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HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

Discuss Miscellaneous HeroQuest Merchandise not fitting into any of the above categories.

Re: HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

Postby Kurgan » Friday May 27th, 2022 4:42pm

Has this been fixed yet?
TheLastChaosWarrior wrote:I have also found another glitch.
I'm working through KK and on quest 4 (I think) the Dwarven forge, where you find the first part of the stone map.
I found it with my Wizard, but when I exited the quest, I got a quest failed message, and on the quest list it shows as not completed?
I thought let's try again with another character, so next time I searched with the Dwarf, found the map part, but again on exit it refuses to show as Quest complete!
Frustrating!


What about this one?

Bareheaded Warrior wrote:Following a recent session with the app on the Lost Wizard quest I noticed the following glitches (if I am the only one to experience these I'll put it down to bad hardware or similar, but I'm posting in case I'm not the only one!)

One of the Stone Dread Warriors, moved its full movement allowance, ending adjacent to the Wizard but then its turn ended and play moved to the next monster without it attacking (obviously I just rolled the attack on its behalf but it was a glitch although a minor one compared to the next one)

Upon achieving the objective and my first Hero reaching the stairs and exiting the dungeon as normal, then my second hero hit the stairs and I confirmed ‘do you want to leave the dungeon’ but then a second message appeared asking me to confirm whether my third hero wanted to leave the dungeon, despite him not being on or even near the stairs, I hit 'Yes', then prompted for my fourth and last Hero to leave the dungeon, also he wasn’t near the stairs and I clicked 'No' just to see what would happen (why, oh why?), this left me in a state where the game was still open and running but with no Heroes on the board! I couldn’t get out of the game so had to leave and cancel and then run through it on the app again.



Moving on...

HispaZargon wrote:
Kurgan wrote:So reports are that the monsters attack the nearest hero now, instead of hero #1, etc.

As far as I know, yes, they try to attack the nearest hero but if they are at same distance could attack anyone, I guess they decide it randomly in that case.

Kurgan wrote:Using Pass Through Rock causes instant death or becoming "stuck" when moving into solid rock (when you should be able to leave).

No changes. Same problem exists as in previous versions of the app.

Kurgan wrote:Not sure about the Rapier only being able to attack diagonals in this version.

Not relevant for the app use because user can decide which monster is attacked. The user should know which weapon is the hero using and their limitations.

However there is a misprint in the App since it indicates the starting weapon of the Bard is a dagger which is wrong:

Screenshot_20220527-121350_HeroQuest.jpg

About the shadows rule in Forsaken Tunnels of Xor-Xel, it is introduced in the app but not perfectly. There are situations where the hero reveals parts of the map inside the range of the torch but without line of sight, so it is not correct. See the example below, the Barbarian goes outside the small room and he reveals part of upper and lower corridors of central room, without line of sight for that from he is located. Squares marked with red pointa would had never be revealed according to game rules:

Screenshot_20220527-120739_HeroQuest.jpg

In my opinion this is a clear bug.



Good insights! Can someone who has a Twitter account PLEASE share these errata with Avalon Hill & "Zargon" (aka Hasbro)? If I had one, I would...

I might be able to borrow a smart phone to download the app over the weekend holiday but mainly I was just interested to know what bugs still were present, which it sounds like there are several, despite the welcome new artwork and new narration which I realize requires more resources to create... Can we get an "Import your own quest" feature? People could record their own narration or have a text box (maybe with a text to speech program to simulate the GM talking) ? That would be a really enticing feature.

Also... it needs to be usable on a regular PC, not just mobile devices!!!

Also, Stephen Baker's Rogar's Hall ought to be added! (even if it is super difficult and probably not a great quest for most noobs).

Come to think of it, what would be the harm in releasing the "Mythic exclusive" quest books in there? Only Crypt of Perpetual Darkness uses the special assets (with the sole exception of the "Orc Bard" being a backup hero in Spirit Queen's Torment which can easily be simulated since that Hero is already in the App and the playtest info has been online for years now through Hasbro) that aren't present in the retail edition... and even then those aren't too important (like the Inn or the Temple which are background tiles and you could simulate the final Dragon with any other monster since he still only takes up one square). In fact, the "special" tiles could also be simulated using the unused tiles from the GS, KK, ROTWL ("mystery" tiles for instance). Throw in the Guardian Knight while you're at it (even if it would dredge up sad memories for many fans)... whose stats are also all over the internet for playtesting.

Granted, they are probably busy completing the future Frozen Horror module for the App, but still. It will be interesting to see how they implement Mercenaries, but probably similar to Sir Ragnar.


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Re: HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

Postby AerynB » Friday May 27th, 2022 9:21pm

Kurgan wrote:
Bareheaded Warrior wrote:Following a recent session with the app on the Lost Wizard quest I noticed the following glitches (if I am the only one to experience these I'll put it down to bad hardware or similar, but I'm posting in case I'm not the only one!)

One of the Stone Dread Warriors, moved its full movement allowance, ending adjacent to the Wizard but then its turn ended and play moved to the next monster without it attacking (obviously I just rolled the attack on its behalf but it was a glitch although a minor one compared to the next one)

Upon achieving the objective and my first Hero reaching the stairs and exiting the dungeon as normal, then my second hero hit the stairs and I confirmed ‘do you want to leave the dungeon’ but then a second message appeared asking me to confirm whether my third hero wanted to leave the dungeon, despite him not being on or even near the stairs, I hit 'Yes', then prompted for my fourth and last Hero to leave the dungeon, also he wasn’t near the stairs and I clicked 'No' just to see what would happen (why, oh why?), this left me in a state where the game was still open and running but with no Heroes on the board! I couldn’t get out of the game so had to leave and cancel and then run through it on the app again.


I'm actually on The Lost Wizard with my new Heroes team. I *think* I remember my first team's chance at this quest had a Stone Dread Warrior move its full movement and not attack. I remember thinking that was odd. But that didn't happen this time tonight. One Stone Warrior moved its whole movement and still attacked. I don't think I experienced the other glitch where each Hero was prompted to leave the dungeon in turn, but it didn't happen for me tonight. Each hero had to make it to the stairs to exit the quest as usual.


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Re: HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

Postby Kurgan » Sunday May 29th, 2022 1:20am

Got a few minutes to mess around with it tonight (last chance for awhile) on an iphone. Noted some stuff I didn't really pay attention to last time (this is 1.4 I'm looking at now). Of course two of the free quests are added in their own section (the "what order should these be played in?" debate rages on!) as others have mentioned and the Mythic exclusive heroes (including "Mentor" and the sex-swapped heroes) remain. Since I played last time of course KK & ROTWL have been added also and the "Pulse quests" form their own section, teasing us as if more should be expected in the future (you mean Rogar's Hall, right?).

I see you can just outright kill any revealed monster at the touch of a button if you want, they don't even have to be within range. You can also deal as much damage to a monster as you want almost (15 skulls worth of damage?). You can add and subtract stats from 0-20 for each segment for a hero (attack, defend, body, mind) regardless of what they have. It seems still not all spells or artifacts have artwork, many still just say refer to the card (I guess they're still afraid of people playing the app without wishing to buy the physical game?).

Treasure appears only if it's a quest treasure, otherwise of course, draw a card.

Sir Ragnar can also have his stats tweaked, so strictly speaking the App doesn't care if you heal him up higher than 2 BP or give him armor and weapons and let him attack stuff (in theory) even though the text reminds you he can't fight. His mind points are 0 (is he in shock? taking into account the yet to be revealed but we know them already rules for heroes with 0 mind points from Frozen Horror 1992 the same as Elf Quest Pack also 1992!). Of course it's the honor system so still up to you to apply those buffs to him just as you would any hero. And he can still search for stuff like everybody else, but if he dies (you can kill him at the click of a button) it gives a message saying you've failed the quest and get no reward. So, easy to see how they would handle Mercenaries.

The app doesn't care what weapons people have, it will simply allow them to use all the spells that character type could use and they could have any artifacts and you can adjust their stats to reflect whatever you are doing. Each character has a "card" you can refer to that shows their starting stats (the original numbers are in red, but you can make them anything you want and they'll be in blue). You can rename your character on the fly and it will refer to them as such. So I named the Druid "Amazon" and it referred to her in the game text as "the Amazon" as if that were her type rather than her name (at the start you pick 1-4 heroes in the up to four slots and they are the character types and you just name the "Party"). You can of course play the quests in any order and they are always the same as in the quest books.

I didn't check to see if the missing door from Return of the Witch Lord had been reinstated or the empty chest/pit trap thing in Legacy of the Orc Warlord was addressed...

It's the honor system so you could theoretically have one hero take a super long turn, move all over the board, kill every monster with one hit and no resistance by skipping Zargon's turn completely, and pass straight through furniture like it's not even there.


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Re: HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

Postby AerynB » Sunday May 29th, 2022 1:40am

It's not a HQ video game. You are meant to play with the boardgame, or at the very least character sheets, dice, game cards and rulebook. It does a good job with revealing rooms and corridors as well as keeping traps and secrets hidden until searched. I'm very happy with it and hope they continue to add quests!


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Re: HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

Postby Kurgan » Tuesday May 31st, 2022 10:05am

You're right, it's not a complete game and is probably fine for a first run through the quests for somebody who doesn't want to play as the GM (or can only play solo).

Nice to see that the Forsaken Tunnels of Xor Xel from six months ago got on there, I wonder how long before Rogar's Hall gets added? People on Twitter should ask Avalon Hill & "ZARGON." Nicely of course. ;)
Last edited by Kurgan on Tuesday May 31st, 2022 10:06am, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

Postby cornixt » Tuesday May 31st, 2022 10:06am

It would be nice if someone could decipher the way that the quests are stored by the app so that people could add their own quests to the app themselves.


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Re: HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

Postby Kurgan » Tuesday May 31st, 2022 10:08am

In other words, hack the app or reverse engineer and make a better version of it? That's cool, but Hasbro should just do that themselves...

I bet the community could design a better one. I've never programmed an app, so I have no room to talk, but it seems the most work involved here is the voice acting and new artwork.

If they are genuinely afraid that people will use the App in place of the physical board game if it were too complete, this desired feature may never happen, but let them know what you think on Twitter (I don't have an account). I could see the App being a kind of advertisement for the board game in a sense.

I think more people would use the app if you could randomize the existing quests at the very least and even more so if you could easily import your own quests (even if the voice acting would be text only or text to speech if you didn't plan to record a bunch of dialog clips in place of the generic ones that app already has). It's not exactly new technology we're taking about here...

Of course if you're on the PC you can use stuff like heroscribe or hquestbuilder now easily enough but probably most casual buyers have no idea those programs exist, sadly.
Last edited by Kurgan on Friday April 14th, 2023 4:58pm, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

Postby cornixt » Tuesday May 31st, 2022 11:43am

I'm assuming that the app stores the quest data on the device in some compressed form, so you wouldn't need to hack the app itself, just manipulate the files it uses. I have no idea if that is the case though, but it is how most database-related apps work so that you don't have to touch the actual code when updating the data. There's nothing super proprietary in the quests, no personal data, so nothing needs to be encrypted, but that doesn't mean it isn't - some app makers just encrypt stuff as standard.

EDIT: Had a quick download to check it out. Looks like the quests are rolled up in the global-metadata.dat file, along with a lot of other things. I have no idea how to unpack it to even begin decoding how they format the quest layout, but I do see some hints that they store stuff in Excel spreadsheet formats, which is both odd and makes complete sense at the same time.


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Re: HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

Postby TheLastChaosWarrior » Thursday June 2nd, 2022 3:35pm

Can't WAIT to play the Frozen Horror on the app!!!
As an EW player, I probably won't get an opportunity to play as a Hero any other way.
Was playing KK Quest 5 the other night, and up till then have been breezing through it.
But Heroquest can show how it's simplicity can be brutal at times.
Had some shocking dice rolls for a few rounds and ended up with all my Hero's except my Tank Barbarian finishing with a handful of body points each.
Dicey game indeed.
Had a Dread warrior roll four skills against the Elf once, and all Elf managed in defence was 1 shield, so BOOM that was him down to 3 in one go.
I'm playing with the old figures, as I find the new ones take too much space especially them dread warriors, but I play on the new larger board.
I do love the new Abominations, so am writing a series of quests explaining why these are one of Morcars minions!
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Re: HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

Postby Kurgan » Thursday June 2nd, 2022 5:38pm

Yeah, the Frozen Horror will destroy you, unless you homebrew some fixes in there to the rules. Even a fully equipped Barbarian (from completing GS, KK and even ROTWL) can die pretty easily in the first three quests if he meets a Yeti. I haven't play tested the group quests myself, but I suppose if you have the gold to keep yourself tricked out with potions and/or mercenaries, they may be more survivable.


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