Starting with the most important one, debugging and patching.
We know about the remaining issues. We have to correct them + add the most awaited stuff + develop the editor + other programs. That's a lot to do in parallel. We also have to create more than twelve versions of each patch and test them all concurrently each time. This also takes time to be sure there is no big problem left : such errors like text mistakes happen because of this. You can certainly live with them, and we'll correct them later. This patching process is a new process overall, and it took some time to start : this is where the current delay is coming from. Apart from that we are keeping the monthly patch release planned from the start.
Overall there are a lot of small points to correct, but nothing major. What was major was MP instability, and that has been corrected at 95% now with patch 1.2. A few people still have troubles, like for instance being able to connect to everyone else, and we're working on that. What is remaining on MP is due to personal configurations. AI is being refined along the way, that was also the plan : this is part of the game tweaking and balancing done along with the patches. I can admit that we do a side step for ten steps forward with each patch, but you shouldnt consider the side step only
The major subject you are waiting for is the map editor.
A reminder, it was never meant to be delivered with the game release. I know it was listed on the US ubi website. It was a mistake : it has never been in the product sheet at any time, and they added it on their own. It was suppressed when i saw that they listed it. I'm sorry about that. I have always made clear that the editor would be delivered during the summer, hopefully late july. As its not been delivered yet, and we are the last day of july, we'll be late on this too. But this is meant for improvements. We need to make it more user-friendly than what it is now. Quite a few people are testing it and would tell you the same thing.
Linked with this is the subject of feeling you didnt get what was promised.
I have always been very strict about what i announced. I'm quite sure i never promised any feature that was not delivered in the game release. I'll take a small example : simultaneous turns. This feature was never meant to be in the gold master, the one in the box. I said in a Q&A that this was being done, and will be delivered later. Please dont torture my words and read 'you will get it next week' I didnt set any date.
Last point is about communication.
I read that there is no more communication on the project. This forum is not the only source of official information, do you include q&as, answers given in nival forums and so on ? There are certainly less than before the game release, but there are hardly none.
I have been asked by a couple of people to post daily or almost daily a small story on the production. The problem is, most of it is confidential as it revolves around subjects not announced yet, and the rest is about debug. And debug is not fun. Here is what i would be able to post : "we completed a build today, the testers received it" - "half of the features are bugged, a full report is being done" - "devs estimated the time to debug" - "a new build was done and will be tested". Its about as exciting as reading yellow pages. You dont want to read this.
From this you feel that we are "keeping everything secret". I'm sure no single fan would like to be in my place - i said that to znork recently, when he had strictly the same remark. Most of what a game company is working on is kept secret until released. I think on the heroes production I disclosed quite a lot, and perhaps you got accustomed to it ? Most of what is done around heroes these days is not announced, and cannot be announced. I have to live with that, and so you have too. Simply know that the map editor is a tiny bit along the road. You will say that i'm teasing again, but i cant say more I'm sure you can imagine most the programs we are working on right now, but that doesnt meant i can detail them more because of that
Written by Fabrice Cambounet (Heroes 5 producer)
Questions and answers from the community:
Saliens: Will the game be more halflife-like (we must follow the scenario all the time) or rather Oblivion-like (we can go where we want and choose to do other quests)?
The game will definitely be more Half Life-like. It is very action-oriented, and the world is not open-ended. We made this decision because we had to build each level very carefully in order to allow you to use the environment. This is not the type of thing you can do at a huge scale.
Southsnake: Will we meet characters from Heroes of Might and Magic 5, as their scenarios are linked?
Well, surely we do not want to spoil anything here. ? However we can tell you that some actors from Heroes of Might and Magic V will return in Dark Messiah, though you may not necessarily meet them “physically”...
hein321: Will there be an option to switch to a third person view?
No. The whole game has been designed for a first-person view, so switching to 3rd person has not been considered or made possible in the game. We wanted to favour immersion above all.
pomimimin: Is Dark Messiah going to be easily moddable?
Yes, as it uses the Source engine. We will do our best to provide the modding community with easy-to-use modding tools.
webkong: Will a map editor be available at the time of the release of the game or will we have to download it later?
We will do our best to make the map editor available as soon as possible, hopefully before game release. We know it is an important tool for the community out there. So we can already confirm that it will be released. :)
28 July 2006
Summary:
The ability to sell artifacts was considered, but they ran out of time. It will possibly be implemented in the future.
There is nothing wrong in giving heroes starting abilities that prevent them from reaching the ultimate. Ultimates are meant to be very hard to get, and only in ideal conditions.
The Death Knights will not return to the Necropolis town.
Vampires drain their victims' "vital essence" instead of blood, which explains why they can drain life from undead. In case of undead, the vital essence is the magical energy that keeps them going.
It is possible that the paperdoll will be implemented later, but it isn't known for sure.
They had ideas to implement raising zombies or ghosts instead of skeletons, and it is possible that they will implement it.
If every faction has access to warrior and mage hero classes, the differences between the factions and their unique abilities will have less significance.
The editor, which they will try to release before August, will have many possibilities besides just creating maps. The game resources were deliberately made open for editing to encourage modding.
Implementing a "use system font" setting is, at this point, technically difficult. Besides, the current font was suggested by Ubisoft as the one true font.
The ability of non-Haven factions to effectively use Haven Training will be corrected.
The alleged incompatibility between saves in different patches only means that saves will not benefit from changes made to the corresponding map (however, in a campaign, loading an old save and finishing the mission will transfer the player to a patched version of the next mission). They can still be loaded.
Adding an "X close" button to pop-up windows is problematic. Use Esc or Cancel.
No hotkeys will be introduced to the main menu.
The first aid tent only heals a limited number of times to discourage the player from skipping turns just to resurrect some creatures.
Alternate methods of "troops delivery" are in development.
The map overview mode from Heroes III is unlikely to be introduced because nobody asked for it.
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