So what did happen to MOM 2?

from Elemental Forums

Elemental is Master of Magic's successor in spirit if not in name. I had high hopes for a sequal, I was even inspired to write many pages of ideas, most of which were IP dependant unfortunatly. But now, any hope for MOM 2 has to be tossed out the window, at least for now.

Does anyone know why the negotiations didn't work out? I heard about it from many sources but none of them matched each other so I don't know what to believe.

elemental
9,221 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top


Elemental is Master of Magic's successor in spirit if not in name. I had high hopes for a sequal, I was even inspired to write many pages of ideas, most of which were IP dependant unfortunatly. But now, any hope for MOM 2 has to be tossed out the window, at least for now.

Does anyone know why the negotiations didn't work out? I heard about it from many sources but none of them matched each other so I don't know what to believe.

 

From what I understand Atari did approach Stardock to do it, but the lawyers negotiations broke down, I think Atari wanted to do some extra stuff and gunk it up with Atari stuff when all Stardock wanted was a license to make the game.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Actually, Brad Wardell (Frogboy) says what happend right here in the recent Gamasutra preview: 

 

"Some years ago, Atari approached us because we had talked about doing a fantasy strategy [game]," Wardell recalled. "We made an agreement, then their legal people killed the deal in terms of everything that was required."

"They wanted to own everything we made -- well, we're not going to do that. But we still wanted to make our own fantasy strategy game. We had our own ideas of what we wanted to see in there."

 

So there's the scoop on that whole deal.  :) 

 

 

Groupy 2 - Organize multiple applications into grouped tabs on your Windows desktop
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Thats a shame. Im beginning to feel that all of these old classics are never going to get thier due from the new generations of gamers.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

actually i am hoping that someone will eventually pick up the MOM license & we will have both E-WOM & MOM2.  it seems to be happening more and more these days with companies like 1C doing King Bounty, Majesty & Fantasy General sequels.  who knows, maybe they havealready bought the MOM license and are working on MOM2 as we speak (at least this article seems to suggest that this might be the case):

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/04/20/standing-on-the-shoulders-of-giants/

 

 

 

 

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

I dont see what the big deal is.

MoM was a great game no doubt, but the fantasy setting was pretty generic. What made MoM great was successful design of game mechanics and pacing... something that has little to do with a license.

 

 

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Honestly, I don't care what the game is called, or whether it's inspired by MoM. 

I just want EWOM to be good.  (I have enough confidence in that to pre-order 9+ months before beta)

 

I sometimes wonder if this is due to me not having played MOM- but that name doesn't mean much to me.  The only real old-school fantasy game I ever got to play was Fantasy General.

 

Seriously, this could be Stardock's "breakout" title- I'm hoping SD is going to bet the marketing farm on this.

 

 

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Seriously, this could be Stardock's "breakout" title- I'm hoping SD is going to bet the marketing farm on this.

 

If GalCiv didn't do that for TBS, this game ain't too likely to do much more!  (AKA:  they already 'broke out' in TBS games, which are a niche game, alas).

 

On top of that, we have Sins (RTS/4X hybrid) which sold like crazy, and Demigod which is very much a mainstream game which, done to SD quality, will really breakout.

 

(Or do you mean breakout in their own right, rather than as  a producer, in which case the first sentence at least still applies)

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Therlun, reply 5
MoM was a great game no doubt, but the fantasy setting was pretty generic. What made MoM great was successful design of game mechanics and pacing... something that has little to do with a license.

Id say its success was a combination of everything, setting included. Sometimes generic is comforting. Our elves have pointy ears, okay thats great. If you try too hard to change that formula you run into Our Elves Are Better Than Your Elves and the result is usually something derivative or just bizzare. Like Snelves with snakes instead of hands. Its happened before.

Even a direct remake could solve many problems the original didn't solve in its time. Near the end of the game I always stop colonizing new land and capturing enemy cities simply because I am tired of micromanaging build orders. You can set the chancellor to take care of your cities but he always makes them build useless units instead of sticking to buildings.