Editing Greg Fulton/Fanstratics Newsletters/10 (section)

== Behemoth Cave Interview (part 3 of 7) ==
This interview was conducted by Behemoth Cave (Webpage & Facebook) and originally published on November 10th, 2020. It’s another relatively long interview, comprised of 33 questions in 18 parts.  I’ll be posting around 5 questions per Newsletter, until we reach the end, after which we will roll into another interview.  Below are questions 5a to 6b, of 18.


'''5a. Let’s talk about balance.  What methods did you use to make decisions about creature statistics, [[AI value]], faction balance and schools of magic?  Was every single value chosen on a whim and then verified or rather were there more complicated mathematical calculations involved?'''

Balance was determined using a process of opinion and verification, via abstract simulation.  JVC and I hashed out the statistics for the various troops, based on our personal opinion of which was more or less powerful, in relation to one another.

Using these preliminary numbers, I put each Troop through a Battle Simulator I constructed in Microsoft Excel.  This Battle Simulator produced a relative number, which I then used to verify our assumptions.  If something appeared to be out of whack... an adjustment was made.

Using these base ai values, [[Gus Smedstad]] further modified the numbers, to account for special abilities, creating adjusted ai values, which were again verified using the Battle Simulator.  If something appeared to be out of whack... an adjustment was made.

Faction balance was less complicated.  I did an analysis of Troop Power versus costs over time.  If something appeared to be out of whack... an adjustment was made.

Spells and spell schools were largely opinion.


'''5b. Were you aware of [[earth magic]] or [[logistics]] supremacy, or how useless [[eagle eye]] or [[learning]] are?'''

Keep in mind, at the time, HoMM3 was considered, first and foremost, a single player game.  If a skill or spell proved to be overpowered, it wasn’t a big concern, because the overwhelming number of games were human versus ai.  If we had known, twenty years later, HoMM3 would be a competitive multiplayer game, we would have given ‘balance’ extra attention.

This being said, at the time, we did not know Earth Magic or Logistics would be considered overpowered.

Learning could have used a buff, but we were worried about it becoming a ‘required skill’, so we errored on the side of ‘underpowered’.

Eagle Eye was a hold over from HoMM2, and within NWC it wasn’t considered ‘useless’.  Regardless, in hindsight, it could have been cut.


'''5c. Were there dedicated testers and balance designers in the dev team of Heroes III?'''

Short answer... no.  Please keep in mind, at the time, network play was a relatively new thing, and the thought of competitive HoMM3 was inconceivable.  Also, dedicated balance designers and testers didn’t really become a thing until Starcraft became an esport in South Korea.  Today, it is standard practice for any pure multiplayer game.


'''6a. How did you react when you realized that after 20 years Heroes have a huge fanbase (which still grows) in the central-eastern Europe (especially in Poland and Russia) and Asia?'''

In the USA, immediately after its release in 1999, HoMM3 stayed at #3 on the sales charts, for 3 weeks, before declining.  HoMM3 was respected, but never showcased.  At the time, it felt like a cult hit, not a commercial success.

Around 2016, to my genuine surprise, I saw thousands of people regularly playing HoMM3 on Twitch.tv.  After speaking with David Mullich, and doing a little digging, all of the hints I had seen over the years... suddenly made sense.

Whenever I mentioned HoMM3, to my surprise, most people knew of the game.
* HoMM3 [[SoD]]?
* HoMM3 [[Heroes Chronicles|Chronicles]] (x3)?
* HoMM4?
* HoMM3 [[WoG]]?
* HoMM5?
* HoMM6?
* HoMM7?
* HoMM3 [[VCMI]]?
* HoMM3 [[HotA]]?
* HoMM3 HD?
* Thousands of user made maps?
* Persistent GOG.com bestseller?

In the 3DO bankruptcy, when Ubisoft bought the Might & Magic intellectual property, I thought they were going after the RPG and the TBS games for their long history and built in fan base.  In truth, they were specifically after HoMM.  Ubisoft distributed HoMM3 outside of North America, and it sold millions of copies across Europe, Russia, and Asia.

I was stunned.  I had really had no idea.


'''6b. Do you have any idea what could be the reason behind the popularity in those regions?'''

I’ve chatted with David Mullich about this, and thought about it at length.  In my opinion, it is a unique combination of elements.

# Easily accessible genre
#* Fantasy is a universal genre.  Around the world, most people understand the concepts of knights, wizards, and dragons.  It doesn’t hurt this genre was also birthed in Europe.
# Beauty
#* HoMM3 is a beautiful game, and continues to hold its own after all these years.  Phelan Sykes, [[Scott White]], [[Adam McCarthy]], [[George Almond]], and David Mullich, don’t get anywhere near enough credit for what they pulled out of the New World Computing art staff.
# Exceptional Value
#* There’s plenty to see, experience, discover, and play within HoMM3.  It’s unusual for a game to be both deep and wide.  This creates an exceptionally large amount of gameplay for your money.  With all the expansions, mods, user made maps, and the random map generator, you can literally play the game for 100’s if not 1000’s of hours.
# Accessibility
#* While HoMM3 isn’t the easiest game to get into, you don’t need to be a guru to enjoy it.  Also, being turn based, there is no pressure to immediately engage the game, and you can explore it at your leisure.
# System Requirements
#* You don’t need to be a member of the PCMR to play the game.  Any office computer or laptop should suffice, and this makes almost anyone with a computer, a potential fan.
# Piracy
#* Most game developers don’t like talking about this, but at some point in their lifespan, all of PC’s biggest franchises were heavily pirated.  This effectively got the game into the hands of people who wouldn’t pay-to-play the game.  This ‘unofficial’ demo uncovered a lot of fans who didn’t know they were fans, and hopefully purchased a legitimate copy, at a later date.

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