Worlds of Magic

Anything else to do with MoM IME
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Implode
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Worlds of Magic

Post by Implode »

So, I'm wondering if anybody even comes to this forum anymore, and if so what people think of Worlds of Magic? I was obviously initially excited to hear someone was attempting a complete MoM rewrite in a full 3D environment and been keeping an eye on it but honestly... it isn't inspiring me much. Maybe its the whole thing about first impressions sticking, and my first impression was downloading the alphas they released for the combat engine, and its not that the combat engine isn't good but... why start there? Combat is IMO one of the far lesser interesting pieces in MoM, I mean 95% of the time don't you just hit Auto? :) That makes me worry that their focus is entirely wrong. So my opinion is while Worlds of Magic might end up being a great game in its own right, it isn't going to feel like it has much to do with MoM. Just wondering if others are also sceptical about it or if I'm worrying over nothing.

I'm plugging ahead putting a ton of effort into the 0.9.5 MoM IME Java client at the moment and it looks fabulous. I'm trying to post some screenies as soon as I can, just wanting it to look a bit more polished first.
Nehan
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Re: Worlds of Magic

Post by Nehan »

Hey Implode,

I am actually one of the devs working on Worlds of Magic. :) I try to check the progress of MoM IME at least twice a year, though I really lost hope at one point.

Why did we presented alpha demo of combat at first? Well, it's simple - combat is much easier to implement, both in terms of coding and graphical assets and it works much better as a short, quick presentation than a crippled world map with few features.
That said, we've come a long way since that demo: the combat is overhauled, prettier and with a lot more features and a good AI; the strategic map is there along with seven planes, cities, neutral towns and world features. We have AI that's really decent (though it can't cast strategic spells yet), four playable races and 200 spells implemented. I think the work is coming along nicely :) .

We're going on Steam Early Access next month. I can spare you a key if you'd like, just finish that damned port! :)
Warsaw isn't a kind of a battle saw. It's the capital of Poland.
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Implode
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Re: Worlds of Magic

Post by Implode »

Wow, that's great that you're involved in Worlds of Magic, I remember you from helping start a Polish translation of MoM IME too, I use that as my reference for testing all the translations because its more thorough than either of the others. I went to great lengths when I started the Java client in March to try to hunt down free .TTF fonts that looked as similar as possible to the original MoM but had all the special Polish chars in (like ł which I said looked like a cactus but am reliably informed by a very good Polish friend from Perfect World is a 'l' with an accent lol), I figured any fonts that had those chars in must sufficient foreign coverage.

The only other work-in-progress games I'm interested in right now are Elite Dangerous + Battle Isle Threshold Run. That Battle Isle game could potentially be awesome, but they had it on kickstarter and then cancelled it, so I'm not sure what the status of it is now, whether they're given up completely.
though I really lost hope at one point
Yeah, me too. After I gave up any desire to continue working on it in Delphi, and then the first attempt at porting the server to Java being a dismal failure, I parked it for a couple of years until I had some inspiration about everything that was wrong in my approach, and started from nothing again, so that lost so much time. Then it became mostly an issue of the sheer volume of code to convert across, I had totally forgotten myself how much there was. Some of the Fog of War code (that deals with keeping N+1 copies of the map updated in an N player game) is just SO complicated >> Simplifying and fixing that (I know there has to be bugs in it) is the last piece that really scares me. If I can get past that, I have some confidence at last that I may finish it.

I realise by that point I may then find nobody to play a multiplayer game with, but I've always wanted so badly to be able to play a game on a 120x80 giant map, collect 30+ spell books, and play against 13 enemy wizards who are challenging because its a great AI and not because they cheat. If I can do that some day, I'll be very happy :)
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Lucern
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Re: Worlds of Magic

Post by Lucern »

Implode wrote:I realise by that point I may then find nobody to play a multiplayer game with, but I've always wanted so badly to be able to play a game on a 120x80 giant map, collect 30+ spell books, and play against 13 enemy wizards who are challenging because its a great AI and not because they cheat. If I can do that some day, I'll be very happy :)
This right here is what inspired me to start making pixels when I first saw this project. I thought, "Wow, this guy has the same dream of a MoM upgrade I have (AND the talent to actually do it.)" I'm pleased to see that you're still at it too! Of course, digging around the files you made available made me realize that you were climbing Mount Everest, and that you were often doing it without Sherpas. If you can do it, I'll be right with you in sharing your happiness.

I'm excited by Worlds of Magic's attempt as well. I'm a backer there. One or more of you will give us that multi-planar colossal fantasy experience. In fact, since you started, there are a number of contenders creating immersive fantasy turn-based strategy games. My hunger for Master of Magic like games isn't hardly satiated, but I have a feeling it's going to be piqued a lot more than it was in the first 20 years after MoM.
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