KickStarter Monomyth - A first person action RPG/dungeon crawler - now available on Early Access

[Narushima]

If you go for crowdfunding, don't shoot yourself in the foot with stretch goal feature creep.
It should be more about pre-ordering the game for cheaper than release.

 

[The Wall]

And speeding up development! Amazing what so far a single dude managed to accomplish on his own

 

[Technomancer]

Also: Chris Avellone is in hiding, disgraced, lonely, unemployed and bored

Pretty sure he found refuge with russian owlcat already.

 

[CyberModuled]

Eh, I sort of feel like a game like this (given the inspirations at least) doesn't entirely need writing that's above utilitarian tbh (so long as the atmosphere and tone speak for itself which it has so far). Plus I'd rather not see RatTower be hit with the wrath of a thousand SJW retards until general people inevitably forget about the Avellone stuff long term.

That being said, I'm honestly all for paying up for a crowdfunder if it's needed at any point. Game looks ridiculously promising and given FromSoft aren't doing King's Field anytime soon or Arkane doing Arx Fatalis, this frankly looks like it'll give that fix I want.

 

[V_K]

I sort of feel like a game like this (given the inspirations at least) doesn't entirely need writing that's above utilitarian tbh (so long as the atmosphere and tone speak for itself which it has so far).

This.

 

[HarveyBirdman]

All in all, UU's design adds a bit of durability management, which is cool - especially with regards to the survival aspect of the game - but it has three major consequences:
- Item progression gets watered down. This is a bit of a "touchy-feely" argument but it just feels less "impactful" to progress from one weapon to the next. Sure you'll try keeping that broad sword, but you know it will probably break at some point, so you don't really care that much.
- Item distribution is way different in UU's design. Now this is actually the big one and the thing I'm struggling with because it has to do with realism/believability (which I like). Due to the fact, that weapons keep breaking, you'll find dozens and dozens of the same sword type throughout the dungeon. That, on the one hand, is realistic, but on the other hand, it further devalues any sort of item progression. In KF2 you find the Katana/Wind Sword at the warriors grave on the other end of the island. How do I know that without looking it up? Cause there is exactly one of those.
- And both of the previous points have another consequence, which is messy inventory management. That's of course on the player, but you'll always have at least a bag full of junk weapons - which in UU then also plays into the weight system. That can get annoying depending on how well you do with inventory management. But there are lots of game series that eventually just drop that feature entirely. Demon's Souls still had the "Item Burden" mechanic which was removed in Dark Souls and I might be wrong but I believe Arx dropped the feature right away. It's also less of a problem in UU2 , but I don't remember whether that was because it was toned down or because you could easily drop stuff in the hub. Even tabletop RPGs tend to drop inventory weight rules from their core rule books (people tend to ignore those rules anyway).

All of these are good points, but I think you could dispatch of them all with the right system.

Here's how it might look:

• Weapon durability is high enough that under normal circumstances, you can get from checkpoint to checkpoint without worrying about them breaking.
• But durability is also low enough that, under extraordinary circumstances, you would need to switch out weapons or have a repair item.
• What are these extraordinary circumstances? Things like special weapon attacks that take out big chunks of durability, debuffs placed on you by enemies, attacking doors or other breakable objects (as opposed to combat), or certain weapon characteristics (for example, a rusty weapon might have lower durability than a pristine weapon).
• Checkpoints offer free or very low cost weapon repairs. Maybe magic checkpoints restore your flesh and your weapons. Maybe there are smithies you can operate scattered across the dungeons. Maybe NPCs who lurk around checkpoints can offer a low cost weapon repair service. Etc

Combining these elements solves each problem you listed above:

• item progression - no need to worry about breaks under normal circumstances, because your weapons can survive one full section of a dungeon until you get the free/low cost repairs at checkpoints
• item distribution - assuming you have a weapon upgrade system in place, the player is incentivized to favor the upgraded weapon over un-upgraded copies without fear of it breaking, but to take proper precautions under extraordinary circumstances
• inventory management - no need for a bunch of junk weapons when you get free/low cost repairs, and repair items are essentially like scrolls -- you only use them in extraordinary circumstances

Also, this kind of implementation changes the focus of weapon degradation from passive to active. Inventory management isn't the focus. Rather, the player thinks of degradation as a calculated risk. Do I use the special attack and risk breaking my favorite weapon before getting to a checkpoint? Do I have the repair items to let me unleash a bunch of special attacks for this specific section that's really tough? Do I have enough repair items to fight these debuff-using enemies with my best weapon, or should I use a bunch of throwaways when engaging them? Do I lower my weapon's durability to get past this door, or do I waste a lockpick?

Maybe that doesn't fit into your game as a whole though. It's possible that this could screw with your itemization or dungeon design/checkpoint placement/NPC roles, in which case maybe it's not worth it. Just a thought.

 

[Whisper]

Interested in this title, but 1 person making in free time will take years to produce. But idea is great.

 

[RatTower]

This evening there will be a little update on how I plan to proceed with this project:

 

[Whisper]

This evening there will be a little update on how I plan to proceed with this project:

How finished is game at the moment? How much is done and how much is to do? You are working alone at it?

Interested in game. Looks like Arx Fatalis with better graphics.

 

[RatTower]

Monomyth - New Years (Video) Update:

Full time production after february. Kickstarter + Demo asap after that.

Hi,

today I have a short video update for you:



In it, I talk about the work that has been done over the last couple months and how I will continue this project.

We take a look at:

• Environments
  
• Interactivity
  
• Combat
  
• Spells
  
• Character & Inventory System
  
• NPCs & Dialogue

For the future, the most important pieces of information are the following:

• Development will slow down, roughly until the end of february - after that however, I will focus full-time on this project
  
• Once that is so there will be a kickstarter campaign asap
  
• During the kickstarter campaign there will be a demo

I'm also thinking about keeping this format for future updates.
So stay tuned for more and see you soon!

rattower

Link

 

[LudensCogitet]

Call me fabulously optimistic, but this is looking like what everyone wanted Underworld Ascendent to be.

 

[Whisper]

I am worried that only 1 person doing such big game, can take like 10+ years...

 

[Reader]

I sort of feel like a game like this (given the inspirations at least) doesn't entirely need writing that's above utilitarian tbh

I wouldn't mind it too. But since it's Monomyth it just should have some development arcs. I think.

I am worried that only 1 person doing such big game, can take like 10+ years...

Well there are many helping tools now. Enemies and animations were my biggest concern but what i saw in the trailer is quite serviceable. I'm playing King's Field 2 now and i don't mind that graphics.
But then there is a kickstarter. I am optimistic.

 

[Invictus]

Yup if he has a Kickstarter and extra funds to finish it off I trust Rattower 100 times than has been developers looking to cash in on nostalgia; he has more know how and talent to pull this off

 

[Gargaune]

Looking really good, man. Colour me interested for an eventual GOG release.

Also, I realise this might be daft to ask of an Unreal-based indie project, but do you expect Monomyth to have any degree of mod support?

 

[xuerebx]

I reiterate the above - looks really good man, congrats! I've been following the development of this game for quite a while, and I'd be happy to pitch in to the Kickstarter campaign.

The only minor 'gripe' I can think of is perhaps creating more attack animations?

EDIT: The Wall - I didn't post any images...

 

[nyjsu]

Any update when the kickstarter will go live?

 

[OctavianRomulus]

You are an incredibly talented developer. I wish I knew the secrets of your workflow. Programming, 3D modeling, Level Art, Level Design, Organic Modeling. Huge skillset! I would pay good money for a tutorial series on how to do something like this on your own and all of the tricks. For example, you must have a method to churn out a huge number of 3D assets. I love the independence.

 

[VonHoffenHeimer]

Anything inspired by Arx Fatalis has me excited

 

[JarlFrank]

I am worried that only 1 person doing such big game, can take like 10+ years...

So?

You're acting as if the wait for Grimoire hadn't been worth it.

 

[RatTower]

Looking really good, man. Colour me interested for an eventual GOG release.

Also, I realise this might be daft to ask of an Unreal-based indie project, but do you expect Monomyth to have any degree of mod support?

I have not really looked into mod support of any kind right now. Of course I'd love something like the Sword of Moonlight editor at some point, but at the moment that is unfortunately out of scope.

Any update when the kickstarter will go live?

It all comes back to finishing my dayjob/thesis and actually establishing the business.
I submitted my thesis on the first of february. Normally that would mean an examination around the beginning of march, however there were some mix ups with the dead lines between different institutions and now the examination has been pushed into the second half of march. Nothing really changed about my plans though. My contract is still terminated on the first of march. I'll still work full time on Monomyth after that. I'll probably be out of the game for a week or two around the time of my examination, but that's about it. Besides I can work on stuff now.
In fact, tomorrow I'll have a quick meeting with some people from the government™ for some consulting and we will work out a proper timetable for establishing the business.
Then they'll get a business plan from me, then there is more bureaucracy, etc etc. The whole application for this consulting program takes up to eight weeks (I hope it won't take that long, but I'll talk that through tomorrow).
From how I understand it, kickstarter requires the legal entity that receives the pledges to already exist at the time of the campaign. Meaning, you need a company to do a kickstarter or you do it as a private individual, but then it is not clear whether you can simply introduce that money into the company without taxing it (which would probably cost around 20% of the collected funds).

You are an incredibly talented developer. I wish I knew the secrets of your workflow. Programming, 3D modeling, Level Art, Level Design, Organic Modeling. Huge skillset! I would pay good money for a tutorial series on how to do something like this on your own and all of the tricks. For example, you must have a method to churn out a huge number of 3D assets. I love the independence.

Thanks! I follow a couple basic principles in my work:

Procedurality: Several programms allow for workflows where simple elements can be adjusted through a series of automatic modifications, producing more complex results. In Substance Designer for example you create textures by applying different filters and operations to very basic shapes and images. In Blender, displacement together with other modifiers can be used to turn a simple cube into a high poly rock mesh. This doesn't work for everything, but generally I try to work procedurally as much as possible. The biggest advantage of that is: If you can create one rock, you can quickly create two, or three or ten. By adjusting certain parameters in the procedural pipeline you can come to thematically similar, but otherwise drastically different results. For example: A tiled floor texture is always made in the same way - no matter what shape or color the tiles have. So a lot of work steps can be repeated. Which leads me to another principle...
Variability: The best known example for variability in asset creation are probably re-colored enemies in old JRPGs (green slime, red slime, mega slime, etc). I try to avoid these obvious forms of variability, but the method still has its place, for example, in the form of modular NPCs. Instead of creating let's say 20 different handcrafted NPCs you create a modular set of three different pants, three different chests, three different boots, etc. etc. Then you add texture variability to it (which is easy because of procedural workflows) and then you combine the outputs. If your basic sets are big enough you can get some highly diverse results.
Non-destructive workflow: This goes well with procedurality/variability. I never apply my modifiers. I never combine my image layers, etc. In other words: I try to keep things as adjustable as possible till the very end and even then I only automatically apply modifiers during the export process. It just makes things significantly easier and besides: There are some inconsistencies between different industry tools. Some stuff just looks different in Substance Painter than in UE4 (especially roughness maps). So sometimes you gotta go back and forth between the two. In that sense I also strive for...
Simple pipelines: Nothing is more time consuming than repeating several manual work steps when you are trying to tweak a tiny thing. I try to keep tool pipelines as short as possible. In fact, a completely flat hierarchy of tools (meaning, one tool produces one asset type and doesn't require any input from another tool) is ideal - but often that's not possible (mostly with asset specific textures, which require UVs from the mesh).
Creating in bulks: Ideally I create everything in bulks. This is relatively new to my workflow (i think I first adapted this in the "Treasured Belongings" update of the alpha), but basically it's just a logical conclusion to the other principles. When I want to create a certain mesh, I try not just creating one - I try creating several similar objects at once. So several crystals, or several potions, or several weapons.
Two main advantages speak for that: Firstly, you can again repeat a lot of work steps. When you have a finished design/plan you can just turn your brain off and grind through it. Secondly, you get a better handle on the workload and the memory these assets will eat up. When you plan out your workload like that it's much easier to create a series of serviceable results with roughly the same quality. Creating in bulks also has an advantage when it comes to memory/optimization. Pre-mature optimization is normally a big, big no-no in software engineering (as is the lack of modularity and writing everything from scratch), but in asset creation it can help. Or at least (sometimes) it can't hurt. To be more precise: Until relatively recently there was the practice of texture atlases - several similar objects often had their texture in a single image file. Saves a bit of memory and UV space.

Those are pretty much the principles I always try to adhere to.
Depends on the asset though. Sometimes I just sculpt stuff or make textures in a simple image editor.

 

[Gargaune]

I have not really looked into mod support of any kind right now. Of course I'd love something like the Sword of Moonlight editor at some point, but at the moment that is unfortunately out of scope.

Thanks, I figured it's unlikely given the workload. By the by, I hate to suggest it because Monomyth's a great name like that, but you might consider adding some sort of subtitle - when I looked it up on YouTube, I only got hits for a psych rock band and the literary topic. You do have top billings for "monomyth game" though.

 

[baud]

I have not really looked into mod support of any kind right now. Of course I'd love something like the Sword of Moonlight editor at some point, but at the moment that is unfortunately out of scope.

Thanks, I figured it's unlikely given the workload. By the by, I hate to suggest it because Monomyth's a great name like that, but you might consider adding some sort of subtitle - when I looked it up on YouTube, I only got hits for a psych rock band and the literary topic. You do have top billings for "monomyth game" though.

you'd need something subtle as a subtitle but also calling back to some of your inspirations, like Underworld or The field of the King or through a looking glass

 

[V_K]

I have not really looked into mod support of any kind right now. Of course I'd love something like the Sword of Moonlight editor at some point, but at the moment that is unfortunately out of scope.

Thanks, I figured it's unlikely given the workload. By the by, I hate to suggest it because Monomyth's a great name like that, but you might consider adding some sort of subtitle - when I looked it up on YouTube, I only got hits for a psych rock band and the literary topic. You do have top billings for "monomyth game" though.

"Monomyth game" is a far easier search to execute though than "monomyth: whatever of whatever". The title would be mighty fine as a mononym.

 

[Gargaune]

I have not really looked into mod support of any kind right now. Of course I'd love something like the Sword of Moonlight editor at some point, but at the moment that is unfortunately out of scope.

Thanks, I figured it's unlikely given the workload. By the by, I hate to suggest it because Monomyth's a great name like that, but you might consider adding some sort of subtitle - when I looked it up on YouTube, I only got hits for a psych rock band and the literary topic. You do have top billings for "monomyth game" though.

"Monomyth game" is a far easier search to execute though than "monomyth: whatever of whatever". The title would be mighty fine as a mononym.

That's a fair point. I suppose it's down to whether you trust the dimmer section of your potential clientelle to append their search after the first one misses.