Master of Magic

Master of Magic ( MoM ) is a turn-based 4X Fantasy - computer strategy game for the PC with DOS . Distributed by MicroProse in 1994 , it was developed under the direction of Steve Barcia (Simtex). Master of Magic is a 4X game in a magical fantasy world and can best be described with its map, its mechanics and its magic system as a union of the very successful computer strategy game Civilization with the equally successful trading card game Magic: The Gathering .

In contrast to Civilization , which is based on our world (i.e. peoples and technical developments, not world map) , Master of Magic takes place in a world that is populated with magicians, heroes, mythical creatures and many different intelligent races and in which the player himself as a magician endeavored to rule the world with magic and the military.

A big difference to Civilization in terms of game mechanics are the short tactical battles on small battlefields, which prevent results like "archer beats tank" of earlier Civilization versions. At the latest in the battles, the concept of Magic: The Gathering comes into play with different magic circles with their own focuses, a large variety of combinations and many counter options. The meta-level of magic ensures a high level of tension in the battles, a hero and artifact concept also increases the player's personal relationship to the game through an effect of collecting and building up.

Game elements, game mechanics and course of the game

At the beginning of the game the player can choose a magician or create one himself. There are eleven “picks” available to him, which he can assign to skills or magic books.

Skills and spells

A variety of skills allow the player to lure heroes, level up units, play on a parallel world called Myrror or lower magic costs or increase the income in gold and mana.

The magic books are a core theme of the game, they are divided into five different realms: death, life (although the simultaneous selection of death and life is not allowed), nature, chaos and witchcraft. This classification is borrowed from the trading card game Magic: The Gathering , which was also published in the early 1990s . Another area is available to all players, general magic. The number of spell books determines the number and rarity of the spells that a player from the respective realm can research. In the game, additional spell books may be found that expand the spell portfolio. The magic realms themselves have different focuses, so life is not limited to healing, but is equipped with many unit enchantments, while nature relies more on the summoning of creatures.

The spells differ from game to game, even with the same spellbook selection, since the spells are offered to the player for "research" with a probability of rarity. These degrees of rarity, so to speak the inventiveness of a magician, are divided into the levels normal, abnormal, rare and very rare. Very rare spells, for example, are often very powerful and can change the game mechanics and the world permanently, normal spells, on the other hand, are usually inexpensive but less powerful in their effects.

In addition to the randomly available spells, one of the many motivating game mechanics of Master of Magic is the feeling of omnipotence created by the almost omnipotent spells. For example, the worlds can be changed to volcanic worlds by magic, on which zombies rule and all other units and living beings have been killed by a single spell.

Furthermore, the magic animations are short, but always surprise the player and use the psychological trick of surprise: A flame attack in a battle, for example, envelops all enemy units, but the result of the magic is revealed at different speeds per unit. This is analogous to a slowly rising magic curtain in a magic show for children and the intended surprise effect.

Since no player in the game can have all the magic and abilities, the two worlds are generated randomly and the tactical battles show a very high variability in the composition of the armies, the replay value of the game and the motivation to play is very high.

people

Master of Magic contains 15 races with specific advantages and disadvantages and one or more race-specific units. Often they are production or gold bonuses, some have a high fertilization rate or produce mana per population unit. Furthermore, there is a race with the trolls, who can regenerate their battered and fallen units after each fight, and with the draconians there is a flying race.

Foreign peoples can be integrated into one's own realm by conquering neutral and hostile cities. A merchant who appears randomly repeatedly offers foreign units for gold. Foreign units fit seamlessly into their own army, unlike Age of Wonders, there is no rebellion through a moral system.

Game start and game goal

The player starts according to the design of a wizard, the card size, the difficulty, the magic strength and the number of competitors (maximum four) in a city with a magic tower, which mechanically represents not only the place of residence of the player but also the player himself.

The aim of the game is to either wipe out all opponents or to pronounce the Spell of Mastery and banish all opposing wizards. All other magic towers will then be destroyed and the possibility of rebuilding in another city prevented or all wizards banished from both worlds forever. When this spell begins, all other players - including allies - become enemies and immediately declare war on the player. This makes for an exciting showdown.

Game worlds

One of the many special features of the game is the connection between two worlds, Arcanus and Myrror, which are clearly different both visually and through the races and resources native to them. The world of Myrror is inhabited by strong creatures and peoples, but mostly there is only one opponent in this world. Myrror is particularly suitable for an adventure game in which magic knots (an important mana resource in the game) and other special locations are explored and greater treasures can be discovered than on Arcanus. On Arcanus, a world that is more like ours, one often meets opponents very quickly and becomes involved in battles with them.

Cities

With a small town at the beginning, you expand it with numerous buildings as known from Civilization. Both positive and negative spells can be cast on cities and the surrounding country can exert its influence on the city. Units can be formed in cities and neutral cities can be found on the map that can be conquered. With the loss of the last city you have automatically lost the game.

resources

Resources in the game are gold, food and mana. The latter is obtained with the help of special buildings in cities, by amalgamating magical spirits with mana knots and by the properties of certain races (e.g. elves ).

Additional resources in the catchment area of a city offer particular advantages. These are u. a. the very rare and important metals mithril and adamantium , which equip new units with more powerful mithril or adamantium weapons, but also iron or magic crystals, which accelerate production or increase mana production. The effectiveness also depends on the buildings in the city.

research

In a separate menu the magical powers of the wizard are distributed among the factors mana, skill and research. Mana is required by wizards to cast spells and to summon special units and creatures. New spells are researched with research points generated with libraries and other buildings. There is also the possibility of increasing the skill of the wizard and thus casting powerful spells faster.

Research into technology or buildings - such as B. in Elemental / Fallen Enchantress - does not exist in Master of Magic.

struggle

Combat in Master of Magic differs significantly from the principle known from Civilization. As soon as two opposing parties are moved onto the same playing field, the game changes to an isometric view in which the units compete against each other on a turn-based basis. With hundreds of spells and unit abilities, as well as the combination options of the armies, the battles are very varied.

The meta level of magic is a possibility in battles between the weak and the strong and the few against many units to create a balance or to create your own tactical goals, such as B. to achieve the death of a certain unit of the enemy. There are counterspells for every spell, so that these fights get a "puzzle character" in search of the best tactic. For example, flying units cannot be fought by melee fighters, so a player could enchant his units with flight, but the opponent could bring these units to earth with the spell or the ability Net. On the other hand, the magic invisibility can be used, which in turn can be countered with disenchantment.

The spells that are available in combat are roughly divided into conjurations, enchantments, changes to the battlefield or the battle conditions, damage spells against individual figures, units or entire armies. But it is also possible to avoid fights and use global magic to damage your opponents and strengthen yourself.

The fights often only last a few minutes and benefit from the clear battlefield display, in which each unit occupies a field and spells play easily understandable but exciting magic animations due to the delay in the display of effects.

units

The units are again a special feature in Master of Magic, as they often consist of several figures and lose figures due to damage and thus become proportionally weaker. For example, a swordsman unit with four figures and four strength points does a maximum of 4 * 4 points of damage, but if it only consists of three figures, it only has a maximum strength of 3 * 4 points of damage. If the unit is not wiped out in combat, it recovers in rounds to full strength after the battle at no additional cost. Since damage from missing pieces is indicated, the condition of a unit is easy to see in battle. After battles, the units receive experience points and rise in rank, which greatly improves their skills. Units from cities with alchemy towers, mithril or adamantium mines receive a skill boost that can be obtained during construction through particularly powerful weapons.

Particularly strong units often only have one figure, but this figure has strong combat values and much more life points. This is thus not weakened in combat until it is destroyed.

Heroes

In addition to the units and summoned creatures built in the cities, heroes can appear and offer their services depending on the magician's fame. The fame is acquired through battles. A player can own up to six heroes, with 35 different heroes and hero classes. This is expressed in particular through the properties and values of the heroes, who have, in addition to some fixed ones, also random additional properties. These are divided into the categories warrior, magician and all. For example, the hero "Mystic X the Unknown" has five random properties from all areas, the hero "Malleus the Magician" has a strong magical attack, arcane power, projectile immunity and a random property from the field of magic.

The heroes also have their own inventory in which they can store up to three pieces of equipment. In the inventory, depending on the hero and his hero class, a weapon, armor and another item, such as a ring, can be assigned to the hero. The items can also be found in special fields such as cellars, dungeons or mana knots, received from gods as gifts, bought from traders or created yourself. Through ranks the heroes and the units become much stronger, so extremely strong heroes (demigods) can destroy entire armies single-handedly.

This personalization combined with very strong progression motivates the player immensely and is unmatched in its scope by other games. Game series such as 'Heroes of Might and Magic' and 'Age of Wonders' even explicitly prevent this gain in power by heroes, in the first case the heroes only watch the battle on the edge of the battlefield and give army bonuses and in the latter one hero only three regardless of the action points Has actions per round and can then be safely attacked by other figures and then even becomes actionless in the following round.

Artifacts

Artifacts serve to upgrade the heroes. These are often very powerful and can be found in dungeons and other special locations on the world map. A retailer also offers artifacts for sale at irregular intervals.

A special feature of Master of Magic is the attached editor, with which the items could be changed, but the game automatically adjusts where they can appear. Cheating is therefore not possible.

Magic knots and other places

Artifacts, as well as mana, gold, captured heroes, spell books or spells, can be found in special locations on the map. These are more closely guarded on Myrror than on Arcanus and are divided into temples, magic towers, magic knots, dungeons and caves.

The magic knot has the meaning of a country in Magic: The Gathering: once conquered and fused with a waking or magical spirit, the magic knot donates a small or large amount of mana every round. This is shown on the map in the thickness by an animated star aura in player color. Knots are therefore just as important as cities, but in contrast they cannot be attached to buildings. They are therefore repeatedly the scene of important and major field battles, whereby the magic knots, which are divided into the three areas of nature, chaos and magic knots, have a high probability of preventing the magic of other spheres.

diplomacy

In contrast to civilization, diplomacy is only implemented to a limited extent. You can form alliances with other wizards, but since only one wizard can exist in the end, they often don't last very long.

Random events

Positive and negative random events occur irregularly. a. Make certain magic knots temporarily more productive for all players and certain magic realms or allow them to dry up completely, traders offer the player gifts or gold, pirates steal parts of the gold supply, cities rebel or join the player or units of other races or heroes bid for gold their services.

More game mechanics

There is a wide range of other game mechanics, including a. there are very different types of movement that can relate not only to a unit but to an entire army. The damage system is also very differentiated: In addition to the combat, poison and fire damage that is often found in fantasy games, there are e.g. B. petrification or damnation damage, all of which have special effects. The game differentiates here much more than in many other games in the genre. This is also reflected in the attack types: In addition to close combat, there is damage from throwing, gas, gaze and touch attacks, as well as magical attacks and rocks, stones and arrows as ranged attacks. Eye and touch attacks in particular are dangerous, as they test the magical resistance value of a unit and are often immediately fatal before the actual close combat.

Game phases

With the composition of your own magician, the game forms a deck construction known from 'Magic: The Gathering' and a manipulation of the game mechanics for your own strategic baseline.

With the beginning of the game on the world map, the immediate surroundings are explored, the first settlements are established and the first battles are fought with simple, wandering neutral units. The map is often dominated and populated by many units, the magic nodes are conquered and the first global spells change the world and hinder the opposing wizards. Heroes and fantastic creatures appear and deliver their first major battles, and often a first wizard is destroyed here.

In the endgame, numerous powerful global spells are often active that rule the world and interfere with spells from other magical realms. For example, the fallen in a battle can rise up as zombies, meteor showers on both worlds can continuously pound down on units, volcanoes rise from the ground or even time stand still. Very powerful creatures like dragons and giant worms move across the map with or against demigod-like heroes and very strong magic is used in the battles.

Another special feature of Master of Magic is the possible complete change of the game situation by casting a global spell. There are spells that let all normal units or all creatures die within a round on both worlds after a talent test: Whole armies disappear and cities are suddenly unprotected. Players who only bet on magic can be denied any magic, time can stand still, players who bet on a military campaign can suffer permanent damage on the world maps, but also strengthen their own units with crusade magic. With devastation spells, all cities can be brought into great unrest or resources dry up.

Classification of Master of Magic within the fantasy round strategy games

As early as 1989, Sword of Aragon for the Amiga and Kings Bounty for the PC came out, two games that implemented the principle of world map and tactical battles in a fantasy world. Kings Bounty was only continued in 2006, but is the direct ancestor of the 1995 Heroes of Might and Magic .

Heroes of Might and Magic became a well-known fantasy strategy game series, with which Master of Magic is often compared. Both games share the distinction between world map and tactical battle, but are fundamentally different in terms of game mechanics.

Heroes of Might and Magic is especially designed for battles with the environment (PvE, Player versus Environment), where the aim is to conquer a multitude of resources, which are often unique. Although the heroes are on the edge of a battlefield, they cannot be actively fought. They serve primarily as leaders, and unlike in Master of Magic, troops cannot walk around or be positioned on the world map without heroes. The units themselves consist of any number of figures, but are only shown as one figure on the map. Furthermore, Heroes of Might and Magic does not depict a full world, but always only one scenario; But this also means that there are no random cards like in Master of Magic. A variety of games have been developed on the principle of Heroes of Might and Magic, for example the series by Eador , Disciples and Kings Bounty .

Games that are mostly inspired by Master of Magic are the series from Age of Wonders , Elemental , Conquest of Elysium and Dominions 2 , as well as the game Worlds of Magic . Although all the games mentioned emphasize their connection to Master of Magic, there has not yet been an official successor due to the bankruptcy of SimTex, the naming rights held by Atari and the game design, which is impressive in its depth and complexity.

Other games in the field of fantasy round strategy such as the well-known Fantasy General or the newer Warlock series are already fundamentally different, as these games do not have any tactical battles on their own battle map and thus no game-mechanical relationship to Master of Magic or Heroes of Might and Magic and their related games.

Master of Magic is still playable even after years; Even if VGA graphics and sound are no longer up to date, the iconic graphics and graphic effects are still nice to look at today.

The game itself was already easily accessible and innovative when it appeared in 1994: there was no copy protection and you could always get detailed help by right-clicking on units, fields, buildings, etc.

Development history

Master of Magic was developed in 1994 at Simtex by Steve Barcia; he had also developed Master of Orion , which is reflected in the similarities in the underlying technology (file structure of the data, etc.) of the two games. The last official version of Master of Magic was version 1.31 (March 1995), which, after very buggy previous versions, fixed most of the critical bugs that had been criticized by the press and players.

This version received mostly good to very good ratings in reviews of game magazines.

After the Simtex development studio was closed in 1997, more unofficial patches became available for the remaining bugs and imbalances. A planned second part was no longer realized.

After Hasbro bought Microprose in 1998, the rights to Master of Magic have now landed with Atari SA .

Criticism

Master of Magic later made it to several computer game award lists; and Alan Emrich , "inventor" of the 4X genre, one Master of Magic as his No. 1 game on all time.

In 2012, Master of Magic was again recognized as the best 4X game in a retrospective on the Eurogamer website .

Availability

In 2010, Master of Magic became available as a download from Good Old Games . The game is delivered with the DOS emulator DOSBox (v0.73, the first version with full support from Master of Magic ), which means that the game can be played authentically on modern systems and even on mobile phones.

Since February 25, 2020, the game and the former community mod Caster of Magic has been available as an official DLC on Steam .

Community and Mods

Master of Magic, in summary known for its great replay value through the many varied random elements in every area of the game, its elaborate and extensive game mechanics, the great combination possibilities, the strongly increasing magic strength and its sandbox-like world with the many stories forming in the mind of the player, still has a lot of fans and an online community that has remained lively even after two decades . This continues to deal with the game and tries u. a. to fix remaining bugs, is working on remakes and has created a very extensive wiki with a lot of information and strategies about the game and its game elements.

The main meeting point for the discussion and further development of the game (including the unofficial fan patch and the popular 'Caster of Magic' mod) runs in English via RealmsBeyond.

Web links

"Master of Magic" wiki with an explanation of all units and lots of other information (English)
Review of Master of Magic as a fan video (English)
Master of Magic podcast by two former game magazine editors
Master of Magic FAQ with list of bugs, strategies, stories and much more.
Master of Magic at MobyGames (English)
Master of Magic - Review at Abandonia (English)
RealmsBeyond

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Microprose: Games List . microprose.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 1998. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
↑ TOP-SELLING 'MASTER OF ORION (TM)' AND 'MASTER OF MAGIC (TM)' NOW AVAILABLE ON MS-DOS DISK AND CD-ROM ( s ) MicroProse Software, Inc. January 6, 1995. Retrieved September 30, 1995 2010.
↑ Master of Magic - Technical Supplement ( English , pdf) Microprose. 1994. Archived from the original on August 13, 2007. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
↑ ^a ^b Master of Magic ( English ) Good Old Games . Retrieved May 18, 2011: " buy for $ 5.99 "
↑ ^a ^b Microprose: Technical Support: Master of Magic update version 1.31 ( en ) microprose.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 1998. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
↑ ^a ^b New year, New Master of Magic! v1.5 fan patch on realmsbeyond.net
↑ Master of Magic - Spellbook ( English , pdf) Microprose. 1994. Archived from the original on August 13, 2007. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
↑ Peter Steinlechner: Lounge Wizards: Master of Magic . In: Powerplay 11/94 . kultpower.de. Accessed on April 20, 2011: " PowerPlay: Highly Recommended [...] 85% "
↑ ^a ^b kyrub: MoM insecticide patch (latest version) - 28/06/2012 Latest version here: MoM unofficial patch 1.40n ( English ) realmsbeyond.net. October 24, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2012: “ What the Insecticide patch is all about? to make the MoM game as bug-free and as AI-challenging and as user-friendly as possible without modifying the content. The patch now features more than 200 bug fixes, AI improvements and interface changes. "
↑ Hasbro, Inc. Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire MicroProse, Inc. . Hasbro Inc. August 12, 1998. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
↑ GameSpy staff: GameSpy's Top 50 Games of All Time ( en ) GameSpy. 06 2001. Archived from the original on May 6, 2009. Retrieved on April 20, 2011.
↑ Paul Dean: Retrospective: Master of Magic ( English ) Eurogamer . April 22, 2012. Retrieved on August 30, 2012: “ [...] it [MoM] hasn't yet been surpassed by any other fantasy 4X game. Curiously enough, Master of Magic remains the best example of its kind. "
↑ DOSBox Compatibility List search results for "Master of Magic" ( English ) Retrieved on 12 May 2011th
↑ Master of Magic - Master of Magic is out on Steam !: Steam News. February 25, 2020, accessed May 27, 2020 .

[microprose-1] Microprose: Games List . microprose.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 1998. Retrieved September 30, 2010.

[pressrelease-2] TOP-SELLING 'MASTER OF ORION (TM)' AND 'MASTER OF MAGIC (TM)' NOW AVAILABLE ON MS-DOS DISK AND CD-ROM ( s ) MicroProse Software, Inc. January 6, 1995. Retrieved September 30, 1995 2010.

[manual-3] Master of Magic - Technical Supplement ( English , pdf) Microprose. 1994. Archived from the original on August 13, 2007. Retrieved October 1, 2010.

[gog-4] Master of Magic ( English ) Good Old Games . Retrieved May 18, 2011: " buy for $ 5.99 "

[patch31-5] Microprose: Technical Support: Master of Magic update version 1.31 ( en ) microprose.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 1998. Retrieved September 30, 2010.

[1.5-6] New year, New Master of Magic! v1.5 fan patch on realmsbeyond.net

[spellbook-7] Master of Magic - Spellbook ( English , pdf) Microprose. 1994. Archived from the original on August 13, 2007. Retrieved October 1, 2010.

[8] Peter Steinlechner: Lounge Wizards: Master of Magic . In: Powerplay 11/94 . kultpower.de. Accessed on April 20, 2011: " PowerPlay: Highly Recommended [...] 85% "

[insecticide-9] yrub: MoM insecticide patch (latest version) - 28/06/2012 Latest version here: MoM unofficial patch 1.40n ( English ) realmsbeyond.net. October 24, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2012: “ What the Insecticide patch is all about? to make the MoM game as bug-free and as AI-challenging and as user-friendly as possible without modifying the content. The patch now features more than 200 bug fixes, AI improvements and interface changes. "

[10] Hasbro, Inc. Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire MicroProse, Inc. . Hasbro Inc. August 12, 1998. Retrieved September 30, 2010.

[11] GameSpy staff: GameSpy's Top 50 Games of All Time ( en ) GameSpy. 06 2001. Archived from the original on May 6, 2009. Retrieved on April 20, 2011.

[eurogame-12] Paul Dean: Retrospective: Master of Magic ( English ) Eurogamer . April 22, 2012. Retrieved on August 30, 2012: “ [...] it [MoM] hasn't yet been surpassed by any other fantasy 4X game. Curiously enough, Master of Magic remains the best example of its kind. "

[13] DOSBox Compatibility List search results for "Master of Magic" ( English ) Retrieved on 12 May 2011th

[14] Master of Magic - Master of Magic is out on Steam !: Steam News. February 25, 2020, accessed May 27, 2020 .