Core Values

The Tactics Heroes Project strives to maintain its integrity as it continues to progress. These are the project's "core values", the attributes that define the project as a whole. They are not Tactics Heroes in and of themselves, but they are a major part of how the project is run and shape how the project grows.

 

 

Tactics Heroes is a turn-based strategy game with RPG elements.

 

This is probably the defining attribute of the project, and the one most people recognize when they think of Tactics Heroes. However, the most important thing to recognize here is that the project is a strategy game first. While the RPG elements make the project what it is, they are meant to compliment the strategy gameplay.

 

Tactics Heroes is easy to use.

 

Even if that ease of use costs us some powerful features. The idea of Tactics Heroes is to give people tools that they can use to have fun. If there's something really cool and unique that the project doesn't support and wouldn't be easy to implement or use, then you can bet that it will likely never be a part of Tactics Heroes. That is, in part, why we are so reluctant to introduce heavy customization to the game's formulas. Although they may be fairly easy to edit, it would make it harder to jump from campaign to campaign.

 

Tactics Heroes is open source freeware.

 

While the project started out as the closed source Fire Emblem Factory, it has become an open source project, and it will STAY that way. Tactics Heroes's open source, freeware nature is part of what defines it. It is also important to remember than Tactics Heroes is not GNU—it is distributed under its own license.

 

Tactics Heroes is not a democracy.

 

The Tactics Heroes Project has a single project leader. Many projects try to create by committee and, while it can produce spectacular results, it tends to lead to a project that is always fighting itself and trying to be too many things for too many people. Tactics Heroes, on the other hand, has a clear chain of command. That doesn't mean that we can ignore the user base, but when push comes to shove people need to realize that there is a specific person who calls the shots and makes the final calls.

 

Tactics Heroes is not Fire Emblem, but is Fire Emblem friendly.

 

This is an especially important one. No matter what features get into the project, it is essential that we remember to keep the project open to people who want to make Fire Emblem style gameplay. Although we have parted with Fire Emblem in many places, the setup is still "compatible" with Fire Emblem. We should not chain ourselves to doing things the Fire Emblem way, but we should be careful not to abandon it altogether.