Hero Spotlight:
Sound Dev Blog:
http://audiotorygaming.blogspot.com/2011/07/part-2-everybody-was-kungfu-fighting.html?spref=tw
Drunken Master Dev Blog:
Episode 1: http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=270166
Episode 2: http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=290127
Episode 3: http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=294753
Interview with S2 Nigma:
S2Nigma presents : The Drunken Master !
First of all I would like to thank S2Nigma to let me have an interview with him even it's just via email, and I hope you guys can understand that this is my first time doing this thing, and I hope you guys will like it.
Here you go then :
An2x : So first of all lets start with an introduction of yourself Sir, short bio and your position in S2Games
S2Nigma : Hello, My name is Markus Steiner and I'm the Community Manager for Heroes of Newerth. It's my job to bring the Community and the Developers closer together by making sure they are always on the same wavelength. I compile Community complaints, suggestions and compliments into objective reports and present them to the designers. I consider myself a member community (in addition to S2 Staff), meaning that I will often join active discussions on forums and argue my side of the story while listening to theirs. I was picked up by S2 originally as a video editor back when I worked or Honcast, where I made weekly tutorial and top 10 videos. I'm somewhat of a walking HoN encyclopedia, and I'm often involved in helping design or fine-tune systems that have to do with making the game more accessible to new players, such as tutorials, videos, or websites. I also wrote and co-designed the Prodex, a flash based HoN guide for all heroes that was out before the current in-game guide system.
An2x : Remembering about the DotA heroes port issue, what are you going to answer about question from GosuSalt “Hey I just wanted to know about the porting of DotA heroes and considering IceFrog only came on after a certain map, how can Valve lay claim to ALL the heroes, and not just the ones IceFrog created. Is it Blizzard who is stopping the port or Valve. Any clarity will help a long way on this one. Too much dodging of this issue imo.”Because as we all know, there is no official answer why S2 cant port anymore heroes from DotA.
S2Nigma : No comment, sorry.
An2x : Maliken spoke about HON 3.0 and next level of matchmaking, any small info you can share with us about it?maybe the estimated time arrival of it?
S2Nigma : I don't know of any specific changes to Matchmaking in the future... but I don't work directly on Matchmaking so I wouldn't know if something is in the works unless it was about finished. I guess you'll just have to wait and see what the future brings!
An2x : One of the hot topic now is about CustomMap, are we going to see it implemented near future?
S2Nigma : Custom Maps are definitely something that are happening in the future. Sadly I can't divulge anything we are doing on our end- but Multiplayer custom map functionality is definitely something we are working on. If you take a gander at our Custom Maps section on the forums, you will see that map makers are already hard at work making amazing maps that we can't wait to play once the functionality is there. I'm definitely looking forward to playing a Tower-defense map in Heroes of Newerth.
An2x : “Where do you see HON in future and who is working for the Spotlight video now?” by Anonymous Reader
S2Nigma : Right now the Spotlights are a joint project being led by MsPudding. RuthlessVoid does the cool particle effects you see at the beginning of each intro, Smyger does most of the brute work of machinimating (staging)/recording/editing the in-game footage, and pLoLock does any extra high quality editing/masking that needs to be done; they are quite the team! As for HoN's future- it is brighter than ever. It's just amazing when you think about how small HoN was when it started and how big it is today- let alone how big it will be in the coming weeks and months. HoN has come a long way, and will continue to exceed people's expectations in the future.
An2x : We heard that S2staff is going to GamesCon 2011 representative, and is that you since you are in Germany and you are a community manager.
S2Nigma : I myself am going to Gamescom on my own time- meaning I probably won't be doing anything official there other than shaking some hands and being impressed. That isn't to say nothing will happen at Gamescom... I guess you'll just have to wait and see.
An2x : Any small info or something that you want to tell us, or lets say leak a bit to us about anything ?
S2Nigma : Here's a screenshot of Drunken Master!
An2x : “Do you ever visit HonBlog? Or maybe read it regulary” –An2x
S2Nigma : Sometimes. I'm rather busy most of the time
An2x : “Are we going to see new stuff in Prodex(new feature) and your blog?” – An2x
S2Nigma : Yes- unfortunately I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to update Prodex for Emerald Warden or Revanant or the new items. Once August rolls around and I finish my last Exam I will hopefully have time to update it. Even if I buckled down and wrote some guides they wouldn't be very good if I barely had any time to play- I don't want to write guides that aren't worth reading. I'm so proud of how Prodex turned out, though, every time somebody tells me I should update it I want to just sit down and do it right then and there- I definitely want to keep it alive and kicking.
An2x : I think that’s all for now and thanks for the interview sir.
S2Nigma : Thanks for having me!