No April Fools prank this year, instead just some new unlockable content in Mythlink, available now! That's right, after last month's addition of Steam community content to the game, it was time to round out the rest of the release and push out one more key piece of digital bling into the ecosystem. That is, of course, game achievements!
A grand total of 15 achievements are now ripe for the taking within Mythlink. There is a healthy mix of challenge ranging from fairly easy to pretty difficult. Let's take a look at what these achievements entail, including a sneak peak into how to unlock the hidden achievements!
These should be pretty self explanatory. Unlock each of the Mythlinks, get some killer high scores, and win some online matches. Simple enough, right? Right. But don't underestimate some of those score thresholds! While they are far from impossible, it will definitely take some skill and practice to unlock them all.
Readers of this blog will get the inside scoop on how to unlock the two hidden achievements as well. One of them deals with cracking the glass boxes in the menus, which I bet you didn't even know you could do! The other will get unlocked through a random event while playing Baller Dodge. Don't worry, you'll get it eventually!
Pretty short update this month. Next month we'll cover more details on one of the Mythlinks not yet covered! What could that mean I wonder...a new Mythlink? I did say no April Fools pranks this year...or did I?
Yes. Yes, I did.
See you then!
Update Notes for March 15, 2022
Added 15 Steam Achievements
Emoticons and Badges and Cards, Oh My!
New Steam update! This time around it's not about game content though, instead it's time to take some steps to integrate all of the neat features Steam has into Mythlink! If you read the release blog, you may have noticed that one of the "Level 1 Priority" adjustments was to add "Steam Achievements & Community Items". Well, half of that is done and Steam community items are now available for Mythlink!
What are Steam community items? Steam community items are a collection of, well, items that you can get for playing games on Steam. Mostly they are granted automatically based on playtime of the game. They include things like trading cards which can be exchanged on a marketplace, or things that can be used on your account like badges, wallpapers, and emoticons! You get the idea, so now let's dive in and see what these items look like for Mythlink.
Trading Cards
There is one trading card for each of the training exercises. Here I'll only show a preview of the cards. Unlock them on Steam to view the full images and even a bit of lore!
Badges
Badge come as steadily more valuable variations of the Mythlink icon. Each one also comes with a rockin' title, but you'll have to obtain them to see what those are! There is also a foil badge, but that is also staying hidden for you to explore and unlock.
Backgrounds
Real simple, just a quick image of each of the current Mythlinks.
Emoticons
These are pretty fun, some 8 bit representations of things found across the game. I think the Mythlink ones are the most fun (but I also made them the most rare!)
That's all for this month. I might put a bow on this backlog item by adding achievements for next month...we'll see. Have a good one!
Update Notes for 2/12/2023
Fixed a bug with the error message not showing up for certain screens when the game is run without VR...for real this time.
Update Notes for 2/11/2023
Updated the "VR Required" screen to support more resolutions
Looking Forward and Looking Back, 2022-2023
It’s that time once more, a quick retrospective on how last year went and what’s on the docket for the upcoming year!
2022
On this post last year, I was hoping to have had release the paid version of Mythlink, start a “fierce” marketing campaign, enter competitions, conventions, and so on.
The big win here was that Mythlink was successfully released. Maybe not in 2022, but at least before this post was made, so I get partial credit. Mythlink has now been out for 11 days and it’s a great weight lifted to at least have it out in the wild.
As for the fierce marketing campaign and entering competitions/conventions? Well…not so much. Although I did try marketing, it wasn’t as fierce as I had hoped because it’s extremely expensive. On top of that, I’ll be the first to admit that Mythlink is not the most stylish game. People will always tend to judge first on appearances and unfortunately it is probably the weakest part of Mythlink. As such, marketing has been a challenge.
The competitions kind of happened. Mythlink recently took 10th place in the Indie DB Indie of the Year competition for upcoming games. That was a huge surprise and I am eternally grateful for all who participated. That was pretty much it for competitions.
Conventions didn’t happen at all. With the release date delay there was quite a bit of focus on other aspects of the game instead of planning for conventions. On top of that, the cost is quite high. Nevertheless, I would still like to do this at least once in 2023.
Speaking of which…
2023
Well now, what to do this year? If you read the release blog, you saw that there is a healthy backlog of items Mythlink related that could keep me busy for years. Rather than repeat those, I’ll just set one other goal for this year.
1) Plan for the future of Mythlink based on player feedback and sales
It is what it is. If Mythlink has no future, then so be it. I will move on to future projects. If it does and the fanbase is there, they can help decide the direction. Of course, a major one would be Oculus native support, but what would the point of that be if player sentiment is low?
Getting a “slow burn” or “cult classic” type community is possible, but not what you can plan for and certainly not what you want to rely on. The release of the game is still fresh, so it’s too early to tell where to go from here.
I wish you all a bright 2023 and year of the rabbit Urusagi!
Mythlink Has Been Released!
That's right! After what, 5 years of development and then 2 (or was it 3?) tentative releases, Mythlink has finally been released! At a discounted launch price of $8.99 (normal price $9.99) the latest independently created VR game can be yours!
The Full Retail Release of Mythlink includes the following:
3 completely unique Mythlink monsters to choose from, each with over 25 abilities.
Unique VR monster battling system
6 different minigames, each with its own mechanic specially crafted to take advantage of roomscale virtual reality.
3 different stats to level up your Mythlink using the minigames above, each of which gives distinct advantages during battle.
1v1 PvP online play where players can battle other Mythlink Unities online using their very own custom battle loadout. Each Mythlink can bring up to 9 unique abilities into battle at once!
An offline battle training mode to test out the various mechanics of the different abilities.
Let's be honest, Pile Up alone is worth that steal of a price! Huge thank you to everyone who has been on the journey with me so far. I can't wait to see what the first year of Mythlink release brings!
Now let's talk the future, what is next and what can players look forward to? Here is a rough backlog list along with their priority. I've also added some quick tidbits on each of the items. Note that each task within a given priority is in no particular order.
Level 0 Priority
---
Bug fixes (ongoing)
Level 1 Priority
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Gameplay balances and tweaks (ongoing)
Steam Achievements & Community Items (trading cards, etc., in progress)
Native Oculus Quest Support (Biggest VR market)
Engine Update (with XR Framework possibly?)
More Offline Battle modes (including A.I. battles)
Custom Battle Lobbies (play with friends, etc.)
Level 2 Priority
---
Ranked Battles
Networked Leaderboards/High Scores for Training games
Punch Junction Gameplay Improvement
Mythlink Room Customization Improvements
Improve Buttons/Sliders/General UI Elements
Level 3 Priority
---
Party Modes
Tournament Mode
Improved Tutorials (more explanation of battle mechanics)
Level 4 Priority
---
New Battle Mechanic! (There's a reason you can only equip 9 abilities instead of 10)
Mythlink Training Modes (I'm looking forward to this one)
More Player Training Modes
"Just Thinking About It" Priority
---
Better Method to Obtain Multiple Mythlinks (current method is suitable, but lame)
Expanded Voice Acting (adds a lot of life to the world)
Online Voice Chat
New Battle Stages
Companion Mobile App (got some really neat ideas on this one)
Graphics and Style Update (this one could come with a price increase)
Further Customization Options (Design your dorm room, Mythlink Cosmetics; Could come with price increase)
Networking Headset/Hand Positions (have tried this a bit already, caused online lag and was not worth it)
Hand Gestures (Already have the animations, just need to determine implementation)
Ability Priority System (some abilities could have higher priority than others, meaning they persist through instead of being cancelled)
Preview of the Level 1 Steam Badge currently being worked (colorless icon):
At the end of the month, it will be time for the annual retrospective as we look back on 2022 and forward to 2023.
Here's to the launch of Mythlink. Thank you for all of the support!
Player's Choice: 2022 Best Upcoming Indie
Just a quick post here to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who voted in the Indie DB indie of the year contest. Thanks to your support, Mythlink was voted as #10 best upcoming indie!
Even reaching the top 100 completely smashed my expectations, but reaching the top 10 has left me speechless. You can check out all of the superb games who made the cut here:
Again, a sincere thank you to all who voted. I look forward to the release on January 20th!
Is Seeing Believing?
It's that special time of year again, my friends you see.
Now gather 'round, so you may hear my decree.
The Mythlink release date is announced for all to behold.
And this time for real. Believe it! Tenfold!
"But why should we trust this time around?" you cry.
A fair response, I cannot lie.
And no good reply, do I have for thee.
But 'tis the season for believing, so give it a shot, for me?
January twentieth, I say, with nothing up my sleeve.
This time for sure, I dare not deceive.
A new trailer we have, though only the date has changed.
I've even got it here, linked and arranged.
And so we come to the end, of this holiday story.
Was it a bit annoying? or a fun allegory?
Worry not my friends, for next time shall not be so wordy.
Even for me, this is a little bit too nerdy.
Hope you enjoyed this edition of the blog and thank you for a great year filled with both ups and downs! Next one will be on January 20th discussing the release, followed by the typical year in review at the end of January. See you then!
(for the ease of searching: Mythlink Release Date will be January 20th, 2023!)
Indie DB: Indie of the Year 2022
Welcome to a very special edition of the blog! Today I've got a call to action. I'm super happy to announce that Mythlink has made it to the finals (top 100) of the Indie DB Indie Game of the Year competition! HUGE thank you to everyone who voted in round one to get us this far. Cutting right to the chase...I need your votes once more! Use the link below to go to the page and vote. It takes 2 clicks, is free and easy to do. No registration required! While you're there, check out the other awesome games in the top 100. You can even use the image below to vote!
Did you vote yet? Good. Are you still reading? In that case, check out these very impressive stats from the first round of the contest.
The indie game community is clearly alive and thriving, I have personally played some of the games on the list and can say with confidence there is plenty of fun and creativity out there.
That's it for this time. For those with a keen eye, you may have noticed that the release date for Mythlink has changed. You may be wondering...what's up with that? Is it the real release date this time?
