The name of the project I'm working on is called Might & Magic X: Children of the Void, and it is a completely nonprofit, community-based RPG game development project. I would like to introduce you to the Game Design of M&MX, feel free to skip any sections you don't wish to read!

Game Design Overview

Background on the Might and Magic Series

Might and Magic is one of the longest running Role Playing Game series ever. The series was originally created, singlehandedly, by Jon Van Caneghem, who founded the company New World Computing in 1986 with the release of Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum. The series abruptly ended in 2003 with the game Heroes of Might and Magic IV: Winds of War when 3DO (NWC's parent company) filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Might and Magic was later sold to Ubisoft Entertainment, circa 2006, where they are continuing to develop the franchise alongside Nival Interactive.

Even with the poor receptions of the last two incarnations of the Might and Magic RPG, there is still a large, rabid fan base that continues to play and celebrate the 10+ year old games in the RPG series. As of 2011, Ubisoft continues to release Might and Magic related titles, including King's Bounty: Legions and Might & Magic Heroes VI.

The Might & Magic X Design Team

There is absolutely no indication of Ubisoft developing a Might and Magic X, and five years have already passed, therefore the Might & Magic X (M&MX) Design Team has decided to take the endeavor into our own hands as a completely nonprofit game development project. Upon its completion, M&MX will be released for free, downloadable distribution, solely online, and will be designed primarily to run on the Windows platform in English.

The developers of M&MX have no affiliation whatsoever with New World Computing, 3DO, and Ubisoft Entertainment, and are an independent group of game developers with the sole purpose of gaining experience in the field of game design, while creating a brand new game that will act as a fan made continuation of the famous Might and Magic series.

Core Gameplay Aspects

• Party Based Role Playing
• Unique, Customizable Party
• Character Races, Classes, and Promotions
• Learnable and Masterable Skills and Statistics
• Paper Dolls
• Equippable Weapons, Armor, Items, and Artifacts
• Characters, Hirelings, Teachers, NPCs
• Text and Sound-Based Conversations and Dialogues
• Enterable Merchant Shops for Trading
• A Vast, Explorable World
• In-Depth World Exploration
• Enterable Buildings and Dungeons
• Sea Travel and Land Travel
• Advanced Melee and Ranged Combat System
• Turn-Based and Real Time Combat
• Different Types of Damage
• A Powerful Combat and Non-Combat Spellcasting System
• Friendly and Hostile Monsters
• An Alchemical Potion Mixing System
• Weather Forecasting System
• Cinematic Video Cutscenes
• Audio Sound Effects and Voiced Characters
• Puzzle Solving
• Main Quests and Subquests

Our Current Progress

We have completed thousands of graphic assets, including most of the game items, and animated character portraits, which will be used as the Player Characters. There are still many graphical assets to be completed, but this would not be a wise area to work on until we have a new engine that will be able to support all of our graphic assets.

Over 20 pages of storyline and quests have been written out, and we have a pre-Beta version of our land map, which will become the explorable world that Might and Magic X takes place on.

The soundtrack for M&MX is well underway, and we have several talented composers who are taking care of everything for us.

Game Engine

The M&MX Design Team is currently planning a total conversion of our assets to a brand new engine, because our old engine, Horizon, is extremely outdated (late 1990s) and difficult to use, for example, to edit landmass you must go through a very tedious process of hex editing.

We are currently looking into converting to the XNA engine, which has a reputation for being very easy-to-use. The game will be coded in C#, and the engine framework to support M&MX will need to be constructed first, before we’re able to import our assets.

Game Mechanics

In terms of game mechanics, we are basing M&MX on an updated version of the games Might and Magic 6, through Might and Magic 8. The fundamental basics for the game mechanics can be found on the following websites:

• http://www.angelfire.com/nt/bones/
• http://sites.google.com/site/sergroj/mm/mechanics

We will undoubtedly be doing some revisions and improvements on these game mechanics, but in order to accomplish this, we need the help of some experienced programmers and level designers who can help us create the initial framework for Might and Magic X.

Help Wanted!

I’ve come here in search of some programmers who would be willing to help us design the engine framework for Might and Magic X on the XNA engine. We only have one programmer right now, and he is a novice who has requested help with this difficult task.

Before we’re able to design levels, we’re going to need to have the engine all straightened out, and without experienced programmers to guide us, we’re facing a dead end.

If anyone here is interested in join and contributing to the M&MX project, I will graciously welcome you and introduce you to the Might and Magic games. I will give you all the information you need and be at your disposal to help with anything you may need to assist you in helping us create our engine.

As time progresses, I foresee we will have a great team of talented programmers working on the game engine and the project will advance into tech-demo stages, which we plan to release as one playable level and dungeon in attempt to attract artistic level designers who can help us finish the many regions, towns and dungeons that we are planning for the game.

Contacts

For those who are interested, please contact me either in this thread, by private message, or by email (MMXAlamar @ gmail.com). You may also contact the Project Leader, Vector, who can be reached at (MMXDesign @ Live.com).

We also have a thriving Facebook page, which can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Might-Magic-10-Children-of-the-Void/134591446605146
And a semi-active forum at the Gaming Universe here: http://www.thegaminguniverse.org/forum/index.php?board=211.0

Thank you very much!

Sincerely,
Alamar