Might and Magic Tribute: The Book of Ceth

Might and Magic Tribute: The Book of Ceth
Developer(s)	Castle Gobs
Designer(s)	Ribannah
Engine	XNA 3D
Version	0.5 (Alpha)
Platform(s)	PC
Release date(s)	TBA
Genre(s)	Role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player

Might and Magic Tribute: The Book of Ceth, commonly abbreviated to Might and Magic Tribute or simply MMT, is an upcoming fan-made role-playing video game developed by Castle Gobs, a team unaffiliated with Ubisoft. It is an unofficial installment in the Might and Magic role-playing series, and is an unofficial prequel, taking place before Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven.

Plot

Might and Magic Tribute begins in 1083 A.S. (After Silence) or 81 years before the events of Might and Magic VI. The game takes place on the Sub-Continent of Karigor, north of Jadame, the chief theatre for the story of Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer. These two lands are separated by a mountain range.

In these mountains are the so-called Seers of Serenity, a small group of prophets with foretelling powers. One of their guild members, who calls himself Thelmes, goes rogue, spreading the word that an apocalypse caused by devilish horrors is nearing (predicting the arrival of the Kreegan in Might and Magic VI). He also states that the Creator, Ceth is going to return to the world to battle this menace.

The Seers with their foretelling powers cannot see whether or not Thelmes' prophecy has merit. However, they recall a legend that, long ago, The Book of Ceth was brought to Karigor, and being deemed to be too powerful for the eyes of any commoner, had its chapters scattered across the land. The Seers believe that if these chapters are recovered, the truth will be revealed to them. However, being bound by code, they cannot directly interfere. Instead, they plan to send out a party of adventurers (the Player) to recover the chapters, and avert the catastrophe caused by Thelmes' prophecy.^[1]

Gameplay

In Might and Magic Tribute, the player takes control of a party of adventurers and, starting with the lowest attributes, guides them to be mighty heroes to reassemble the Book of Ceth and save the fictional land of Karigor. The player is allowed full roam of the terrain, allowing scalable mountains and fully explorable maps. As in the rest of the Might and Magic series, all action is shown through the eyes of the party, in first person view. Apart of the main quest line, there are numerous side and promotion quests. The game utilizes a day and night system, affecting several scheduled events, such as shop opening times.

Character improvement

Characters improve in ability by using a mix of class-based and skill-based systems. Upon party creation, the player chooses one of two classes for their characters, explorer and student, representing might and magic, respectively. There are then three intermediate classes in which each starting class can promote to, and then 2 final classes for each intermediate classes, making a total of 20 classes in the game. As characters gain experience and advance in level, they accrue skill points which make them more powerful in their fields of expertise. Skill expertise is divided into Normal, Expert, Master, and Grandmaster classes, while each skill can be improved using skill points, awarded with increases in experience level. A classic ability score system is also implemented, with six out of seven statistics carried over from the Might and Magic series: Might, Personality, Endurance, Accuracy, Speed and Luck, as well as Magic, which replaces Intellect from the Might and Magic games.

Game changes

There are several notable changes in Might and Magic Tribute from typical game-play of the Might and Magic series:

• The Intellect Statistic has been replaced by the Magic Statistic.

• Might and Magic Tribute introduces a new school of magic, named the "Path of Grey", the magic of secrecy and stealth, as well as being able to utilize the non-aligned environment.

• Might and Magic Tribute enables you to set the games difficulty level, making it more flexible for both new-comers and veterans.
  • In addition to difficulty, a player can also choose exactly how many members they want in their party (1 to 5), allowing for increased struggle throughout the game with a lower party count.

• There are now 8 levels of potions; Simple, Complex, Layered, White, Stirred, Black, Silver, and Gold.

• Might and Magic Tribute features fully three-dimensional graphics.

Development

The project began in July 2003 when a Might and Magic fan, under the alias Sir Felgar, created a technical demo to test the feasibility of a Tribute game. The experiment was a success, and development on the fan-made project began.

The Might and Magic Tribute team consisted of a constantly changing group of volunteers. By 2004 work on the project was well-underway. An original game soundtrack was under-works, composed by Oren Yona using Cubase software. Also, 3D modeling work had begun on concept art created in the months before. It was during this time that the Might and Magic Tribute team made contact with Timothy Lang, the lead designer of Might and Magic IX, who was, after the bankruptcy of New World Computing, currently working at Electronic Arts. Lang openly supports the project, providing designer tips and statistic formulas used in the Might and Magic series.^[2]

In early 2005, months of inactivity from the Project Lead, Sir Felgar, prompted his replacement by Ribannah, at the time the game's lead game designer.^[3] She has remained the teams lead since then. In late 2009, the games composer, Oren, released a technical demo revealing a first look at Might and Magic Tribute's 3D graphics, weather system, and day/night system.

As of 2011, game version 0.6 is underway, focusing on implementing all story logic and the default character voice actors.

References

1. ^ ""Might and Magic Tribute Prologue"". "Castle Gobs". http://www.mmtribute.castlegobs.nl/game_prologue.shtml. Retrieved May 7th, 2011. 
2. ^ ""Tim Lang Interview"". "Celestial Heavens". http://www.celestialheavens.com/viewpage.php?id=118. Retrieved May 8th, 2011. 
3. ^ Arturchix: Obviously, since our project lead had disappeared, we had to choose a new project lead. We could not think of a better candidate than Ribannah who is the owner of Castle Gobs, lead game designer of MMT and a known MM gamer for many years.""January 4th, 2005 News Update"". "Castle Gobs". http://www.mmtribute.castlegobs.nl/news.shtml. Retrieved May 8th, 2011.