First, thanks for the opportunity to allow us to ask questions!
Most of my questions are mod-based:
1. Is it going to be possible to mod mana cost for spells? I've wanted to add skills / items / etc. to lower mana cost of spells, but unfortunately, it is hard-coded in the game to use what is in SPELLS.TXT. I can override the display, but it always selects the value from SPELLS.TXT regardless of what I do with the display text.
2. This is similar to the above, but is it possible to mod spell crystal cost to learn them? Once again, the game seems hard-coded to use what's in SPELLS.TXT less what you get for the Alchemy skill (i.e. a call to Obj.spell_crystals returns the crystal cost less the Alchemy skill and so it is handled internally). I'd like to have items, etc. that can reduce crystal cost of learning either a spell, group of spells, or even a spell school.
3. Is it possible to select spell levels for enemy heroes? Right now, you select the spells and the spell level is automatically determined. I had to override the default enemy hero spell level (in my H3B mod for TL). The only problem, is that it still used the mana cost of the original spell level I was overriding.
4. What changes to the modding system (if any) have been implemented for this release?
5. Even though the Lizardmen units are not included in this release, are they still included in the game files (say if someone wanted to mod them into the game in the future)? The same goes for the Orc units that aren't included in the game (the website only lists the original Orc units from TL and not the additional CW Orc units).
6. Are there any notable gameplay changes with respect to difficulty level?
7. Can enemy heroes regain mana? Can they multicast?
8. Are there any new game options or the possibility of randomly generated game maps (i.e. maybe a specially randomly generated dungeon or isle)?
9. Since the LUA library has been taken down are there going to be new library functions (i.e. was it taken down to update the information)? There really is the need for an "act_attach_modificator_dam" library function that allows modification of a unit's damage without having to resort to using the spell system (which makes it subject to being dispelled).
10. Are they going to implement the "mods{}" section in skills? It would be so much easier to have a "mods()" section in a skill (just like in items) so that I can implement bonuses that aren't currently possible with the current system. As it stands right now, you can only use integers to update counters and limits, but you cannot use integer percents (i.e. like 10% that you can under the mods field). As an aside, skills use the fight{} bonus system the same as items so why not mods{}?
11. Are you still using LUA 5.0? Or have you upgraded to a newer version?
12. Is there going to be an update to the documentation of the editor to more clearly describe certain sections that are overlooked? For example, under Items | Events the "New item in rucksack" is not described anywhere in the documentation.
13. Are there going to be certain elements of the editor that I can run standalone? For example, it would be nice to be able to work on dialogues or items without the full-blown editor.
Okay, I guess that's all I can think about right now - most are modding questions, but it would be nice to have a developer answer some of those, too!
/C\/C\