- by Pol
Lavapotion together with Mod.io announced Map Contest, running from April 3rd to April 28th, to celebrate their new Map Editor update.
Contestants should provide Large Map (125x125), sticking to default values, when working with entities.
Criteria:
- Large
- Fun to play, good visuals, and best overall fit with the game.
- No need to focus on lore or story, like a classic skirmish map.
- Tag your map with “spring map contest” after uploading your map to Mod.io
Lavapotion will announce the Winners on 12 May 2023 via the Songs of Conquest Twitter.
And the winner can win $1000. Runner-ups can get some rewards too. ;)
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- by Pol
The Heroes III Castle recreated with the Unreal Engine, simply breath-taking:
Heroes of Might and Magic III - Castle Town UE5 Castle Town from the Heroes of Might and Magic III game rebuilt in UE5. I started with very precise low-poly recreation of the original town in C4D and then used it as a blocking layout in the Unreal beauty phase. Entire project took around month of work.
Can you spot where there's dog in the video?
Who looks like a town mayor?
If you want to see screenshots from modelling the town in UE5, see his ArtStation profile.
Radim Zeifart's ArtStation | YouTube Hurricane profile | And animation company, where he works
Thanks for the alert to Julien "Marzhin" Pirou & Angelspit 
- by Pol
Dear supporters of fheroes2 project!
We are very excited to announce 1.0.2 version of the project!
This release is full of interesting changes and improvements. So, let's get started.
The team always spends time improving the performance of the engine and in this release we again improved the Adventure Map rendering. It might not be visible for many players but if you use a mobile device to play the game then smaller energy consumption is very welcome.
With a great help of an artist, we fixed the original look of Captain's Quarters building in Sorceress town as well as changed multiple icons for options to give each option a unique and logically correct image.
Speaking of improvements AI heroes now know how to use Town Portal and Town Gate spells. This makes AI the same advantages as human players. Moreover, the overall AI task logic decision on the Adventure Map was reworked, leading to better strategic decisions.
This release also brings multiple fixes for spell logic in battles, fixes for special cases of monster movement and additionally we corrected all sounds being used for objects on the Adventure Map.
In the past it was impossible to know the in-game date from a save file unless you load it. Having tens or even hundreds of save files might lead to difficult navigation among them. From now on you can right click on a save file to see the date without even loading the file.
Android players had no way to type anything within the game as most of mobile phones do not have a physical keyboard for this. To overcome this disadvantage, we introduced a virtual in-game keyboard which will popup if you click on text edit area.
Beside all these changes the team fixed over 60 bugs and updated multiple translations for the game.
Note that old save files before 1.0 version are not supported anymore.
Thank you so much for your support and we hope that you enjoy the game even more!
You could also support the project development on Patreon.
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- by Pol
Fat Thursday is over and we can focus back on the gaming world.
fheroes2 version 1.0.1
With various fixes of animations, shadows, AI and so forth there comes Android version, playable on phones (certainly like 6.5") or tablets. Check for the full annoucement here.
The game is mature now and goes toward new campaigns and new maps features, including new map format to escape possible license issues in the feature. So, as I see it, it will be closer to h3-wog designing but saved in some open map format?
Anyway, now when you will be bored you can pack it with yourself, same as with VCMI and play just the most best comforting maps. 
New Games are coming
- Age of Wonders 4 is going to be released at May 2 2023, seems more and more like 4X strategical steampunk game
- Songs of Silence, not much I see about it, this sentence resonated for me the most: "Our goal for you: complete a whole map in a single evening!"
- Civilisation VII in development! Ed Beach will continue as creative director. A very short annoucement comes from the twitter
More of Greg's diary
- Fanstratics Newsletter #31 March 2023
FST Unit: Mandrill Bersekr and "About importancy of the right weight of the game manual" - Fanstratics Newsletter #30 February 2023
FST Unit: Reaper and "About creating valuable manual paper and in-game" - Fanstratics Newsletter #29 January 2023
FST Unit: Willow Wisp and "Fallout Experience" - Fanstratics Newsletter #28 December 2022
FST Unit: Dwarven Alchemists and "About creating good Heroes 2 Map Editor" - Fanstratics Newsletter #27 November 2022
FST Unit: Faith Archers and "About strategical gaming and importance of Quest Log" - Fanstratics Newsletter #26 October 2022
FST Unit: Basilisk and "Young lady wearing roller blades" (Phelan Sykes) - Fanstratics Newsletter #25 September 2022
FST Unit: Naga Blade Dancer - Fanstratics Newsletter #24 August 2022
FST Unit: Hellion and "PR Lady and Balding Journalist" - Fanstratics Newsletter #23 July 2022
FST Units: Goblins and "New computer for my Dad" - https://www.fanstratics.com/gallery
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- by Pol
Uh, as always, a lots happened from the Christmas. Let me to cover it briefly. 
fheroes2 1.0 (New engine for Heroes 2)
Free Heroes (fheroes2) reached it's milestone, version 1.0. You can scan our thread, their git page or wiki or peek in the features and enhancements summary page.. From me that's a big congratulation and completely different game. Which I love, same like I loved Free Civilisation or Heroes3. You need the base game or demo to install it on the top.
What it can do:
- multi-screen support
- fullscreen mode with high DPI
- enhanced AI
- algorithmically generated and translated buttons to support any language
- reworked HotKeys
Future plans are also splendid:
- release the Android version
- Editor
- MultiPlayer
- Independet Expansion
Heroes 5.5 RC17c (tinypatch 2 :D)
Very prolific magnomagus released another version. This is balance update and bugs fixing release. Overall this version seems to be pretty matured. All changes and download summarized here. Patches need to be downloaded separatedly. Full support of original campaign.
tinypatch2 (c) - Just replace the file in data folder
Heroes 7.5
Seems to add Xel and Temple towns but you need to download it again as a whole. Version 1.3 shall be installed on the top of ultimate version 1.28. Which seems like whooping 12GB all together. Part of Super long list of changes can be read here (for 1.3), if you are playing Heroes 7 just try it. (Mod is aimed for SP only. And it's one of best mods, not only graphically speaking. Though, it's not the sole one.. )
Master of Magic from Microprose MuHa Games
is growing up well. So no remorses, apart from price tag. Latest version is 1.06.25, the game speeded up. And number of mods is going to be numerous. Want to specify rewards from lairs? Add new spells? Apply balance patches? Everything is here. :)
VCMI 1.1
That's right folks. If you missed it, VCMI passed 1.0 milestone and continues forward. VCMI is another engine to Heroes 3, so its goal are a bit similart to what are for "fheroes2". New engine means, that you need base game and you can play it. It's featuring its own map editor. Android version and much more features.
We want to rewrite the entire H3 engine (VCMI is NOT another mod) giving it new possibilities. Years of intensive work resulted in creating application with impressive amount of features. Among current features are:
- Complete gameplay mechanics
- Almost all objects, abilities, spells and other content
- Basic battle AI and adventure AI
- Many GUI improvements: high resolutions, stack queue, creature window
- Advanced and easy mod support - add new towns, creatures, heroes, artifacts and spells without limits or conflicts
- Launcher for easy configuration - download mods from our server and install them immediatelly!
- Random map generator that supports objects added by mods
- Linux, macOS and Android ports
- VCMI is an open-source project licensed under GNU GPL 2.0 or later.
- by Pol
We Wish You Charming Christmas 2022, plethora of presents and happy families and friends ;)
- by Pol
"Hello, it's Christmas Time.."
Watch lovely Jess McDonell (formerly of GameSpot) as she has been playing Might & Magic VIII, one of her favorites as a matter of fact, in a stream: "Jess Plays Might & Magic 8, Her Childhood Favourite Game & Noone Knows What It Is" 
Thanks Angelspit for the tip!
- by Pol
At moddb.com
How that works?
You can choose from pre-selected Top 100. And the only candidate for Heroes franchise is Heroes 5.5. So, the choice is clear, yes?
You can vote, till the end of this day.
Update:
The results should become official in ten days. Voting is now closed.
Update2:
This is the result page, sadly no Heroes5.5. So, perhaps, next time? 
- Entropy : Zero 2
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly
- Unification
- Empire at War Expanded: Fall of the Republic
- DNF2001 Restoration Project
- Voxel Doom
- Half-Life: Field Intensity
- RealRTCW
- Classic Offensive
- Coterminus
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- by Pol
Featuring Maestro P.A.R.
Few years ago we announced the #HOWeek campaign for the first official album. Here we are starting #HOWeek2 project, you will be able to find out which pieces we have chosen for the upcoming album "5th Anniversary of Heroes Orchestra".
- by Pol
Master of Magic - Release Date Tomorrow & Twitch
As we approach Master of Magic’s release on December 13, we can’t wait to see what you think of the game.
The feedback we received so far has been great, both during our live streams on Twitch as well as on many video reviews on YouTube.
For December 13 we have prepared something special for you: we will be live on Twitch with Mila “Yuuki” from MuHa Games, Writer and Lead Quest Designer, and Slitherine’s own Edmon. Join us at 3 pm GMT on Slitherine’s Twitch channel . We will be live with an hour-long stream just before release.
The launch of Master of Magic will kickstart Slitherine Next, Slitherine’s new three hours long live show which will showcase all of our upcoming games.
Update 13.12.:
Game is up, you can get the bundle for 42€ 
Direct link to Slitherine Bundle Page, with some small discount.
Out now on Steam, GoG, Epic and Slitherine store!
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