Might & Magic: Heroes Online turned out to be unexpectedly sane for the browser. Its creators – Blue byte , studio that once made The Settlers, – quite creatively overdone the rules for online. Although before us is clearly not what many wanted from the series, but this is far from failure Kingdoms , And you really can work with her. At least PVP Duel in Heroes Online It turned out fascinating – we already wrote about them.
Recently we talked with the producer of "Heroes online" Palle Hofstein (Palle Hoffstein). We admit, all the interview was conceived for the sake of one question: will they return to Might & Magic Blasters and spaceships? But the rest also turned out amusing.
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When you are working on Heroes Online history, whether you take into account the canon of classic Might & Magic? Well, you know, this whole interplanetary epic with crigans and world planes? How do you also relate to this in Ubisoft now? Is Askhan's story that one day a spaceship with the heroes of the same Enrot or Aksiota can fly here once?
We in Ubisoft belong to the canon Might & Magic Very serious. We have real “Bibles”, which should be strictly consistent with. All games Might & Magic are obliged to fit into the canon and the general story of Askhan. IN Might & Magic: Heroes Online We also really tried not to deviate from the canon, but to make the game available for a wide audience and, if possible, replenish the ranks of fans of the series. Therefore, we did not want to go too much into the esoteric aspects of the canon so as not to scare away newcomers. But in the future series Might & Magic will surely return to other aspects of the canon and will develop them further.
► The theme of the cosmos in the “Heroes” was never really touched on – everyone was busy with internal problems, and science fiction was manifested only in role Might & Magic. But the fact that Ubisoft still did not forget that in addition to Askhan there are many other worlds in this universe.
In theory, the history of the online game can continue endlessly – more precisely, while it is supported by developers. But is it possible to keep the player's interest for such a long time at all?
Most developers launch online projects with the expectation of years, and we are no exception. Yes, not everyone succeeds, but today there are many long and successful games, and we are equal to them. Heroes of Might & Magic – An important franchise for Ubisoft, and we would not have come out with her online, we do not plan long -term support. In online games, players are delayed as long as they have something to do while there is something new for them. But what really holds them for a long time is a strong community. And this is our main desire to build such a community for Might & Magic: Heroes Online.
Who is the subtleties and wisdom
The main thing in the PVP-component Heroes Online is tactical duels. But what do you think about the classic global regime with the research and control of the map? How realized this is within the framework of the browser F2P game, and whether it is worth dreaming that one day you decide to do this?
We would very much like something in this spirit, and yes, we believe that such a global regime can work. Not sure that he would work in Might & Magic Heroes Online, – It would turn out, consider, a separate game. But Ubisoft has plans and other games in the universe Might & Magic, Not to mention browser, so it may very well be that one day we will do this.
► The dueling regime was once one of the most popular chips of the fifth "heroes". It is not surprising that this time they decided to bet on him again.
How PVP-spheres differ from PVE-boys from the standpoint of the developer? That you have to change so that the system working for the AI appliance is suitable for fights of living people? In short, how living players differ from AI?
This is a very extensive question, offhand – several points.
Living players are unpredictable. They are mistaken, they do everything in their own way-not necessarily in the best way, but these are their preferences and manner of game. So they need more freedom of choice. In PVE, we can set the enemy to the manner of the attack (aggressive, careful, etc.D.), low and high resistance, a couple of abilities and favorable or unfavorable conditions – and enough, together all these parameters give enough diversity.
PVP is another matter, it immediately needed more tactical opportunities to respond to the unpredictability of a living player, so we revised the parameters and ability of creatures for the sake of a more meaningful selection of troops and added more abilities and scrolls so that the players would better cope with all the diversity of enemy strategies. Even among players in the same class we observe a variety of game manners.
PVP requires the finest balance. In the battle with AI, the outcome of the battle can become clear to its middle, and this will not spoil the game. In the battle with another player, the outcome should remain unobvious as long as possible. This requires advanced tactical opportunities and a good player selection system.
It is necessary to take into account and time. For living players, the move takes more time, especially with a step -by -step battle system. I had to add a mechanism that copes with this and reduces the waiting time.
In addition, we realized that most of our combat maps are not suitable for PVP: they provide one of the rivals with too obvious advantage. Therefore, our cards for the battles between the players are generally more symmetrical.
► The fighting system of "heroes online" was noticeably redrawn. Firstly, the field here is again from the hexagons, and not from the squares. Secondly, new elements like an attack from a flank that inflicted more damage appeared. It definitely went to the benefit of the battles.
What non -trivial problems did you have to deal with when balancing fights for PVP and how did you solve them? For example, it seems that the system of flank attacks can be easily abused – and how to make the players not run to each other for each attack? Tell us about your decisions.
When we added PVP to Might & Magic: Heroes Online, The already existing balance, to our joy, justified itself. Players of any class with good preparation and smart game could defeat the players of any other class. Of course, I had to pull up something.
The flank attack is interesting, it can be very aggressive as the main strategy against an unprepared player. But when, for the sake of experiment, we removed her from the game, something began to miss the battle. We returned the attack, but revised combat maps – left fewer open spaces and edited the movements of movement (especially for the main troops of the necropolis, which needed a larger range to compete with the Light Alliance). Additional modifiers of movement-abilities-can still significantly strengthen or weaken the effectiveness of attack from the flanks, but now such an attack is becoming one of the options for tactics or strategy, and not a trouble-free choice.
Curious strategies are the greatest danger in the PVP game. Some combinations of abilities and arrangements of the troops were surprisingly effective, and we will not talk about them here! Of course, when we meet such a skew, we accept countermeasures or make a rebalance.
A good example is the problem with the balance in the game in deaf protection, using the abilities of healing and resurrection as a predominant strategy. We resolved the issue, sharing the healing and the resurrection between the main and elite troops: now the player can return his troops, but not necessarily those who wanted.
► mobile phones https://magic-reels-casino.co.uk/ and tablets-this is where the "heroes online" would be truly happy.
Many developers who once worked on browser games are slowly moving towards mobile platforms. Are there any plans for the transfer of "heroes online" to the same tablets? She would have looked great there, we are sure!
We will do this if there is a pronounced demand. We also think that Might & Magic: Heroes Online I would look great on tablets! Brand Heroes of Might & Magic Very valuable for Ubisoft, and we are always looking for the opportunity to advance it on new platforms.