Prerelease:Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer.

Concept Art

Sketches from 3DO website

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The 4th and 5th sketches were obviously modeled on Frazetta's works:

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Storyboard by Jeff Bigman

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Final (from 5:15):

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  Temple of Terror.

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  Unused hero banners concepts in upper row, banners from final release in lower row.

Drawings of spells

Drawings from George Almond's portfolio:

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Sketches of spells from 3DO website:

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Early icons:

Spellbooks pages

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  An early page from spellbook of elemental magic with scrapped books.

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  An early page from spellbook of light magic with scrapped books.

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M&M8 Box Art by Larry Elmore

Preview by Gamespot

Prerelease	Final

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Screenshots from 3DO site

Prerelease	Final

Prerelease	Final

Prerelease	Final

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Other prerelease screenshots

Prerelease Menu	In-game

Prerelease	In-game

Pirate Mages are not present on Dagger Wound Island throughout the game. Also boat on the shore is different.

Prerelease	In-game

Looks like a long time ago Regna was settled by Elves...

Prerelease	In-game

Minimap shows Pirate Outpost and removed ship; Pirate Outpost is not visible ona minimap in the final release.

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  Rain on Ironsand Desert? Computer Games Magazine - April 2000, p.28.

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  Screenshot from Manual. Here are previously unseen hero banners.

Screenshots from game covers

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  Fire Elemental in Merchant House of Alvar.

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  Early screenshot featuring unused keys.

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  Dragon in the Plane of Air?

Cinematics

Prerelease	Final Abandoned Temple Backdoor

Prerelease	Final Overdune Cutscene fragment

Prerelease	Final Mad Necromancer's Lab

Prerelease	Final Naga Vault

High resolution	Final death cinematic

Renders

Heroes and NPCs

Paperdoll Dragon model by Louis Henderson:

Older render	Bent leg	Final

Model	In-game

Model	In-game

Unused Dragon's head by L. Henderson.

Below are big models of faces of playable heroes that found their way to the final release:

Model	In-game

Model	In-game

Model	In-game

Model	In-game

Model	In-game

Model	In-game

Model	In-game

There are also two big renders of NPCs, Minotaur's icon is present in the game files, but remains unused:

Model	In-game

Model	In-game

Two Dragon females models left completely unused:

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Monsters

From Magazines

Model	In-game

Model	In-game

Model	In-game

Model	In-game

Model	In-game

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  "Many sailors from the seaports of Jadame find themselves infected with lycanthropy and shanghaied into the service of the Wererat smugglers of Ravenshore. Followers of the Way of Eep willingly become Wererats as an expression of their devotion."

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  "Though less numerous than the likeminded Dark Elves, Dark Dwarves are those Dwarves who have turned away from the light to follow the path of darkness. The Dark Dwarves of Jadame emigrated there from Erathia, fleeing persecution by the Dwarves of Stone City. A wise choice—not a single of their numbers still lives on the old continent."

Models by April Lee.

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  "Efreet. Well, aside from Items, I got to go back to my old love of creating monsters. I didn’t do any of the animations, but I designed, modeled and textured this guy.

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  "Bedraggled Human. Poor guy! He was a lot of fun to make, though."

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  "Salamander. I loved creating this guy, too. Got to create a fun texture for him based on photos of salamanders, give him a nifty Mohawk, and use one of my many weapons. Hmm. He’s got an extremely flexed wrist. Not my doing—I didn’t animate or pose these guys."

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  "Triton. I did a more traditional Triton (very Neptune-like) for MM6. This guys is more like a troop of sea-men-fighters. Again, I had a fun time borrowing patterns from tropical fishes to use for him. And creating fun, spiky fins. And he gets another one of my endless store of weapons!"

Renders from 3DO website

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  "These powerful and intelligent creatures live on the Plane of Fire. Common there, they are rarely seen in the lands of Jadame. Only powerful summoning magic can compel them to leave their home plane for other realms."

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  "Among the first humanoid races to establish themselves on Jadame, the Dark Elves built the city of Alvar at the headwaters of a river canyon. From there they built an overland trade monopoly providing themselves with great wealth and continent-wide influence."

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  "The tropical seas off the southern coast of Jadame have the balmy weather favored by Lizardmen. Though they make their living as farmers, they do breed a warrior caste to protect their villages against hostile creatures and pirate raids."

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  "The Minotaurs of Jadame and elsewhere were originally creatures created by powerful magic, but having the ability to breed, have gone on to form their own culture. Recently the Jadamean Minotaurs have won a war with the Frost Giants of the frozen Vori wastes."

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  "Wizards often summon magical beasts to protect treasures and sacred sites. Only the most powerful are capable of calling and controlling guardians as powerful as the Naga. Possessed of great strength, skill and patience, Nagas make perfect protectors."

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  "Tribes of Ogres range the wasteland areas of the Jadamean frontier. True warrior societies, Ogre chieftains rule solely through right of might. Though most Ogres are of a less than intellectual bent, their shamans have a crude, though powerful, control of magic."

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  "Though most think of the Phoenix as a beast of myth, they are quite common on the Plane of Fire. It would be hard to imagine a fiercer bird of prey. Possessed of great size, speed and a deadly fire attack, Phoenixes rule the fiery skies of their home plane."

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  "Though the Regnans might style themselves as rulers of the “Empire of the Endless Ocean,” really they are nothing but a gang of thieves and pirates. However, they are well equipped and well organized and therefore a force to be reckoned with. Based on Regna Island in the seas south of Jadame, their fleets control the coastal waters."

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  "While these half-man, half-bird denizens of the Plane of Air have aspects of men, they are little more than animals. Still, they are possessed of enough intelligence to use simple tools -- or weapons."

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  "Lizardmen currently occupy the Dagger Wound Islands in the southern Jadamean Seas, but they did not build the ancient temples and other monolithic structures that dot the outer islands. Some say the Serpentmen that infest the temples are the degenerated descendants of the original builders."

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  "Many sorcerers are drawn to the easy power offered by the dark arts of necromancy. Since the Necromancers Guild relocated its headquarters to the Shadowspire region of Jadame, Skeletons and other undead creatures animated by these foul magicians have become all too common there and elsewhere."

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  "Soldiers of fortune are drawn to Jadame for many reasons, most of all that they will never want for lack of work."