Mythlink
To the Greatest Manga-ka
The main character especially goes through some amazing development and has been a source of my own personal "never-give-up" attitude. It's safe to say that Mythlink would not be as far along as it is without that inspiration. Unfortunately, Berserk was only about half finished and now we will never truly know what Miura-sensei's ultimate vision for his magnum opus was. However, if the message of Berserk is to be followed, we must always press on and never give up.
Rest in peace, Kentaro Miura.
On that somber note, let's move onto the anniversary of the first demo'd release of Mythlink. It was May 2018 when the first demo, the "puzzle" was released. It's been a long journey and lots has happened since then. Just take a look back at the past 3 years of blog posts! It never ceases to amaze seeing everything that has changed. Through all of the bugs, time spent, and frustration, it has been a good time and ultimately the game is coming along well.
To that end, I am finally setting a firm release window for the full version of the game. Given how the 3D models and animations are coming, I now feel confident enough to say that the first full 1.0 release date of Mythlink will happen before Q3 of 2022. That means you should be able to play the full release in the first half of 2022! Of course, the development doesn't stop there. There is plenty to do outside of the first release, but that point will certainly be a large milestone for Mythlink.
The advertising and reception of Mythlink throughout the remainder of 2022 after release will then determine an even greater part of Mythlink's future.
Cheers and here's to a bright future! Stay tuned, next month I'll be showing off a few of the animations for Minorod.
Enter: Minorod
Without further ado, here are some basic screen captures of how the Minorod Mythlink looks.
A Minorod has 3 distinct features that give it a unique design from the minotaur mythological creature from which it is based. The first of these major differences is the horn. As you can see it has been twisted together and reaches high above his head. As mentioned in a previous blog post, a Minorod utilizes lightning and earth abilities during battle. To that end, the horn acts as a sort of "lightning rod" to help channel and unleash fierce lightning abilities!
The other 2 features can be found on his chest and back. Notice that while most of Minorod's fur is brown, on his chest it is instead a bright yellow color and in the shape of a lightning bolt. Furthermore, on his back it is grey and in the shape of a boulder or mountain. These two symbols represent their respective elements within Mythink and help give Minorod a bit of style. I'm still working on the next Mythlink concepts, but I will probably keep this idea of adding the elemental symbols on the Mythlinks at least for the first three designs.
And that's that! I don't have any animations or abilities ready for Minorod yet so you can't see it in action, but look for that in an upcoming blog post. In the meantime, start preparing yourself for the full release of Mythlink! Is Minorod your style? Will a Minorod be the first Mythlink you form a Mythlink Unity with? Stay tuned and look forward to more details and updates!
Spring Means Bugs
In other news, the next Mythlink is well on it's way to having it's model completed! I plan to show it off in next month's blog post. I received the initial model and was pretty happy overall with how it looks. I offered some minor feedback on some things and am very much looking forward to seeing how the final product turns out. Of course, I'm also looking forward to showing it off here! The first "real" official Mythlink! Exciting!
Oh and his name has been decided. It is "Minorod". But that's all the more info you get for now. Look forward to seeing Minorod next month!
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Bug Fixes
Fixed a few miscellaneous small problems
Mythlink Concepts Part 1
The majority of recent development has been on designing new Mythlinks and abilities. I think there are some neat things in the works, but oftentimes that which sounds good on paper does not work as well in practice. We'll see how things pan out when some prototype implementation into the game gets going.
I was going to post some pictures of a few of my notes for this month's blog showing concepts for one of the new Mythlinks, but trust me you don't want to see my drawings and the notes are so scattered only I can understand them. They are bad. Real bad. In exchange, I can at least write out some spoilers on the first new Mythlink concept. The first Mythlink (name not yet finalized) is based off of a Minotaur and his abilities are largely related to electricity and the ground/soil. Note that, for now, elements do not play any role in damage. That is, if you use an electric move on a water type Mythlink, it does the same damage as it would to any other type of Mythlink. Of course, this is subject to change but for the time being these elements just help keep a consistent theme across individual Mythlinks and their ability "styles".
There were also a couple bugs identified in the production build which should hopefully be fixed for a patch in March. Stay tuned.
Looking Forward and Looking Back, 2020-2021
2020
I would call 2020 a resounding success for Home Point Games and Mythlink. Development was swift and with last month's update rounding out the fundamentals of the game, there is no reason not to feel good. Let's look at what was said in last year's January review and see how it compares…
1) Consistent Demo Updates- Complete Training Room
The main goal set forth last year was the implementation of consistent game updates and the completion of the training room. Boy was this goal completely smashed. Demo updates have been fairly frequent (usually once every other month or so) and that has been great. But completing the training room? Obliterated. Not only is the training room done, but so was every other room in the game! Battle, Mytlhink, Tutorial, Dorm, and Training are all fundamentally complete! Great stuff and it's hard to imagine being any more productive than that.
2) Website Update
If you've been keeping score, this was also completed! The website was migrated to a new format and had a decent amount of touch-ups done in the process. Mark this one as good to go.
3) Audio Update
Another one completed. I did work with a third party audio person who created more than a few songs for the game. You can hear these works throughout the game.
2021
Alright, so where do we go from here? There is only 1 goal now.
1) Release the Paid Version of Mythlink
The main target now is getting the game ready for a paid release. For those that do not know, there is only 1 real difference between the paid release and the free demo, and that is that in the demo you cannot level up your Mythlink and are not awarded experience for training and battles. Sticking with that philosophy, technically the game could be released now in a paid version, but alas there are a few things gating that.
First, some more Mythlinks need to be developed. Right now there is only one Mythlink, and I'm not even sure I would call him "done". Having a diverse cast of interesting Mythlinks is key to the game's success. If you want a firm number, that number is three. Three Mythlinks need to be complete before the paid version will be released.
Second, more abilities need to be developed for those Mythlinks. there isn't too much of a point on having a bunch of different Mythlinks if they all work the same. Each Mythlink needs to feel different from the others and as such, they each need their own set of unique abilities, or at least a few abilities need to be unique.
And finally, we need to start advertising hard. Once I feel comfortable enough that the game is stable, polished and fun, we can begin the advertising blitz! A game is nothing without players to support it. Why did advertising start earlier you ask? Simply put, the game wasn't (and isn't) ready yet. When it comes to gaming, people are picky. If they would've played the game in some of its previous, buggy states, they may have abandoned the title and never looked back.
With those steps in mind, all of 2021 will be dedicated to those types of activities. Only once the "paid" version is available will the game be expanded with things like more training activities. Don't worry, there is no shortage of fun ideas to add to the game once the paid version is released.
Ultimately, my goal is to accomplish all of these tasks to the point where I can release the paid version within 2021, or early in 2022.
Now for the bad news. Personal life has changed quite drastically in the past month and this will hinder the development of Mythlink. These changes are the only reason the paid version might be delayed into 2022. Additionally, blog posts might be a little thinner this year due to a lack of progress, but I promise you I'm not giving up or slowing down the passion.
Cheers to another year! See you next month!
Oh..before I forget, remember that advertising blitz I was talking about? Introducing the first piece of official Mythlink merchandise! These keychains will be available for free at any conventions or place Mythlink is being advertised. They even glow in the dark!
This is How You Do It
The most significant part of this update is it signifies essentially the completion of Mythlink. All fundamentals have now been implemented. Of course, there is still a lot to be done- adding polish, new Mythlinks, new abilities, new training exercises, and so much more. Those will come in time and perhaps the game will never be truly complete, or at least not within the next year or two. In any case, more detail will be covered on the future of Mythlink in the annual review blogpost which takes place in January. Expect a big update full of news and planning.
Until then, have fun with the final patch of the year!
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New Features
The Tutorial Room has been added.
The tutorial room contains several features for first timers including the title screen, formation of the first Mythlink Unity, notes about the world, how the game works, and developer credits.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a problem where the game was not appropriately scaling to play area
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A Number of Stats
One of the features in Mythink is the ability to change your battle stats at will before going into battle. This should help reduce overall "grind" and increase flexibility of play styles. Eventually, online battles will be broken up into tiers, where only Mythlinks of similar level will be matched up. In other similar games, you may have to raise an entirely new character in order to hit the level requirements, but in Mythlink you can always just adjust your stats down or up to fit any requirements and experiment with various loadouts.
The menu above should be fairly straightforward, but let's review it anyway. At the top you'll see your active Mythlink's current stats. If you were to go into a battle after looking at this, it would be with the selected Mythlink at those stats. The next layer has several buttons where you can adjust those stats based on your level availability. You can tweak the stats up and down, max them out, or set them to zero as you see fit. The next layer shows the total number of "levels" available on each of those stats. Finally, the last row shows the max number of levels you have achieved for each of the stats as obtained through the training room.
And that's it! Once your stats are adjusted, you can go back to the loadout menu, assign abilities, and you're ready for battle! In fact, that's the next implementation I will be working on for December, that is, having your scores in the training room translate into experience points which then provide levels for the various stats. The fruits of your labors in the training room will finally come forth!
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New Features
The Mythlink Room has been added.
This room focuses on customization of your Mythlink. You can change your current active Mythlink (which will be used for battle and leveling), adjust stats, and adjust abilities for battle.
Training Room
Added level/experience tracking to the Training Room. Please not that training games do not grant experience yet.
Battle Room
Added total level tracker to the Battle Room.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a problem with backwards-compatible save files.
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Locked and Loaded
The Mythlink room is where you will be able to hang out with and customize your Mythlink. To that end, the most important functional part of the room is setting your loadout and stats for battle. Today, we'll go over how equipping abilities works.
First, there are three types of abilities- active abilities, passive abilities, and movement abilities. Active abilities require some sort of button press to activate. Passive abilities require no input by the player, and movement abilities could be either passive or active, but they only deal with movement. When you first look at the battle loadout menu, you'll be asked to pick your "Active Mythlink" or the Mythlink you will go into battle with. The rest of the menu will then be populated based on your selection.
Working from the top of the screenshot above, you can see that the first row allows you to change your active Mythlink and filter the ability list based on type (active/passive/movement/or display all). The second row then shows you the entire array of abilities for that Mythlink based on your current filtering. Once an ability is selected, you can see some details about that ability such as a brief description, its type, and the stats required to use that ability.
The third and fourth rows are essentially the same. These buttons represent the abilities assigned to your Mythlink in the available slots you have and each one correlates to one of the buttons you can press during battle. There is a maximum of 9 total ability slots. One slot is reserved for movement abilities only and the other 8 slots can have any ability assigned to them- Movement or otherwise. By default, every Mythlink will have a minimum of 2 slots available, the movement slot and the slot for ability 1. Level up your Mythlink's brain stat to unlock more slots for battle!
To assign an ability to a slot, simply activate the button by pressing it (the green color shows your currently selected active button) and then use the ability slider to assign the ability to that slot! Boom! You're equipped and ready for battle.
One somewhat unique aspect of Mythlink as a game is the idea that you can adjust your Mythlink's stats. We'll talk more about this next month, but simply put you can purposefully make your Mythink weaker or stronger during setup. When you do so, this means certain abilities may become unavailable for you to equip. For instance, if you want to equip the "Energy Cannon" ability, which requires 11 strength, but you only have 10 strength assigned, you won't be able to equip that ability. You can still read what it does and see the requirements, but the little padlock icon shows that it cannot be equipped with your current stats.
There is one more nuance to this. What about abilities that you've never seen? Let's say an ability requires 50 speed and your Mythlink only has 30 speed, even when maxed out? Well, that's where the mystery fun comes in! Abilities that have never been unlocked do still show up in the ability list. However...some information is hidden! This should help excite players to upcoming abilities. I imagine people saying to themselves "Woah, this move requires 20 brain and 60 strength! I wonder what it does?! I need to level up those stats and find out!". I always think it's nice knowing when your next reward is coming, even if you aren't sure exactly what that reward is.
Hey, it feels like it's been awhile since we've had a meaty blog post like this one, so I hope you enjoyed it. See you in November where we'll talk more about assigning stats for battle!
A Splash of Color
The Mythlink room! This is where you'll be able to hang out and customize your Mythlink for battle. When will it be done? Not sure, maybe October, maybe November. It should be one of those two though. Details to come at a later date.
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New Features
The second speed game is available- Color Blitz. In this game, objects will come at you in three different colors. Players will need to touch each object with the controller of the matching color in order to destroy it and score points! Yellow objects need to be touched with both controllers to be destroyed. If you touch an object with the incorrect color, you lose points!
Adjusted the Collider for Baller Dodge, it should still be difficult but some of the hits shouldn't feel as "Unfair".
Bug Fixes
Fixed a problem with the Energy Cannon ability lingering when it shouldn't.
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See ya next month!
Proceed With Testing
For those of you who are keeping score, this game is actually the evolution of the original "Button Presser" training mode. When I went back to the drawing board of how to evolve Button Presser, I first evaluated the name. Button Presser was a lame name and was going to be changed to "Push It" (a name I still might use for a later purpose). From there, I said ok well now the game needs variation…maybe I should add a horizontal component to the game since all of the buttons existed only on a vertical plane. The next step was looking how to spice it up visually. The buttons are already used for the UI so something more fun needed to be developed. "Oh!" I said, "Maybe objects should come flying in from the ceiling and from the one wall heading to the other." Long story short, it eventually became what you see below: "Color Blitz"
The basic concept of Color Blitz is simple. Shapes of different colors (Red, Blue, and Yellow) will fly from one end of the room to the other. Your goal is to stop them by using the matching color controller to touch the objects before they reach the other side of the room. One of the controllers will be red, one will be blue, and yellow means you must use both hands. The shapes and movement patterns of the flying objects can vary as the game proceeds, so you need to be quick! Expect Color Blitz to be available in the patch next month.
Alright, now for the brief notes of what has changed starting today.
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Bug Fixes
Restructured the networking architecture and improved networking performance by reducing the overall amount of data sent by a significant amount.
Fixed a problem where fire breath could deal damage through the shield ability
Fixed a bug where a Mythlink could float after being defeated.
Fixed a rare problem with saved data corruption.
Adjusted the fire breath damage particle effect to be more appropriate.
Fixed a problem where cooldowns were not being appropriately reset between the rounds of an online match.
Added a slight delay to the fire breath damage to prevent "ghost" defeats.
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Look forward to Color Blitz soon!