Jon van Caneghem

[Contraband2004]

Is he still with the team for Heroes V? He worked on the series from Kings Bounty till Heroes IV, but is he still involved with the Heroes production? (if this is asked before or if you consider this a stupid question, srry )

[FantoMaxJM]

I belive he´s not working for Heroes V (he definately should, because he created the best game ever, but I don´t know anythingabout the details, so I´d better shut up now). But Rob King is making music, and there´s another legendary turn-based strategy developer/maker working for the process: Steve Fawkner, father of the Warlords series (making Warlords V at the same time actually ).
Here´s his answer when I asked about it on Sunday: http://www.infinite-interactive.com/Inf ... c.php?t=39

"Ps. If it´s possible to answer an off-topic question to the developer, I´d like to know: What´s your role in creating the latest Heroes game? "

"I'm working as one of a team of designers on the project. The rest of the design team are from Nival, the Russian developer of the game (who are also doing all the programming & art). But they wanted someone on the team who has a lot of experience doing fantasy TBS.

Cheers

Steve"

Good to know that there are experts on board!

[Pitsu]

JVC has left gaming industry all together. When Ubi completed a team for H5 development JVC was contacted and asked for contribution (i do not know what position we are talking about) but he didn't find the terms acceptable and refused. Later he worked briefly on Tabula Rasa in NCsoft.

[Angelspit]

Thanks for sharing the Steve Fawkner quote. That was some interesting info.

[Corribus]

If he is not involved in the project, one wonders if he will buy it and play it.

[Contraband2004]

JVC has left gaming industry all together. When Ubi completed a team for H5 development JVC was contacted and asked for contribution (i do not know what position we are talking about) but he didn't find the terms acceptable and refused. Later he worked briefly on Tabula Rasa in NCsoft.

thanks

[jeff]

Steve Fawkner, father of the Warlords series (making Warlords V at the same time actually ).

I loved Warlord I - III, let's hope he does a better job on V than was done on Warlords IV. UBI association with that poor product was what concerned me most about UBI owning the M&M franchise.

[FantoMaxJM]

Thanks for sharing the Steve Fawkner quote. That was some interesting info.

No problem! ..Actually encouraged by his quick and familiar response, I tried to "snoop" a little bit to get a few answers more, but just like I suspected, he´s not allowed to talk.

Hi,

Thanks for dropping me a line. Glad you've enjoyed Warlords.

I would really like to send you some answers to those questions, but I am actually bound by the same NDA that the testers are under, so I can't really discuss any details related to HoMM5. Hope you understand, sorry.

And I'm sure you don't just want to hear about out upcoming Warlords titles on the HoMM site.

But what I CAN tell you is this: HoMMV is a superb addition to the series. It looks and plays just beautifully and it is a joy to be working on such an excellent game. I think that all HoMM fans are going to love it.

Cheers

_________________
Steve Fawkner
The Boss Warlord
Infinite Interactive

...Anyways, nice and spirit rising to hear such a positive comments from an objective (fair to say I think, even though he´s working for the project) and professional side. Everyone of course makes their final judgement themselves after playing the gold game, but still..

[FantoMaxJM]

I loved Warlord I - III, let's hope he does a better job on V than was done on Warlords IV.

Me too! Especially the last episodes of WIII Campaign against Lord Bane was uber-thrilling. And making own units in WII, that was something special (and not likely to come back in times of 3D). I liked WIV also, what a selection of races and units! But you are right, the campaign crashed quite often, which dropped the mood a bit. But there´s just released patch 1.04 Patch available, so I guess that´ll help. *And back to the world of Might & Magic from Etheria.*

[ywhtptgtfo]

I wonder why the deal doesn't go off between JVC and Ubisoft. Personally, I do find it disappointing that he's not influencing the game and its plot anymore.

The Holy Griffin Empire crap and universe is pretty silly compared to all those fantastic stories about Corak, Sheltem, Heavenly Forge, Enroth, Antargarich, and hell even Emilia.

sigh

[theLuckyDragon]

The Holy Griffin Empire crap and universe is pretty silly compared to all those fantastic stories about Corak, Sheltem, Heavenly Forge, Enroth, Antargarich, and hell even Emilia.

Undoubtedly, the new Heroes universe is different from the old one, but I wouldn't call it "silly". The old universe is more complete because, well... it has more than 10 games describing it (4 heroes games + chronicles; how many MM games are there?).

I, for one, like the ideas used to create the new Heroes universe. They're as good a story as the other one. It might even be better! We'll have to wait to see what the new universe has in store for us adventurers...

And there's also that thing called trust. Until I get the game and see with my own eyes that they've ruined the story (which I doubt they will), I'll trust Ubisoft to do a good job. Especially now that they've delayed the game's release.

[Fallen Angel]

I agree with Lucky Dragon. How can any of us possibly comment on the stories in this universe when we know nothing of the campaigns and the characters that will develop?

[jeff]

Me too! Especially the last episodes of WIII Campaign against Lord Bane was uber-thrilling. And making own units in WII, that was something special (and not likely to come back in times of 3D). I liked WIV also, what a selection of races and units! But you are right, the campaign crashed quite often, which dropped the mood a bit. But there´s just released patch 1.04 Patch available, so I guess that´ll help. *And back to the world of Might & Magic from Etheria.*

I am glad to hear that, while I always prefered the Heroes series, the Warlords series always seemed to be released between the different versions of heroes, so they were always a great time filler.

[Hurry Sundown]

I liked Warlords - Battlecry 3 pretty good but... it is just too frustrating for me to play very long. Hurry

Mod Note: There is an Edit button. Learn to use it. Don't tripplepost.

[Marzhin]

The short article about JVC on Wikipedia tells he's creating a new company in California. Anybody has info about it ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Van_Caneghem

[vicheron]

If he is not involved in the project, one wonders if he will buy it and play it.

I would think that the people at Ubisoft would be considerate enough to send him a copy of the game for free.