have more details about our planned style in the Kickstarter. We're aiming to look like Stacking or Tower Wars. Thanks for pointing that out because now we know to share our vision more prominently.
What a great idea - just the notion of an all-ages RTS is a good one, but giving an overseer role to someone who might not want to do the actual fighting bit is something you can only do with the Gamepad - well done. The figurine look and retro hex map is also inspired. I hope they're able to make this a reality - even if the kickstarter fails I'd have to think they could get a bigger outfit to fund this.
People say nintendo should get rid of the wii u tablet control pad but if they did how would people use nfc figures .
@kinkofer Glad to hear it. Just happened to watch the teaser again this morning. Excited for the campaign to start!
Hmmm, looks boring! And music could have been better!
Been waiting for a decent RTS on this the Wii U for a while! I am soo happy, please don't screw it up!
If Nintendo wants the WiiU to be a success they have to design more games that take advantage of the asymmetric nature of the gamepad. Leveraging Nintendo's strength of couch coop helps too. Since Nintendo isn't stepping up the plate I'm happy indie devs are
I backed this project pronto. I hope it reaches the goal, good luck guys.
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