MM10 concept document provided by Tim Lang himself

[Roticet]

Below is the unedited game concept document for Might and Magic 10 before Ubisoft created it. This was provided by Tim Lang. I will see if I can add the pdf shortly.

Might and Magic X Game Concept
Introduction

Fending off an onslaught of orcs, your sword has broken. You pass it off to your mage who, in between hurling fireballs at orcs, magically mends your sword before handing it back to you. Your archer, fresh from training with a Master Archer from the famous Ronenhall Guard is firing three arrows at once into the oncoming army of orcs.

Your party would soon be overcome by the advancing army of orcs if your cleric hadn’t just studied with the most renowned clerical healer in all of Mendossus, who taught your cleric how to heal your entire party at once.

You grip your sword, the famous Blade of Woes. The sword that you “acquired” from a less than reputable weapons dealer who had come across hard times and bet the sword against you in a card game. He didn’t know the value of the weapon, but you, thanks years of study can identify hundreds of different weapons by sight alone.

The blade cuts a swath through a group of orcs, shooting out electrical rays of death at anything it touches. Orcs go hurtling in the air, bowling down the ranks of orcs behind it, who struggle to get up beneath the weight of their fallen companions.

Might and Magic X is a party based first person RPG set in the fantasy world of Axeoth, where the player’s party must solve quests, fight monsters and quite possibly, save the world.

Background

Might and Magic is one of the longest running Role Playing Game series ever. Even with the poor receptions of its last two incarnations, it still has a large, and quite rabid fan base. Some of these fans have created their own fan works including several tribute games. After the early release of Might and Magic IX and eventual demise of 3DO, one fan who loved the series so much he took it upon himself to create a patch for Might and Magic IX with the intent to present it to future players the way it was meant to be released. The 1.3 patch is now considered the definitive patch for Might and Magic IX, and a large group of people continue to play the game to this day, four years after its release.

Core Gameplay
Party Based Role Playing

In Might and Magic X, instead of having only a single character to play and upgrade, you will have the use of multiple party members. Each party member can be of any class the player wishes from warriors to mages to healers and any combination in between. The party will range in size from 4-6 characters.

Customizable Party

Each character can be unique. The player will be able to choose the race, gender and class of each character.

In addition to these customizations, the player will be further able to customize their character by modifying their characters’ statistics and by acquiring and developing skills.

Each class will be customizable as well. Characters will be able to advance in their chosen class by taking on quests to do so.

Hiring NPCs

Scattered throughout the world will be various NPCs who can help the party in their quests. Their skills will help the player in combative was such as by fighting in combat, as well as in non-combative was like helping the player earn more experience from fights, earning more money in transactions, or identifying items.

Skills and Stats to Improve

Each level, Player Characters will gain points to spend on skills and statistics. Statisics are very general and have an effect on many things such as combat damage, the ability to resist damage and how well the player can use certain skills.

Player Characters will be able to specialize in skills like repairing items, cast spells and use specific weapons. Each of these skills has a level of mastery the player can train in as well as a numerical point value the player can spend points on to increase.

Tons of Unique Magical Weapons and Items

The world of Axeoth will be filled with weapons, magic weapons, artefacts and relics. Each of these items can be mixed and matched and even enchanted. A character who specializes in certain weapon types will get a bonus when using those weapons.

Weapons and Armor

There will be a large variety of weapon and armor types from maces to spears to bows, and of course, swords. Each of these classes will be filled with normal item types that can be enchanted into magic items. There will also be special artefacts and relics that are unique in the world that give certain classes special bonuses.

Items

Might and Magic X will be filled with al sorts of different types of items. Some items will help character stats and skills, while other items will help the player access unreachable areas.

Paper Dolls

Everyone likes to dress up their characters, so Might and Magic X will feature the return of the paper doll. The player will be able to dress their characters up in different armor and weapons and items and see what each character looks like wearing it. If technology permits, we will allow the player to switch views to see the weapons and armor their characters are wearing in the actual game world.

Combat

Most RPGs are either turn-based or real time. One of the unique elements of Might and Magic is the inclusion of both. Since combat timing will be based on attack recovery, it’s relatively simple to pause at each character’s turn. To prevent abuse of going in and out of turn based combat, monsters will always have the initiative first.

Puzzle Solving

Might and Magic X won’t be just another hack and slash type role-playing game where the whole goal is to get into the level grind and kill monsters. The player will also have to face dastardly puzzles that will challenge their reflexes, memory, intellect and logic. There will be a variety of puzzles from the simple jump puzzle to complex logic puzzles.

Quests

Most of the story of the game is told through quests. The player will have to take on a variety of quests from mainline quests to promotional quests to side quests. These quests will vary in challenge and, at their conclusion will reward the player with experience points, magic items, and gold.

Key Features
Turn Based and Real Time Combat

Might and Magic X will take advantage of the combination of real time combat and turn based combat that made the most recent Might and Magic games so successful.

New AI

While previous Might and Magics used large hordes of monsters to create challenge for the player, Might and Magic X will include large numbers of monsters engaging in cooperative tactical behaviors that will challenge not only the party’s strength, but the player’s combat strategy as well.

Large World to Explore

Exploring new regions and fighting new monsters has always been a staple of role playing games, and Might and Magic X is no exception. The player will have tons of new and unique places to visit and explore. From outdoor forests and deserts to foreboding indoor dungeons.

Variety of Monsters, Characters and NPCs
Monsters

Fighting monsters will be a major part of Might and Magic X. At least 50% of the total experienced gained from the game will be from fighting monsters. There will be a variety of monsters across all experience levels to challenge the player.

Player’s often like to return to places where their party used to get slaughtered and wreck havoc on those formerly challenging monsters. Unlike the Elder Scrolls series, Might and Magic X won’t scale monster difficulty based on the player’s level. Each monster will have a fixed level and experience point value.

Characters

To assist the player in their quests, the world will be filled with all sorts of characters. Some will only pass on information, while others will help the player finish quests or update skills.

Teachers

Teachers are a group of characters that help the characters improve their abilities. Some are trainers that will help the player increase their mastery of certain skills. Others will help train the characters when they’re ready to gain levels. Still another group offers class promotions so that a fighter may become a knight and a sorcer may become a wizard.

NPCs

Some characters will even offer their services to the player. The benefits they offer range from bonuses on haggling to extra experience from combat, to even pulling out a sword and helping the player fight.

Living, breathing world

In previous incarnations, the world of Might and Magic was relatively stagnant. The NPCs scattered throughout the world were always in the same place you left them. Might and Magic IX tried to alleviate this problem by making all NPCs wander around their city. This caused the problem of not being able to find where your trainer was hiding out. In Might and Magic X, NPCs will follow schedules like people do in real life. They will go to work, go to a bar for a drink, and then go home and go to bed. Other characters will stay at home and raise children or do chores.

Some characters may even embark on their own adventures regardless of what the player is doing. The player may have to follow clues to hunt down these characters.

Story
Background Story

In the nation-state of Mendossus, it’s been 5 long years since the king began conscripting the population to fight in the war across the sea against the violent and ruthless Chedian. The Chedians had briefly stopped raiding Mendossus for a short time while the joined together to fight off the invading Beldonian hordes 6 years ago. Because of the conscriptions, the formerly safe nation is rife with violence. The roads are now unsafe to travel because of bandits. Large groups of predators have taken up residence in the forests. Formerly safe temples and forts have been overrun by monsters.

Because of this abuse of conscription by the king, a small resistance had formed in Mendossus. Led by a mysterious outsider, this resistance has become a thorn in the side of the king and his advisor, Archibald. They actively hunt down the members of the resistance. When the player first meets the king, the first mission he gives the party is to infiltrate the resistance and kill its leader.

Once the party infiltrates the resistance, they discover who is in charge of this group of rebels is none other than Nicolai Ironfist, nephew of Archibald and son of the king of the now destroyed Enroth. He tells them a dangerous secret about the conscriptions.

Under the influence of the evil Archibald Ironfist, the king has been lying to the population. There is no war with Chedian, and none of the men conscripted ever go into the army. Archibald has teamed up with a very powerful creature to disrupt one of the most important projects in the history of the universe.

A group of Ancient Scientists, after thousands of years of hibernation have awoke to find that Research Platform Enroth has been disrupted by the destruction of the planet. Banding together, they begin a mission to rebuild the Research Platform and continue its important mission of study. Archibald, along with a creature known as a Sheltam are actively working to not only disrupt the construction of the new Research Platform Enroth, but take it over for their own, nefarious use.

Setting

The game takes place on the world of Axeoth, the same world where Heroes of Might and Magic 4 and Might and Magic IX took place.

The region of Axeoth the game is set in is called Mendossus, often referred to in Might and Magic IX. Mendossus is a classic medieval nation that is ruled by hereditary monarchy. It’s filled with a variety of terrains including sea towns, mountain retreats, forests, and deserts.

The game takes place 6 years after the events that happened in Might and Magic IX.

Genre

Might and Magic X is a turn based and real time first person fantasy RPG.

Platform

PC
Xbox 360
Playstation 3

Notes

[unknownone]

Quite interesting plot setting, was it foreseen by Tim Lang to have a good and an evil path? Like switching sides to Nicolai or continue doing Archibald's bidding?

[Roticet]

He said there would have been a chance to work with Archibald instead. There is a discord. https://discord.com/invite/xqYUvB9

He also mentioned that he had a story written out, but left it in the care of NWC when he left.

[MadMax]

https://youtu.be/2H7O9cdc4aE

You can see some more about it here too!