Fanstratics月报#9#2021-05

来源：https://www.fanstratics.com/fstnewsletter09，以下由Heavenk翻译。

• Fanstratics Troop: Archangel.
• 兵种设定：大天使
• 点击显示过长的英文原文；
• When word first broke concerning the development of Fanstratics, I quickly needed a ‘signature image’ for the game. For me, it came down to the Archangel or the Human Cavalier. After giving it some thought, I settled on the Human Cavalier, as I thought it embodied the entirety of the game, where the Archangel was more representative of one faction (Allegiant). For HoMM3, the Archangel has arguably become its signature Troop. I remember George Almond’s color picture of the Archangel, when David Mullich and Phelan Sykes first showed it to me. I don’t recall why Phelan had George create the picture. It may have been for the box art, but Scott McDaniel (Marketing) shot it down as he wanted ‘3D’ rendered armies on the box front. I suggested, “Let’s use it for the Main Menu.” Both David and Phelan liked the idea, with Phelan recommending we animate the flames on the sword. In hindsight, I wish I’d advocated for the option to customize the Main Menu background. When Armageddon’s Blade was released, the Archangel disappeared. With subsequent releases, accompanied by Paul Romero’s wonderful Main Menu score, some people never saw the Archangel in all its Main Menu glory. In the years since, I have seen two different sculptures of the Archangel. One on Kickstarter (canceled) and a second on YouTube (you can also see a bust of Solymyr in the background). One last story about the Archangel as it relates to the Main Menu... At one point in development, David Mullich asked I talk to Mark Caldwell (Executive Producer).
  • David, “He doesn’t like the Main Menu.”
  • Me, “What’s wrong with it?”
  • “He wouldn’t say.”
  • “He wouldn’t say?”
  • “More like he couldn’t say. I couldn’t get anything out him. You try talking to him.”
  Scott White (Artist, GUI, Castle town, Tower town, etc.) and I had been working on the game’s interface for weeks, and Scott’s office just happened to be adjacent to Mark’s. Before I stopped in to see Mark, I took a detour to give Scott fair warning. I mentioned I was going to see Mark, because he had an issue with the Main Menu GUI. I remember Scott’s puzzled expression and shoulder shrug. In response, I shrugged my shoulders as well. After giving Scott a head’s up, I walked into Mark’s office, and got right to it, “You don’t like the interface?”
  • Mark replied, “It’s ugly.”
  • Me, “It’s not ugly.”
  • “Yes it is.”
  • “You think the Archangel is ugly?”
  • “No, the Archangel is great.”
  • “Then how can you say it’s ugly?”
  • “Everything but the Archangel is ugly.”
  • “Everything? Can you show me specifically what you think is ugly?”
  Mark exhaled, rolled his eyes, and started the game. We were looking at the Main Menu splash screen, I said, “Okay. You think the Archangel is fine... but you think the icons are ugly?”Mark, “No, the icons are fine. It’s the other stuff.
  • Mark navigates to Scenario Selection, “This stuff.”
  • Me, “You don’t like the layout?”
  • “No.”
  • “Font?”
  • “No.”
  • “Then what?”
  • “It’s... it’s... BROWN.”
  • “You don’t like that its brown.”
  • “Right. It’s ugly.”
  • “What colors would you like?”
  • “Not brown.”
  • I looked at Mark and exhaled, “Alright. Let me talk to Scott.”
  I literally went next door, walked into Scott’s office, who was bracing for me to deliver bad news. Something like, “Throw out all the hard work you’ve already done.” Instead, I looked at him and said, “Well, I tired to pin him down on what he didn’t like. It’s the color. He doesn’t like the interface being brown.” The look on Scott’s face said it all, “Really?”At the time, we had followed the precedent set by HoMM2, which had a ‘tan’ interface. In fact, if you want an idea of the Main Menu’s original color scheme, just look at the Adventure Map interface, which is, for the most part, ‘brown’.So, I said to Scott, “What if we used the Archangel’s color scheme for the other parts of Main Menu? Blue, gold, and white.”
  • Scott seemed to like the idea and nodded, “Okay.”
  • “How long will it take to re-color all the GUI pieces?”
  • “Day or two.”
  • “Okay.”
  The following day, I dropped in on Scott for a quick update. He already had a mock-up ready in Photoshop. I asked him what he thought. He liked it better. So did I. I told him, to clear it with Phelan and David, and put it in the game.
  • Scott asked, “What about Mark?”
  • I replied, “If Mark doesn’t like this, I don’t know what we’ll do.”
  A couple of days later, after not hearing any feedback, I did manage to catch Mark, with the game running, with the updated Main Menu GUI. I asked, “Do you like the colors?” With a slight smirk, Mark nodded. Most people don’t understand, an important part of being a game designer, is figuring out what people want, or what a person wants, when they can’t properly communicate it... specify it... or put it into words. If you can do it well, it’s a big benefit, as you become something akin to a mind reader... at least where video games are concerned. If you can do it well, it can also be a big headache, as you may find yourself spending most of your time solving other people’s problems... in addition to your own. Returning to the present, this month's Troop concept sketch, is the Archangel. I’ve been champing at the bit for Justin to render this Troop, and its finally here. For those of you who want to see Justin actually render the drawing, you can watch a VOD of his Twitch stream.
• 这里讲了一个关于当初h3原版的主界面中的大天使的故事，简单说就是当初他们最开始搞了个大天使的设计图，市场部的人觉得不错，应该放主界面上，然后他把设计方案拿去给执行制作人Mark看，结果Mark不太满意，但是又说不上哪里不满意，反正最后一顿交流，结果就是换了个配色，由h2时代的褐色换成了更适合大天使的蓝色、白色和金色，就这么一故事......

• Fanstratics Faction #6: Zubhewen.
• Fanstratics阵营6：Zubhewen
• Largely of Goblin descent, this sub-human faction lives in an underground, Subterranean world. Terror, chaos, and fear are their allies, leading to an amorphous ‘might-makes-right’ form of self-rule. Representing the Zubhewen in the Troll Witch, who can be viewed in the Fanstratics Gallery. For most, the Zubhewen will be remarkably similar to HoMM3’s ‘Dungeon’, but keep in mind... as I mentioned in the last Newsletter... some troops have been shuffled off to other factions. So, some hallmark ‘Dungeon’ troops may have found new homes with other, more thematically consistent cultures.
• 由一大批地精后裔组成的阵营，这些亚人居住在一个地底世界中。恐怖、混乱与畏惧是它们的盟友，这让它们形成了一种“力量就是正确”的自我信条。Zubhewen阵营的代表角色是巨魔婆巫。Zubhewen阵营大体上与h3的地下城类似，不过就像我之前的文章中提过的，其中一些部队被换到了其他阵营里。

• Fanstratics Feature: Hardcore Mode.
• 新要素：硬核模式
• Similar to the previous two features (Rally Attack & Boss Battles), a Hardcore Mode is not a new idea. Anyone familiar with late 70’s, early 80’s, coin-operated arcade games, have experienced video game ‘permadeath’. While this design choice has a long history, in my personal experience, it wasn’t formalized as a mainstream feature until Diablo 2’s ‘hardcore mode’ in 2000. There is something masochistically romantic about risking your precious time attempting to conquer an intentionally difficult video game. While I personally don’t have the time to grind out repeated hardcore wins, hardcore play has been responsible for some of the most memorable video game streams I’ve ever seen: Diablo 3, Fallout: New Vegas (hardcore mode), XCOM (ironman), Darkest Dungeon (86 or 100 Weeks), etc. Most recently, Moonmoon played Doom Eternal in a pseudo-permadeath mode... and failed during the final fight. While I suspect only a minority of players will utilize this feature, I would like to see hardcore streams of Fanstratics. So, a hardcore mode is planned; one persistent save for your current game, with the difficulty settings of your choice. There may also be other ‘hardcore’ wrinkles, such as ‘permadeath’ for Heroes. If you lose a Hero in battle, they no longer appear in your Kingdom’s Hero Pool. Bottom line... if you lose... you lose. Personally, I want to see people play and stream Fanstratics in hardcore mode, on the toughest difficulty, against multiple AI opponents, with an in-game time limit. It could make for some gripping entertainment.
• 前半部分主要是说了一下硬核模式源远流长，从雅达利时代就有类似的模式等等。后面具体来说，在本作中的硬核模式主要是：不能sl，只有唯一存档，英雄战死就彻底从英雄池里消失了。

• Will there be a map editor and random map generator in Fanstratics?
• 会有地图编辑器或是随机地图生成器么？
• HoMM3’s map editor and random map generator were released with its first expansion pack ‘Armageddon’s Blade’. For Fanstratics, I expect to rollout both a Community Map Editor and a Random Map Generator, well after the game’s official public release. When? I cannot say at this stage.
• H3的地图编辑器和地图生成器是在第一个资料片“末日之刃”中引入的。Fanstratics的话，我预期能在游戏正式发售时引入。不过具体时间现在还不能保证。

• If there will be a random map generator, how will it be configured?
• 随机地图生成器会怎样运作？
• It’s been a very long time since I crafted HoMM3’s original RMG templates (using Microsoft Excel). Since then, different methods to random map generation have been developed, and I would like to research a number of them, before I decide on a final design direction. So, details regarding the internal logic and implementation of the Random Map Generator are currently unresolved.
• 目前的具体细节还没确定，会考虑当前流行的各种随机地图生成方法。

以下是Behemoth Cave的采访问答，共18问。

• Obviously, the creator’s vision of the game often evolves while still developing the game. Some ideas are dropped out, new ideas come up and are implemented in the game. Some press materials contained unit concepts like the "Demilich" (flying green skull with horns, appendix 1), Kenneth Thomson’s “Lobstrosity” (appendix 2) or an aristocratic elf (appendix 3). Even after the release, we can find Fear spell icon or the Market of Time (the adventure map location) in the game files. Can you tell us something more about these elements/features that didn’t make it into the game? Also, Dendroids, Efreets, Zealots, Unicorns or Minotaurs and a couple of others - they all have additional animations and sounds which aren’t used by the game in any way. Is there any particular reason behind them? Were those units supposed to cast a spell on the battlefield, like Ogre Magi for example?
• H3当初的设计者版本中存在一些设计废案，比如半巫妖（飞行的绿色有角骷髅头）、Kenneth Thomson的Lobstrosity，以及精灵贵族。甚至在游戏发售后还有恐惧法术的图标，以及时间市场（冒险地图上的特殊地点）这些内容在游戏文档中出现。你能介绍一下这些当初是怎么设计的么？以及还有部分怪物有一些未实装的额外动画和音效等等。
• • Demilich: As you call it, the Demilich was supposed to be a Will-o-the-Wisp, for the Fortress. It was inspired by the Lost Soul monster from Doom, and was cut because we couldn’t get it to ‘glow’ properly.
  • Lobstrosity: I didn’t see the Lobstrosity until long after I left NWC. It was a ‘secret’ Troop, and I had no knowledge it was in the game.
  • Aristocratic Elf: I believe the Aristocratic Elf was an early draft version of the Grand Elf.
  • Fear Spell: The Fear spell was ‘cut’ because it was little more than ‘bad morale’ in another form. Later, I thought it was better to convert the mechanic into the Fear ability for the Azure Dragon.
  • Market of Time: Originally, the Market of Time was called ‘Brigadoon’. It would randomly appear after long periods of time, and for a Day, a Hero could purchase very high value artifacts and very cheap resources. It was ‘cut’ because it required new programing functionality, we were running out of development time, and I was worried players would ‘park’ a Hero at the destination and simply wait for the Market. Also, for the record, it was never a place where Heroes could unlearn Secondary Skills.
  • Additional Animations and Sounds: There is no particular reason why certain characters didn’t get additional animations or sounds. I suspect it was typical miscommunication or misunderstanding.
• 半巫妖最初设计的是要塞族的鬼火，其灵感来自于Doom里的失落之魂，后来因为它没法正确的“发光”于是就删掉了。Lobstrosity这个在我离开NWC之前也没见过。精灵贵族我想应该就是早期版本的大精灵。恐惧法术这个被删掉是因为它和“士气低落”效果重复了，不过后来我给它安到了圣龙身上。时间市场最初设计是Brigadoon，其作用是在游戏后期出现，可以进去以高价购买强大的神器，或是低价购买资源，后来因为开发时间紧张就删掉了。其他的额外动画和音效这些没什么特殊原因，我猜可能是一些打字错误造成的。

• Heroes III in its bestiary has plenty of mythological beasts (like Minotaurs, Medusas, Hydras) or creatures that are popular in fantasy in general (Dwarves, Dragons). What were your sources of inspiration while creating Heroes III - not only for creatures but also for spells and locations?
• H3里面有各种各样神话怪物和生物。这些的原型是什么？
• Nothing is created in a vacuum, and is always derived from various sources of inspiration. I looked at everything: paper and pencil RPG’s, table top games, card games, novels, comics, movies, and art books. For the various troops and spells, anything and everything was a potential source of inspiration.
• 原型来自于各种跑团游戏、卡牌游戏、小说、漫画、电影等等。

• Can we find any direct reference to books and/or movies in the game?
• 有某些特定的小说或电影的梗么？
• Obviously the cheat codes reference Star Wars the Phantom Menace, the Matrix, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. As for in game assets, Gelu’s appearance was clearly inspired by Elric of Melnibone, and the Behemoth was derived from the Rancor in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
• 例如秘籍主要来自于星战1幽灵的威胁、黑客帝国、巨蟒与圣杯。游戏内容的话，格鲁的外表来自于艾尔瑞克（麦克·摩考克1927年的奇幻小说中塑造的反英雄形象），比蒙则来自于星战3绝地归来里的兰苛。

• Are there any heroes that are based on real people (beside Sir Mullich - David Mullich, Inteus - George Almond, Sir Christian - Christian Vanover)?
• 英雄的形象有来自于现实人物的么？
• To my knowledge, there are only four...
  • Sir Mullich: It’s relatively well known, Sir Mullich shares the name and likeness of David Mullich. While we were working on HoMM3, Might and Magic 6 was still in production, and needed people and costumes for various character portraits. Of course... David had a Renaissance Fair costume... and volunteered. When Phelan Sykes (Lead Artist) saw the final game asset, she couldn’t wait to tell me how goofy it looked. Immediately, I said to her, “We should put it in the game.” She told me she would clean up the portrait, get it game ready, and deliver it to John Bolton (Lead Programmer). When David was away on vacation, for birth of his first son (if I correctly recall), we put it into the game. Upon his return, we showed the ‘new’ Hero to him, and he got a chuckle out of it. Since then, he’s become one of HoMM3’s most famous Heroes.
  • Inteus: Inteus shares a likeness with George Almond. George did all of the HoMM3 concept art, the manual cover, and the interface backgrounds. He also painted all the Hero portraits, so I’m not surprised he slipped himself into the game.
  • Sir Christian: Sir Christian is named after Christian Vanover, but doesn’t look like him in the slightest. I don’t recall if Christian requested to be put into the game, or I did it as a goof. The entire Sir Christian secret campaign was made to poke fun at Chris, who was a good sport about it.
  • Luna: Luna is based on a young lady from New World Computing tech support, who’s name I do not recall. After 3DO finished its acquisition of New World Computing, her job was moved to 3DO corporate, in Redwood City. I lost track of her after E3, in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1998.
• 据我所知有四个。
  • Sir Mullich，这个众所周知，就是来自于David Mullich。当时我们正在制作H3和MM6，需要有志愿者来做人物头像的模特，Mullich自愿前来，而且做出来的效果不错。后来等他休假归来，我们就把他放进游戏里了。
  • Inteus，基于George Almond，当时负责h3的主美，手册封面等等，他也负责人物头像绘制，所以自然把自己也画进去了。
  • Sir Christian，基于Christian Vanover，不过不是很像。整个Sir Christian的隐藏战役都是开的一个小玩笑，他也很大度的接受了。
  • Luna，应该是基于NWC技术支援组的一位女士，不过我想不起她的名字了。后来她就去3DO工作了。