Indie developers Wastelands Interactive and Lucid Dreamers are working on a new fantasy turn-based 4X strategy game meant to become a spiritual successor to Steve Barcia’s Master of Magic, called Worlds of Magic.
“We hope to make Worlds of Magic something unique but familiar. Something with new mechanics and exciting features that, at the same time, reminds gamers of the good old days.”. ~Wastelands Interactive
The game has been under development for about a year, and now the indie devs turn to Kickstarter seeking funds to complete their title, which should happen from January 2014 onwards. They already have some pre-alpha screenshots where they show off the tactical combat. But, unfortunately, there’s no footage showing the main map view as of yet.
Main features include:
- D20 System: Units, Spells (200) and Heroes (25) in D20 rules during tactical battle;
- 4X playability: Explore, exploit, expand and exterminate in a universe of magic;
- Hero Units: Recruit powerful, artifact wielding heroes to lead your forces into battle;
- Units gain experience: All military units gain levels and become more powerful;
- Unique Races: 6 Races featuring exclusive units (8 per faction) and play style;
- Multiple victory conditions: Make war, establish trade or use peace as a weapon;
- Procedurally generated universe: Each game is different, each universe unique;
- Multilanguage: English, Polish, and Spanish confirmed. More languages coming soon.
Wastelands Interactive and Lucid Dreamers’ Worlds of Magic proposal in a nutshell:
- 4X turn-based strategy
- High Fantasy setting (inspired by Master of Magic)
- Windows PC
- DRM-free (box or digital)
- ETA: Q4 2013 (beta); Jan 2014 (release)
- Target: £30,000 (May 2nd, 9:00 EDT)
- £9 (~$14) pledge to get digital game / £22 (~$33) for physical copy
- Why Kickstarter: Help fund art assets; speed up overall development; grow the game’s community
These surely are great times for fantasy 4X strategy enthusiasts. Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes, Age of Wonders 3 and Eador: Masters of the Broken World coming soon, and now this Worlds of Magic possibility. Now that’s quite a list for so short period of time.
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Wasteland interactive? Sounds familiar but are they the guys who made time of fury or that strategic war in europe game?
Yep, they are the ones. Both games. Have you played any of those?
Hmmm. Ok, I heard mixed things about their wargames. On one hand its deep enough to be entertaining but on the other hand they have been criticized for being a watered down Hearts of Iron 3.
I just wish they wont have matrix as their publisher. I mean one pf their games cost around $30 at matrix while I think it was around $15-$20 at gamersgate.
Cross my fingers they will offer something unique. This year I will replace my commander’s baton with a magic staff due to the sheer numbers of fantasy games coming out.
As for their games, I went with battlefront’s strategic command series as I think the depth of their games are similar but many recommended me battlefront’s game. I think it is also around the level of Commander:europe at war from slitherine. I think their game in terms of complexity is in between Beer and pretzels like Panzer General series and the complex Gary Grigsby’s war in the east and Hearts of Iron 3.
Noooooo… So many games, so little cash. :( Pledged on Kickstarter on the hopes this gets really good, as in “Master of Magic” kind of good.
Wow guys, I think between LOTR, GoT, Elder Scrolls, Warcraft, and countless others, the whole medieval sword and sorcery thing is starting to maybe wear a bit thin. Still in all, there’s always room for a new game if it’s good. Worlds of Magic does look interesting and I will definitely keep it on my radar scope, though my money this year is definitely on Age of Wonders 3.
Speaking of Sword and Sorcery, I’d be curious to hear what SS thinks of Guild Wars 2. Geek magazine listed it as their current fav game. I’ve been playing it recently, and actually have been finding it more to my liking than the sometimes hardcore and grindy Secret World.
Speaking of MMO’s, is Cryptic going to give SS a sneak peak at the playable Romulans? ;)
Yes, it’s incredible the amount of creative work that originated from Tolkien’s lore. And, we don’t seem to get enough of it. Amazing.
I’m definitely going to play some serious fantasy 4X this year. Perhaps it’s Legendary Heroes? Age of Wonders 3? And, what about Eador: Masters of the Broken World? And, now Worlds of Magic… We’re in luck, as Keith will let us know where should we spend our money and time.
Guild Wars 2? I don’t doubt that it may be a great game but I’m afraid it’s quite outside of the site’s scope to cover John.
I should definitely check out Star Trek games more. And there’s the new shooter one to come out this month. Thanks for the tip ;)
Yes, it’s going to be a busy year of 4x fantasy games. I’ll be working hard to help everyone make informed decisions. I think it’s safe to say with all the upcoming titles that at least one of them is going to end up fulfilling a person’s 4x fantasy needs. Which title that is may be different for everyone, but I’m hoping they all end up being fantastic. In which case I ask only for a time machine kickstarter so I can take the time to enjoy them all for a long time to come.
Well I was aware this game was being developed, but I didn’t know exactly what they were planning to do with it until I read through the kickstarter.
I found the video a bit short, unfortunately. While I enjoyed the (very brief) descriptions given about the spell circles and the planes, I wish it had gone more in depth into the other features it is going to have that separate it from the rest of the pack.
Once I read the description of the game below, I felt quite a bit better about what they have on offer. A few key things jumped out at me, including the “Artificer” ability to create artifacts, which was a nice feature of MoM. 300 spells sounded like a good step towards MoM territory.
I played a lot of AD&D 2nd Edition games, and some Pen & Paper with it as well, but I’m not entirely sure what the OGL D20 system is. I read a bit more about it, on the Wizards of the Coast site, and I now understand it is a rule set compatible with AD&D 4th Edition, at least I think. I can’t speak to how good or bad this system is or how well it fits into a game of this genre.
I’m excited to hear and see more. There was a time when a “MoM” successor announcement would have been backed instantly, but this year in particular the competition in the fantasy 4x genre is very tough. They need to really emphasize what they have that makes their game experience unique when compared to the competition. I wish these guys all the best as they seem to have some great ideas. I hope when they provide more info more people will start backing.
well, though I haven’t played any of their games as traditional wargames are definetely not my cup of tea (anymore), I think I’ll back their fantasy 4x project. I agree with Keith that the video and the whole KS presentation could have been better in terms of introducing the game to the public and conveying an idea of what it is about. I suppose kickstarter is used mainly as a PR vehicle to grow the game’s community. If they aim at an early 2014 release, I suppose they are at least in the pre-alpha-phase and should be able to show some gameplay footage. This would help a lot to attract more people.
Hello all,
We are planning frequent updates to the project with more detailed information about the game system.
We have used the KS mostly to raise the funds for asset and the same speed up the game development.
Please follow our project, Facebook site and visit our forum to get more and more info about the game.
We are also hoping that SS will keep you updated about the important aspects of the game.
Instant Buy!!
Master of Magic was my favourite game…
I hope they will introduce the two world system too.
I loved to hop between the underworld and upper worlds..
I recently played MoM on DosBox.. still a great game!
We are still playing the original MoM (I could even say that the lead designer is kind of addicted).
Harry, we are going to implement some more worlds into the game, there is going to be 7 different types of them, and you can choose how many to have in the game
Thanks..I pledged you ..
I will play the beta.. And remind you on that.
But I think 7 is a little bit overkill.. The two complete different worlds was enough..
Do you really mean 7 worldmaps and portals to all of them?
Harry,
yes this what I meant.