Gregory Fulton

One of the lead designers of Heroes of Might and Magic III. Nicknamed "Yoda" by Jon Van Caneghem.

Diaries

Two weeks ago, I spoke on the phone with Tom Ono, the manual writer for Heroes of Might and Magic III. As usual, Tom asked how things were going. I said things were good... then proceeded to whine and complain for the next five minutes (much to Tom's amusement).

When the conversation concluded, Tom said, "Don't complain too much. Some people would give their eyeteeth to be in the game industry." I responded, "Who are these people and why haven't they been beaten for their own good?"

My name is Gregory Fulton, game designer for Heroes of Might and Magic III (developed by New World Computing, published by 3DO). You may call me Greg. Like most game designers, I'm sure you'll find me a bitter and cynical man, aged beyond my years, full of sarcasm, and inexplicably drawn to the horrors of game production like a lobotomized moth to the "pretty" flame.

As I guide you through your weekly tour of my memories, I promise the recollected images will be truthful and sincere but written with a smirk and a wink.

Undoubtedly, we will interact with the following animals: artists, level builders, managers, producers, programmers, testers, and monkeys. To help ensure your safety, I request you fasten your seat belts, keep your hands to your sides at all times, and be sure to not make any quick and sudden movements. Remember... we will be passing through the game production process.

12/05/98

It's Saturday. I'm at work with three other members of the Heroes3 team. I'll be in again tomorrow.

Smells like "crunch time."

Everyone in the game industry knows the term "crunch time." Those not in the industry may ask, "What is crunch time?" Long hours: 10-18 each day. We're starting our fourth crunch month. We have at least one more after this.

Bad take-out food: Mexican and Chinese food are New World's favorites. Today we had Taco Bell and Domino's pizza as part of NWC's "work for food" program.

Social Life: To work in the game industry you must already have some form of social retardation. When crunch mode begins, you may only speak in code to coworkers. Immediate family and friends may be seen on brief occasions so they don't file a missing-persons report. I'm one of the lucky ones; I don't remember having any friends or family.

Hygiene: Haircuts and showers become optional in favor of more sleep time. For me, showers are a must, but my hair is sprouting wings and a tail. Pretty soon I'll look like the lead singer from Flock of Seagulls.

Stress: Anger and frustration are frequent companions. If bridges are burned, this is usually the time. Earlier this week morale was low. In a fit of anger concerning team interactions, I was heard shouting, "I feel like a kindergarten teacher. Can't everyone just keep their hands to themselves and play nice!"

Murphy's law: Any potential hazard will be encountered. I'm writing this diary from the NWC conference room. My computer refuses to function for more than five minutes without seizing up.

12/06/98

This weekend I'm taking care of my PR duties (hence this diary). Not the most exciting stuff, so I'll relate a short story from earlier this week.

David Mullich (producer), Mark Caldwell (NWC vice president and programmer), Jon Van Caneghem (NWC president, creator of all things Might and Magic, and company design visionary), and I found ourselves crowded into the sweltering office of Scott White.

Scott did all the town screens in Heroes III except the Rampart, Necropolis, and Fortress. Since he finished his 3D duties, he's turned his skills to the game's interface. Believe it or not, we were in Scott's office arguing about color: interface colors and player colors.

After much arguing about the interface colors, we decided to leave it virtually untouched. Player colors were a different subject.

Originally, we used light blue, dark blue, red, green, purple, brown, black, and white. These colors needed to change. Light blue looked like the blue used in the main menu. Brown clashed with the brown used in the general game interface. Game text disappeared against white. Black and green disappeared with the terrain colors shown on the game mini-map.

OK. We agreed some of the colors needed to change. After this, the agreements stopped. I don't know what is more ridiculous... arguing over what colors to use or the twisted logic behind the arguments. Red, blue, and dark green were safe choices. We still needed five other colors. The conversation went something like this....

"I don't want yellow. Yellow is the urine color." "What about brown?" "I don't like brown." "Brown is the s**t color." "What about pink?" "Pink is a sissy color." "We won't call it pink. We'll call it 'rose'." "Rose?" "The rose player?" "I don't know. If I saw a pink hero, I'd turn and run away. You know any hero secure enough to use pink as his color is bad ass." "What about magenta?" "What about cobalt? What about cadmium?" "Have we accounted for all the fecal colors?" "What about orange?" "Phelan (our art lead) doesn't like orange. It looks bad." "So. I don't think it looks bad." "Fine. You tell her you want orange." "She'll kick your ass." "Oh. Fine. We won't use orange."

So it went. Fifteen minutes later everyone agreed to disagree, and Jon was made the final judge. Here are the final colors: red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, aqua, and rose (pink).

12/07/98

Today we stopped all map production. From here until we ship, I join the mapmakers and testers in playing maps and writing bugs... or so I thought.

Today, I had dropped into my lap the assignment of converting the 144-plus pages of the game manual into a help file. Anyone who has written a help file knows how huge this task can be. I could probably finish it in a day, but it requires no one bothering me for an extended period of time. Ha!

At this late stage of the production cycle, my entire day is spent meeting with people, making sure people are doing their work, and confirming that what is being done is correct. I don't have time for work. I've made the ugly evolution from game designer to middle manager.

It wasn't like this at the beginning of the project. At the beginning of the project the game designer is the screaming prophet, lost and alone in the desert (or the design process if you prefer).

In the middle of the production process the prophet is being screamed at by all his fellow coworkers who are wondering what to do because the design doc is behind schedule.

At the end of the project, everyone's a screaming prophet, and everyone is screaming at everyone else.

Sometime in the middle of all this screaming I've got to write this help file. Maybe I could give the assignment to Christian Vanover (H3 assistant director). Isn't it the job of a middle manager to delegate?

12/08/98

Yesterday I was wondering where I would find the time to write the game help file. Today I have the answer.... I think I have the flu. This doesn't feel like any 24-hour "see-ya-bye" flu either. This feels like "kneel before Zod!" flu.

All right. I've got a story for you.

Earlier today we "officially" stopped making maps. From here on out, we play, test, and polish the game. This could mean a little, or a lot. If the maps play well the first time out, revisions will be minor. If we end up chucking whole maps, we may find ourselves back to making maps. Thus, we started playing them today. JVC (Jon Van Caneghem, New World's president) ended up playing a notorious map named "Barbarian Breakout."

Ten minutes after he starts, JVC pages me over my phone intercom: "Hey Yoda." (He's been calling me Yoda lately. I don't know why. I'm not sure if I should be honored or offended. On one hand, Yoda is wise and he trains Jedi Knights. On the other hand, he is a short ugly green dude with big ears.) "Enemy hero with six behemoths (one of the highest-level creatures) knocked on my front door on week two, day one."

"Oops. I'll be right there."

As soon as I walked into JVC's office, the razzing began.

"What's with the six behemoths? Is this one of the balanced scenarios?"

"OK, OK. Something's wrong. Turn off the fog."

Jon restarts the scenario, turns off the fog of war, ends turn four times in a row, then right-clicks the enemy hero to see the extent of his forces. Aside from his other three stacks of creatures... he has one stack of six behemoths. Oops.

"All right. Open the map in the editor."

Jon opens the map in the editor. What do we discover? First, the enemy hero starts at level three, and the mapmaker (Dave Botan) has given him four stacks of creatures. In addition, the enemy hero's starting town has three of seven creature generators already prebuilt.

No wonder the enemy was able to recruit behemoths on day four.

Remember the story about the father who comes home from a bad day at work and yells at his wife? She in turn yells at her kid. The kid in turn kicks the dog.

At this point, I'm looking for a dog to kick. So, I hunt down Dave Botan. Immediately, Dave states his defense.

"Everyone says the map's too hard. It isn't. The AI's cheating." (Recently, we discovered the artificial intelligence was exploiting an undiscovered bug allowing it to recruit more creatures than were actually available.)

"The AI doesn't need to cheat. It's already got a huge advantage." "There's a bug." "Doesn't matter. Set all players to normal starting conditions."

At this point everyone begins to playfully dog-pile on Dave telling all the reasons why his maps suck. In the end he relented and fixed the map.

12/09/98

I'm not writing from work today. I'm writing from home. I have seven-way-straight-from-the-bottom-of-the-Amazon-flu.

With this kind of flu the logical course of action would be to rest, drink lots of fluids, watch lots of movies, maybe see a doctor. However, I am a game designer and unfamiliar with the ways of logic. A day at home with the flu means I have the opportunity to finish the H3 help file.

Wow.

How pathetic can you get? On my day off to rest and get better, I use the uninterrupted time to convert a 144+ page manual into a help file.

I should get sick more often. I get more work done.

12/10/98

I'm back at work today. Good news... I finished the help file. Bad news... I still have the flu, and because I was so efficient in writing the game help file... I've been given the task of writing the map editor help file. Oh yeah, finish it by Monday.

Monday? There's so much pressure in my head, when I sniff, my eyes want to flee their sockets. My voice has the auditory consistency of sandpaper. Monday? Sure, I'll have it done by Monday.

12/11/98

Well, it's Friday night, and I have yet to see Star Trek: Insurrection. Doubt I'll be seeing it anytime soon.

One of the unmentioned symptoms of crunch time is cultural unawareness. In my time at a previous company I almost missed the entire O.J. trial. I haven't seen a movie since Starship Troopers. I'm not kidding.

12/14/98

I shouldn't have come in to work Thursday and Friday. It really pushed me over the edge. For the past two days I've been laid up with fever and chills. Remarkably, it was the one thing to take my mind off work. Aside from a froggy throat, it seems to have passed.

Enough about my illness. From here on, assume I'm always ill with the flu.

12/15/98

Today NWC (New World Computing) took a brief pause from game development to listen to Trip Hawkins (president of 3DO, NWC's parent company).

Twice a year, Trip makes a formal visit to talk about the company and where we're going as a company. It's a nice break from things.

However, Trip wasn't half as exciting as David Richey (our tools programmer) who sat next to me. Turns out David is coming down with the flu.

Over the course of the meeting, the air conditioning didn't turn on. With over 50 people crammed into a room, it got hot very fast. As the minutes passed, I could see David slowly whither.

I thought he was going to vomit. So basically, for most of the meeting, I sat envisioning how I was going to get out of the way when the volcano erupted.

Luckily, the volcano did not erupt. David left in the middle of the lecture and I haven't seen him since.

12/17/98

Welcome to the end of another working day at NWC. There is still no sign of David Richey. Another one of our programmers, John Krause, called in sick today. David Mullich (the Heroes III director) was ready to take bets on who would call in sick next. Of course, everyone blames me for getting them ill.

As far as your average NWC workday goes, this one was hectic and full of revelation.

Revelation?

Yes. Revelation. Only today did I look at my calendar and realize Christmas was next Friday.

Hectic?

Yes. Hectic. Every now and then I need to wipe my desk clean. This means catching up on all the hand-scrolled notes and stray post-its littered about my desk. When my desk is clean, I'm caught up.

This very act of cleaning makes for a semi-chaotic day. There is much gear shifting and subject changing to close dangling issues.

Add to this my usual parade of visitors, and my first chance to test multiplayer, and it takes great effort to avoid turning into a screaming monkey. Yes, I said screaming monkey.

Frequently, I find myself held hostage in my own office as a line of visitors (testers, programmers, artists, producers, etc.) quickly assemble outside my office in a short period of time, all wanting a piece of my brain.

Today it happened to occur while I was in the middle of a multiplayer game with Jeff Leggett (H3 multiplayer programmer). Simultaneously, I had three people show up and cram themselves into my small office. Each began jockeying for position to ask a question. Meanwhile, Jeff waited on the phone intercom, with Heroes III continually chiming in the background, letting me know it was my turn to play.

At this point you may apply the screaming monkey metaphor.

Despite the great potential for chaos, I asked Jeff to wait, gave my three suitors a number, told them to wait in line, then answered each of their questions.

On the surface, everything looked under control. Little did these poor souls know there was a screaming monkey, trapped in my mind's steel cage, wildly thrashing about in a desperate attempt to escape and turn me into a volcano of anger and lunacy.

When it was over, I took a deep breath, noted the walls weren't sprayed with the blood of innocent coworkers, and returned to my multiplayer game with Jeff.

Heroes II multiplayer wasn't friendly in the least. When it wasn't your turn, all you could do was sit at the computer and stare at the screen like a moron.

Well, thanks to our wonderful network programmer, Jeff Leggett, a moron you will no longer be.

Jeff has finished implementing multiplayer support. Now we're on a bug hunt. So, today, Jeff and I played a multiplayer game in the background while we went about our work.

I must admit, I had a blast. Moments like this make me forget my job is serious work.

12/18/98 Friday

Today I actually managed to catch up on all my notes. Next up, International Translation Kit. It can wait until Sunday. I don't get to enjoy these moments of accomplishment very often.

Being a game designer is nothing more than a life of delayed gratification. You spend the first month of the project "being creative," then spend the next 17 as a bricklayer implementing low-level details and boot-strapping the game design when unforeseen consequences arise.

Tomorrow we have our annual company Christmas party. I won't be going. I see my coworkers every day at work. I don't want to see them in a social environment. It'd be too weird. They'd have, like, spouses and dates and stuff, and wear dress clothes.

We've been told we can dress formal or casual. To me this means torn jeans and a food-stained white T-shirt. To everyone else, this means dress formal, because no one wants to underdress.

I don't want to see any of my coworkers dressed up. The thought frightens me. We're a bunch of geeks. We don't look good in casual wear. Formal wear will only amplify our geekiness.

Only one thing could entice me to go to the Christmas party - seeing the wives go off on the management for working their husbands so hard. I'd pay to see that... provided I wasn't on the receiving end.

By the way... hello to Chris Cross and Brian Reed, two friends I made when I briefly worked at Dreamworks Interactive (I didn't work on Trespasser). They called me today. They'd read the first entry in the Designer Diary and called to tell me what they thought. They then tied me up on the phone for the next 30 minutes while simultaneously sending me e-mail with bizarre and obscene attachments.

01/02/99 Saturday

Well, I'm back at work. The Christmas break was needed. I spent the first three days drinking eggnog, sleeping in 12- and 16-hour shifts, and watching Clinton get impeached.

After I was well rested, the eggnog was all gone, and Clintion was impeached, I did what any game design loser would do... worked on the game while on vacation. Ugh. I'm so pathetic.

My initial goal was to play existing maps. After playing five maps, it was obvious the AI hadn't been fully tested. It tended to sit back and never struck out until it had enough forces to guarantee a win.

This made for very extreme game experiences. Either you never saw the AI, or it came storming out of nowhere, knocked on your door, and politely introduced itself as your doom.

When our AI programmer (Gus Smedstad) gets back from vacation, I'll need to share my findings with him.

Well, seeing as I couldn't really play the game, I turned my attention to our 144-page game manual... much to my horror.

It turns out our second draft of the manual was full of errors. So, with red pen in hand, I promoted myself from game designer to fact checker. Over the next three days, I proceeded to bloody the pages of our beautiful manual.

To say it was tedious would be an understatement. When it was all over, I couldn't read anything if it wasn't written in fine print.

01/04/99 Monday

Today was another screaming monkey day. Why? One word: programmers.

I won't say who, but one of our programmers came into my office and proceeded to yell at me over a feature request he'd been given to program.

Why was he yelling at me? On the surface, it was because I hadn't given him enough details, or I hadn't thought through its impact enough. Or it could have been because it was simply a stupid feature, I didn't know what I was doing, and I was ruining the game.

The real reason? He wasn't sure how to program the task he'd been given, and the specified time frame was short. Instead of calming down, thinking it through, and telling me whether it could or could not be done in the given time frame, he panicked, and chose to vent at me.

Programmers are a unique breed. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. Some of my best friends are programmers.

I must admit I am fascinated. I've watched each of our team programmers code. It's very amusing. How they code gives me a unique insight to their personality. For instance...

John Bolton (lead programmer): When John programs, it looks like he's playing chess.

David Richey (tools programmer): David doesn't code. Beforehand, he thinks about his task in depth, like contemplating philosophy, then simply writes it up. Quite often you can look through David's office window and see him bent over in his chair, chin on fist, like The Thinker.

Mark Caldwell (NWC VP): You need to know Mark to really understand, but when Mark codes, it's like he's in a boxing ring, ducking shots, trading blows, and trash talking with the program.

Now take such individuals and do the unthinkable... Make them into a team. Worse yet, force them to have meetings in which they must interact on a social level and agree to work together. Worse yet, force them to interact with right-brained artists and game designers.

It's a wonder any games ever get made.

Join designer Greg Fulton as gives us his very last Designer Diary entry, which tracks the last days of Heroes of Might and Magic III. In these last few days, the team waited anxiously to approve the gold candidate. But there is no rest for Greg, as he mentions a little something about the expansion disc. Join us as we count down the final development of Heroes III.

01/07/99

Ever heard the phrase "thousand tile stare"?

It's a phrase used by our mapmakers. You get the thousand tile stare from making H3 maps all day long.

Today I got the thousand tile stare after making a map for our eventual game demo.

It's a very simple, small map, letting players experience a portion of the game. Hopefully they'll experience enough and feel compelled to buy the game. I've been calling the map "Dead and Buried."

When I finished, I gave it to Chris Vanover (H3 assistant director) to play. Chris is an expert Heroes player. He's a good gauge of the map's difficulty.

Watching Chris play was a lot of fun. It allowed me to take a break from work and finally see the game in action. However, I am the worst person to have over your shoulder when you play.

Why? I'm a backseat driver. It's a bad habit from playing console games with friends.

Thus, I watched Chris play and second-guessed him all the way. We were like two old men spitting and complaining about the best strategy as Chris clicked his way through the game. It was rather humorous.

01/08/99

Today I gave the Dead and Buried map to a few select people to see if anyone could beat it in the allotted time frame of four game weeks.

One of my candidates was Jen Bullard. Jen is the only female tester in the QA area.

Upon entering the test area, I found Jennifer burning a candle at her desk. She wasn't afraid to comment aloud how everyone else in the test area doesn't wash their clothes often enough. She thinks they stink.

No sooner did I sit down to watch Jen play than the verbal bantering between the testers began.

Ryan Den, another one of our testers, was sure he found a bug and asked aloud if anyone had encountered the same bug. No one had. Immediately everyone began shouting "user error." Ryan thought they were all high... until he realized it was user error. Everyone then proceeded to playfully tear into Ryan yet again.

I must admit, our testers are pretty cool. Their interactions are quite amusing. They banter with the voracity of a knife fight, but it's rarely cruel.

01/14/99

Last night was my last chance to revise the game manual. Thus, I decided to pull an all-nighter to finish it. This was my first time being at NWC so late. I also experienced something completely new.

I had been drinking many free Cokes when my bladder reminded me who was really in charge. Without hesitation, I raced to the bathroom. I opened the door. It was dark. This is not unusual. The lights are hooked up to a motion sensor. To save energy, they turn on and off based on the presence of a moving body. Confident the lights would turn on, I strode into the bathroom.

The lights did not illuminate.

Fumbling around in the dark, I was able to find the light switch and flip it on.

Nothing.

Fumbling around some more, I found the door handle and exited the bathroom.

Moving quickly to Mark Caldwell's office (Mark and George were also working late), I told him, "The bathroom lights won't turn on." He said, "Yeah. The bathroom lights don't turn on after midnight." I asked, "How do you go to the bathroom with the lights off?" He answered, "Usually I just feel my way to the urinal."

"I need to take a crap."

"Hey, I wouldn't know anything about that. Get the flashlight from George."

"I need a flashlight?"

"Yeah."

So, I walked to George's office.

"I need the bathroom flashlight."

Giggling to himself under his breath, George reached into his desk and gave me a pocket flashlight. With flashlight in hand I returned to the bathroom where everything went according to plan.

I know game production has its odd moments, but... this one was really odd.

01/18/99

In the last days of a game's production, the game designer makes a desperate attempt to prevent features from being cut to make the deadline. However, if I got all the features I wanted, the game would never ship. Thus, there is always a tug of war between the game designer, management, programmers, and artists, to decide what gets into the game and what gets pushed back to the expansion or sequel.

Today I was doing my best to get a new hero into the game without too much additional programming or art. I realized I could get the results I needed by simply adding a new graphic and customizing an existing game hero. Even better, I could get the graphic from existing art in the intro movie. All the artist had to do was crop a freeze-frame from the movie and give it to our asset manager to be put into the game. I could customize the hero in the editor. All the programmers had to do was recognize the character's unique identification.

Well, we did.

I wonder how much longer I can push my luck.

01/19/99

I have become the Walmart floor manager.

No. I haven't quit my job.

Let me explain.

At this stage in the making of the game, I find myself spending most of my time walking the halls with my Notepad of Oppression waiting for people to call out my name.

The notepad is a list of issues needing resolution. Most people find the notepad humorous unless their name is on it. Ironically, I end up putting my name on the notepad more than anyone else's (I'm oppressing myself).

Regardless, when I am walking the halls and someone calls out my name, I duck into their office to answer their questions. Sometimes this means getting on their phone and calling someone else to clear up an issue. If I don't have the answer, I'm the intermediary.

Thus, I feel like the Walmart floor manager, roaming the isles, taking care of arising issues. All I really need is the blue vest.

01/20/99

For a moment, consider most game manuals. Usually, a manual details the game interface and introduces you to the various game elements. Rarely do these manuals give you true game statistics.

For Heroes III , we wanted to buck this trend. Using the Heroes II strategy guide as a model, we decided to make a big manual loaded with information. This is exactly what we did - 144 pages.

Today we signed off on the manual. Well, no sooner did the ink dry than we discovered some errors. It was terrifying. I literally sat at my desk, looking at the errors I had discovered, and heard the manual mocking me with the chittering of a wild hyena.

There was nothing I could do. It was carved in stone. Now understand, most manuals ship with some errors. This is what the Readme is for. However, several people had gone over this manual time and again, and still there were errors.

I'll never make a big manual again. It's too much upkeep considering the fluidity of game design.

I'm sure I'll lose some sleep over this.

1/25/99

Today the Coke machine caught fire.

Let me repeat this.

Today the Coke machine caught fire.

Since we started crunching, around 7:00pm each night, Mark Caldwell (NWC VP) has been unlocking the Coke machine for free drinks to go with our evening meal. We don't continue pressing the selection buttons for the various drinks. Instead, we literally open up the front half of this big, red, half-ton refrigerator, made to withstand the assaults of the most juvenile of delinquents.

Now, I'm not exactly clear on the details, but one of the testers pulled open the front door to grab a soda from inside. Apparently, some of the electrical wires were sheared, followed by fire and smoke.

Upon seeing the fire and smelling the smoke, the tester grabbed Ben Bent (NWC office manager and part-time game director). He then pointed out the fire in the Coke machine.

With perfect calm, Ben simply unplugged the Coke machine. Poof. The fire went away.

I must admit, I can't help but see the fire in the Coke machine as a metaphor for Heroes III in production. A fire starts, someone panics, and someone else calmly solves the problem.

Truthfully, it's the story of the game production process.

2/07/99 Sunday

Today could be the day.

We've decided to make a "final candidate" CD-ROM for 3DO approval. A final candidate is what we consider "ready to ship." We then send the final candidate to 3DO for them to do shrink-wrap testing.

Tonight, no one leaves the building until the game is finished.

2/08/99 Monday

It's 5:00am Monday morning.

We just started burning the final candidate.

About half the team is still here.

We've been crunching too long. Everyone's burnt.

About 15 minutes ago, Mark starting broadcasting Money For Nothing over everyone's speakerphone.

Ironic.

02/13/99

I am literally weak-kneed. Except for writing this entry, all I intend to do is just sit in my office chair and do everything I possibly can to do nothing.

As of 8:30 Saturday, February 13, we're calling it good Barring last-second crash bugs, the game is done.

It's 9:30, and with the realization the game is done, already I'm beginning to crash.

After crunching for so long, the crash is the aftereffect. This is the time when you finally realize you can relax and return to a somewhat normal life. This is also the flag signaling the release of all the pent-up stress and illness you've been holding off by sheer will for the past six months. Thus... crash.

Wow.

We're done.

02/14/99

Four days after announcing Heroes has gone gold, we're already talking about the expansion pack. Already, I've assembled my map makers. They're good people. With H3 under their belts they should make even better maps for the expansion.

The downside? Chris Vanover is moving onto a different project. Technically Chris was H3's assistant director, but I adopted him as my assistant designer. He was a big help in many of the grunt areas. I was hoping to hand the expansion off to Chris so I could concentrate on the next Heroes.

No such luck.

Ultimately, this means vacation must wait.

(whimper)

Where is a monkey boy when you need one?

02/19/99

David Mullich's (Heroes III director) wife was pregnant and expecting about the same time as E3 last year (Atlanta '98). So, he couldn't go and demonstrate the game.

I was the next logical choice. I know the game better than anyone else, and when needed, I can turn on the charm.

Now don't get me wrong, when I have demoed the game, it has been a delight. Yet, as a game, Heroes III doesn't demo well. It's a turn-based game. It's not a first-person shooter or real-time strategy game. There's no real immediate reward for your attention span to latch onto.

However, Heroes does have a very large, very dedicated following. Thus, most people who want to see Heroes are already fans. This was the case at E3.

At E3 I did the vast majority of the presentations. I did so many I ended up losing my voice. Almost all the people who saw the game were fans of Heroes and liked what they saw. We were so successful, people were taking chairs from the other game stations to sit in front of ours.

Well, the downside to my work at E3 was... I became the demo guy. The downside of being the demo guy is traveling.

I hate traveling.

Once I arrive at my destination, there's no problem. I'm just impatient by nature. I'm also 6'1" and hate sitting in supercramped airline seats.

So, today I got to fly up to 3DO with Peter Ryu (MM7 producer), Keith Francart (MM7 director), and Jeff Blatner (new Heroes producer) to give presentations on MM7 and Heroes III to our Ubi Soft partners and a smattering of European journalists.

As much as I hated getting up at 5:30am and traveling to San Francisco (less than one week after going gold), the trip was amusing for a number of reasons.

Since I have been at New World, Peter Ryu has always worn shorts and sandals. For the presentation, Pete was ordered to wear pants and shoes. Throughout the day, he was wincing as the shoes rubbed his feet raw.

The other amusing part was hanging out with the French chicks from Ubi Soft and the European press.

Last time I was at 3DO I did an H3 presentation to a number of European journalists. Not a French woman among them. It was different this time, and dare I say, worth the trip.

02/22/99

David Mullich (H3 director), George Ruof (H3 programmer), and I are the only members of the team in the building today. Everyone else is on vacation.

Over the weekend I began my self-rehabilitation for returning to the real world.

When you do nothing but work 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week, and then it all comes to an abrupt halt, you suddenly find you have all this spare time on your hands.

Ultimately, you become bored. You don't know what to do with yourself because your "normal" situation meant working on the game... but the game is finished. Normal has become different and no longer normal.

A logical assumption for curing this boredom would be a vacation. Not yet. I've got to write the design for the expansion disc. I've got two weeks before it is due. After hammering out the specs, everyone will be briefed, then I can go on vacation.

I've got it all planned out. I haven't seen my parents since Christmas of 1997. So, I'm going to go back home and sit in the rocking chair in front of my dad's big-screen TV and watch nothing but cable television for at least two weeks. You heard me. Nothing but CNN Headline News for two weeks. If by then I'm not properly vegetated, I'll watch it for another week. Then I'll track down my old high school girlfriend and see if she's still single.

I've set up an e-mail address for your feedback about the game when it hits the shelves. This e-mail is merely for player feedback and suggestions. I will be the one reading the e-mails, and most likely, I won't be answering any of them. So, don't flame me if I don't respond. heroes@3do.com.

I've enjoyed writing these diaries. I wish I had been able to dedicate more time to them.

My apologies to Elliott Chin (who made these diaries possible). Elliott wanted me to talk about the design philosophy behind H3. After practicing design philosophy 12-14 hours a day, I couldn't bring myself to write a diary about it. So, I thought I'd do "a day in the life." I hope you enjoyed my tongue-in-cheek account.

I leave you with the following words I once heard the great Jon Van Caneghem speak, "When it's all over you'll forget how hard it was and do it all over again."

He's right. We will.

Interviews

by XEL

I have been able to talk to Gregory Fulton, the lead designer of HoMM3. I did so on behalf of a Russian fan community called Tavern of Might and Magic that I am a part of.

Conversing with Greg was a great pleasure and an interesting, nostalgic experience. I asked him numerous questions regarding his work at New World Computing, particularly about the lore of the Might and Magic universe. Below is the summary of those answers to my questions regarding MM and HoMM that Greg was able to give. Huge thanks to Marzhin and David Mullich for providing his e-mail address.

Like a phoenix, Might and Magic rises from the ashes thanks to the support from its fans, as well as from the Ancients who created it.

---

Hey, Xel.

When working on HoMM3, I gave Campaign Creators the overall story structure and mission objectives. As long as they worked within those parameters, I gave them a relatively free hand to expand any needed ‘lore' details. Sometimes lore was created with specific meaning and a long term goal. Sometimes lore was created ‘off the cuff' with little additional thought. All of this depended on the individual Map Maker, and some took their ‘lore' more seriously than others.

For assistance on this subject, I reached out to Jennifer Bullard and Paul Rattner, but they did not respond to my emails. It has been years since we last communicated, and I suspect the email addresses I have are woefully out of date.

To this end, I purposely left the deep lore questions unanswered. I could have given my personal opinions, but no definitive answers, so I thought it best to do nothing.

Take care.

Sincerely,

Greg

P.S. If it is not too much trouble, in your post, I would appreciate it if you could mention that I currently run a small video game news aggregation website named Aggroholics.com. I am also working on two personal indie video game projects. The first is not what most people would expect. The second is exactly what most people would expect. Within the next 3-5 years, I hope they will reach the market, but as with any entrepreneurial effort, the likelihood for failure is far greater than the chance for success.

---

Greg Fulton: I will answer these questions to the best of my recollection, but please keep in mind, it has been almost 20 years since HoMM3 and HoMM3: AB were created.”

XEL: Have you followed the games that came out after you quit NWC (like Heroes Chronicles, HoMM4, etc,) to some degree?

GF: I continue to follow the M&M catalog of games. Specifically, I have all seven HoMM titles, and have played each to varying degrees.

XEL: Did you consider the Price of Loyalty expansion for HoMM2 canon?

GF: Price of Loyalty was not developed in house at New World Computing, but contracted out to Cyberlore Studios. It was on the shelves before I ever joined NWC, and I do not recall ever having any lore discussions regarding the expansion.

With this in mind, I cannot give an authoritative answer to this question… I can only give you my personal opinion. Yes, I consider it canon.

XEL: Does Price of Loyalty take place on planet Enroth or just some random world (like HoMM 1-4 scenarios do)?

GF: Succession Wars, Restoration of Erathia, and Armageddon's Blade all took place on the same planet, but in different locales. For Price of Loyalty, I had no reason to believe it was not on the same planet, but tucked away in a different region so it would not interfere with NWC's ongoing work.

Keep in mind, if in some way it did present a ‘creative or continuity issue', I could easily imagine a quick conversation among the design leads to retcon it to another world.

XEL: How familiar were you with the story and lore of the core Might and Magic series (particularly MM7, as it also takes place in Antagarich) and other Heroes titles?

GF: Prior to becoming an employee at New World Computing, I was like most fans. I played the games, followed the story, but was not deep into the lore. After becoming an employee, I focused on ‘big picture' elements affecting what I was doing.

For the gritty details, I relied on Christian Vanover and Jennifer Bullard to notify me of any thorny issues. I had near zero involvement in the development of MM7.

XEL: How far ahead had you planned the storyline for future installments when working on HoMM3?

GF: Officially, there were never any storylines planned beyond the games in production. If we had any goal, it was to loosely tie one game into the next. MM6 into HoMM3 into MM7 into HoMM:AB, etc.

Having a ‘grand plan' typically requires a singular individual, with the desire and power, to enforce such a long term goal over multiple years and multiple teams. In game development, people come and go, teams come and go, and turnover is high. For example, after HoMM3:AB, 3 of the 5 team leads either left the company or moved on to other projects.

XEL: How much were you involved in the second HoMM3 expansion's development? The Shadow of Death was released after you've already left NWC, but maybe you know something about its story and lore details (so that we know if it's appropriate to ask you questions regarding SoD)?

GF: I was not involved in the conception or creation of SoD. As far as I know, Jennifer Bullard was the project's Lead Designer, and any questions you have about SoD would best be directed to her.

XEL: In one of pre-release short stories published on the official website prior to the release of HoMM3, the one that serves as a brief introduction to the game's setting, there's this part: The History of Erathia is long indeed, and like the Ironfists of Enroth, the Gryphonhearts have been the ruling family since before the Silence.”

However, HoMM1's manual features letters from Lord Ironfist that established him coming to Enroth from another world and uniting that continent-spanning kingdom under his rule. HoMM2 was stated to take place 25 years after the end of HoMM1 campaign, Roland and Archibald being Lord Ironfist's sons. That makes Ironfists ruling from around 1126 A.S. (After the Silence).

Was that backstory subtly retconned (and thus, HoMM1 is just Ironfist fighting other lords to succeed the throne that has already belong to his family)? Was it just a mistake? Or something else entirely?

GF: To me, this looks like a simple mistake.

(XEL: Fun fact. The part about the Gryphonhearts ruling Erathia since before the Silence was retconned in Heroes Chronicles: Warlords of the Wasteland. That game clearly takes place after the Silence and the downfall of Colonial Government, with technology already being quasi medieval, the oppressive empire of Bracaduun ruling over most of the continent, and there being a barbarian conquest several generations prior.

Granted, the campaign texts never directly state that WotW takes place after the Silence, but the depiction of the world heavily implies that. Plus, Armageddon's Blade appears on the final map along with its default text about the hero finding the vault of the Ancients from before the Silence.)

XEL: Near the end of the Armageddon's Blade campaign Gelu has a dream that involves him uniting Antagarich, doing so with the help of a blade (presumed to be the eponymous sword) and a mysterious steel-haired woman. Who was the woman?

GF: Marcus Pregent was responsible for putting together the fine details of the Armageddon's Blade Campaign. If I remember correctly, he was simply laying the groundwork for potential storylines he was hoping to develop in later expansions. Officially, there were no plans for the steel-haired woman.

XEL: Also, Gelu's dream is revealed to be prophetic, as one possible course of events. The other being that a great destruction befalls the worlds if Gelu's destiny is disrupted. Was the Reckoning (the destruction of the world depicted in HoMM4) planned way back then, or was it just a potential story branch you guys considered, and the team decided to make it happen later?

GF: Again, this was Marcus laying the groundwork for potential storylines in later expansions. At the time, this ‘story hook' was unrelated to HoMM4. Lore work for HoMM4, and the idea for ‘the Reckoning', did not begin until long after I had left NWC.

XEL: Can you tell us more about the original version of AB with the Forge? What was the story and its key characters?

GF: Conceptually, the story went something like this…

Following M&M7, Archibald's former 'Advisors' restored production to an ancient wonder called the 'Heavenly Forge'. Using the Heavenly Forge, these Advisors could fashion any manner of artifact or technology. Creating a futuristic city (Forge) and an army composed of cybernetically enhanced creatures armed with high tech weaponry, the Advisors set out to conquer the world. Ground zero was Erathia.

Following the Restoration of Erathia, Catherine musters the nation's remaining forces to halt the techno-hordes of the Forge cities. If the line breaks, Erathia will be lost. With Catherine and Roland commanding the front lines, another hero is needed to search for Erathia's last hope for survival; the fabled Armageddon's Blade.

For this sacred quest, Catherine chooses Gelu, the half-human, half-elf commander of the Erathia's elite guerilla warriors: Forestguard. Gelu understands the importance of his quest. What he does not know is the truth of his origins.

A campaign structure was in place, with Marcus responsible for putting it all together. To the best of my knowledge, the campaign story went something like this…

1. Deyja soldiers with ‘strange equipment' invade Erathia's northern border. Catherine leads the charge to stop them. 2. Gelu is enlisted to fight a shadow war on the Deyja-Erathian border. 3. Roland leads an army to assist and reinforce Catherine's position. 4. Gelu is tasked with locating the pieces to construct Armageddon's Blade. 5. Gelu is tasked with finding a Grand Smith to fashion Armageddon's Blade. 6. Gelu, Catherine, and Roland lead the final push to destroy the Heavenly Forge.

There was supposed to be an ending cinematic where Gelu drives Armageddon's Blade into the Heavenly Forge, creating a blast wave destroying only the Forge towns and troops, leaving the land and its people cleansed of its influence.

There were additional branch missions involving a Forge hero (so players could experience the Forge town), but I cannot recall specifically the story or mission details.

I also had plans to divulge information proving Catherine and Gelu were related by blood. Ever notice both have red hair?

XEL: Were the five side campaigns and their protagonists different, and to what degree?

GF: No, the five side campaigns were conceived completely separate from the main Armageddon's Blade campaign, but there were adjustments after the Forge was cut.

XEL: What was the creature line-up of the Forge?

GF: Concerning the Forge, this webpage gets almost everything right. What is missing are details for the Tier 7 troop, which was supposed to be dragon-like Mech.

Personally, I got a kick out of Ubisoft's April Fool's concept art for the Pyro, Jump Soldier, and Tank.

XEL: Since the rise of an entire technological faction in Deyja is a very significant event, what was supposed to happen with the world later? What happens to the Heavenly Forge itself after Kastore and his allies are defeated?

GF: As you can determine from the original story synopsis, in the end, Armageddon's Blade was supposed to wipe the world clean of all Forge influence. Basically, the world was restored to its pre-Forge state.

XEL: Is there a chance that the original maps for the campaign or their texts remain somewhere? It'd be interesting to know the actual plans and progress made by the team head as well as your personal thoughts on the matter.

GF: Possible, but unlikely. Someone at Ubisoft, with access to the original game assets from the 3DO auction, might be able to turn up something, but keep in mind, the working AB campaign maps were effectively ‘converted'. There was little reason to hold onto the old material, and if the original working AB campaign maps do exist, I suspect they are in an unfinished form.

As for my personal thoughts… I think the cancellation of the Forge content, and its subsequent replacement by the Conflux content… was a blessing in disguise. My answers to subsequent questions reveal my reasons as to why.

XEL: David Mullich has mentioned different versions of the Forge town being pitched during the development:

"We did have some debate about what visual form this technology would take. I advocated more of a Jules Verne glass-and-brass look; others wanted a WWII look."

Can you provide more information on these?

GF: I vaguely remember the initial conversation I had with David Mullich as to the competing visual styles. At the time, year 1999, when David dropped the name Jules Verne, I immediately thought of 20K Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, etc.

What was being proposed was art deco, and I had envisioned the Forge being a horrifying, corrupting, evil faction. To me, the WW2 option made more sense. Later, Phelan Sykes (HoMM3's Lead Artist) showed to me a number of different books with ‘oppressive' art deco architecture. Where David pointed to Jules Verne, Phelan pointed to the movie Metropolis. Phelan wanted a very gritty, very grungy, very squalid conception of what we today commonly call ‘steampunk'. After my conversations with her, I was sold on the direction.

Weeks later, I began to realize, what Phelan had envisioned, and what the NWC art staff could deliver, were two very different things. Initial work on the Forge was not promising. After the Forge was cancelled, I told David I had doubts about the ability of the NWC art staff to deliver on what Phelan had in mind. David thought, as it was with HoMM3, it would take a lot of effort and numerous revisions to get what we wanted, but he thought it could be done.

XEL: What is your opinion: would Forge work in HoMM3?

GF: I believe so, but it would not be a trivial task. The Forge can work as a high power, high maintenance, low population, steampunk faction, but artistic execution is absolutely critical and the troop line-up could use conceptual revision. Provided the town and troops were visually exciting and inventive, and fit within the existing HoMM3 art style, I would hope most people would put aside any ‘cross genre' reservations and simply enjoy the outrageousness.

XEL: Looking back on it after all these years, was it a concept that could have been realized well?

GF: In hindsight, was NWC capable of realizing the Forge concept? I have my doubts. I could have easily revised the troop line-up to deliver something more traditional, but in the end, my biggest concern was art.

Phelan Sykes gets nowhere near enough credit for the work she did as Lead Artist. With David Mullich's assistance, she, Scott White, Adam McCarthy, and George Almond, carried the NWC art staff to a level of quality they simply hadn't reached before. With HoMM3, the NWC art staff overachieved. Unfortunately, when it came to the Forge, I think we simply asked of them something they simply could not deliver.

XEL: And can it still potentially be done well by modders?

GF: A small dedicated team with a clearly defined vision could certainly pull it off.

My suggestion? Embrace the basic concept, but don't be afraid to deviate from the original idea, or play around with the troop types. For artistic inspiration, I would point to Ubisoft's April Fool's concept art and the miniatures game Warmachine.

XEL: Conflux was originally supposed to be the new town in the second expansion. What was the original idea for Conflux's backstory and the expansion itself?

GF: Originally, the Conflux was little more than a high concept; Elemental troops in an Elemental town. Prior to Armageddon's Blade, there was never any unique lore developed for it.

Like the Forge, the Conflux was supposed to be a relatively self-contained endeavor, and I did not expect to address it until after the first expansion was finished. After the Forge was cancelled, the work on the Conflux was simply moved forward.

XEL: The released version of AB establishes the Great Conflux as the union of armies from the four Elemental Planes (plus the fifth and sixth element -- thought and magic) that was sent by the Elemental Lords (called the elemental gods by Roland in the campaign) to help stop Lucifer Kreegan from using Armageddon's Blade to burn the world of Enroth.

The Conflux itself is shown to be composed of elementals who respect mortals, but the reasons why the four Elemental Lords sent them to Erathia's aid are not made clear (which is highlighted by characters), only hinted at in AB and MM8 (the latter revealing that the Elemental Lords created the planet long ago, and that it's destruction would victimize their planes), Roland wondering about it and slightly distrusting the Conflux heroes.

Can you tell us more about the forming of the Conflux and it aiding Erathia against the Kreegans?

GF: My conception of the Conflux was relatively straightforward.

Conflux Heroes and the associated Elemental troops were defenders of the natural world. When there is a threat to its continued existence, they make their presence known, assert themselves, and attempt to eliminate the threat. They have no allegiance to anyone or anything, other than the preservation of the world.

Anything beyond this was developed after I departed NWC.

XEL: A key leader of the Conflux is Tamar the Wanderer, one of the Elemental Lords of Air, who seeks to gain knowledge and help those in need. He and his compatriots aid Erathia against the Kreegans, and Tamar uses his gift of premonition to warn her about important things regarding Roland, Gelu and Armageddon's Blade.

However, Tamar's face is described as hidden, only his beard being visible, and it isn't clarified whether he's an air elemental, a human, a genie or something else. Can you tell us more about him?

GF: Human. This page gets the essentials correct.

XEL: In your FAQ on the Forge's cancellation you highlighted the fact that the Inferno town is populated by aliens who look like demons -- those being Kreegans and the demon-like creatures they breed and summon: pit fiends, demons, efreeti, imps etc.

Jennifer Bullard has mentioned in an interview that the Kreegan are the original demons faced in MM worlds, and you viewed them as such. That means the demons in MM 1-5 and MM9 are Kreegans and their creatures, like in the case of the Inferno line-up. Inferno creatures are also present in the Underworld, a deep and vast network of cavern below Erathia, nearly a millennium before HoMM3 (and they are mostly exterminated in Heroes Chronicles: Conquest of the Underworld).

In MM2 Devil Kings are even seen guarding an Ancient installation, which has an interesting implication of it being possible to “tame” Kreegans and/or their creatures in some way. Kreegans and their creatures present in those games are probably remnants of past invasion and/or agents that has arrived on a particular world (which fits well with demons being summoned in MM3).

Can you provide insight into how you viewed demons present in different games when developing the game?

GF: When developing HoMM3, my view of demons in MM was defined by Paul Rattner (Lead Designer of MM6). He established their lore in MM6. In doing this, as far as I was concerned, he laid the foundation for their story going forward.

As to ‘demons in MM1-5 and MM9 being Kreegans', I think it is safe to assume all demons in the Jon Van Caneghem era are Kreegans, until a different developer or another game effectively explains otherwise.

XEL: Did you have some ideas on the origin of the Kreegan? One tavern rumor says: "when a devil travels, it journeys to its plane before returning to our world". This implies that Kreegans control or at least have access to another plane of existence. Can you tell us more?

GF: This really is a question for Paul Rattner, as I did not create the Kreegans, I merely inherited them. Nevertheless, I understood the Kreegans to be alien invaders from another plane of existence. Folklore would call them Demons from Hell.

XEL: What is the origin of angels and archangels? Don't worry, we won't have a heart attack :)

GF: Over the course of my time at New World, on occasion, typically when taking a break, I would wander into Paul Rattner's office. Even though MM6 was in mid production, Paul was already thinking about MM7, so I made sure to update him on what was happening with HoMM3.

When I told him about the changes to the factions, I specifically mentioned the Angels. At that point in time, Paul was essentially the lore master for the MM universe. On the topic of the Angels and Arch Angels, he proposed they be sophisticated robots created by the Ancients to hunt down and eradicate the Kreegans. I agreed, and we ran with it.

Later, after the Forge was shelved, I remember thinking to myself, “If people have a problem with the whole ‘goblins are aliens' idea, I can only imagine what they will think if they figure out the true origins of the Angels.

XEL: Giants and titans are made of some rock-like material (which is especially evident in the titan's HoMM2 and MM 6-7 death animation), but appear to be something more than just a golem. Moreover, their HoMM4 variation is clearly made of flesh?

Also a notable thing is that both angels and some giants and titans are allied with Bracada. Did you have any ideas about titan lore?

GF: Starting with HoMM4, I can tell you, I was only on the project for the first two weeks of its existence. Why did the Titans shed their apparent inorganic appearance? I honestly do not know. It is possible the HoMM4 team, by setting the game on a completely new world, chose to reinvent the Titans as flesh and blood giants in the Greek tradition. It is also possible a ‘lack of communication led to creative inconsistency'.

In terms of game mechanics, what Jon and I wanted to avoid, was having yet another group of troops immune to Mind Spells. To this end, I considered Naga, Giants, and Titans to be conceptually similar to Dendroids, but there was never any specific lore explanation crafted to elaborate on this idea.

XEL: Was Rionpoint named after Rion Gryphonheart, the founder of Erathia? Was it the region from which he hailed or the one from which he started to unite the humans or something else?

GF: To my knowledge, this was never specified, but it is logical to assume Rionpoint was named after Rion Gryphonheart.

XEL: Edric's bio says: “Edric's great grandfather was the first man in Erathia to domesticate and train a wild Griffin. Now, Edric continues what his father started by setting up Erathia's largest Griffin breeding grounds for use in the King's armies.”

However, the Long Live the Queen campaign says that the aforementioned first King Gryphonheart tamed the griffins and trained them for war, eventually uniting the divergent human colonies into Erathia. I guess it is a mistake in Edric's bio and it was instead an ancestor of his who was the first man to tame a griffin, is that correct?

GF: This appears to be a continuity error created by a lack of research or simple miscommunication. It happens. Were I to correct it, your solution, specifying an ‘ancestor' would be appropriate.

XEL: Sephinroth is introduced in The Restoration of Erathia and described in her bio as the only known woman ever to bear the title of warlock. In MM7, which takes place after RoE, there are female warlocks in Nighon. From the lore standpoint, it means that by the time of MM7, the warlocks have admitted more female members into their ranks. Can you tell us more about this development?

GF: I cannot. This is really a question for the designers of MM7.

XEL: Did you have ideas on what Vokial's kingdom was, where it's located and what is its current status?

GF: In the course of production, assistant designers routinely create dangling ‘story hooks'. These ‘hooks' are purposely laid down to later be picked up by the creator of the hook, or someone else. Vokial's biography was written by Christian Vanover. After HoMM3 shipped, Christian moved onto Legends of Might and Magic, and Vokial's story was left untold.

XEL: The Forest Guard is described as having been Erathia's eyes and ears for centuries. It is also distinct from the rest of Erathian military in that it has worked together with the forces of AvLee numerous [times], even admitting Avleeans into their ranks. Was the Forest Guard formed before, during or after the Timber Wars?

GF: This is a tough one. I remember creating the Forest Guard, but do not remember at what point in the timeline they were conceived. Do not hold me to this, but if I recall correctly, they were created during the Timber Wars, specifically to counter the elves of AvLee. Later, after the Timber Wars, Forest Guard evolved and became a general purpose ‘special forces' group.

XEL: There is a scenario map in SoD called Adventures of Jared Haret. In it, the eponymous explorer, Jared Haret the Knight, return from an expedition into subterranean tunnels under a lake to find his castle in the highlands (snowy landscape on the map) captured by the neighboring wizard. Scenarios in Heroes, with only a few exceptions, usually depict some 'random' world without any connection to the main setting. Is this the case with AoJH, or could it take place in the game's world? On the Erathian-Bracadan border, for instance.

GF: I did not work on SoD, and cannot speak specifically to AoJH, but in general, individual single player scenarios were considered isolated creations. However, as you point out, there are exceptions. Typically, these exceptions had to do with individual Map Makers and the unique storylines they created and pursued. In these instances, as long as what they created did not interface with the over arching story goals, it was permitted.

XEL: Can you tell us some additional details on Gelu's background and potential eventual fate you and/or Marcus Pregent created?

GF: Unfortunately, there really is nothing more to tell. What few ideas I had in mind were thrown away and never developed when the Forge was cut, and there was no long term plan beyond the second expansion. Marcus may have had some ideas, but we never discussed them.

XEL: Did you have any lore and story ideas about characters that weren't realized or properly reflected in the game?

GF: Not really. HoMM story was basically created on-the-fly, very similar to comic book storytelling and continuity. Long term, game-to-game plans are rare and something of a luxury.

XEL: Was there any ideas on the future of Deyja and Archibald's advisors (who became its new rulers in MM7) in the light of Forge's cancellation?

GF: Paul Rattner may have had some ideas pertaining to the subject, but we never discussed any such subject.

XEL: What is your personal opinion on the advisors' (and, by extension, the Forge faction they created) actions and motivations? Do you think they were driven more by their desire to lead the world to a better future (with them as leaders) or their lust for power? Or were those motivations roughly equally present?

GF: Simple lust for power and domination, but I am sure there were plenty of rationalizations.

XEL: Can you tell us more about Forge's 7th lvl creature. Was that a cyborg dragon or something more akin to a golem (like in HoMM4)? Was it flying?

GF “It was not flying and definitely not a cyborg. If my memory is correct, it was supposed to be robotic, so more golem-like in origin.”

XEL: What is your vision of the perfect MM game and the perfect HoMM game? We realize that this is a very broad subject, but it's be nice if you list your key thoughts on both.

GF: “Yes, this is a very broad subject and well beyond the scope of this interview. It is also an extremely tough question to answer because there is no objectively right answer. Video game design is one big ‘judgement call'. You create what you find exciting and appealing. In the end, when the final product reaches the retail market, you hope there will be plenty of people who agree with your vision. Nevertheless…

As to my idea of a perfect HoMM game… I would respectfully decline to answer. I am currently working on two personal indie projects, both in early pre-production. One of them is a HoMM style game. In any conversation pertaining to an ‘ideal HoMM' game, I would be effectively talking about what I am currently attempting, and at this time, I would prefer to keeps all details private. Within the next 3-5 years, I hope both games will be published, but as with any entrepreneurial effort, the likelihood for failure is far greater than the chance for success.

As to my idea of a perfect MM game… this one gives me pause. With a finite scope and limited ambition, one part of me desires a high quality, traditional, single player, turn based, tile based, RPG, with a party of six adventurers. With a larger scope and unlimited ambition, another part of me wants a real time, first person, 1 to 4 player, co-operative, action-adventure game with a moderate story, heavy RPG elements, and a reactive world. With these basic concepts as a starting point, the next step would be 6 to 12 months of franchise research and current market examinations. Along the way, I would expect there to be mild, major, or wholesale alterations.

In the end, I would hope for something unique, honoring the franchise's traditional foundations, with one foot in the past and another in the future.

XEL: Did NWC have plans or rather ideas for any town types other than Forge and Conflux? If yes, do you remember some details about them?

GF: At the time, there were no such plans for additional town types.

XEL: Was there a specific reason (or several reason) for the exclusion of halflings from the Tower faction?

GF: I wanted something more creative and more visually interesting than a halfling. For a replacement candidate, it was a toss up between Gremlins and Red Caps. Gremlins were more familiar, so they made the cut. When the Halflings were removed, there was always an intention to use one of the expansions as an opportunity to reinsert them as a neutral troop.

XEL: The intro cinematic for Armageddon's Blade is apparently a remnant of the original version of the story with the Forge, or at least inspired by it. The most notable difference is that the Blade is found rather that Forge. Can you tell us more about the intro's conception and inclusion?

GF: Originally, the intro cinematic was a teaser trailer made specifically for E3, with the intention to eventually use it for the final game. At the end of the cinematic, instead of finding Armageddon's Blade, there was supposed to be something akin to high tech ‘Predator vision' scanning Gelu, Roland, and Catherine. This implication was to set the stage for the Forge as a sci-fi town. After the Forge was cancelled, Armageddon's Blade was inserted as the replacement.

XEL: What can you say to Might and Magic fans? Any wishes, advices, etc.

GF: When you think of the ‘old school' RPG's from the 1980's (Ultima, Bard's Tale, Dungeon Master, and Wizardry), all of them are essentially gone. Surprisingly, M&M is still here in one form or another. When I watch Twitch.tv, it still amazes me to see an moderately active HoMM3 community. On behalf of JVC and everyone who worked at NWC, thank you for continuing to play Might & Magic.