Вот кое еще что из M&M 7. Но эти картинки можно использовать не только для музея, но и для артефактов. Т.к. очень хорошие и подходящие картинки

http://img89.imageshack.us/i/ania.gif/
http://img80.imageshack.us/i/charele.gif/
http://img340.imageshack.us/i/corsair.gif/
http://img89.imageshack.us/i/ethrics.gif/
http://img80.imageshack.us/i/ghouls.gif/
http://img340.imageshack.us/i/gibbet.gif/
http://img340.imageshack.us/i/govern.gif/
http://img504.imageshack.us/i/glory.gif/
http://img89.imageshack.us/i/handsn.gif/
http://img340.imageshack.us/i/harecks.gif/
http://img89.imageshack.us/i/ironv.gif/
http://img504.imageshack.us/i/justicen.gif/
http://img340.imageshack.us/i/kelibrim.gif/
http://img297.imageshack.us/i/mash.gif/
http://img340.imageshack.us/i/mekorigs.gif/
http://img340.imageshack.us/i/oldnick.gif/
http://img504.imageshack.us/i/phynax.gif/
http://img402.imageshack.us/i/puck.gif/
http://img22.imageshack.us/i/rulers.gif/
http://img340.imageshack.us/i/scholars.gif/
http://img402.imageshack.us/i/sevleague.gif/
http://img242.imageshack.us/i/splitter.gif/
http://img340.imageshack.us/i/taledon.gif/
http://img242.imageshack.us/i/titans.gif/
http://img242.imageshack.us/i/twighlight.gif/
http://img402.imageshack.us/i/ullyses.gif/
http://img504.imageshack.us/i/wallace.gif/
http://img134.imageshack.us/i/yoruba.gif/

Вот архив с этими картинками

А вот архив с зельями из той же игры... по моему...

Когда играл, то что-то не заметил некоторых вещей...

Ну может я просто опять части перепутал ))) Но я эти картинки с какого то сайта сливал. Там же слили зелья и заклинания из этой части.

Насчет заклинаний, хоть не совсем в тему, есть очень, очень хорошие иконки, которыми можно как заменить стандартные (Может это кому и нужно), так и создать новые (Ну с помощью скриптов как в моде Сагамозы)

Вот архив со спеллами. Наслаждайтесь

Если все это можно спокойно достать из оригинальных игр, то просьба в музей не выкладывать.

Ну насчет спокойствия - не факт. Сколько там ММ7 весит? Два CD?
Ради ресурсов её тянуть - нонсенс. Другое дело, что лучше создать тему "ресурсы из ММ"

еще из общедоступного

HoMM2:

На китайском сайте есть ВСЕ.

Off-top:
Жаль не все понимают по китайски)))

А там язык не нужен.

Вот так всегда. Кстати, это из офф мануала вырезано. Вместе вот с этими всеми: Manual.rar

Кстати При повторном просмотре нашел вот такой портретик)

В самой игре он таки закрыт капюшоном

это Напившийся Виспер?

нее. это виспер после съедения гриба, который оказался эльфом...

Это один из персонажей кампании за Арчибальда)

Do u know Serёga aka K.O.?

Когда "путешествовал" по просторам инета наткнулся на одним хороший сайт по М&М 6,7,8
Вся прелесть в том, что не нем выложены рисунки с картами регионов и локаций, а также таблицы артефактов, оружия, монстров и т.д.

В общем вот ссылки на некоторые картинки с сайта
ММ 6 карта региона Free Haven
ММ 6 рисунок с некоторыми созданиями
ММ 7 Рисунок с артефактами и их св-вами
Таблица по алхимии
ММ 8 Игровая карта

Вот архивы со всем, что я оттуда накачал, если кому-то лень лазать по сайту
ММ 6 - 16,4 мб
ММ 7 - 16 мб
ММ 8 - 42,6 мб

А ещё в замке Хармондейл...

Интервью, данное Джоном Ваном Каненгемом сайту RPG Vault, в октябре 1998 года, после выхода Might & Magic VI.

Ссылка на источник: rpgvaultarchive.ign.com.

Jon Van Caneghem Interview
October 27, 1998



In late April, New World Computing and 3DO released Might & Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven, the only high-profile CRPG to reach store shelves during the first part of this year. Well-crafted and nearly bug-free, it provided legions of hungry RPG fans with hundreds of hours of solid gameplay. It's a few months later now, and with Might & Magic VII: For Blood and Honor well into development, I thought it might be a good time to follow up on the recent past and on the future with NWC's Jon Van Caneghem, the driving force behind the entire Might & Magic series.

Jonric: Let's start at the beginning of Might & Magic VI. What factors led you to decide to revive the series at a time when the RPG genre was not exactly thriving?

Jon Van Caneghem: The lack of competition was certainly a factor, as well as the simple fact that we had not made a Might and Magic for quite some time. With our fans clamoring for another Might and Magic, it was the perfect time to make an RPG.

Jonric: Overall, the reviews of Might & Magic VI rated it as very good, but not at the level to become a "classic" of the genre. Do you think this was a fair assessment? Are there any areas that you think the reviews under- or over-emphasized?

Jon Van Caneghem: Sure. Only so many games can become classics! On the whole, we felt that both our fans and reviewers treated us fairly. When you are so close to a project for so long, it's hard to tell what's going to work in the game and what's not. After a lot of reflection on the comments and criticisms of the public, we found that we agreed with most of the popular opinions.

Jonric: Perhaps the most frequent criticism of the game was that it was too combat-intensive, and that combat was too repetitive - you fought one group of monsters, then went only a short distance before having to fight another group of the same monsters. Care to comment?

Jon Van Caneghem: I think so too - for the most part. There were too many monsters in general, and it could get tiresome fighting the same group of monsters over and over, especially if they did something that "conditioned" your characters, like poison or break armor. In Might & Magic VII we intend to reduce the number of monsters you have to fight, and it will be quite common to talk or bargain your way out of fights if you want.

Jonric: That sounds like a change which will add nicely to the new game. If you could have added, changed or improved one more thing before releasing the last one, what would it have been, and why?

Jon Van Caneghem: It seems small, but I would have liked a re-mappable keyboard. A lot of players said that they couldn't get used to the default keyboard setup. We had originally intended to include this feature, but we just didn't have time before the game shipped.

Jonric: On the positive side, Might & Magic VI drew quite a lot of praise for having few bugs. Did you do anything special in terms of QA?

Jon Van Caneghem: In the last few weeks before any major product ships, just about everyone in the office is playing the game and reporting bugs. You could say our QA department quadruples in size at this time. It really helps work everything out.

Jonric: OK, that's what the media and the public said. As the game's developer, what do you feel the game's major strengths were?

Jon Van Caneghem: Although controversial, I feel the most important thing was turn based/real time system of combat. We really gave this a lot of thought, and I think this was the key to bringing Might and Magic's party based system into the post-Doom 3D world. The only adjustment I would like to make to that system is permitting movement in turn-based combat. I was also very happy with the skill system and the combat balance.

Jonric: Are you happy with sales of Might & Magic VI? Did you release it in any other languages, and are any more planned?

Jon Van Caneghem: Sales have met expectations, and we are quite satisfied with the game's retail performance. And yes, it has been translated into Dutch, French, Japanese, and German. I think that all other translations (Spanish and Italian) are in the works, and we won't be making any more.

Jonric: Blizzard recently announced that their RTS, Starcraft, which was also released earlier this year, has sold over a million copies to date. Diablo, which many class as "RPG Lite" has sold even more, and is still going strong. Do you think it's possible for a "hard-core" RPG to sell that kind of quantity? Why or why not?

Jon Van Caneghem: Certainly. I believe that the Final Fantasy series has achieved that level of success, and it is a complex role-playing game with a higher than average learning curve. With the ever-increasing spread of the PC, we have a better chance of meeting those figures with each passing year.

Jonric: Do you have any research or feedback to tell you whether people are playing Might & Magic VI through more than once?

Jon Van Caneghem: There's no formal research, but from what I can tell by reading message boards and news groups (as well as talking to friends), I would say about 20% of those who finish the game play it through again. Most people who replay are looking to play a different class of character or go through the game stressing different kinds of skills to see how it plays.

Jonric: The idea for the NWC dungeon was a lot of fun. Where did it come from?

Jon Van Caneghem: One of the level designers had made the dungeon as an internal joke during development, and we all thought it was pretty funny, so we threw it in as an Easter egg at the last minute.

Jonric: Glad you did. What major changes will you be making for Might & Magic VII? To what extent were any of these influenced by player and/or media feedback?

Jon Van Caneghem: We are VERY interested in the feedback we received on MM6. Here's a quick list of a few of the most important things we're going to change or add for MM7:

Monster vs. Monster combat: Players will see monsters fight with each other in MM7. They will often have a chance to intervene in a combat to help choose the winner. Players will also be able to summon monsters or charm them into fighting on their side.

Plotline: There will be several instances during the game where the players will be asked to make a decision that will radically alter the story for the rest of the game. Also, the characters will be persons of importance very quickly. This spells the end of "go fetch my staff from the woods for a reward" quests.

Classes and Races: Players can choose from three new classes (monk, thief, and ranger) and three new races (dwarf, elf, and goblin).

Castle Ownership: The players will get a chance to own and operate their own castle. They'll be able to make improvements, store treasure, and hire retainers at this castle.

There will also be 3D accelerator support, a re-mappable keyboard and movement during turn-based combat

Jonric: Sounds great. Are there any significant changes to the design team this time around?

Jon Van Caneghem: No.

Jonric: When can we expect Might & Magic VII to be released? Aside from its own merits, Might & Magic VI stood out simply because it was the only major RPG this spring, but the new game won't have that advantage. What will make it stand out?

Jon Van Caneghem: Might and Magic VI will be released in March of '99. It isn't a one-horse show - it doesn't rely on any single feature to make or break it. Might & Magic VII will stand out as a product that shines in all departments: excellent graphics, combat, story, music, and interface.

Jonric: Lofty goals indeed. What can you tell us about the storyline for Might & Magic VII? I understand it will tie into both Might & Magic VI and Heroes of Might & Magic III. Is that correct?

Jon Van Caneghem: Yes. The story takes place on the edge of the kingdom of Erathia just after the wars chronicled in HOMM3 reach their conclusion. There were a lot of loose ends (Archibald!) in Might and Magic VI that need tying up, and there will be a few loose ends in Heroes III that need tying as well. The story revolves around a conflict that arises between the Human and Elven kingdoms over a small valley kingdom that the PLAYER is in charge of. Although the war seems straightforward at first, there are plans within plans hidden behind the simple façade of a border dispute. In this story, even the puppet masters have masters.

Jonric: How far ahead are you looking? Assuming it would use a new engine, you would have to be thinking about Might & Magic VIII already if you want to release it before the end of 2000. Anything you can tell us at this point in time?

Jon Van Caneghem: One word: Ancients.

Jonric: Heheh. Interesting yet mysterious. I seem to recall that you were thinking of a Might & Magic Online game. Any plans along those lines? Any plans for a Might & Magic game with multi-player capability for a small group?

Jon Van Caneghem: Plans for an MM Online have not died, just been delayed. We are not convinced that the business model is a successful one. If we start to see other companies make profits, well start the idea up again. As for multi-player capability in the stand-alone Might and Magic game, we're thinking about it, but not for MM VII.

Jonric: Before we end, let me ask which upcoming RPGs, if any, you are most interested in seeing and playing.

Jon Van Caneghem: I, for one, am looking forward to Diablo II and Ultima: Ascension. Diablo isn't exactly a role-playing game, but I thought the first one was a lot of fun.

Jonric: Alright, last question. Any thoughts or predictions as to the future of the RPG genre?

Jon Van Caneghem: One day, we'll be bigger than movies!

Jonric: Cool. And when I'm the Siskel and Ebert of RPG reviews, I'll be sure to invite you on my TV show as a guest. 8-) For the moment however, thank you very much for sharing some of your thoughts with me and with our readers.

Статья, опубликованная на сайте tothegame, в которой описывается экскурсия одного из сотрудников сайта в офис NWC, написанная незадолго до выхода Heroes of Might & Magic IV и Might & Magic IX.

Ссылка на источник: www.tothegame.com.

Heroes of New World Computing

We were invited to New World Computing for a fresh new look at their 2 upcoming games (who am I to say no to a trip to California and look at some really cool games at the same time). In this little piece I’ll bore you with a little travel tale and who knows, maybe some interesting info will be reviled as well. So if you’re willing to take a chance, read on.

Posted 13-Mar-2002

It’s Tuesday February 26th, about 4.30 in the morning and I’m getting up trying to decide what to bring and how to make it fit in my suitcase. At the same time, wondering why I agreed to go on this long trip anyway. About an hour or so later I find myself at the airport starting to look forward to this Heroes 4 and Might and Magic 9 revelation. Hmm, I’ve followed both series for as long as they’ve been around. This could be great. In Amsterdam I met up with the other Norwegian journalist and after some ticket gymnastics we got aboard a plane bound for the States and the City of Angels (LA that is). I could write a detailed description of all the exiting things that happen during such a flight, but I wont. I’ll divulge one thing to all of you out there that doesn’t know, an 11 ½ hour flight is booooooring. Arriving in Los Angeles we met up with the lovely Lisette Sprengers (the international press manager of 3DO) and a bunch of other European journalists (also an australian thrown in for good measure). Driving to Santa Monica and our Hotel were shown the wonders of GPS navigating systems for cars. System hanging for a few seconds get interesting results. Eventually we arrived at our hotel, which was very nice. After registering we went out for dinner and a few beers. Next morning, surprisingly awake and sober, we left for New World Computing studios. We were met by executive producer Jeff Blattner and given a detailed plan for the day. First a presentation and interview with the designers of M&M, then lunch, a presentation of Heroes 4, a tour of the offices and finally we got to try the games. We were all getting a bit excited as this was the main reason for our trip. Presenting MM9 was Director Keith Francart, whom has been involved with the series since MM6, and Designer Tim Lang whom started at NWC as a tester in 1996, and progressed to working on level design in MM6. The latest addition to the series, Might and Magic 9 on the other hand, has been in production for about 15 months. They started just after a M&M game for PS2 got canned. Both men are of course very enthusiastic about the new game, and especially regarding the jump from sprites (used in MM6 – 8) to 3D technology. They are trying to make the new one more accessible then standard RPG’s by making it easier to get started on and by changing the game play slightly towards that of FPS games. The game has no videos, but quite a few scenes that will come to pass whenever the player gets to a certain point in the game. The player can stay and watch, just leave or in some cases change the event. Although many of these scenes give clues to quests, almost all information can be found several places and you’ll not be able to walk away from the only place specific info is available. The designers seemed especially fond of a theatrical play you can watch, while playing, that in addition to giving important info also is very amusing. They were also very pleased about the AI implemented in the game. All monsters in MM9 has both a ranged attack and a melee attack option. Some are good at one, some the other. The AI varies depending on the current situations and the amount of Monsters. Attack values and the look of your characters decide weather to attack with ranged weapon, melee or run away. The monsters may cooperate, some using ranged weapons and others closing in. They might even run to get help. The game sounds exciting, taking in consideration the mix of FPS gameplay with the depth of a normal RPG when it comes to story and character development. Definitely sounds interesting. Then again if it doesn’t appeal to the players it might loose in both markets. What happens remains to be seen, so stay tuned for more details in the upcoming preview. In the break before H4 was to be presented, we had a word with Jon Van Caneghem, the Founder of New World Computing. He was happy to answer our questions and told us he got involved with computer game programming whilst studying Pre-Med. He saw the games being released and thought he could do one better, and switched to computer science studies which eventually lead to New World Computing in the mid 80’s. In those days he did everything himself, from design to the final product. He started on the M&M series and even though the game industry have changed a lot since then with many people now working on each game, he still gets involved in the design (there are some maps of his in HoMM IV). Because of the increased production costs he felt the need for a more secure based economy, and NWC became a part of 3DO. On a question regarding what the best and worst games they’d ever made, he replied that Heroes 2 was in his opinion the best game they’d made and the worst he said while smiling ”I seem to remember we did a celebrity poker game once” (other designers present either looked away or burst out laughing). Having played most of their games myself (even that poker game for about 5 minutes), I certainly do agree. When asked about whether they had put any thought into doing HoMM IV in real-time, the answer was - not really. As they are the leading fantasy strategy turn based game, it’s a lot easier (and safer) to continue doing what they do best, rather then entering a segment they know little about and where there’s lots of competitors with well known products. Not to say that they’ll never do an RTS, or even that it will bear the name of Heroes of Might and Magic, but it will in that case probably be done as a spin off from the series. When asked about what games that were HoMM IV hardest competitors, he thinks for a bit and says that Warcraft III will be important because many of the players play both RTS and turn based. When it comes to games in the same segment he mentions Age of Wonders 2. His opinion is that Solo RPG’s for computers are in real danger of loosing to the MMORG’s. As peoples internet access only gets better and better this problem will only increase. Leaping from topic to topic we were told that he’d played a lot of MMORG’s himself in addition to Civ III and Grand Turismo for PS2 (As the only console game he ever played for any length of time). He also said he were saddened to see Sir-Tech going out of business as he’d been impressed by their work for many years. Next up in the line of questions were whether he thought PC games were in danger from the Consoles and his feelings towards software piracy. The consoles weren’t a point of worry, they would come and go and the PC would remain the standard they always would try to beat. Piracy on the other hand was of course a general problem. Lots of money were lost because of it every year, and he considered the war against it lost in the sense that the problem would never go away, apart from trying to keep it at bay by protecting the software as best as possible. On the other hand, there are several examples, he said, that games doing poorly initially gained on the fact of being distributed as pirated software over the net. The game sales would pick up and at the end the title didn’t do to bad at all. Better demo versions freely distributed before the games release could probably help this activity, he said, but the problem being that when you make a demo you want to show the best parts of your game, which normally isn’t finished before the game itself. The last question of the day was: Can someone with an idea today do what you did in the mid 80’s, is it still possible? After a pause he replied; Yes it is possible but it’s a lot more difficult now than it used to, you’d probably need several people in stead of just one to achieve it. On the other hand at the moment the PC game business is difficult. The existing companies are taking no chances, pursuing only projects they feel confident about, making no great changes to these type of products (this will change he says it’s just a matter of time). “So if anyone right now came with a good, innovative idea it would stand out all the more against the other’s because they’d be the only one’s doing something new”. This got nods of agreement from the other designers listening in on our conversation. Later on the presentation of Heroes 4 started with David Mullich (Director) and Gus Smedstad (Lead Designer/Programmer), supported from the sideline by Joe McGuffin (Art Director) and Terry Ray (writer). They started at the beginning with how they began their work on Heroes 4 (H4), which was by pinpointing what the Heroes series was all about. From there on they started to build H4 by adding many well known features and a few new ones, and finally ended up with a game they hoped the public would appreciate (I know I will). They decided to keep the colorful fantasy art in the style of H2, cause it was important that players found the game familiar when graphics had changed as much as it had. One feature that Gus Smedstad wanted to include in Heroes 3, but did not realize, was heroes fighting with a players armies. Now he’s in a position to decide and in H4 one can have more than one hero in each army, and they all fight. This is also one of the most “wished for” change by the fans explained David. They explained how they organized the relations between the fractions (towns) in a circle with the might town in the middle, so that each of the magical towns can cooperate with (use spells and creatures from those towns, without harsh penalties) 2 other (the towns on each side). The might town doesn’t work very well, neither bad with any of the others. David and Gus further explained that this time they wanted to avoid that some creatures were to weak and nearly useless in the game. They started with different types of creature with their special abilities and some combat values and then started to test fight the creatures against one another. By using the rock-scissors-paper system they managed to develop all creatures in a way that they would be able to take out approximately ½ of the other creatures from the same level. By fine-tuning these, they kept the special abilities and modified the combat values until the results were satisfactory. Another important aspect in any game is the music. They explain that they constructed a system to diversify the music as much as possible. It’s linked to heroes, towns and terrain so that visiting different towns and terrain will result in different music. Rob King is the master of music at NWC and has made what sounds like a great score for the game. More specific game info will come later at ToTheGame. Finally, we were given a tour around the offices with Jeff Blattner, explaining at the same time how important it is to them that everybody that works on a project, works as close to one another as possible. It felt bit strange walking around those offices smiling and saying ”Hi” to lots of people I’d never meet again, knowing that they make games people will be spending more time, then their healthy share of hours, playing. All of them seemed friendly and the atmosphere seemed great, It looked like a great place to work. Personally I found it exciting that these people enjoy playing the same games I tend to, finding a designated room as the ”Game room” for playing RPG’s (Yes pen and paper ones), board games and of course the occasional computer game. I am convinced that these guys (and girls, cause there was quite a few) must be having loads of fun. Of course having a fun job mean you’ll put all that extra effort in when necessary. David and Gus tells us that the last few weeks they’ve been doing 80 hour workweeks and before that, 70 hours. David let out with a sigh at dinner ”Only 8… no 9 days to go, but then we start working on multiplayer” (remember this was said in the end of February). Although nothing Is decided yet, Gus told us he would like to do a good e-mail supported multiplayer version as well as the others. The current game will only have hot seat. Whether the multiplayer will be available as a downloadable patch or in an expansion is yet to be decided. After having my spirits lifted just by walking through an office, looking at pictures on walls, watching the testers playing the games (as any other working day I suppose), and observing all the programmers and designers working their magic, I headed for home knowing I’d met some of the heroes from my youth. Granted, not many of the people I met worked on the first Might and Magic games which I played over and over. Nevertheless, the 60-90 (I’m guessing here) people that worked at NWC are the real heroes, and besides that a source of great fun. I’ll spare you the details of the trip back, Suffice it to say that I’m looking forward to playing two new games and reporting back to you all shortly (if I can stop playing that is). Dag Petersen, ToTheGame - More info on New World Computing Titles - More titles from Publisher 3DO - www.3do.com First two screenshots are from HoMM IV, and the last to from M&M IX.

Интервью, данное Джоном Ваном Каненгемом сайту Celestial Heavens в 2003 году на выставке E3.

Ссылка на источник: www.celestialheavens.com.

Part One

CH: How was the Heroes series born?

JVC: (Without my wife) Heroes would have never come about. I made King's Bounty, I don't know if you've ever known of that game...

CH: ...Yeah...

JVC: ... and that was the first game she got into, and I started King's Bounty, and she totally fell in love with it. And I went back to working on Might & Magic. And every month, every week, every morning, (she'd say) "When are you going to make a sequel to King's Bounty? That's the best game, that's better than Might & Magic! That's the one to make a sequel for." (So I said) "Alright, I'll make it." So finally I gave in and that's how Heroes I was born.

CH: Well, thank her for it.

JVC: (laughs) I will.

CH: She had a good eye.

JVC: And she's actually... was involved quite a bit with Heroes II and III. She did alot of the maps and alot of the testing...

CH: ... Oh yeah...

JVC: ... Quite a bit. She still plays it to this day. She still yells at me every day for the way Heroes IV turned out like, "You ruined my game!"

CH: What are the improvements for Heroes V from Heroes IV?

JVC: Alright, so Heroes V, what I really want to get back to, and what I'm spending all my time on, is redesigning the entire game engine, to be much more along the lines of Heroes II and III, except much more modern and a lot more balanced, and much more challenging. The game evolved much more towards a role-playing type of game over the last couple of years, and I want to bring back completely, 180 degrees back to a true strategy game. It will have role-playing elements, but really the esence of what I wanted Heroes always to be since the very beginning is a pure strategy game. And role-playing is nice for campaigns and some particular scenarios, but the basic game is strategy. It's you against a few players, or you against other human players. (continued)

CH: (And so it will) focus more on scenario combat and scenario design features? Well, not just the scenarios, but the game itself, where there will be less emphasis on quests, and more emphasis on tactical combat?

JVC: Right. Absolutely, the game takes it much more towards the strategy orientation, and we'll make the story lines shorter, and the quest-based maps more, uh, simpler in terms of the entire overall quests so... But what that allows us to do and allows me to do is make much more of a strategic quest or story out of (those elements), instead of one of just plodding through it, and opening up a story like an RPG. It becomes an involved strategy quest that's active... figure out what to do, make decisions that are important when you mkae them and how you make them, so then you can work out the scenario. Versus just what it's truned into now is (meaning Heroes IV), it's just a matter of plodding through it. There's really no big strategic decision to be made in the current scenario (meaning Heroes IV). So, that's what I want to get back to, and I think that's more fun.

CH: What is your level of involvement for the new game?

JVC: (Full-time) Yeah, that's my plan. I mean, I'm looking forward to getting back into it full-time and really making it... It sounds like... I feel like I owe it to the fans, to bring back Heroes the way it was, as opposed to what it kind of evolved into.

CH: How is the programming of the AI system going?

JVC: For Heroes V I'm starting from scratch. Everything from AI is now going to be my design from scratch.

CH: It will not be parts of Heroes III?

JVC: No.

CH: ...Scrapping Heroes IV...?

JVC: Yeah. Heroes IV was completely new from Heroes III. There wasn't much at all used from Heroes III.

CH: Oh really?

JVC: There was some talk if "there was", "there wasn't", who can really tell...?

CH: ...Right. Lot of speculation...

JVC: ...Lot of speculation, but no. Heroes IV was redone completely, and it just wasn't done right. And a long back-story about how that was done, but I won't get into it.

CH: Well, it's fine, we're looking forward to the new AI.

JVC: Yes, And that will be quite a challenge since I'm pretty much doing the plan again. But, you know, I always... in all my designs I make it that it's always very easy to adjust the difficulty. In that, if you're having trouble or it's getting ahead of you then you can just turn it down.

CH: What types of creatures will there be?

JVC: Well, we have our creature list for the six town types already done, but all the old favorites, many of them are back, of course... Titans and Giants, and Dragons of course, of all types.

CH: Any new ones that you've decided to go with that are different from the others in the series?

JVC: Yeah, I think there's a few new ones we haven't seen in any of the Heroes, but for the most part we kind of pick and choose the ones people like the most out of the last of the Heroes games. And then put them together in appropriate towns.

CH: Make sure there are Genies.

JVC: Gotta have Genies, hehe.

CH: What types of alignment and faction system is being designed? Do you know how the magic system will work?

JVC: There are six town types, and I don't know them off the top of my head, which is terrible but I should.

CH: With everything in your head, I can imagine.

JVC: Yeah, uh, but they're very much, you know, orgainzed in a, I dunno, kind of the (inaudible)-together type of grouping... (inaudible). So there's still all the stand-bys and favorites. But, I'm doing a lot, probably the most exciting thing I'm doing is the actual Hero development and skill system, which is completely from scratch. And people that alot.

CH: And the magic system, is that tied to the faction system like in Heroes IV?

JVC: Yes. In fact, we have a magic system that is completely tied to each town type. We have a set of spells that are generic to all towns, then we have a complete set of spells that's dedicated solely to each town type.

CH: Has the decision been made about removing the Underground yet?

JVC: Yeah, the Underground just didn't seem to add much except for cunfusion. It was... the way I originally designed it was, I made the Underground, and I think it was Heroes III it first appeared... a lot of our maps ran out of room for little treasure caches. So I said well, I could make this little Underground, you could go down and there would be a little bit bigger of an area where I could actually have a little treasure cache based where you were. The big maps it made sense, but the mapmakers went wild and turned it into an entire... thing, and now we had two maps instead of one, and it kind of went in a diredction it wasn't intended to.

CH: So are you planning on doing an alternative system to the Undergound, or just keeping it a single-layer map?

JVC: Keeping it the single-layer. I mean, we can always add it back... and there were orignal plans were for a cloud layer, an Undergound, an alternate plane, and... (but those won't happen)

CH: Yeah, in the Winds of War expansion you actually have in the editor the ability to add or remove an Underground.

JVC: That's right.

CH: Who is doing the music and has the music been finished?

JVC: (The music hasn't been done yet), but we'll probably use the same team...

CH: ...same composer?

JVC: Yeah, Rob King.

CH: Excellent music.

JVC: Yeah, I really loved his... I discovered him, you know, (from) nowhere, brought him on full-time, and now he's doing music for all sorts of games, so.. Oh definitely, I want him and the same guys do the music. I really like how the music fits Heroes.

CH: Will the game be using a similar kind of scripting system in its editor, and will it be improved over the one in Heroes IV? Heroes IV has an awesome editor.

JVC: I'd love to improve on it, I don't know if we'll be able to do much of a revamping with that editor or not. But it'll have all the layout to it in the way it works... but making it easier to use is a big... completely big "if". But the other side of it is it's not that important since if I I get the AI to where I want it to be, no one's going to have to go in to do all these scripted events to make the game play its best...

CH: ... Right, exactly...

JVC: ... So, that's kind of my caveat to, well, if we do this right, then that won't matter as much because people won't have to fight with that editor to get some measure of interesting gameplay out of it.

CH: But you are doing it with a scripting system?

JVC: Yeah, it's the same one. We're basically using the same tools, just changing it to enhance it.

CH: That's good news for me.

CH: Will there be a Random Map or Terrain Generator?

JVC: I'm working on it. Yeah, I'm going to try to get that done if I can for the first release.

CH: Because that's a very poplular thing with the tournament players, they're always looking for ways to create maps...

JVC: Yes.

CH: And the Object Painter which came along in the Winds of War expansion is one tool that... anything that saves a mapmaker time. Because that just means more maps...

JVC: Yeah.

CH: And people will spend more time on them...

JVC: Making them, yep.

CH: ...not doing the things that (waste time, and thus) planning more creative maps.

Part Two of this interview with New World Computing's Jon Van Caneghem is presented here.

CH: Do you have any plans for an Official Tournament or other sponsored events?

JVC: That'd be great. I'd love to do it.

CH: Seems like you're going to have to add to your staaff a vit to handle that.

JVC: Yeah, but at the same time, ya know, between web sites and people organizing themselves. If we just support it, I think that could probably work out.

CH: Can we expect you on the 3DO Community or the Round Table posting some time?

JVC: Sure.

CH: You're a busy guy, but ya know, you're the Man.

JVC: Alright, well I mean, I hate to personally get into the whole "posting wars"...

CH: It's hard. It's very difficult, I know...

JVC: I know, I know. Chris (Vanover) had been with us (for so long)

CH: Most of the time someone will ask you a question and you find that you just can't answer it, because it will start something else...

JVC: So, ya know, I'd rather start something up where you guys filter up what you want me to answer, once a month or... and (I'll see if I can get to it).

CH: Do you visit Celestial Heavens?

JVC: Yeah, of course, and I'll end up getting along with most of the stuff, but no, I think it's great that you guys have been supporting us. I know there's been some friction over the last few months.

CH: Yeah. We do post what we find, in terms of news...

JVC: Yeah.

CH: ... But we're all fans of the games.

JVC: That's all that matters. Hey, the truth is what it is, I don't care. (laughs)

CH: Most of what we're doing is just bringing news to the community so they can talk about it...

JVC: ...can talk about it, right..

CH: ... not so we can bring our own opinions in.

JVC: No, I love that you guys are there. I mean , ya know, I used to have to read UseNet to find out, ya know, I'd go to Strategy: UseNet, and I'd see... to pick through the Heroes topics to find out what people were saying about the latest game or expansion. But most of your guys grew so large.

CH: Are there plans for a Heroes IV Complete, and what would it include?

JVC: Probably, I think 3DO actually has it on their schedule to do that.

CH: Is that a 3DO question?

JVC: Yeah, that's a 3DO question. I wouldn't have much involvement except we would want to be making the CDs and testing it.

CH: I was just wondering if they might ask you to add some more content.

JVC: I don't know. Unlikely.

CH: If it didn't happen with Heroes III Complete then it probably isn't likely for Heroes IV.

JVC: Right.

CH: How about the turn-times? Will Heroes V be faster in terms of the amount of time it takes to access things?

JVC: (The computer has to) ... figure out stuff, but 99% of it didn't move, never changes... it's the map. That can be done when the map's created at our office. It shouldn't be a burden for every player out there at the end of their turn. So there's lots of stuff like that that I want it to be (when clicking the button) "Go, go, go".

CH: Is there going to be a beta test release for Heroes V?

JVC: One of the problems we've had with our games and beta testing is, we've never had a large enough schedule to do formal beta testing. So by the time the CD goes out to, say we've got a hundred people we want at the office to be around for the first round of beta, by the time we get them, get them their CDs, and have them start playing it, we're eighteen revisions at the office past what they have. Alot of what they'll be reporting we'll already have on the list, we'll either have fixed them, or decided that we're not going to... (do that in the game).

CH: ... You know you're giving the beta testers this thing that isn't working yet, so you're working on those problems...

JVC: ... we're working on those problems, and if we had a longer cycle the you could do that, but the last few years with 3DO has been, ya know, by the time we're beta, everyone's non-stop (working on the game's problems)

CH: What financial factors come into the development of the game that affects its publication?

JVC: On and on and on, it all just never ends; the financial situation, so...

CH: Not being a game industry person myself, and most of the readers aren't...

JVC: Yeah. It's hard for them to understand.

CH: ... it's phenomenal to understand what goes into developing a game.

JVC: Yep. The bottom line is two things. There's the integrity, and how great a game is, and then there'e the actual dollars and cents of the checkbook, and everyone keeping the lights on and paying salaries. And a lot of times those two can't meet. They just can't get together to the point where you going to satisfy both of them. So or course the one that's going to fail is the game side, because everyone's got to keep the lights on and pay the bills. Bottom line, that's what it comes down to.


Интервью, данное Джоном Ваном Каненгемом сайту Computer Gaming World в 2004 году.

Though not as well known as some of his contemporaries, Jon Van Caneghem is one of PC gaming’s great success stories—the founder of New World Computing and the sole creator of one of gaming’s best franchises, Might and Magic. (Two of the games—Might and Magic I and Heroes of Might and Magic II—reside in CGW’s Hall of Fame.) 3DO’s subsequent purchase of New World, as well as its near destruction of the franchise with mediocre products, is now part of industry legend—and also drove Van Caneghem into premature retirement. Now, for the first time, the creator of Might and Magic has agreed to speak publicly about his franchise: the good, the bad, and the superugly.

CGW: Tell us about your first game, as well as the beginning of New World Computing.

JVC: I started NWC in 1983 from my small apartment in Hollywood, CA. The first game I designed was Might and Magic I for the Apple II. Since I did most everything (programming, art, story, etc.) myself back then, it was the most satisfying creative experience I’ve ever had. It took me three years to finish, after which time I placed ads in the two hot computer gaming magazines at the time (CGW and A+). The 800 number for orders and customer support rang in my living room!

CGW: How big was New World Computing at its peak? When did you sell it to 3DO—and why?

JVC: At its peak, NWC had over 100 people. New World was sold to 3DO in 1996 for several reasons. Budgets for new games were skyrocketing. The industry was consolidating, and it was getting harder to get shelf space; lots of new companies were entering the market with huge budgets and a new financial model. I decided to sell and stay [so] that I could focus on making games and not have to worry about everything else that went into running a software publisher.

CGW: What were the worst decisions 3DO made concerning New World or your franchises?

JVC: Well, there were a few. I believed that MM RPGs and Heroes games could have gone on for a very long time if we had created something new and innovative every 2 to 3 years. But the need for “sales growth,” mandated by 3DO, required us to make a new MM RPG and a new Heroes product every year—some in 10 months or less!
Second, one of the main reasons I was excited to go with 3DO was the ability to create Might and Magic Online. 3DO had the entire infrastructure from their game Meridian 59. With all the ideas I had (most of which have still not appeared in current games), we could have created something really awesome. The future for me in 1996 was definitely online games. Alas, the decision was that for the same budget as MMO, 3DO could make three PS2 games.
Third, at some point, the decision process at 3DO regarding which products to produce and develop was completely controlled by the head of sales!?! Here is how it went: The development teams and execs at 3DO made lists of products they would like to make or could make, the sales department would estimate how many of each of these hypothetical games they could sell, and this would determine the budget of the title—or if it was even worth developing. Madness!

CGW: How involved were you with Heroes of Might and Magic IV or Might and Magic IX? How did you feel about the release of these games?

JVC: I worked on the initial design for Heroes IV, then when things started to go awry (too many cooks in the kitchen), I had to help finish the game and get it into a shippable state. To the credit of the team involved, I think we were able to create a fun game, even though it had many flaws that I was very unhappy with. I had little to no involvement with MMIX; if it had been my decision, it would have never shipped.

CGW: You must have made some valiant appeals on behalf of New World with some of 3DO’s decisions—did they fall on deaf ears? Or were the execs just clueless?

JVC: Yes, you would think that the advice from probably the only game designer with two Hall of Fame series, in two different genres spanning two decades, might know something about development! Bah! Deaf ears, clueless—call it what you want. I gave up.

CGW: Ubisoft owns the rights to your old franchises now. Will you be involved with Heroes V at all?

JVC: Ubisoft has contacted me regarding Heroes V. They are building the game with one of their Russian development groups, and we are currently discussing if it would make sense for me to participate on the project.

CGW: Do you regret having sold New World to them? What lessons did you learn from the experience?

JVC: I will never regret selling NWC, since I know many other companies similar to NWC went out of business. I do feel bad about watching the franchises I created wither away. But I did learn quite a few lessons along the way. Mainly that if you’re not happy with what you’re doing, you need to move on, regardless of the difficulty. Failure is temporary, regret can last forever! Overall, I am very proud of all the games I made over the years and very happy knowing all the fun I have created for so many people!


Интервью, данное Джоном Ваном Каненгемом сайту Gamespot, в июне 2004 года.

Ссылка на источник: www.gamespot.com.

Q&A: NCsoft executive producer Jon Van Caneghem

Might and Magic creator returns to the design fold with plans to create an MMOG that breaks the rules and unites both casual and gonzo gamers alike. Can he get away with it?

By Curt Feldman, GameSpot
Posted Jun 18, 2004 5:46 pm PT

With just two weeks under his belt at NCsoft's US location in Austin, Texas, the designer who single-handedly came up with the Might and Magic universe of role-playing games was still adjusting to life away from his home turf of Los Angeles. "What the heck. I’ve been in California my entire life, so this is an interesting change," he told us, sounding just a couple of clicks shy of 100 percent convinced he had made the right choice.


A longtime fan of the Wizardry and Ultima games, Van Caneghem created his own role-playing universe out of his LA apartment--which also served as warehouse, mailroom, and customer support center--in the early '80s.

He built the Might and Magic universe into a huge success, eventually selling his company, New World Computing, to Trip Hawkins and 3DO.

Earlier this month, Van Caneghem surfaced in Austin, Texas. Brought on to the NCsoft Austin team by cofounder and fellow role-playing-game designer Richard Garriott, Van Caneghem started the third chapter of his game design career as executive producer and lead on a new, currently unannounced game. We spoke with Caneghem by phone just a few days after he started. Claiming he felt like "a total newbie," he soon shifted the conversation toward his game.

GameSpot: You’ve been off a lot of people’s radar for a while. What the heck are you doing standing shoulder to shoulder with what was arguably your biggest competitor. What are you doing at NCsoft?

Jon Van Caneghem: The whole reason I came there was really to start from scratch. I didn’t want to have to do anything based on something that already existed--as with some of the baggage I had with all the Heroes games, where I had to always make a sequel.

GS: When did the games start to qualify as "baggage"?

JVC: I think toward the end with 3DO it started to feel that way. Like most publishers, they were very scared of doing something new. They always wanted to stick with building a sequel that they knew had a built-in sales number they could achieve... The execs look at the numbers and they go, “Hey, but we got such a fan base. Can you make another one?" Nine Might and Magics and four Heroes later, it gets to the point where I go, “Come on guys, let’s do something new!”

GS: How did you find yourself at NCsoft?

JVC: I’ve been wanting to make a next-gen online product since I sold [New World Computing] to 3DO in ’96. They had Meridian 59, and Ultima Online was just about to come out. I [thought], "This is the future for gaming, especially for RPGs." That was one of the main reasons for going [with 3DO].

GS: How did that relationship start off?

JVC: A few months into it, six or seven months into it, Trip [Hawkins, 3DO's founder] decided that building three PS2 titles would be better use of his money. So, my vision there got canceled. Ever since, I’ve been wanting to do massively multiplayer products. I’ve been building ideas, and I play every [MMO game] out there. I just really think it’s the future of gaming. Then I read about Richard and Robert Garriott starting their group, and then merging with NCsoft. I got real intrigued.

GS: Were you previously acquainted with the Garriotts?

JVC: And I’ve been friends with Richard and Robert for over 20 years now.

GS: As competitors no doubt...

JVC: You know, as friendly competitors...thinking [about] the same products. We’ve always had a good time together. I thought, “Hey, why don’t I call Richard and see what’s going on?”

GS: How will you fit into the NCsoft organization?

JVC: I’m building a complete team from scratch--currently bringing in very talented people from inside NCsoft [and] bringing in some people from outside, as well as looking for additional staff. It's going to be NCsoft’s second internal team--the other internal team at the moment is building Tabula Rasa, Richard's product.

GS: I noticed you have the same title as Richard...

JVC: I believe so.

GS: So does that put you on equal footing with Richard?

JVC: Absolutely.

GS: Well, congratulations.

JVC: Thanks. [Laughs]

GS: How far along are you in terms of creating your team and getting to work on the game?

JVC: I have a half a dozen people so far. We’re probably going to keep the team under 15 people for the first four to five, maybe six, months [while we] get the technology and infrastructure down--before we get into the full production mode of building tons of content.

GS: Will there be any sharing of technology between your team and the Tabula Rasa team?

JVC: That’s part of what I’m evaluating over the next couple of weeks. There’s a lot that NCsoft has to offer. Obviously, the backbone is in place...they have numerous online games they’re running now with City of Heroes and Lineage II, and everything else they’ve got going. I’m glad to take the backbone and run from there, which makes it exciting for me because it all works--customer support and billing. It’s a huge investment to build that.

GS: Your focus is on what?

JVC: I can just focus on the product and not have to rebuild that whole infrastructure.

GS: What can you tell me about the product?

JVC: My goal has been to build what I call the next-generation online title.

GS: Which means...

JVC: What I mean by that is that all the products currently are what I view as either first generation, or basically spin-offs of the EverQuest model. What I’ve been looking at is to take that next step, and the next level product is not that.

GS: What is it about the EverQuest model that’s right, and what is it that’s wrong?

JVC: What’s right is it’s fun, obviously. It has a lot of people who enjoy playing it. I guess what’s wrong is it’s still a very narrow audience. It has a lot of elements you might call sophisticated. And that blocks out a lot of people who enjoy playing PC games.

GS: Where do you intend to take it?

JVC: I’d like to bring the experience that people loved from the stand-alone products that I built for 20 years into the online model. My joke is that if any of the current MMOs were released as a stand-alone, they’d probably have failed miserably, so part of what I want to do with this next product is to solve that [problem], so anyone who would have bought a stand-alone product is going to enjoy my new game.

Right now there's a mind-set that enjoys either online products or stand-alone. So my biggest goal is to widen the user base to not just the few hundred thousand, but potentially millions who can play.

GS: Where do you start?

JVC: I think a lot of the gameplay mechanics are going to [have to] change to allow someone who only wants to play two to three hours a week to have just as fun an experience as the guy who’s going to be the 24/7 lunatic. Addressing those game mechanics is a big part of my plan.

GS: How do you approach that?

JVC: Once you take a genre, or, I should say, a set way of playing, like EverQuest, it pretty much sets the standard and then everyone builds on top of that. Once you choose that path you have no choice. You’re just enhancing a situation. I want to create a game that more people will enjoy playing--one where if you log off, you don’t feel bad... You can go to work, you can go to school, you can go on a date, and you don’t feel like you’ve fallen behind all your friends or that you’re missing out. Now, the basic designs are tailored towards having to spend a bazillion hours, and you have to do it all in a row, to keep up with the community.

That’s the [primary] thing that's limiting the audience of these style of games at this point.

GS: Interestingly, most solutions that pursue that goal segregate the audiences, providing a game experience for either the 24/7, bazillion-hours crowd or the single-session casual gamer. Few go after both audiences with a single game.

JVC: And that’s the game system I’m going to create. Don’t forget, I’ve been playing these games and building designs since the mid-'90s, so I have a million ideas and systems and game mechanics that I’ve been developing over this time. It still amazes me, the stuff my team talked about back then that still hasn’t been implemented. That’s the part that’s really exciting to me.

GS: Do you feel any games in the stand-alone space have been especially successful at engaging both audiences?

JVC: To some degree, yes, but I think the trick is going to be taking the stuff that works in stand-alone and applying it to the multiplayer environment. That's where the next step leads.

GS: Don’t you get the feeling that ultimately you can’t extract enough of a rewarding experience from other people--that you need your AI to egg and to encourage the gamer along?

JVC: You need tools and avenues where human players can have much more of an active role in the game...and then create the game. Not giving away too many things, you know, that’s really my goal, and that’s a lot of the ideas I have. That will create that situation where a new player or a seasoned player, or the guy who’s on all the time, will have a way to interact with each other and to create situations that are going to be compelling and interesting for all the players.

My biggest goal is you log on and there’s something new, exciting, and interesting to do every single day. One of the things we’re talking about here with a lot of guys, explaining my vision, is that almost all current [persistent world] games were built the same way we built stand-alone retail products. You build the game, you ship the box, and it’s version 1.0. The server’s locked down, and everyone who’s online playing is playing 1.0, and it’s treated like the updates and patches are the same as a retail product. [For example], in two weeks we’re going to have a patch. It’s identical to a retail product. To me the biggest thing everyone has missed is that you don’t have to do it that way. This is a live server that’s in one spot that all hundreds of thousands of people are playing off of. There’s no reason why it can’t be a live game, and not treated like: “We’ve got to wait two weeks for this new gameplay system to come out.”

Without giving away too many of the functions I’m talking about, [mine] is a different way of looking at it, in terms of how you build the product and what people can expect.

GS: What have you found to be most disappointing about the current generation of MMOGs?

JVC: The only other thing that’s really disappointed me about all the current games is that sometimes [I play on the beta], and then I finally run to the store the day [the full version] comes out. I get the game and run home and install it, and then all of a sudden I have this feeling that I could go to a Web site and find every item, every character, every map, every solution to everything about this entire game before I even play it. And I bought it the first day it came out. That’s not what this thing should be about. It ruins exploring, it ruins the experimenting when it’s all been figured out. That’s an experience I want to change.

If you think [in terms] of a live game, which an online game should be, then that whole mind-set doesn’t even make sense. Sure there will be Web sites that will give generalized ideas on how the game is played and how it works, but when you log on to play, you’re still going to have that excitement of: “I wonder what’s happening today, and I wonder what’s over that next hill.”

That’s the feeling I want to give people. And with that in mind, you can play once a week or you can play every day, and you’re going to have a good time.

GS: Why do you think The Sims Online didn’t hit the mark its creators thought it might?

JVC: You’ve got two major problems with [The Sims Online]. One is, there was an online, level-grinding community that were the first to early adopt, and they didn’t find those features for them to [work with]. And the second part of it is, it’s such new ground for people who are used to online games that I really didn’t think it had the features that they were looking for. But I admire the attempt. It’s still quite an ambitious thing to have done, and it’s a shame it didn’t catch on.

GS: Do you look to Asia for ideas, solutions?

JVC: Absolutely. NCsoft's Lineage II is a tremendous success. But again, it’s having to analyze the culture and seeing the response to Lineage II here in the US, compared to the success in Korea. It's a tremendous example to be analyzed that I’ve been doing quite a lot of it. It’s a fine line, but that’s part of the plan.

GS: After 3DO folded, what did you do?

JVC: When 3DO folded I basically retired. I decided I was done.

GS: How did you spend your time?

JVC: I played a lot of computer games, even more than when I was working. And I played a lot of MMO games. The first three or four months were great, and then it actually started to get boring. I would go, "Why’d they do this? Why’d they do that?" Which is what got me into the industry in the first place 20 years ago. While I was playing Ultima and Wizardry, and loving them, it got to the point where I said, “Why can’t they do this? Why can’t they do that?” That’s pretty much what got me off my butt to write Might and Magic 1. I had all these ideas based on what I had seen was being done, and I thought, well, why can’t we do this?

GS: Ultima and Wizardry were inspirations for you.

JVC: They definitely yanked me into this industry.

GS: When did you first meet Richard Garriott?

JVC: We met in 1986. I had just released Might and Magic 1, and he was starting Origin Systems with his brother. They had just done Ultima 3. They flew me out, and we talked about them publishing Might and Magic 1, but I had already made the package and was selling it. It wasn’t the right time to do business, but we became distant friends and have kept in contact ever since.

GS: You mentioned the relationship as friendly competition?

JVC: We used to call each other and say, “The only competition we have is bad products.” We believed that if someone would try an RPG and have a good experience, then they would buy all the other RPGs. That was our motto together. We kept in touch. We always got together at every GDC and E3, or any type of show where we were in the same cities.

GS: How tough is it to sell Richard Garriott on a game idea?

JVC: Richard is a very brave guy, and so far we get along so well that we practically think down the same lines in terms of how to build this product. Together, we make an incredible team since he is much more of a story visionary, and I am much more of the technical systems guy. We approach a product in a little bit different ways, but our skills are extremely complementary.

GS: Will Richard be involved?

JVC: Obviously Richard’s going to be involved to some degree. I think my ultimate goal, not to use a pun, is to take Richard's and my best accomplishments and create the next thing.

GS: What’s the landscape like today for a designer with a big idea and the desire to remain independent? Is there a chance to succeed?

JVC: There’s always a chance. I’m an optimist in that case. But it’s obviously gotten harder today with the budgets. But I’m a believer that it’s one strong-willed individual that makes something happen in this industry.

GS: How big of a challenge do you think you’re facing right now?

JVC: It’s a great big one, but given that, I wouldn’t have taken it on without NCsoft. To build the size of product I’m building, [leveraging] the infrastructure they have already built is the only way that I would consider taking on that task.

GS: Your goals?

JVC: My goal is to be the number one online title when it comes out. Whatever that’s going to take is basically my goal.

У меня сейчас покапают слюнки... Переводы есть?

припомнаю, некоторые из них выкладывали с переводом на heroes.ag.ru

я где то находил пару интервью по homm3 до его выхода или сразу после, с некоторыми из команды разработчиков. Поищу и может добавлю сюда

Интервью, данное Джоном Ваном Каненгемом сайту GameZone, в июле 2004 года.

Ссылка на источник: www.gamezone.com.

NCsoft’s Jon Van Caneghem talks about the MMP genre

By Michael Lafferty


“My design philosophy has always been technology first then game play then story”



NCsoft has firmly established itself as one of the top publishers worldwide of massively multiplayer titles. So when the company announced in early June that Jon Van Caneghem was joining the staff, it was really not much of a surprise that one of the industry’s best creative talents hop onboard with one of the industry-leading publishers. At NCsoft, Van Caneghem will join forces with another industry giant, Richard Garriott.

Van Caneghem was the founder of New World Computing and was the creator of such role-playing franchises as the Might and Magic titles, as well as the Heroes strategy titles.

New World Computing was eventually acquired by 3DO, but the two major series that Van Caneghem created sold more than 20 million units combined and hold hall of fame status.

In a press release issued in early June, Van Caneghem and Garriott offered these comments …

“NCsoft has quickly established itself as a creative and technical leader in the online games industry,” said Van Caneghem. “They clearly understand where the online games business is going and see the huge potential that is has to offer. I’m excited to be joining a company with such expertise and I look forward to working with Richard Garriott and NCsoft’s talented team of designers to create the next generation of massively multiplayer online games.”

NCsoft executive, Richard Garriott, said, “I’ve always admired Jon’s innovative approach to game design. His impressive background in the entertainment industry complements and further broadens the capabilities of our strong studio development team. I look forward to working with him to create the most innovative titles the industry has to offer.”

So what will his role be at NCsoft? Well, no one is really saying other than he will begin work on a new online project. In the meantime, Jon took a quick break to talk with GameZone.com about the massively multiplayer genre.

Question: When you look at the landscape of MMPs, do you think the genre is where it needs to be, or do you see holes in the world – as in too many similar titles and not enough innovation? If so, what do you think is missing?

JVC: I am very excited about the future of MMPs. The genre is in its infancy, it is analogous to the state of single-player games 20 years ago. It will take a break-through product to change the landscape of the current trend in MMPs…and that’s my goal with my new project!

Q: NCsoft has shown that it is working to break new ground in the MMP market, treading into areas that haven’t really been addressed before with titles like City of Heroes and Auto Assault. Considering the rich background of solid games you have created, do you feel that this provides an atmosphere for you to spread your creative wings a little more?

JVC: That’s exactly why I’m here! NCsoft understands the MMP market and has created an atmosphere for internal and external development of innovative products. Building on their success, knowledge and technology will allow me to focus my efforts on creating a great game.

Q: When you sit down to design a game, what steps do you go through? Do you create a viable environment, work on backstory, or start with a format of elements you would like to see in a world and create the whole program around that?

JVC: My design philosophy has always been technology first then game play then story. This system has worked well for me and I believe creates products that are fun to play and “feel” right.

Q: So many MMPs have excelled to a level graphically that is breath taking, and yet there seems to be depth of content. What is your philosophy when it comes to a game’s content (in a nutshell)?

JVC: Content is King! With my experience in providing content for single-player games, I am very confident we can create an incredible multiplayer experience for MMPs as well.

Q: Do you think that the PvP model has truly been designed yet, that allows for a level-playing surface while flanking aspects such as griefing? How hard is it to achieve a balance in this area?

JVC: The real problem is “fun” and PvP. Currently, for every player that has a good time in PvP, ten or more must suffer the “victim” role. I have some new ideas for PvP that I’ll be working on in my next project.

Q: And while on the subject … in terms of game structure, with economies and player classes and professions all jumbled into the mix of leveling and skills, what do you think is the biggest hurdle facing game designers?

JVC: To be honest, as a player, I think it seems that many designers today have not played their competitors’ games!

Q: At E3 we heard talk about the next-generation of MMPs, of which Vanguard claims to be part. What do you think is in store for gamers in the next-gen of the genre?

JVC: In general, an experience that is better than any stand-alone game in a multiplayer environment.

Q: I know a few folks in a clan that state that the journey is not so important as the people one travels with along the way. If the game is great, that is a bonus. How important do you think community is in MMPs?

JVC: Extremely important. All of the clan, friends, and grouping abilities need to be robust and easy to use. Yet many players still play solo with only limited interaction with other players. I am determined to create a bridge between these two play styles.

Q: When you play a game, what elements are the most important to you?

JVC: Graphics and sound get me into a new game, great game play and reward systems keep me playing… but a good back story/lore creates the fondest memories.


Интервью, данное Джоном Ваном Каненгемом сайту Gamasutra, 2 июня 2008 года.

Ссылка на источник: www.gamasutra.com.

Q&A: Trion On Platform, Von Caneghem MMO, Sci-Fi Channel Deal

Online world firm Trion World Network has revealed its first projects - including a Jon Von Caneghem-helmed fantasy themed MMO, and a Sci-Fi Channel co-developed online game to intertwine with a TV series, as the company becomes a licensed PS3 developer and publisher.

The firm, headed by EA veteran CEO Lars Buttler and Might & Magic creator and chief creative officer John Van Caneghem, will deliver games developed by both its internal studios and external partners via its Trion Platform, which is compatible with broadband-enabled PCs and PlayStation 3 systems.

Delivering what Trion calls "server-based games", the user will have a client which handles I/O and rendering, while content - which can be changed dynamically - is stored on servers and fed to the clients as needed.

Games will initially be delivered via download, retail, and other distribution methods -- with Buttler alluding to the possibility of free AOL-disc-like distribution methods for the client. Different "channels", which are essentially different game titles, will be maintained on Trion's server, and deliver that dynamic content to users depending on which "channel" they engage with.

The first newly announced game for the Trion Network platform is a currently-unnamed fantasy MMORPG developed under Van Caneghem in Trion's Redwood Shores, California studio.

No specific details about the game were revealed, but Trion's promises "battles of enormous scale will create epic moments that an unprecedented number of players can participate in." It will be published by Trion in both North America and Europe, and promises dynamic content -- a feature at the core of the Trion Platform experience.

During its presentation to Gamasutra, Buttler and Van Caneghem showed a short video presentation to give a better idea of this dynamic content. Though it was not meant to represent a specific product or partnership, it depicted a fantasy-MMO like world which smoothly changed into a cartoony action-platformer.

The second project in development at Trion encompasses a "dynamic, connected" cross-media franchise which encompasses both a Sci-Fi Channel television show and a Trion-published game, in development at Trion's San Diego studio, with ex-Sony Online Entertainment staffer Bill Trost as lead designer.

To further explore the workings of the Trion Platform, Gamasutra conducted an interview with Buttler and Van Caneghem after the presentation.

This is going to be a dynamic, server-side technology, in which everything is going to be stored on the servers. Is there going to be a big client download at all on the user end?

John van Caneghem: It depends on the game, but yes there is. You need all the graphics. We're not sending, obviously, video feed or anything like that. The clients themselves are basically rendering devices, and I/O devices. But all the rest of the game is being simulated on the server. For a big RPG, you're going to need all the art assets on your machine. That's why we talked about DVD distributions or downloads.

Lars Buttler: Or retail. All the ways of getting it.

JVC: So for a big 3D action game, you're going to have a big download.

LB: Normal size. Big, but dumb. It's not doing much. The 'smarts' are in the cloud.

So essentially, what the user downloads, or what will be distributed on the disc, are the art assets; the primary thing that's going to bulk up that download.

JVC: Art and sound, yes. Sound's huge, too.

You talked about doing things like physics, calculations of player positioning, all kinds of statistics and everything on the server side. What kind of broadband connection is required to participate in this?

JVC: That's a great question, but regular broadband.

LB: Lowest DSL connection.

JVC: Yeah, a low DSL connection. Not a dial-up though.

LB: It takes more bandwidth for any voice chat in any existing game, than you need for that. It's built really smartly, the way the servers communicate with the client.

We really think you have to have a world of broadband, but you can do it with today's devices, and with today's broadband speeds, and today's latencies. Everything beyond: new devices coming online, faster pipes, lower latencies, is upside for us. But everything we want to do, we can do today.

You've also talked about multiple distribution models, alluding to the fact that it could be potentially be on a DVD that someone might get like an AOL demo disc, or as a retail product. Presumably you'll also be distributing online or with an OEM partner, like on an HP computer.

What do you see as your primary distribution model? Will it change depending on the product? With John's product -- people might expect to go buy a fantasy MMO at GameStop, whereas they might expect to get a social network, like the Club Penguin of Trion online.

JVC: Well, even for large scale games, I think we want to use all forms of distribution. It's about getting it into as many people's hands to try it. We don't want to sell the client. We want the client to be given away. With our retail box we can give added incentives like an X month subscription, or extra special items. We have a money system for buying extra items.

LB: Yeah, it's a fully dynamic platform, so you can have different products for different channels that still make sense for those different channels.

JVC: The real idea is, let's stop the fifty or sixty dollar barrier of entry to try products that are online, and let people try them. Whether they download them or they pick up a low price-point retail item that just saves them the download time -- or one that they really want that has extra stuff in it, like collectors' editions -- just get them to try the game. Once they're trying the game, there's lots of ways for monetizing past that, but it's not about just selling the box anymore. That's been really ratified with what's happening in Asia, of course.

LB: Yeah, some games have different lead business models and different lead platforms, but you're totally right that a more lightweight, casual experience is very different.

You discussed the Trion platform with channels. Is there a core application on the user's end that is the Trion platform, or is this going to be something that's an integral part of different games and they can pick and choose the games and it serves as the backbone?

JVC: The latter is correct. The platform is the server architecture, not anything that's really on the client. Those are game-specific pieces of the architecture.

LB: The platform is the whole backbone.

Integration with social networking is key for a lot of reasons: appealing to new audiences and your media partners. You gave an example of a Facebook app to show what's happening in the game world - is that something that you're developing?

JVC: Absolutely. If you think about it, because the games are all running on servers in our database architecture, it's much, much easier to allow access to everything -- social networking, players' web pages -- all sorts of interconnectivity on all sorts of different devices.

That's half the reason why our architecture is like this, versus so much in clients. Right now it's very difficult for current online games to allow people to have any interconnectivity to them. It's a big re-write. And it's a big re-write for each application, whereas we've taken the next giant step of, "Oh, okay, we want a phone application, we want a web application, we want something that talks to your MySpace page." It's very easy for us to do.

You've shown that you can dynamically change things in the world, because the server controls the experience. It's potentially a hefty download to change something on the scale of, a zone in MMO, though. It might be instantly changeable from a gameplay perspective, but what kind of experience is it going to be for the user, as a download?

JVC: That's a great question. And then there are different tiers of change obviously. So, we have a whole category of what the designers can change instantly, what they can change that has swappable assets, and then more of a bigger picture of what people have to have already received down on their machine.

LB: Which they get as a background download.

JVC: We have some real clever ways of doing that, so that there's redundancies, and there's a way that most everyone can enjoy anything that's going on without having a, "Hey, you don't have this," situation. We've taken great lengths to prevent that. So, on the high-end, if you think about it, anything you already have, obviously we can change. That's already immensely powerful -- gameplay, quests, events, and combat, a whole series of things.

Then we have on-the-fly capabilities, if you're just thinking of speed of broadband and what they can get in terms of textures and sound. There's also big updates, like any other traditional game that does a patch. We do it as just content, though, so it can come in the background. It doesn't prevent them from playing otherwise. We can do those as periodically or as often we want. I'd say eighty percent of what we're doing dynamically, there isn't any time delay or download at all.

And that's tested out across the broadband platform that we currently work with?

JVC: Yeah.

During the presentation, it was noted that under fifty percent of the content, compared to old games, will be available at launch. That's something similar I've heard from people who work on Asian MMOs.

JVC: That's correct. That's exactly right.

So it's an ongoing development cycle.

JVC: That's a very different mentality for developers as well. We've had to retool a lot of our thinking in terms of how we built games for so long, and then everybody pushes to release, and then they move on to other titles.

Here, the idea is that the dev team stays steady-state after release to continually add stuff every day, and that way you don't have to build all that stuff up front, like we just talked about earlier -- fifty-plus percent we didn't even know was right.

We build enough to make a great game and have people playing, and then if there's stuff coming every day you have the ability to really go with the direction people are liking, as opposed to striking that bigger guess up front. So it's a two-fold win.

LB: And you have great gameplay. You still build all the all the core game mechanics.

JVC: Yeah, it's definitely pulling lessons learned from the different markets, on what works well and what people enjoy. And obviously high-quality, both gameplay and production quality, are very important. But it's the tremendous stuff from the Asian markets, and the social gaming markets, that, applied to this space, is what keeps people playing for a long time.

Are you going to be building a web platform, a Trion website that is a community hub for these games? Especially in the case of an MMO, that's an absolutely key element.

LB: The answer is yes. We really want to combine the best of online games and traditional media, right? From the traditional media we have this evolving, long-lasting evolving format, almost like a TV show.

From the online space, you really have a ton of social networking applications, other things. Not just on our side, but also tying into the social networking world with widgets and other things.

We don't see this as only as a destination, where this is the only way you get to experience it. We really want to reach people everywhere. It's a larger, broader network. We empower them to come through their Facebook profile, or come through their own website, or through our website, or directly through the game client, or any other way they want.

JVC: All of the developers we know want to build these type of games, and the traditional publishers don't have an outlet for them. We really want to be the destination for anyone who wants to build online server-based games.


Интервью, данное Джоном Ваном Каненгемом сайту Massively, 4 июня 2008 года.

Ссылка на источник: www.massively.com.


Massively interviews Jon Van Caneghem about the SCI FI Channel MMO
by Mike Schramm Jun 4th 2008 at 9:00AM

Trion World Network is quite a company -- without releasing a single game, they've put together millions of dollars in venture capital and compiled a staff list that's got team members from across the history of MMO games, from EverQuest and Ultima Online to World of Warcraft and City of Heroes.

This week, they sent waves through the MMO community by announcing that not only were they working on a fantasy MMO to be helmed by Jon Van Caneghem (original creator of the Might and Magic series of RPG strategy games and co-founder of the company along with Lars Buttler), but that they were forming a groundbreaking partnership with the SCI FI Channel to develop and publish and MMO to live alongside a television show. Finally, we had a small glimpse of just what Trion, with all of their money and experience, were up to.

To find out more, Massively sat down with Van Caneghem (a busy man since the news dropped on Monday) to chat about both the fantasy MMO and the SCI FI project, and what Trion's been working on since they formed. Van Caneghem told us why Trion wants to make a different kind of MMO, and how they'll balance an online game with a television series from the network that's running Battlestar Galactica. The interview starts right after you click the link below.


Trion has raised a lot of money (some people have said $30 million), but you haven't actually officially announced a single game by name, or released anything. As someone who could use some more money, how did you do that? And by that I mean how did Trion start? Where did this all come from?

Jon Van Caneghem, President and co-founder of Trion World Network: Well, it was two-fold. Obviously, my background was in making RPGs and strategy games. Since the mid to late '90s, I knew online gaming was the future and that's all I wanted to work on. And Lars [Buttler, Trion's co-founder] went through Electronic Arts, we were going to do a big division together, and once we started talking and saw where the market was at, we thought it was obvious that we should start a company and do this ourselves.

And it was really exciting -- Lars comes from the venture world and a lot of media companies, and I, of course, have been in the PC and videogame world for... too long. [Laughs]

What kind of games did Lars work on at EA? I know he was in the "global online" department.

Yeah so under Lars' team they managed UO, and what was left of The Sims Online, and all the SDKs and whatnot, as well as the online purchasing and the direction that was starting to go.

And in your background, you worked on Heroes of Might and Magic and the Might and Magic universe -- what's your background in online gaming?

I started a company called New World, and designed all the Might and Magic RPGs and the Heroes strategy games, but we also published numerous multiplayer games, and I sold my company to 3DO when they had Meredian 59, which was the precursor to UO, and we started to work on Might and Magic Online, which was going to be a big competitor for them back then. I think it was a little early -- we were still on modems, lots of technical issues. But I did spend a little bit of time at NCSoft, working with my old friend Richard Garriot.

On Tabula Rasa?

No, we didn't work on that project, we were going to build a new title together, but Tabula Rasa kept going on and on, so hence my decision to start this company with Lars. So that's briefly how it got started but in general, we knew there was a big gap in terms of quality online games, and basically all games are going to some degree online, whether it's just some connectivity or completely to what we like to call "server-based gaming," which seems like the future for all games. And there wasn't really a lot of avenues, or a lot of companies at this point, especially in the West, who were doing that. We're both developing and publishing, and really creating a place where developers can go to publish great online games. And one of my big reasons for starting the company was the frustration I had with the current tech and the way online games are built, which was, to my surprise, mostly the same way we build standalone games. You know, a standalone game, you put it in the box, and hope they like it, right? Eventually you can do a patch, but that's about it.

And online games, you're connected to a server, but the way we update them is very much like building expansion packs, it's a huge process, the server goes down, you do your patch, and whatnot. It's not really like people would expect an online game to be. And some of the casual games have been doing this for years, and a lot of the Asian games have been moving in the direction of much more of a live service as opposed to just an "it is what it is and it doesn't change" type of a game. And I said from a game developer point of view, why can't we do that? Why can't we make games that we can add to them every week, every day, every hour, why can't we make a live game, as opposed to what we're currently doing. And to start the company, we basically set out to build the tech, and what would we have to accomplish from a server point of view to fulfill that dream of being able to build live games and add to them quicker and change stuff and really make it more exciting.

And now you've got this endeavor with the SCI FI Channel. How did that come about? Did they call you or did you call them?

A couple of our first investors were some of the big media companies that you see on our investment page. But really on our way to making online games, we basically stepped on a nerve of the entire entertainment industry -- they really want to be more involved with online and online games. They're losing viewers -- all the studies are showing they're not watching TV, they're playing online games, right? So they obviously wanted to be involved. And one of our investors, one of their sub companies was SCI FI Channel, and they had been looking for years now on how to get into online gaming, and they basically said to us, "Is this something we could work together on?" And we said absolutely. And once we showed them what we had built from a tech point of view in terms of how quickly we could turnaround new content, and how quickly in a live game we could add and change stuff, it was exactly what they were looking for, and in terms of being able to build something that followed and moved along with a TV show and added a lot of content and stuff to do for viewers and players while the show wasn't airing, between shows and between seasons and it just made so much sense to work together.

You said that Lars had worked on Ultima Online and you worked on Might and Magic, and those are very different games from the games that we consider MMOs now. The behind the shoulder, third-person MMO type of thing. Can we draw conclusions from the games that you guys have worked on to look at how this game will be? Will it be a standard third-person MMO?

The MMO that we're making here at the Redwood City office, the fantasy one, was announced as well. That will definitely play as a third-person, familiar. A lot of what we're trying to do is not make it so unfamiliar that people are going to go "what the heck is this." There's a lot of familiarity that people like in these type of games, so you obviously want to keep those. But what we want to introduce is the whole concept of the world evolving and changing constantly. Very familiar in terms of how it would feel from an MMO player point of view, but a lot of stuff they wouldn't expect in terms of how the game would evolve and change and react to players' activities and outcomes.

In general for us, it's about saying, if the game lives on a server, as opposed to just buying a standard videogame, what can you do, and what are all the great things you can do that now you couldn't have done before, and really taking advantage of that. And MMOs are just kind of the first step in that direction, you might say. And we're trying to take further steps past that evolution in terms of features and scheduled events and world changing, and constant content adding, and it's really where most people believe the industry's going and have been talking about it for a long time, and forming a company was really just how do we pull it all together and actually pull it all off.

You threw a whole wrench into this thing, too -- not only are you guys trying to make a futuristic MMO, but now you're also trying to partner it up with a TV show. So how is that partnership going to work? Are you going to put players in the show as characters? Are they writing the setting, or are you giving them a setting to work with?

Basically we're collaboratively doing the storyline, and the background to the universe and story to the show with the knowledge that it has to be written in a certain way that makes for a great MMO, with all the depth and breadth you need to have for a big game world. And also making sure we cater to the stuff that they need to make a compelling television show, so we're not trying to cram a game into a show or a show into a game. They're trying to be complementary, in the same way that if there's a famous universe you love watching movies or shows about, you would also like to go play in that universe. And the addition to that that people have already done to some degree is that as things appear in the show, they'll also change and appear in the game, and vice versa.

I also heard that the TV show is supposed to "match the look" of the game. Does that mean that the show is going to be like machinima? How are you going to draw lines in terms of the visual connection between the show and the game?

The show the same production quality that you'd expect from a TV show. There can be a lot of sharing of CG assets, whether we have to render them in 10,000 polygons, and they can do full movie quality renderings. But that's where I think the similarities come from. No, you're not going to see game machinima in the TV show.

The other question I had about this partnership -- it seems really unique to me, I can't think of another situation where people are trying to drive content in these two different directions. So what is the percentage partnership here -- is it trying to be 50/50 or 60/40 to one side? The example I thought of was if a show is ready to air, but the game content isn't quite set to go, what's the decision you're going to make?

We're equal partners in development of the game, and it's in everyone's best interest that they align, so we're going to do our best, obviously. But it's really about making a great game and it's about them making a great show, and what we can cross over and share to our best, we will. Neither one of them should hamper the other one from being the best they can be.

I wanted to talk about the other game that you're working on -- the fantasy game. I think that was mentioned possibly going to consoles?

First PC, and then other platforms to follow.

And I heard also that you were trying to go multiplatform with the sci-fi game as well.

Yes.

That seems crazy to me. This is a new IP, right?

[Laughs] Yes.

So not only are you trying to break in a new IP, and not only are you going to partner with a TV show, but you also want to do a console thing. That's like saying "I'm going to jump through this hoop, but it's also going to be on fire, and it's going to be over a pit of sharks."

[Laughs] Well I'm glad you think it sounds like that. It's not quite as crazy as that might sound actually. If you have game developers that know how to make games on PC/Xbox/Playstation, they've already done that in the past, and you really have a pretty clear vision of what would be a good game, really the only difficulty is the connection with the media partner, the SCI FI Channel and how we don't slow each other down, and how we can help each other as opposed to hinder in terms of schedules and probably one of the most interesting things we're learning is game development and TV development are completely backward in terms of what you do first. They like to do their art and costume design and stuff last, and of course that's one of the first things we do.

And of course I'm not a game designer, and maybe I'm just thinking that creating a console MMO is a bigger task than it is. But can you name a console MMO that is doing what you want to do? Final Fantasy XI maybe, but that's a known IP. It just seems really tough to me.

No. There really isn't any. And at the same time, there'll be a PC version. So, honestly, if you would build an MMO the way they were built in the past, a console one is much more difficult, but the way we architected what we build, 80% of what we do is on the server, and the actual device that is PC or Xbox or whatever is not as big of a deal as it was before, so it's less of a problem. The UI is your biggest hurdle, not so much the rest of the game.

Cool. I did want to ask you about plans for a pay scheme. What are you considering -- a free client, pay to play, RMT? What kind of things are still open?

So we built our publishing tools and background stuff to support all types of payments, from subscription to microtransaction to pay-to-play to ad-based. So for me, any product we publish or even develop, it's about matching the product to the pay type, not trying to stick it on afterwards. So some games will be better in subscriptions, others will be better in microtransactions, and hopefully some point in the future, we'll have completely ad-supported games. Which would be, I think, great, at some time.

But one of the things for us is that, on all of our products, we don't want to require people to buy full-blown clients. We want you to try the game and see if you like it before you make any financial commitment. That's real important.

Well, to a certain extent, the game is already an advertisement for the show on SCI FI Channel.

[Laughs] Yeah, exactly. That's true.

Are you leaning then towards free or cheaper clients then? What are you leaning towards at this point?

I think definitely leaning towards transactions. But it has to play well from the mechanics of the product and how big it is, but I think that is potentially the future, just in terms of not a large $60 commitment up front and monthly fees, but in terms of pay-as-you-go, or access different parts of the game for different prices. It's not set yet, and it's, like I said, going to come out of how the game actually plays out and what the details are. We're very much in the beginning of design in terms of scope at this point.

I know you all have said release in 2010, which is a long way away, but what's the plan for this? When's the next we'll hear about it, or what are we looking at here in terms of timeline?

I guess we don't really have any dates I'm supposed to give out or even I have officially yet, but I don't think it'll be too long until you'll start to see some stuff -- obviously by next year for the SCI FI channel product, you'll be seeing stuff on what it's going to start to look like.

Great. Anything else you wanted to mention to MMO players about this stuff?

[Laughs] Yeah, I wasn't supposed to talk too much about the games. We're trying to talk more about the deal with SCI FI, and the fact that we are building a fantasy MMO, so...

Well, Massively is all about MMOs, obviously, and we're players, so that's what we're gravitating towards, I guess. We've got a ton of Battlestar Galactica fans, so I think the match is a perfect fit, but I know we're more interested in how the game is going to play and what type of game is going to be in there. Do you think the main audience for this thing will be SCI FI viewers, or people who like to play online games?

The way we obviously want to build games here is catered towards gamers. It's to your audience. And if we can bring in a wider audience of people who like sci-fi, all the better. But our number one goal is make great games.

Almost everybody here is a fanatical MMO player from one degree to another, so we have a lot of vested interest in game mechanics and how it plays out. There's not a lot of people who don't understand all the inner workings of MMOs, so I think that's a real positive.

Sounds good to me. Thanks very much for chatting.

No problem, you're very welcome.

Вы что, издеваетесь? Столько символов + на английском.

В следующем интервью пусть у Джона спросят слышал ли он про Horn of the Abyss (хотя кого я обманываю, о HotA там, поди, не слышали и сами журнализды).

Да, сначала выйти надо...

Неудивительно, ведь ему уже ни Воги, ни Хоты, ни новые ММ - не нужны, как и всё, что связанно с ММ-вселенной.
З.Ы. Реальне мозк опухнет всю эту статью на инглише читать. Переведите кто-нить, плиз.

Я могу, но результат, наверно, нужно ждать не раньше чем в марте

ах ты зилёный приколист!

Ещё валидные ссылки на художников, работавших над серией:

http://www.phelansykes.com/
http://home.pacbell.net/bbigman/
http://www.timetoyagers.com/bkemper/
http://aprillee.tripod.com/gameh4_files/portgameh4.html
http://aprillee.tripod.com/gamelegends_fil...amelegends.html
http://aprillee.tripod.com/gamemm8_files/portgamemm8.html
http://aprillee.tripod.com/gamemm7_files/portgamemm7.html
http://aprillee.tripod.com/gameh3_files/portgameh3.html
http://aprillee.tripod.com/gamemm6_files/portgamemm6.html
http://aprillee.tripod.com/gameh2_files/portgameh2.html
http://www.tonyrizo.com/VideoGames.html

несколько скринов для третьих героев для какого-то тех. города, который не вошёл в официальный релиз
Он есть по твоим же ссылкам: http://www.phelansykes.com/Heroes3x.htm Там аж целых 6 юнитов нарисованы (хотя, мне кажется, что это 3 но с грейдами).
Ну и в этой теме раньше встречался.

Открыл америку!

etoprostoya, спасибо. нашел пару интересностей, хотя большинство уже все видели.

вот умора!

Поздравляю. И всё же - человек старался. Можно и по-вежливее.
http://www.timetoyagers.com/bkemper/enlarg...neSnowHouse.jpg - интересный вид города, кстати..

Не достаточно в геройском стиле, имхо. Зато могут быть юниты лыжники и апгрейд - фуфлыжники

Просьба оффтопом не заниматься.

Нашел в инете черно-белый фан арт



P.S. С диска возрождение эрафии вроде...

Еще один фан арт

Походу 2-ая картинка - Тант

И весьма разожравшийся...

Нее, просто он в доспехах (своеобразном энротском экзоскелете ) кажется больше

почему сразу в экзоскелете? думаю, что лат - будет достаточно.

Этого по моему не было:



Качество конечно не ахти...

Было и в лучшем качестве.

было на ДА.

Лично я впервые вижу

Добавлено ([mergetime]1258733603[/mergetime]):
Конечно в экзоскелете. Его латы срисованы с экзоскелета космодесантника (благодаря чему Тант здесь дико похож на хаосита, кстати).

что такое "ДА"? не припоминаю такого сокращения

Джелу, что на картине выше, очень хорошо вышел, хотя и не точь в точь.

Вау! Джелу - женьщина

Вообще-то мужчина, просто на арте он получился слишком "женственным"

Этот джелу анимешный какой-то. Совсем не HoMM3-ский.

чересчур женоподобен.