There are hardly any more revered game franchise than 3DO's Might & Magic gaming universe. Not only has the MM franchise enjoyed major success across 8 different RPG incarnations, but it also has managed to cross-over into the strategy genre with its incredibly well-done and well-received Heroes of Might and Magic series of games. The Might and Magic series has always been able combine old-school role-playing with New World Computing's wonderful sense of humor. With the upcoming Might and Magic IX, 3DO is poised to not only deliver the RPG goodness that everyone expects from the series, but is also giving the series a facelift by licensing the LithTech graphics engine. M&M style gaming with a state-of-the-art graphics engine? Sounds like a sure-fire winner to us!

We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit down with 3DO's James Dickinson, Might and Magic IX's Associate Producer. Well, actually we didn't sit down with him so much as we just e-mailed him some questions. Either way, he was gracious enough to answer our questions, and we hope you find the answers as interesting and informative as we did. We're certainly psyched for the game! We also tried to bring you some new screenshots, but couldn't swing it in time. So, Kate (she's 3DO's PR rep) - send them on over whenever you get some!!!

On with the interview!

Since there hasn't been much info released on MM9, could you give us a brief plot synopsis of the game and an approximate release date? Is the title going to be a PC-only game, or are there any plans for conversions?

The game takes place on the Continent of Rysh, in the northerly region called Chedian. There is a large army marching toward Chedian from the west, conquering everything in their path. It is the player’s destiny to unite the six clans of the Chedian and stop the invading army from conquering and destroying Chedian. Might and Magic IX has been designed from the ground up to be a PC only game.

Could you tell us a little about the new graphics engine that MM9 is using? What are the main advantages of such a switch, and how much does learning a new engine add to the development time of a game?

Might and Magic IX will be using the Lithtech Development System. The LDS provides us with many advantages, Including:

A fully 3D engine. We will be able to have 3D monsters and objects that the player will be able to interact with in real time, that will have an affect on the game world.

 

• More interaction with the enviroment. With the addition of things like rotating world geometry and destructible brushes, the enviroment should be more “alive”.
  
  Changing to a new engine always adds a great deal of time to the development of any product. Frequently, there are new ways of doing things, and everyone from artists to the programmers to level designers have to relearn how to do things they have been doing for years. Fortunately for MMIX, we’ve inherited a lot of knowledge and technology from the development of Legends of Might and Magic.

  In addition to the new engine, the Dev Team has come up with a new conversation system, as well as a NPC scheduling system that will allow the NPCs to be less static, and have lives of their own.

Are there any new playable races/classes being implemented? Tell us a little about character creation.

The player will have a choice between two genders of four races. Including Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and Half-Orcs. When creating a character, they will be presented with a choice of two classes, Might or Magic. As they progress in the game, they will be presented with their choice of promotions in each of these classes, leading ultimately to their choice of eight final character classes.

Any word on the length of the game? What will gamers spend the bulk of their playing time doing - quests, combat? How many hours of sleep should RPG fans expect to lose?

We’re presently aiming for 40-60 hours of gameplay. We’re not quite at the point in the development cycle to be more specific on the amount of actual gameplay the player will be experiencing. As in most Might and Magic games, the focus will be more on combat and character development than on completing quests. Don’t worry though, we are planning on over 60 hand tuned quests, keeping our fans sleepless for weeks on end.

Up to this point, the M&M RPG's haven't had multi-player capabilities. Will there be multi-player in MM9, and what was the rationale behind the decision.

Might and Magic has always been a single-player experience. There is a great deal of difference between that and a multi-player experience. In addition, there are also large technical hurdles that we would have to surmount to allow even the basic multi-player functionality. We have chosen to spend our time on making a great single-player game instead of two mediocre games.

What can you tell us about the magic system. Is it similar to the older titles, or will there be any changes?

We’ve changed the spell system to be more spell based instead of school based. There will still be four spell schools, but a spellcaster will need skill in two of those to cast a spell. Different levels of skill in those schools cause differing effects in the same spell. The flexibility this allows us is to add more useful spells while keeping the not so useful spells to a minimum.

Tell us something interesting about MM9 that we didn't know... are you introducing any new aspects to the M&M series that you're especially excited to introduce?

We’re very excited about our new spell and class system. We’re also very excited about our monster and NPC AI. They will have lives of their own greater than just reacting to player input. You will be able to watch an NPC get up in the morning, walk to his job, work for most of the day, then spend some time relaxing in the tavern before retiring for the evening. That is just a small example of the things our NPCs will be able to do during the course of the game. These new systems should add a depth to the RPG experience that has as yet been unseen in any RPG.

There you have it - straight from the horse's mouth. You can bet that we'll be first in line when this box of RPG goodness hits store shelves, and you can also be sure that we'll bring you the latest in information on the title here at Gamers' Press. Also keep an eye out for an upcoming 7 Questions with the Master of Orion 3 development team. Thanks for stopping by!

Posted by Benefice (jdickinson@nwcomputing.com) on July 12, 2001

Greetings,

Many of you are wondering where Zoop has gone. He is still with us, however, I will be posting the information for Might and Magic 9!

I am the producer for MM9, and actually worked on the early stages of the design.

There have been some concerns posted of late about the actual combat system for MM9. No need to be concerned. The combat remains fundamentally the same as MM6 - MM8.

From the design team:

"We want to reassure our fans we are making an RPG in the classic style that Might and Magic has always been known for. We are definitely NOT making an action game. Here is what we meant by "action oriented": By refining the AI and some parts of the combat system, which is nearly unchanged from the MM6 - MM8 combat system, combat should be more exciting this time around. For those more strategic players, there will still be a choice between real-time and turn-based combat. Thank you and goodnight!"

So, no worries!

Benefice!