Julien Pirou, creative designer on Might & Magic X Legacy, is an interesting guy. I've been at Gamescom for almost an hour, and all the people I've talked with are community managers, PR people, business people or fans. They're all nice people, they all know Might & Magic, and they can all provide a general overview of Might & Magic X Legacy, how it came to be, and how work is progressing... just like I can, because I've been following the development myself. Only when I meet Pirou do I finally get a sense of what the game is really all about. Pirou is a red-haired, red-bearded, geek-with-glasses kind of guy. A man of average height, he has a round face and a tendency to look at the floor during conversation. The conversation I have with him is slow to start, as I ask questions and he answers them in a reserved manner. But when we start to discuss Might & Magic, everything changes. Passion practically bursts out of the man, and in between anecdotal stories of his time with Isles of Terra, World of Xeen and Might & Magic VI to VIII, he laughs and jokes, emerging from his shell as a light-hearted and outgoing individual. Pirou can speak endlessly about World of Xeen or any other Might & Magic game, taking delight in remembering and discussing every little secret and every little nook and cranny of their worlds. A pleasant shadow of the past glides over his face whenever the conversation topic wanders back to the older games.
[...]
“How did Ubisoft come to produce a blobber with turn-based combat and grid-based movement?” That is my first question for anyone I meet from both Limbic and Ubisoft. Pirou himself is modest. “Well,” he starts, “I guess it was a question of the right place and the right time.” Stephan Winter, managing director at Limbic Entertainment, and one hell of a nice guy, is less humble on Pirou's behalf: “Basically,” Winter begins, “like so many companies, Ubisoft has this system where you can pitch your funky stuff internally, to encourage people to be creative and come up with original ideas. So anyone can make a draft for a project they'd like, and perhaps Ubisoft will fund it. Usually you make the draft, you pitch it, and you hope for a yes. Otherwise, you find something else to pitch next time or you just take a break. Anything else would be fruitless.” Winter laughs as he recalls the anecdote and continues: “Not so with Julien. He pitched that thing for 3 years straight.” Again he laughs. “Finally, I think the guys at Ubisoft just said “ah, fuck this, just give the man his project already.” Winter's eyes twinkle as he tells the story. It's a landmark tale for the guys at Limbic, considering that they are now working on what some would have called an impossible game.
