Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

KickStarter Monomyth - A first person action RPG/dungeon crawler - now in Beta

FreshCorpse

Arbiter
Patron
Joined
Aug 23, 2016
Messages
692
Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming!
Also worth noting, Arx Fatalis is sub-£1 on GOG right now. I just rebought it as I want to replay but have approximately zero chance of finding and installing my old physical copy.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

FreshCorpse

Arbiter
Patron
Joined
Aug 23, 2016
Messages
692
Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming!
Also worth noting, Arx Fatalis is sub-£1 on GOG right now.
What?! £1 is €1.18 at the current rate, but GOG lists €1.49 for Arx right now. Von der Leyen, that'd better not be my 31 eurocents I find in your purse again!

xYOzu3b.png


Come to the sunlit uplands of the post-Brexit UK. Things are better on the outside, pissing in.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
To be honest one "classic" genre that can benefit from VO is immersive sim, as it strives direct interactions and simulationism as possible, tries integrate as many things as possible into the world instead of abstracted layers.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3278193

3rd Stretch Goal achieved | 6 days to go

Hi dungeon-crawling fans,

The Kickstarter campaign has reached its third stretch goal: Expanded Immersive Simulation

That means more cooking, more instruments, fishing, and further features to increase immersion!



At this point, there are already prototypes of some of these features in the game (albeit, not in the demo). The full implementations - including all mechanics - will follow in early 2022. Until then, the development will focus on the creation of levels and content.

As for fishing, I'd like to add that the mechanics will be slightly more complex than what you may have seen in Monomyth's inspirations. Perhaps you will even catch a rarity here and there.

There are only six more days to go! Once the Kickstarter ends, there will be an "Encore". That means, in case you could not take part in this campaign (for example, due to unavailable payment methods on Kickstarter), you will be able to pledge through different means (e.g., Paypal). I will post the link to the respective page once the campaign has ended.

Let me thank you again for your fantastic support! Without you, this project would not be possible!

More updates to come!

Best wishes,

Michael
 

Gargaune

Magister
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
3,136
Okay, I've finally had time to lay out some feedback. RatTower, before I start crapping bullet points, got two questions that still have me on the fence here:

1) Monomyth seems right up GOG's alley, would backers get that choice and would going through Kickstarter or the Codex make a difference in this regard? I ask because I'm still kinda butthurt over getting Kingdom Come: Deliverance on Steam even though I'd have been happy to wait for the GOG release, and I suspect the same here, even if it'll be a bit more expensive at launch.

2) Please consider prioritising a traditional save system for release. I know you've addressed a query on your KS page that you'll see how you get on, but seeing as you already have a Save & Quit, I assume you've got everything serialised and it's not a massive refactoring job. By all means, design the game around your shrine checkpoints just how you envisioned it, but please throw an option for manual saves on top. You could call it the "Give Me Deus Ex A Participation Award" difficulty setting.


Right, so on to feedback proper. It took me around 2:30hrs to run through the demo, though I know I left a couple of doors unlocked and didn't get to level up. I just meant to install and configure it, but ended up playing the whole thing, I was hooked.

- The UI layout is broken at 1680x1050, some elements exceed the horizontal boundaries left and right, I've identified the following: Rat Tower splash at boot is off-centre, inventory description panel cuts off to the left, "Press Esc to skip" on intro and "Quit to desktop" at the end of the demo both cut off to the right. Screenshots below.

monomyth1.jpg
monomyth2.jpg
monomyth3.jpg
monomyth4.jpg


- With regard to the save system, I've made no bones about how much I hate save limitations and respawn systems. In this demo's case it's not even a source of tension, because instead of savescumming I found I could just spawnscum - it has the minor inconvenience of moving around to pick up your XP, but you lose nothing if you want to "thin the herd" by killing enemies one by one, it's even less challenging than a regular Quickload approach. This doesn't have to affect design, but simply offering an optional, non-default at-will save system would make a huge difference.

- Melee combat balance will need some attention - right now, with Vitality 9, the dagger trivialises all encounters because you can keep slashing and stunlocking enemies faster than your stamina will deplete. After I got the dagger, the only danger I found was facing two enemy archers. Obviously, one option is to rebalance stamina consumption, but more generally you'll want to either remove stagger effects from smaller weapons and/or develop the AI to be able to block effectively.

- Art direction is solid, no gimmicks and it makes good use of the Unreal tech. Objects and the environment look great, but the creatures have a bit of a hopw roweur ne thing going (are the humanoid enemies orcs, are they draugr, it's a mystery) and could use investment in the long run. The only major issue is what others have already pointed out, keys and locks are too big, make you feel like you're Shylo-sized.

- Level design was delightful, I liked that there were all these secrets to be found and how areas connected to one another, but it would be nice to see some more overhangs, crawlspaces and other alternative ways of traversal, like in Thief and Deus Ex, even though it would only be to get a better attack vector, seeing as you still wanna kill enemies for XP.

- The lack of an automap did end up with me circling around quite a bit after I'd cleared most of the enemies, I'd find a key and then randomly try doors I couldn't get through. I think an accessible middleground would be to label the doors that need special keys.

- Being able to look around while on ladders would be very useful.

- Turning up the volume on enemy footsteps would better facilitate stealth gameplay, Thief-style.

- View bob on movement wasn't as bad as I expected from the preview videos, didn't turn my stomach, but it's worth including a toggle to turn it off, the strafing tilt is particularly trippy.

- Increase the mass on chandeliers, I keep knocking them over at the lightest bump.

- In the keys configuration page, mouse inputs didn't fit in the slots, you could expand the panel with a scrollbar to make elements larger and also contract some input names (e.g. Middle Mouse Button to MMB or Mouse Wheel Up to Scroll Up).

- Minor bug with the looting interface, some containers, like closets, close with Tab per the tooltip, while others only close with Esc (e.g sacks, chests). Also, the Middle Mouse Button tooltip overruns its UI button here too.

- The instinct effect with the red corners on-screen is a little confusing at first, I wasn't sure whether it was telling me there was a secret door there (I knew there was, but I still haven't figured out how to open it) or if I was taking a status effect penalty. Maybe go to a blue/white graphic.

- When holding objects, they should be a little farther away from the player. For example, if you pick up a bottle from a table, you can't actually put it back onto the table. This interferes with stacking boxes a bit too. On that note, it would be nice if we could mantle stacked objects instead of having to jump onto them, but it's not worth spending too much development effort on it.

- For the full release, some options for UI fade and scaling would be a nice touch.

- Spotted two typos/grammatical errors in the dialogue with Shylo: should be "please spare my LIFE" and "if I WERE you." The letters I only read diagonally, but didn't pick up on anything at first glance, they were flowing fine.

- Speaking of Shylo, I also might've rushed him if I hadn't already been aware of the white rat from this thread. Setting up a force greeting might help, but only for melee characters, anyone working ranged will still gank 'im. In that respect, a better solution might be to implement colour coding for the crosshairs, like red for enemies, green for friendlies.

Overall, this vertical slice made for a very positive first impression - promising presentation, engaging level design and comfortable inputs. There's work to be done, but the potential here is obvious and it's still shocking that it's a one man job. I'll probably have to go back for a second helping when I have time to try out bows and spellcasting.
 

Thal

Augur
Joined
Apr 4, 2015
Messages
413
- Melee combat balance will need some attention - right now, with Vitality 9, the dagger trivialises all encounters because you can keep slashing and stunlocking enemies faster than your stamina will deplete. After I got the dagger, the only danger I found was facing two enemy archers. Obviously, one option is to rebalance stamina consumption, but more generally you'll want to either remove stagger effects from smaller weapons and/or develop the AI to be able to block effectively.

I second this point and would like to extend it too all melee combat. Melee combat might even be single most important feature for the success of the game, since it's the one thing that most players, reviewers, streamers, etc will prioritise and experience first.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3284380

4 hours remain | 1000+ Supporters

Hi dungeon-crawling fans,

Only four hours remain in this Kickstarter and I think it is pretty safe to say that the result will be very satisfying!

Monomyth now has over a thousand (!) supporters on Kickstarter! This is incredible and way more than I would have ever expected.

Thank you again for your great support and for spreading the word! None of this would be possible without you!

From now on, until the end of the year, I will fully concentrate on content creation. There are a lot of fun level designs in the works and many entertaining features to create content for. For example, the "Levitation Disk", which is a high-level spell and just as dangerous as it looks (especially for the person standing on it).

Or "Summon Wall" which can be used to strategically block important paths:

These and many, many more are waiting for you in the full version (or closed beta) of Monomyth, coming in 2022.

Also, the magazine "Gamestar" wrote a short article on Monomyth (german), which I appreciated a lot!

Further, there is a little interview over on RPG Watch. In it, I talk a bit about Monomyth's world, the gameplay, and the future.

Thanks again & best wishes,

Michael
 

cyborgboy95

News Cyborg
Joined
Aug 24, 2019
Messages
2,735
https://www.rpgwatch.com/articles/monomyth-interview-512.html

Monomyth Interview

Monomyth is a game that is in its last hour on kickstarter. To check out what the game is about, Farflame reached out to Rat Tower Software to learn a bit more about the game.
RPGWatch: Could you briefly compare the world of Monomyth with common fantasy worlds? For example, are there some of the usual fantasy races present? (and will they appear in the game?) Is it low / high fantasy? Do avatars of gods roam the realm?

Rat Tower: Monomyth is set in the world of Ariath. Unlike most fantasy worlds, Ariath is in the process of drawing its last, long-winded breath - at least, from a cosmological perspective. From a human perspective, there is still plenty of time to conquer a broken world that is slowly becoming more and more hostile to its inhabitants. The everlasting storms and ash rain make life on the surface very difficult. This forces people to live underground in isolated fortresses. Many of these fortresses form their own cultures and languages, even though they are just a few miles apart. Some fortresses are better connected than others - for example via extensive systems of caves and tunnels. This naturally makes them better equipped to deal with the dangers that lurk in the underground as well as on the surface - at least as long as they stick together. Conflict and intrigue are fairly common between allied fortresses and some have been wiped out for good as a result.

Demi-humans, are a rarity and often (voluntarily) live in separation. Due to historical reasons, their relationship with humans is quite strained. Nevertheless, some of them - most prominently the dwarvish varieties - act as mediators and messengers between human factions. You will encounter at least one of these individuals in Monomyth.

The gods play a major role in the world of Ariath. Just like languages and cultures, distinct religious sects form in almost every fortress. There are plenty of legends and rumors about deities revealing themselves to mortals or even speaking directly through them. It is a matter of speculation how much of this is true though.


RPGWatch: Is there some place with more NPCs? Or do you mostly go through deserted locations with few NPCs?

Rat Tower: Monomyth is set in the fortress of Lysandria, respectively in the underworld beneath it. The inner fortress will be inhabited by several NPCs, who will talk and trade with you, as long as you do not attack or threaten them. In the underworld, you will have a significantly harder time finding a civilized conversational partner. There are some non-hostile NPCs roaming the area - predominantly other adventurers. Not all of these individuals are trustworthy though.


RPGWatch: You mention "keyword-based conversations coupled with dialogue trees" in your KS page. What does it mean? Should we expect dialogue trees for main topics + an option to ask NPCs for other topics (words) that you need to manually type?

Rat Tower: There won’t be any manual typing but you will be able to question NPCs on different topics you heard about in the game world. These topics are represented through keywords you collect from conversations or documents.

In a similar way, you can ask an NPC about more specific things they just mentioned during the conversation. Asking an NPC about a certain thing may present you with a short bit of information or a full, branching dialogue tree.


RPGWatch: There are 8 atributes - Strength, Dexterity, Inteligence, Wisdom, Willpower, Vitality, Endurance and Focus, right? What does Focus do and what is the difference between Vitality and Endurance? Are attributes logically connected to skills? For example that Dexterity influences Lockpicking and so on.

Rat Tower: Focus determines the amount of mana and spellslots available to the player. The more spellslots you have, the more spells you will be able to memorize and use.

Vitality determines the player characters’ health and endurance determines their stamina.

Most attributes have an effect on different activities in the game. To stick with your example, dexterity does influence lockpicking. However, it merely represents a natural talent. To really pick all locks you encounter you have to train the respective skill, which then acts as a significant modifier on your natural talent.


RPGwatch: The combat system in Ultima Underworld was basically about stepping back/forth and striking fast or hard. Is it more complex in Monomyth? Do you need to block more or do enemies have some weak spots or something?

Rat Tower: A lot of the combat in Monomyth revolves around proper Stamina-management. Every attack uses up stamina. Once your stamina is depleted, your damage output will be significantly reduced and you can no longer dodge. Also, blocking or parrying attacks - which is done manually - will fail in this state and make you stagger for a moment. This will, of course, open you up for further attacks

Every melee weapon is more or less fit for one of three attack types (stabbing, bludgeoning, slashing). A weapon’s type corresponds to one of four weapon skills (Swords, Maces, Fencing Weapons, and Archery). All weapons have different range and weight values.

Contrary to many other RPGs only strength and dexterity act as requirements to carry a weapon efficiently. In the current demo, only strength is a hard requirement, whereas lacking dexterity merely penalizes damage output.


RPGWatch: There were few traps in Ultima Underworld and its not much better in some CRPGs. Should we expect more traps here and more complex or diverse?

Rat Tower: Yes. Monomyth will feature many different types of traps. In the demo you only saw the pressure plates triggering fireballs. The full game, however, will feature many more - from trapdoors to Kings Field's infamous swinging blades.


RPGWatch: What does "light and sound-based stealth system" mean? That each type of surface in Monomyth has some "noise value" if you walk on it? Do armors have noise value too (leather is more silent than plate armor)?

Rat Tower: In Monomyth a character’s visibility is dependent on surrounding light sources. You can douse torches to hide in the shadows but you will still be audible. Stepping on a marble floor or wading through water is significantly louder than sneaking over regular stone tiles. Enemies will pick up on this.

Your armor has a weight value that essentially determines how noisy you are. This can be slightly suppressed via the stealth skill


RPGWatch: How does magic work? Do you basically need to find magic scroll and if you have enough Intelligence, you can learn that spell?

Rat Tower: Magic spells are recorded on scrolls. These scrolls can be found throughout the world. Every spell corresponds to one of three schools of magic. There is the cosmic school, which largely focuses on harmful conjurations. The school of divine magic provides healing and the school of aura magic mostly provides support spells.

There is also the Arcane Connection skill which influences the potency of a spell. This can take many forms, ranging from increased damage output to longer spell durations and more efficient summonings.


RPGWatch: Do you always need to find an altair to upgrade your attributes and skills?

Rat Tower: There will be certain items that will permanently boost your attributes. For skills, you will have to visit an altair.


RPGWatch: One of the memorable moments of Ultima Underworld was the conversation with lizardmen where you needed to learn their language. Is there something similar in Monomyth?

Rat Tower: I don’t want to spoil anything in this regard yet, but Ariath’s setting is a good fit for something like this.


RPGWatch: The story mentions strong storms in the world above. I wonder if you plan to take advantage of that and use a storm as an obstacle. For example if these storms break the roof somewhere in the fortress, or you could create hazardous "windy section" as an obstacle or part of a puzzle.

Rat Tower: Most of the game is set underground, so at the moment the storms play a subordinate role in the game’s challenges. Perhaps in a future update.


RPGWatch: What do you think about grid-based dungeons? Do you think that an RPG dungeon like Monomyth with "normal" 3D movement is something that is missing now?

Definitely. That's actually the reason why I am making Monomyth. I am still having a lot of fun with Legend of Grimrock or Eye of the Beholder, but something like Ultima Underworld simply doesn’t exist in the current video game landscape. There have been some attempts to make something similar, but they either fell short in some regard or they changed focus during development.

This is surprising because we still see games that are at least influenced by Ultima Underworld’s legacy. I want to make a game that is more committed to the core ideas of that legacy.


RPGWatch: Would you like to create Monomyth 2 in the future or do you have other dream project that you would like to do?

Of course, I would love to develop Monomyth into a series. There is plenty of material both from a narrative and a mechanic perspective. As for the latter, I am always strongly concerned about feature creep so a lot of ideas land on the list of unrealized gameplay mechanics. That list alone could probably provide diverse feature sets for several sequels.

I also have a few other project ideas, ranging from different settings to even more involved simulation mechanics. I might want to try these things out in the future, but we will have to see.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Last edited:

LudensCogitet

Learned
Joined
Nov 4, 2019
Messages
210
Rattower's stoic rejection of scope creep gives me hope. Specifically the fact that the encore _will not unlock new stretch goals_. Well done. Looking forward to how this all comes together.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3289629

Inner Sanctum Access Reward | Reworked Save System

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

If you backed the project at the "Lysandrian Guard" level or higher, you should have received an e-mail with instructions to claim your access to the "Inner Sanctum" Discord channel.

This channel will contain frequent updates on the development status of the game, news on the closed beta build, general coordination between high-tier backers, and more.

In case you haven't received your e-mail, please do not hesitate to contact me (contact@rattower.com). Please also check your spam folder.

The last three days I spent implementing free saving/loading, a much-requested feature during the Kickstarter. In future versions of Monomyth, you will be able to save and load freely at any point in the game. I decided to implement this feature because Monomyth, much like its inspirations, is a game that invites players to experiment with spells, items, and NPCs. Permanent consequences may prove counter-intuitive in this regard. The shrines that were originally used for saving are still intact with all their functionality, however, they save in the autosave slot.

As a side note: Today starts the content/level creation phase, so from now on, no new features will be implemented until the end of the year, unless they are directly related to level design or improvements/fixes of existing features.

Thank you all again for your great support!

Best wishes,

Michael
 

JDR13

Arcane
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Messages
3,930
Location
The Swamp
I like the news about the new save system. What I would like even more is the option to turn off respawning at the shrines.
 

The Wall

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck Zionist Agent
Joined
Jul 19, 2017
Messages
3,023
Location
SERPGIA
Once again, modern gamer strikes! and kills creativity in its infancy. Instead of being either reworked or at least keeping it as optional, saving system that gives players any sense of challenge is always destined to be shat on by modern gamers with their teeth rotten from CocaCola, their eyes bleeding from staring at screen all day, and their brains destroyed. Such was fate of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Stoneshard and countless other saving systems that tried to do something new, exciting and interesting

But modern gamers want only one thing: low effort digital blowjobs to their ego by the game. You all suck, have a nice day
 

The Wall

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck Zionist Agent
Joined
Jul 19, 2017
Messages
3,023
Location
SERPGIA
I said: provide options. I said: keep original saving system as hardcore mode. I said: throw normie dogs a bone [WIN-WIN]

Not everyone is no life loser
HoboForEternity said this :D

I have one degree, working on my second degree (law), 3 bitches addicted to my horsecock (thread on Codex for me to upload evidence? seriously asking), father's construction company which I operate as second-in-command, Library of Alexandria amount of books to read and YET I want some challenge in my games. That's my sort of fun. Don't shit on my fun, I won't on yours. Understood, Fat Tropical Nigger?
 

LudensCogitet

Learned
Joined
Nov 4, 2019
Messages
210
I said: provide options. I said: keep original saving system as hardcore mode. I said: throw normie dogs a bone [WIN-WIN]

Not everyone is no life loser
HoboForEternity said this :D

I have one degree, working on my second degree (law), 3 bitches addicted to my horsecock (thread on Codex for me to upload evidence? seriously asking), father's construction company which I operate as second-in-command, Library of Alexandria amount of books to read and YET I want some challenge in my games. That's my sort of fun. Don't shit on my fun, I won't on yours. Understood, Fat Tropical Nigger?

Why isn't anyone making games for the super genius big dick ultra chad business owners anymore?
 

fork

Guest
Once again, modern gamer strikes! and kills creativity in its infancy. Instead of being either reworked or at least keeping it as optional, saving system that gives players any sense of challenge is always destined to be shat on by modern gamers with their teeth rotten from CocaCola, their eyes bleeding from staring at screen all day, and their brains destroyed. Such was fate of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Stoneshard and countless other saving systems that tried to do something new, exciting and interesting

But modern gamers want only one thing: low effort digital blowjobs to their ego by the game. You all suck, have a nice day

It's not the gamers, it's the dev who changed it for the crying cretins. He lost a sale right there.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom