Might & Magic 10 - A Medieval/Fantasy/Sci-fi RPG Computer Game (World Map Needed!)

[MMXAlamar]

Hey cartographers! This is a really cool site, and I'm glad I found it because I may find exactly the person I'm looking for here!

I'm a member of a fan-based, nonprofit development team of the sequel to the 9th installment of the popular Might & Magic RPG series. Ubisoft, the current owners of the Might & Magic franchise, have stated that they will not be continuing the Might & Magic RPG series from where it left off in Might & Magic IX (The Writ of Fate), so a group of dedicated M&M fans have taken the project into their own fans.

If you're interested in some of the material we've developed so far-
-Here is our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Might-...34591446605146
-And here are the Might & Magic X forums: http://www.thegaminguniverse.org/for...hp?board=211.0

Time Constraints
None as of now! We are running on a very loose schedule, although I would expect that it wouldn't take longer than a few weeks for a busy cartographer to help us design our world map.

Style of Map
I have come here because I am in need of a skilled cartographer to help draft out and design our world map. I'm thinking of making the map in the style of the MM9 map of Chedian - Here is a quite large (1500 x 1157) version of MM9's map of Chedian: http://www.heroworld.net/artwork/map/mm9_Chedian.jpg. If you would like to have the freedom of designing it with your own artwork, we can definitely talk about doing that. I am completely open to a different style of map than in MM9's Chedian.

Description of Map
I'm not able to disclose our maps directly, but I will be happy to share our top secret maps with you through email or messenger, so you can help us design our world!

Contact Information
If anyone is interested in helping us out, please contact me on my email at MMXAlamar@gmail.com, or on MSN/Windows Live Messenger at Defender_of_VARN@hotmail.com.

Important Note: Even though you will not be paid for your artwork, we will make sure to feature your name and any affiliation in the finished game's credits.

Thank you very much!
~A.

[Ramah]

Sounds like an interesting project, MMXAlamar. Despite this being unpaid I am sure you will get some takers for this. I'd like to help myself but I just don't have the time I'm afraid. Good luck finding your cartographer.

[MMXAlamar]

Thanks for the kind words Ramah! I've noticed that these forums are recently active, unlike some of the other ones I've visited, so I'm very confident I'll find a dedicated mapmaker to help us work on Might & Magic X. There is a lot to be done, and not enough developers to do everything ourselves.

[jtougas]

Sounds interesting. I'm curious about copyright however.

[MMXAlamar]

Sounds interesting. I'm curious about copyright however.

OK, let me explain some of the legal stuff. It's possible that the game may turn into a "mod" version of MM6/7/8, because we don't have the rights to distribute any Might & Magic branded material. Several mods for both Might & Magic 6 and Might & Magic 7 have already been made, and can be found along with our project at Celestial Heavens here: http://www.celestialheavens.com/foru...ic.php?t=10622.

We do, however, have the freedom to design artwork and things such as landmass, overland areas, and dungeons using the game's original engine (Horizon). There are complications with this, so we are thinking about switching engines and going with an open-source one. If we continue to use the Horizon engine, a copy of MM6/7/8 will be required by the gamer in order to install Might & Magic 10. Either way, because of all of the copyrights to the franchise owned by Ubisoft, we will neither be able to charge people money to buy MM10, nor be able to spend money on our project, because we won't have any possible income to compensate for our losses.

Ubisoft has also made it clear that they were scrapping the old universe in which the Might & Magic games take place (for those of you who know M&M, Enroth & Axeoth have been replaced with the world of Ashan), so Ubi will not being making an MM10. This doesn't mean they won't be making a brand new Might & Magic RPG in the future, but it certainly won't be in the legacy that Might & Magic 10 is set in.

As for the world map, and the other maps that we will need in the future, these will fall under the "artwork" category, or more appropriately "fan art", so I highly doubt anyone will go around complaining about copyrights. In essence, the old Might & Magic legacy can be categorized as something along the lines of "owned abandonware."

In the best case scenario, we could strike a deal and affiliate with Ubisoft, and sell Might & Magic 10 through them, gaining some of the royalties as well. Perhaps it would be in their best interest if we make the game good enough. That would allow Ubisoft to make some free revenue, minus the costs of advertising.

-A.

[jtougas]

Thanks for the clarification.

[MMXAlamar]

Hey, I'm not sure how long it normally takes to get an unpaid map request filled, but I want to let you all know that I'm checking in on this thread very frequently. Hopefully somebody can volunteer some time to join our team as a mapmaker!

[ravells]

Hi max, if you go to your settings you can get the forum to notify you by email if there is a reply here so you don't need to come back and check regularly. As to how long it will take, it's a complete lottery. Anything from a few hours to a few months to not at all.

[tilt]

Sounds like an interesting project indeed - I hope you get some takers ... personally I can barely get time to make my own maps at the moment

[Redrobes]

This sounds like an interesting project. I am also real busy with day job plus MeDem and a host of otther things too but I would have liked to have helped out. I am curious about one thing. The map style is like the Chedian example but the shape - is it completely up for grabs ? Is it a random like map with that style ?

Even if you cant describe the map, can you say what sort of data you have to guide the process. Is it a text description, an outline, a greyscale height map or a piece of artwork to match up to.

We can do what is known as forced perspective to get that 3D look and I can get a script to generate quite a lot of the map then it needs more touching up and embellishing with the text, characters and other non terrain bits of it. The scripting bit I could do quite quickly if that helps you get started. Some people like to make the whole map from scratch tho if they are going to sign up to do it.