HwKeeper
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Another Developer's Diary entry from the official Nival website. This time, they will tell us about abilities:
Any game is like a large brick building. If the builders worked sloppily, the little house will collapse one fine day. Applying this to a computer game, it means that all gameplay details must be polished to a mirror shine. But how then do you maintain the integrity of the project so that the gamer doesn't scatter their attention on trifles? We encountered this problem while toiling over the racial features. However, let's take everything in order.
IN RESPONSE
No matter which stage of the development of Heroes of Might and Magic the Minds discuss, the defining word in the story will be "responsibility." And this is not for nothing, because a multi-million army of series fans expects an excellent game from us. We have to remind ourselves of this again and again to emphasize once more: any decision, even the most obvious one, is made by us only after careful analysis. We have repeatedly said that HoMMV is initially positioned not as a revolution within the famous series, but as its evolution. Evolution always implies a more thoughtful and balanced gameplay process.
NEW
Having decided on the races, we decided to endow them with unique properties that would reflect the ideological essence of one faction or another. Surprisingly, this seemingly logical idea was not fully implemented in the HoMM series games. So, we had to become pioneers.
Why "fully"? Let's recall, for instance, the Necromancy skill—the "gimmick" of the inhabitants of the Necropolis stronghold. The ability to "stamp out" skeletons best emphasized the essence of the Undead and had a serious impact on the game balance. In general, only a "small" matter remained—selecting equivalent features for the other races.
BEST SIDES
We came up with unique abilities after a detailed study of the factions' characteristics: their history, worldview, and differences in appearance. It is obvious, for example, that the soldiers of the Haven race, devoted to the motto "Honor, Duty, Order," should be perfectly organized on the battlefield and learn military affairs quickly. Thus, after a prolonged brainstorming session, the Training ability appeared. This is a new possibility for the series to train a Peasant up to the level of Archer, Archer to Squire, Squire to Clerics, and Clerics to Cavalier. To use it, you must build Training Grounds and spend a "hefty" sum of gold. By the way, a hero is able to reduce the cost of training by learning the corresponding skill. By skillfully solving economic-role-playing tasks, one can assemble a powerful army.
The mages of the Academy Fortress, who have dedicated their lives to knowledge, have learned to assemble mini-artifacts on their own. The Artifice capability is also new—it has never existed in any game in the series. We will not reveal all the details regarding this "gimmick"—we really want to give the gamers a surprise.
The designers thought for a long time about what skill to endow the Inferno troops with to emphasize their cruelty and unpredictability on the battlefield. In the end, they decided that Gating—the ability to summon reinforcements from the underworld—was exactly what the demons lacked before. As numerous experiments showed, the appearance of a devil on the battlefield is an extraordinarily effective and unexpected event.
We also struggled with the features of the elves, inhabitants of the Sylvan Castle. But, in the end, we reached a very clever decision, in our view. Elven heroes can evoke a feeling of hatred toward a specific opponent in their creatures. A thirst for vengeance—a skill called Favored Enemy—will help deal more serious damage to the foe. Notice how a seemingly purely technical detail has acquired emotional saturation in the world of HoMMV. The dark elves from the Dungeon Fortress were not left out either. They received Elemental Vision—magical intuition and the ability to sense which of the four elemental elements corresponds to each creature present on the battlefield. This feature opens up new tactical possibilities, allowing combat resources to be used more effectively. After all, your allies will deal more damage to that opponent who adheres to the opposite element.
Of course, these are far from all the unique racial abilities—some of them are kept in strict secret.
CONCERNS
Day and night, fans of the series excitedly discuss game balance on the project forum: "Will Nival be able to maintain balance between the races with so many innovations? Don't you think Haven is stronger than the others? What if the elves turn out to be the weakest?". We hasten to reassure all gamers worried about the fate of the project: balance for us is one of the most important elements of the project. We calculate incredible combinations and scrupulously think through all minor elements of the game mechanics. A beta test, which pointed out imbalances, became an excellent aid in this difficult task. So your anxiety, dear fan of the HoMM series, is quite understandable and somewhat appropriate, but... hardly justified.
RS Games. February 2006
Any game is like a large brick building. If the builders worked sloppily, the little house will collapse one fine day. Applying this to a computer game, it means that all gameplay details must be polished to a mirror shine. But how then do you maintain the integrity of the project so that the gamer doesn't scatter their attention on trifles? We encountered this problem while toiling over the racial features. However, let's take everything in order.
IN RESPONSE
No matter which stage of the development of Heroes of Might and Magic the Minds discuss, the defining word in the story will be "responsibility." And this is not for nothing, because a multi-million army of series fans expects an excellent game from us. We have to remind ourselves of this again and again to emphasize once more: any decision, even the most obvious one, is made by us only after careful analysis. We have repeatedly said that HoMMV is initially positioned not as a revolution within the famous series, but as its evolution. Evolution always implies a more thoughtful and balanced gameplay process.
NEW
Having decided on the races, we decided to endow them with unique properties that would reflect the ideological essence of one faction or another. Surprisingly, this seemingly logical idea was not fully implemented in the HoMM series games. So, we had to become pioneers.
Why "fully"? Let's recall, for instance, the Necromancy skill—the "gimmick" of the inhabitants of the Necropolis stronghold. The ability to "stamp out" skeletons best emphasized the essence of the Undead and had a serious impact on the game balance. In general, only a "small" matter remained—selecting equivalent features for the other races.
BEST SIDES
We came up with unique abilities after a detailed study of the factions' characteristics: their history, worldview, and differences in appearance. It is obvious, for example, that the soldiers of the Haven race, devoted to the motto "Honor, Duty, Order," should be perfectly organized on the battlefield and learn military affairs quickly. Thus, after a prolonged brainstorming session, the Training ability appeared. This is a new possibility for the series to train a Peasant up to the level of Archer, Archer to Squire, Squire to Clerics, and Clerics to Cavalier. To use it, you must build Training Grounds and spend a "hefty" sum of gold. By the way, a hero is able to reduce the cost of training by learning the corresponding skill. By skillfully solving economic-role-playing tasks, one can assemble a powerful army.
The mages of the Academy Fortress, who have dedicated their lives to knowledge, have learned to assemble mini-artifacts on their own. The Artifice capability is also new—it has never existed in any game in the series. We will not reveal all the details regarding this "gimmick"—we really want to give the gamers a surprise.
The designers thought for a long time about what skill to endow the Inferno troops with to emphasize their cruelty and unpredictability on the battlefield. In the end, they decided that Gating—the ability to summon reinforcements from the underworld—was exactly what the demons lacked before. As numerous experiments showed, the appearance of a devil on the battlefield is an extraordinarily effective and unexpected event.
We also struggled with the features of the elves, inhabitants of the Sylvan Castle. But, in the end, we reached a very clever decision, in our view. Elven heroes can evoke a feeling of hatred toward a specific opponent in their creatures. A thirst for vengeance—a skill called Favored Enemy—will help deal more serious damage to the foe. Notice how a seemingly purely technical detail has acquired emotional saturation in the world of HoMMV. The dark elves from the Dungeon Fortress were not left out either. They received Elemental Vision—magical intuition and the ability to sense which of the four elemental elements corresponds to each creature present on the battlefield. This feature opens up new tactical possibilities, allowing combat resources to be used more effectively. After all, your allies will deal more damage to that opponent who adheres to the opposite element.
Of course, these are far from all the unique racial abilities—some of them are kept in strict secret.
CONCERNS
Day and night, fans of the series excitedly discuss game balance on the project forum: "Will Nival be able to maintain balance between the races with so many innovations? Don't you think Haven is stronger than the others? What if the elves turn out to be the weakest?". We hasten to reassure all gamers worried about the fate of the project: balance for us is one of the most important elements of the project. We calculate incredible combinations and scrupulously think through all minor elements of the game mechanics. A beta test, which pointed out imbalances, became an excellent aid in this difficult task. So your anxiety, dear fan of the HoMM series, is quite understandable and somewhat appropriate, but... hardly justified.
RS Games. February 2006