Fanstratics - The Fifth Newsletter!
- by Pol
Hey, All.
Hope each of you is doing relatively well. Happy New Year and welcome to Fanstratics Newsletter #5 (January 2020).
A quick subscriber update...
Last Newsletter: ~2300.
This Newsletter: ~2550.
This month's Troop concept sketch is the Troll Witch. (Colorized by CH)
‘Thank you’ to everyone who wrote, especially the well wishers. If you have any questions or comments, regarding Fanstratics (FST) or Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (HoMM3), feel free to send them along, and I’ll try to answer them in future newsletters (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Please keep in mind, it may take at least 7 days before I reply.
This month, I have seven initial questions, including a COVID wrap-up, followed by part three of the lengthy interview I did with Tavern of Might and Magic.
Until next time.
Greg
Fanstratics Game Director & Designer
Read on: Fanstratics - The Fifth Newsletter!
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Happy New Year 2021
- by Pol
CelestialHeavens wish you happy New Year, crowned with success and health. There's short resume what happend in the land of Might & Magic and related parts:
- (KB2) Planned release of Kings Bounty 2 was shifted to March 2021, it will be different one, with emphasis laid to cinematic story line.
- (H3) Horn of the Abyss suffered grief lose of Docent Piccolan, a true reneissance man and leader of the project. Our condolences goes to his family and friends. Due to this unhappy event, Factory most likely won't be released at the end of the year as planned - but they may come with something else.
- (H7) Heroes project Wryn Pendragon: Umbramancer was cancelled but don't worry as it was released as Community Mod, The Shadows over Ashan (TSoA). The Athmos weather systems is still available in separate download.
- (H5) Legends of the Ancients have Book 3. And you are advised to play Book 1 & Book 2 and as last to install Book 3 and play just it. Quantomas is working on fixing that and also to employ here his new dreadful AI. The project homepage is here.
- (Ubisoft) Might and Magic Heroes Online ended. Elemental Guardians out of development
- (Ubisoft) The other ones are still living, and as of Era of Chaos is going they have Christmas - New Year Events, knowing Ubisoft it will be alike in other titles.
- Heroes Orchestra made two nice last year online arrangments: The Dungeon Arrangment and Snow Theme from H2 and ask for help, you know they cannot make concerts in these times. So I'm resending their links to donate and merch (music CD or Heroes T-Shirt).
- MadMax did outstanding job with video interviews featuring Tim Lang (Aeolwyn's Legacy developed by Dungeonbytes), Michael Wolf (Heroes 3 Level Designer) and Carl Toftfelt (Songs of Contest, developed by Lavapotion), you can find them all here at our YT account.
- Verokster did one more GL Wrapper for Heroes IV, glory to him! As a reminder his previous wrappers (H1-3) can be also downloaded here. His Heroes 3 GL Wrapper is already part of HD Mod.
- (H3) Era reached version 3.2. More about this WoG surpasser here. All ERM help included.
- (H4) H4ResourceEditor moved a leaps forward, if you are H4 modder try that!
- (MM) M&M 6,7,8 merge based on mm8 engine continually grows and have recently new graphic assets from jmaster
- (CIV) If you are Civilization fan, you may also check for H3 and H2 mods where Blake participated and ask him questions. To my knowlede H3 is done and H2 is work in progress.
- (H2) Free Heroes of Might and Magic II Resurrection is thirsting for life, very recently updated by sirDranik (This is a different mod than Free Heroes 2 Enhanced by ciplogic, which we informed about 2yrs ago and it's on hold, waiting for saviour.)
- (CH) is having its own Discord.
We hope that 2021 will be fruitfull for all, bringing new ideas and finished products for these who are making games, as well as for these playing and enhancing upon them.
Let your dreams guide you!
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Upcoming interview with Marcus Pregent
- by MadMax
The time has come for us to book in our next interview!
This time, we will be sitting down with Marcus Pregent, who worked as a level designer of Might and Magic VI, then progressed to Heroes of Might and Magic 3 for which he made the Armageddon's Blade campaign and some more single scenarios. One of the more notable ones being "Faeries".
He was also involved in Shadow of Death, creating the Elixir of Life campaign featuring the beloved Gelu.
Before the big "purge" of 3DO/NWC, he also worked on Legends of Might and Magic, JVC's interpretation of a MMORPG.
As per usual, I want to know if any of you would want to direct any questions to Marcus Pregent?
I will do my best to see if I can get any of the questions I missed in the interview with Michael Wolf in as well.
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Songs of Conquest Interview
- by MadMax
Songs of Conquest - Interview with Carl from Lavapotion
That's right folks! So, what took us so long?
We had to reschedule due to a small covid scare (don't worry, I took a test and it came back as negative, so it was "just" the regular flu). But here it is, approximately 1 hour of me and Carl from Lavapotion chatting and chilling in Lavapotions beautiful sofa.
Get to know more about Songs of Conquest, Lavapotion, the team behind it, what their inspirations are and more in this down to earth, podcast styled interview.
As always, we welcome you're feedback, but here are some quick answers to some possible questions;
What about the AI?
We decided not to discuss to much about the AI, basically because Carl is the Game Designer, not the AI programmer (that's Marcus) and because it's tough for us to discuss it in depth.
Cool shirt, where did you get it?
You can be as cool as me and wear a DungeonByte shirt by buying yours here: https://www.dungeonbyte.com/shop
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Fanstratics - The Fourth Newsletter!
- by Pol
Hey, All.
Hope each of you is doing relatively well, and welcome to Fanstratics Newsletter #4 (December 2020).
Greetings those of you finding your way here from...
A quick subscriber update...
Last Newsletter: ~1950.
This Newsletter: ~2300.
This month's Troop concept sketch is the Gnoll Spear Thrower. For those of you who find art production interesting, Justin showcased his rendering the Gnoll via this Twitch stream.
‘Thank you’ to everyone who wrote, especially the well wishers. If you have any questions or comments, regarding Fanstratics (FST) or Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (HoMM3), feel free to send them along, and I’ll try to answer them in future newsletters (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Please keep in mind, it may take at least 7 days before I reply.
This month, I have five initial questions, four of which were asked by the community for ‘The Silent’. Following those, is part two of the lengthy interview I did with Tavern of Might and Magic.
In other news, earlier this month, I fell ill. At the local clinic, a test for strep throat proved negative, but two days later, a test for COVID returned positive. In my case, hospitalization was not required, but I’ve experienced all the symptoms to varying degrees. Persistent fatigue has been the worst, and as of this writing... it continues. For me, November hasn’t been a productive month. Hopefully, by the next Newsletter, I’ll be past it.
Lastly... an unfortunate report. On November 7th, the founder and leader of HotA, Docent Picolan passed away. After all these years, I feel an inherent debt of gratitude to the HotA team for helping keep HoMM3 in the public eye, and while I never met Docent, I believe we would have had much to discuss. To Docent’s family, friends, and the HotA team, please accept my heartfelt sympathies.
Until next time.
Greg
Fanstratics Game Director & Designer
*****
(Questions, Answers & Comments)
Fanstratics Faction #1: Allegiant.
This first faction should be unsurprising to most. They are the Allegiant; loyal, faithful, and steadfast in
Read on: Fanstratics - The Fourth Newsletter!
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The Shadows over Ashan - Community DLC Pack
- by Pol
"Wryn Pendragon the Umbramancer" (WPU) was cancelled and on its shoulders was created a new one, "The Shadows over Ashan", Heroes VII Community DLC.
https://wpu.worldofheroes.cz/tsoaEN.html
Shadows Over Ashan (TSoA) is a so-called "global modification", meaning that it works like any official DLC. It will add new things to the original game, specifically a new nation/town and units which you can play in both single player and multiplayer maps on one PC (hot seat).
The original Wryn Pendragon: Umbramancer (WPU) project was canceled, but its strong foundations gave rise to this DLC. Except for campaigns and a script-based systems, everything has been preserved.
What is new?
- Whole new Xel town (ancient alien race)
- 18 New Xel units
- 4 New neutral units
- 4 New Xel heroes
- New Xel faction skill Mutagenesis
- 1 Legendary artifact
- 3 Old-new spells: Bless, Curse, Animate Dead
Thanks WPU Team for your effort! 
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MMHO is coming to an end, MMEG only essential support
- by Pol
Two "old" Ubisoft games are coming to an end.
First is Might & Magic Heroes Online (MMHO), which last day will be at 30.12.2020. The game claimed to be classical heroes strategy game and you were playing it in web browser.
Might & Magic Elemental Guardians (MMEG), which is mobile game,will be limited from active development but it will continue with a base support. Currently with not known end date, promising to continue further.
But with a note of reallocating staff to a new project. Nowhere is written that it will be M&M though. And most likely, that this will be a mobile game again.
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Heroes of Might & Magic IV - Resolution Mod by Verokster
- by Pol
Great News for Heroes IV!
This mod allows you to play Heroes of Might & Magic IV on 16:9, 16:10 screens. It is built on HoMM IV GL Wrapper, package is already included.. (If you wish to follow GL Wrappers, you can do that directly in Verokster's GIT)
Supported are: HoMM IV: v3.0, The Gathering Storm v3.0, Winds of War v3.0, Complete (GOG)
Equilibris is not and you will need to wait for EquilibrisHD 3.6, which is still in development by Max.
"Playing in windowed mode on current monitors! ;)"
BTW the GL Wrappers are worthy of check, they do support from H2 to H4. That's good to know, even if we have H3HD mod, which is superior
How to use:
Press F4 to get to windowed mode. In top menu pick up:
"Mod" -> "Resolution Mod" -> "Aspect Ratio"
Restart the game, go to settings menu and select your resolution.
Installation:
Make a copy of your game folder outside of Program Files, extract the mod to the game root, launch the game.
Download, scroll to the end to get it.
Read on: Heroes of Might & Magic IV - Resolution Mod by Verokster
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In memory of Docent Picolan - A Hero of Might and Magic
- by MadMax
In memory of Docent Picolan - A Hero of Might and Magic
Today, the Heroes of Might and Magic-community received tragic news.
Docent Picolan, leader of the well-known Heroes of Might and Magic III project "Horn of the Abyss" passed away on November 7th, 2020.
These are the words of the Horn of the Abyss crew:
"Dear friends,
We have suffered a grievous loss. On November 7, 2020, the founder and leader of the Horn of the Abyss project, wonderful artist and composer known to the wide HoMM community as Docent Picolan, died tragically. It would be no exaggeration to call HotA his brainchild, as it was he who created most visual and fundamental concepts that laid the foundation of the project, and his unquenchable enthusiasm had been our driving force through all 13 years of development. Not only was Docent the project manager; he was also responsible for a huge amount of graphical assets. He also kept in touch with the community, wrote music, and simply led by example, helping everyone stay invested and interested in our work.
It will take some time before we come to terms with this loss and figure out how to continue our work without him. Nevertheless, HotA Crew promises that the development of the project will continue. The Factory which Docent had been devoting all his energy to for the last three years will be completed and released in loving memory of our friend and colleague.
HotA Crew"
We want to extend our deepest condolences to the HoTA-crew, Docent's friends and family. We also want to express our gratitude for the many creations of Docent Picolan. While he may no longer be amongst us, he will live on through his many works of creativity.
"May tender memories soften your grief"
Read on: In memory of Docent Picolan - A Hero of Might and Magic
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