Might & Magic tribute game

I thought I'd post some details of what I've been doing with Blitz3D for the last eight months.

I'm the project leader for a group of die-hard Might & Magic fans that have decided if 3DO aren't going to produce any more M&M games (they filed for bankruptcy recently) then we'll do it ourselves and release our own freeware "tribute" game.

As the team's programmer, I've spent the last eight months learning Blitz3D and I finally released a tech demo to the M&M community a few days ago.

The response to this so far has been fantastic. My favourite quote is from Tim Lang who was Lead designer for Might & Magic 9 :

"Overall, I'd say that's a great start...the framerate was smooth, the textures looked good...If I saw those screens on the back of a box, I'd throw down cash for it. And believe me when I say I saw games at E3 being made by pros that didn't look as good..."

I think he's exaggerating somewhat but high praise indeed! Tim has also just offered to join our development team "unofficially" (he's now works for EA - so he can't be involved in an official capacity) and give us advice, tips, inside info, help with design etc. This is an incredibly generous offer from someone who no longer has any official involvement with the Might & Magic series. Top bloke!

Anyway, from a Blitz point of view the demo consists of a terrain, a maplet level, some models and some sprites. And that's it! ;) It's not designed to be cutting edge, the intention was to code an engine that was capable of producing a game of the calibre of MM6-8 which are a few years old now (hence the use of billboard sprites for NPCs & monsters etc.).

I'd like to point out that this is just a tech demo (lots of stuff still to be implemented) and it uses a lot of 3DO's media as placeholders. These will obviously be replaced as the project progresses.

Anyway, enough of my rambling, the demo and some screenshots can be found at the link below. Any feedback would be very welcome. Oh, and if anyone is interested in becoming part of the team then please get in touch!

Demo home page: http://www.mmt.34sp.com

thanks

Sir Felgar

I think it works well.

Its not easy to get Blitz terrains to look nice.

I did find all the people in the village constantly staring at me to be a bit unnerving though. Reminds me of an old movie I once saw called Village of the Damned. :)

Well, if I saw three guys walking around accompanied by a skeleton, I'd stop and stare too!

Wow that's great. I remember being addicted to M&M VI and VII for awhile... until I started Heroes of M&M! Wow, you haven't experienced addiction until it's 4:20am and you're telling yourself "just...one...more...turn!"

Just had a quick glance, can't say I played any of the M&M series, but this is looking great so far!

Didn't have a chance to try the demo, but that screen is amazing :) I never played any of the Might and Magic games except for 2 and 3 though.

Excellent work.

I've only played the earliest M&M games and I was never a fan, but I found myself exploring your tech demo and really enjoying it. Your game "feels right". It's tricky to explain what I mean, but I consider the feel of a game to be one of the most important things. I look forward to seeing it once you have developed more content.

Very nicely put together, keep it up :)

Thanks for the feedback guys!

GFK - LOL, Yeah I see what you mean now - hopefully once they get some animation and start moving about they won't be quite so unnerving!

Lemort - the idea was to try and recreate the "feel" of some of the MM games of a few years ago. Hopefully I've at least captured a bit of that feeling - still a long way to go though!

Very nice work.

I think the last one I played was either 6 or 7.
good job recreating the look and feel of the game.

again nice work :)


Zmatrix

OOO that looks nice :)

Looking nice there.
A while back, I made some mini-map bitmaps for someone. Couldnt remember who though. I think it might have been Flameduck.. hmm
But he was using it for a M&M remake in 3d. Sort of like what you're doing. For all I know, you're in the same group. :)

Wow! I was pretty enthralled just wandering around. I'm very impressed by this. I bought M&M 6 and 7 in a bundle 2 years ago and never played them. If they play like this looks like I'm gonna have to bust em out. Great job!

heh, I'm also slowly working on a Might and magic game, but it is a 100% remake of the Amiga Version of Might and Magic 2, (using its data files as well).. (and what Sir Felgar stole his nick from.... stupid Half-orc ;) hehe. :)
* Drago Grumbles about being remembered as Flameduck... ;)

anyway good luck on that project :)

urm.. I made the minimap things for Drago. Not flameduck.
Sorry for all concerned. All two of you.

tried to go to your page/site (www.mmt.34sp.com that is)

got

Connection refused

ouch ;o/

Drago - yeah MM2 (on C64) was the first one I ever played. Sir Felgar has featured in my MM games from MM2 - MM9. I'd forgotten he was a stupid half-orc though - might have to change my nickname now!

myspys - strange, I'm not aware of any problems. Give it another try and let me know how you get on.

very impressive

looking really good so far, I briefly played some of the older M&M games years ago, this seems more in the true tradition of the games than the later efforts, good luck with it!

This is awesome. I've never played a M&M game, but my flatmate a few years back was utterly addicted, and I watched him play for many hours. It was pretty cool because I got to see all the interesting bits while bailing out for the more boring stuff. I think it was M&M 6 or 7 that I watched. Cool games, nice simple interface, works well. And your game seems 100% faithful; actually, it looks and plays the same only better! Really, really cool. I hope you are somehow able to turn this into a full M&M game. I know at least one person who would be VERY interested...

Wow! that is an incredible demo!!! I used to play M&M, and you have truly captured the feel!! How long did it take you to put the engine together? Looks, plays, and feels really nice. Great Job! I would definitely like to play the finished product.

Looks pretty cool. I'm almost sorry I'm not available to help you right now; a year ago this would have been exactly the kind of project I was looking to take part in.

Wow, the demo is MUCH better than what can be shown in those shots. I can tell you spent 8 months on this by all of the details you put into it! I especially liked the dungeon area where there were hidden buttons in the bookshelves, and also the way the day/night fades in and out. Great work! :)

This is really nice work! I got so into it, I even found the hidden obelisk. :P Great piece of Blitz coding ...