Jon Van Caneghem/Meet the Ancients

An official Ubisoft interview of Jon Van Caneghem during the Might & Magic X development.

Meet the Ancients [1]

1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your career?

I started designing and programming in college at UCLA, but I played a lot of board games and paper RPG’s before that. You can find a quick summary of a very long timeframe (:P) on Wikipedia.

Ironically, one of the compelling forces that made me make the first Might and Magic, was the desire to play RPG’s more often. It was always tough to get a group together on Saturdays etc, but if I could create a great PC game then I could play every day nonstop :)

Over the years I think I have done most every discipline in the games business, from programming, design, art, sound, writing, sales, marketing, finance, legal…etc. We had to do it all in the early days, but this has given me a unique perspective on the industry that has served me well over the years.

2. When you think about your work on Might & Magic, what’s the first association that comes to your mind?

I know I enjoyed playing the games as much or more than creating them!

3. Can you tell us about the genesis of the Might & Magic series?

I wanted to make a party based RPG that was very strategic, had a free open world to explore and lots of fun puzzles to solve. Wizardry I, Ultima I and Dungeons and Dragons were the initial influence, but I wanted to go further and express my style of play in the design. Learning to program and figuring out all the technical barriers was just a means to an end, creating the best game possible was my driving force.

4. What does Might & Magic mean to you today?

It’s always a great feeling to know millions of people have enjoyed this series and it makes me very happy to know that new games are still being made.

Awesome!

5. As a fan of the series, here's something I always wanted to ask you :) What were your plans for the storyline of the series? Would we have discovered the secrets of the Ancients and the Kreegans? Anything you can share with us?

Originally, the Might and Magic story ended with World of Xeen.

But with the popularity of Heroes and a demand for new MM games, we started it all up again and took things in many directions.

And yes we had plans to finalize the Kreegans story and visit the Ancients home world… :P

6. When developing a game in general, what do you aim for?

Initially, something I enjoy playing and have fun with.

Then broaden the appeal for the biggest possible range of players without breaking the original game.

7. What are you currently playing, and how do you like it?

Well Command and Conquer :)

Also GTA V like everyone else, World of Tanks, Guild Wars 2, Puzzles and Dragons…

All great fun!

8. Would you rather be a human, elf, dwarf or orc, and why?

Elf, they live the longest!

9. Apart from games, what fascinates you?

I enjoy auto racing as a hobby, but science, mythology and the world financial markets fascinate me.

10. What do you think of Might & Magic X so far?

Very cool!

11. Your message to the fans of Might & Magic?

Thank you! And yes I would like to make another one :)