How Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising Got Its Groove Back

As Heatwave Interactive gears up for the June 21 launch of Gods & Heroes, we sat down with CEO Anthony Castoro to find out how they breathed new life into this once abandoned game.

When it comes to any industry where a strong sense of creativity is integral to succeeding, sometimes the most difficult task isn’t about finding the greatest idea; rather, it’s about having the discipline and vision to carry that idea to the end. Take, for example, the story of Perpetual Entertainment, a company best known for developing two MMORPGs: Star Trek Online and Gods & Heroes. Unfortunately, these two games would never make it to launch under their original developer, and while the Star Trek license would be quickly scooped up by Cryptic Entertainment, it seemed that Perpetual Entertainment’s Gods & Heroes, a more thematically unique MMO set in Ancient Rome, was doomed to the realms of vaporware for good.

That is, until Heatwave Interactive, a small development studio based out of Austin, Texas, picked up the rights to Gods & Heroes last year and decided to give this game a new life. Now, after taking up the monumental task of creating something unique out of the abandoned foundation of a six-year-old project, not only has Heatwave Interactive managed to bring Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising into reality, but in just one short year of development, it’s managed to add a style that is distinctively its own. I decided to sit down with Anthony Castoro, CEO of Heatwave Interactive and executive producer of Gods & Heroes, to talk about the things they’ve done to make this MMO their own as they gear up for the game's official launch on June 21.

On first acquiring the Gods & Heroes rights, Castoro says that Heatwave’s “biggest challenge was about giving the game a direction and wanting to put a Heatwave imprint on it.” When Gods & Heroes was announced in 2005 under Perpetual Entertainment, its unique claim was the use of an expansive minion system, where players could recruit unique NPCs to fight alongside them. But six years is a long time in our fast-paced industry and, since then, there have been dozens of MMOs that have created some sort of minion system of their own, and Castoro notes that it was really the rich history and mythology of Ancient Rome that grabbed their interest. 

Heatwave has already taken some unique steps in showcasing Ancient Rome through the introduction of its estates system. In the tradition of the times, Gods & Heroes gives players their own property that they can customize. But estates aren’t just for aesthetic appeal; with different buildings and constructions, players can focus their estates toward specific tasks or goals, like the creation of certain resources or training facilities, or for the less ambitious player, creating an aesthetically appealing personal space in which to relax. Castoro is rightfully proud in pointing out that estates “transform Gods & Heroes from a linear theme-park of PvE experience into something you want to live in and build for a long time.” In other words, estates are the first step Heatwave is taking to add a unique direction to Gods & Heroes.

You can see what the estates system looks like in-game by watching the trailer below.

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