Were it not for the well timed assistance of Wastelands Interactive, Worlds of Magic may have ended it’s life as little more than an idea. Worlds of Magic, as you may recall from our prior coverage, is an upcoming 4X fantasy game that hopes to channel the spirit of the classic Microprose game, Master of Magic. Alive and well, Worlds of Magic is progressing steadily according to developer Aaron Ethridge’s recent radio interview with KTAM radio. At a bit over an hour long, this interview reveals numerous details about the game, its origins, and its future. If you’re interested in the game, or perhaps in the story of how the idea became a game, the interview is certainly worth a listen.
While the interview itself contains a lot of details, what you may be most interested in is where the game is heading in the near future. Aaron notates that they are currently aiming for a launch on Steam Early Access this September. For Early Access, the plan is to have 4 of the 8 races completed and in-game, including the Grey Elves, High Men, Unhallowed, and the Draconians. Each race will have 9 unique units, not including any ships. 200 of the roughly 400 planned spells should be present. Heroes themselves will be in the game, though likely without their custom models. Crafting is nearly completed as well. What about the AI though, will there be an AI to contend with? Well…
The interview reveals that the AI has been in development for a few months already, but is admittedly the biggest challenge still before them. The ideal, as Aaron states, is to have each AI develop a strategy based on the spell circles and abilities available to them. They’re not thinking purely of other Sorcerer Lords though, as wandering monsters and independent cities should be pursuing their own goals and objectives as well. Independent cities may even launch their own military efforts and become significant challenges if left alone too long. While certainly an admirable goal, I can see this also being a very daunting one.
While Early Access should start this September, full release won’t come until at least February 2015 at this point. This allows the team time to take EA feedback into account. In addition, it allows them to avoid launching a head to head campaign against other AAA 4X games like Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth.
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A lot of things need to improve, change or be drastically made more efficient in order for this title to come CLOSE to competing with the likes of Endless Legend or Fallen Enchantress.
I did not agree to any NDA or sign anything and have had some experience with this title. It seems like a real nice group of developers, but the game feels archaic, outdated and just not able to compete.
Sorry.
hi devildog, could you elaborate further on that, why do you think its archaic or outdated? i am thinking about getting this when it hits steam EA but if you say that its basically not worth the money and has nothing better / new or rather fresh over FE:LH, AoW3 or EL then i might pass.
thanks :).
I don’t recommend Early Access as a general rule, and in this case I agree with Devildog. Worlds of Magic still needs a fair amount of work, and if you are looking for an enjoyable experience, I’d wait until release and then check out reviews first.
It is still pretty rough around the edges to be honest, but perhaps by February (or longer) the game will be polished up. I’ve certainly not given up hope. Games can change a lot in the last few months of polishing. The game is still alpha at this point.
I also agree Legendary Heroes is a lot of fun and my impressions of Endless Legend are positive so far.
Edit: I should add that Worlds of Magic is clearly going to be closer to a Master of Magic experience. For that reason alone it is worth watching, but it needs more time in the oven so to speak.
Hmm I backed this one on their campaign so I wonder if it will be any good. It didn’t say if backers will get auto-access to the EA on Steam or not. On the note of Fallen Enchantres this game absolutely didn’t work for me at all even the Legendary Heroes DLC. I found it completely bland and tedious game so I hope this one will be better. Also both AoW3 and Warlock 2 have been rather mixed if not to say disappointing so I think it has good chances to at least surpass those.
My impression was that all backers would have access prior to the Early Access launch, but I could be mistaken.
Well their heart’s in the right place at least. Good luck to them and hopefully a little (or even a lot) of that MOM magic rubs off. I have to agree with Keith’s sentiments though, no early access for me, this title will only be judged by its final release and subsequent reviews.
I have a few titles on my Steam account that are no longer available for sale due to the issues they had. Unfortunately I learned the hard way the risks of going intp preordering/early access blind.
All the Backers will get the access to the EA.
Thanks for the confirmation, Leszek.
So now the games are all released when they reach early beta at best, and late alpha most of the time?
Good days ahead! Finish your homework, then show your product, devs! Stop selling it when half (or a third) done!
It has potential. Yep, never heard of that before :)
But seriously let’s wait and see. I think this’ll end up pretty good.
Aaron talks a lot, but I’m afraid of the game. MoM was a great game, with a today called PvP- and an PvE-world (Arcanus and Myrror), with a god like spellsystem that rules the world and counter to all strategies. MoM is very rich of different and interesting game mechanics and equipped with a great random factor. I don’t know, if Aaron has the game well analysed. D20-System, magical spheres like destruction, seven worlds: I think not. He is only a fan with a dream.
I have late alpha access. It’s a great game. Love it. Beautifully presented.
Having said that, it needs a lot of AI, stability and performance work. High hopes though.