[UDK] Might and Magic Tribute

[Asomath]

Might and Magic Tribute
The Book of Ceth

Might and Magic Tribute is a project started by a group of dedicated Might & Magic fans to produce a fully featured "tribute to Might and Magic" game. The game will be very much in the style of MM6-8 but with some clear technological enhancements to bring it more up-to-date.

Since this is a modding site, I thought perhaps some of the artists here might look at trying there hand at a UDK project. Its an open source project, so the project "team" is just the regularly contributing members. We're looking for 2D and 3D artists, some prototypers, and maybe an additional programmer or two. As I said its open source, so you dont have to dedicate yourself to contribute... you can take up one or two tasks, sign your name into the project, and leave if you would like.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Might_and_Magic_Tribute:_The_Book_of_Ceth

Soundtrack Samples:

MMT Soundtrack

Recruitment

Programmers

This is one of the most important parts right now. We're looking for a few programmers to work with Unreal Script, the language of UDK. Its very similiar to C-Style programming, especially java, so if you have experience dealing with those, thats a plus. Tasks are documented by Schveider at our programming wiki: http://code.google.com/p/might-and-magic-tribute/wiki/MainPage

2D Artists

Artists who might help to concepts, storyboard cinematics, create interfaces and icons.

3D Artists

Modelers for Buildings, Creatures, and Items

Prototypers

While art assets are being made, the layout of the landscape needs to be invented. Prototypes place simple shapes (cubes) where objects will go later (trees, stones, buildings etc.) Later in developement, Prototypers become game designers.

Schveider (our lead programmer) also suggests that a few people "make vegetation models in SpeedTree modeller." He states that it is "quite straightforward and doesn't require any prior knowledge of 3D modelling." Though knowledge of modeling basics would be a plus.

Sounds

Im a sound designer for the project. Oren (the original lead programmer and game composer) basically finished the entirety of the games soundtrack before stepping off the project to handle real life. I've finished a set of voiceovers for each male gender of the six races, and 2 female sets. There is, however, an instrument skill in the game that has buffs for the player, and there are a series of instrumental solos that will need to be composed.


~Asomath

 

[Asomath]

Bump, because I love the hive and its members.

~Asomath

 

[Rui]

Sounds quite interesting. Thanks for bringing it to our attention!

 

[Asomath]

Haha well, I just thought some members might want to try to hand somthing UDK-based. At the end of the summer we were looking for a third quarter 2012 demo release.

We got a dialogue system coded in, that takes alot of player attributes such as race, wealth, class, reputation and other factors into account.

Unfortunatly, while we are doinge nicely in code and sounds (the soundtrack and party voiceovers are almost complete), the art aspect suffers. Thats why the help of either freelance or dedicated 2D/3D artists is requested.

The most recent code is kept on a Google Repository, located here:

http://code.google.com/p/might-and-magic-tribute/

Feel free to check it out.

~Asomath

 

[RiotZ]

this is so amazing

 

[deepstrasz]

Dude, how can we help ?

 

[Asomath]

Thanks guys!

2D Artists

Artists who might help to concepts, storyboard cinematics, create interfaces and icons.

3D Artists

Modelers for Buildings, Creatures, and Items

Prototypers

While art assets are being made, the layout of the landscape needs to be invented. Prototypes place simple shapes (cubes) where objects will go later (trees, stones, buildings etc.) Later in developement, Prototypers become game designers.

Schveider (our lead programmer) also suggests that a few people "make vegetation models in SpeedTree modeller." He states that it is "quite straightforward and doesn't require any prior knowledge of 3D modelling." Though knowledge of modeling basics would be a plus.

Sounds

Im a sound designer for the project. Oren (the original lead programmer and game composer) basically finished the entirety of the games soundtrack before stepping off the project to handle real life. I've finished a set of voiceovers for each male gender of the six races, and 2 female sets. There is, however, an instrument skill in the game that has buffs for the player, and there are a series of instrumental solos that will need to be composed.

~Asomath

 

[Xian]

WOW! Might and Magic! My fave game when i was little!
good thing they are promoting it

 

[Adiktuz]

awesome... I can't help yet though as I just got UDK... haha... looking forward to this project...

 

[Asomath]

@Xian Woohoo, more childhood fans.

@Adikutz Haha thats okay. If you ever delve deep into UDK and want to contribute, feel free to stop by this project sometime.

~Asomath

 

[deepstrasz]

What type of game are we talking about ? A time based strategy as Heroes of Might & Magic or a first person rpg like Might & Magic ? Is it online ?

I could help with stories, concept art and music.

 

[Asomath]

Its a free-roam, Party-based, First Person RPG in the style of the previous Might and Magic RPG's

~Asomath

 

[deepstrasz]

Interesting. A combination of that with Hexen or Heretic would make it cooler in my opinion. So we would have a solo campaign and a online deathmatch system.

But are we allowed to do this ? Is it legal ? Don't we require copyright ?

 

[clockwork2]

never played it.....seems it's a good game from all the feedback here.

 

[Xian]

never played it.....seems it's a good game from all the feedback here.

The game is legendary,it's pretty epic,and 3 was the best of the rest

 

[clockwork2]

hmm..could you post a trailer plz?
also good god those faces are hideous (no offense) could you make more, better looking faces? either that or hair away most of it...
also i'd be willing to beta-test...
nathan looks ugly though, i am really srry i just can't stand cheery faces in rpgs (i mean like the kind of cheery where you look totally out of it) i mean grins or smirks are ok. But THAT is just creepy.

 

[Xian]

hmm..could you post a trailer plz?
also good god those faces are hideous (no offense) could you make more, better looking faces? either that or hair away most of it...

Heroes always had horrid faces (well except for H5), And there are no trailers from 1-3,i've only seen 4-6 (but 4 kinda sucked... HARD)

 

[clockwork2]

can the faces be H5 then??no offense but nathan looks FREAKY!!!!
also nice pun with you avatar "Ghost of Christmas Future"
LOLZ!!!!!

 

[Xian]

can the faces be H5 then??no offense but nathan looks FREAKY!!!!
also nice pun with you avatar "Ghost of Christmas Future"
LOLZ!!!!!

It's hard to draw H5 faces,Nuff said,i'd like to see you draw if you can do better than the graphic artist of the mod
Also,don't post really offtopic things like "cool avatar" or "nice pun",etc.

 

[clockwork2]

ok and i'm not that great a drawer.
also is there a beta atm?
i'd love to test this tribute to might and magic (I'm too lazy to go and buy one of the rpg series to try it lol)

 

[Xian]

ok and i'm not that great a drawer.
also is there a beta atm?
i'd love to test this tribute to might and magic (I'm too lazy to go and buy one of the rpg series to try it lol)

IT'S NOT AN RPG,its a Strategy Game with turns

 

[Asomath]

IT'S NOT AN RPG,its a Strategy Game with turns

Its both. Might and Magic is the RPG. Heroes of Might and Magic is the Strategy.

They have follow the same storyline, but they alternated the games. So if you wanted the full story of the games, you had to play both of them.

MMT is an RPG. It is a prequel to Might and Magic VI and Heroes of Might and Magic I.

The faces arent MMT's faces. They were test faces so the programmer could work on the dialogue system.

~Asomath

 

[Xian]

Its both. Might and Magic is the RPG. Heroes of Might and Magic is the Strategy.

They have follow the same storyline, but they alternated the games. So if you wanted the full story of the games, you had to play both of them.

MMT is an RPG. It is a prequel to Might and Magic VI and Heroes of Might and Magic I.

The faces arent MMT's faces. They were test faces so the programmer could work on the dialogue system.

~Asomath

i get it now,thanks for pointing it out for me

 

[Talavaj]

being made in UDK what are your assets quality expectations/requirements ?
do you have any concept/design ideas already ?
if so could you provide us some ?
also are you thinking of using original assets exclusively ?

 

[Mechanical Man]

Will be this any similar to Might&Magic: Dark Messiah?

 

[Joe-black-5]

Will be this any similar to Might&Magic: Dark Messiah?

Me want

 

[Asomath]

In the story sense, Dark Messiah takes place on Ashan, Ubisofts new world for Might and Magic (the same world as Heroes V and VI). MMT takes place on Enroth (native) or C.O.L.O.N.Y (ancients), the same world as M&M I-VIII and HoMM I - III (and to a lesser extent IV).

Gameplay-wise, Dark Messiah is the only First-Person Single-Character RPG in the series. All other M&M games are Party-Based (Standard Might and Magic) or Turn-Based Strategy (Heroes of Might and Magic).

Party-Based Might and Magic's (like MMT) use a class-based system. You control 4 heroes of different classes. The start general and get more specialized as the game goes on. You do promotion quests to "promote" that class of a specific hero.

For example let me say I have a party at the start of the game:

Ephraim (name) the Adventurer (class)
Xena the Adventurer
Kel'thuzad the Student
Xanatos the Student

At some point in the game, I decide that I want to promote my heroes, and unlock a new set of skills (ill explain skills later). I do four different promotion quests. Now I have this:

Ephraim the Warrior
Xena the Agent
Kel'thuzad the Apprentice
Xanatos the Acolyte.

Well I keep playing the game doing quests and that sort of stuff. I then decide to upgrade my heroes a final time to unlock the final level of skills:

Ephraim the Knight
Xena the Assassin
Kel'thuzad the Necromancer
Xanatos the Saint.

There is also an experience system, in which heroes gain levels. The levels give you skillpoints that you can spend to increase the potency of that skill. For example I could spend skillpoints in such fields as:

-A school of magic (there are 10: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Spirit, Mind, Body, Grey, Dark, Light)
-A weapon (Sword, Mace, Dagger, Bow etc.)
-A utility (disarm, alchemy, identify item, etc.)

You spend points to increase the potency, but you also learn specializations in skills that have different effects depending on the skill. There are 4 levels of specialization: Standard, Expert, Master, and Grandmaster. You must have a certain number of skill points to specialize in a level of skill. Also, higher levels of specialization require you be a certain Class level (tier 2 or 3).

If you need any gameplay clarifications, please feel free to ask.

I will answer the Asset question in a few hours. In the mean time, feel free to register at our temporary forums (our six year forum isnt available at the moment) here: http://mmtribute.forumotion.com/

Also, browse our wiki for other useful bits of information: http://castlegobs.nl/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Cheers,
~Asomath

 

[deepstrasz]

Dude, you still haven't proven that this is legal . As a mod or custom map yes but as an entire new game ?

So you still want the four hero-type gameplay. Would be looking better as a 3rd person or at least as an Unreal Tournament first person shooter type.

Checked the site. Interesting images. Seems this started long ago but hasn't really progressed. So you've got some artists I reckon as I see those lively images and that trailer. Listened to them three songs too. I liked the one with the piano. The other two aren't really getting to the Heroes style.

 

[Asomath]

"Might and Magic, Heroes of Might and Magic, and the titles of the episodes, are trademarks of UbiSoft Entertainment, reserving all rights without warranties of any kind regarding content. Might & Magic is a registered trademark of Ubisoft. Might & Magic Tribute is NOT connected with, produced, endorsed or supported by Ubisoft in any way. Might & Magic Tribute is a fan-made freeware game that is a tribute to the Might & Magic series originally produced by New World Computing. Our intention is to help keep interest in the Might & Magic series alive until such time as Ubisoft will hopefully be in a position to produce a new installment in the series."

Basically Ubisoft has full legal power and right to shutdown the game at anytime. In 8 years that hasnt happened, but that doesnt mean they wouldnt. M&M luckily has a nice history of being kind to fan-made games, a few being branded as "Officially Approved Fan-Games."

The Party-Base RPG will be kept. The industry has largely abandoned this playstyle because its risky to get mechanics working right. But M&M did it, allowing to compete against two other key RPG players at the time... Ultima and Elder Scrolls. It wouldnt be a M&M game without it.

3 songs? There are 11 in the current soundtrack.

What basically has happened is that the first couple of years ironed out the geography and story... then there was alot of concept work (I beleive there are 300+ concept art files atm)... some more filling out of assets towards 2009. However, there werent enough 3D assets, so basically a cumulation of other assets that could be "implemented."

It wasnt until the last few months that work started back up again, and problems were being worked through.

Thats why a thread hasnt resurfaced until now... the projects starting to turn its gears again, but the same 3D assets problem will occur. I thought since the Hive was a modding site as well, I would open the door to artists here to participate in doing one or two tasks for the project.

Cheers,
~Asomath

 

[clockwork2]

sounds good.
pm me when a beta is present i'd love to try the game.

 

[Talavaj]

there can be a legal action taken if:
1- you infringe on the trademark in any way
easily done if your product is clearly differentiated from the trademarked product in order to prevent consumer confusion or any potential damages it could cause to the original trademark
2- you plagiarise any/all parts of an intellectual property, that means reuse modify reverse engineer bla bla bla
plagiarism is unethical, but a very shabby term on the legal grounds
in general you cannot be sued unless you are proven to have infringed on their property
(reuse their assets for example)
no matter how similar (ripped off) something is you cannot get sued over it because it's your original work (no matter the amount of "original" work you put into it)

unless you are disney/james cameron and the pool of money you swim in allows you to shut mouths of those who you plagiarised from
rather than risk them going to the court and end up with your blockbuster being exposed to be a mere plagiat of rather unknown works

it's just a bububu
I've never ever heard of game modders being seriously sued over anything
mostly because suing johny potato and rudolf pumpkin over making a game in their basement would prove to be more of a pain than it would be a gain

 

[deepstrasz]

I was specifically referring to a new made game like this one. Moding is a totally different thing.

Ok, if ye got artists or whatever to do the 3d models then it's all set. Btw who did the models in the pics and couldn't they still work on ?

 

[sammath]

Until at last some one listen the voice of Might & Magic fans, so keep going !!! xD

 

[Talavaj]

the only problem would be the copyrighted name
in that sense modding is actually even worse because in its basis (unless authorized) modding is illegal altogether
but yeah nobody is gonna give potatoes over somebody making a "mod" or a "game" unless it would damage their property (or make profit on their behalf)
unless you are unlucky enough and infringe on a property of a bunch of dicks (see: activision blizzard, bethesda)

back to HMM
one thing that intrigued me, the camera appears to be first person
what kind of combat does it have ? considering its party based, is it like turn based with fixed "combat screens" like old school rpgs ?

 

[deepstrasz]

Look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5vnCMiaSOU
It's the same gameplay style. Not very attractive in my opinion.

Blizzard Entertainment isn't the same thing as Activision Blizzard ? If it is then hiveworkshop.com must have some good lawyers .

 

[Talavaj]

Activision Blizzard is a parent company of Blizzard
if you get sued it won't most likely be Blizzard Entertainment but Activision Blizzard

the hive workshop consists of majorly authorized modifications (some such as we unlimited are most likely not but *shrug*)
modder community is what is keeping blizzard games alive they won't take any actions against it

but there were examples of sc2 maps being taken down/issued cease and desist
such as the world of starcraft which AB believed to be developed past their authorized methods
but ultimately is just an infringement on "World of Starcraft" tm IMO (or some dick at activision thought he can be a dick)

and the system from the old MM game is way too old school

 

[bounty hunter2]

Good luck.

 

[Geazergimli2]

I wish they put M&M 6-8 on steam like they do with a lot of old games =\ i have the CD's but they aren't compatible with my new OS

 

[clockwork2]

I once found out that attempting to install things like starcraft causes the cd to break on newer computers O.O...

 

[Geazergimli2]

I once found out that attempting to install things like starcraft causes the cd to break on newer computers O.O...

lol you can just type in ur CD key on battlenet.et or w/e it is, and download it to avoid that, though that is quite odd

 

[Dr Super Good]

I once found out that attempting to install things like starcraft causes the cd to break on newer computers O.O...

This is impossible, unless.
1. The drive you brought is badly designed / defective (like the 360 in USA suffered from orignally).
2. The disk is so old that it can not cope with the mild conditions of being read. Especially if you use a DVDR this may be a problem as the lasers can output more power.

As for the project...
Are you sure they have permission from Ubisoft to do this? I am aware that Ubisoft is very considerate when it comes to people entering game development but seeing how Might and Magic is one of their main series and that they have released Might and Magic Heroes 6 less than a quarter of a year ago I have a feeling they may not be ok with this.

 

[Asomath]

Quoted again for DSG.

"Might and Magic, Heroes of Might and Magic, and the titles of the episodes, are trademarks of UbiSoft Entertainment, reserving all rights without warranties of any kind regarding content. Might & Magic is a registered trademark of Ubisoft. Might & Magic Tribute is NOT connected with, produced, endorsed or supported by Ubisoft in any way. Might & Magic Tribute is a fan-made freeware game that is a tribute to the Might & Magic series originally produced by New World Computing. Our intention is to help keep interest in the Might & Magic series alive until such time as Ubisoft will hopefully be in a position to produce a new installment in the series."

Basically Ubisoft has full legal power and right to shutdown the game at anytime. In 8 years that hasnt happened, but that doesnt mean they wouldnt.

I have no illusions that Ubi does not have it in their juristiction to end the project. The project started in '03, and has gotten quite a bit of buzz since then, and Ubi has yet to state distaste with the project. They have openly said that they werent going to make another M&M pb RPG, and that they were sticking with the Strategy game series in their new universe.

Being a long-running Open Source, Freeware, fan-made RPG that takes place in the "Old World" helps sway the belief that it is "okay," but it is not immunity.

~Asomath

 

[clockwork2]

Geazer: thanks!!!!! I never knew that!, I think I threw out the cd case afterwards though T.T it's too late for meh!!!!!
Dr super good: it was pretty old, I think had it when i was 7!

 

[Dr Super Good]

There is a difference between doing something which a company does not care about as it has little impact (like a Naruto WC3 map) and doing something large scale that is competing with real games (like a fan made tribute to an old game that will probably have dozens of hours of playability).

Until you get consent to develop the game under the Might and Magic franchise from the owners, UbiSoft, the project could be terminated at any time and at any stage of completion (even after being released). This is a critical risk that has an unpredictable occurance liklyhood. If the development team are willing to gamble against that risk then by all means, go ahead but do not be dissapointed if it results in the total destruction of the project orignal goal.

 

[Asomath]

"Ubisoft has full legal power and right to shutdown the game at anytime"

Do not feel as if i've been disagreeing with you DSG. Its a risk that we've been taking for all these years.

Hopefully though, if they do decide to come in and shut it down, it will be because they are making their own. If not, oh well, I had fun doing it, and have gotten numerous months of practice in game design with an international team.

~Asomath

 

[Mechanical Man]

I was always wondering, how these company manage to 'shutdown' these project. Why would that stop mod or game makers if the game is free? From my point of view it would be even more exciting, producing something that is against the law haha. Even the company doesn't approve, you can still develop that at home and distribute via torrents and such?

 

[Asomath]

It depends on how the company is looking at it. If they feel like they're losing money due to to competition between their games and free fan games. Others enjoy free publicity. To some companies, its simply a matter of keeping control of their intellectual property.

~Asomath

 

[Mechanical Man]

I wasn't talking about that. How they persuade modders to stop them. Do they threaten them?

 

[Asomath]

Woops sorry, misread it. Depends on the company again. Usually there is a letter... and then threats of legal action. Ocassionally legal action goes through. But you're right, when somthing like that goes out on the web, its extremely hard to eliminate... thats why they usually will stop it in developement.

From Wikipedia: "Some companies go out of their way to shut down fangames, declaring them copyright infringements. Such shutdown has been believed to have a chilling effect on free speech, where amateur developers can't predict what a court will find as fair use. The term "foxed" is often used to describe these incidents, stemming from the original coining of the term from 20th Century Fox's shut down of an Aliens-themed total conversion of Quake. In the vast majority of cases, the original copyright holders have full legal justification to order a cease and desist upon fangame projects, as by definition,fangames are unauthorized infringing uses of copyrighted property"

~Asomath

 

[Mechanical Man]

ehh, you just move servers to another locations and continue development under cover. There is even less problems if you are from some eastern country where they don't really care about this. After all, if warez sites can thrive ...