how did Heroes of Might and Magic III½ come about?

Actually, the official add-on was still under the 3DO umbrella, Life vs. Death, WOG 3.5, and I remember that WOG itself was initially released with the generous permission of 3DO. There were disks, not with cobbled-together patches, but I specifically had disks for HoMM 3 1/2 "Life vs. Death" and HoMM 3 1/2 In the Wake of Gods. Whether it was official or not, I can't say for sure, but these games were on the installer, not as a patch on top of the original. I'm more interested in who created the patches after the WOG 3.5 versions.