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

[cyborgboy95]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/908360/view/3333239887481717219

A quick update on Monomyth
Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

I just wanted to drop by and mention that the development of Monomyth is progressing very nicely. I'm busy preparing the game for its closed beta, which should start toward the end of June.

Here is a quick video overview of some of the things that have happened throughout the first quarter of 2022.

 

[Crispy]

That video was already posted two pages ago.

 

[Jenkem]

So what's the scoop on the Codex Quest/NPC/Item? Haven't heard anything about it and it seems as though that stuff was sent out ages ago but Infinitron or DarkUnderlord have said nothing.

Curious.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Hmmm... possible I've missed it. I'll have to follow up with RatTower.

 

[RatTower]

Finished Demo, some thoughts and question.

1. First, important question: does "Search" skills work? I got 5 from start, seems to do nothing.
2. And how skill points are awarded, i cant figure how exactly.
3. Also mana seems not regenerate, how much skill in Arcane connection is needed to regen?
4.Plenty of secrets, found around 20-25. Game really rewards exploration.
Spend 5 hours looking for cool things, but probably missed some loot/secret places.
For example, there 2 bows in area, i found only 1 (hint: torch). Where is 2nd?
5.How many dig spots? Found 2, key and ring.
6.What exactly glass sphere is showing in mage room on top?


Demo lengh: Full exploration is around 3 hours. Completionist around 4-5.

The search skill provides clues whenever you are close to a secret. The higher the skill the more obvious the clues are (it starts out with an audio cue, later on, you get visual clues).
Skill points are awarded on leveling up.
You probably haven't gotten any mana regen because, at the moment, that is a mid to late-game effect (slowly starting around 10 points into arcane connection).

Spoiler

One bow is in the tower of the trading post, and the other one is on the balcony of the lower serpent's bastion.
There are two digging spots in the demo.
The orb shows you the location of another secret

Hmmm... possible I've missed it. I'll have to follow up with RatTower.

No need to worry, you didn't miss anything. I decided to let people take a look at the beta content before they design a quest. The respective emails will probably go out toward the end of the month.

 

[Whisper]

Played demo to full (half of one levels). Was perfect for me. Place of full clever secrets, exploration is very much rewarded.

Only thing i did not like was combat, you can "stunlock" any human enemy in demo with fast dagger (short sword?) attacks. I thought they were zombies at first, but they are wastelanders.

 

[Whisper]

The search skill provides clues whenever you are close to a secret. The higher the skill the more obvious the clues are (it starts out with an audio cue, later on, you get visual clues).
No need to worry, you didn't miss anything. I decided to let people take a look at the beta content before they design a quest. The respective emails will probably go out toward the end of the month.

Well, 5 skills in search did not help me to find even first secret

 

[Gargaune]

RatTower, as awesome as destruction physics are, you're not gonna let us break doors with clay pots in the finished product, right? Might need some heavier objects with Str reqs? Otherwise, roleplaying Connie Does Lysandria might play out a little differently...

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3504231

State of the Game: Current Progress | Beta Status

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

time is going by fast and I have been busy preparing everything for the approaching first beta phase. So let us take a quick look at what has been happening over the last few weeks and how we will proceed.

Current Progress

During May I ported some major features into the refactored codebase. Among other things, I made sure that the reworked dialogue system would find its way into the latest version of the game. Feature-wise the system is similar to what you may have seen in the Kickstarter demo (that is if you didn't slaughter the only peaceful NPC).

To quickly recap: The dialogue system is a mix between keywords and dialogue trees. The player can collect clues from documents and conversations and ask different NPCs what they know about a topic. Dialogue trees can trigger different commands, from skill checks to setting the hostility of an NPC. Much like in Ultima Underworld any item given to an NPC via dialogue options will appear in their inventory.

Building upon the modular character system I also introduced visible player armor. At the moment there are two armor sets consisting of multiple equipment items. Much like weapons, armor can break, however, this happens very slowly. Broken armor can still be worn but barely provides any protection.

I also reworked spells, skills, and utility items. Since the code refactoring largely focused on the core character class, some of these things had to be rewritten. A few things still require tidying up but all the functionality is there again and I will use the beta to address these issues.

By the way, porting explosive barrels to the refactored codebase also gave me an opportunity to test out the modular character's ragdoll model.

The beta will feature an initial version of blacksmithing, which allows players to repair broken equipment. Since any character will sooner or later break an item, repairing is not bound to a skill but has to be done in a forge. Blacksmithing in mid to late game will largely revolve around optional weapon improvements. The equipment's damage is visible as well.

Since the first beta area features an underground river, I have also reworked swimming & diving. There are still a few aesthetic things I have to fix on that, so I will present this in a future update.

I also spent some time adding more treasure to the game. During the beta test phase, I will implement an updated trading system. The plan is a more comfortable version of Ultima Underworld's trading system - that means a value-based barter system, where trades can be balanced out either by cash or goods (for a modern example of this you could look at "Stalker: Call of Pripyat").

Spoiler

To put a bow on all the refactoring I rebuilt the game's saving and loading system from the ground up, so it nicely fits the new code. Unlike the public Kickstarter demo, the beta version will let players save and load at any time. Technically I already implemented something like that last September (still on the old codebase), but to lower the chance for nasty surprises I redid the whole system. I also exposed some parts of Unreal Engine's level data to Blueprints to make sure that all persistent entities have unique IDs (regular display names may overlap between streaming levels).

All in all, I must say that the refactoring of the game's core classes slowly evolved into an extensive rewrite of most of the code. That should have probably not been done during production, but in the end, I believe it was worth it. Some features still need to be tweaked here and there but I suppose that should happen with the respective beta tester feedback in mind anyway.

Beta Status

The first beta phase will be set in the "Lysandrian Heartlands", the first non-tutorial area of the game. This very early phase should probably be regarded as more of a focus test for the refactored codebase. With regard to our past definition of what the beta will look like you could maybe call this "Beta 0", because you can play a part of the main quest but it can't be finished at the moment. That will be part of future beta updates, which will add more areas.

Together with the trading update, I will introduce the game's main hub (where most traders are located) and then, step by step, all other important areas will follow. Most of these are currently "work in progress" and I will try to get them into the tester's hands as swiftly as possible.

With a full feature set and the first focus test done we can hopefully concentrate on content testing.

Talking of content, I still need to fix some stuff in the upcoming beta area, which is what I am going to do now. You will hear from me around the 17th when I will send out emails including instructions on how to access the beta. For those of you that have not backed the game on a beta tester level, I will write a short update here. Until then!

Best wishes,

Michael

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

You know, I saw that video where they showed you can bake stuff. I would seriously roleplay surviving in that kitchen for however long my supplies would last.

 

[Whisper]

When is beta release?

How much game content is in beta?

 

[Child of Malkav]

Will the system requirements go higher than what they already are at? My PC is 8 years old.

 

[RatTower]

When is beta release?

How much game content is in beta?

I still need a couple of days to polish some stuff and re-introduce game options on the new codebase.
Content-wise the beta will first focus on one of the three major areas of the game (there are some smaller areas as well, so it is not quite a third of the game - also I may still add some stuff as the main quest comes together).

Will the system requirements go higher than what they already are at? My PC is 8 years old.

I'll try to get performance to a point where a gaming laptop from 2015 can run it. Performance fixes will still take a while though.

RatTower, as awesome as destruction physics are, you're not gonna let us break doors with clay pots in the finished product, right? Might need some heavier objects with Str reqs? Otherwise, roleplaying Connie Does Lysandria might play out a little differently...

The damage calculation on throwable objects will still change. Currently, it is scaled by mass, which is not compared to anything the objects hit. That's probably going to happen during the beta.

 

[The Wall]

RatTower How much game units you need to sell on Steam in order to be happy, order monster size pizza, open bottle of wine, break even, buy a new KIA car and secure budget for next game? 100.000 in first year?

 

[RatTower]

RatTower How much game units you need to sell on Steam in order to be happy, order monster size pizza, open bottle of wine, break even, buy a new KIA car and secure budget for next game? 100.000 in first year?

That's a good question because it depends on what you would consider the final costs of development. If you take the Kickstarter money and add a bit for good measure Monomyth would technically break even at around 12k sold units.
I think I could pay myself my old salary at 9k even. Perhaps I could buy an old Skoda Fabia with that :D

 

[The Wall]

Keep putting your mind and soul in Monomyth. Don't give up. It will sell 200-500.000 copies in first year. You read it here first

I hope 1.0 will come out before 31.12.2023.

 

[agris]

The Wall has it right. Don’t worry about consensus, follow your instincts and make something unique. The market will reward you.

 

[Whisper]

Ok, please post here also when beta starts.

Also, have a good feeling about this game, 'Codex should totally support it because it is Incline.

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

As long as it is DRM buyable, I'll snag a copy (preferably NOT on steam).

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3537781

Quick Update: Slight Delay | Beta Details​

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

You are probably wondering where your beta invitation is. Unfortunately, there will be a slight delay of a few days. There are still a couple of things I would like to fix before getting the first test version into the hands of backers. Perhaps a few details about the beta content itself:


Area: The initial test (Beta 0) will focus on roughly 25% of the game's content. The players will venture into the Lysandrian Heartlands - the contested caverns around the fortress.

Quests: There will be multiple quests, each of which can be solved in different ways.

Dialogue: The NPCs in the first area have ~5000 words of dialogue; in total, the game will probably have between 12 and 15k words. For comparison, that is about as much as "Vagrant Story" or "Zelda: A Link to the Past".

Feature Info: Swimming and an early version of blacksmithing are in the game. Fishing will be added soon.

Testmode: All testing will be done through Steam. You will receive a beta test key via mail. This is not the final game key and it will be deactivated once Monomyth releases. You will then receive your regular key.

Codebase: As you probably know, the latest version of the game uses a largely refactored codebase. There are still a few minor aspects that have not been ported to this codebase yet (e.g., sound effects, short animations, etc). These will be reintroduced shortly.

Menus: Beta 0 will have a minimalist menu & intro since these are currently being reworked.

Debugging Tool: I have recently created a user interface for debugging. You can cause quite a bit of chaos with it but I might make it available to beta testers.

The debugging tool can spawn all items/characters in the game and set global variables.

NPCs from different factions fight each other, so if you spawn them all in one place it will cause a violent confrontation.

NPCs also drown when you spawn them underwater.

I am working as fast as possible and I hope everything will be ready by the end of the week.

See you soon!

Michael

 

[Whisper]

Who from 'Codex will get backer demo?

Interesting in impressions when this happens.

 

[Whisper]

So, when is beta?

 

[Infinitron]

So, when is beta?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3545195

Let's try this again: New Beta Date​

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

Just a short update to let you know that everything is now set up for beta phase 0. Last week there were still a couple of problems and the build wasn't ready yet, but now everything is packaged (and uploaded) nicely.

The steam keys for beta testers have been approved as well and I will be sending them out on Friday the 1st of July, (probably around 8 pm CET - don't forget to check your spam folders). You can then immediately download and access the game by activating the key on your steam account.

Please, remember that Beta 0 is still far from perfect. You will likely encounter many bugs and other flaws which will be corrected throughout the next few weeks. Just like in the Kickstarter demo you will be able to report bugs through a form linked within the game's menu.

Despite its current incompleteness, I believe it is now a good time to get the game into the tester's hands and push the project to incorporate as much feedback as possible. On a related note: Around the end of the week I will also send out emails regarding backer-created content.


See you in Lysandria!

Best wishes,

Michael

 

[RatTower]

As for impressions: The first beta phase will be quite a bumpy ride, I can already guarantee that.
I am still pushing for it because it's probably high time to get a proper feedback loop going.

The one portion of this beta phase that needs the most attention from testers is probably the quest structure. The quests' code/scripting is alright (as far as I can see), but there may be situations where dialogue needs to be adapted simply because people solve the quests in unexpected ways. As for the core character features - there are still a couple of things that need to be addressed (especially in AI), but nothing that would stop you from solving the first area.
Most other problems (I know of) are more or less of an aesthetic nature (which tend to look more critical than they actually are - for example, the relocation of NPCs after a dialogue currently happens instantly which has kind of a comedic effect but from a technical perspective its no big deal. I might even fix it by tomorrow if I can get other stuff out of the way first).