Prerelease:Heroes of Might and Magic II

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Heroes of Might and Magic II.

“Art helps a game, but sometimes it also hurts it,” Mark explains. “Our users expected iteration, not revolution, as far as art style goes. We would oversee the process, but the style and quality came from the art director and artists, and since they remained from our previous games, so did the quality and style.” - Mark Caldwell

Jon explains the decision to stick with the art style as, “Two parts, one was for speed of getting a game done. Going with the 2D art was faster as we already had the engine. And secondly, we already knew we had a fan base with Heroes, so we wanted to live up to it.” Interestingly, Jon remembers a discussion that almost led to Heroes II going 3D. “We actually did some experimenting with 3D characters using a 3D engine. At the time, there were software renders for 3D and not hardware, you had to have a high-end machine and there was a huge trade-off between the detail of the polygons versus the speed of the rendering. In an experiment we did, the creatures didn’t look very good due to low polygon counts. “You also have to think about your staff. My staff was full of 2D artists, and 3D was just coming along. So we didn’t have much experience building 3D assets. I felt we could get a much higher fidelity using bitmap art than we could with the state of 3D engines at the time. And I just viewed the town screens as an inspirational point, like, ‘Wow, look at my beautiful town in all its glory.’ If we had gone 3D it wouldn’t have looked anything like what it did. Because we were just using straight bitmaps it had that hand-drawn look and I have to give credit to the fantastic artists we had at the time.” - Jon Van Caneghem

Concept Art

SW Manual

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  Genie

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  Captain of Knight Castle

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  Centaur

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  Dragon

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  Troll

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  Dwarf

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  Titan

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  Unicorn

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  Wolf

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  Griffin

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  Cavalier

PoL Manual

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  H2PoL Evil Shrine

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  H2PoL Mermaid

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  Wizard, concept art made during H2PoL development

In colour

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  Griffin in colour

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  Cavalier in colour

Skills and Artifacts by Steve Wasaff

"All examples shown were created using Deluxe Paint II Enhanced." - Steve Wasaff

Early Skills Icons

"Here are a few of my favorite ones... I think there where 14 or so of them." - Steve Wasaff

Release	Prerelease

Early Necromancy Skill Icon

Artifacts

"Here are a few of my favorite ones out of the 50..." - Steve Wasaff

Release	Prerelease

Final versions have blurred edges.

Creatures

"All graphics created for Heroes of Magic II were hand-painted pixel-by-pixel in Deluxe Paint II Enhanced using a fixed palette of 256 colors. Character animations were also created in this most traditional manner, frame by hand-painted frame, and previewed using Deluxe Animator." - Phelan Sykes

"The first game I worked on. Pixel pushing with DPaint and a shared palette of 256 for everything. The only thing nice was the rotating color wheel to simulate moving water or fire. I did the character development of the monsters and riders, which took a while to nail down. As with future projects, the characters went thru variations before they got approved. (...) After the character design came the animation. NWC had hired in artists so the task was divided up between us." "We later got in a version of Animator Pro which had a beefier animation toolset. - Tracy Iwata

Tracy Iwata's Sketchbook

"I did the character development of the monsters and riders, which took a while to nail down. As with future projects, the characters went thru variations before they got approved." - Tracy Iwata

Toad by Tracy Iwata

"Take the toad, which was later replaced by the boar...just a few of us knew it ever existed :P (of course, now a lot more folks will know of it)." - Tracy Iwata

Phoenixes by Tracy Iwata

"Some of creatures went through modifications before approval, but I remember the Phoenix being overhauled a lot. The first one looked a bit like a turkey and was also posed like a dragon, the second one too hefty (recycled that body shape for Roc), finally got the more dainty shape that was approved - Tracy Iwata

Creatures from manual

Release	Prerelease - Manual

HoMM2 manual contains earlier versions of a few creatures.

Early Paul Anthony Romero Compositions

“There was a lot of fun and vibrant discussions around the opera stuff. My internal audio producer Rob King was Paul’s partner and we just told them to go for it. And so, they came back and showed everyone in the studio and we had such debates about the opera. We even had to make two tracks in the UI by adding an option to turn off the opera for the player. But it was fantastic pieces of music and today is just as loved as the actual games themselves." - Jon Van Caneghem

Ancient Evocations

Famous "Ancient Evocations" theme, so-called Grass theme, went through different variations before and after it's first release with HoMM2.

Final Grass Theme	Unused Grass Theme

Sea theme

Final Sea Theme	Sea Theme without a sea sound

Unused Battle Theme

HoMM1 came with 4 different Battle themes and although HoMM2 draw on from it's predecessor in every aspect, both HoMM2 MIDI and CD audio soundtracks contain only 3 Battle themes. Moreover the names of MIDI files in HoMM2 start from MIDI0002 - one of a three battle themes available in vanilla version of the game, making us wonder what was the missing 0001 track? By courtesy of Paul Anthony Romero, who shared with us with his early "Best of" album from 1997 and gave this track hashtags #homm might magic and #heroesofmight&magic, we can guess that this is the missing theme:

Early Townscreens

Release	Prerelease

Release	Prerelease

Release	Prerelease

Above fragments of towns were used in a HoMM2 Millenium Edition setup previews. The screenshots were made on a very early stages of development and present raw models of some dwellings and structures.

Release	Prerelease

The oldest Warlock's townscreen prerelease screenshot. Can be found on an advertisements from the time, e.g. CGW 147 1996/10, p.78, CGW 148 1996/11 p.188, CGW 152 1997/03. The most noticeable differences are very dark shadows of a Castle, Statue, wrong angle of Mages's Guild shadow, strangely lighted Well. The minor changes affected Boat, Minotaur's Labyrinth entrance, lighting of Dragon's Tower, Waterfall, marketplace and creatures' backgrounds among other.

Release	Prerelease

Townscreen from CD covers and boxes. Late stages of development: alternative Mage's Guild, non-glitched Waterfall, additional small towers for a castle.

Release	Prerelease

City of the Knight as seen on covers and boxes. Unused building next to the Cathedral. Red flags on a castle walls, no smoke from chimneys.

Loading screen from Might and Magic VII Prototype shows early models of Captain's Quartes, Peasant Hut, Blacksmith, Cathedral and Mage Guild from Knight Castle, Tavern and Thieves' Guild from Warlock Castle, Mage Guild from Barbarian Castle, and trees used on a Fortress townscreen from HoMM3.

Heroes of Might and Magic 2 E3 1996 Trailer

Release	Prerelease

A mockup - there are 13 dead or alive units on a battlefield, while under normal circumstances maximum is 10. Old versions of Skeleton, Medusa and Minotaur dead bodies. The most prominent diferences from final version is blue Mage without his wand casting fireball?, Crusader with red cape, different Cyclop attack, unpolished Warlock and Steel Golem and of course early variant of Grass battlefield with unused obstacles.

Release	Prerelease

Another mockup - yellow has six creatures (additional dead Troll), while the limit is five. Unused Troll's dead body, unused black Druid variant, little changes to all creatures and a battlefield.

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Official Screenshots from 3DO website, 1997

Release	Preview

Different creatures' backgrounds, slightly different layout, special bound for Ultimate Artifact, unused in a final release, no blue pixels on Jezebel's nose

Release	Preview

No flags, no shining lights in a windows, no smoke from Golems' factory stacks, blue crest from HoMM1, different creatures' backgrounds

Release	Preview

No smoke on preview image, also roofs are displaced

Release	Preview

Prerelease adventure map; mountains, trees and obstacles were placed with Map Editor, creatures, heroes and resources were placed by hand. Slightly brighter grass' gamma. Old portrait of Brother Brax. There is also cut from the game bunch of dead trees.

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  Render of the Warlock castle.

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  Unused render of a dragon. The model itself was used for a victory screen and for a few cinematics of Archibald's campaign. It was later reused for Might and Magic VI advertisements and CD covers.

Manual

Screenshots from the game's manual show late stages of development.

Release	Manual

"Tutorial" map. Interface has brighter gamma. Red flowers decorations positions slightly changed.

Release	Prerelease

The manual also contains Knight townscreen screenshot from "Tutorial" map, showing Pikeman's old variant. Moreover creatures icons doesn't have shadows, Peasant's position is slightly displaced, "exit" button is yellow just like in HoMM 1 and town's name is slightly higher.

Release	Manual

Once again "Tutorial" map. Buildings has golden bounds even if they're not built yet. Maximus has sandy background used for neutral creatures in vanilla, Barok uses his old portrait from HoMM1. Yellow "exit" button. Captain's Quarters shown with the other buildings.

Release	Manual

Battle with Zombies from "Tutorial" map. Slightly different decorations on the left and right. Distant trees in the background has less lush crowns. One tree is missing in a final release. Pikeman's graphic is the same as vanilla, although it's icon in a castle was still older version.

Release	Manual

"Beltway" map. Interface and grass terrain has brighter gamma. No water decorations. Less automatically generated decorations on the ground.

Release	Manual

Meeting screen. Carlawn and Vatawna use their old portraits from HoMM1.

Release	Prerelease - Manual

Wider moat, Centaur has different tail, background obstacles don't have shadows, number of units in stack is slightly higher.

Release	Prerelease - Manual

Older versions of Roc, Steel Golem and Boar icons, minor changes to Archmages, Halflings have no shadow.

Release	Manual

An old portrait of Brother Brax, when he was still known as Rogrog.

Other Promo Screenshots

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  Earlier version of battle on a swamps seen on E3 trailer, status button is still HoMM1 placeholder, creatures have moved. This is the earliest official promotional screenshot.

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  This screenshot and next two are mashups, "Wait" button is still present.

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  An old name for a Death Wave spell.

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  An old name for a Death Ripple spell.

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  Close-up of a shield that was used in an ending cinematic of "Dragon Master" scenario from Archibald campaign.

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  Jezebel (Barbarian class) is called Myra (Wizard class), well it's makes since Jezebel is a Genie.

Release	Preview

Preview image shows lightning striking a ship. In final animation strike comes a few frames later and thunderbolt is a bit different.

Release	Preview

This screenshot can be found in a "previews" folder on many 3DO CDs from the time, including the HoMM2 CD. It's simply a mashup (Hero on the left commands six stacks of creatures, while since HoMM1 it was max five stacks). The most noticeable is an old version of a Knight town walls, unused stone obstacles and background decorations, old version of a beach battlefield, Wizard without his wand and old Water Elemental.

Release	Preview

Different gamma of a trees. Less colours on a minimap. Unused bunch of dead trees.

Release	Prerelease

Earliest screenshot of Adventure Map. Dug holes and some of sea reefs are leftovers from HoMM1. Artifacts are tiny, probably the remnant of this miniatures is art32.icn. Dead trees are different and some of Heroes and Towns are placeholders from HoMM1.

Another version of this image can be found on an old Phelan Sykes portfolio. Artifacts are big variants already.

Release	Prerelease

Unlike final version, here Spellbook is lying on the ground and probably could be obtained just like any other artifact. Trolley is empty. Creatures are facing different directions.

Release	Prerelease

In vanilla Troll Bridge isn't passable and mapmakers can't put creatures on them.

Preview Screenshots from Magazines

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  Placeholder Castle walls. Slightly improved comparing to one of earlier promo screenshots shown above.

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  A map unseen in a final release, however it appears on pages of several game magazines. Trolleys with resources are slightly displaced and terrains don't have auto-placed decorations. A small "Sorceress" letters upon Wizard's Castle.

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  Another preview from this map, there are barely seen red letters "Necromancer" upon Knight Castle. Moreover as a prove a Necromncer Castle is selected on a town list on the right.

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  Disjointed Peasant on a placeholder window from HoMM1. Also Peasant is a bit different from release.

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  Sorceress creatures have placeholder backgrounds from Barbarian town. Vatawna's portrait is still old version from HoMM1. Different placement of Morale, Luck, Experience and Mana points.

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  No Captain's Quarter. Buildings in a Town Hall are not decreased nor zoomed in like in final release. Yellow Button.

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  Like above, plus placehoder moat from Wizard's Town and Carlwawn didn't undergo lifting.

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  Like above plus shipyard is placeholder from Knight town and Heroes have pity portraits from HoMM1

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  Rialdo's name is Oornashevlik. Creatures have older backgrounds, vampire is shrunken.

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  "Wait" button, displaced walls.

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  Grey Pyramid.

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  Mage Guild level 0 with image from HoMM1. There is also a fragment of miniature of Pikemen dwelling from HoMM1 from building menu.

Release	Prerelease

Early, unpolished version of "Mountain King" map as seen in when zoomed in a map editor.

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  Again "Mountain King" map, completely different yellow player's starting position. Map Editor in progress. Different buttons, framing without vines.

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  Final release.

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  Map with objects in the same places as in preview for comparision. Small changes to sand mountains and fixed mine trolley.

Release	Prerelease

CGW 148 1996/11 p.50 gameplay preview. No evident changes to the Wizard's Town. Different creatures backgrounds, yellow "exit" button instead of light brown.

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  Early build showing new HoMM2 objects placed on HoMM1 "Town Haul" map. There are geysers and lava lakes from HoMM1, that were eventually cut from the final release. Resources don't have shadows and obelisk still has graphic from H1. Interestingly in the right upper corner there is a bunch of pine trees floating on the water - in the final release trees can't be put on a water directly, only by removing ground beneath it, so we can assume that early in a developement objects could be placed anywhere.

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  Map with objects from final release for comparison.

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  "Town Haul" map from H1 used for preview screenshot before changes.

Price of Loyalty Promo Screenshots

“Cyberlore were a very talented group who also loved Heroes. I don’t remember the details but we only had limited resources to start working on Heroes III. It was a way for us to expand our development capability by hiring Cyberlore to build the expansion.” - Jon Van Caneghem

Release	Prerelease

Promo screenshot from Ubi Soft Deutschland website, also present on advertisements from the time, e.g. CGW 153 1997/04 p.58. Unlike previous screenshots, this one shows existing map - Lost Continent and arguably the map looks the same as in-game, but low quality render comparing details impossible. It's very likely that the screenshot was taken from vanilla game during development of PoL expansion and that an author was trying to make it look like one of original SW promo screenshots - creature panel, Brother Brax and Sandro portraits were cut from screenshot of green island from 3DO website; movement points bar of Sandro and Brother Brax have brighter gamma than female heroes bars, so we can guess that primarily they weren't there.

Official Screenshots of Price of Loyalty expansion from 3DO website, 1997

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  Screenshot of unused cinematic. The island on the image do appear on one of a campaign videos, but from different angle.

Release	Preview

Different position of new artifacts and Hero icon, legitimate Arm of Martyr shadow and unclear changes to the shield representing defense skill.

Release	Preview

Different position of Heroes portraits - it looks like the the lower portrait was poorly pasted on an another portrait, while the portrait above seems to be cut from a slightly larger image, but it was shifted a few pixels when compared with vanilla.

Links

• [1] — Discussion on Forums of Enroth with images and confirmation from Tracy Iwata