Master of Magic News
- by Pol
Master of Magic Announced!
MUHA Games announced that they are working on new Master of Magic game! You might remember them already as the makers of Thea:The Awakening, bold propagators of very lovely idea, getting addons only for coffee, beer or even for free. This small indie studio is based in UK/PL and let me say, that Thea was great success. Tweet.
We can finally confirm our latest project: Master of Magic.
Master of Magic is a classical turn-based strategy game from the ’90s and we’re working hard to remake this gem and bring it into the new age.
You may ask, how it's with rights, after all these years? Well Slitherine bought the rights for Master of Magic and judging by the mail they choose MUHA Games to make it happen again!
Previous like MoM attempts
There were a few, first from pretty agile Stardock Company, maker of Galactic Civilization, with their Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes, released at 23th August 2012. This one was rated pretty well, used hexes in combat. And rendered not much astonishing 3D graphic.
The second come from Wasteland Interactive as Worlds of Magic. Having classic squares, strictly keeping to D20 Rule Set. Which was a lesser success (ppl mostly complain about AI) but a great attempt from the devs. This piece was released at 19 March 2015.
Mods and patches for the original MoM
This is probably the most interesting, if you played the original. You remember how you much you tried to avoid Wraiths touching your units?
Yes, it was death touch, unseen in any other games. After they spent all their magic shots and move to touch you, blam, you encountered the bug and whole game crashed.
That was fixed many years later in unoffical patches. None matter, this is a cannon game, shaping the FTS genre, hugely popular and inspiring everyone. Though the popularity started after the patches, which took years..
Master of Magic Classic: Caster of Magic for Windows - thanks Blake for the info, check more about it here. Get it from Slitherine or join Discord.
Master of Magic - IME - not have a final version yet, requires Java 11. Grab from sourceforge.
source: https://masterofmagic.fandom.com/wiki/Introduction
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Fanstratics - The Ninth Newsletter!
- by Pol
Hey, All.
Welcome. Hope each of you is doing relatively well.
With this Newsletter... another small adjustment. I’m relocating links to the ‘monthly Troop concept sketch’ into the Questions Section.
Why? As each is revealed, I want to chat a little bit about each one.
In writing these Newsletters, about the development of Fanstratics (FST), I continue to unearth old memories concerning the development of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (HoMM3). Before all of this began, part of me wanted to author a book about HoMM3’s development, and with the way things are going, these posts are quickly becoming the loose developmental memoir I had in mind. Perhaps, after the ‘interview well’ runs dry, I’ll start posting HoMM3 development anecdotes. We’ll see.
This month I have five questions, followed by part two of my interview with Behemoth Cave (Webpage & Facebook).
As always, ‘thank you’ to everyone who wrote, especially those with positive sentiments. 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.
Until next time.
Greg
Fanstratics Game Director & Designer
*****
Fanstratics Troop: Archangel.
When word first broke concerning the development of Fanstratics, I quickly needed a ‘signature image’ for the game.
For me, it came down to the Archangel or the Human Cavalier. After giving it some thought, I settled on the Human Cavalier, as I thought it embodied the entirety of the game, where the Archangel was more representative of one faction (Allegiant).
For HoMM3, the Archangel has arguably become its signature Troop. I remember George Almond’s color picture of the Archangel, when David Mullich and Phelan Sykes first showed it to me. I don’t recall why Phelan had George create the picture. It may have been for the box art, but Scott McDaniel (Marketing) shot it down as he wanted ‘3D’ rendered armies on the box front. I suggested, “Let’s use it for the Main Menu.” Both David and Phelan liked the idea, with Phelan recommending we animate the flames on the sword.
In hindsight, I wish I’d advocated for the option to customize the Main Menu background. When Armageddon’s Blade was released, the Archangel disappeared. With subsequent releases, accompanied by Paul Romero’s wonderful Main Menu score, some people never saw the Archangel in all its Main Menu glory.
In the years since, I have seen two different sculptures of the Archangel. One on Kickstarter (canceled) and a second on Artstation (where is link to YT, as he also did Solmyr). One last story about the Archangel as it relates to the Main Menu...
At one point in development, David Mullich asked I talk to Mark Caldwell (Executive Producer).
David, “He doesn’t like the Main Menu.”
Me, “What’s wrong with it?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
“He wouldn’t say?”
“More like he couldn’t say. I couldn’t get anything out him. You try talking to him.”
Scott White (Artist, GUI, Castle town, Tower town, etc.) and I had been working on the game’s interface for weeks, and Scott’s office just happened to be adjacent to Mark’s. Before I stopped in to see Mark, I took a detour to give Scott fair warning. I mentioned I was going to see Mark, because he had an issue with the Main Menu GUI. I remember Scott’s puzzled expression and shoulder shrug. In response, I shrugged my shoulders as well.
After giving Scott a head’s up, I walked into Mark’s office, and got right to it, “You don’t like the interface?”
Mark replied, “It’s ugly.”
Me, “It’s not ugly.”
“Yes it is.”
“You think the Archangel is ugly?”
“No, the Archangel is great.”
“Then how can you say it’s ugly?”
“Everything but the Archangel is ugly.”
“Everything? Can you show me specifically what you think is ugly?”
Mark exhaled, rolled his eyes, and started the game.
We were looking at the Main Menu splash screen, I said, “Okay. You think the Archangel is fine... but you think the icons are ugly?”
Mark, “No, the icons are fine. It’s the other stuff.
Mark navigates to Scenario Selection, “This stuff.”
Me, “You don’t like the layout?”
“No.”
“Font?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“It’s... it’s... BROWN.”
“You don’t like that its brown.”
“Right. It’s ugly.”
“What colors would you like?”
“Not brown.”
I looked at Mark and exhaled, “Alright. Let me talk to Scott.”
I literally went next door, walked into Scott’s office, who was bracing for me to deliver bad news. Something like, “Throw out all the hard work you’ve already done.” Instead, I looked at him and said, “Well, I tired to pin him down on what he didn’t like. It’s the color. He doesn’t like the interface being brown.” The look on Scott’s face said it all, “Really?”
At the time, we had followed the precedent set by HoMM2, which had a ‘tan’ interface. In fact, if you want an idea of the Main Menu’s original color scheme, just look at the Adventure Map interface, which is, for the most part, ‘brown’.
So, I said to Scott, “What if we used the Archangel’s color scheme for the other parts of Main Menu? Blue, gold, and white.”
Scott seemed to like the idea and nodded, “Okay.”
“How long will it take to re-color all the GUI pieces?”
“Day or two.”
“Okay.”
The following day, I dropped in on Scott for a quick update. He already had a mock-up ready in Photoshop. I asked him what he thought. He liked it better. So did I. I told him, to clear it with Phelan and David, and put it in the game.
Scott asked, “What about Mark?”
I replied, “If Mark doesn’t like this, I don’t know what we’ll do.”
A couple of days later, after not hearing any feedback, I did manage to catch Mark, with the game running, with the updated Main Menu GUI. I asked, “Do you like the colors?” With a slight smirk, Mark nodded.
Most people don’t understand, an important part of being a game designer, is figuring out what people want, or what a person wants, when they can’t properly communicate it... specify it... or put it into words. If you can do it well, it’s a big benefit, as you become something akin to a mind reader... at least where video games are concerned. If you can do it well, it can also be a big headache, as you may find yourself spending most of your time solving other people’s problems... in addition to your own.
Returning to the present, this month's Troop concept sketch, is the Archangel. I’ve been champing at the bit for Justin to render this Troop, and its finally here.
For those of you who want to see Justin actually render the drawing, you can watch a VOD of his Twitch stream.
Fanstratics Faction #6: Zubhewen.
Largely of Goblin descent, this sub-human faction lives in an underground, Subterranean world. Terror, chaos, and fear are their allies, leading to an amorphous ‘might-makes-right’ form of self-rule. Representing the Zubhewen in the Troll Witch, who can be viewed in the Fanstratics Gallery. For most, the Zubhewen will be remarkably similar to HoMM3’s ‘Dungeon’, but keep in mind... as I mentioned in the last Newsletter... some troops have been shuffled off to other factions. So, some hallmark ‘Dungeon’ troops may have found new homes with other, more thematically consistent cultures.
Fanstratics Feature: Hardcore Mode.
Similar to the previous two features (Rally Attack & Boss Battles), a Hardcore Mode is not a new idea. Anyone familiar with late 70’s, early 80’s, coin-operated arcade games, have experienced video game ‘permadeath’. While this design choice has a long history, in my personal experience, it wasn’t formalized as a mainstream feature until Diablo 2’s ‘hardcore mode’ in 2000.
There is something masochistically romantic about risking your precious time attempting to conquer an intentionally difficult video game. While I personally don’t have the time to grind out repeated hardcore wins, hardcore play has been responsible for some of the most memorable video game streams I’ve ever seen: Diablo 3, Fallout: New Vegas (hardcore mode), XCOM (ironman), Darkest Dungeon (86 or 100 Weeks), etc. Most recently, Moonmoon played Doom Eternal in a pseudo-permadeath mode... and failed during the final fight.
While I suspect only a minority of players will utilize this feature, I would like to see hardcore streams of Fanstratics. So, a hardcore mode is planned; one persistent save for your current game, with the difficulty settings of your choice. There may also be other ‘hardcore’ wrinkles, such as ‘permadeath’ for Heroes. If you lose a Hero in battle, they no longer appear in your Kingdom’s Hero Pool. Bottom line... if you lose... you lose.
Personally, I want to see people play and stream Fanstratics in hardcore mode, on the toughest difficulty, against multiple AI opponents, with an in-game time limit. It could make for some gripping entertainment.
Will there be a map editor and random map generator in Fanstratics?
HoMM3’s map editor and random map generator were released with its first expansion pack ‘Armageddon’s Blade’. For Fanstratics, I expect to rollout both a Community Map Editor and a Random Map Generator, well after the game’s official public release. When? I cannot say at this stage.
If there will be a random map generator, how will it be configured?
It’s been a very long time since I crafted HoMM3’s original RMG templates (using Microsoft Excel). Since then, different methods to random map generation have been developed, and I would like to research a number of them, before I decide on a final design direction. So, details regarding the internal logic and implementation of the Random Map Generator are currently unresolved.
Behemoth Cave Interview
2020.11.10
Questions 3-4c, of 18
This interview was conducted by Behemoth Cave and originally published on November 10th, 2020. It’s another relatively long interview, comprised of 33 questions in 18 parts. I’ll be posting around 5 questions per Newsletter, until we reach the end, after which we will roll into another interview. Below are questions 3 to 4c, of 18.
3. Obviously, the creator’s vision of the game often evolves while still developing the game. Some ideas are dropped out, new ideas come up and are implemented in the game. Some press materials contained unit concepts like the "Demilich" (flying green skull with horns, appendix 1), Kenneth Thomson’s “Lobstrosity” (appendix 2) or an aristocratic elf (appendix 3). Even after the release, we can find Fear spell icon or the Market of Time (the adventure map location) in the game files. Can you tell us something more about these elements/features that didn’t make it into the game? Also, Dendroids, Efreets, Zealots, Unicorns or Minotaurs and a couple of others - they all have additional animations and sounds which aren’t used by the game in any way. Is there any particular reason behind them? Were those units supposed to cast a spell on the battlefield, like Ogre Magi for example?
Demilich
As you call it, the Demilich was supposed to be a Will-o-the-Wisp, for the Fortress. It was inspired by the Lost Soul monster from Doom, and was cut because we couldn’t get it to ‘glow’ properly.
Lobstrosity
I didn’t see the Lobstrosity until long after I left NWC. It was a ‘secret’ Troop, and I had no knowledge it was in the game.
Aristocratic Elf
I believe the Aristocratic Elf was an early draft version of the Grand Elf.
Fear Spell
The Fear spell was ‘cut’ because it was little more than ‘bad morale’ in another form. Later, I thought it was better to convert the mechanic into the Fear ability for the Azure Dragon.
Market of Time
Originally, the Market of Time was called ‘Brigadoon’. It would randomly appear after long periods of time, and for a Day, a Hero could purchase very high value artifacts and very cheap resources. It was ‘cut’ because it required new programing functionality, we were running out of development time, and I was worried players would ‘park’ a Hero at the destination and simply wait for the Market. Also, for the record, it was never a place where Heroes could unlearn Secondary Skills.
Additional Animations and Sounds
There is no particular reason why certain characters didn’t get additional animations or sounds. I suspect it was typical miscommunication or misunderstanding.
4a. Heroes III in its bestiary has plenty of mythological beasts (like Minotaurs, Medusas, Hydras) or creatures that are popular in fantasy in general (Dwarves, Dragons). What were your sources of inspiration while creating Heroes III - not only for creatures but also for spells and locations?
Nothing is created in a vacuum, and is always derived from various sources of inspiration. I looked at everything: paper and pencil RPG’s, table top games, card games, novels, comics, movies, and art books. For the various troops and spells, anything and everything was a potential source of inspiration.
4b. Can we find any direct reference to books and/or movies in the game?
Obviously the cheat codes reference Star Wars the Phantom Menace, the Matrix, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. As for in game assets, Gelu’s appearance was clearly inspired by Elric of Melnibone, and the Behemoth was derived from the Rancor in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
4c. Are there any heroes that are based on real people (beside Sir Mullich - David Mullich, Inteus - George Almond, Sir Christian - Christian Vanover)?
To my knowledge, there are only four...
Sir Mullich
It’s relatively well known, Sir Mullich shares the name and likeness of David Mullich. While we were working on HoMM3, Might and Magic 6 was still in production, and needed people and costumes for various character portraits. Of course... David had a Renaissance Fair costume... and volunteered. When Phelan Sykes (Lead Artist) saw the final game asset, she couldn’t wait to tell me how goofy it looked. Immediately, I said to her, “We should put it in the game.” She told me she would clean up the portrait, get it game ready, and deliver it to John Bolton (Lead Programmer). When David was away on vacation, for birth of his first son (if I correctly recall), we put it into the game. Upon his return, we showed the ‘new’ Hero to him, and he got a chuckle out of it. Since then, he’s become one of HoMM3’s most famous Heroes.
Inteus
Inteus shares a likeness with George Almond. George did all of the HoMM3 concept art, the manual cover, and the interface backgrounds. He also painted all the Hero portraits, so I’m not surprised he slipped himself into the game.
Sir Christian
Sir Christian is named after Christian Vanover, but doesn’t look like him in the slightest. I don’t recall if Christian requested to be put into the game, or I did it as a goof. The entire Sir Christian secret campaign was made to poke fun at Chris, who was a good sport about it.
Luna
Luna is based on a young lady from New World Computing tech support, who’s name I do not recall. After 3DO finished its acquisition of New World Computing, her job was moved to 3DO corporate, in Redwood City. I lost track of her after E3, in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1998.
Past Newsletters
Fanstratics Newsletter #01 (September 2020)
Fanstratics Newsletter #02 (October 2020)
Fanstratics Newsletter #03 (November 2020)
Fanstratics Newsletter #04 (December 2021)
Fanstratics Newsletter #05 (January 2021)
Fanstratics Newsletter #06 (February 2021)
Fanstratics Newsletter #07 (March 2021)
Fanstratics Newsletter #08 (April 2021)
Fanstratics Newsletter #09 (May 2021)
CH Addendum:
George Almond - Heroes portfolio
Lobstrozity Easter Egg PotD
CH Interview - Christian Vanover, 2005
David Mullich - My life as a videogame character
David Mullich - Remembering Erathia 15 Years Later
*Added some links and graphics above original imageless newsletter.
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Where did the time go?!
- by MadMax
Hi all of you that are a part of the lovely Celestial Heavens community, where did the time go?!
It's been 2 months, no wait, it has actually been 3 months since I finished the interview with Marcus Pregent for Celestial Heavens. I was finally starting to feel a little bit better after having suffered from covid-19 for a couple of weeks. I was finally on the road to recovery and I decided to carry on and have the interview.
The interview turned in to a 3 hour long one, with lots of fun and juicy information about the Heroes of Might and Magic series, and a lot about Marcus Pregent's carreer and experiences within the gaming industry.
I saved all the videos and then I told myself "I'll try to finish the editing by this weekend."
The weekend passed. Once more I was feeling the aftermaths of the corona virus, and I slept and I slept and I slept.
One week passed. I was still feeling under the weather, unable to get back to exercising and a full 10 kg lighter than before.
The weeks passed and once again I was feeling better, but instead of the pressing tiredness of the virus, there was now college courses who drained my energy (I'll spare you the details but let's just say that I have a lot more knowledge about Satanism, occultism, AI-based intelligence and more now). 
Anyways, here we are, it's April 21st and I am finally opening Premiere Pro with the intention of editing the 3 hour long video (don't worry, I am going to try to trim it down as much as possible without losing any of it's juicyness) and I am finally getting to the point of this entire post.
I just want to say that I am sorry. I am sorry for keeping you all, and of course Mr.Pregent as well waiting. But even more so, I am sorry for keeping you in the dark, without taking the time to update you all on the progress, even if there was none.
I do want to point out that I have about 3 weeks until my next exam, the most important one of my life so far. But I am taking all the time I possibly can to get this video out asap!
Now let's edit and get this video out to you all!
(PS. If anyone out there reading is some sort of a video editing guy or girl or anything like that, we'd gladly take your help in future endeavours)
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Fanstratics - The Eight Newsletter!
- by Pol
Hey, All.
Welcome. Hope each of you is doing relatively well.
With this Newsletter... another change. Previously, whenever anyone signed up for the Newsletter, they received all of the previous Newsletters, one-by-one, week-by-week, until they were caught up. This approach turned out to be pointless, as it isn’t too difficult to hunt down all of the earlier Newsletters. So, with this month, all past and future Newsletters will be available via the Fanstratics website. No more trickle of content.
For those of you seeking past Newsletters, you will find links for each at the end of this and future Newsletters.
Last month we concluded my interview with Tavern of Might and Magic and GoodGame.ru. This month we start my interview with Behemoth Cave (Webpage & Facebook).
As for this month's Troop concept sketch, I give you the Gatorkin Caster. For those of you who want to see Justin actually render the drawing, you can watch a VOD of his Twitch stream.
As always, ‘thank you’ to everyone who wrote, especially those with positive sentiments. 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.
Until next time.
Greg
Fanstratics Game Director & Designer
*****
Questions, Answers & Comments
Fanstratics Faction #5: Krasadox.
In the craggy, Arid desert, dwell the vulgar Krasadox. Unkind to the weak, their crass culture, like their environment, elevates the strong and debases the delicate. While most would consider them to be crude and barbaric, they consider confrontation to the purest form of respect and honesty. Nature is not cute. Nature is cruel and uncompromising. Why untie the knot, when you can hack through it? Why solve the puzzle box, when you can simply crush it? Krasadox believe in brutal efficiency.
This faction will be familiar to anyone acquainted with HoMM3’s ‘Stronghold’. Representing the Krasadox is the Gnoll Spear Thrower, which can be viewed in the Fanstratics Gallery. This inclusion may surprise some, as the Gnoll was originally in HoMM3’s ‘Fortress’. When building the troop rosters for the various factions, relative themes were adjusted, and in the end... the Gnoll was a better fit with the Krasadox. So, a modification was made.
Fanstratics Feature: Legendary ‘Boss’ Battles.
In last month’s ‘feature highlight’, I described the Troop Rally Ability as an old idea which never made it past the conceptual stage. Legendary Boss Battles is another such idea... and another logical one. If you look at HoMM3, it is clear where I wanted to have these events, specifically the ‘creature banks’.
Why were full boss battles not implemented in HoMM3? Time. We simply didn’t have the time. Like the Troop Rally Ability, it was a new feature and would require new programming and more unique art. So, I quickly discarded the idea, and instead settled for battles where the Hero’s Army was ‘surrounded’ by the Enemy Army (versus the typical Left against Right arrangement). Later, with the Armageddon’s Blade expansion, we implemented the four neutral dragons (Faerie, Rust, Crystal, and Azure), which were arguably the game’s first boss creatures. While these dragons were more powerful, they were not what I ultimately wanted.
Almost 10 years later, I specifically remember playing ‘King’s Bounty: The Legend’, encountering the ‘giant turtle’, and thinking to myself, “Yep. There it is.” There were other such encounters in ‘King’s Bounty: The Legend’: a giant spider, a giant lizardman, a giant demon, a giant mech, etc. My favorite was the Kraken. Regardless, for Fanstratics, the plan is to have one ‘boss’ loosely associated with each of the nine Factions.
It is very interesting to know if you are familiar with the gameplay and game mechanics of the subsequent games of Heroes of Might and Magic (IV — VII), and King’s Bounty Legends? Will you take ideas for the most successful game elements from there?
Speaking of ‘King’s Bounty: The Legend’...
While it is more difficult than ever before, due to the sheer quantity of games being published today, I do try to stay market informed. All of the HoMM’s, and HoMM related games, are typically on my radar, and if there is an idea or mechanic I find inspiring... yes... I try to incorporate it. I’d be a fool to ignore a good idea.
Keep in mind, for all the people who love a unique element from a specific game, there are always others who hate it. Obviously, as a game designer, this results in a ‘no win’ situation. For myself, this leads to what I find so interesting about this question. It gets to the inherent conflict of any creative endeavor... audience expectations versus author aspirations.
Game development is a production triathlon. It requires focused attention, one day after the next, over the course of years. If I’m not in love with the product I’m creating... my desire will evaporate and the production will falter.
I must create the game I long to play. With this in mind, for Fanstratics, I have two general design guidelines.
First... do I find ‘it’ inspiring (author)?
Second... is ‘it’ in the spirit of the original HoMM games (audience)?
If I believe the answer to both questions is ‘yes’... I work to integrate ‘it’ into the game (time and budget permitting).
In my humble opinion, you should definitely consider making the game cross platform. Many users are switching to Apple and Linux.
HoMM3 was eventually ported to Linux, so a part of me wants to continue this tradition. Unity makes compiling the game for Linux relatively easy, Steam encourages developers to port their games to Linux, and there’s always Wine. It’s testing, with different distros, with different hardware configurations, where things become complicated. In the end, it’s a cost/benefit issue, with the ultimate question being, “Will we sell enough copies on Linux to reap the costs spent converting and testing the game?” All I can say is, “We will look into it.”
*****
Behemoth Cave Interview
2020.11.20
Questions 1a-4c, of 18
This interview was conducted by Behemoth Cave (Webpage & Facebook) and originally published on November 10th, 2020. It’s another relatively long interview, comprised of 18 questions in 33 parts. I’ll be posting around 5 to 7 ‘parts’ per Newsletter, until we reach the end, after which we will roll into another interview. Below are questions 1a to 4c, of 18.
1a. Let's begin with a topic that always raises a lot of controversy among the community: The Heavenly Forge. Story about the futuristic town and the negative reaction of the Heroes’ fandom which lead to cancelation of the project is well known. The whole criticism was mainly based on materials for the press containing the pictures and information about infamous Naga Tanks, Zombies with chainsaws and Minotaurs with jetpacks. Was this really the actual, up-to-date vision on Heavenly Forge at the time?
Yes. Everything now known, was planned, with some obvious exceptions (i.e. the Naga Tanks were not going to be partly nude).
1b. Have you considered “mitigating the design”, “toning it down”?
We did go back-and-forth, to a minor degree, about how we might ‘adapt’ the concept, but after the controversy... we were basically unmotivated. We soured on the concept after the negative reaction and the subsequent rift with a portion of the fandom. In the end, it was easier, and more comfortable, to move onto the Conflux, which was waiting in the wings.
1c. What other ideas for this faction came up among the Heroes 3 developers team?
Jennifer Bullard and the map making team proposed the idea of a Clockwork Town, but I shot it down. New World Computing’s (NWC) art staff was struggling with the Forge, and I had lost confidence in their ability to craft anything not fantasy related.
1d. After all these years, can you shed some new light on the technology present in the world of M&M?
When it comes to deep Might and Magic lore, Paul Rattner is really the best person to ask, but I will do my best. To start, I’m not sure what you mean by ‘new light’, as what is publicly known is relatively accurate. Regardless, from my understanding, at its most basic, the idea was simple. ‘Ancient’ high technology machines, typically hidden, could be accessed and manipulated to produce ‘magical’ events, via ‘physical and mental ritual’. This excluded high tech machines, such as the Heavenly Forge, which made magical artifacts via simple instruction.
2a. Abandoning the idea of Forge also left an empty slot for a new town in expansion, the Armageddon’s Blade. In the end, Conflux made it into the game - a mix of elemental forces. How do you feel about this decision?
In the end, I was satisfied with how it transpired. In general, I like the Conflux town, but I do wish there had been more time to flesh it out.
2b. Have you considered any alternatives for the 9th faction? If so, can you name any of them?
As I mentioned, Jennifer Bullard and the map making team came up with the idea for a Clockwork Town, which I liked, but as I mentioned, I had strong doubts the NWC art staff could deliver.
Personally, at the time, I didn’t have any further factions in reserve. This doesn’t mean more couldn’t be done, but the overall plan was two new towns (Forge and Conflux), followed by a pure map pack. In the end, it became two expansions: 1 new town (AB) and 1 pure map pack (SoD). Later, the Chronicles were added, which collectively could be considered a third expansion, but this was long after I left NWC.
Link to all the Fanstratics News at CH and at Greg's page:
Fanstratics Newsletter #01 (September 2020)
Fanstratics Newsletter #02 (October 2020)
Fanstratics Newsletter #03 (November 2020)
Fanstratics Newsletter #04 (December 2021)
Fanstratics Newsletter #05 (January 2021)
Fanstratics Newsletter #06 (February 2021)
Fanstratics Newsletter #07 (March 2021)
Fanstratics Newsletter #08 (April 2021)
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Overview of a New Maps at CH
- by Pol
Foreword
Hi,
I will be pushing this year to finish our database and the merge. For now you will find overview of all maps submitted to CH in this article.
Our old "Map Page" still serves well but you cannot log in and rate, as the old site is permanently disabled. The rest is on this page.
In menu were added direct links to our "Campaigns" and "Other Features", to be more on eyes.
If you are looking for something use "Tags", as our content is tagged, in addition to categories. Check Top or Main menu for them.
As for future MapdDB, let me know, if you have any refined idea for sorting or searching. There will be marked map version, size, author, name, contact (if available), number of players (human/computer), teams (Co-op, AI, No), Language, Win and Lose conditions, description, download, hits and rating. And comments.
Happy gaming! Because even inspite of all these new mobile games, the original H2+ line is still more fun. Especially HotA spurred lots of attention, finally. And HDMod with SP_plugin. Or Verokster Open GL wrappers.
New Campaigns
H4 The Unity campaign. Unity project is revolving around original texts from Terry Ray, written for Heroes IV. Which is Unity Team bringing to life. Currently the first map of the campaign, "The Isle of Order" is ready and in need of testing. Next planned maps are Isle of Life, Isle of Nature, Isle of Chaos and Isle of Death. Visit the linked thread to download it. Unity Project is striking for audience! 
Shadows over Ashan: Community DLC, and first and only map Hunger Games are all yours, if you want to explore the best of Heroes 7.
Legends of the Ancients with Quantomas AI have been updated and are currently available as a part of his H5AI_31n_beta.zip.That include fixes of some game breaking bugs in books 1&2. We therefore, humbly recommend to play them again. Of course, they will be made available as a separated books download from official LotA pages later on, waiting on Quantomas' split.
For newcomers, Legends of the Ancients features good old heroes from Might & Magic universe in the world of Ashan. Of course, expect Sandro and Solmyr and the kind king Archibald, to save the world. (In Book 4, which is not yet written) But the full story to read on is here, available as pdf, with some nice art. Read it, play it and leave us your comment.
Maps
New Maps by Humakt:
H3C: Triangle Trials | XL | 8 Co-op
H3C: Stormia | XL | 8 Co-op
Previous new maps on Thundermaps
New Maps by Yurian Stonebow and MadMax:
H3C: A Quest for no Mortal by MadMax (HoP) | M | 1 Human
H3C: Imperial Days by Yurian Stonebow | XL | 5/3
H3C: Mutare's Apprentice (Allies) by Yurian Stonebow | L | 8 Humans
H3C: Prime Suspect by MadMax (HoP) | L | 4 Humans
H3C: Tolkien's War of the Ring by Yurian Stonebow | XL | 6/2
H3C: Viking Invasion 1.3 (Allies) by Yurian Stonebow | XL | 7/1
Maps Sent For Testing:
H3_HotA: The Hobbit by Bilbo Baggins by PatrickAce | XXL | 1 Human
H4_WoW: Archmages by Kuron | XL | 1-6 Humans, no Allies
H4_WoW: Stone Soup RPG by Aranei | XL | 1 Human
H3C: It's time for rebellion! by Sensai | XL | 1 Human vs 6 AI teamed up
H5_ToTE: Demonic Defense by mctronic | N | 1 Human vs 4 AI
H3_HotA: Surrea: The Shift by Echo | XL | 8 Humans
H5_ToTE: Battle for Crimea by Milos Gajic | N | 3 Humans
Final:
H5_ToTE: The Initiation by mctronic | S | 1 Human vs 1 AI
H4_WoW: Maximus by NATSSIRK | XL | 6 Humans
H7TbF: The Hunger Games Map by Antalyan | L | 6 Humans
H5.5: The Keymaster by Silentine | XL | 6 Humans
H3C: Kill 'em All (Allies) by Adam Simms | XL | 3 Humans vs 3 AI
H3C: Hold the Line by Sachertorte | S | 2 Humans
H7TbF: Dragonpass by Sandmean87 | L | 6 Humans
H3_HotA: Blushing Tide by AsJo | XL | 8
H3_HotA: Founderling Ventures by AsJo | XL | 8
H3_HotA: Plight of Conquest by AsJo | XL | 8
Read on: Overview of a New Maps at CH
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Short News 21' March 12
- by Pol
We will focus on what happened in this month and what wasn't summoned on our table yet.
fheroes2 0.9.1
First goes fheroes2 project by fheroes2 Resurrection team. Who work with constant passion to get to the 1.0 milestone. This time, release 0.9.1, they added:
- Instant battles
- Upgraded their AI to be more 'craftier and smarter'
- View Word Spell
- Easy units splitting by a few mouse clicks
- Another part of campaing
You can check and comment the full annoucement here. This is a small milestone on its own. 
(Full changelog. - You still need original Heroes2, technically at least demo, for playing.)
Heroes Orchestra presents new arrangement, Battle Theme II from Heroes IV
Myself I remember listening to Heroes IV. soundtrack again and again for almost a year. Always enthralling, always yours. Opera music.
Hero's Hour
This is a small Heroes like game, with it's own engine and simplified graphic. You can take for pay what you want. Take a look here. We have been alerted about the game by Darmani, here, thanks for it! 
Features:
- Random map generation from 25 map types
- 6 factions, each with 7 different creatures + upgrades
- 43 unique creature abilities
- Additional nonplayable creatures
- Real-time combat
- Give orders and change stances - or just watch!
- Procedural town tech trees
- Unique town perks as your town levels up
- Level up your heroes
- 28 unique skills to level up
- Challenging but fair AI opponents
- 53 spells
- 120 artifacts
- Unique artifact sets
- ~30 adventure objects
- True to the original gameplay
- Tweaks to gameplay, like the infirmary system
What says Darmani about the game:
"When they say "based on", that's an understatement. It has the same 7 resources as HoMM, units spawn in a castle on day 1 of every 7 day week, there are treasure chests that give gold or experience, and many of the adventure map objects are identical to ones from HoMM (Fountain, Rally Flag, Idol of Fortune). The town mechanics are most similar to HoMM VI, with a "town level" that increments when you build enough, unlocking more buildings (hope I'm remembering HoMM VI correctly). Main difference is the real-time combat, of course, though there are also differences in the magic system, and the "hospital mechanic" by which some of your lost creatures will very slowly become available to hire back at the castle.
It doesn't come with instructions, and, on my machine, had a problem that the mouse's hitbox wasn't under the cursor (meaning I thought many buttons were broken and unusable), and that tooltips appeared pretty far from what I was mousing over (meaning I initially had no idea the strength of what I was fighting). Once I got the hang of it though, it was a pretty cool game.
I don't know how much longevity it has (I'm finding the real-time combat rather shallow --- past the early game, I usually just watch my army fight by itself and win with no casualties), but it's an interesting twist on the HoMM series. One thing that impresses me game-design wise is that it manages to make the obelisk/buried treasure mechanic actually fun. No hunting down obelisks all across the map and then spending days doing nothing but digging in some forgotten corner of the map. Instead, each obelisk gives you a flavorful paragraph like "Ki-g Ragna- left his treas-re som-where n-ear the mino-r shrine" you walk over to the nearest minor shrine, and watch as your "Dig for treasure" button turns from gray to black when you get close enough.
It's pay-what-you-want right now. I've played about 5 hours the last 2 days. Still buggy (e.g.: the win-condition doesn't work; it just keeps going), and has a terrible AI (I let it run around an area for weeks....and it still never reclaimed a Sawmill I took). Still, I had fun, and I'll be giving him some of my money."
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