edit: found one called "The Succession Wars"

https://heroes3wog.net/the-succession-wars/

I played the campaign and it scratched the itch

There aren't many games from that era that are as infinitely replayable. Command and Conquer: Yuri's Revenge and Starcraft come to mind.

according to wiki there should be an easier way:

Platform(s) Windows, Macintosh, Linux (PowerPC/x86), iOS, Android

Release March 3, 1999

There is also a great remake with a new engine, that of course requires the original assets.

The Mac version (I own both) was for PowerPC Macs.

I've already paid for it a third time, as part of a HOMM box set for Windows.

Good Old Games has produced a fixed version, so I could pay for it a fourth time, but running it in the VM still works.

It probably wouldn't cost more than $1, given that you're clearly willing to wait for a sale.

Advertised price right now is $5 with "lowest price in the last 30 days" of $2.50. The bundle of all 8 expansion campaigns shows the same current and recent pricing.

And, they look beautiful.

Its wonderful what a dedicated community can achieve. Kudos to all of them!

TIP: if you get the game on GOG. It will run just fine in any modern Windows setup (even MAC OS i believe)

And if you like insanely complex scenarios, check out HotA user maps on maps4heroes.

By pure coincidence, both Starcraft 2's writers and /me believed that Kerrigan should be brought back to her human form in Starcraft 2 :)

I think A lot of games from that era were infinitely replayable. Diablo, Sim City. It really is the case we dont made them like that any more. The amount of small details that goes into it. Not just the games itself, but also the packaging, manual and things surrounding.

It is somewhat strange that group of people grow up and start producing in the 90s still have the attention to detail mind set. This is mostly gone in modern Gen Z generation.

Why?

Possibly this is a game you will love playing and should check it out. Whether by emulating an ancient DOS machine or by picking up one of the eleven games in the series available on Steam. (https://store.steampowered.com/sale/might-magic/)

If it is the latter case then I am sure some enthusiastic fans of this series will reply to this comment or yours with detailed opinions on which option is the best :)

Is there any webpage or book or any media that analyzes the technical aspects of a game? Take HOMM3 as an example -- what are the most difficult technical problems and how did the developers solve them? What are the algorithms that run aspects of the game (e.g. how is path-finding implemented? How is AI implemented?)? What is the architecture of the engine? Does it have a scripting engine and if so how is it implemented?

I like post-mortems but mostly are given by designers, directors, not programmers -- and even by programmers they did not go very deep like "John Carmack" type deep. The "Black books" by Fabien came into mind but these are few and far between.

It doesn't go super deep, he had a more technical book in the works but I haven't heard any updates about it for a while: http://www.warrenrobinett.com/ecv/annotated_adventure_toc/in...

They're some of the greatest games ever made, but it's the design, not the code.

Come to think of it, same thing goes for most games that make the greatest game lists.

[1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=S-VAL7Epn3o

BTW absolutely love VCMI although I never managed to run it without error :/

Earlier this year I found a boxed copy of Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen on Marketplace. Everything is in the box and it's all pristine. It goes very nicely with my boxed copy of Might and Magic III that I bought (used!) to play on my first computer, my 386.

I think I'm going to get these maps framed.

To be fair, MM7 was the first time for some of us, and it was quite a shock. What do you mean all the points I put into might and magic are now moot, as the only endgame weapons worth using are blasters?!

M&M8 which came out the year after, was good enough though. That's around the time I stopped playing the M&M series.

The next time I bought a high-end 3D game was over 15 years later. That was Fallout 4. I played 30 minutes and then never returned to it. Uncanny valley graphics and boring first person action — nothing like the original Fallouts 1 and 2 of my memories.

I guess I’ll have to try another AAA PC game in 2030 just to stick to the schedule.

Really hard to say, homm3 soundtrack was a true masterpiece.

Been playing it for around 17 years, and it is still quite fun.

[0] https://www.lordswm.com/

I did try Songs of Conquest, it was decent

Not exactly the same, but a well-deserving open source cousin.

Turn based, strategy, lightweight RPG (a-la X-Com with unit leveling, unit permadeath, campaigns, multiplayer, etc)