The creator of “Heroes 3” spoke about the background of the departure of his colleague: “He received threats to death from fans”
Few games love so much as Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Despite the past time, this cult masterpiece is still considered excellent and is unlikely to ever fall from his pedestal. However, even she has a dark story.
She is associated with the forge faction. She was supposed to become the ninth playable faction in the third part – she was planned to be added to the game as part of the first expansion package, Armageddon’s Blade. However, this did not happen, since the fans very harshly criticized City of the Forge.
How hard? We will talk about this a little later. To begin with, the faction was presented at the E3 exhibition in 1999 – a few months before the extension was released on September 30. Combat units, the screen of the city, several advertising schedules were demonstrated. including the one below.
Today it is probably not as impressive as almost a quarter of a century ago. However, know that it is the concept of the tank "Naga" Flapsed fans who have already turned their nose from Forge Town. In the end, this high -tech faction was taken from the Might and Magic series, in which high fantasy and science fiction were mixed. The community preferred to "Heroes" They remained faithful to the first.
In the then emerging Internet, a wave rose "Hayita". The players demanded an explanation – some used parliamentary vocabulary, and some ignored the conventions. There were even threats of a boycott of additions if Forge Town is not removed. and even the threat of death to the developers.
In the end, the developers from the now non -existent New World Computing studio surrendered, and Forge Town did not enter Heroes of Might and Magic III – it was replaced by the Elemental faction (only years later the fans tried to recreate Forge Town). However, all this was not forgotten. One of the reasons why she remained in the memory of both communities and developers was that due to these threats of death, the leading designer Homm III Greg Fulton left the developer team.
David Mallich – Director of the game – told us about the background of these events. From his words it follows that the choice of presentation material was very random. "I entered the office, just took a sheet of paper and said: "Here – choose something from here" [. ]". Today, Mallich claims that if he could, he would have acted then differently.
As for Fulton, the developer confirmed that he left the NWC precisely after the incident with Forge Town.
Greg Fulton was our leading designer. Yes, this happened after criticism of Forge Town. He decided to leave. I think he received threats of reprisals from some fans and was disappointed that the leadership did not react quite seriously. Nevertheless, there could be other reasons – it was just a straw that broke the back with a camel. Moreover, he did not just leave the company. He completely left the game industry [Fulton’s only work after Homm III: ArmageDdon’s Blade was the 2002 Command game & Conquer: Renegade].
If not for the stringent criticism of Forge Town and the threat of reprisal, Greg Fulton would still create games? He would become an author of more "Heroes"? If so, then the future of the series would change? We can only assume. However, it is better to treat this situation as a lesson, warning. – Decide for yourself.