Interview Celestial Heavens Might & Magic X Q&A #2: Modding Support Announced

[Infinitron]

Tags: Limbic Entertainment; Might & Magic X: Legacy; Ubisoft

The Might and Magic fansite Celestial Heavens has a new Might & Magic X Legacy Q&A. It reveals, among other things, that the game will be using the Unity engine and that a level editor for modders will be released. Here are the relevant bits:

CH: What will the graphics be like? What kind of engine are you using? ​

Answer: The Unity engine is our tool of choice. The art direction is based on Heroes VI and Duel of Champions, to create a sense of consistency between the games.​

CH: Will there be "paper dolls"? ​

Answer: Not in the MM6-8 sense (where all pieces of equipment are shown on the body), but there will definitely be a visual in the inventory showing the character (a bit like in MM9, but better!). We'll talk and reveal this later during the development.​

CH: How many developers are actually working on the game? ​

Answer: At Limbic the Might & Magic X core team is 16 people. We are getting support from various partners including other Ubisoft studios and outsourcing partners. It's really hard to give a reliable estimations but in total we would guess we have around 25+ people working on the game right now.​

CH: Since we are talking about old school fans here and not just an old school game, in what forms will the game be released? ​

Answer: We are currently discussing to release both a 5 1/4-inch and a 3 1/2- inch disc version for the ultimate old school feeling!

No kidding: So far the game has always been described as a digital title. But we are discussing about releasing a boxed collector edition. So far, we can't confirm it as it's too early. We'll keep you updated.​

CH: M&M fans love modding. Will this be possible? What can you tell us about it? ​

Answer: Alright, about modding: We plan to release an editor for Might & Magic X. On top modders will get access to almost everything in the game from level building, adding objects, changing textures, adding monsters, modifying values, creating texts, etc.​

Will it be super easy? No. Why? It's a tool, it takes time and it takes dedication. It's 90% the same tools we are using to create the game right now. We are optimizing to make it as accessible as we can but it's not a "one-button-create-fun" solution. Nevertheless, we are confident that we will see user created content for Legacy.We'll talk about and introduce to you this particular topic in more details later during the development.​

CH: What about editors? Some fans have expressed concern about the short playing time you have outlined – will it be possible to extend this with user-made maps? ​

Answer: As said in the previous question we are aiming for user-generated content and want to empower the fan base to extend the game. To us it will be awesome to play user dungeons - and hell yeah, we will be critical.

Regarding the concerns about the "short playing time": We have a difficult time answering this. What we know is that we want to deliver a quality experience. It has to be fun and entertaining, simple as that.​

We will have players who rush through it as fast as they can. They will optimize their efficiency and we would bet money on the fact that we will see players who finish Might & Magic X much faster than we ever will/could. On the other hand we will have players who want to solve every little riddle, visit every single square, read all dialogues twice and fulfill every task there is. Well, obviously their "play time" will be "more". But at the end of the day we think what really counts is if both player types are happy with the quality we delivered. If they finish the game feeling good and happy about Might & Magic X - then we did it.​

Nevertheless, there are concerns and even we are dodging the "how many hours?" we want to explain the following: We have around 20+ dungeons, we have cities/villages to visit and we have the outdoor world. Dungeons vary in (grid) size and amount of overall levels (between 1 and 5 to be exact). Some are more combat focused, some are more riddle focused, and some are mixed. So there is the variety, the quantity and (hopefully) the quality to spend a good amount of time in the world of Might & Magic X.​

I think they kind of regret dropping that "25 hours" figure at this point.

 

[MicoSelva]

Wow. Editor. 20+ dungeons. So much incline. I can't believe we're talking about a mainstream publisher game.

 

[Infinitron]

Clearly this is some kind of nefarious black op by a rogue executive within Ubisoft. Somebody should contact Yves Guillemot at once and inform him of this treacherous misuse of corporate resources.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Clearly this is some kind of nefarious black op by a rogue executive within Ubisoft. Somebody should contact Yves Guillemot at once and inform of this treacherous misuse of corporate resources.

Who knows, Sam Fisher is a RPG fan :D

Edit: BTW I really don't remember how was character screen in M&M IX, probably wiped my brain with lots of booze after playing and completing that one. Only thing I remember is, getting some NPC like Geghis Khan who can fight too.
Edit part 2: And Fugly 3d.

 

[VonVentrue]

I'm cautiously optimistic. They seem to be giving all the right answers and strike me as a team with a clear vision of what they set out to accomplish.
Assuming they actually do deliver on their promises, sign me up for a collector's edition.

 

[Grunker]

CH: Will there be "paper dolls"?

Answer: Not in the MM6-8 sense

 

[Luzur]

I'm cautiously optimistic. They seem to be giving all the right answers and strike me as a team with a clear vision of what they set out to accomplish.
Assuming they actually do deliver on their promises, sign me up for a collector's edition.

well i kinda have to sign up for it, for the collection's sake.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

There won't be the budget for the kind of glorious 2D art from VI and VII, expect generic outsourced stuff.

 

[Infinitron]

There won't be the budget for the kind of glorious 2D art from VI and VII, expect generic outsourced stuff.

They've already said what kind of art the game will have. See Heroes 6.

 

[Zeriel]

I think it's funny they talk about it as if it's "inspired" by the style of 6, and it's just 6 models culled from the game. That doesn't make this look any less amazing, though.

 

[Jaesun]

Well an editor was unexpected. Awesome to hear it has this though.

 

[theSavant]

It seems they try to keep the costs as low as possible:

- no paper dolls
- when opening chest you don't see any items, but only get a text hint what items you found
- which shows that no 3d models for equipment and items do exist anyways
(not to talk about the recycled models/animations and terrain-, skybox-, architecture-, model-textures from heroes 6 ...)

I understand these things as they're economic decisions. If you are a small team you have not much choice and maybe Ubisoft didn't want to risk too much money. In the end the gameplay must convince. I just hope they didn't cut off voice acting, commentaries by party members and facial expressions. This is something I desperately want.

 

[SerratedBiz]

I just hope they didn't cut off voice acting, commentaries by party members and facial expressions.

Interesting, that's precisely the kind of thing I desperately want for them to cut development time on so they can focus on developing a quality game.

 

[King Crispy]

I cannot imagine completing an RPG with over twenty dungeons, multiple cities and villages, and an open outdoor world within 25 hours. I'd say the dungeons alone will take up that amount of time.

I'm officially not worried about the amount of content at this point. Sure, I'd love a monstrous-sized game, but sometimes just a medium-sized RPG that's carefully crafted can be a far better choice.

 

[theSavant]

Well, he never said anything about the size of dungeons (apart from "1-5 levels deep"). They can be the size of a giant labyrinth or simple mouseholes.

 

[Damned Registrations]

It depends on how you do the dungeons too. There's a big difference between getting to the boss of the dungeon and leaving and scouring every nook and cranny for possible secrets. And a lot of dungeons in MM were optional anyways.

 

[Dorateen]

Lots of inspiration from Might & Magic 1 - 5. It would be nice if they brought back the six character party. I wonder if that could be modded in.

 

[theSavant]

I'd prefer sixpacks too.

Must have been streamlined... Dragon Age also allowed only 4 characters in the party and everyone hated this limitation. People wanted at least 6-8 characters. Like controlling a small army. Many people also wanted more variation in races. There was a dirty hack which allowed special enemies to be in your own party (e.g. Succubus etc.) but it was too buggy.

This is what Dragon Age could have been and should have been.

 

[godsend1989]

Do you guys think Kickstarter has to do anything with Ubisoft ?

 

[Shannow]

I cannot imagine completing an RPG with over twenty dungeons, multiple cities and villages, and an open outdoor world within 25 hours. I'd say the dungeons alone will take up that amount of time.

I'm officially not worried about the amount of content at this point. Sure, I'd love a monstrous-sized game, but sometimes just a medium-sized RPG that's carefully crafted can be a far better choice.

Have you ever played Storm of Zehir?

 

[Jashiin]

Mod support.. now that is incline. I might even buy it half price and play the pirated version.

 

[King Crispy]

Have you ever played Storm of Zehir?

That's actually a great point and a good example of a worst-case scenario in terms of how big (small) the dungeons in M&M X could turn out to be, although I doubt they can get any smaller than the ones in SoZ. Even as it was, there's more than 25 hours of content in SoZ. According to this site there's more like 30, and I think that's even rather conservative depending on how you play.

I also recall SoZ's overhead map not being a particularly large one. Could someone with a better memory than I compare its size to Clouds of Xeen?

 

[Dorateen]

I also recall SoZ's overhead map not being a particularly large one. Could someone with a better memory than I compare its size to Clouds of Xeen?

There were two overland maps, one for the starting area of around Samargol in Chult, and another when the party gets to the Sword Coast. I would say they were decent sized for overland/wilderness travel, but I wouldn't compare them to Clouds of Xeen. For one thing, SOZ's maps represented only segmented geographic areas, while Xeen was meant to express a world, with more variety in terrain types and settlements.

SoZ did have many one-room sized dungeons (although to be fair, also many multi-room if not multi-leveled) but the purpose was to scatter interesting locations to be discovered and reported back to Volo, so it was definitely a case of quantity over depth of content. Also, SoZ should be judged as a second expansion pack rather than a full released title.

I think Might & Magic X will "feel" larger than Storm of Zehir, and perhaps be so in execution as well.

 

[theSavant]

With the announced Mod Support I immediately thought of remaking Wizardry 8. An advantage would have been, that I already did some programming in this Unity engine. Therefore last night I threw Wiz8 again on my system to replay the game for a check. After a few hours still being at the beginning of the game I realized this game is far too big. It's so big that I lost my patience and downloaded a trainer, teleporting to the levels...

Besides I realized I have not the patience for this game anymore, and it's not a game you can rush through if you want to enjoy it. Maybe the best game for me would be an 4-hour RPG, which however should have very high replay value. I wonder if some people feel the same, when they try to replay a long game...

 

[Zeriel]

I tried Xeen today, but the graphics were so fucking ugly, I stopped after 3 minutes.

I tried them (MM8 and 9), but never got far because the graphics were so ugly. I can't remember mechanics like that though...

Though I am marked by Wizardry8 and I always had the feeling that Might&Magic is much more mainstream, simplified - RPGs for the poor. Having no tactics does really suck, it's like going back to the days where your wizard always died, because you just couldn't protect him. I thought we have passed this annoyance...

Besides I realized I have not the patience for this game anymore, and it's not a game you can rush through if you want to enjoy it. Maybe the best game for me would be an 4-hour RPG, which however should have very high replay value. I wonder if some people feel the same, when they try to replay a long game...

Actually, on second thought, maybe the best game for you would be: