John Smedley Announces RPG Hero's Song

Hero's Song is a "hardcore action RPG for hardcore gamers."

Former Daybreak Games head John Smedly has announced Pixelmage Games' first game called Hero's Song.

Pixelmage is co-funding the game on Kickstarter, asking for $800,000 to help the project become a reality. The developer has already raised $1 million from private investors. The $800,000, should it be raised, will be used to finish development on Hero's Song.

Currently the studio has a team of 13 "core" staffers, and plans to increase that number over the coming months as development progresses on the game, which has been labeled a "hardcore action RPG for hardcore gamers."

"Our goal with Pixelmage Games is to make extremely deep and hardcore games in a beautiful pixel art style with an incredibly deep multiplayer experience," Smedley said in a statement. "We're calling on the community to be a part of this project as we create a really unique game that we’re sure fantasy RPG fans will really enjoy."

For his part, Rothfuss said he was "flattered and excited" when Smedley asked him to contribute to Hero's Song. "A lot of people don't know that long before I tried to write a novel, I tried to write a computer game," Rothfuss explained. "I've been playing games forever, and I know how stories work. This is a unique way for me to bring all my favorite things together. I've never done World building as part of a team before, and it's a lot more fun than I'd anticipated. I'm excited to be able to show people what we've come up with."

Hero's Song is described as an "open-world rogue-like fantasy game done in beautiful 2D pixel art style."