World Map Sketches for Might & Magic X

[MMXAlamar]

My dear cartographers,

I am working on an RPG game development project called Might & Magic X: Children of the Void (M&MX for short), which has been a work-in-progress for the past six years. We are entirely nonprofit and volunteer-based, so things have been going slow, but we do have big plans for the future release of M&MX, which will eventually be available for free download. We are keeping the game 100% nonprofit because we don't own the rights to the "Might and Magic" brand name.

The world map is an essential part in our development, and the game's completion is highly dependent on having a straightforward and well put together world map. I respectfully ask that a master cartographer donate his or her precious time and skills to help us create a professional and detailed world map. M&MX is a highly professional project and we currently have thousands of game assets completed by professional graphic artists. We would be greatly honored to work with one of you on this very important world map, which will be released to the entire Might and Magic community upon completion.

Thank you very much for your attention and please read the rest of the thread for more details!

Might and Magic X - World Map of Iranesia

Time Constraints
We are perfectly willing to negotiate a deadline based on the artist's personal schedule and availability of free time.

Style
We would like the style of this map to be in the same fashion as the previous maps of Might and Magic games.
The following are some examples:

• Map of Erathia ( MM7 )
• Map of Jadame ( MM8 )
• Beta Map of Ashan

Description of Map

The sketches you are about to see have never before been released to the world. They are the drawings of a map that has been lost for almost a decade, but has recently resurfaced by the original artist. The maps I am about to show you are completely unique, and the only complete maps ever made of the game Heroes of Might & Magic IV.

iranesialandmass.png iranesiaoceans.png

Important Note: These images are scaled down, and the map files for the cartographer who works on this project will be full-sized, at around 16MB.

Quality and Size
We expect professional quality for this map, but realize that even non-professionals can make great looking maps. This will be a matter that is discussed between us and the artist so that we may find a mutual understanding.
Ideally, we expect a nice looking map done in high resolution. It will be required for the web and approximately 1200 x 1000 pixels.

Copyright
The artist will share the copyright with Might & Magic X: Children of the Void. The finished map must be open-source and available to the public. It will be available for use anywhere, and for any purpose, including other fan games. This is an effort to keep M&MX completely nonprofit.

Contact
If interested, please respond to me here, by private message, or by email (MMXAlamar@gmail.com).

Thank you, and feel free to ask any questions you like!

Sincerely,
MMX Alamar

[MMXAlamar]

I am still looking for a mapmaker, and I hope I will find one soon! Here's some info on our Game Design for those who are curious:

M&MX Game Design Overview

Background on the Might and Magic Series

Might and Magic is one of the longest running Role Playing Game series ever. The series was originally created, singlehandedly, by Jon Van Caneghem, who founded the company New World Computing in 1986 with the release of Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum. The series abruptly ended in 2003 with the game Heroes of Might and Magic IV: Winds of War when 3DO (NWC's parent company) filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Might and Magic was later sold to Ubisoft Entertainment, circa 2006, where they are continuing to develop the franchise alongside Nival Interactive.

Even with the poor receptions of the last two incarnations of the Might and Magic RPG, there is still a large, rabid fan base that continues to play and celebrate the 10+ year old games in the RPG series. As of 2011, Ubisoft continues to release Might and Magic related titles, including King's Bounty: Legions and Might & Magic Heroes VI.

The Might & Magic X Design Team

There is absolutely no indication of Ubisoft developing a Might and Magic X, and five years have already passed, therefore the Might & Magic X (M&MX) Design Team has decided to take the endeavor into our own hands as a completely nonprofit game development project. Upon its completion, M&MX will be released for free, downloadable distribution, solely online, and will be designed primarily to run on the Windows platform in English.

The developers of M&MX have no affiliation whatsoever with New World Computing, 3DO, and Ubisoft Entertainment, and are an independent group of game developers with the sole purpose of gaining experience in the field of game design, while creating a brand new game that will act as a fan made continuation of the famous Might and Magic series.

Core Gameplay Aspects

• Party Based Role Playing
• Unique, Customizable Party
• Character Races, Classes, and Promotions
• Learnable and Masterable Skills and Statistics
• Paper Dolls
• Equippable Weapons, Armor, Items, and Artifacts
• Characters, Hirelings, Teachers, NPCs
• Text and Sound-Based Conversations and Dialogues
• Enterable Merchant Shops for Trading
• A Vast, Explorable World
• In-Depth World Exploration
• Enterable Buildings and Dungeons
• Sea Travel and Land Travel
• Advanced Melee and Ranged Combat System
• Turn-Based and Real Time Combat
• Different Types of Damage
• A Powerful Combat and Non-Combat Spellcasting System
• Friendly and Hostile Monsters
• An Alchemical Potion Mixing System
• Weather Forecasting System
• Cinematic Video Cutscenes
• Audio Sound Effects and Voiced Characters
• Puzzle Solving
• Main Quests and Subquests

Our Current Progress

We have completed thousands of graphic assets, including most of the game items, and animated character portraits, which will be used as the Player Characters. There are still many graphical assets to be completed, but this would not be a wise area to work on until we have a new engine that will be able to support all of our graphic assets.

Over 20 pages of storyline and quests have been written out, and we have a pre-Beta version of our land map, which will become the explorable world that Might and Magic X takes place on.

The soundtrack for M&MX is well underway, and we have several talented composers who are taking care of everything for us.

Game Engine

The M&MX Design Team is currently planning a total conversion of our assets to a brand new engine, because our old engine, Horizon, is extremely outdated (late 1990s) and difficult to use, for example, to edit landmass you must go through a very tedious process of hex editing.

We are currently looking into converting to the XNA engine, which has a reputation for being very easy-to-use. The game will be coded in C#, and the engine framework to support M&MX will need to be constructed first, before we’re able to import our assets.

Game Mechanics

In terms of game mechanics, we are basing M&MX on an updated version of the games Might and Magic 6, through Might and Magic 8. The fundamental basics for the game mechanics can be found on the following websites:

• http://www.angelfire.com/nt/bones/
• http://sites.google.com/site/sergroj/mm/mechanics

We will undoubtedly be doing some revisions and improvements on these game mechanics, but in order to accomplish this, we need the help of some experienced programmers and level designers who can help us create the initial framework for Might and Magic X.

(Original post can be found here)

[MMXAlamar]

Bump...still looking for a cartographer!

[Coyotemax]

I wish i could.. I loved the M&M series (I still play Heroes 3 against my wife all the time). Looks like an awesome project. Right now I'm a bit swamped with commissions (and day job, heh) and had to turn down a few others recently or I'd throw my hat in. Would probably be a few months before I would be available for something like this. Good luck! (surprised I didn't see this one before)

[MMXAlamar]

Thanks Coyotemax! I'm curious why there aren't any replies here. Maybe the sample maps are too small. I have 20+MB versions of both. They're huge!

[Redrobes]

Honestly don't know. This looks like a great project to be part of. I am completely snowed under. Maybe its the time of year that makes us all busy.

I played Heros of Might and Magic and loved the game. Simple but good fun.

Anyway - bump bump, c'mon guys - whos gonna help out on a RPG game map ????

[MMXAlamar]

Bump!

We could still use a cartographer, because I'm doing the mapping now and it's kinda ****ty to be honest lol.

The game is progressing very nicely. All of our screens are top secret for now

[ZleapingBear]

Hmm... I'd love to help, Might and magic is one of my favorite games.

But im afraid my style aint fitting. nor my quality of mapping high enough. (I am my self looking fore ome one to re-do one of my maps)

If im wrong, or you are desperate enough. you are free to send me a PM In here.

You can see som of my work here:

http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...181#post108181
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...787#post107787
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...a-to-z.-nearly.

[dangerdog15]

This looks fun. I only have a little knowledge of MM, and I'm new to mapping. Here are some examples of some finished and unfinished work.
Dungeon-Map-web.jpgHand-drawn-map-web.jpgMap-Finished-Web-004.jpg

[MMXAlamar]

Wow! I didn't notice these two posts! I guess my email notifications must have stopped working. I have responded to you two and I hereby reopen this thread and will monitor it every few days

-Alamar