Masters of Magic remake: Beta testers wanted

[The_J]

Masters of Magic is one of the strategy classics out there, dating back to 1994, and having also been described as a fantasy version of Civ.
The wargaming publisher Slitherine is working on a remake of it, to be released this year.
The game seems to include a hex-based overview map, turn-based combat, city management and spell research.
In their latest dev diary, Slitherine has announced that they are looking for beta-testers.
If you are curious about this game, you can sign up here for the beta-test.

 

[The_J]

I personally think this is definitely one of the games to watch for this year.

I guess also @Blake00 might be very interested ^^.

 

[sherbz]

I might check this out. I played a bit of MOM back in the day. And was a big fan of Lords of Magic, even though it had many flaws. And its a gem thats crying out for a bit of love.

 

[Blake00]

Oh indeed I am mate! The beta test application is all the talk over in the Master of Magic fan groups I run and especially the official MoM groups too!

This reminds me.. I actually had a Master of Magic Remake thread over in the CFC other Civ related games forum which I haven't updated for a while with the latest dev diaries!

But I'll stick them here too for anyone interested in seeing all the previous 8 dev diary updates!

Eight dev diary
http://muhagames.com/master-of-magic-dev-diary-8-february-2022/



Seventh dev diary
http://muhagames.com/master-of-magic-dev-diary-7-january-2022/



Sixth dev diary
http://muhagames.com/mom-dev-diary-6-december-2021/



Fifth dev diary
http://muhagames.com/dev-diary-5-november-2021/



Fourth dev diary
http://muhagames.com/mom-dev-diary-4-october-2021/



Third dev diary
https://muhagames.com/mom-dev-diary-3-september-2021/



Second dev diary
http://muhagames.com/mom-dev-diary-2-august-2021/


First dev diary
http://muhagames.com/dev-diary-1-june-2021/

 

[sherbz]

I signed up for this

 

[Blake00]

Tenth MuHa dev diary for the official Master of Magic remake is here. This one contains a nice dev team Q&A based on questions the community sent in. We also get to see the updated city screen which those with a keen eye will notice little citizens going about their business (with animation according to the interview). The games extreme modability allowing fans to redesign MoM in their own way is mentioned a few times too.

http://muhagames.com/dev-diary-10-april-2022/

 

[Blake00]

Just been thrown an inside tip on something very cool coming, as many of us MoM fans have have been asking for this. On this Tuesday 10/05/2022 3pm CEST (GMT+2) Slitherine will be live streaming their latest 'Home of Wargamers' event from Venice on their Twitch channel, and what makes this one extra special is that they will be kicking it off by showing live gameplay video footage of the official Master of Magic remake for the first time! Instead of screenshots we're finally going to see this thing in action!
https://www.slitherine.com/news/home-of-wargamers-2022-schedule-announcement
#HOWlive2022 seems to be the hash they're using.

 

[Blake00]

For those that missed the Slitherine event last Tuesday and don't want to sift through the whole stream here's just the Master of Magic Remake gameplay video part:

 

[sherbz]

I guess now the beta is over i am no longer bound by the NDA. I was a playtester for this. I made a few suggestions. IMO the game is a fairly faithful reincarnation of the original. However, it has duplicated the bad along with the good. The end game is a chore (like it was in the original). And you spend forever getting to a point when you can actually do something, so the mid game is slow and not much interesting happens. And by the time interesting stuff does start to happen the AI is so inept the game is pretty damn easy in any case. So it boils down to whether you get rolled over early in the piece. Which doesnt make for a very fun game IMO. Its a shame, but its a miss from me - 3/10. Better games of a similar vein include:

Endless legend
Age of wonders
HOMM 3 + 4 + 5 + 6
Lords of magic enhanced edition (i really wish someone would make a sequel of this)

Id rather play any of those over this.

 

[Blake00]

Yeah I run the Master of Magic fans Discord and while it's been plenty active as usual, ALL the chatting is in the classic Master of Magic, Caster of Magic and fan game project areas.. the MoM remake chat has been dormant for 4 weeks.. 4 friggin weeks... and that last convo 4 weeks ago was initiated by me when I posted about receiving the physical edition of the remake in PIECES in the mail. :/

Nearly everyone in my community bought the remake, yet within a month or 2 of release no one is talking about it anymore. Not a good sign.
Although admittedly a lot of them were beta testers like you so they were probably already reasonably burnt out by the time it was released.

 

[Blake00]

What was the general consensus on why the game didn't take off? I know the art assets are controversial in some communities, others wanted CoM, some argued some of the cooler magic wasn't there, etc.

Yeah its visual appearance is the most common complaint I hear. A lot of people didn't like the UI, felt the 3D was low budget, and noticed all cutscenes were gone. I saw a lot of the diehard fans complain about some of their gameplay/balance changes (eg making units faster). There was certainly a contingent of fans who felt it should have Caster of Magic's features however they were usually shot down pretty quick but most MoM fans who believed CoM features are best left to an addon instead of 'forcing everyone' to play CoM style only.

Hopefully their patches, addons and DLC will help improve the game's image as right now I think a lot of the core fanbase are happy to continue playing the original whereas lots of new (optional) content and good modding tools (which they say is coming) will certainly change things.

And speaking which it looks like the addon content is kicking off lol! They've just annouced a new free update for the new Master of Magic called "Through the Myrror" is coming adding a number of new things, and they've revealed the first of them which is a new myrran nature Wizard Tlachtga, the Goblin druid.

Master of Magic - Master of Magic: Through the Myrror free update will arrive on the 9th of March - Steam News

Master of Magic players, brace yourselves for a magical journey like no other! A new free update, "Through the Myrror," will arrive on the 9th of March, and it brings with it a host of new challenges, opportunities, and new Wizards. We introduce you to the first new Wizard: Tlachtga, the goblin...

store.steampowered.com

 

[sherbz]

The art isn't great I admit. It's pretty in its own way I suppose. But it looks washed out. It would have been better if it was darker and more gothic. A bit like the art style in vampire survivors.

 

[Blake00]

Yeah it used be to be even more washed out but fans complained and they turned up the colours lol. However the 3D terrain just isn't detailed enough and often looks like a rolling carpet. After lots of complaints they tried to pack in more decoration which helped but it's still pretty boring looking compared to similar modern games out there.

The above announcement of course had everyone thinking "there must be a goblin race coming" and sure enough now that's been announced too...

Master of Magic - Master of Magic: Through the Myrror - Deep Dive #1 - New race - Steam News

Introducing a new race in Master of Magic: Through the Myrror free update - the Goblins

store.steampowered.com

 

[Blake00]

FYI have posted a whole bunch of news on the master of magic remake and the fan projects over in the other MoM news thread here:

[MoM] - Official Master of Magic Remake

Ahh yes I forgot to post in here that it's out now! Here's the release announcement trailer that @The_J may wish to post in the news. Now, as the new Master of Magic is released, what are your thoughts and impressions about the new game ? I am considering to buy it, but it needs free 10 GB...

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