Three months after TotE release, we feel it is time to have a look backwards on the H5 release cycle (H5, HoF and TotE), and get some prospective on its future. Fabrice Cambounet, Heroes 5 producer, has agreed to answer some questions.
Hi Fabrice, and thank you for accepting this interview.
Are you satisfied by the work done on Tribes of the East (TotE), and more generally on the whole Heroes 5 project? What is your highest satisfaction on the project, and is there something you would have liked to do but couldn't?
Yes, I am really satisfied with TotE: I'm actually playing the TotE campaigns these days, and the high quality achieved with this last Heroes 5 addon really stands out. We managed to push the engine technology to its full potential, and a great care has been devoted to the gameplay. As always, we would have liked even more time to polish the maps, the balance or the dialog scenes, but we were granted a lot of time for TotE already.
Are TotE sales as high as HoF and H5 were?
Yes, on the end of 2007 alone, TotE already reached HoF in terms of sales, which is a tremendous achievement for a second addon released a year and of a half after its core game. And it's been only two months and a half since its release.
When did the collaboration between Ubisoft and graphic designer Olivier Ledroit stop? And for what reason?
The collaboration never ended. Olivier drew a lot of visuals that helped settle the graphic style in Heroes 5, and he took part in the commercial launch in France. He is still working with us.
You've been working with Nival for some time now. How would you analyse the collaboration between the french team (Ubisoft) and the russian team (Nival)? Would you engage in another collaboration with Nival?
There are always difficult issues when working with an external developer, all the more so over long distances and foreign cultures. The understanding is not always immediate and the objectives are sometimes different, which means we have to communicate a lot. This is the case with any and all external developer we are working with. About Nival specifically, we have been working together for over four years now, and such long relationships between publisher and developers are very rare. Usually, either both parties stop working together, or one buys the other. Right now with Nival, neither of these options are considered.
What is your priority concerning Heroes 5 maintenance, and very concretely will there be other patches after the 1.6, 2.2 and 3.1 series? In other words, is the patch plan already fixed, or is there flexibility depending on the community reactions?
The current patch plan is not finished yet. In the now traditional Heroes 5 way, the initial planning has been considerably delayed (about three months). On the bright side, it also allows us to better include fan feedback, since the community rose some issues that we didn't plan to address at first. We still have a few patches to release before we reassess the situation.
Over what time period can we expect Ubisoft to release new features or tools (maps, mods, tournament tools, ...)? More generally, how will you decide that official support can be ended on the H5 project?
This question is tightly linked to the previous one: the support plan for balance and debug is supposed to last beyond 2008 if necessary. The adding features part depends on the end of the patch plan.
Can we expect improvements in the map editor accessibility and usability?
Sadly no. We have currently no plan to update the map editor. This might be reassessed at some time, but I didn't receive much feedback from the community on the topic at this time.
The map editor is actually a complete development environment, with many features hidden in the public release. In the same way, not all script functions are listed in the documentation, especially combat functions. Is there a reason for this?
Most of the undocumented adventure functions are aliases of already documented functions. Combat functions are defined in scripts launched at the start of every fight.
The script editor inside the map editor contains a "Check script" button, that actually does nothing. Mapmakers have to check their scripts themselves in game for even the smallest syntax mistakes. Do you plan to implement even a basic script debugger in the future?
No, we don't. As with usability improvements, this would be a too heavy workload for the project now.
To illustrate hidden features in the map editor, it is possible to open and edit various internal files, like campaigns or dialog scenes. Many mapmakers would be thrilled to be able to (easily) create their own dialog scenes for their maps. Since a dedicated campaign editor was later implemented, can we hope for a user-friendly dialog scene tool?
If the question is "will new features be added in the map editor?", the answer is again no. We have reached the end of the product lifecycle for Heroes 5, and adding new elements or rework developpement tools is not possible at this stage.
Several mods from the community are really well-made and deserve to be part of the game, like Azard's "in-game skillwheel" mod. Do you plan to work with the community to integrate such mods in the future, like you did with the Skillwheel and the Fan Manual in TotE?
There are indeed excellent mods, that we would be very happy to include in the game, but legal constraints prevent us from doing so. Our legal team advises against it, unless the various parties sign a lot of constraining and restrictive legal papers. For the fan manual for example, we intended to include it in Hammers of Fate already, but the process was started a little too late, and the many legal issues made it impossible to conclude the agreement in time. It is quite a hard process to go through...
The modders throughout the community would very much like to be able to add new neutral creatures in the game (without replacing an existing one). This would require to unlock the game executable to accept more creatures, and to release the 3D models conversion tool, as other games do. Can we hope for this in 2008?
This is one of the issue we discussed with Nival when creating the special "Dark Messiah" map for the Complete Edition. A decision has not yet been taken about a course of action. It is actually not only a matter of unlocking, but also of modifying how the current code is structured.
The new hero specialization "Avatar of Death" is reminiscent of the Commanders in WoG (Wake of Gods). Do you plan to integrate related features like certain creatures earning experience and gaining levels?
This would constitute a complete rework of the Heroes 5 gameplay, and as such, is not on the table.
One of the first expectation of the french multiplayer community is a better balance between factions, in particular for the dwarves. Since you have a better understanding of the whole international community, could you decribe other expectations that have arisen after TotE release?
After the release of an addon that adds a complete new race, and 50% more creatures with alternate upgrades, we are absolutely planning to work on balance. With debugging, this is part of the standard and expected support of strategy games.
One of the expectation we picked as shared by a large part of the community is the need for cooperative maps, and we will be releasing new maps in this spirit in a future patch.
You really wanted the Heroes Complete project to be released, and the artbook in particular. It must be a real satisfaction to see it finally published?
The Complete Edition has been entirely carried by our marketing manager, and I use the occasion to publicly thank him for his investment in making the project successful. This special edition indeed allowed to move forward with the art book, which I despaired to see become a reality. I wrote the general layout two years ago already, during a sleepless night in an overheated hotel in centre Moscow. It was initially planned for a coordinated release with Heroes 5, then with Hammers of Fate. The third try has finally succeeded, and the result is highly worth the wait. I really hope the fans will like it!
Written by Fabrice Cambounet Producer of the Heroes 5
Subscribe to our Telegram Channel "maps4heroes.com" to be the first to receive NEW Maps and News for Heroes of Might & Magic 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2! 
