The "Might and Magic: Heroes of Might and Magic" series has a technique called "double move": at the start of a turn, the fastest unit always acts first, and the game has a "wait" function that can push a selected unit's action order to the bottom. So, if your speed is high enough, you can actively place a unit at the end of the queue, allowing it to act again at the start of the next turn, creating a double move.
This time, Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered might be at the end of the line, or perhaps just at the beginning of the queue—either way, it has gotten Ubisoft Chengdu moving, and the next turn belongs to them.
In terms of initiative in turn-based strategy, Ubisoft Chengdu does seem like a unit waiting for its turn. It was established in 2008. Unlike Ubisoft Shanghai, which entered China in 1996, even earlier than Tencent and NetEase, making it somewhat of a "native"; nor like many domestic studios, these post-2010s studios are in their prime, making the former "Whampoa Military Academy of the gaming industry" seem a bit lacking in firepower.
Although Ubisoft is a multinational corporation with frequent personnel turnover, as locally positioned studios, Ubisoft Shanghai and Chengdu still evoke a natural sense of closeness. Compared to Ubisoft Shanghai, which gained fame in the early days through "violent ports" and independent games like I Am Alive, Ubisoft Chengdu seems much more low-key.
You may have seen content they produced in many places, perhaps in Rainbow Six Siege, perhaps in For Honor's "Marching Fire," or in the diverse "Assassin's Creed" universe. As part of the global matrix, Ubisoft Chengdu, like other studios, is always in a state of neither too fast nor too slow.
As joked about above, compared to small and medium-sized new-generation studios, they lack a certain "initiative"... or rather, a clear identity. So when discussing reputation, it's hard to separate the machines in the factory from the flesh and blood. Even if no one is hurt by this, over time, blindness and ignorance may inevitably arise.
If the organizational structure is large enough, employees don't necessarily need to bear the burden of output. At any time, manifesting as the specific "face" of a massive entity is not a good thing. It means carrying extra burdens and being forced to become less "pure."
So, many thanks to Ubisoft for inviting the two developers from the Chengdu studio, and thanks to Zhong Tao, producer of Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered, and Li Jixiao, the project's lead designer. What they answered was not only the secret to a classic work's enduring popularity over twenty years but also those vague, unformed questions about work and creation.
As the two of you mentioned in the interview, truly wonderful experiences always happen in the moments of interaction.
Below is the original interview transcript:
Q: Indeed, this is the first time I've learned about Ubisoft Chengdu—so, could you two briefly introduce yourselves?
Zhong Tao:My name is Zhong Tao, and I am the producer of Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered. I joined Ubisoft Chengdu in early 2012, so it's been almost 15 years. I've participated in various projects, including games developed in-house in Chengdu. I started with social games like the "Smurfs" series, then moved on to more casual titles like UNO, and in recent years worked on games like Rabbids: Party of Legends. I've also been involved in co-development projects such as For Honor and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.
Li Jixiao:My name is Li Jixiao. I joined the studio when Ubisoft Chengdu was established in 2008. The first project I worked on as a designer was actually a title under the "Heroes of Might and Magic" IP, which was operated in China for a while called Might & Magic: Kingdoms. Later, I worked on various projects. I collaborated with Zhong Tao on web-based games, spent many years on Assassin's Creed titles including Assassin's Creed Shadows, and worked on Skull and Bones for several years. Now, I'm back working with Zhong Tao on the remaster.
Might & Magic: Kingdoms
Q: So, is it because the studio has sufficient development experience that Ubisoft Chengdu was chosen to develop Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered?
Zhong Tao:First, Ubisoft formulated the overall plan for "Heroes of Might and Magic," and the Chengdu studio seized this opportunity. In addition to work experience, I am also a veteran player of the original, as are many team members. We all love this game. Therefore, from the beginning, we expressed our willingness and ideas to Ubisoft's senior management, starting step by step from a demo. Finally, they recognized the studio's capabilities, and we secured the project for Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered.
Of course, Ubisoft Shanghai studio also participated in the development work.
Q: I'm a newer player who started with Might and Magic: Heroes V. When did you roughly get into "Heroes of Might and Magic"?
Zhong Tao:A long time ago, I started playing in university, around 2003.
Li Jixiao:When I was young, I didn't have a computer. There was a computer shop nearby, and the owner played this game every day, with a group of kids gathered around watching. I only got a computer in university and started playing, also using the map editor. At that time, I was playing Might and Magic: Heroes V, and the web game I made was also based on the content of Might and Magic: Heroes V.
This IP actually has deep roots with Ubisoft Chengdu; we have produced several spin-off titles in between.
Zhong Tao:That's right. Previously, I also participated in a card game in the "Might and Magic" series called Might & Magic: Duel of Champions.
Q: I noticed that Ubisoft Chengdu has been deeply involved in many games, but I hadn't noticed before. For example, the Wu Lin faction in For Honor was made by Chengdu. To ask directly, this might be the first time Ubisoft Chengdu has led the development of such a well-known IP. As the main development studio versus a supporting role, is there a difference in work difficulty?
Zhong Tao:Strictly speaking, the Chengdu studio has previously participated in the development of similar resource-intensive products and has led its own projects. As for whether it's well-known, as a project producer, I certainly recognize the fame of Might and Magic: Heroes of Might and Magic III. However, this is more about different audiences, so it's hard to say which is higher or lower. The Rabbids: Party of Legends project was also developed by us, and the "Rabbids" character has a certain level of global recognition.
However, in terms of the production pipeline, the Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered project is indeed more challenging, with many technical difficulties to overcome.
Q: If the studio holds the主导权 (leading authority) and decision-making power, would project progression be easier and smoother than when cooperating?
Zhong Tao:Actually, no. If anything, the responsibility might be even greater.
Because everyone has expectations for the "Might and Magic: Heroes of Might and Magic" IP—as you said, its influence in the gaming industry and among players is somewhat greater. When communicating deeply with the community, we do enter a new field, needing to understand and organize everyone's feedback, which is a rather unique project experience.
Li Jixiao:This project is indeed unique because it is a remaster. The player community has formed its own playing habits and styles, which are quite different from the original. We fully respect the development history of the original work. Over the past few decades, Might and Magic: Heroes of Might and Magic III is no longer just a game; it's more like a development community, which is a very unique experience for us.
Moreover, we are actually part of that community ourselves, right? I've also created custom maps.
As game developers, this experience is very unique. But regarding the difficulty of development, I feel it's more like a natural progression. After so many years, we should have grown and taken on more successful large-scale projects.
Q: Age of Wonders 4 has already been released. Will there be competitive pressure in terms of game quality and market response?
Zhong Tao:The two projects started around the same time, but their positioning is quite different. Therefore, the market response to Age of Wonders 4 has been very successful, and we are quite happy to see that—surely, we don't want to see Ubisoft projects fail, right? From art style to gameplay, the positioning is different, so we are not in direct competition.
The success of Age of Wonders 4 has instead given us confidence, confirming that "Heroes of Might and Magic" still has ample vitality and market potential, effectively warming up the community.
What we really need to examine is the huge success achieved by the original Might and Magic: Heroes of Might and Magic III in that era. How to make it equally recognized by players in the game lineup of 2027—both in terms of quality and culture. This is our current goal, or rather, the difficulty we urgently need to overcome, and also an internal driving force.
Li Jixiao:For me, Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered is more like an unknown journey and adventure. Seeing the community's feedback on our work, there are positive responses as well as differing opinions, and the process itself is fascinating. Including these past few days, standing behind everyone and watching how you play, the experience has been quite remarkable.
In the past, we might have been creating and presenting a finished product. Now, it's more like a group of strangers from all over the world—from Europe, China, Central Asia—coming together to find a common goal, allowing something to grow naturally.
Q: I tried the demo of Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered, and its fidelity is extremely high. Even basic functions like shortcuts are exactly the same, and it subsequently includes "Shadow of Death" and "Armageddon's Blade." Wasn't the source code lost? How did you achieve such accurate restoration?
Zhong Tao:Since it's a remaster, of course, we aim to make it exactly like the original; that's our positioning. As for the rumor about lost source code, it's indeed a common joke on online forums, but at least when we started the project, the source code was there.
But it's not a direct port of the source code. After all, that source code is very old. Our project relies on Ubisoft's Snowdrop, a proprietary engine often used for AAA games. The Snowdrop engine itself is constantly iterating and has supported the development of many different types of games. Results vary between projects due to budget and expected implementation effects.
We have maintained direct communication with the engine team, giving us access to the latest version of the Snowdrop engine, with all updated features synced in. Therefore, building on the new engine, we completely dismantled and refactored the source code to achieve the current results.
As for "Shadow of Death" and "Armageddon's Blade"—with these two expansion packs, players consider Might and Magic: Heroes of Might and Magic III to be complete, so we will restore all this content.
Li Jixiao:From the start, our goal was authenticity. As mentioned earlier, the development team consists of veteran players with decades of experience, including those who play PvP and mods. So, in addition to technical support, the developers themselves have a deep understanding of the game.
Q: But from today's perspective, Might and Magic: Heroes of Might and Magic III still has a significant barrier to entry. How should the remaster address the issue of catering to both new and old players?
Li Jixiao:While preserving the strategic depth and gameplay of the original, we also want to make the game accessible to new-generation players. Only after they get started will players be drawn into this game world—which is actually quite difficult.
So, in addition to preserving the game rules and balance values, we've made many improvements, such as enhancements to user experience (UX), quality-of-life upgrades, and a brand-new tutorial level. This demo only includes the first level of the prologue; there are more tutorial levels to come.
After completing the prologue, everyone will have a basic understanding of the game itself, and then step onto a brand-new, 3D game map. I can proudly say that the graphics of Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered are quite good, meeting modern immersion standards. Using new 3D models and perspectives, we have recreated that classic game world.
Q: Besides basic game understanding, Might and Magic: Heroes of Might and Magic III also has many advanced aspects. Unlike modern games, if you don't use these techniques, you might not be able to play at a normal difficulty. So, to what extent will the game's tutorial guidance cater to new players?
Li Jixiao:To give a simple example, we will separately explain the double-move technique for fast units, allowing players to retreat while attacking, and we will comprehensively discuss how to manage resources, including the coordination between two hero characters you mentioned. But we hope these guides and tutorials appear in a more immersive form, such as supplements to the prologue story, gradually helping players get started.
Q: For example, remasters like Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition release new content based on the original. Will Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered do the same?
Zhong Tao:It's not convenient for us to reveal details at the moment. However, what we can say is thatWe already have clear plans for subsequent updates!
Q: Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered can directly import old maps, no matter how old, including player-made ones—this is quite shocking. Many new versions of old games have many bugs when importing old files, making them almost unplayable. How did you achieve this?
Zhong Tao:First of all, Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered is not a simple port of the original source code. Instead, we completely dismantled and rebuilt a new codebase on a new engine. On top of this new code, we preserved key logic and map data format standards. After multiple iterations to adapt to the current map presentation, we finally achieved this functionality.
Li Jixiao:To put it bluntly, we spent a lot of energy solving this problem.There's no clever black magic technology. If there's a bug, we fix it. One by one, until there are no bugs left.
Zhong Tao:From the very beginning of the project, we were prepared to tackle difficult challenges.
Not only official maps, but player-made maps can also be seamlessly imported.And player-made maps are highly unpredictable; you can't know how they will manipulate map elements. So, rather than being a solvable problem or an implementable feature, this is more like a continuous process of problem-solving.
With every step forward, new problems may be discovered... So, we go back to solve the problems until the next one appears.
Li Jixiao:After all, this game is no longer the work released in 1999; it is an ecosystem, a community, something that has grown over 20 years of accumulation. When we first started the remaster, we decided to do this, to include all the things players have already created.
Q: So, will you also incorporate changes from mods like "Horn of the Abyss"?
Li Jixiao:Yes, we have communicated with them. In fact, some of the mechanics we discussed earlier, including the game version we've already played, are already the result of incorporating mod features. But this is a gradual process—we won't just dump all these features in before launch. We also need to determine which content is suitable for Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered.
Zhong Tao:We will stick to one goal: bringing the pure and complete original experience to current players. To respect the original, the content of the remaster at launch will be based almost entirely on the original, specifically the data platform of the "Shadow of Death" version.
But in fact, as Li Jixiao just mentioned, we are indeed communicating with the "Horn of the Abyss" team. After all, the player community highly recognizes this team and their adjustments to balance. However, their balance goals emphasize PvP more.
Therefore, we will provide multiple versions of numerical balance, allowing players to choose based on their experience.
You can play it authentically, or try other versions with adjusted numerical balance. On this basis, we will also provide a new set of numerical editors—because the original did not open up these functions, we hope players can create content more freely.
Q: Thank you. Finally, perhaps an offbeat request—Ubisoft currently has rather negative public opinion online. Besides feedback from game audiences, it may also be because some players don't fully understand Ubisoft. As a "local" studio and the lead developer of this project, is there anything special you'd like to convey to players?
Zhong Tao:I think I can speak on behalf of our project team—we have always hoped to bridge the distance with the player community. Not to pander, but to understand everyone's views on our work. We also hope our work meets players' expectations.
In fact, as early as 2024, we organized an offline event for Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered, attended by many veteran players of the "Heroes of Might and Magic" series. I believe that action itself can express an attitude. Therefore, in the future, we hope to collaborate and communicate more closely with everyone.
Li Jixiao:We are actually quite simple-minded—do a good job on a project, make a good game, make a fun game. Our focus is more on whether the game is fun and whether players like it.
The goal set at the beginning of the project was to co-create with players. In the past, it might have been just creation; now, we complete it together with players, striving for perfection, or at least the best we can achieve. Everyone is playing today and providing feedback, which we note down and improve upon... Combining Everythinggj together may lead to results that meet or even exceed expectations.
I believe that for many players who have just encountered the project, the current version of the game undoubtedly exceeds many people's expectations. Seeing players come to play our game, enjoy it, and provide feedback makes us very happy. This is what we have always been doing, whether in the past, today with Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered, or in the future, we will continue to create more content.