71–80 of 90 posts
Off topic, I wanted to compare it to the original, wanted to run that in Boxer.app[1] and realized that this software is now unmaintained. That’s unfortunate, it was a nice product with good UX. Also, unapologetically skeuomorphic, like many apps of that era. [1]: http://boxerapp.com/
Dos won't cut it for H3; it's wine territory and wine is a pain to use on mac, as Apple killed it with the move to Catalina
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The texture complaint is specifically around the character portraits if I recall correctly. The lack of expansions is the real killer imo, so many “basic” things were actually added in expansions.
What basic things are you referring to? I've only ever played the original and didn't even know there were expansions.
Features added in expansions:
* Conflux
* Can choose to buy unupgraded creatures from an upgraded dwelling
* Can garrison mines
* New Heros
* Combination Artifacts
* Random Map generator
* Magical terrains
The Random Map generator is the biggest one, likely.
I still spend inordinate amounts of time playing Heroes 3. It’s been a strong procrastination feeder over the decades, but it also gave me a lot of fun! I mostly play HotA in HD Mod these days, but I had used VCMI on Android (with SoD). It’s been a bit rough – the client-server thing that it does would have connection issues, the mechanics differed in subtle ways, etc. But I’m also super grateful that it exists.
Try Songs of Conquest. It captures the original feel 100% for me, and is a game I really enjoy.
It must feel great to devote yourself to a passion project and it turns out to actually work and people use it. I assume this is a passion project because I can't imagine getting funds for a project like this, specially when it might conflict with upstream licenses. In any case congratulations to the developers.
There’s a few games out there that have absolutely immense fandoms in places unexpected - Heroes III is absolutely HUGE in countries east of the old iron curtain, partially probably because it runs well on older computers but also because it’s one of the best games ever made.
Pro players use HoMM3 HD Mod + HotA addon, which are closed source improvements of the original binaries with solid support for multiplayer action. It has lobby with ladder ratings, simultaneous turns, etc.
Beware that the lobby plays modern H3 multiplayer with very specific rules - watch some YouTube about it before you venture into it. Twenty years has perfected H3 multiplayer to a science of when you do the break on Jebus Cross. And if you don’t know what those mean, you will be in for a sad time.
If that sounds a lot like chess, its because it kind of is :)
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VCMI dont conflict with licenses because it's not reverse engineering effort, but engine created from scratch and licensed under GPL. Pretty much like OpenMW, OpenRA and other purely open source projects. Of course to play it you need to buy proprietary assets.
Are there plans to create new free assets?
* If everything will look completely different from original game majority of fans not gonna like it even if quality gonna be really high. As you can guess fans of old games are really opinionated and hard to pleasure.
* If they looks too similar to original game then Ubisoft can righfully claim copyright infrigement so it will be impossible to distribute assets in Debian, Google Play and other stores.
Actually same problem is valid for any open source game reimplementations except simulators where you can claim that you copying some original and not someone else commercial game.
It's very much possible to just take VCMI and HoMM3 mechanics and create completely different game on top of it. Engine was intentionally designed for modding after all, but again it's unlikely that many fans will play it.
I still spend inordinate amounts of time playing Heroes 3. It’s been a strong procrastination feeder over the decades, but it also gave me a lot of fun! I mostly play HotA in HD Mod these days, but I had used VCMI on Android (with SoD). It’s been a bit rough – the client-server thing that it does would have connection issues, the mechanics differed in subtle ways, etc. But I’m also super grateful that it exists.
Same here. Heroes 3 with HD Mod, but without HotA addiotions. Tons of fun - usually I start a XXL map with 5 computers, I play Kyrre from Rampart and rush to find first the Dragon Utopia get Town Portal/Dimension door and hunt them down the map.
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Try Songs of Conquest. It captures the original feel 100% for me, and is a game I really enjoy.
is this a mod over HD ?
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I had never known they were planning a technology faction for HOMM4, that's interesting to hear. Might and Magic is a fun setting because it's secretly SciFi and you would never know it from the Heroes games as far as I've ever seen. But a bunch of the Might and Magic RPG games start with sword and sorcery and end with laser guns.
Looks like I had my games confused. The Forge was supposed to be a faction for Armageddon's Blade, but was cancelled. 3do did rush heroes 4 though, and one of the biggest complaints about it is how bland and lifeless it feels compared to 3. If you haven't already, you should try the Horn of the Abyss mod for Heroes 3. It's great! Adds tons of qol stuff and has a new campaign and faction.
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Loki software did some serious good. Any idea what they've become ?
Bankrupt. Icculus is famous enough for Patreon. Everyone else got good jobs. It's crazy that nobody bought them. I would have expected video game companies to be more forward-looking and try to create an alternative to Windows, especially after seeing the success console had, and Linux was the obvious choice.