Hi there!

As a long-time fan of the Might and Magic games, I'm delighted to announce that there will be a very special interview coming up on January 20th with one of the main level designers of Might and Magic VI; none other than Tim Lang!

He and I have known each other since 2012-2013, while I was still on Lich Labs, the team responsible for Children of the Void. Well now, he's agreed to come and be part of an interview called Developer Secrets!

This interview will focus on Might and Magic 6 in particular, as I feel it's one of the most iconic and intriguing games in the franchise. There are many secrets that Tim knows about the game itself, why things changed the way they did, and stuff most people didn't even know was a thing. In the interview, we'll be covering:

  • Some of the game's strange peculiarities and features
  • The NWC dungeon accessible via Dragonsands.
  • The beta trailer of Might and Magic 6 and a couple of pre-release screenshots
  • The secret identity of the shopkeepers and playable characters
  • Life behind the scenes as a developer
  • Exploring the possibility of pre-release content we as a community have yet to discover
  • Unveiling the mystery behind the infamous joke title "Super Goober"

Not only do I have a bunch of questions for Tim, but I'm more than certain you guys here at CH do as well. We'd love to answer some of the questions you may have about the game! I will go through the list and pick up to 10 of them and read them out to Tim and have him answer them for you. The interview, once finished, will be posted on my Youtube channel (Sibernethy).

Remember, the interview will be held on Jan 20th, so be sure to post your questions if you have any!
Thanks for reading. :)

 

As of 29th July 2018 all the interviews are up and linked below:
Part I. - https://youtu.be/YrLnofYNJI0
Part II. - https://youtu.be/WLEZPohhTFI
Part III. - https://youtu.be/ampVQWGcOEE
Part IV. - https://youtu.be/cj1hBprzhBM

Enjoy!

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There's an interview with Mike Winterbauer at Sega-16. The veteran artist is responsible for some iconic art of classic games of the 80s and 90s. He talks about his work for Might and Magic games:

Almost always I was given minimal information about the game I was supposed to do cover art for. One of the exceptions is the Might & Magic covers and the maps I did art work for, I was well-informed about the game and characters. Typically, I was handed screen shots and a synopsis of what the game was about. The games had a low-res quality about them, so the storyline and gameplay were integral to the success of the game. This enabled me to be very creative in coming up with a cool idea for the box cover.
The Might & Magic paintings I had a lot of time to paint. I worked on each of the pieces for well over a month, as there was plenty of time to paint each of them. They were all large paintings, being 30 by 40 inches on board, and I wanted each of them to be the very best I could make them. I hoped that the paintings would one day become valuable, and that is why I painted them larger, as larger collectible paintings can be highly sought after.
You can see Mike's artwork on his Web site. His superb painting for the Land of Xeen map is certainly worth another look.
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The Call of Liriel

is an Indie open world first-person party-based free movement RPG. It is being funded on Indiegogo.

They are using MaestroMod for images, the character's portraits, items and other 2D art. Their initial funding goal is $8000 by December 12th. Like a kickstarter those who donate will receive perks as a way of saying thank you. There are later funding goals all explained at the site linked above.

Link to campaign
>>> https://igg.me/at/the-call-of-liriel <<<

 

The team consists of Diego López Bugna - Game developer, Level designer, and Software engineer, he started programming on the commodore 128. Game developer since 2015. MM7 lover.

The second team member is Gabriel Perdomo - Level designer, 3d artist, and Jack of all trades man.

 

Crowdfunding trailer:



It is being discussed in the Might and Magic Forum in this thread, which you can see pinned down, as comments.

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Creature Quest - Q&A - Final Round 2

cq new icoThanks, that you have waited patiently, and we have it here for you. This is the second round of our Q&A with Creature Quest Team. On your questions answer John Van Caneghem, Heather Poon as CQ Art Director and Tracy Iwata as VFX Artist. This is the final round and you can find the previous part here. My thanks to whole CQ Team for their help, as for the great answers.

 

1. Avonu: IIRC JVC created MM1 alone. He said that he created King's Bounty with one additional code writer and one graphic artist and it took one year. Heroes 3 was created within 18 months with 30+ people. How long it took to create CQ and how many people were working on it?

JVC: "From start to beta 18 months and averaged 10 people, but we also used a lot of outsourcing especially for art."

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Chris Thursten of PC Gamer took another look at Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, which was released more than 10 years ago already, back in the days when Ubisoft was trying to expand the scope of the Might and Magic franchise. Referring to the game as "a brilliant murder sim", he reminds us that the game is a spiritual sequel to the excellent Arx Fatalis, and some sort of blueprints to Arkane Studios' very successful Dishonored series. The game wasn't praised by critics or gamers originally, but at times it could be a lot of fun:

"As adventuring wizard’s apprentice Sareth, you kick men and orcs with bone-shattering force into spike traps and off rope bridges. You combine directional movement and mouse swings to lop limbs with your sword just so. You emit fireballs from your palm and watch as enemies, stumbling over the flaming corpses of their comrades, catch fire too and flail and fall."

But PC Gamer also notes that the game didn't age so well in other areas:

"Dark Messiah’s technology is no longer impressive and the world of Might and Magic is not interesting enough to account for the loss. Worse are its character designs, which support a plot that is as derivative as it is faintly embarrassing to re-encounter ten years on. As Sareth you’re a Chosen, somebody running errands for louche wizards, performed with the intensity of actors who don’t quite know how to feel about the fact that they could be doing panto instead."

So Dark Messiah is 11 years old, and before long Heroes III will celebrate its 20th aniversary. We are not getting any younger, are we?

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cq new icoThis is that sort of patch, which is larger. So much, that it changes the game in several aspects and create a new flow, or balance, if you wish. With which effects, till this date, is still being discussed.

 

The patch 1.4, released five days ago, brought fixes, new "Kingdom Mode" and "Dungeon Challenge". See the full change log and videos on CQ news page. Let see a features excerpt:

 

Fixes

  • Dot fusion is now possible, to upgrade your existing awakened creature to 4d you need 4d dupe and a heap of diamonds. It begins on 125 and continues to 350 and probably over. - Good option, although costy. In many cases just farming a new creature could be more viable. But for the rest, this is a life saver!
  • If you were bored there are now three new Quests and it was added Emperor Difficulty.

 

Kingdom mode

  • More resources were introduced and you get them like regular rewards now. But you can mine them or study scrolls in your Kingdom to receive a steady flow. Nice tips from Avonu are to be read here. There are also bonus buildings for you creatures available.

cq kingdom

DC 2.0

  • Instead of one dungeon, preferrabely with 5 waves, you have now five with 3 waves in Gold Tier and just three in Silver. By filling all of them you are getting bonuses, with last two being Boss wave stun and silence immunity.
  • From what I see in my stats, both defense and offense, players are trying to get comfortable in the new setup but quite many are not yet here. Everybody is farming. smile teeth
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There's news from our Hungarian friends; Master Vologya just told us about a concert that's coming up in Wroclaw, Poland in October. Paul Romero will play along with an orchestra, giving fans of good music from the HoMM series live in show. So if you're in the area, why not check it out?

 

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Creature Quest - Question & Answers - Round 1

cq minilogo

We were curious about Creature Quest game and together with your questions sent them to Creature Quest Team and now we are proud to present them to you. From the seat on the other place is answering Jon Van Caneghem. Thank you Jon!


 

fight naga

1. How many creatures were in the game, at the time of worldwide release? How many are available now? Did you set any hard limit, which no matter what will happen in the future, is your acceptable top?

"We had over 500 at launch, and we’ve been trying to add 1-3 new Creatures each update."

2. In which countries do you see that Creature Quest is being the most popular? Can you share some top five, where is the strongest player base?

"The strongest playerbase is currently in the U.S., but we have amazing players from countries across the world.  Our strongest regions are the U.S., Germany, and Russia at the moment."

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When we were on holidays, Ironfist Team wasn't and they released a new version of their 'Cyber Mod'. Let see what they brought on the table this time:

Download from the Ironfi.st page
Supported OS: WinXP/Vista/7/8 & see the fix for Windows 10 here.

PM Moment11 1024x726

"Subdued and controlled by magical means, the Cyber Behemoths are Cyclopes that have been augmented with cranial implants and cybernetic attachments. With their plasma cannon on their back and their jump powered by rocket boots, the Cyber Behemoths form the ultimate menace in the Cyborg army."
  • New map: "Behemoth Path" - see how one Cyber Behemoth, commanded by a lone knight with some strategic maneuvering, can take on overwhelming armies, and reclaim your family heirloom from the dragon hoard.
  • Opera vocals are back - we are pleased to announce that Ironfist now has full support for CD music, and will work out of the box with CD music when installed on top of the GOG.com version.

  • Improved Map Editor - New Undo, supporting many steps back, not just one like in the original.

    We’ve also implemented a major overhaul of the scripting system. Adding your own abilities and quests is easier than ever thanks to new features such as callbacks, modules, and deep binding. Details of the overhaul are given here, and examples are given in the introduction to scripting

  • And More - Better stability, shorter loading times & scripts support in the map editor. See the full list in the release notes.

 

"Although individually weak, Kobolds make an attractive addition to any army because of their loyalty and sheer speed of breeding. The Cyber Kobolds have been enhanced, with half of their cranium changed to metal and armor fused to their chest. Their strength has been enhanced, and tests show that, with a thrust of their spear, they can easily pierce a plate of steel. Within the hilt of their spear lies an energy source, which gives their spear a lightning that can strike two enemies in a row."

The Cyber Kobold Spearman. Coming soon to a Cyborg army near you!
Kobold Portrait

Team Openings

Ironfist is recruiting a new programmer. Do you want to turn your C++ skills into new features for one of the best PC strategy games ever? This role may be for you.

We are also looking for players willing to volunteer as testers for our new maps.

Contact homm2ironfist(at)gmail.com if interested in either position.

 

For original announcement see "Project Ironfist discussion thread"

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  1. Creature Quest - Balance Changes
  2. Shutdown of Might & Magic: Showdown
  3. Jennifer Bullard - Lost manuscript files