Start working on Hero Fighter

開始製作 Hero Fighter

自從 LF2 完成以後, 我一直很想再創作另一個屬於自己的遊戲, 可惜一直為了工作, 没有餘暇去實行這個奢侈的夢想. 直到去年, 幾經掙扎後, 我終於把日間的工作辭去, 專心在家製作我的新遊戲 - Hero Fighter (英雄大作戰, 簡稱 HF). 希望在首年把遊戲「初步完成」, 然後再選一條適合自己的職業道路.

跟 LF 一樣, HF 也是一個「混戰型」的格鬥遊戲, 不過, HF 是 web-based 的, 它無需安裝, 只需以瀏覽器開啓網址, 就可以玩到. 在往後的日子裡, 我會在 HeroFighter.com 的網頁內, 不時更新遊戲. 我預計大概在本年七月底, 先發放 HF v0.1 - 它只是一個簡單的「單機」遊戲, 只有兩三個角色. 在及後的更新中, 我將會慢慢加入新的角色及遊戲模式 (在首半年, 計劃每月加入一至兩個角色), 希望終有一天, 能夠把 HF 發展成一個多人在線的遊戲.

這個 blog, 將會是用作發放 HF 消息及與 Fans 交流的地方. 因為有很大部份的 Fans 都看不懂中文, 所以儘管我的英文一般, 我還是會盡量的把自己的文章譯成英文, 如果有什麼文法出錯或者筆誤, 希望你們多多見諒.


Start working on Hero Fighter

After the completion of LF2, I was always thinking of making another new game. However, because of my daily job, I can hardly find the time to pursue my goal. Last year, after struggling for months, I finally made a difficult decision to quit my job. And concentrate on working on my new game - Hero Fighter (HF). I hope the game can be finished "preliminarily" in the first year. Afterwards I will look for a career path which would suit me most.

Like LF2, HF is also a fighting game. But HF is web-based which does not require installation and can be played in your browser right away. In the coming days, I will keep updating and releasing new versions of HF in HeroFighter.com. By the end of July, I plan to release the first version (v0.1) - that is just a simple "stand alone" game with 2~3 characters only. I will keep adding new characters and game modes to the game (in the first half year, I plan to add 1~2 characters per month). I wish I can eventually make HF into a multi-player online game.

This blog is for releasing HF news and talking to fans. Because a large part of fans cannot read Chinese, I will try my best to translate my articles to English. As my English is not that good, please forgive me for any grammatical mistakes.

Look back on "Little Fighter"

回顧 Little Fighter

我在 1998 年, 還在諗大學二年級時. 開始創作 Little Fighter 2 (LF2). 由於我對有關 network 的編程一竅不通, 所以找到我的同學 Starsky 的協助. 記得當時為了爭取時間, 希望趕緊在畢業前把遊戲完成, 七成以上的課堂都缺席了. 有些學科, 甚至到考試時才第一次見到導師的樣子.

LF2 的更新不斷在網頁發表 (詳見 LF2 progress time table), 它從只有 1 個角色及 vs 模式, 慢慢變成擁在 24 個角色及 4 種遊戲模式. 網頁的瀏覽數目從零升到幾千萬, 遊戲的受歡迎程度大大超出我的想像. 如果遊戲不是這樣受歡迎, 遊戲很有可能會在完成 11 個原始角色後便不再更新. Fans 的支持給予很大動力, 迫使我把遊戲的計劃一再擴大, 所以在大學畢業時 (2000年夏), 遊戲仍離完成甚遠.

畢業後, 我找到第一份工作 - 編寫手機遊戲. 當時白天上班, 並不輕鬆. 到晚上, 編寫 LF2 至深夜, 每天只睡四、五個小時, 感到非常辛苦. 一年後, 終於抵受不了, 把工作辭去, 然後花大半年時間, 全職把 LF2 完成. 由於當時沒有收入, 又要償還大學學費的貸款, 財政一度十份拮据. 不過現在看來, 當天一切的付出都是值得的.

Look back on "Little Fighter"

In 1998, when I was a 2nd year undergrad student, I started to create Little Fighter 2 (LF2). As I knew nothing about network programming, I asked my classmate Starsky to help me out with that. Coz I wanted to finish the game before my graduation, I was absent from most of the lessons.

As LF2 updates were released (see LF2 progress time table), it got more and more popular. The hit counter even reached 40 million. Its popularity was totally out of my expectation. Fans encourage me a lot, and this makes me expand the spec of LF2 for several times.

When I graduated, the game was still far from finished. At the day time, I have to work for my living in a cell phone game company. After the dinner, I worked for LF2 til midnight. It was really tired getting only 4, 5 hours sleep everyday. So after a year, I quitted my job and worked on LF2 in full-time. Without income for more than a half year, I had a rough time financially. But as I look back on this, I can say LF2 was worth every effort.