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- We listen to the fans
We find out why the Heroes series is back. PC

BUDAPEST (Gamer.no): When an interview appointment opens with a five minute chat about what I thought about the part of a game I tested, then it may indicate several things. An obvious reflex is one of these decorated public relations-assaults where you as a journalist is to be injected with enthusiasm and love and raised on a pedestal. These are probably harder to detect than the better stepbrother: genuine love for the product.

I sat down with assistant producer Max Von Knorring and chief board designer Julien Pirou, both employees of the publisher Ubisoft, to chat about the next chapter in one of history's highest esteemed strategy franchises. There was never any doubt that the enthusiasm was genuine, and the game felt better than the series has been a long time. The interview made it instantly clear why.

Listening to users
- This franchise has a host of very enthusiastic and dedicated fans. How do you communicate with the user base?

Julien: - The first thing we did was to create a separate VIP forum for 25 selected fans, writers of Heroes fan sites, people who have created their own content to the game and the like. Here we discuss what they want to see in a new game. Something you should know about the fans of these games is that they are very scattered. You have young and old players, as well as 30 per cent girls. That is a very high number for a strategy game for PC.

Max: - One thing worth noting is that people like this series of widely different reasons, and all have different favorites. Therefore, we have initiated a relationship of trust with the selected group. We showed them among other things an early draft of the skill system, which was much simpler and more like the one in Diablo. The feedback we got was that we missed the series's essence, which are many profound choices and flexibility. So we rejected it.

- You really deleted the whole thing and started all over again?

Max: - Simply! We mixed many of their proposals with the best of our system, and entered into a compromise. Some of the skills you see in the system are in fact direct suggestions from some of our users. We are extremely pleased with their feedback, and have ongoing contact. We have actually flown them over to bot工口GAMEscom (annual gaming trade show in Cologne, journ.'s note) and this event [Budapest], where we eat dinner together, talk and and let them try the game.

Streamlined
- And many of them have strong views on your previous interpretation of the series, Heroes of Might & Magic V. What did you do wrong with that game?

Julien: - Let me first make it clear that I was hired after the development of Heroes 5, so I can speak as a fan. The game was primarily released after too little polishing and with many "bugs". It was also unbalanced. I was a big fan of the game, and made many maps for it, but I did not quite enjoy it until after three patches and two additions.

Max: - Another problem was that we introduced the 3D map, with rotation and a very flexible camera. This meant that resources could be hidden behind the buildings and surroundings. This confused the players a lot. Now we have been inspired by the Heroes of Might & Magic 3 again, and it creates a far less ambiguous and more understandable map.

- After having played a little it seems that you stray a bit from the series' strategy roots, by among other things smaller maps and the ability to enter the various cities. How correct is this?

Julien: - Firstly, I think maybe we have the biggest game maps in the series so far, but the size will obviously vary a lot. I think that things might be perceived as closer, then. In the first three games of the series everything was observed from a distance, and the surroundings seemed like icons rather than actual surroundings. Now everything is viewed much closer.

Max: - You talked about the ability to see your buildings in full screen as they are built, and it's true that this is removed. We know that this was popular among the players, but how annoying it is not with a one second long pause every time you build something? After a couple of missions you're fed up. You can still see an accurate representation of your city in the new, smaller menu. At the same time some of the buildings, among other the unique ones, are shown on the world map so that other players can actually learn about your bases by seeing them.

Major challenges
- At the same time you have introduced boss fights for the first time in the series. What purpose do they serve?

Julien: - They are there primarily to vary the fights, which was very important to us. This is something we have taken further to other types of fights, where among other things, you have to protect or kill a certain unit in a set number of rounds. Final Boss is a part of an effort to spice up this part of the game. These battles require new strategies, such as using an object at the right time to penetrate the defenses of the enemy, and will test how much you have learned.

- My first thought is that you have been inspired by similar appearances in massive online games. Is this true?

Max: - It is true certainly for some of the fights, and the one you have tried is a good example. All matches will be different and require different strategies. At the same time it lets us be more creative with the story and set up obstacles that are not only common enemies.

Julien: - But this is not really a completely new concept in Heroes purposes. In the latest expansion pack for Heroes of Might & Magic III one introduced seven new dragons that were far harder than other enemies. In many of the levels of that game the goal was often times to kill a neutral enemy cluster to win. The difference is that we have now given them unique patterns and new properties.

- Can we expect to see the boss battles in multiplayer as well?

Max: - We have not actually come to a solution on this yet, and you would actually have to ask Black Hole Games about this. It would certainly be cool, and we nagged much about it, but it all depends on how much time we get. You can write that we are working hard to get it merged into the multiplayer part, so we'll see what we get the time to do.

Taking the series back
- Over to something else, the story seems to be far more in focus than before. Why?

Max: - There is a focus on the story in this game, and there's a good reason for that. In Heroes V the story was made by the Russian developer Nivale, and Ubisoft was set to write dialogues when they had developed this comprehensive world with a rich history. Now the control is back with us again, and that's probably a reason why we put more emphesis on it. This is finally our project again.

Julien: - Another reason is probably the team we're working with right now. We have four talented writers who have been inspired by great works such as A Song of Ice and Fire, one of them also has a background as a scriptwriter for comics. We play with the plot twist and meta-plot to create a coherent story across the various campaigns.

- And have you received feedback from the players to indicate that they actually care about the story in these games?

Julien - I think users are split roughly down the middle. Half are very interested in mythology and make wiki-pages to gather all possible background information that even we have forgotten. The other half do not care and only want to play the game. By balancing story and gameplay and we will please both types of players. By introducing a bad history and brilliant game play only one of them will be content.

- These games have always been part of a heroic fantasy universe, and I think a lot of the appeal has been there. By building on this and merging it into a good story, I think we add a new dimension.

- How has the collaboration with Black Hole worked for you in Ubisoft?

Max: - Very good! They have supergod experience in strategy and tactical games as they have developed Warhammer: Mark of Chaos and the Armies of Exigo. They had much experience with fantasy games, a good game engine and not the least - a good workflow. They have previously worked wit工口GAMEs Workshop on the Warhammer license, and they are extremely picky on how their concept is treated. Therefore, they are used to deliver quality work on notime.