Une petite interview récente de Fabrice Cambounet, le producteur du jeu :
source : http://www.jeux-strategie.com
1. Pouvez-vous nous expliquer le nouveau système de combat instauré, le Dynamic Battle System, en détails et comment cela fonctionne t-il dans le jeu ?
[FC] Ce mode tente de rapprocher les combats dans Heroes 5 dun temps réel. Il sagit en fait dun écoulement ralenti de laction, durant laquelle on a toujours loisir de réfléchir, mais où la pression est permanente ! Il pousse le joueur à être plus concentré sur laction, et à réagir plus vite. Ainsi les unités deviennent peu à peu disponibles, et il faut donner des ordres quand ça devient possible. Les ennemis nattendront plus et attaqueront dès quils le pourront !
2. Heroes of Might and Magic 5 disposera également du « jeu simultané » en début de partie, en quoi cela consiste et combien de temps cela dure t-il ?
[FC] En introduisant le « jeu simultané », notre but est daccélérer le rythme des parties. Ce mode permet au joueur de mener des actions qui ninfluent pas sur le ou les autres joueurs. Cela fonctionne tant que les deux joueurs ne peuvent pas se rencontrer et tant quaucun élément nest accessible en même temps par les deux joueurs.
Cest en fait une option qui sera transparente pour le joueur, et devrait grandement accélérer les débuts de partie.
3. Quavez-vous prévu pour rendre le multijoueurs plus attractif et moins fastidieux que les précédents opus de la série ?
[FC] Nous avons plusieurs objectifs pour le multijoueurs. Tout dabord nous voulons permettre aux joueurs de faire des matchs très rapides. Nous allons proposer pour cela un mode spécial, proche dans le principe des jeux de combat : un mode duel. Chaque joueur choisit un héros, qui possède déjà des sorts, artefacts, et une armée, et tente de remporter deux rounds de bataille sur son adversaire. Cela permettra de faire des parties dun quart dheure, dapprendre à connaître toutes les unités, et de tester des tactiques.
Un autre objectif est déviter le problème inhérent aux jeux en tour par tour, lorsquon attends que ses adversaires aient fini et quon puisse enfin jouer à nouveau. Un mode révolutionnaire sera intégré : le ghost mode. Cela sera simplement un système de jeu parallèle, que lon jouera pendant que tout autre joueur fait son tour. On déplacera alors des fantomes sur la carte, qui pourront faire diverses actions, comme espionner un ennemi, lui voler des ressources, le ralentir, etc
Cela poussera aussi le joueur à finir son tour plus vite !
4. Est-ce que les héros ont évolué ? Dans le 4ème épisode, ils pouvaient se battre. Vous lavez retiré du projet pour diverses bonnes raisons. Alors quest ce que les héros ont de plus que Heroes of Might and Magic 3 & 4 ?
[FC] Nous proposons sur ce point un compromis, qui évite les déséquilibres dûs à la présence du héros sur le champ de bataille. Chaque héros, selon sa race, pourra gagner des capacités spéciales lui permettant dentrer dans laction. Ainsi, un héros Haven peut prendre part au combat en chargeant une unité adverse sil dispose de la capacité « Holy Charge ». De même, un héros inferno peut récupérer des points de magie en désintégrant un cadavre.
En outre, nous avons revu larbre de progression du héros. Si bien quil est possible de créer des héros aux capacités inattendues. A chaque gain de niveau, on peut choisir entre des talents et des abilités. Le choix offert dépend de ce que le héros connaît déjà, et donne également accès à des bonus selon les combinaisons.
Enfin, les écoles de magie ont changé, ce qui influe grandement sur laspect RPG du héros.
5. La majorité des fans ont été déçus par Heroes 4 et vouent un véritable culte à Heroes 3. Quest-ce quil les fera aller vers Heroes 5 ? Quelles sont les grandes nouveautés de ce dernier opus à lexception du relookage ?
[FC] Heroes 5 sinscrit comme le premier Heroes du 21e siècle. A ce titre, il installe un nouveau monde, une nouvelle histoire, de nouveaux personnages que vous allez bientôt découvrir et une nouvelle ambiance graphique. Ce sont les traits les plus faciles à remarquer.
Outre ce nouveau décor, Heroes 5 poursuit deux objectifs : respecter la tradition, et ouvrir laccès au jeu. Sur ce second point, lidée est de rendre le jeu plus rapide, et plus accessible tout en gardant la richesse des choix stratégiques. Cela se traduit par un travail important sur linterface et les contrôles du jeu, afin de les rendre plus fluides. Nous intégrons aussi un tutorial pour intégrer de nouveaux joueurs au gameplay.
En-dehors de ces points, nous avons déjà parlé du Dynamic Battle System, qui se rapproche dune expérience en temps réel, ainsi que des modes multijoueurs
6. Au sujet du relookage, les fans ont peur que cela gâche un peu une partie de la jouabilité. Le jeu permettra t-il de zoomer suffisamment loin afin de voir la même surface de carte que dans les précédents Heroes en 2D ?
[FC] Le passage à la 3D va améliorer limmersion dans lunivers du jeu, et elle devrait améliorer également lintérêt du jeu. La vue par défaut est dune portée similaire aux précédents opus, et est suffisamment large pour planifier ses mouvements. On peut même lagrandir encore, ou zoomer sur laction pour voir certains détails. Lessentiel des éléments sera visible sans bouger la caméra, mais les joueurs qui cherchent un peu plus trouveront quelques bonus !
7. La diversité dartefacts, de sorts et de créatures sera-t-elle toujours aussi grande ?
[FC] Nous avons procédé à une rationalisation des objets, sorts et créatures, afin davoir la plus grande cohérence possible par rapport à lunivers en construction, mais aussi pour éviter les doublons. Pour autant la diversité des effets et des combinaisons en jeu permettra dobtenir la même richesse de choix que précédemment.
8. La phase de beta-tests commence mi-septembre. Vous avez précisé quil y aura plusieurs vagues successives de tests, quand finira ce beta-test public ?
[FC] Ce beta test durera deux mois, et nous intégrerons de nouveaux joueurs à chaque update, toutes les deux semaines. Donc même si vous navez pas été retenu dès le lancement, vous gardez une chance de tester le jeu ! Un autre beta test, beaucoup plus ouvert, devrait être proposé par la suite.
9. Quelle sera la configuration requise pour jouer sereinement ?
[FC] Ce point reste à confirmer. Notre objectif est quun pc moyen acheté il y a deux ans soit suffisant pour être confortable.
10. Est-ce que la sortie sera internationale ? Pouvez-vous nous donner une date de sortie plus précise maintenant que le développement a bien avancé ?
[FC] La sortie sera bien sur internationale et elle se rapproche à grands pas ! Nous sommes toujours fixés les premiers mois de 2006, probablement février.
Autre interview plus récente :
source : http://www.celestialheavens.com/viewpage.php?id=506
"Could you explain what specifically about the Might and Magic brand name attracted Ubisoft? Was there ever a concern over the risk of taking on such a project? After all, we HoMM fans have high standards!
The ambition has always been higher than the concern. The M&M brand is a passport for Ubisoft to enter the fantasy market, with a renowned flag bearer. It is a demanding but also a helpful brand: people instantly know what youre talking about when you say the words Might & Magic. Besides, there is already a strong fan-base that has high expectations, but is also ready to help.
Why did Ubisoft decide to make HoMM5 first rather than a Might and Magic role-playing game (MMX)? Was it felt that this was the stronger title?
If a Heroes game is complex to do well, it is even more complex to do a good RPG game in todays standards. If we do one, well want to have it compete with the best in the genre, and that means a lot of work. The first step, finding the perfect team with a track record, being already quite a high entry ticket. However, we are committed to reviving the brand as a whole, so there will be more news in the future
What goals were originally set for HoMM5 in the earliest parts of development? What did you specifically want to accomplish with this game?
The initial goals were the ones Ive laid out in most Q&As over the last year! The first one being: staying true to the series looking at the existing game play and solutions. The other ones being: easy to access, faster to play working on the tutorial, which is coming in nicely, and on the interfaces, which is a long and iterative process, finally coming together now. I usually add that `faster to play` does not mean `simpler`: the complexity of the game is still there, with many skills and combinations. Other underlying goals that are quite obvious: make the game more modern, more appealing. Other goals that were set during the early development phases were: enhance the multiplayer experience - which is done through the ghost and duel modes, build a new world
From a game-designers perspective, what went wrong with HoMM4? What mistakes did you hope not to repeat when designing HoMM5?
I`m not sure that something was wrong with H4 in terms of game design. They had good innovations on the table. I think what went wrong is the business part. Producing a game is not only dealing with game design decisions, but also with business decisions. You have to `sell` the game internally so that it gets considered, and so that it is put in the `priority` list in terms of quality, and not in the `release` list. The H4 team certainly lacked a bit of time to complete their project.
From what we know, the story of HoMM5 is going to be independent from the previous HoMM games. This includes a completely new set of Heroes (i.e., old favorites will not be returning). Can you tell us why the decision was made to not bring back old Heroes and to not directly continue the HoMM1-4 storyline, yet other things such as spells and monsters have been brought back relatively intact?
This was explained quite in detail in Erwan`s Q&A I think. There are two things here: the world itself, with specific characters, places, events; and the flavor of the world, with the mix of creatures and types of events.
We want to keep the flavor: a somewhat light fantasy at heart, although it gets darker in the scenario treatment and in a few visuals. That means keeping a varied mix of creatures, keeping the factions idea (but making them more coherent), keeping a mix of spells and artifacts which basically takes ideas from most fantasy sources. As for the world itself, the decision was taken for several reasons. The first one is probably that we want to start anew and be able to control all of the details. We also want to be able to build on it freely with future titles. We also wanted to avoid pitfalls in making mistakes regarding the previous world(s), and being stoned to death for heresy by the fans. And finally, its darn too much fun not to do it!
Could you share anything more about the storyline for HoMM5? Will the storylines of HoMM and Might and Magic be intertwined, as they have been in the past? Will there be good and evil campaigns in HoMM5?
The storyline in all titles in the M&M brand will be linked somehow, of course: the story of Dark Messiah happens some twenty years right after the events of Heroes 5. Thats one of the points we want to achieve by building a new world. There wont be `good` and `evil` campaigns as such, rather conflicting characters and motivations but still it should be easy to spot the bad boys!
As for the storyline itself, at this stage I cant reveal much more than what has been already said. You will see quite a bit during the demo itself. We are finalizing the cut scenes and videos at this stage which is logical as we are finalizing most of the game!
Can you give us a sense of how the town line-ups were determined? How did you decide which of the old factions to keep? Where did the ideas for the new dungeon town come from?
Deciding the line-ups has been a long process, riding up until about half of the development process. The initial idea though was nailed down quite fast: we would keep the principle of factions, grouping fantasy creatures into races of sorts. We also decided to make these factions as coherent as possible, while keeping a good variety of creatures. A `dominant race` would unify each faction: human for Haven, elves for Sylvan, or a strong theme would bond the creatures together: the persian influence for the Academy, for instance. This is how the idea of the Dungeon was formed: tying a bunch of mythological creatures with a strong idea, the dark elves. These would be the backbone of the faction, and the other creatures would be either be dominated (minotaurs), used (hydra) or revered (dragon) by the dark elves.
All of this has lead to some heartbreaking decisions, with some flagship creatures not making the cut
this time at least.
What exactly is Ubisofts philosophy on fan relations?
This really depends on the type of game. Heroes being a community-driven game, getting the fans in the bandwagon is critical. They are the first round of players and are the primary life support after the release. This is why we have community managers in all countries, and why I spend a lot of time in discussions although most of them are not in public forums. Hopefully this is beneficial for the game quality, and well see soon how it translates into sales 
From the viewpoint of Ubisoft, what is the role of fan sites? Do you feel they are important for a games success?
Fan sites will always be more important online hubs for a game than anything a publisher can do, due to the dedication and number of people invested in each site. Most often, the fans websites are much more updated than our own. However, we can provide new elements (bios, visuals) or special items (like the minigame) although this is the sort of things the fans can create too for sure !
In the course of H5s production, the fan sites have been directly in touch with the development, handing out ideas and suggestions early on, taking part in the beta test, and being handed preview versions recently.
I dont want to get into it too much, but how does a company like Ubisoft typically react to a petition like the one that was recently signed by HoMM fans to get HoMM5 delayed, and the pact that was signed by fan sites shortly thereafter? Many fans felt that the fan sites had gone too far. Is it possible that such actions by fans can damage the fan-publisher relationship? For that matter, is the fan-publisher relationship important?
I dont think it can damage the relationship with the publisher, as these actions were done to help the development of the game and not to shut it down. These actions came as a surprise, while we were actually negotiating to get more time for the development. At about the same time, Heroes 5 hit the first place in the Gamespot ratings, and this was also a great boost for the projects aura. The few more weeks we used to polish the game have been essential, and I think the difference between the open beta version and the demo is quite clear in this respect.
Some fans were disappointed when it was revealed that Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was announced instead of Might and Magic X. I will admit to being surprised no game like this has ever bared the Might and Magic name. Can you describe why DMoMM was developed prior to Might and Magic X (assuming that latter game will ever be developed).
Dark Messiah is an action game, and it is a good counterpart to a game like Heroes. While Heroes carries the brand revival, Dark Messiah will attract new players to this universe, and this will help us grow this brand to create new games, or recreate old ones like M&M.
Another point is that developing a rpg game today is a big challenge, and we wouldnt want to do it wrong. This is the sort of challenge you can undertake when you master the universe you are creating well enough, and thus it could not have been the first project for us to develop. When we have settled the universe of Ashan correctly, it will be easier to create a great basis for a rpg game.
We assume there will be expansion packs for HoMM5. Can you tickle us with a little information about what might be contained within them?
From what I read in the forums, the fans are teasing themselves well enough already! The obvious missing elements from the bestiary in Heroes 5 are good leads to know what would be added later, and I wouldnt want to give away what will be presented soon. Rather than detail new creatures or new factions, I can say at this time that we will be including many gameplay features to improve the experience of the main game. We will also be releasing a few updates before any expansion to expand on some modes like the duel mode.
How will Ubisoft be involved with fans after the game is published? Are things such as map contests a possibility?
We are planning a lot of things after the release. While the typical balancing patch is expected, we will also include game updates in these patches. The map editor itself will be made available to everyone through one of these updates. New multiplayer maps will also be distributed like this, and we are planning to include tournament tools too. Of course many contests will be made, either by Ubisoft directly, as many have been done especially in the french community, or by supporting community contests.
How do you think HoMM5 measures up with previous entries in the series? What will be its most memorable feature?
As a first note, Im really relieved and satisfied that the development of Heroes 5 ended on a good note, with a gold master that has received enough time to be polished. Many atrocities could have happened in the last few weeks, and a lot of work has been necessary to ensure that the game was given its chance which has been the case. I feel that we have hit the potential that we were aiming for although there is always room for improvement. The most played feature, and the one that will receive the most attention in the coming months, is the duel mode in my opinion. All of this being said, I feel Heroes 5 will be one of the best in the series, on par with Heroes 3
Now that the game has gone gold, what does that mean for you and the development team? I.e. - what's next for you?
First this meant a solid 12 hours of sleep, once all masters were safely handed to the people in charge of manufacturing at Ubisoft. Right after that, a week end were I almost didnt check the Heroes forums, not too often at least. Resting and partying were also what the dev team at Nival did.
Now that were back in the office, the priority is to tweak the experience given the feedback that we have read on the demo. It was too late to include anything in the master, but its the sort of things that can be delivered through a patch. The main element is the difficulty level. Working more than two years on a project, you tend to lose the focus of easy access. Beta testing with hardcore fans didnt help in this respect really, as they are not interested by a low challenge. But reading the new Heroes players having difficulty finishing the maps in the demo lead us to prepare an easy setting for the campaign. It will be ready with the game release. I wouldnt want a player to lose the experience of the scenario because one map is too hard for him.
Will you attend E3 next month?
Not this year I will actually be having a small holiday in Brussels chasing wild chocolates.
Were there any last minute changes that were made just prior to going gold?
The last week was dedicated to bug hunting and swapping. Any gameplay changes were frozen to ensure that no new bug would appear, which is mostly a wishful thinking usually. A few missions were tweaked in terms of difficulty, and this is a point that will be improved by the patch as I said. All in all, the game looks pretty clean now, ready to go forth and multiply. "
Message édité par Xin le 26-04-2006 à 16:43:13
. Un nouveau manuel en français est enfin dispo :
) !
![[:tinostar]](https://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/tinostar.gif "[:tinostar]")
![[:drapo]](https://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/drapo.gif "[:drapo]")
"
![[:amel_the_white]](https://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/amel_the_white.gif "[:amel_the_white]")
![[:airforceone]](https://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/airforceone.gif "[:airforceone]")
yen a qui ont compris 
![[:balgor]](https://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/balgor.gif "[:balgor]")
