The JVC Poll

[JSE]

Now that Jon Van Caneghem left Trion, he *might* be available to work on future Heroes and M&M games.

Of course, we don't know whether he is interested or not; the only one who knows that is the man himself.

However, I think it's very interesting to see what the M&M community thinks of this hypothetical (but possible) scenario – hence this poll.

If you are a fan of the Heroes and/or the M&M games, please vote (and comment, if you like).

[Anonymous]

I would like to think so, but he has been away from it for so long I’m not sure he could reconnect in the way he use to. Has he even finished a game since he left NWC, he may have but I don’t know of any? I don’t think in this time in his life he is interested in working on a project unless he has complete control, and I do not think UBI has any intention of doing a MMX with or without him, and I doubt they would give him the control and BUDGET he would find attractive, so this is all nice daydreaming, but that is all it amounts to.

[Vlaad II]

What jeff said. In addition, I'm not sure I'd like JVC's Heroes (taken from the CH interview - talking about NWC's H5):

JVC: Alright, so Heroes V, what I really want to get back to, and what I'm spending all my time on, is redesigning the entire game engine, to be much more along the lines of Heroes II and III, except much more modern and a lot more balanced, and much more challenging. The game evolved much more towards a role-playing type of game over the last couple of years, and I want to bring back completely, 180 degrees back to a true strategy game. It will have role-playing elements, but really the esence of what I wanted Heroes always to be since the very beginning is a pure strategy game. And role-playing is nice for campaigns and some particular scenarios, but the basic game is strategy. It's you against a few players, or you against other human players. (continued)

CH: (And so it will) focus more on scenario combat and scenario design features? Well, not just the scenarios, but the game itself, where there will be less emphasis on quests, and more emphasis on tactical combat?

JVC: Right. Absolutely, the game takes it much more towards the strategy orientation, and we'll make the story lines shorter, and the quest-based maps more, uh, simpler in terms of the entire overall quests so... But what that allows us to do and allows me to do is make much more of a strategic quest or story out of (those elements), instead of one of just plodding through it, and opening up a story like an RPG. It becomes an involved strategy quest that's active... figure out what to do, make decisions that are important when you mkae them and how you make them, so then you can work out the scenario. Versus just what it's truned into now is (meaning Heroes IV), it's just a matter of plodding through it. There's really no big strategic decision to be made in the current scenario (meaning Heroes IV). So, that's what I want to get back to, and I think that's more fun.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Actually, I pretty much share my view with JVC. What do you dislike about his view?

But what the heck, I always hated storyline scenarios and preferred balanced multiplayer maps.

Multiplayer, for me, defines Heroes. Most of my first 50 heroes games were played hot-seat with a roommate.

[darknessfood]

I voted yes. A little metafor: if you give your 12 year old kid to somebody else after raising it from birth, the other father would pretty much screw things up with it, at least he will not progress it the way you had in mind
So JVC could bring good life to the series again...

[Kristo]

I voted yes, with the caveat that JVC would have to be able to get the developers and publisher to buy in to his vision. If he's not allowed to dictate the direction for the product, then having him onboard is likely worse than not having him at all.

[Kalah]

I voted "not sure" for that very reason. Perhaps if Nival really are gone, moving JVC into a central position in the development of H6 would be a good idea, but would he really be given a free rein?

[astral76minor]

Take everything JVC said and add the option of playing with several humans in a multiplayer campaign mode. True, the MMORPG's have done this. Perhaps this might be the key to the success for Heroes. We must not forget the elements of strategy (TBS) that made the game famous. Since the market is changing, the game can still hold onto its roots with the multiplayer campaign mode. This idea has been rarely discussed.

[Donsta]

After years of disappointment since HOMM 3 I'm definitely ready to have JVC take a shot at HOMM 6 and the next M&M.

[Yurian Stonebow]

To reply in short: Yes. The man who created the series knows best which direction to guide the future course of the Heroic saga. One thing though, Ubisoft should give JVC free rein, otherwise he would, I guess, feel like being pushed to do second rate work instead of the high quality work we know and praise him for.




Yurian

[JSE]

Well said, Yurian. I couldn't agree more.

[Deadguy118]

I voted not sure. Even if he actually is able to touch the series that he created once again, would he be given the free reign that he needs? Once again, I suggest that he make a knockoff series that is almost like Heroes, but more awesome than what Nival turned out for the public.

[ThunderTitan]

Well he can't make it any worse... only Ubi can do that...

[Deni]

voted not sure

[Corlagon]

I don't know. He created some amazing games which I still love today, but that was then, this is now. After a very sudden decline in series quality and eventual bankruptcy, which, worst of all, had little to do with the developers - more like the crappy moves of a crappy publisher - I'd be hesistant to start working with another. And since Ubi has canned the story he (almost personally) took 20 years to create, I'm not sure he'd really be interested.

Still, I always really liked that he'd autograph your completion certificates for each game if you sent them to him.

[JSE]

Honestly, why should JVC suddenly lose his creativity and/or his game design proficiency? Those abilities are not normally lost – quite the contrary: Like most abilities, they improve over the years and with more experience.

So, if you think the original M&M and Heroes games were great – and apparently you do – and if you agree that JVC as the games' designer and director had major influence on their quality, then you should have voted for "Yes".

Like I said in the first post of this thread, what we don't know is whether or not JVC would actually be interested in continuing the series. I think we can safely assume, though, that given the opportunity (!), JVC could make a great new Heroes or M&M game.

[Macros the Black]

Well, like many people, I doubt that Ubisoft would actually allow him to do what he wants to do with the series. If it's gonna come down to a mix between both their visions, then that will be even worse than Heroes IV and V combined imo.

And, add to that the fact that we will get all excited about it, and yes of course we will worry at first, but then in the interviews they will talk as if it's all good naturally and we'll want to believe it.

So then when the game comes out we'd be really dissapointed, and only 2 years later or so we'll see another interview where he explains he never had the chance to get his vision into it....

So. I voted not sure.

[GreatEmerald]

A small bup... I think yes, he would do good. He created the series, so he could help it out now. But yea, the fact that he wouldn't be given the full freedom is pretty bad... And getting the series from the Ashan pit would be really hard. Looking at MM1, which was created purely by JVC, you can see that he is capable of creating games with very nice stories and such.

By the way, the game that Trion developed when JVC was in, Heroes of Telara, is quite interesting... And quite a lot of references to MM overall. Even the title hints at MM, the logo also looks like HoMM standard, emphasised "H" and "S", small "of" below... The history is just like MM's: worlds fallen into barbarianism long after the Age of Legend (Time of Wonders anyone? ). And it's a MMORPG, which combines multiplayer aspects of HoMM and story aspects of MM... Too bad JVC is out and the game will float away from the general idea, though :\

[Lepastur]

I vote no. IMHO there's no doubt about his influence would turn the HoMM series into a MMORPG, because it's the genre he's most interested in right now.

[pirvix]

I vote no. IMHO there's no doubt about his influence would turn the HoMM series into a MMORPG, because it's the genre he's most interested in right now.

HOMM Kingdoms much? I doubt that Ubisoft would let the development of two MMORPGs from the same franchise, at the same time......

might I be wrong??