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

[Whisper]

Great new update!

 

[Curratum]

I remember trying the demo when it first came out and not liking it much because it just felt too raw and janky.

I reinstalled it again today and my opinion of it changed dramatically. Mouselook and movement and interactions all felt much much better and I had a great time with it.

Thought I should stop by and say this, because I really did feel it was way too raw, to the point of being unpleasant to play and interact with, on launch day.

 

[cyborgboy95]

New month, new area, new assets!
As announced in last week's update I started the detail pass for another environment.

 

[Narushima]

Is the twist that we were in a snow globe all along?

 

[DJOGamer PT]

 

[KateMicucci]

This looks great.

 

[Maxwell's Demon]

For what it's worth, I'll always be a fan of the majority of "out of place" or even "ridiculous" things in any room, area or encounter, if they add to the gameplay and pose fun challenges and/or solutions, except for the most wildly outlandish fringe "absurd" cases.

Heaven knows, Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure modules and supplementary materials make very little sense as structured, "sensible" dungeons but they're the most fun you can have with a tabletop game's official materials I've seen in forever.

The only problem is when people try to be zany all the time. It's only clever and subversive when juxtaposed against the backdrop of the ordinary! If it happens all the time, it becomes the new normal, and stops being noteworthy.

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[DY050503]

Dungeon crawler doesn't have to be crawling a dungeon. The area theme is too much identical and dim.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3440991

State of the Game: Current Progress | Beta Preparations

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

February went by real fast and Monomyth has made some good progress! This time around the update will be a bit shorter, but there is still a lot of important information I'd like to share with you, so let's get to it...


Current Progress

As announced last time I spent most of the month on detail passes, which means, fixing environments and making them presentable. I created new assets and overhauled some of the later areas in the game.

Some of these are still "work in progress" and will be revised further as development continues. The placement of items, traps, and secrets is on the To-Do list. Some of the late-game content is still in the block-out phase, which I would like to change within the next few weeks. Earlier areas in the game are already further developed.

Directly beyond the Serpent's Bastion (the level you know from the Kickstarter demo) lies the "Heartland". This area is mostly controlled by the fortress of Lysandria. The environment in the heartland is rather diverse. You will find dark tunnels and underground lakes, as well as places of worship and agriculture (or rather the underground equivalent thereof). Most of the area has been fortified by the Lysandrians to defend against attacks from the surface. The whole level still has to be tied together by level mechanics and quests, which I will work on shortly.

Thanks to the musical talent of Isaac Vail, Monomyth now features a background score! Since numerous people valued the calm atmosphere in the demo we decided to keep it subtle, the only exception being the main theme.

Significant progress has also been made with regard to world design. The individual areas of the game are now stitched together, making the game's world fully traversable from the first to the last level. As I mentioned, not all of these levels are ready yet, but it is another step to properly scale the project. A properly scaled project keeps things manageable and, more importantly, realizable. This step also helps me to test out quests that are spanning different parts of the game - most importantly the main quest. Testing such things early is of course very important, which brings us to beta preparations.

Spoiler

Beta Preparations

Just as we said last year, Monomyth's closed beta will start around the beginning of Q2 2022 (add maybe a month or so, depending on how things are going). Generally speaking, the beta will likely be held in three phases (B1-B3). The game's world is currently organized in a way that allows for a subset of all areas to be tested while leaving the main quest largely intact. This is due to Monomyth's modular quest design approach, which tries to stay away from a strict sequential order when it comes to the player's main tasks.

My plan is to have a fully working game that can be played from start to end in B1. In every following beta phase, there will be a major content update integrating further areas into the game, expanding the main quest.

The point of this is to stay flexible with regard to whatever priorities we will see emerging during the beta. It also allows for a quick transition into release preparations once the time for that has come. Personally, I feel that at a certain production phase you should keep a game (or any software for that matter) in a state where it could theoretically be released within a reasonable amount of weeks. I would like to achieve this state with the first beta phase. This does not mean the game has to be released that quickly afterward - that is not the plan - but it forces me to think about the core essential content first, to avoid feature creep, and to make sure the project won't get stuck in development hell. I understand that the latter is a major concern for many Kickstarter projects and I would like to avoid that.

Backer content (items, NPCs, quests, etc) will be integrated throughout the beta. I believe it is a good idea that people first get a sense of the world in which their ideas will exist. Of course, that is not mandatory, so if you don't want to spoil the full experience for yourself, no need to worry.


For the next month, I have more level design and gameplay programming planned. The goal is now to get everything into a properly playable state. As always, I will keep you updated!



Best wishes,

Michael

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Zombra]

After getting chopped in the knee 3 times you think he'd be ready for the 4th.

 

[V_K]

After getting chopped in the knee 3 times you think he'd be ready for the 4th.

Given how he floats around, maybe he just doesn't care for his knees much.

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3464806

State of the Game: Current progress

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

Another month has passed and it is time for yet another update on the project! A lot has happened in terms of gameplay implementation, characters, and level design. So let's get to it!


Current Progress

NPCs were among the most important things I tried to improve during March. The essential motivation here was to iron out some issues with their controlling logic and how they interacted with one another depending on their individual factions. All of this work was based on a perception system I implemented during the code refactoring I mentioned in previous updates. The perception system itself remained largely untouched during these improvements, which gives me confidence that, for now, it is in a good state. As a result of the work, NPCs can now actively fight each other without any big hiccups in terms of background logic. They properly recognize enemies (both player and non-player), orderly cycle back into their peace state after combat, and correctly perform subsequent actions. Especially the latter has been a constant source of headaches in the old codebase, which had an ad-hoc structure that was replaced by a more robust state machine architecture (see December update).

There have also been multiple improvements with regard to character animations. As you may remember from one of the last updates, every character requires a "skeleton" to be animated. Thanks to the standard UE4 skeleton, which is now a core element of Monomyth's humanoids, various animations could be standardized across many different characters. As a result, NPCs now show behavior that makes them appear more realistic. For example, characters are turning their heads, following the (sighted) player, sheath their weapons whenever they are not in combat, and sometimes carry torches. These torches are not just for decoration but have an effect on player stealth.

Spoiler

Expanding on the modular character system, I ported the old wastelander model from the Kickstarter demo to the UE4 skeleton. Those guys can now share their armor with other humanoid characters.

The wastelander model you might remember from last year's Kickstarter demo.

The new wastelander model adjusted to the modular character system (wearing "regular" clothing for demonstration purposes).

All of these improvements come in handy for the player character as well. That character runs on a subclass of the refactored character codebase and the standard UE4 skeleton. So everything that works for the NPCs, also works for the player. This immensely simplifies the implementation of various features. As you may remember, during last year's campaign, we did not quite make the "Expanded Immersive Simulation" stretch goal. I still try to get as many of the features from that stretch goal into the final game regardless. One interesting feature was the visualization of the player character model (i.e., character legs), however, on the old codebase (or more specifically, with the old player skeleton), this would have meant a lot of extra work. Essentially, every piece of armor would have had to fit the player's skeleton. With the modular character system, the player - much like the wastelanders - can simply "put on" any NPC armor.

With that, the visualization of the player character becomes significantly easier on a technical level. This feature, however, is still a bit experimental, and its full implementation will depend on how strongly NPC and player equipment design will overlap during the character design work of the next few months. There are still a few non-humanoid characters that require work and, naturally, their and the player's equipment design are largely mutually exclusive.

NPCs like rats and slimes still use custom character skeletons

Apart from my work on characters, I have also spent quite a bit of time on level design. A major area of the game is very close to completion. For the first beta phase, I would like to finalize at least three major areas. Therefore, the level design will probably take up most of next month's work schedule.

Much of the environment is interactive. Crates can be looted, fire can be used for cooking, the player can sit on chairs, various objects can be carried around and thrown, etc.

I have also written a lot of dialogue, which I will integrate into the game within the next few weeks. Most narrative assets will naturally be used in the game's main settlement. I hope to finalize a good portion of these assets for the first beta phase as well.

Talking of which, I can't quite promise it yet, but I hope that next time I will have a beta date for you! Everyone that backed the game at the "Seventh Oath Cleric" level or higher will receive an invite via mail. By that time I will also contact you about your creative rewards (item names, quests, etc).


That's all for the moment. More updates to come! Until then!

Best wishes,

Michael

 

[LostHisMarbles]

I hope this guy makes it like no one else has, truly.
Hope he sells so many copies he doesn't have to work ever again.

Not just because of what i see, but because of the lessons therein.
That this kind of game has legs, still;
That this whole bullshit about teams and budgets and "pros" is just that, bollocks; here's your single guy doing it right. Right.
Now suck on that.

 

[Crispy]

Added to my Steam Wish List.

Looks great.

 

[Viata]

It's great. I played the demo some months ago and loved it.

 

[ThewDev]

Love the visible character legs/body. It really adds to the immersion. The game looks like it's shaping up to be something special!

 

[Gargaune]

I'd normally expect a project like this to pick up a couple of months of delay as a given, but reading these updates makes me wonder whether Monomyth might be the first real Kickstarter project to release both in a proper state and on time. Would just be more egg on Underworld Ascendant's face.

Love the visible character legs/body. It really adds to the immersion.

Same. Fingers crossed it makes it into release.

 

[JDR13]

I've been saying this is gonna be great since the first demo.

 

[Abu Antar]

I don't know how the end product will be, but the demo showed promise.

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

When is the release? Wishlisted too.