News


  • Added new creature 'Infernal Lich' replacing 'Venom Spawn'
  • Created Spazz Maticus First Mission, where you lead him from a spoiled kid to a king or alike..
  • Fixed resolutions ratios

Ah, news from Nemostar are always sweet.. ;)

Of course a lot of bugfixes. 

Thank You Nemo!

Discord | HC | Download


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Main improvements and changes - What will be the differences? - Events Editor - Diplomacy - Beta in early 2022

There's new Dev Blog at MuHa Games and this time it's going to be more interesting, as you finally see something from the mechanic and planned things. You can read full Dev Blog here.

..customising your playthrough is a feature we hope to greatly improve from the original. So apart from the usual difficulty settings, we’d like to include as many on/off options as we can, especially when it comes to things that stray from the original, but not exclusively so. 

As an example, in addition to the option of turning the game’s events on/off, we already have a second pack of events that will also be optional. Another plan is to have customisable AI difficulty. While these are only a few examples, our intention is to build up this list, especially once the game is playable and thus open to more precise feedback.

 MoM2 Event Editor

Another feature that already received a makeover, are the events. There will be two event packs at launch, one, the original 18 events, and another, with brand new ones. You will of course be able to switch both/either on and off. While the original events are copied from the old game directly, they have been updated and given alternate routes. So, when you encounter an earthquake for example, in the original, it was simply a notification, in the new version, you may have an option to mitigate the effects. The new event pack will follow the same rule, events that occur will have multiple ways of resolution, instead of them being simple notice.

MoM2 Earthquake

 

The plan is for Master of Magic to remain as a single player game. .. This may change in the future of course.. 

MoM2 TauronEvolution

As for the other moddable features, driven by xml-based databases, players may modify a large number of the game’s functionality via easy to use text editors. Some examples of things you will be able to mod:

 

  • Units and heroes by adding/removal of skills and attributes, or by creation of new units. Give them the ability to add XP (not all units do), the ability to regenerate or change their upkeep costs.
  • Spells, skills and enchantments – our system allows the modification of a large number of basic parameters, while some scripts driving their exact functionality and the way AI interprets their value are in a separate file, written in c# and also open for modification.

Apart from the database, players with more technical skills may look into exposed c# scripts that the game uses to make decisions in many areas. For example, “BattleAIScripts“ allow modders to change the way the AI makes decisions during battle, how it handles spell casting, unit movement and decides when to shoot, when to attack and when to run.

 

Other script files handle spell, skill or enchantment functionalities, including those that estimate their value for the AI and the scripts that are used when an effect is applied or removed in the game

 

Will diplomacy be improved?

 

Yes. Diplomacy in the original game was complex, but it was mostly suffering from a very large number of issues and bugs. We aim to recreate the system, but of course also fix it.

Edit1:
Art by Iwo Widuliński


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 H3 tBG units

How I will know exact date when the game will be ready on kickstarter?

Subscribe at https://homm3boardgame.com and from here also on kickstarter. You will receive notification e-mail when it will all begin. And that shall be at November 2022.

Who is staying behind the game?

Archon Studio, thoroughtful maker of tabletop games and miniatures with love and help of kickstarter platform. You can see their previous activities here.

Is that official?

Yes, the project got official blessing from Ubisoft.

Is that first?

Also yes, to my knowledge this will be the first Heroes III board game, with Ubisoft blessing.

Also we have been lucky and sent Kamil a few questions:

CH: "The core game will feature three Towns to choose from: Inferno, Castle, and a yet to be announced faction. Each Town will feature two heroes to play as, along with creatures representing each Town."
Will backers have some chance to influence it? Iana did all towns but her Minotaur is really famous.

AS: Yep, of course, more towns could be unlocked during the KS campaign, and backers totally will have an impact on it.

CH: "The game will come with over 30 detailed miniatures, including famous heroes like, ‘Catherine Ironfist’ and ‘Xeron’, as well as iconic creatures like Archangels, infamous Devils, and all-time classic Dragons."
Models will be colorized or not? At what size?

AS: We'll offer pre-assembled miniatures, but unpainted. 25mm bases, 32mm - high.

CH: The Gameplay. That's a a big question, how it will be done. Can you say more about it?

AS: The game will have an exploration aspect - the main map will be created from the hexagonal tiles. The battles would take place on different boards, and players will be using units miniatures (some kind of a "quick chess" system). Also, economic aspects will be present - mines controlling, the town's developing (special town boards)....

 

CH: How many people are working on the project?

AS:  In the early stage, about a dozen. Deliver game best strategy in the HOMM3 universe as possible. And create a game for fans - we encourage to participate in our survey.

CH: If you can say, who stays behind game mechanic and art?

AS: We'll be using well-known in the community Iana's Vengerova's arts and Tomasz Badalski's works.

The main game's designers are Jakub Olekszyk (Wolfenstein, MOTU: Fields of Eternia) and Kamil Białkowski (MOTU: Fields of Eternia - solo rules).

CH: Any special event/activities/effects? Like Week of Imps? Holy Grail? Teleport?

AS: Sure! We're trying to find the best solution for implementing special effects.

CH: For an inspiration, do you know Karak? (That's tabletop game of year, here in Czech Republic. Dungeon. )

AS: Yep, we know "Karak" but it's mostly a dungeon crawler, so that's a different genre.

Thank you Kamil for coming and arranging the answers from your Archon Studio teammates. Much appreciated! You have our eternal thanks on the behalf of whole CH Team.smile teeth


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MMXL Beauty and the Beast 115947 157397

Might & Magic X - Legacy is back! And Ubisoft claims that all has been fixed and as a bonus, for owners of a base game, all DLCs are free.

Back as back, come and check on Steam.
 

-- And in fact, you can now gladly ignore the review bombing, as it isn't relevant anymore. --

Ubisoft says:

"Our teams have spent the last few months investigating and testing the different solutions to make sure players' experience lives up to our standards in terms of quality of service," the Ubisoft Support account tweeted. "Today, we're happy to announce that all conditions are met to bring the game back to the Ubisoft Store and Steam, and that new and returning players can now venture into the wide and mysterious world of Ashan again."
As an apology for the hassle, Ubisoft is also making The Falcon and the Unicorn DLC free for all owners of the base game.

Let us know, if it meets your requirements too! smile teeth

~source: pcgamer


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Behold the cult classic soundtrack of Heroes of Might and Magic III, brought to vinyl for the very first time at long last, and in an awesome edition it truly deserves! We teamed up with Paul Anthony Romero and Rob King, the original creators of this masterpiece, to bring it back to life in a way which does justice to the legacy of both the game and music itself.

 

Magdalena Katańska about creating Cover Arts:

You can read more details about this nuff stuff at gamemusic.net and if you happen to get in love with this piece of music, you can order it right away.

Behind the Scenes - P.A.R. and Matthias Adloff talks:


The important stuff summary is here:

  • 2 x LP 180 gram in antistatic sleeves. Available in four classic colors:
  • Necropolis Black, Inferno Red, Rampart Green, Castle Blue
  • First pressing, edition limited to 1000 copies total.
  • Remastered for vinyl by Matthias Adloff and Rob King.
  • Exclusive cover design by Magdalena Katańska, see her ArtStation profile
  • Estimated shipping date – Spring 2022.
  • Payment options: Card (Visa, Mastercard).

Vinyl Track List:

[SIDE A]
    THE PRIDE OF ERATHIA
    SEARCHING THE HIGHLANDS
    CROSSING AT THE STRONGHOLD
    A COLD CRUSADE
    BEAUTY IN THE DARKEST OF THINGS
    PASSAGE TO THE INFERNO
    LIZARD MARSHES
    THE SEARCH FOR GREATER LANDS
    THE OCEANS OF ERATHIA
    WANDERING THROUGH THE DESERT

[SIDE B]
    ESCAPE FROM NIGHON
    THE DRUID & THE RANGER
    THE HERETIC’S PLAN
    THE KINGDOM OF TATALIA
    THE WIZARD & THE ALCHEMIST
    THE NECROPOLIS
    THE REIGN OF THE ORCS
    THE ALTAR OF MAGIC
    WELCOME TO STEADWICK

[SIDE C]
    CAPTURING THE LANDS
    FIGHTING FOR THE KING
    FOR BLOOD & HONOR
    THE BATTLE OF ANTAGARICH
    A CONTEMPLATION OF STRATEGY
    A QUICK STROLL THROUGH THE KINGDOM
    SNEAKING THROUGH ERATHIA
    A HERO’S VICTORY

[SIDE D]
    A SONG FOR CATHERINE
    NO REST FOR THE LICH KING
    ROLAND’S REPRISE
    SECRET OF THE GRAIL ARTIFACT
    QUEST TO FREE KING ROLAND
    A PASSAGE TO BRACADA
    AVLEE’S PROMENADE
    THE DEMONIAC’S ODYSSEY
    CONTESTED LANDS
    KING ROLAND’S RETURN
    PLANNING GRYPHONHEART’S DEMISE
    THE NECROMANCERS OF DEYJA
    THE PILGRIMAGE TO KREWOLD
    NO REST FOR CRUSADERS

 PS Do you still have gramophone? The only backside here is, that they are listed like "Out of Stock". I will try to ask them, if there are some better news.

BACK Wizualizacja pojedyncza 2021 800x512

 And there are :)

We cannot promise anything yet but please follow us, it is probable that we will work on the second pressing in a couple of months.

Best regards
gamemusic team


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Nelly posted on his channel "Bored With Nelly", exhaustive and over a hour long interview with David Mullich. And profesionally divided it into sections, so you can jump to point of (your) interest.

Who is David Mullich? Check our page.

0:00 Intro
1:30 How David Got Into Video Game Design
10:57 The Prisoner Discussion
19:02 How The Prisoner Broke The 4th Wall
23:00 State Of Video Games Today
30:50 Was The Prisoner Used By The CIA
32:45 The Prisoner 2
39:00 Hunger Mechanics/Craft Systems - First Of Its Kind
42:15 Working At Disney - Ducktales
44:25 David's Time At 3DO/Heroes Might and Magic
48:50 The Story Behind The Iconic Art Of Heroes
51:18 The Controversy That Led To Elemental Expansion
58:23 The Beauty Of Heroes 3 Exploits
1:04:41 The Heroes 3 esports Scene/favorite strategy
1:09:05 New Heroes Games/Outro

Very relaxed interview. Thanks Nelly for creating it and pinging us. thumbsup


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Disciples: Liberation is coming. This dark mature and very remote sibling to HoMM games (but not so much), will be released at 21 October.

You can already watch developer's livestream at Steam, clickety here.

Developed by Frima Studio and producet by Kalypso Media. You can pre-order it now with 10% discount, from classic $49.99 (Deluxe) or from $39.99 (Standard Edition)

  • The game requirements are here:
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-7600K or AMD Ryzen 1700
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB or AMD Radeon RX 590 6 GB
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 8 GB available space

Check their FAQ to know more. Fun is promised, online fun is promised too but map editor is not.


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Jon Van Caneghem
January 2017
JVC 2016


Regular readers will know this name well: as one of the original founders of NWC and creator of the Might & Magic games, Jon is considered the spiritual father of the franchise. As he said it himselt: "I wrote the first Might and Magic while finishing college on an Apple II, and I’ve been making games ever since." After 3DO went belly up in 2003, he moved on to other things while Ubisoft would eventually pick up the baton and continue the series. Currently, he's CEO of VC Mobile Entertainment. After the release of Creature Quest, we were able to get him to answer some questions for us.

CreatureQuest 41. What's your current job? Please outline what your work entails.
"CEO, so I oversee everything involved with running the company, but I try to spend as much time on game design as possible."

2. What's your favorite part of the job?
"Designing new games and playing new games, but working with a talented and enthusiastic team is by far the most fulfilling."

3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
"Hopefully doing what I’m doing now but with multiple teams."

4. What do you like to do in your free time? Do you still race cars?
"Yes, I’m quite active with several racing organizations and I won a national championship with NASA-pro racing 4 years in row! I still play lots of games on PC and Mobile, but my hobby has always been racing cars."

5. What was your inspiration for Creature Quest?
"I was enjoying many of the current mobile games and I had the idea to bring some of the elements that made Heroes so much fun to the genre. So many people who have mobile devices have never experienced anything like this."

6. What are you most proud of?
"When making something new, it’s very difficult to create a game that’s fun and addicting. I’m very proud of how the game has evolved, the decisions we made along the way and how much fun it is to play."

7. How big is the team?
"We just past 20 people and growing."

8. What are you hoping for with the global release?
"We all hope for a big hit, but just having a large number of players try the game and enjoy playing will be awesome."

9. You're just now launching globally; why the "soft launch", why didn't you launch globally right away?
"In the mobile world, this is quite common. We have made a tremendous amount of changes and adjustments during our soft launch, which is difficult to do in the PC/console world, but it gives us a chance to iterate and polish before we go out to a large audience. Its especially important for free to play games that only generate revenue from players sticking around."

CreatureQuest 510. What are your future plans for the game?
"We have an entire roadmap for the next year and beyond. It really becomes a live service like the MMO world where we have the ability to constantly add and improve the game, and respond to consumer feedback."

11. What does Creature Quest have in common with the games in the Might & Magic franchise?
"The combat system has the same feel as the early M&M RPG’s (party of portraits, taking turns attacking waves of creatures). The adventure part of the game is like exploring maps in Heroes, find treasure, resources, battle blocking armies, completing quests."

12. How is working on a mobile game different from the PC games?
"Embracing the input differences is probably the biggest challenge; swiping and tapping is very different from keyboard / mouse / controller. The play session length also makes for very different focus and scope. This means different types of games will work better than others. The list goes on, but at the end of the day it still must be fun!"

13. Fans like to think about "the road not taken" - did you have any specific plans for the future of the M&M/Heroes series, lore-wise and gameplay-wise? Did you have any visions for Heroes V or other games?
"I really wanted to make Might and Magic Online a long time ago, this was before EQ and all the MMOs. We started on it and had a lot of great systems and ideas, unfortunately I was never able to finish it. For Heroes, I had a very cool design for V that I would still like to do and now with all the connectivity and server power available, so many new cool things could be done with the Heroes franchise… (raising and waving hands in air)"

14. Were you proud of the creature lineups of HOMM IV factions? Were you planning to do radical changes in HOMM V factions due to fan reactions?
"Yes and yes, but the most heated debate was whether or not to allow the heroes on the battlefield (H3 vs H4)"

15. Do you think there's a chance you might work on M&M/Heroes related titles in the future?
"Hmm… maybe?"

16. What do you think is the future of gaming? Will mobile games grow at the expense of PCs and consoles?
"The future of gaming is… more gaming. I think all the platforms will grow, although mobile will always reach a much larger audience."

 

That's it - big thanks to Jon for taking the time and we hope to hear more from him in the future.

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Tracy Iwata
January 2017



CreatureQuest 31. A quick bio: what's your story? How did you get into gaming and what's been your career so far?

I got hooked on video games when I was a kid. I took classes for programming and graphics, aiming to be an animator or programmer to work on a game. New World Computing was my first job, thanks to Julia Ulano who liked my fantasy art. It was fun creating 2d animated sprites for Heroes II and seeing the game box in the stores. Things shifted to 3d for Might and Magic VI. From that point on the games used 3d models. When NWC relocated to Solvang, I went around different companies and learned new skills along the way, but I still missed working on fantasy games. Then JVC sent me an email and now I’m working on his Creature Quest project. It is so exciting to be working with familiar faces that I have not seen in years.

 

2. What's your current job? Please outline what your work entails.

I create the visual effects that are used to enhance gameplay on Creature Quest. They help pop out a feature in the interface or creature - such as sparkles over a button, or flames from a creature.

 

3. What's your favorite part of the job?

Watching other people having fun playing the game.

 

4. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I hope to be working on a creative project in some form.

 

5. What do you like to do in your free time?

I enjoy drawing creatures, and playing video games.

 

CreatureQuest 26. How many creatures are there?

There are over 500 creatures in the game, including all the variations of evo states.

 

7. What’s your favourite aspect of the game?

The map quests, I enjoy exploring and uncovering goodies. It is also a good way to collect items that level up your creatures.

 

8. What does Creature Quest have in common with the games in the Might & Magic franchise?

It is from JVC, lol. The strategy of building a team of creatures and improving their stats is there.

 

9. How is working on a mobile game different from the PC games?

There is a smaller limit on the amount of data a mobile game can push compared to a PC. I would love to have higher particle counts for each creature. As the chipset technology improves, mobile devices will eventually play more graphic intensive games.

 

Editor's note: Thanks to Tracy for taking the time. smiley
Creature Quest launches globally in two days, on January 26th. It will be available for free download on Google Play and iTunes.

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Bryan Farina
January 2017



1. A quick bio: what's your story? How did you get into gaming and what's been your career so far?

NWClogo"I started gaming in the late ‘70s when my tech-loving father got a PONG system for our TV.  Then  he bought a computer in 1982, a used Atari 800.  I was connecting to BBS systems and downloading and uploading games (at 300Bd!) when I was 10 years old.  We upgraded to an IBM clone in ’86 or ’87, and I’ve been upgrading every few years ever since.

My career started at New World Computing in 1995 as a QA tester. In very short order I became a Technical Writer, then a Designer, and then a Producer.  For Heroes I and II, I was the QA Lead, contributed heavily to both strategy guides, wrote the Heroes II manual, and did map building and other design work.  I became more full-time design for Might and Magic VI and VII, and then shifted into more of a Producer role for the later Heroes and Might and Magic games.

After New World, things have been a blur. I worked at NCSoft for a bit on an MMO game that never released. Then I was part of the team that founded Trion Worlds and worked on (what became) Rift. After that I went to Electronic Arts to bring Command and Conquer to the online world. When that was cancelled, I pushed JVC to start VCME."


2. What's your current job? Please outline what your work entails.

"I’m the Executive Producer for Creature Quest.  As exotic as that title sounds, in reality I coordinate all the aspects of the game to try and keep things flowing as smoothly as possible.  Beyond just art, design, and programming you have to factor in external groups (localization, first parties), create release schedules and the processes for hitting them, while also trying to develop the people working for you."


3. What's your favourite part of the job?

"Nothing beats creating something original and having it come to life—moving from paper design to implementation, going through numerous tweaks and revisions, and finally getting a full version finished that you can hand to a stranger.

And when that stranger gets their hands on it and become enthralled—that moment you realize what you dreamed up actually connects with people - that’s my favorite part."


4. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

"That’s impossible to answer!  I wouldn’t see myself where I am today five years ago.  Ideally, I’ll still be here working on who-knows-what awesome, new thing.  If there’s one lesson I’ve learned, though, it’s that this industry is quite unpredictable."


5. What do you like to do in your free time?

"Primarily, I play games in my free time.  I love RPG and Strategy games the most, though I dabble a bit in other categories (FPS and action).  I prefer the PC to consoles, and I’ve been spending more and more time on mobile titles.

Outside of games I haven’t had that many other hobbies.  I’ve started to learn how to golf so that I can enjoy an ‘outdoor’ activity without requiring an organized team.  Recently, I’ve picked up reading books, primarily non-fiction, to gather up ideas and further develop my skills."

6. About Creature Quest: What devices does it play on?

"Creature Quest will be available on both iOS and Android devices through the App Store, Google Play, and Amazon.

7. How large is this world?

"We have over 20 different quests, each taking place in different regions of the world.  It’s hard to compare world sizes, and we’re not close to done building out all the different areas yet."

CreatureQuest 1

8. How do you keep the balance, is there a (battle) formula?

"Fortunately for us, JVC’s pet passion is balance.  He’s been very involved in making sure we have proper boundaries for the Creatures’ stats and abilities. Our ‘battle formula’ is actually derived from the original Heroes combat system."

9. What can you tell us about custom quest creation?

"At release, we aren’t supporting user-generated quests, though we have a lot of ideas for how to expand the guild/community features of the game."

10. Are there also Dungeons and Utopias?

"Not in the specific sense of the Heroes games. The quest maps have specific objectives, but they also have locations gating treasure and quest completion bonuses. The spirit is similar, but the specifics are different."

11. What's your target audience?

"Our primary audience are mobile gamers, and people moving into mobile games, that want games with depth and strategy. Obviously, we want to appeal to fans of JVC’s work (Heroes and Might and Magic), and in a broader sense not restrict our audience. One of the tentpoles that New World Computing had was to create games that could appeal to wide audiences - ages 8 to 80 and both genders - and we’ve tried to accomplish the same with Creature Quest.

12. How is money generated - in-app purchases?

"How to monetize a game is a question based entirely on the distribution platform for that game. Console games and traditional PC games were/are box purchase, primarily because there was no other way to easily distribute them. Modern console games have leveraged DLC more aggressively because they are now connected devices. Modern PC games (built solely for PC) are moving more and more towards free to play. Mobile games have tried both methods, and free to play has won handily. Having the widest possible audience is the smartest approach, and giving that audience the ability to enjoy the game before asking them to spend makes their purchase more considered and valuable.

Given that, our goal in crafting the game was to make sure we were consistent with certain principles: 1) that monetization does not gate progress, and 2) that the game is not filled with annoying ads. We play plenty of mobile games and know how irritating ‘pushy’ monetization can be. Our goal is that players choose to spend because they want more right now, as opposed to feeling like they have to spend to simply progress.

It is possible to play, and progress, without spending any money at all. Spending is like adding nitrous oxide to your car - it doesn’t make the car move, it makes the car go faster once it’s moving."

13. What does Creature Quest have in common with the games in the Might & Magic franchise?

"Creature Quest isn’t really a port of a Might and Magic game - it’s inspired by Might and Magic. There’s a map to explore with random encounters, humor, and combats like in Heroes. Those combats are presented and fought in manner similar to Might and Magic and there’s a wide range of Creatures to encounter and collect similar to both Heroes and Might and Magic. Creature Quest is an RPG game with some strategic elements, as opposed to a strategy game with RPG elements (like Heroes)."

14. How is working on a mobile game different from the PC games?

"For us, it’s been like turning the clock back. Our team is fewer than 20 people, which doesn’t happen much anymore in AAA console/PC development. Outside of that, it’s the interactions that are the most different - the display is much smaller than a monitor and the input mechanisms are significantly more limited - so creating UI and control schemes are pretty different than a PC game.

In addition, the monetization of modern mobile games (F2P), and the design around that, is very different from stand-alone PC development. Our goal here is to make spending in the game something you do to enhance or speed up your playing, without gating enjoyment of the game based on spending."

 

That's it - big thanks to Bryan for taking the time and we hope to hear more from him in the future.

 

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