A new review for Worlds of Magic was released on Softpedia this week that gave the game a 3/5 which is very good considering the last few reviews last month

There are a ton of small annoyances that collectively detracted from my overall experience with Worlds of Magic, mainly because the game was still unfinished. Glitching tooltips and crashes (which happened less often since one of the updates), together with the obfuscated nature of how things work, made the game unsatisfying.

Once I did figure some of the basic things out, I was still under the impression that it was an antiquated title with a clunky interface and rudimentary game systems, and not a game released in 2015.

There is a certain sense of chaos when you first launch a 4X title, due to the sheer complexity of the genre. Usually, that feeling subsides as you get used to the game and learn its underpinnings. Unfortunately, that is not the case with Worlds of Magic.

The good thing is that it is getting better constantly, but there simply is too much wrong with it. It's not a game that pushes the genre forward, but instead takes things back a few steps.

Granted, it had a minuscule budget, and it still had to stay true to Master of Magic, its inspiration, but overall, Worlds of Magic was a big disappointment for me. Fans of the classic might have a pretty good time with it though, even in its current unpolished state.

Wastelands Interactive released a new Behind the Scenes Video for Worlds of Magic about how the developer created the game. Here is the video & press release.

Three weeks since release, Worlds of Magic gets a multiplayer mode and Wastelands Interactive shares the details about the creative process behind the game, in the first episode of “Behind the scenes” video.

Hardcore fans of 4X turn-based strategy games can now enjoy Worlds of Magic not only in a single-player mode but also share the fun with friends in a just added multi-player. Developers count on gamers’ help with testing the mode, that’s currently in beta, to make sure it’ll fulfill players’ expectations. Those interested in how the game was created can also watch the first episode of “Behind the scenes” video, explaining how Worlds of Magic came to life.

Since launch Wastelands Interactive keeps supporting the game massively with updates released every 2-3 days. That’s a very rare and unique approach these days, that was noticed and is highly appreciated by gamers, who praise developers for respecting the gaming community out there.

Well here is another review for Worlds of Magic I found this week from Gamespot, and the site gave the game another low score of 2/10. Here is the reason why.

Worlds of Magic has none of that mystery. Its fantasy world is undercut by bland artistic direction and a lack of conviction. Choices about your leader and civilization that should matter lack weight in favor of same-ish armies and leaders that blend together. Grand-scale strategy that should make any player feel powerful, or at the least clever, gives way to the dullest slog. Worlds of Magic tries to mimic the cleverness of its superiors, but reaches far beyond its ability to perform.

Keith Turner of Space Sector posted his review of Worlds of Magic this week. Lets just say he was not very happy playing the full game, and gave it a final score of 4/10

The number of issues still present are numerous and spread throughout all aspects of the game. I’ve experienced crashes on multiple occasions. I’ve had a city whose gold value is being modified by events to the tune of -2.328306E-08. I’ve also experienced, more than once, an event pop up stating I’ve been granted a new neutral town, and then I never get the mentioned town. Perhaps the clincher for me was the reward for winning the game after many hours of play. A lone static image that says “Congratulations”. It’s not even custom tailored to my faction. For an early access budget title, this might be acceptable, but it’s simply not in a full price release.

There are moments within Worlds of Magic that clearly show a love for the product and genre. Moments like taking in how far your city has developed, traveling to a new plane and experiencing the unique soundtrack and ambiance, and realizing for the first time that rushing your undead faction’s building just did something unique and sacrificed some people.

Still, even if I discount bugs entirely, I struggle to find any reason to recommend this over its competition. It is simply an old world game relying on nostalgia in a time where bigger, better versions of the same type of game have already come along.

Wastelands Interactive released Patch 1.05 for Worlds of Magic on Steam.

Next to a couple of bug fixes, 1.0.5 patch for Worlds of Magic brings couple of improvements based on players feedback.

This is what we are planning to do in long run. Making the game more friendly and more enjoyable for all of you.

Check the discussion here.

Wastelands Interactive released the first post-launch patch for Worlds of Magic.

Worlds of Magic has been updated (1.0.1)

- Game can be started without launcher
- Fixed display of the first world visible after start
- Up to 12 sorcerer lords available
- Settings adjusted in launcher are active immediately
- Walking bomb fix
- Visible enemy units button fixed
- Various GUI improvements

Wastelands Interactive has officially taken Worlds of Magic of Steam Early Access, and is now offer the full game for purchase at a price of $39.99. Here are the details.

Worlds of Magic is almost three years of hard work of the Wastelands Interactive team. We are extremely happy that we were able to create a game that preserves the spirit of Master of Magic, a true classic. I would like to sincerely thank all our backers who helped make this game come true and all our community members who were deeply engaged during the making of Worlds of Magic. Your initiative and invaluable feedback reassures me that the game was created exactly to the players' expectations. During the last half a year, with the game in Early Access, we earned the trust of the Steam community, taking active part in discussions and providing weekly updates. In the future, we are still planning not only to provide the same level of support, constantly working on making the game better, but also develop new content. Worlds of Magic is a game that will surely cast a Charm spell on every fan of 4X.

Don't forget to read our interview if your still undecided.

Wastelands Interactive released the promised Unity 5 patch for Worlds of Magic. In-case you missed the previous announcement on our site you can read it here.

A new patch has been uploaded

Please find the changelog below.
We would really appreciate your feedback.

As of 13th of March the update is available in beta version.

To download it.

Go to your STEAM client library. Use RMB on the Worlds of Magic. Select properties. Go to betas Tab. Change NONE to beta.This is the first public build under Unity 5, so we would really appreciate the Mac feedback again.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun published a new Early Access preview of Worlds of Magic.

I bought Master of Magic when I was thirteen and managed to sneak a look at the manual during the bus journey home. It was enormous, that manual, full of stats, charts, creatures…possibilities. Despite the wonky AI, Simtex’s epic is still one of my favourite strategy games.

Worlds of Magic ould be the closest thing to a spiritual successor. We’re not starved for strong fantasy 4X games at the moment – Endless Legend was our pick of 2014’s releases and Age of Wonders III is no slouch. The former is pushing the genre in unusual directions, however, and the latter has its own traditions to follow. Worlds of Magic looks to be picking up exactly where the plane-hopping expansionism of Master of Magic left off.

The game has been in available in Early Access for a while and the response hasn’t been entirely enthusiastic, it’s fair to say. I took a look myself when it first became available and decided to leave well alone until interface improvements and bugfixes were in place. I’ll be jumping back in soon.

Nothing in the trailer convinces me that all will be sweetness and light come release on March 19th, but I live in hope. The kind of hope that seems me repeatedly dashed against rocks as I dream of lighthouses on the shore.

Wastelands Interactive announced today that Worlds of Magic will be now be using the Unity 5 engine in a new press release. and released a new gameplay trailer.

Worlds of Magic will be the first 4X game of such a scale released on Unity 5 and Wastelands Interactive developers are most excited about the features the new edition of the engine brought to the table.

The new generation of Unity 3D gives us more control over the creation of out game. With the new, just released Unity 5.0 we will be able to greatly increase the stability and overall performance of Worlds of Magic. The new audio mixer will make the game sound better. We will also be able to illuminate the objects in many more ways and make all the materials look more realistic, which will lead to the whole game looking way better visually. Thus new Unity 5.0 is not only a much better tool for developers, making our jobs more efficient, but what is most important, this will give players a much more stable, smoother running, better looking and sounding games. We are very happy that such a large project as Worlds of Magic will be released in just two weeks after making Unity 5.0 available for developers. – said Leszek Lisowski, Wastelands Interactive CEO.

Wastelands Interactive sent out a press release with information the PC version of Worlds of Magic has gone gold, and talks about the PS4 console version.

Worlds of Magic PC Version Gone Gold, PS4 version Announced

Worlds of Magic - a 4X turn-based strategy game from Wastelands Interactive has just reached the Gold Master status on PC platform and developers announced that the game will also be released on PlayStation 4

February 19th, Lodz, Poland - Exactly a month before the planned release date on PC Worlds of Magic – a 4X turn-based strategy game being the true spiritual successor of classic Master of Magic, has reached the Gold Master status on PC. That’s an excellent news for all fans of the game who will finally be able to purchase it’s final version on March 19^th this year. But developers don’t forget about gamers owning PlayStation 4 console and confirming that the game will also be released on this platform in Q3 2015.

You can buy the PC version of the game now via Steam Early Access visiting Worlds of Magic product page HERE or you can also support developers directly and buy the game from their store  HERE.

Worlds of Magic will be the first 4X game ever released on PS4 console and developers confirm that there will be no changes in content or features comparing this version to the PC one. The PS4 version will be released by a Polish publisher Teyon: http://www.teyon.com

We had the chance to interview Leszek Lisowski of Wastelands Interactive about his new Masters of Magic inspired game called Worlds of Magic.

Couchpotato: Your kickstarter game, Worlds of Magic, was funded over two years ago. Can you share any lessons you have learned during the campaign?

Leszek Lisowski:  Two years are like eternity for Kickstarter, but what I have learned is that if you are not extremely lucky, there is a very, very hard work to be done and it is better for you to have some good friends among press members. Of course on one side we have got projects like exploding kittens or star citizen and on the other some fake scam of low quality. But regular projects fit just between those. General hints I can recommend are:

Be professional – there is nothing worse like making a feeling that you don’t really care about the project and that you have got no idea if you are able to complete it or how to do it.

Be transparent – tell directly about your own and your teammates skills. Don’t try to hide your cons, if you feel that you need extra money in your budget, just for case of something, tell this.
Be devoted – make sure you really want to spend your whole time just to finalize the project. People will feel this.

Make good videos and provide good descriptions – this is something what makes the first impression when people finally land on your page. Now you just need to grab them and persuade them to trust you.

Be honest – think about the project and ask yourself about the project before launching it. It is sometimes better to show it to 10 people and eventually improve or change the design, rather than wasting a month with an unsuccessful campaign.

Be realistic – calculate the needed funds wisely. Check how much you need to spend for various things, including payment fees, taxes, etc.

Wastelands Interactive released a new build of Worlds of Magic on Steam.

New (2463:2464) build is up and this is the first build where we are wrapping the AI together to provide you best experience.

In this particular one, we have focused on DIPLOMACY, so we would really appreciate your feedback regarding this part. How do you feel the AI behaves and responses for your actions and offers.

Please share the bugs and share your thoughts, especially in that matter.

Full changelog can be found here.

Wastelands Interactive announced the official release date for Worlds of Magic.

Worlds of Magic gets a release date!

The time has finally come to share with the world the release date of Worlds of Magic. The 4X turn-based strategy game, being the spiritual successor of a classic Master of Magic, will be released on March 19th this year on PC, Mac and Linux. To celebrate the announcement Wastelands Interactive has just launched a Steam promotion for the Early Access version of the game. You can buy it 25% off and in addition get a beautiful, 80 pages artbook for free!

The artbook can be downloaded directly from here:
http://wastelands-interactive.com/WorldsOfMagic/Worlds_of_Magic_Artbook.pdf

Wastelands Interactive uploaded a new patch on Steam for Worlds of Magic.

This patch introduces a quite number of changes

Save games from your previous games won't work.

We are doing our best with fixing every reported bug, we are also wrapping thegame together and aiming for final AI overhaul in about two weeks.

Wastelands Interactive released another patch on Steam for Worlds of Magic.

For the last time during this year we are updating the Worlds of Magic.
This was beautiful time, and it all was thanks to you.

Full list of changes can be found here.

If you found Worlds of Magic enjoyable so far, spread the word among others. Let them try the game before final release in March

Wastelands Interactive uploaded another patch on Steam for Worlds of Magic.

Christmas eve is just tomorrow, so we have uploaded new build. Go ahead and take a look: http://steamcommunity.com/app/265970/discussions/0/626329821139164138/

So as the holidays will grant you some spare time, just go and try the Hot Seat mode, or check out new race - Dwarves. If you didn't play for some time you will find new Sorcerer Lords, new spells and new monsters to kill.

The Westlands Interactive Team sent out news you can now buy Worlds of Magic for 10% for the holidays. Here is the press release with all the information.

Worlds of Magic Christmas Sale is here. Help Santa and make yourself a perfect Christmas gift!

Worlds of Magic - a 4X turn-based strategy game from Wastelands Interactive is now 10% off only until January 2nd!

December 19th, Lodz, Poland- Christmas is all about making gifts and spreading the love. And there's no better gift for all strategy games' fans who still remember the classic Master of Magic, than it's spiritual successor - Worlds of Magic from Wastelands Interactive, now 10% off. Only until January 2nd!

Which means that now you can buy it for only 33,29 EUR! Make it quick though as this special Christmas Sale lasts only until January 2nd! You can buy the game available via Steam Early Access from the product page  HERE or by visiting developer's store and getting the game directly from  HERE.

Although being a completely new game from a design point of view, Worlds of Magic is a real treat for all true fans of the original Master of Magic, following the rules being an essence of the genre, allowing you to  EXPLORE uniquely generated universes,  EXPAND your empire by building armies, recruiting mercenaries, and founding or capturing cities,  EXPLOIT resources and factions alike to increase your own power and finally  EXTERMINATE your enemies using the tools of war, magical spells or diplomacy.

As a gamer you'll have a list of the following features in hand to achieve those goals:

• 8 playable races
• 7 planes of existence in a procedurally generated universe maps of up to 256x128 tiles (per plane)
• Over 10 terrain types
• Almost 30 world resources to exploit
• D20 battle combat mechanics
• Units gain experience
• Over 80 military units
• Over 40 wandering and summon-able units
• Over 40 world features to explore and conquer
• 40 heroes and champions
• Over 400 spells divided into 13 spell circles
• Cast tactical, strategic, and global spells
• Create powerful artifacts to equip your heroes with
• Choose from 13 pre-made Sorcerer Lords or make your own

Still not convinced? Check out the gameplay video  HERE.

Wastelands Interactive uploaded another patch on Steam for Worlds of Magic.

New patch has been uploaded

Thanks for your awesome feedback so far! Among many improvements and fixes you should be able to properly load the game on Mac, also take a look at the new Arena GUI.  Read the full changelog here.

Wastelands Interactive uploaded another patch on Steam for the early Access version of  Worlds of Magic. So here are some of the details of the fixes, and changes.

New (1831:1832) build is up

New patch is ready to be played. Among lots of fixes, we have spent a lot of time to improve the Heroes system in the game.

-[changed] Heroes: Removed additional attacks. Added progression system and lots of new abilities. Added tiered abilities. Heroes now have access to all spells.

Full changelog and discussion can be found here:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/265970/discussions/0/620696522106570952/

It is also worth to mention that among other things, we are working on Hot Seat mode.

Wastelands Interactive released another update for Worlds of Magic on Steam that adds two more sorcerer lords, and adds a bunch of new fixes to the beta version.

Two new Sorcerer Lords added to Worlds of Magic. Dive into Worlds of Magic and play as one of those powerful sorcerers! Full list of fixes and improvements is available here.

Wastelands Interactive releaeaed another update for Worlds of Magic on Steam.

Huge chunk of polishing has been added to Worlds of Magic. We are hearing your opinion and trying to react as quick as possible.

We have not only fixed another batch of bugs, but also put a lot of work into optimization of the game. Please give it a try and let us know can you see the improvements.

Also the 32 bit OS users are actually able to play. We are estimating that 2 planes on normal map shouldn't be problem now, but again any feedback in this matter is more than welcome.

Full change log can be found here:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/265970/discussions/0/619569341132624128/

Wastelands Interactive released information about a new major update for Worlds of Magic on Steam Early Access, Here is the press release with all the details.

The new race of Orcs, Heroes, Champions and a dangerous world of Fire now added to Worlds of Magic in a massive update.

October 16th, Lodz, Poland - After a month since the initial Steam Early Access release Worlds of Magic - the 4X turn-based strategy game, has just been updated with a brand new race, unique adventurers that you can use to lead your armies and a completely new world with its unique features, resources and creatures. All available at once in a big update that has been just added to the game on Steam.
 
It's been an extremely busy month for Wastelands Interactive - the team behind Worlds of Magic. After the release of the game on Steam Early Access developers were overflown with comments and feedback from both gamers and media that have done early previews already. Browsing through all those suggestions was a challenging experience but it resulted with a great number of improvements and fixes. And finally led to the first massive update that ads a whole list of new features to the game:

ORCS - play as a completely new race: the Orcs. These savage raiders are the perfect faction for early game expansion.

HEROES & CHAMPIONS - recruit unique adventurers to lead your armies: from mighty fighters to mystical wizards.

CRAFTING - forge magical artifacts, weapons, and armors. Imbue them with powerful enchantments and grant them to your heroes to bolster their power.

FIRE PLANE - explore a dangerous new world of Fire, with its own features, resources and creatures.

STRATEGIC VIEW - zoom out the map and enter the strategic view. Manage your empire and command your armies on a grander scale.

In addition to that the game is also now available in Russian. You can check out how the new update impacts the gameplay by purchasing the game available via Steam Early Access HERE or by visiting developer’ store and getting the game directly from  HERE.

THE STORY

The world of Elannra was a land of beauty and enchantment, where the wise and powerful used magic to lift themselves to the heavens, seeking to become gods. It was their arrogance that destroyed the world; ripped its fabric apart at the very seams. The War of Ascension consumed it. And so they fled. Gateways were opened to new worlds, to new lands ripe for conquest. The Sorcerer lords of Elannra plunged through these portals taking their servants with them, intending to wage their immortal wars across the planes themselves.

But the magic of these worlds was different, it was not the open flowing source of Elannra. The Sorcerer lords had to begin again and learn the ways of this new magic. With their learning came power and with power conquest. Only victory will end this war. Only one Sorcerer can reign supreme!

GAME MAIN FEATURES

Although being a completely new game from a design point of view, Worlds of Magic will be a true spiritual successor of Master of Magic, following the rules being an essence of the genre:

1. EXPLORE uniquely generated universes.
2. EXPAND your empire by building armies, recruiting mercenaries, and founding or capturing cities.
3. EXPLOIT resources and factions alike to increase your own power.
4. EXTERMINATE your enemies using the tools of war, magical spells or diplomacy.

To achieve those goals gamers will have in hand the following list of features:

• 8 playable races
• 7 planes of existence in a procedurally generated universe maps of up to 256x128 tiles (per plane)
• Over 10 terrain types
• Almost 30 world resources to exploit
• D20 battle combat mechanics
• Units gain experience
• Over 80 military units
• Over 40 wandering and summon-able units
• Over 40 world features to explore and conquer
• 40 heroes and champions
• Over 400 spells divided into 13 spell circles
• Cast tactical, strategic, and global spells
• Create powerful artifacts to equip your heroes with
• Choose from 13 pre-made Sorcerer Lords or make your own

The game is planned to be released in Q1 2015 on PC, Mac and Linux. More information about Worlds of Magic can be found on the official website:  http://myworldsofmagic.com/, Facebook and  Twitter profiles.

Wastelands Interactive released another patch on Steam this week for the early Access version of  Worlds of Magic. So here are the details, and changes from the patch.

New (1568M) build is up

New patch with Manual deploy and Auto Battle has been uploaded

Full log below:

-[fixed] Adjusted frame on applied spell tooltip
-[fixed] It's no longer possible to cast an ability on a target that is already under the effect of such ability or spell
-[fixed] Cursor will change while casting an active ability to show whether the target is legal or not
-[fixed] Active abilities duration
-[fixed] Active abilities summons
-[fixed] Active abilities aoe
-[fixed] Backlash could be cast on non-summons, which would freeze the game
-[fixed] Keen Edge
-[fixed] Active auras would not show on a unit that has any other perk (visual only)
-[fixed] Sometimes nothing would happen after casting an enchantment - it was not visible on unit, but visible on enchantments panel
-[fixed] All max hp increasing spells will now add both current and maximum hp
-[fixed] Performance improvement if there was a visible enemy city with an army inside
-[fixed] Bonuses from enchanted weapons didn't calculate immunity/resistance/vulnerability
-[fixed] Bonuses from enchanted weapons were different every time the tab was opened
-[fixed] Units killed by false life (or that having a hp increasing spell on them) froze the game by being half dead.
-[fixed] Corruption is not saved on shadow plane - after loading all explored tiles are uncorrupted
-[fixed] Infinite charges for Healer's Familiar (and other charge-based abilities)
-[fixed] Remaining turn counter for spellcasting on world map magic panel was wrong
-[fixed] Fixed infinite footsteps after backstabbing.
-[fixed] Advanced tooltips on city production would not work if there was an active event altering said production.
-[fixed] Healing effects restored figures in a wrong way
-[fixed] No more "empty" rewards from world features
-[fixed] Hypnotic Flame freeze
-[fixed] Removing of unit enchantments due to desertion after load
-[fixed] It's no longer possible to cast duplicate spells on units and cities on the world map
-[fixed] Neutral armies can no longer just enter player's city
-[fixed] Wrong amount of figures after load
-[fixed] bonus damage spells not working on world map
-[fixed] Restored tooltips on built buildings
-[fixed] Sometimes gold/mana frame and icon on alchemy panel were misplaced
-[fixed] Lost tribe crash
-[fixed] Can't attack if there's an army standing on a world feature
-[fixed] Roads not giving their bonuses properly
-[fixed] Pathfinding freeze fix after new turn (more than one plane)
-[fixed] Free ability use exploit
-[fixed] Stuck research spell description
-[fixed] Boneyard height

-[adjusted] Exp values
-[adjusted] Units balancing
-[adjusted] GUI adjustments
-[adjusted] new geyser
-[adjusted] Feature info panel

-[added] Mithril and orichalcum model
-[added] Remaining turns to next spellcraft level on tooltip
-[added] Crossed wand to show illegal spell target on world map
-[added] Advanced spell info on research panel
-[added] Manual deploy
-[added] Starting distance between units on battle map now depends on the total amount of participants
-[added] Combat log (wip)
-[added] An option to finish the battle as auto battle
-[added] Before battle window with army strength comparison
-[added] An option to cancel attack
-[added] More combat log
-[added] Units flee (Auto battle)

Chalgyr's Game Room previewed the Early Access version of Worlds of Magic.

It is easy to see where the team is trying to go with this game, and it will be fun to see how Worlds of Magic continues to develop. In reality it is not quite ready for Prime Time yet, but I think the team at Wastelands Interactive is headed down the right path.

Wastelands Interactive released another patch on Steam for the early Access version of  Worlds of Magic. So here are the details, and changes from the patch.

New patch with fixes and new features such as: new fog of war, new unit panel, racial unrest and many more has been released.

Take a look at the full changelog below:

-[fixed] Taking over a city with an active enchantment after load would crash the game
-[fixed] Tooltips no longer leave the screen
-[fixed] Wrong hp after load
-[fixed] Lost cities would still be shown on cities list
-[fixed] Invisible scroll bar on cities list
-[fixed] Ending turn before summoning spell finished casting resulted in the summon being under enemy control
-[fixed] Walking bomb detonated during enemy turn would cause a freeze and infinite footsteps sound
-[fixed] Corruption is correctly saved/load
-[fixed] Max hp calculations after level up
-[fixed] Empty unit name on desertion notification
-[fixed] Bug after ranged attacks
-[fixed] Foresters' Guild tooltip
-[fixed] "Change me" while overwriting save
-[fixed] Null reference on fire arena
-[fixed] Dodge animation would play twice
-[fixed] Turn notification on battle map - showing player's name instead of "PLAYER'S TURN"
-[fixed] Unknown AI enemies are displayed as "unknown" on turn notifications
-[fixed] MISSINGSAVES on main menu load panel when no save file was found
-[fixed] Non-flying units cannot backstab flying units
-[fixed] Level issues after load
-[fixed] Wrong distance penalty during battles inside wolrd features
-[fixed] Selecting a unit causes the city range, rivers and fog of war to overlay the terrain
-[fixed] Fishery tooltip
-[fixed] Gray mage and phantom lancer description
-[fixed] Acid Arrow and other damage over time effects
-[fixed] Proper defeated units list after auto-battle draw.

-[changed] Units no longer "disappear" when standing on world feature
-[changed] "Back" button to X on save panel

-[tweaked] Random starting race by default
-[tweaked] Unit tweaking
-[tweaked] Increased scrollwheel sensitivity on cities list
-[tweaked] Fewer, bigger neutral armies
-[tweaked] Increased performance of map scrolling

-[added/changed] New fog of war
-[added] New attack/defense panel on unit panel
-[added] Racial unrest
-[added] New resource models (healing herbs, coal, iron, gold, silver, darkwood)
-[added] An option to continue after winning
-[added] All cities have a road under them by default
-[added] Left-click on "unit recruited" notification to select it

GamersFTW has a new preview of the Early Access version of Worlds of Magic.

So far the game is looking great. The UI is easy on the eyes, with very pleasant artwork. The portraits of the heroes, that act as an avatar for the player, are really lovely. I also noticed that, so far, the cast seems pretty diverse. Eventually they plan to let people build their own hero so the possibilities will be endless. The attractive procedural worlds and the vast choice in hero spells also suggest there will be a substantial variety in play-throughs and also multi-player. I can imagine this game will be great fun to play at a LAN when it’s finished.

Wastelands Interactive also released a new patch on Steam this week.

New (1473) build is up

A new patch has been uploaded

Please find the changelog below.
We would really appreciate your feedback.

-[fixed] freeze after ending turn in loaded game
-[fixed] ocean population fix
-[fixed] bad research turn counter refreshing
-[fixed] nonexistent researched spell name on researched spell notification tooltip
-[fixed] default idle animations for HM engineers
-[fixed] fire battle board lava null reference
-[added] clear city build queue when city owner is changed
-[added] F1 to toggle surveyor

Wastelands Interactive uploaded another patch on Steam for the early Access version of  Worlds of Magic. So here are the details of the fixes, and changes from the patch.

A new patch has been uploaded. This is a quickfix that suppose to address the issues raised by the 1450 build.

Please find the changelog below.
We would really appreciate your feedback.

-[fixed] freeze after units movement on battle board
-[fixed] "new worker" notifications on all cities
-[fixed] Save/load crash
-[added] "T" to end turn on battleboard

Space Sector's Keith Turner posted a new preview of the Early Access version of Worlds of Magic that gives his first impression of the game.

I spent a few hours with Worlds of Magic this weekend in order to provide some brief first impressions to those who may be wondering about the state of the game as it stands “right now”. It is important to keep in mind that the “right now” status of a freshly launched Early Access game is elusive, and daily updates and changes can resolve or create issues that ultimately lead to a different experience than I have had.

Worlds of Magic, more than any other title I’ve played in recent years, feels like a game from my past. More specifically, it has a very similar feel to Microprose’s classic, Master of Magic. This should come as no surprise, given their stated goal to be a true spiritual successor. While bringing this beloved game back to life is in many ways a positive thing, this reunion isn’t without its negatives. In some aspects, I think this is by design, but in others, I am almost certain it is because the game is still in a late alpha stage. I’ll be comparing Worlds of Magic and Master of Magic a lot, for reasons that will soon become very obvious, so I’ll be using the abbreviations WoM and MoM respectively throughout this impressions piece.

Worlds of Magic does a great job at recreating the Master of Magic sorcerer lord creation system. Aside from the graphical enhancements and UI changes, the system is almost identical. When creating a custom lord, you will select a portrait from one of the existing lords, as you do in MoM. You will then divide a set number of points between your desired skills, called disciplines in WoM, and your spell spheres. You then proceed to select your starting spells dependent on the points you spent in each spell sphere. While all of this sounds mechanically identical to MoM, there are some key differences primarily having to do with how magic is designed.

Wastelands Interactive uploaded a new patch on Steam for the early Access version of  Worlds of Magic. So here are the details of the fixes, and changes from the patch.

New (1424M) build is up

A new patch has been uploaded. (Windows only, Linux and Mac to be uploaded on Monday) We tried to address as many issues as possible.

Below is the changelog.

We would really appreciate your feedback.

• [fixed] You can transmute 0 mana for 0 gold in alchemy-
• [fixed] Unit switcher above the minimap is not centered
• [fixed] Blue moon didn't apply it's bonus to research from Sage discipline
• [changed] Disabled forge
• [fixed] Not working next page button on spellbook
• [fixed] The game shouldn't crash from out of memory error while generating any more
• [fixed] Default race on surveyor was always DRACONIANS
• [fixed] Expanding "sort by lord" popup on enchantment list caused enexpected behaviour
• [added] Tooltips for mirror panel
• [fixed] Fixed many in-game texts
• [fixed] Win/lose conditions
• [fixed] Weird city-targeting spell issues
• [fixed] Enchantment panel
• [fixed] There was one additional militia unit during battle which wasn't shown on city screen
• [fixed] Amount of turns remaining to finish research wasn't updating (visual only bug)
• [fixed] Crash when opening abilities minipanel for some units
• [fixed] Army selection and destination flag animations are no longer fps-dependent
• [fixed] Number of opponents and world size drop down menus have wider colliders
• [tweak] Adjusted surveyor panel depth
• [tweak] Adjusted battle summary depth
• [tweak] Map, history and forge buttons are grayed out and unclickable
• [fixed] Owerwriting a file didn't update it's date
• [fixed] Units were losing exp after loading
• [fixed] Random obstacles will no longer generate during city siege
• [fixed] Bless duration (was 0)
• [fixed] AC modifying spells were not working

Worlds of Magic is now available on Steam Early Access today based on the information from the last update from the games developer Wastelands Interactive.

Worlds of Magic is a 4X turn-based strategy game. Players can explore and conquer an almost limitless number of procedurally generated universes, using military and magical power to overcome their foes. Found cities, raise armies, research and cast spells, hire powerful heroes, and create powerful magical artifacts. All will help you in your bid to become the supreme Sorcerer Lord.

The developer also released three new videos of gameplay in the last few days. You can watch the first video here, the second video here, and the third video here.

Wastelands Interactive announces that Worlds of Magic will be available on Steam Early Access on  September 11th, released a new trailer to go with the news.

After waiting more than a decade for a true Master of Magic successor, we decided to create one.Worlds of Magic comes to STEAM September 11th.

Developer Aaron Ethridge did a radio interview with KTAM radio, and shared news on the development of Worlds of Magic. The best part is about the Early Access version.

Thanks go to Spacesector as they provide a summary of the interview.

While the interview itself contains a lot of details, what you may be most interested in is where the game is heading in the near future. Aaron notates that they are currently aiming for a launch on Steam Early Access this September. For Early Access, the plan is to have 4 of the 8 races completed and in-game, including the Grey Elves, High Men, Unhallowed, and the Draconians. Each race will have 9 unique units, not including any ships. 200 of the roughly 400 planned spells should be present. Heroes themselves will be in the game, though likely without their custom models. Crafting is nearly completed as well. What about the AI though, will there be an AI to contend with? Well…

The interview reveals that the AI has been in development for a few months already, but is admittedly the biggest challenge still before them. The ideal, as Aaron states, is to have each AI develop a strategy based on the spell circles and abilities available to them. They’re not thinking purely of other Sorcerer Lords though, as wandering monsters and independent cities should be pursuing their own goals and objectives as well. Independent cities may even launch their own military efforts and become significant challenges if left alone too long. While certainly an admirable goal, I can see this also being a very daunting one.

While Early Access should start this September, full release won’t come until at least February 2015 at this point. This allows the team time to take EA feedback into account. In addition, it allows them to avoid launching a head to head campaign against other AAA 4X games like Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth.

Wastelands Interactive announces the developer is almost ready to release the Beta version of Worlds of Magic, and mentions the Early Access release on Steam.

Impending Beta

Greetings once again our wonderful, generous, thoughtful, and most importantly, patient, backers! There are several items we want to touch on in this update, the first of which is the impending beta. If all goes as planned we're going to send out the first small batch of beta keys (somewhere between one and two hundred) out somewhere around the end of July. The method we use for selecting the recipients of these few keys is still up in the air, but we're leaning toward sending them to the earliest backers from each campaign: First, Second, and PayPal. It's the “fairest” method we can think of. We know that most (if not all) of you want beta access and we're going to get you all in as soon as we can. If you don't get a key from the first batch, just console yourself with the idea that there will be less bugs and more game in the beta by the time you get it :)

Early Access

Now, as some of you may know, Steam allows publishers to put games up for “Early Access” before the game is 100% ready for release. This allows developers to pull in more beta testers and raise a little last minute capital to fund the polishing stage. Up to this point the development budget for Worlds of Magic has been close to $300,000 (yes, that's USD). Opening the game for Early Access would raise our budget ceiling a bit and give us a little more time for polishing. We're interested on hearing your thoughts on Early Access. Should we wait until the game is essentially ready for release and use it basically as a form of advertising? Or should we open it up as soon as we have a solid beta version ready, in order to raise more capital to help put all the final flourishes in place? We've asked for your opinions from the very beginning and we'd appreciate your feedback on this.

According to Wastelands Interactive if you were one of the Alpha backers for Worlds of Magic you can now help test out the Alpha build of the game.

Full On Alpha Baby!

Greetings once again our gracious, excited, and generally wonderful backers! It's been more than a month since our last update and we have a good bit of news to share with you. So, as I often do I'm just going to dive in!

Alpha Testers Testing

Our first news item is that we have now sent out all our alpha tester invitations. For those of you who are waiting on Beta this is good news because it means we're getting closer all the time. We do ask our Alpha testers to really test things up. We need to find and kill bugs and well as streamline game play. The more feedback we get the better and faster we're going to be able to do that. So, talk to us, we're listening. Keep in mind that the backers' forum is a great place to share your thoughts:

Backers' Forum

We can't give you a firm date on the start of Beta testing, but we can tell you that “soon” is probably a good word to use. Up to this point Alpha testing has gone very well. We still need to spend some time with the battle board to make it really shine, but that shouldn't take us too long. From there it's just a step to Beta testing.

I'm On A Mexican Radio

Well, a Canadian radio really. But what difference does that make, eh? Aaron did a live radio interview with the guys from KTAM Radio last night. (Next time we'll try to give you advance notice of any live interviews. It fell through the cracks this time.) Our community's own Troy Costisick was the one who actually conducted the interview. If you'd like to give it a listen it's up on KTAM Radio's website. You can find it here:

KTAM Radio

Wastelands Interactive posted an update with information about the Alpha version of Worlds of Magic, and included a new video to show off the games progress.

Alpha Excitement

Hail to you our wonderful, generous, and (most importantly) patient, backers! Once again we've got a bit of news for you, so I'll just jump right in.

Alpha Testing

The big news is that we quietly started Alpha testing on March 28th. We sent out a second batch of Alpha keys on April 4th. The plan is to keep sending out keys every Friday until we have all the backers that pledged for access in and testing. From that point we'll be working at full Alpha steam toward the Beta.

We're going to be distributing the Alpha through Steam for convenience sake. It makes updating the game as it changes easier (and it's being updated very frequently at the moment) and ensures that everyone is using the same version. In the coming weeks we'll have invited over 200 players to join us in the Alpha.

Now, some of you who haven't gotten into the Alpha may be interested in taking a look at what we've got so far. I could explain, but they say a picture's worth a thousand words. Running with that math a half hour video would be a short book. So, rather than write one I just made a video. Enjoy :)

Wastelands Interactive has released a new video for Worlds of Magic that gives everyone a sneak peek at how the game has progressed since the end of the kickstarter.

Short gameplay presentation - Prime Material Plane.

Space Sector has posted the second part ot their interview with Wastelands Interactive that asks questions from the community about Worlds of Magic.

Welcome to part two of our two-part community interview with the team behind the upcoming fantasy 4X strategy game, Worlds of Magic. We hope you’ve enjoyed the interview thus far, but we aren’t done yet. You’ve gotten answers regarding quite a few of your questions in part one, but there were still some left unanswered… until now. Here are the remainder of your questions, as well as a few of our own. Answers once again were kindly provided by Worlds of Magic team members Aaron Ethridge and Leszek Lisowski.

Space Sector has posted the first part ot their interview with Wastelands Interactive that asks question from the community about Worlds of Magic.

Welcome to part one of our two part community interview with the Worlds of Magic team. We asked you for some great questions, and you certainly delivered. Aaron Ethridge and Leszek Lisowski, two members of the Worlds of Magic team, were excited to take on the challenge of tackling all of your questions, as well as a few of SpaceSector’s, and they readily supplied honest and thorough responses to each of them. Some of their responses were so thorough in fact, we decided to separate the interview into two roughly equal parts to make it a little easier to digest. Part two will be posted soon, but for now, we hope you enjoy part one of the interview! Thanks again for submitting such thought provoking questions, I really enjoyed reading the responses!

Wastelands Interactive released a new development update for Worlds of Magic on the games kickstarter page. Here is a small part of the update.

More Progress

Greetings our wonderfully supportive and imaginative backers! We have a bit of news to share with you. As is often the case I'll just jump in!

Spells of Magic

Yes, I know spells are magic, of course, but I have to come up with some kind of “header” for each topic. Moving on: The spell lists are growing very quickly. We have a number of active topics on the backers' forums where we are fleshing out the lists. There is some really good stuff there. You can expect a WoM version of Black Channels for instance. There's also something akin to Zombie Mastery in there. One of the top tier Life spells allows you to resurrect any fallen unit after a battle (at a high cost, of course). The point is that if you're really into spells you may want to come by the forums and throw your opinion in the hat. We're in a state of active development at the moment. You can find the topics here:

Backers' Forums – Spells Section

It's also worth mentioning at this point that the spells are going to be very, very moddable. For instance you can currently change: Costs (Research, Casting, Infusing, and Upkeep), Duration, Area of Effect, Spell Circle(s), Tier, Icon, and Visual Effect. (You can actually change more than that, but we'll wait to give you more details until the editing system is a little farther along.)

GUI

As you can see from the screenshot above the main GUI is still evolving. We hope you guys are going to love it. We certainly do. The world map itself is also still undergoing development. We feel certain you'll agree that it keeps looking better and better.

Translation

We are also currently working on translation. This is one of the areas where we could use your help. We're looking for volunteers to help us with the translation. If you would like to help us translate it into your native language, please let us know!

As always we want to thank you. Soon we hope to show our thanks in the form of a number of game play videos we plan to release. They'll offer you a taste of what's to come!

Space Sector is hosting a new Q&A for Worlds of Magic, and is looking for questions to ask from any of those interested in finding out more about the game.

With all the disappointments we have faced over the years, everyone certainly has a right to be skeptical. You also probably have some questions about Worlds of Magic and its claims. Well, curious gamers, now is your time to shine. I’ve been in contact with Wastelands Interactive, and they have been kind enough to agree to an interview with SpaceSector. Rather than ask all the questions myself, I’d actually really like to get the input of you, our readers and fans. Let’s ask them the tough questions and gather the details we need to know. Who knows, we may even be able to get them thinking about features and elements in a whole new light prior to release. Worlds of Magic is coming from a new developer, and it is certainly up against some tough competition this year, so I’m certain they’ll appreciate the comments and suggestions.

Please leave your comments and questions below. Once everyone has had a chance to get their question in, I’ll gather them up, and then I’ll send them as many questions as possible. I can’t guarantee to ask every question, or that they’ll be able to answer every question, but at least together we’ll do our best to uncover the mysteries. Once I’ve gathered the responses, a new article will be posted with both your questions and their answers.

Wastelands Interactive has a new update for Worlds of Magic.

And The Work Goes On!

Greetings to you our wonderfully supportive, full of feedback, and very patient backers! We have a bit of news for you. Mainly it's that the work continues at a good pace (which is something we're sure everyone is happy to hear). Still, we have some specifics to share with you. Here they are:

Second Surveys

We just wanted to let you know that we're going to be sending out more surveys soon. We're starting with the lower tier rewards and working our way up. There's still a lot of information we have to collect so we ask you all to be patient with us while we get this done. We're committed to getting all of you the rewards you pledged for. It's just a bit of a process. We thank you all for you patience!

New Build

We've put together a new build with a tutorial that walks players through a number of basic mechanics. Up to this point we've only put it in the hands of a very few select backers (you know who you are). This is a direct step toward the playable alpha. It's taken a bit of time and effort, but the results have been worth it. We're getting closer and closer to getting you guys into the alpha. We hope that excites you, because it certainly excites us!

Tutorial Video

We don't want any of you guys feeling left out in the cold, but we can't really deal with tons of pre-alpha feedback either. So, although we can't let you all in at this stage we still want to show you something. To that end, we're planing to put together a video of the entire tutorial in it's current state soon. And by “soon” we mean we hope to have it ready by the end of next week.

Developer Wastelands Interactive posted an update before christmas that talks about an unavoidable game delay for Worlds of Magic.

The Inevitable Delay

The fact is that we, like so many other game developers, were overly ambitious with our timetable. Being optimists (especially Aaron on whom most of the blame rests, and as he's writing this I can say that) we tend to think of the “best case scenario” as “what can be expected” which is a skewed and unrealistic point of view. It's taken us a bit more time than we thought it would to get the World Map looking like we wanted and there's still a bit of graphic polish to do before the game is ready for release. However, you'll be glad to know that for the last couple of weeks we've been working on mechanics and getting things ready for the playable alpha. We are daily making progress and hope to have something more to show you soon. We think you'll agree that it's been worth the wait.

DSO Gaming has the news that Worlds of Magic has been delayed, and shares a few screenshots.

Leszek Lisowski of Wastelands Interactive has shared with us some gorgeous and colorful new screenshots for Worlds of Magic, showcasing the game’s strategic map. In addition, Lisowski revealed that the game has been delayed to Q2 2014.

As Lisowski told us about the game’s strategic map:

“This more less represents the look of the prime material world in the game. We are still working on the details and more world features, as well as things like shaders, particles, roads and rivers.”

World of Magic is the spiritual successor to Master of Magic and promises to feature 6 factions to control, 80 military units (8 for each faction, plus over 30 roaming creatures), 300 marvelous spells, 12 spell circles, 7 planes, 10 leaders and a minimum of 45 special units: 25 Heroes, 15 Champions and 5 Titans.

Wastelands Interactive has posted A new gameplay trailer for Worlds of Magic. You can also check out the game on it's second kickstarter to help raise more funds.

TRY THE DEMO NOW - The Alpha Battle Board

Would you like to tinker with one of the key elements of Worlds of Magic? Well you can! We're making both the stand alone and web based version of the Alpha Battle Board available to the public. We welcome you to take a look and tell us what you think. You can find them here:

STAND ALONE VERSION(Windows)

ONLINE VERSION(more than 100MB to be downloaded in your browser. Doesn't support iPad and iPhone Safari)

(Please keep in mind that this is still alpha game play. You may encounter bugs or incomplete features.)

The Battle Board is where tactical battles take place in Worlds of Magic. In the current build players can select units for both their army and the enemy's. They can then fight to the death in a mock battle. We've also made a number of spells available from both the Fire and Water Circles. So, go take a look. It will give you some idea of what to expect from us.

It has been a while since I covered Worlds of Magic. The developer has released a new gameplay teaser to show how far the game has progressed.

Worlds of Magic has more information on the game in their recent kickstarter update. The update deals with the project funding, and the city side of the game.

Salutations our ingenious and inquisitive backers! Today we want to focus on two main points:

We have now passed the 90% line. This is awesome news! We still have plenty of time to hit stretch goals. However, as always, we want to be moving along even more quickly. Everyone can help us do that just by sharing what they've found with their friends. We now have over 1400 backers. We don't know how many friends you guys have, but we're fairly sure “a lot” is a fitting description :) So, make sure you let them know about WoM!

Now, I think we'll all agree that it's very MoM inspired. Some of you may not like the fact that population can be assigned to research. However, Aaron LOVED it in MoO2, so you'll have to go by the forums and argue with him about it if you don't like the idea. This is the first taste. There will be more to come. You have certainly noticed that there is no picture of the city on this screen. Don't worry, you'll see all your cool little buildings in what is now the empty part of this screen. Be sure to leave us comments about what you like (or what you don't like if you must, lol). We're listening!

To wrap up we'll do what we always do and thank you as well as ask you to keep spreading the word. We're getting there step by step!

Worlds of Magic has a new update on their kickstarter game. This time it deals with the art side of the game.

Hello your probably wondering how I'm going to describe you today backers! This update is about the art behind Worlds of Magic. We asked George to give us a brief description of the process he goes through when he starts working on a new character. He had a fair amount to say. We also have a few more concept sketches George did for us that were colored by one of our other artists. We're hoping you'll find all this as exciting as we do. So, here is what George had to say on the subject:

I'm just a lifelong fan of fantasy and science fiction, so I devour movies, television, novels, comic books, and games in those genres. They say, "Good artists borrow; great artists steal." When I play tabletop RPGs there are no copyright laws to stop me from shamelessly stealing characters and concepts from fiction or history, but with commercial games you have to make a few changes here and there to satisfy the desire to emulate popular characters. Of course there are times when you want to depart from classic tropes and archetypes and do something different, but if you do that every time you're suddenly outside of the genre.

Worlds of Magic is back with another update on kickstarter.

Worlds of Magic has a new update on there kickstarter. As of right now the project has £23,204 of it's £30,000 goal. Maybe the new addons can help find the rest with 14 days to go.

Hello again our inspiring backers! And I mean INSPIRING. The first subject we're going to touch in this update is something that was inspired directly by you. That is to say, you asked for it and here it is: Addons and Additional Tiers! We'll walk through the tiers first and then move on to the additions. So:

Mayor: 18£ - You get: Add a city name to the list of random names (approved names obviously, some things just wouldn't fit WoM, no matter how funny they may be.) A digital copy of the game, manual, artwork and artbook, beta access, backers-only forums access and your name in the credits.

Bard: 20£ - You get: A digital copy of the soundtrack as well as a digital copy of the game, manual, artwork and artbook, beta access, backers-only forums access and your name in the credits.

Plane Walker: 75£ - You get: 7 digital copies of the game and manual and 7 beta keys. You get a digital copy of the artwork, artbook and spellbook in addition to backers-only forums access and your name in the credits.

Addons:

Digital Creatures Roster: 5£ - A digital list of creatures and units with their image and stats.

Additional Hero 5 Pack: 5£ - Add 5 KS exclusive random heroes to your game.

Digital Spellbook: 6£ - A digital copy of the physical spellbook.

Digital Soundtrack: 6£ - A digital version of the game's soundtrack. (Heroes and higher get this free. Backers who pledge 100£ or more also get a physical copy of the soundtrack for free.)

Additional Faction Leader: 8£ - Add a KS exclusive Sorcerer Lord to your game.

Additional Copy: 10£ - Get an extra digital copy of the game at a discount.

Future WoM Content: 12£ - Get all future Worlds of Magic content for free. (You know we're planning to do a lot with this game in future guys. This is your chance to get a lot of future additions at a very low price!)

You asked for extra options and we gave them to you. Now, use them and go up your pledge. :)

Alright guys, the second subject we're going to address is that of the great faction vote. We have to decide on the fifth race. The choice is between Orcs and Draconians (we know, it's a hard choice.) Keep in mind this is JUST to decide the fifth slot. Both races may (and probably will) make it into Worlds of Magic in time, but we have to pick a first one first as it were. So, please, take a moment and cast your vote for one or the other:

Orcs Vs. Draconians Vote

We appreciate your feedback!

Not an RPG so we probably won't follow it that much, but the Kickstarter for Worlds of Magic claims it follows the footsteps of MicroProse's Master of Magic and there should be some interest for such a game here.

Primary gameplay takes place on the world map. From there you can move your armies to explore new territory, defend key positions or attack your enemies. You can gain control of additional cities by conquering them or founding new ones yourself. You manage the cities under your control, building new buildings to improve them, dedicating your work force to one task or another, and creating new military units. Your armies can be made up of units you've trained, heroes and mercenaries you've hired, and even powerful summoned creatures. When two enemy armies collide gameplay is moved to the tactical battle map where combat is played out turn by turn. During gameplay you will also reasearch new spells, manage your economy, and deal with diplomatic situations all in an attempt to gain supreme control of the universe.

Worlds of Magic will not only seek to capture the charm of the timeless classic that serves as its inspiration, but also go beyond it in a number of areas.

• 10 Leaders To Choose From (Or Create Your Own)
• 6 Factions To Rule Over
• 80 Units To Use In Battle
• 12 Spell Circles
• 300 Spells To Learn And Master
• 7 Planes To Explore And Conquer
• 45 Special Units (Heroes, Champions, and Titans)

Thanks Von Paulus and Mark.