Many of you are already be aware but Slitherine obtained the rights for Master of Magic last summer. You might already know that they’re including the -previously unofficial- patch in the official release, but I haven’t talked about Caster of Magic.
So Caster of Magic will be available for sale on Steam, GoG, and Slitherine’s website starting today!
While that means you can’t download it for free anymore, I hoping this money will ensure I’ll be able to continue developing Caster of Magic in the future no matter what happens, and ideally, produce proper source code for it as a next step in development. As you already know, Caster of Magic was developed entirely by hacking the executable files as no one has the source code for the game anymore. While I was able to get very far using the current approach, at this time the really important missing features – enabling more than 4 enemy wizards in the game for example, or adding new content without having to remove the same amount of existing stuff – will require source code. That said, this is a plan for the future, and as long as possible I will keep patching the current Caster of Magic.
Obviously, the optional anime portraits won’t be included, those remain available for download from my website separately, and of course, you need to own the game first to use it.
The Master of Magic patch is now version number 1.52 and will be part of the official release of the game, which is also available on Steam and Slitherine’s website starting today, in addition to the existing GoG version. The contents are similar to the 1.51 patch but any included change originating from me or Kyrub’s Insecticide that changed gameplay is removed and now available as optional patches, so you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Lots of thanks to Drake178 for his help in making that possible!
https://www.gog.com/game/master_of_magic_caster_of_magic
WARNING!
Different versions are not compatible. If you own the game on GOG, you have to buy the DLC on GoG as well. Same applies to Steam and Slitherine own website. This is especially important as it was reported it is possible to buy the DLC without the base game there but it’s not possible to install it that way anyway.
Seravy's Mugen and Caster of Magic website
Seravy's Sanctuary
Caster of Magic 6.0 – official release!
9 Comments - “Caster of Magic 6.0 – official release!”
Congratulations mate, I know it’s been a labor of love but I think this is the right thing to do.
You’ve made one of the best mods ever, and I fully expect you’re going to see some great reviews coming out as the 4x and strategy communities find out what you’ve been doing all these years.
Does this mean he were not granted access to the source code yet?
There was no source code. Not even Atari had it. I guess when Simtex/Microprose went bankrupt, no one saved a copy.
Hi Seravy,
Congrats for going pro.
Does this mean you would be in charge of rebuilding a fresh sourcecode?
I see myself only buying this as a token of appreciation for your past and future works.
Thank you for your caring acts of necromancy.
Congratulations!
I never expected to see the game re-published to a larger audience again.
Way to go!
Really great to hear about this. MoM is one of my all time favorites. I will be spreading the word on this and I’ll be picking it up on Steam this evening. If there is anything the community can do to help, please let us know!
I’m making fresh source code for Caster of Magic. I have no information about Slitherine’s plans for their sequel, I only know what options they were/are considering. I’m sure if they require my assistance, they’ll let me know!
Thanks for that awesome work!
Is there a solution for COM to work on Linux?
I tried to buy it from GOG and STEAM, but their version do not run on linux.
I had no problem running older versions in the Dosbox though.
Slitherine’s installer and launcher might not work on Linux but the game itself is still the same old thing. Install it on Windows, then copy the files and run through DOSBOX as usual and it will work. (You might need to make sure all files have uppercase filenames, Linux is case-sensitive, Windows is not.)