Feral Heart is an MMORPG developed by KovuLKD. It is animal-themed and inspired by the works of Disney, most notably The Lion King (1994). In the game, players can create their own animal characters, feline or canine, and explore several pre-made maps, or make their own. The game is themed around user-controlled roleplaying, with no goal other than to meet up and chat with others.
It was created to be the replacement to KovuLKD's previous game, Impressive Title, with a more realistic art style in contrast to the cartoony, Disneyesque-styled characters of the previous game. Additionally, it was also made to be much more user-friendly to content creators by adding Map Maker, Sky Maker, and Object Maker modes to allow editing maps and objects in real-time. Though the most contrasting change was the lack of hunt-able prey and decorative items that Impressive Title had, which was done in response to the frequent theft and drama associated with them. However, as of January 2012, items were added back into the game but can only be accessed through the Character Customization screen and downloading the content from the official forums.
The game was released on January 1, 2011, with the server first coming online in February, a year after the previous closure of Impressive Title. The website and game download can be found here
. Registrations open and close at random intervals.
Tropes appearing in Feral Heart:
- Action Bar: Clicking on the lion head icon with give players access to a list of actions and emotes that they can use for videos, roleplays, dancing, etc.
- Artifact Title: Despite its name, Bonfire Island doesn't have a bonfire at the center of it like the original.
- Character Customization: Before entering the world for the first time, players must create a character. They may choose the species (feline or canine), proportions, markings, equipment and color of said character. After that, character slots are unlimited.
- Disneyesque: The character models are this, being heavily inspired by the works themselves.
- Expansion Pack: FeralHeart+, which was an official map pack that updated the original maps and added new ones for players to explore, but presented itself as an optional download. However, it was removed after its creator could no longer work on it thanks to losing files after a computer crash.
- Floating Continent: Skys Rim features a series of floating islands in the sky that players can rest on.
- Floating Platforms: Ascension Island has always had these since Impressive Title, but this time they present as obstacles to enter Skys Rim. In Skys Rim, floating platforms act as bridges between islands.
- Glowing Eyes: Players can choose to have these by default in Character Customization, either as glowing cat slits, glowing pupiless eyes, glowing orbs, etc.
- Gravity Barrier: One of the major changes in gameplay, as players can no longer effortlessly run up slopes or walls like they did in Impressive Title.
- Hellish Pupils: At least three varieties of these can be chosen for character's eyes in the Character Customization menu, which are normal cat slits, cat slits with black sclera, and glowing cat slits with black sclera. Note that while cat slits are normal for felines, they can also be used for canine characters, which often invoke this trope.
- Hub Level: Cape of Distant Worlds is supposed to be the player's means of access to maps downloaded off the forums.
- Invisible Wall: The maps do eventually come to an end, and you will run into one of these if you go too far.
- Level Editor: The game includes a Map Maker, which allows players to modify terrain and add objects in order to make a new map.
- Mighty Roar: In the Action Bar menu, feline players can select the Roar action to roar at any time while canine players have a mighty howl.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: While players do have some restrictions on mixing feline traits with canine ones and vice versa for their characters due to incompatibility between models, they can still customize feline characters with dragon and goblin ears, while canine characters can still have cat tails and cheetah markings. Additionally, both species also have access to bird and bat wings without any restriction.
- Moonwalk Dance: Also in the Action Bar menu, though the dance resembles a certain dance from The Lion King (1994) more than Jackson's iconic dance.
- Palmtree Panic: Most of the maps are either tropical islands or feature large, expansive beaches. These include but not limited to, Bonfire Island, Cape of Distant Worlds, Lonely Cave, and Ascension Island. Along with the addition of Kiwimbi Beach in 1.15, maps like Lonely Cave become much more populated with tropical flora and Bonfire Island is replaced with Bonfire Islands.
- Playing Possum: Can be found in the Action Bar menu, in case players want to faint, play dead, or actually be dead for roleplays or chat communications.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The now-obsolete South Pole acted as the coldest, snowiest area in the game prior to 1.15, in which it was replaced by Kibou Ridge, a map based on the North American taigas with its snowy mountains and coniferous forests.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Characters can go for a swim and never have to come up for air, ever.
- Super-Speed: Wingless players can dash around with their sprint ability, though it only grants short bursts of speeds. But if used consecutively, it can come off as Super-Speed and shorten travel time between maps.
- Underwater Ruins: True to its name, it makes sense that Atlantis would also contain a set of ruins for players to explore, this time being Roman colosseums and buildings to represent the long-lost city.
- Video Game Flight: Winged players can fly infinitely except in certain areas such as Ascension Island to prevent them from cheesing the level.
- Wall of Text: The signs in Lonely Cave, which all feature a wall of black and orange text describing the rules of the game.
- Wide-Open Sandbox: There are several open maps to explore, with no limitations or goals. Many more user-created areas can be downloaded from the forum.
- Wintry Auroral Sky: The northern lights practically dance around the snowy mountaintops in Kibou Ridge.
