Two words: scenario editor

[City Builder]

The higher the brand loyalty, the more money they can get for it when they sell off the brand.

I'd really like an editor myself too. Regardless if I only release 1 out of the 10 maps that I design, there is an added value to me as the consumer to have an editor and be able to muck around in it creating my own little worlds. If I feel one is good enough for release then i do so, but none the less the extra value is there when an editor is included and makes me more loyal to a brand and more likely to buy the next full sequel that has all the new gameplay that the developers would be best suited to provide.

While I am liking KB-TL a lot right now, when I first opened it and found no editor, my fist impression was to go over to ebay.com and post it up for auction and try to get back what I can for it. For me, HOMM V would have sucked hard if it didn't eventually put out the editor, and I wouldn't be still playing it, and hoping that they will have a HOMM 6 whether from same developer or different. But I didn't sell KB-TL on ebay I decide to play it and hope that the developers throw us a bone and give the editor in a patch soon so that we can create our own worlds to play and not be stuck inside just their imagination to play KB-TL.

[Leind]

I agree. King's Bounty campaign is way better than the Homm campaigns but at the end of the day, user created map are still way better.

If the developer is not going to have enough time/ressources/good mapmaker for mapmaking, let the fans do it. For free, or even better, make some contest for the best user created campaign or map to encourage mapmakers.

In King's Bounty you can see a lot of time was put in the first continent, which was very good looking, full of quests, etc. but the last maps were small and bland.

I never finished Homm campaign as they were boring, but played it endlessly and purchased all add-ons because of user created maps. Some mapmaker created great single player maps & campaigns (wind of thorns for Heroes4 for example. I purchased the Heroes 4 WoW addon just to be able to play this and other wow only fan maps).

Fan mapmaker would be able to create real wonders with a map editor, as King's Bounty game system and game mechanics (Leaderships, great balance between different troops and strategy, ability to have a far bigger world,etc.), is way better than the Heroes game system.
Even if the map editor is hard to use and not user friendly, please traduce it and let your player use it.

[Crepuscule]

Sorry but I think major fan map in all games editor is bad. I want play on pro map with feeling the conceptor king bounty. Amateur map is poor !! Then put a editor in hands amateurs (90%-99% players don't have skills for create a good thing) = Nul

Then I prefere conceptor give time for create new good scenario and campagne like King bounty

I tell it because I am fan the NwN game with editor and major module create by fan is poor. It domage because game lost on quality.

[Sir Whiskers]

Originally Posted by Crepuscule

Sorry but I think major fan map in all games editor is bad. I want play on pro map with feeling the conceptor king bounty. Amateur map is poor !! Then put a editor in hands amateurs (90%-99% players don't have skills for create a good thing) = Nul

Then I prefere conceptor give time for create new good scenario and campagne like King bounty

I tell it because I am fan the NwN game with editor and major module create by fan is poor. It domage because game lost on quality.

I agree that many user-created maps/scenarios/campaigns can be pretty bad, but I don't agree that that is a good reason to not provide a scenario builder. If a user doesn't want to use fan maps, no one is going to force them to do so. In the meantime, those of us who do want to use the builder can.

For myself, scenario editors almost always keep me involved with a game much longer than I would otherwise.
*I still play HOMM3, and do so specifically because a friend enjoys designing maps, and I enjoy playing them.
*NWN - I never finished the official campaign, but I enjoy many of the fan modules, which prompted me to buy the expansions that the modules required.
*Space Empires 4 - Still a great space 4X game, specifically because of the fan mods (DevNull and TDM especially). I've even dabbled in designing my own mods, which is an interesting experience (you learn a lot about how a game works when you dig into the guts of it).
*Space Empires 5 - The official game is really only good for multiplayer. If you want a decent single player version, you pretty much have to use the fan-created Balance mod.

Take away the editors/builders in the above games and I wouldn't still be playing them. Nor interested in buying the next official release.

The publishers have to decide if the extra effort and expense required in designing a good editor will equal enough additional sales to make it worthwhile. I certainly think so.

[NelsMonsterX]

I'd love a random map generator with a random boss battle at the finish!

Lack of replayability is really the only thing that I could complain about KB:TL. I'll really, really, really want to play it again when I'm done, but I fear the deja vu would drag down a repeat play.