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PC Master of Magic (2022)

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PC Master of Magic (2022)

Unread postby Some guy » 08 Jun 2021 11:56

The return of a classic: Master of Magic has been announced
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 6304787687

Slitherine and MuHa Games partner up to bring back a classic of the strategy genre: Master of Magic.
Slitherine, the world’s leading publisher of digital wargames and strategy games, and MuHa Games, a studio from Poland and the United Kingdom (Thea: The Awakening and Thea 2: The Shattering) partner up to bring back a classic of the strategy genre: Master of Magic.

The original Master of Magic was published in 1994 and set the rules for the 4X genre. It is still considered - and played! - as one of the timeless masterpieces of strategy.

The new and upgraded version of the game has been unveiled during Home Of Wargames Live+, Slitherine’s main event of 2021. Mila Undro, Writer and Lead Quest Designer from MuHa Games, and Marco Minoli - Slitherine’s Marketing Director - talked about the challenges in developing this remake of the original turn-based strategy cult.

Master of Magic || Game reveal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAMhVW45HHM

Together, they explored this classic gameplay formula and how it has been adapted to modern technology. During the interview, Mila and Marco discussed the changes and implementations applied to the game, sharing features such as races, playable wizards, and spells for the first time.

“The acquisition of the Master of Magic license was a key milestone in the development of our long-term vision to mix owned IPs with popular licenses in our catalogue. We are extremely proud of our partnership with MuHa Games, because we share many values when it comes to game development, and we couldn’t place this IP in more capable hands”, said Iain McNeil CEO of Slitherine.

Master of Magic is an extremely faithful reboot of the original game, with identical gameplay mechanics and the same, overwhelming amount of content, which allowed for endless replayability.

Master of Magic is currently in alpha. It will enter beta testing in the second half of 2021, and will be released on PC in 2022.

More information on Master of Magic can be found here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1623 ... 08_9__2107
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Unread postby icycalm » 08 Jun 2021 14:53

Wow. I saw people adding a “Master of Magic” on their wishlists but I thought it was the old game and didn’t even click on it.

Slitherine is dogshit-tier, but the Thea guys are good so this is hype.

Official Reveal Trailer
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WFqfguF-B2I

Trailer is just mediocre animation. Gets the job done but could be better.

I only skimmed the lengthy demonstration video but what I saw looks good. I will watch it in full later and post my thoughts. It doesn’t look like it does new stuff like Humankind though. It looks more like a straight-up remake. Which is fine too, but what I would love to see is a MOM running on the Humankind engine.
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Unread postby icycalm » 23 Nov 2021 21:49

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1623070/ ... 1744595442

hernang.ortiz wrote:For the game balance (especially if planned prior to launch), some far could fall into two extreme opposite views:
*a Sid Meyer's Civilization balance style that introduces lots of conditions, removed combos, generally balanced across the board, Balance is both 'within' and 'across' in regards to combos and general choices,
*MoM purists that want everything 100% exactly the same.

It is highly likely the game will struggle if it goes strongly in the direction of either element. MoM, as great of a game it is, suffered from some major issues with variety (mainly unit variety, some races having just the stock units and 1-2 racial units, which is boring) as well as some particularly infuriating balance issues many of us probably agree on, such as the racial cost modifiers hitting halberdiers hard from swordsmen (for just +1 melee, +1 or -1 armor depending on what hits them), warships having 99 shots (instead of say 10), some blatantly superior races or magic realms compared to others, making some units at least mediocre than useless to add variety to existing stuff, or some questionable balancing attempts that ironically break balance like MoM making cathedral cost a whooping 800 simply to balance paladins

However, the game will fall apart with many complaints when 'gamey' conditions are being applied in the name of balance. Things like 'as sorcery you may use spell binding ... but you can only do it this # of times with these particular rules, otherwise overpowered!' or 'ships can't get flight' or 'to defend only applies for first 15 shields', 'disenchant area can target this but not that', 'having this many cities add unrest' (hello Civ 5), or removing entire concepts in the name of balance (CoM is guilty here, losing cruel unminding, flying gorgons, many other top-tier spells instead of reevaluating their role as needed).

Long story short, the game needs to feel relatively UNRESTRICTED as you being the master of magic. Have powerful realms (with some of the crappier spells reevaluated) associated with powerful magic, combos that feel satisfying or even cruel to opponents. That races can be abusable with at least one strategy, magic, or at least is well-rounded enough to be playable. Master of Magic is about abusing the tools at your disposal, add and scatter more of them to make more races (I felt myrran was better balanced and also more diverse than arcanus) and realms viable and competitive.
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Re: PC Master of Magic (2022)

Unread postby icycalm » 29 Mar 2022 22:04

Development Diary #9 - March 2022
https://steamcommunity.com/games/162307 ... 6606662645

There's a link to apply for beta tester in this update. I was gonna do it, but then it asked me for a Slitherine login, and I bailed. It's not fun beta-testing these games anyway, and I know I am gonna buy this anyway so the beta won't even be useful as a demo.

The update mostly focuses on improved visuals. Tons of screens posted, but these two stood out to me.

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MuHa Games & Eerie Forest Studio wrote:The zoom out option was improved, to give a better overview of the land.


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MuHa Games & Eerie Forest Studio wrote:The new town image was changed to look more like a drawing, rather than mimicking reality in 2d.


The drawing style doesn't look bad, but it clashes with the rest of the game's aesthetic. I think they ought to change it.
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Re: PC Master of Magic (2022)

Unread postby icycalm » 12 May 2023 03:58

Master of Magic - Extended Roadmap 2023
https://steamcommunity.com/games/162307 ... 4451295800

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They're planning three paid DLCs, which was surprising to me. I thought they would leave it at the base remake, because they'd said over and over again that they wanted to stay as true to the original as possible. I suppose the DLCs could just be fluff like more spells or races etc. But I would rather they added more mechanics. Which they might; I just can't see them asking for money for three DLCs and not adding a single mechanic to the game.

When all the DLCs have come out, I will play this. It will likely be the best fantasy 4X by that time. Right now, the original is the best, unless the base remake is a good remake, which it probably is tbh.
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