Galaad wrote:For sure take JVC and make him work with some of the old NWC crew, whatever they do will be great. They even managed to make a great game in the mobile market lol, and honestly it feels much more Might and Magic than anything Ubi did.
You're talking about Creature Quest, of course, which is actually quite enjoyable. And yes, it's certainly better designed and more fun than Ubisoft's Heroes 6 and 7.
In the long run, though, its gameplay seems a bit repetitive, and the "cuddliness" factor of the creatures isn't for me. Even Warcraft's art style is too "cuddly" for me.
So, yes, Creature Quest is a good game -- but I would like to see a full-fledged RPG or a strategy game along the lines of Heroes coming from JVC. Preferrably non-mobile or cross-platform at least.
Anyway... We're getting off-topic here...
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Super Goober asked for questions to ask Tim Lang. So, let's see -- here are a couple of ideas:
1.) We're still not sure what name the planet of Enroth, Antagarich, Jadame etc. was supposed to have. Can you shed any light on this? Our best bet at the moment is that it is called "Enroth" as well.
2.) M&M 6 only allows player characters to be human, and all the settlements only have human inhabitants as well (with the notable exception of a dwarven lord). Was that a technical or economic decision? Or was that completely by design? If so, do you know the reason behind this decision? It's interesting because all others M&M RPGs offer multiple races.
3.) At least two names in M&M 6 bear similarity to the Warcraft fantasy universe, especially Warcraft 2. "Enroth", the setting's name is reminiscent of "Azeroth" and "Stromgard", a town in M&M 6, is the name of a realm in the Warcraft world. Are these similarities intentional? Were you guys Warcraft fans and wanted to give a nod to this universe?
4.) Who was mainly responsible for the game system design and who for the world design? Also, what was JVC's main involvement?
5.) Does the in-game password "JBARD" have any (hidden) meaning or significance?
6.) The opening sequence and also the introductory part of the game were quite cryptic story-wise. The player characters' home town Sweet Water was only mentioned once, and also their mentor Falagar barely had anything to say about the characters' background. We never learned why he decided to train them in the first place. Is there any additional information you can give us about who the player characters were, how they fled from Paradise Valley to New Sorpigal or what Falagar's intentions for them were?
7.) Were there any pen-and-paper inspirations for the new rules system introduced with M&M 6? We know that JVC played a lot of D&D when he was younger, but were there any other pen-and-paper games that you guys played and that had an influence on the design? GURPS maybe?
8.) Is there anything that you (Tim) would have done differently if you had been in charge of M&M 6?
9.) Do you think that design-wise M&M 6 could still be successful today? Of course, technology-wise the game is very outdated -- but is its design still up-to-date? If not, what changes would need to be made to make it appealing to today's (role) players?
10.) Traps didn't seem like they were implemented very well in M&M 6 -- and neither the Perception skill that recuded trap damage. For example, you could not actively avoid traps through careful movement but only passively, through your characters' Perception skill value. Was any alternative approach considered for traps?