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Update December 1, 2012
Website preserved for history. See the wiki for current activities.
Check the forums at Castle Gobs for some more recent updates since 2006.
Update October 16, 2006
Version 0.4 of MMTribute is there. Items, shopping and inventory are now available.
Ribannah: "MMT_0.4.zip can be downloaded from SourceForge.
Don't forget to install NET 2.0 first, if you have not done so already.
This version adds a second overland map, items and objects, with new dialogues, art, music and sounds.
It is the last version where you can get around unchallenged ..."
Update May 1, 2006
Version 0.3 of MMTribute is out. Dialogues and related scripts are now fully operational.
Ribannah: "MMT_0.3.zip can be downloaded from SourceForge.
Don't forget to install NET 2.0 first, if you have not done so already.
This version contains the opening story of the game.
There is a 2D representation of the starting map where you can click on houses and dungeons, and initiate dialogues.
The questbook and the log keep track of your progress. Have fun!"
Update Januari 5, 2006
Version 0.2 of MMTribute is out. Management functions are working, and there are several sample dialogues.
Ribannah: "MMT_0.2.zip can now be downloaded from https://sourceforge.net/projects/mmtribute/.
Don't forget to install NET 2.0 first, if you have not done so already.
New is, that most things that you already saw on the menu in version 0.1 are now actually working. You can create characters, form a starting party, and engage in a number of sample dialogues. And click on a lot of things. Just try it.
You can even create and test your own dialogues by editing the files, if you want.
Enjoy!"
Update: third quarter of 2005 2/10/2005
MMTribute 0.1 is available for download from SourceForge. It shows the basic framework of the game.
Arturchix: "
Another 3 months have gone! Our project lead Ribannah has started coding the MMT game on .NET 2.0 and at this point the game is a little bit playable for the first time. Of course, everything is only at very basic level but now we have the main game screen, can start the game, view the map, inventory and some other things. Of course, there’s really not much to see yet but at least it’s a start."
Ribannah: "
This is the basic framework of the game. The engine is not hooked up yet and there is no content. The art may change. But you can see where we are going, and this is a good moment to collect comments.
You can download the zip file from https://sourceforge.net/projects/mmtribute/."
Arturchix: "
Xeonx is still working on the next version of the RealmForge engine that will include a new version of the MMT demo that was presented to you last quarter."
Ribannah: "By next time, hopefully we can let you play a demo with buildings and inhabitants in the world view of the framework."
Arturchix: "
"There are several changes in the team – four new members have joined! Nas-T as a 3D modeler and animator, Taylor Mouse as a 3D modeler, Jetmouse for artworks and Reto – as a programmer, 3D modeler, animator and level design.
Unfortunately we had to move others to the inactive member list because they haven’t made any contribution in months.
And, you know the drill, lots of artwork, models and items have been created. For example, we have a model for dragon and barbarian, artworks for rocs and oozes, as well as artwork for swords, maces and staves.
In the developer forums we are continuing discussions about the dialogue display possibilities, bounty hunting formulae, game difficulty setting (easy, medium, hard, peasant), potion effects, item quality indicator (poor, normal, good, excellent, perfect) and many other important aspects of the game.
Some of the work in progress: Reto is working on the inventory code, Axehandle is testing the MMT terrain with Realmforge, Fander is co-working with Alek on the weapons. Fander has finished the cult of Mèh history which is simply hilarious! Otherwise many of the developer members have been pretty quiet during the summer months, including myself but noticing the good progress of other team members always helps to inspire the other team members."
Excerpt from the Cult of Mèh history.
Reports and supplies were brought to the Eminent Temple by the smugglers Hanford Shingle and Chew Backwards the Drawkcab (His real name was Wookoow) aboard their kipper the Minimal Seagull. They were the only ones to dare the waters of the dreaded Sendark and thus their prices were skyhigh. Sir Galrim realized he needed something valuable to be able to make deals with the smugglers. He also realized he had those valuables right under his nose. In the Sea of Mist there were pearl oysters. By midsummer 1075, the goats on the island of the Eminent Temple was accompanied by cows to make easier the Mèhly tasks of grazing Mèh-circles. The cows also provided the herders and acolytes with milk and the occational meal of meat. Sir Galrim probably also managed to smuggle in other things of his own liking. He understood the risk he took, since Red-Eye would not tolerate the cows should he find out, but the Mèhs of the Sea of Mist were content once more and the acolytes were hard at work with the appointed task, while Sir Galrim himself devoted most of his time studying the dragons themselves.
Update: second quarter of 2005 7/08/2005
A first sample of MMT with the new engine was made available at the end of the second quarter.
Ribannah: "
There has been considerable progress in the programming department, with coding done by Axehandle (C#) and Ribannah (game definitions in XML).
A few days ago, Xeonx and his RealmForge team released version 0.6.2 of the engine. The release includes a sample of MMTribute: a still barren version of the first map (except for the token realmforge dragon), but there are a number of MMT objects that can be placed there by using the in-game editor.
Not everything works yet, but for those who cannot wait, here are the relevant links so you can download what is needed (size warning!) and have a look around:
Setup instructions
Download .NET Framework 1.1
Download RealmForgeGDKv0.6.2.rar (81MB) or:
Download RealmForgeGDKv0.6.2.zip (89MB) (alternative)
Download latest DirectX.
MMT.exe is located in the bin folder. There are several other demo applications as well.
Select Play, and after the ‘game’ has loaded, press F11 to call up the in-game editor. You can then drag objects from the left panel to the locations listed in the right panel.
For the moment, orientation is handled by the mouse and movement by the keyboard (see the setup instructions page).
You may already have noticed that the old forums and website have gone for good. Sir Felgar has remained in hiding, and apparently did not pay the upkeep.
But the show goes on. Of our new team members, Wveird is now producing some quality stuff. Grooveholmes has just begun creating some character faces.
With several others, we were less fortunate. Therefore, we still have vacancies to fill. :)
Nonetheless we are going steadily forward. Many gameplay elements are already final or near final. New models, art, maps, music, and other assets have been added by our regulars."
Update: first quarter of 2005 4/01/2005
The first quarterly update of 2005 shows an increase of activity.
Arturchix: "It’s time for a new update, about the first quarter of this year. The major news is that we have moved to a new website and forums since there is still no sign of our former project lead Sir Felgar. We can only hope that he’s doing well in his real life and that nothing bad has happened to him.
So, the MMT project was moved to Castle Gobs which is the home of our team member Ribannah. The old forums will stay up to June, that’s at least what the hosting company 34sp.com said to us. Unfortunately we don’t know if they will remain longer than that.
Obviously, since our project lead had disappeared, we had to choose a new project lead. We could not think of a better candidate than Ribannah who is the owner of Castle Gobs, lead game designer of MMT and a known MM gamer for many years. She’s now doing all the management stuff Sir Felgar was doing previously thus some of her duties as a game designer will be redirected to other game designers.
Since we don’t have access to any done work by Sir Felgar with the Blitz 3D engine, and he had never uploaded anything despite numerous requests, we had to choose a new one.
Ribannah: There were some issues with the Blitz3D engine as well, and the fact that we had no access to the source code of that engine was a hindrance, so we were already reconsidering anyway.
We were debating this on our private forums, and we were considering the top-rated freeware engines, or some of the most promising ones with a reasonable price. Our new project lead Ribannah contacted the developers of RealmForge GDK and she found out that they are very interested about our project and would like to know more about it. In a chain of events we made the following deal with the developers of RealmForge GDK: we receive their help and support in making the game run on their engine, and they can use MMT as their demo application to demonstrate the power of the engine.
Our team was joined by Xeonx who is the lead developer of RealmForge GDK.
During the past three months our team was joined by 6 new team members. In addition to Xeonx, our team was joined also by Xanax and Axehandle as programmers, Ingot as a level designer, Wveird as a low poly 3D modeller and Guardian as an animator.
With the move of our project, the forums and the website, we were rethinking the publishing of our news. We decided on the following system – one larger overview of each quarter of the year, and one “Image of the Month” which could be a newly-made model or artwork. You can find the first two images in our news section. The overview will be always published at the beginning of a new quarter (which means the next quarterly update is to be expected on July 1) and the IOTM will be published in the middle of each month.
On the new developer forums life continues. We have copied all of the info from the old forums, including the best suggestions from the public forums. Furthermore, lots of new discussions have been started. For example, several of our team members started on the completion of the known Might and Magic history which will cover all the Might and Magic brand games that take place in the Might and Magic universe. This history hopefully will serve as a good basis to work with later.
The work on the next demo “Test of Promise and Loyalty” is at full speed, and we were even discussing the intro movie. On the new developer forums every team member has got their own forum to work in, while there are still quite many for general discussions. Our programmers and level designers are looking into the new engine and are trying to create first samples, while Ribannah has started to code the MMT game format in XML.
Our 3D modellers and 2D artists created a bunch of new work; some examples will be attached to this report. Our game designers have discussed many game elements, like chests and ore, and how temples will work, etcetera. There is still a lot to do, but we are making good progress."
RealmForge chosen as new engine 2/19/2005
MMTribute continues with a new game engine: RealmForge GDK.
Ribannah: "RealmForge GDK is an open-source game engine in development; version 0.6 will be out soon. RealmForge uses the state-of-the-art rendering program Axiom, and their development team just happened to be looking for an RPG application that could serve to demonstrate the power of their engine. One of our first concerns after moving was how to proceed with the realization of the game. By collaborating with RealmForge, we think we have found the perfect solution. Xeonx, RealmForge's lead developer, will join the MMTribute team and help us out with the programming.
Some additional information on RealmForge can be found here."
Ribannah Project Lead, MMT Relocated 2/01/2005
Because of the long absence of Sir Felgar, the MMT team have chosen Ribannah as our new Project Lead. She will stay on as lead game designer as well, although some tasks will be delegated to other developers.
Ribannah: "Sir Felgar stopped posting several months ago, and although he appeared on the active user list many times, he offered no explanation for his silence. Attempts to contact him have failed. We can only hope that all is well with him in real life.
The loss of Sir Felgar as project lead and developer is a heavy blow to the project.
In addition, much of the work he has done is lost to us as well, since he did not share the source code of his programming.
The production of Might and Magic Tribute continues nonetheless, and new developments will be announced shortly.
As only Sir Felgar has administrative power at the old location, and we fear that the old forums may be discontinued at any time, we have moved the development of MMT to Castle Gobs.
The website will be updated soon; an update that is long overdue."
Update for October, November and December 1/19/2005
While our project lead is absent, work on MMT continues.
Arturchix: "As many of you have noticed, Sir Felgar at this point is missing. He has not posted or answered any mail for about 2 months. While Sir Felgar was gone, the team continued work on their assigned tasks and this is a short summary what was going on in the developer forums.
First, the good news for our programmers is that BlitzMax has been released which is excellent news for the MMT engine.
DaveO rejoined MMT team as a game designer and started work on the Combat Guide. A lot of artwork has been drawn, most of them are monster artworks. More models have been created, including some NPCs. Oren wrote three new music tracks and improved two others. Pedestals and teachers were chosen, and the bestiary is getting larger. Work on the provincial maps continues by our cartographer Ladob. Our historians discovered more references to Karigor in previous MM games.
Music track #8 is available for download, and several new images have been added to the gallery."
Update for July, August, September 9/27/2004
Answering to the call, we provide you with some information on our progress during the third quarter of 2004.
Ribannah: "The last couple of months we, among other things:
- performed a number of engine tests;
- built an important dungeon;
- designed several provincial maps;
- wrote additional background stories;
- added a fair number of dialogues;
- created a good number of basic models;
- produced a huge quantity of quality concept art;
- started on the first monster animation;
- made steady progress on the item design;
- chose and distributed pedestals and the like;
- composed more music;
- started filling the Knowledge Base with finalized game design elements.
I probably forgot several things of importance, and I'm certain that I left out several surprises."
New Engine Screenshots 8/13/2004
We've added to the gallery the first screenshots of the new MMT engine in action!
Gallery: Blitz3D Engine Screenshots
Sir Felgar: "The game engine we're using for MMT is a completely different version to that used in the tech demo. The new engine has been written from scratch, and is far more powerful and (hopefully!) better looking than the tech demo. Although there are a lot of features and effects still to be added to the engine, we've added some screenshots to the gallery to give you an idea of how it's looking so far. The shots are not from a real location in the game, they are simply some test landscapes to check how well the engine is performing, but they still give a good idea about of how the game will look. Obviously the increase in graphical quality over the tech demo has raised the minimum spec of PC that will be required to run MMT, but fear not, the game will be fully configurable to allow it to run on as wide a range of PCs as possible. It's also worth pointing out that by the time MMT is released, the minimum spec required will probably be ancient technology by then!
"
Update for May & June 7/30/2004
In the first of a series of updates, we highlight the progress the project has made during May & June.
Sir Felgar: "To start bringing the site up-to-date I thought it was worth highlighting some of the progress the team has made during May & June (there will be a separate update for July shortly). Note that this is only a selection of what happened during this time, I had to cut out a lot of things to keep the size of the entry down, but it should be sufficient to give you a feel for the kind of progress we're making...
The big news (for me anyway!) during May & June was the release of the first version of the MMT level editor - MMT-Ed. The level editor has been in development for many months and it was a great relief to finally get a first version released. Although the editor still needs a lot of features added, it allows us to start to layout the levels required for the game and test them out in the engine. I also released the first version of the new game engine for MMT in June, and although it still needs a lot of features added it allows us to load levels created in the level editor and test them. As we add new features to the editor, the engine will also be updated to support these features so that we can continually test the levels we are producing.
Rib started expanding the dungeon descriptions in May. With over 45 dungeons listed, many of them only had a name and nothing else (which apparently was sometimes all the level designers on MM6&7 had to go on before designing a dungeon). Now that we have descriptions to work from we're expecting to see some cool dungeons from our level designers in the near future.
Rib also gave us a small preview of her latest creation - the MMT knowledge base. This is basically an MMT encyclopaedia that will eventually contain all the game design elements for easy look-up and cross-reference. This will be a real help to the team, as finding anything in our developer forums amongst the 7500+ posts is now proving difficult (certainly for me anyway!).
Arturchix added more creatures to the already sizeable MMT bestiary and worked out statistics for each of the monsters. Tim helpfully provided the formulas that NWC used to calculate hit points and other stats for monsters in previous M&M games so that we could calculate these automatically. I imagine these values will need to be tinkered with when we get to the play testing stage but it's given us a useful start.
Sir Galrim prouced a first draft of the travel schedule for Karigor. This shows all the coach and ship routes that are available and their timing and journey times.
Stygius turned out models with his usual quality (and quantity!) during these two months. The sheer number of models Stygius has produced for MMT now is amazing - this man is a modelling machine! When you take into account the 2D art and programming that he's also done for us, I don't know where he finds the time - I'm sure he never sleeps! :)
Sagremor created some great monster and NPC models for us during this time (here's a sneak peek). When you add these to the monsters that Stygius and Apus have already created we're starting to get quite a collection!
Apus and Shin-Akuma worked on rendering the interior scenes that you will see when you enter a building. In MM6-8 these were short animations, so far in MMT these are just still images rather than movies. At some point we may decide to do use movies rather than stills. These are looking really good, you can see an example of a completed interior modelled by Apus here.
Sork produced some great concept art for some of the buildings we need for the Serenity outdoor map which Apus and Christian are using to make the building models.
Oren recreated some of his earlier music tracks to use VST instruments. The results are amazing, Oren's already great sounding tracks now sound like they've been recorded by a full orchestra as part of a film soundtrack! The only downside is that each track has to be recreated from scratch, which is time consuming, but I'm sure the final results will make it all worthwhile.
Eiduk started work on another of the dungeons required for the Serenity outdoor map and based on the quality of his previous levels, we can't wait to see this one.
Hipshot spent some time working out the best way to produce natural looking caves (can't have a M&M game without caves!) using gtkRadiant and the end results looked fantastic! He then started on work on one of the cave-based dungeons in MMT and the screenshots we've seen so far look very promising.
DaClassico posted a first batch of potential character portraits for comment which looked great (if not quite elven enough!;)). The portraits are being created by rendering high quality models in Poser and the results are excellent. DaClassico is also rendering the 2D graphics required for the various items that will appear in the inventory and on the paper dolls.
Two new 3D modellers joined the team in June - Christian Noir Stein and Michael. Having seen samples of their previous work we couldn't wait to get them started making models for MMT. I think it's safe to say that Christian & Michael have already made a big impact in the short time they've been here. They've already produced a number of high quality models that we've all been impressed with - expect to see some additions to the gallery soon!
And finally... after a heated discussion in the public forums about why Genies should be allowed to wear boots - Fander managed to unearth evidence that it is indeed possible for Genies to wear boots. We're still evaluating what impact this might have on the gameplay! ;)"
Latest project news 7/27/2004
The last three months have been extremely productive for MMT. Expect a number of updates to the site shortly.
Game | Story | History
Sir Felgar: "You will probably have noticed that the MMT website hasn't been updated for some time now. This does not mean that the MMT project has not been progressing, quite the opposite, over the last three months we've managed to make more progress than at any other time in the project (and recruited another 6 team members along the way!). Over the coming days, we're going to be posting a number of updates to the site to show off some of the great stuff the team has been producing over the last few months. This is not only to make up for the lack of recent updates, but to celebrate the fact it's now one year since the MMT development team was formed. To start the ball rolling we've updated the History section of the site to include a Might & Magic timeline that Rib produced, which shows where MMT fits into the rest of the history of Might & Magic. More updates to the site will be appearing over the coming days so stay tuned!"
Sagremor's concept art 4/30/2004
Sagremor has created some great concept art for us. Check out the examples in the gallery.
Gallery: Concept Art, Sagremor
Sir Felgar: "As well as being one of the 3D modellers on the MMT team, Sagremor has also produced some wonderful concept artwork to help inspire our designers and modellers. A few examples of Sagremor's artwork have been added to the gallery. So as not to spoil any surprises, we're not giving any clues as to the identity of these creatures, we'll leave it up to you to speculate as to what they may be - some are more obvious than others!"
Castle Interior Shots 3/24/2004
New screenshots have been added to the gallery of a castle interior created by Eiduk...
Gallery: Indoors, Castle
Sir Felgar: "Our level designer Eiduk has been hard at work on one of the interior maps for MMT. The screenshots show the interior of a castle which, without giving too much away, plays a large part in the "tribute" element of the game."
IRC channel for MMT 3/14/2004
An official IRC channel has been opened for Might and Magic Tribute on the QuakeNet server...
Sir Felgar: "Thanks to the hard work of Sir Galrim, Progress and the guys at Euro-RPG we now have an official IRC channel for the MMT project. The channel can be found on the QuakeNet server and is called #mmtribute. If you have any problems connecting or are looking for more info about QuakeNet or IRC in general, please look here. Feel free to drop in for a chat sometime! We look forward to meeting you. Please note that the MMT development team are not responsible for the content of the discussions on the MMT channel. We would ask everyone to act in a responsible manner and to follow the standard QuakeNet rules."
New MMT wallpaper added 3/03/2004
Downloads: Wallpaper #4
Shin-Akuma has created a new MMT wallpaper for your desktop, which has been added to the downloads.
Sir Felgar: "Shin-Akuma, another of our team's talented 3D modellers, has created a new MMT wallpaper for your desktop. This one shows the 6 playable races that are available in MMT. The wallpaper is 1024 x 768 resolution. Click on the thumbnail below to open it in a new window and then right click and choose either 'Set as Background' or 'Save Picture As...'. "
From concept art to... 2/27/2004
...in-game graphics. New screenshots have been added to the gallery to illustrate the process.
Gallery: Concept Art, Concept to Graphics
Sir Felgar: "In a recent news article we highlighted how beneficial it has been to have a concept artist join the MMT team. To further highlight this, we've added new screenshots to the gallery to illustrate the process we're using to get from concept art to 2D graphics (in this case for use as inventory items, specifically staffs). For the gallery example, Sorky created the Staffs artwork from her own imagination, and Stygius had the models created and rendered a few days later. From that point on it was a fairly simple job to create inventory item graphics as required."
New music track available! 2/06/2004
Our music composer Oren has been hard at work on the MMT soundtrack with great results...
Downloads: Music Track #2
Sir Felgar: "Our music composer Oren has been hard at work over the last months converting the tracks he's already produced for MMT to use Virtual Studio Technology instruments. VST's are samples of instruments which are used in Cubase (the recording program used to create the music for MMT). The quality of music Cubase produces when used with VST instruments is deemed to be as good as using an actual live orchestra in Hollywood. Some of the biggest names in Hollywood are producing music for blockbuster films with this same technology. Soundtracks for films such as Pearl Harbour, Swordfish, Shrek and Gladiator were created entirely using Cubase VST. The difference in the quality of the music now over the plain MIDI tracks is amazing! Oren's music now sounds like a movie soundtrack and we can't wait to hear more!"
Outdoor Architecture 2/06/2004
Screenshots added to the gallery of some of the great outdoor architecture that will feature in the game.
Gallery: Outdoors, Architecture
Sir Felgar: "We've added a few screenshots to the gallery of some of the outdoor architecture that will feature in the game. These were created for us by our 3D modeller Stygius, and are just a small selection of the many models he's made for us so far. As well as creating the models from scratch, Stygius also creates his own textures, and I'm sure you'll agree the results are fantastic! It's worth noting that these screenshots are not renders from modelling software. These shots are all taken from our MMT model viewer program that allows us to see how models will look in the final game, what you see here is exactly how they will look in-game..."
Concept art revealed! 2/06/2004
Some excellent examples of concept art for the Might & Magic Tribute project have been added to the gallery.
Gallery: Concept Art, Sorknes
Sir Felgar: "We recently invited Sorknes to join the Might & Magic Tribute project as a concept artist. We had many things (places, buildings, characters, monsters etc.) for which we had only descriptions (and sometimes only a name!), and Sorky has started to bring some of them to life through her artwork.
This has been invaluable for our modellers and artists to help create the necessary models and art required for the game and has helped the whole team visualise how things are going to look in the final game. In the short time she's been in the team Sorky has already produced many pieces of concept art. A few examples of these have been uploaded to the gallery."
First MMT Wallpapers released 2/06/2004
Our 3D modeller / artist Stygius has created a first set of MMT wallpapers.
Downloads: Wallpapers #1,2,3
Sir Felgar: "Stygius, one of MMT's 3D Modeller/2D artists has created three excellent MMT wallpapers for your windows desktop. Each wallpaper is 1024 x 768 resolution. Click on each of the thumbnails to open them in a new window and then right click and choose either 'Set as Background' or 'Save Picture As...'."
MMT website officially open 2/06/2004
It's been a long time coming, but the MMT website has finally arrived!
Website (old location)
Sir Felgar: "After a long wait, the Might & Magic Tribute website has finally arrived!
First off we'd like to thank DaClassico for all his hard work designing and scripting the site. It's taken a long time and a lot of hard work to create the site we wanted to see, but we think it's been worth it in the end. If you're new to the Might & Magic Project then welcome, enjoy your visit and be sure to give us feedback about both the site and the project itself. If you're a regular in our forums you'll recognise a lot of the content on the site that was previously posted in the forums, however we've got lots of new stuff to show you - screenshots, concept art, desktop wallpapers and a fantastic new music track by Oren. We plan to update the site regularly with new content and we've already got a number of things lined up to appear in the coming weeks, so be sure to check back regularly...
MMT music track released! 1/29/2004
Our first music track available for download was originally released in October 2003.
Downloads: Music Track #3
Sir Felgar: "To give everyone a taste of the quality of music you can expect to hear in MMT we've made available for download one of the wonderful tracks that our composer Oren is producing for us.
For me, one of the highlights of M&M games has always been the quality of the musical score and I'm happy to say that Oren is certainly carrying on this tradition!"
MMT Tech demo 1/18/2004
The MMT Tech Demo was originally released in July 2003 to test the feasibility of creating a Tribute game.
Downloads: Tech Demo
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