Xhane Q&A at CoG

[Kalah]

There's a new Q&A available from <a href="http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums ... 23">Colony of Gamers</a>. It's an interesting read, albeit much of the info has been revealed already. For those of you who feel lost in the constant clutter of conversations between fans and the occasional official news release, this might help you put things into perspective. Thanks to Mike for the tip.

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/1292761890

[Campaigner]

Here are some quotes which WILL concern us!

CoG - There have been a lot of HoMM inspired games in the past decade, what will you guys do
to differentiate from games like Disciples and King's Bounty? And what are you guys going to
do that will further the genre?

Xhane - Heroes has always been the genre leader. We intend to keep this pole position. We are
already different from Disciples or KB. We are capitalizing on the strengths of the series.
Our goal is to expand the audience by making the game more accessible, pushing the visual
appeal and improving the RPG experience.

So they want to sell more by making it easier to understand, improving the graphics and RPG experience.

Sure, as long as it doesn't make it shallow and remove the challenge.

CoG - Grid or hex maps?

Xhane - Grid maps for different reasons:

You can have bigger creatures on the battlefield
The battle mechanics are easier to explain to a wide audience because it feels more
like Chess of Checkers, less like a wargame.

Being able to have bigger creatures, I definetly want.
Because it's easier to explain to people who aren't into TBS games = FAIL!

They're whoring out the Heroes of Mig..sorry! Might & Magic Heroes series.


Will be fun to see Pitsus reaction to this....considering how disappointed he already is he's gonna blow a fuse or become depraved when he sees this

[Orfinn]

@

Being able to have bigger creatures, I definetly want.

Because it's easier to explain to people who aren't into TBS games = FAIL!



Couldnt agree more...

[ThunderTitan]

Gah.... how much i hate marketing speak... makes me want to murder someone....


And i loved how it implied that chess is easy and that Heroes shouldn't be more like a wargame...


And that Civ 5 is less of a strategy game then SC2...

[Infiltrator]

Makes me wanna vomit blood.

[ThunderTitan]

Well i could murder you, that would make you vomit blood....

[TheRider]

People that play chess are usually quite intelligent and will not have problems to grasp a simple conception like hex grid. Or do the devs mean people that only have heard about chess? Not actually played it. I am wondering what target group they have in mind.

[jeff]

CoG - Will the game ship with a random map generator? If yes, what sort of options will you have with it?

Xhane - Unfortunately no, because we are focusing on the Map Editor, which is much more powerful and flexible than in Heroes V and we want it ready for the game release.

This is a worry, H-V was powerful but the most user unfriendly editor for the non tech-geek I had ever seen. I would have preferred he said "much more powerful and flexible than in Heroes IV" editor." I am definitely very concerned now, that they just did not get our concerns and how it drove me and many others away.

[ThunderTitan]

People that play chess are usually quite intelligent.

Well i do know some people that are good at chess that have barely managed to finish highschool. But of course they also played H3 a lot.

[jeff]

Well i do know some people that are good at chess that have barely managed to finish highschool. But of course they also played H3 a lot.

I thought his comment about reducing the micromanagement of resources was good, but the overall tone of the interview implied they were dumming down the game to bring in more players. I hope that is not what he meant.

[Ryder]

Heroes a genre leader? KB is so far out infront it isnt funny.

[ThunderTitan]

I thought his comment about reducing the micromanagement of resources was good,

Civ 6 with only 2 resources pls... that will make it better for sure.

[jeff]

I thought his comment about reducing the micromanagement of resources was good,

Civ 6 with only 2 resources pls... that will make it better for sure.

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. From my perspective some management adds to the overall strategy, but the game needs to have the ability to automate that management so the player need not be bothered by it every turn unless they chose to do so. ex. MOO3 bad, MOO 1 and 2 good. Hated in H-V that I needed a hero to convoy replacement troops to the front, were in H-IV the creatures could travel alone. I did like the idea in H-V where the caravans could be attacked, well that was one non-graphic improvement.

[ThunderTitan]

Care to enlighten me how exactly the resources in Heroes games added more times when you needed to manage them because of their number?! You only managed them when building stuff, and all restricting their number does it make it so that you'll need the same resources for every building...

[Angelspit]

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not.

When in doubt, there is probably a fair amount of sarcasm involved...

[ThunderTitan]

It's also made clear in my sig...

[jeff]

Well you also had to manage them when buying the level 4 creatures in H-IV, I found that more of a challenge if a large number of said creatures were available for purchase. In DF I did have scripts on the last map that could control resources available to the AI, if the player wanted to use siege tactics. I later removed them when it did not seem to affect the AI’s ability to buy. So if they were to have an AI that had to consider the available resources then the controlling of resources could create new strategies. If the AI is allowed to cheat, then I agree other than giving the player something to do, little is added.

[ThunderTitan]

Hahahhaaha... a non cheating ai in a heroes game...


And every max lvl unit ever only had 1 resource needed, and with this system they'll still have just one...

[jeff]

Hahahhaaha... a non cheating ai in a heroes game...


And every max lvl unit ever only had 1 resource needed, and with this system they'll still have just one...

True but they required different resources and needed 4, 6 or more of that resources which can be difficult if the number of sources is restricted.

[ThunderTitan]

And they could easily restrict 1 resource too... they pretty much imply it by saying the map won't be cluttered with mines anymore...