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

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3796560

Quick Update: Beta 3 is now live!​

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

Beta patch 3 is now online! Steam should automatically update your game. Technically you should be able to reuse your old characters but I wouldn't recommend it.

You can immediately test the new area by opening the debug tool (K) and selecting "Lava Cave" in the "Area Focus Testing" menu. Your character will be set to level 15 and you will have to redistribute your attribute and skill points at the nearest shrine.

There are still a few remaining issues in this area (some sound effects don't work correctly yet, I have also deactivated a few spells that can already be picked up, etc), but all in all, you should be able to finish it without any bigger problems.

If you have any performance issues open the character menu (TAB), go to Systems -> Video Settings, and lower the Shadow Quality. That should resolve those problems for the moment.

I will begin with the development of beta patch 4 next week. Once that is done development focus will shift to polishing.

Happy testing and best wishes,

Michael

 

[SophosTheWise]

Damnit, should've supported it on Kickstarter, but then again, I was broke at the time

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3812723

State of the Game: Video Devlog 4.0 | Beta Patch 3.1​

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

It's time for another update! This month I am in the middle of creating Beta Patch 4. While doing so I decided to release a small interim patch to fix some of the issues of Beta 3 and introduce the new trading system. As always you can find the video devlog and its transcript below:


See you soon and best wishes,

Michael


----------------------------------

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

It is time for another update on Monomyth! As you know last month Beta 3 started. Since then I have been working on Beta 4 and implemented numerous improvements as well as a new trading system. These newly implemented features will be added shortly in a small interim patch. So let’s go through all these things in detail.

First, let’s take a look at a few more general things that I have fixed throughout the last few weeks. I finally found the time to reimplement weapon load-outs on the new codebase, as they were present in the original Kickstarter demo. Now your character can wear two different sets of weapons and quickly switch between the two in a combat situation. Alternatively, you can also use this to quickly stow away torches, so you are not seen by enemies.

In terms of level design, I added shortcuts between different areas as well as fast traveling from designated points in the game. You have seen these fast travel points before, except now that all areas are in the game they are active and usable. Together with the shortcuts, these changes make the world feel significantly more interconnected and backtracking becomes less of a problem.

Of course, I have also worked on the game’s main hub. This will be the main area of Beta Update 4. Players will find most traders in this hub as well as an anchor point for the game’s main quest. Concerning quests I have added another small fix: Instead of having quest items clutter up the player’s inventory, the latest version of the game now features a dedicated quest inventory. This was another small feature I finally had time to transfer from the old codebase. However, in this version of the game, any item type can be a quest item. In the original demo, this flag was technically limited to regular combinatory items, meaning no consumables, weapons, or anything with specific functionality. The quest inventory itself works much like an item bar you would see in a point-and-click adventure game. It isn’t limited in size and you can just pull items from it to combine them within the game world. This works very well together with the menu-world interactions I implemented a couple of months ago.

But now let’s come to this month’s main feature. As I mentioned during the last update the latest version of Monomyth will feature an entirely new trading system. The system from the demo has been completely replaced by a barter trading system that is similar to that of Ultima Underworld.

The system itself is relatively simple. Go up to an NPC and open the trading menu. The menu consists of four windows two of which are your and the NPC’s inventory. In the middle, you will find the offer windows. Just pull the items you wish to buy from an NPC into their offer window and do the same with items you wish to get rid of on the player’s side. Do this until the total values of the two offers match. You can also make a monetary offer to balance out value differences.

Characters with the “Speech” skill can try to haggle. Simply make a slightly undervalued offer and click consider. The little output window on the left will tell you whether or not this is a feasible deal and if your character has a chance to make it work. There is a little bit of luck involved in this as well since concluding such a trade will automatically do a skill check. If your character fails this check the trading attempt will fail as well. If you do this too often, the NPC will temporarily refuse to trade with you.

Along with this system, I also made a few changes to basic inventory management. A small feature that was long overdue was proper stack management. Up until now, it was never really necessary to handle specific amounts of items, however, with the trading system this was finally implemented. I think, for the moment, this should cover all the typical features you’d expect from a drag-and-drop inventory system.

As I mentioned in the beginning I added all these features in a small interim patch which will release shortly. After that, I will continue with Beta 4’s content, which will mostly cover the game’s main quest. Once that is done, I will need to polish a few things and the game will finally be ready for the Open Backer Beta.

I am not entirely sure about the mode of that beta yet. I could imagine repeating all area focus tests from the closed beta, except with a significantly shorter iteration time. This would mean you would get to test the game step by step, area by area, with a new area opening, for example, every two weeks. This could have the advantage that tests would be more thorough. People could take their time and really explore the details of each area. Alternatively, I could also just open the latest closed beta with all areas available. I am not yet sure how I will go about this but I guess we will see throughout the coming weeks.

Either way, stay tuned for more updates, and see you soon!

 

[Gargaune]

 

[Jenkem]

release the game into early access you nonce

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3851351

State of the Game: Video Devlog 5.0 | The Inner Fortress​

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

The latest video devlog is finally ready! This month we are taking a look at the last beta area and we will be listening to a short snippet of the combat music. If you keep your eyes peeled, you can even catch a glimpse of the game's crime system and its (currently minimal) implementation. But we will get to that in another update. Please, enjoy:

As always you will find the transcript below!

Best wishes,

Michael

--------------------------------

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

The development of Monomyth is steadily progressing! I am still working on beta patch 4, which should be ready within the next few weeks. As I told you last time, I already added a bit of beta 4’s content in a small interim patch, most importantly the new trading system. So let’s take a look at what happened since then.

I spent a good amount of time on getting the game’s main hub done. The inner fortress of Lysandria will serve as a base for your dungeon-crawling adventures below. It will be filled with shops, taverns, regular dwellings, slums and places of worship. Guards patrol the streets, NPCs populate every corner - it’s a real little underground city. You can get a drink or you can get your armor fixed. I even thought about arena fighting in the lower city tavern, but I am afraid that’s currently beyond the scope of the project. All in all, I had more ideas than I could realize and in the interest of time, I cut things down to a manageable size here and there.

The geometry of the place is basically done, as well as detail passes for most dwellings. I try to integrate some optional secrets and challenges here and there. For example, you are not supposed to enter any of the high city dwellings. These are guarded and off-limits for outsiders, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try going there. Just watch out for the guards.

It’s details like this that make a regular hub to replenish your resources, into an actual immersive game environment and I am trying to focus on that as well.

Of course, there will also be quests, it’s a social hub after all. Consequently, you will see some opportunities to use your social skills. Particularly the speech skill, which also comes in handy while trading with NPCs. The inner fortress of Lysandria is populated by a variety of characters, each with their own problems. Since you are an outsider their trust is hard to earn, but the rewards will help you in your search for your brother and the divine gift.

Naturally, the inner fortress will also play a significant role in the game’s main quest. I implemented about two-thirds of the main quest’s logic by now. It still lacks a few steps, which I hope to finish in time for the open backer beta. Generally speaking, it will be playable right up until the last chapter, which will be added together with backer contents.

Besides working on the new area, I also worked a bit on AI. More specifically, I made sure that combat notifications work properly. On a technical level, this only means that the player logic is properly notified if it is recognized by a hostile character’s perception system. In practical terms, this means I could finally add some combat music plus victory and death jingles.

In the next few weeks, I will probably make some changes to the regular environment music as well. This will be part of a bigger polishing phase after beta patch 4.

Additionally, I started working on basic voiceovers. Of course, there won’t be fully voiced dialogues in Monomyth. That would be way too expensive. However, you will see, or rather hear, voice cues for greetings, trading, idling NPCs, perhaps combat taunts, and so on. I have instructed a few voice actors to speak some lines for the game and if they are used sparingly enough it will give some more distinctive character to the game’s NPCs. Generally, we are now entering a phase of development, where I can focus on giving things a little more edge so the game stands out more. I hope I can also improve a few things in terms of aesthetics.

So anyway, what’s still to do concerning beta patch 4 and where do we go directly after that? As I said, the area is mostly done, but there is still some work to do in terms of characters. I still have some writing tasks open as well as quest logic related to that. Apart from that the new area still requires proper item distribution and it needs a few shortcuts, for example, to another part of the game. The inner fortress is already properly connected to the fast-travel system, which makes it easier to return and stock up on items.

Once all of these things are done, the patch will be uploaded to the beta branch and beta testers will be able to play it shortly afterwards. With that, we will finally enter the polishing phase. I have a handful of topics I want to go through during that phase but most importantly there will be a quick rework of the first two areas, performance improvements, a combat update concerning mechanics and animation, and an encounter update concerning enemies and challenges in general. I believe I will release these improvements in a series of small patches with a significantly faster iteration time than the current beta patches.

Once polishing is done we will quickly start into the open backer beta and see what kind of bugs you guys can still find. After fixing those I will try to get the game ready for the general audience as soon as possible.

So anyway, lots of work done, still lots of work to do. I will get back to it and keep you updated! See you soon!

 

[sosmoflux]

Surely I'm not the only one starting to get a bit worried
Towns? Shops? Stealthing against NPC home owners etc?
Isn't this all biting off quite a lot, without serving the core game conceit which was: king's field dungeon diving x arx fatalis lite?

 

[Fargus]

I never played Cringe Field so i don't care. Arx Fatalis is one of my favorite games though so I don't see the problem, except maybe dev biting more than he could chew. But another game like Arx Fatalis must exist and not a castrated version of it with just mindless dungeon diving. As long as dev is confident he can pull it off.

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

Surely I'm not the only one starting to get a bit worried
Towns? Shops? Stealthing against NPC home owners etc?
Isn't this all biting off quite a lot, without serving the core game conceit which was: king's field dungeon diving x arx fatalis lite?

I am not worried about his ability, however the practical matter of pulling off something so large with so little resources makes me skeptical it can be done in any short time frame (< 10 years).

The e38k raised by KS I imagine would fund the project for one year. I don't like KS for many reasons, but most of all they take a large cut (10%). Then he will have to potentially pay corp tax (24%), insurance, pension etc etc on that. Optimistically, this will mean about 20k finds its way into his bank account.

In an expensive country plus paying contractors, that will not go far at all. He will have to be doing this part time whilst working, in other words, which would slow down development.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I’m worried rats have mining and construction equipment.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3851538

State of the Game: Video Devlog 6.0 | Performance Improvements​

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

It's time for another project update! This month's video is a little more technical since we are talking about performance improvements. There have been a few problems with the audio recording at the beginning - sorry for that! Anyway, please, enjoy:

As always you can find the transcript below.

Best wishes,

Michael

-------------------------

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!


Another month, another update! There has been a lot of progress during the last few weeks, especially in terms of performance. As such this update will be a little more technical and I hope you don’t mind. I think it is worth documenting a few of these things and letting you get an impression of what the current workload looks like. Basically, I decided to pull some tasks from the polishing phase into beta update 4. Next time we will get back to level design, game systems, and similar. So let’s take a look at it.

The current problem with performance could be described as the legacy of prototyping. It’s not uncommon in this phase of development. Basically, I am trying to bring the environments into their final shape while cleaning up unnecessary and inefficient structures.

The main focus here is on draw calls and lightmap memory.

For draw calls, you need to understand that for every frame that’s shown on your screen, every visible element has to be “drawn” by the engine, or rather your hardware. More precisely, what is drawn is a so-called material - a material is simply a surface, consisting of different texture maps and shader functions.

So for example, if there is a mesh - a 3D object - with both a rocky and a metallic surface, split into two materials - that’s one object with two draw calls.

For lightmaps, you need to understand that a lot of lighting is statically baked into the environment. The result of this process is called a lightmap, that stores the lighting information that is applied to static surfaces. The more statically lit surfaces you have in a level the bigger that lightmap becomes. And the bigger that lightmap becomes, the more memory the level eats, the longer it needs to load, and so on.

So much for the basics. There are a few little oddities here and there but I’ll skip those for the sake of simplicity.

So why are lightmaps and draw calls an issue? If you have read some of my older project updates, you know that Monomyth’s level design is very strongly driven by modular pieces. This is nothing exactly novel. If you have ever opened Bethesda’s Creation Kit you are probably familiar with this technique. Basically, every part of a dungeon, like a wall, a door, a corner, and so on, is like a small building block you put together on a grid system - which is also very intuitive if you plan your levels on graph paper or in software that allows a similar approach.

So, Monomyth basically does the same thing, however, most building blocks are themselves constructed from smaller building blocks and unified in a so-called blueprint object, which, in this case, is simply a collection of different static meshes.

So far so good, however, those minor building blocks all require an individual series of draw calls. And here the problems start.

Now if you, let us say, construct a hallway, you take a simple plane for the floor and the ceiling and two walls - which are actually separator walls, but I will come back to that later. So those are four different minor building blocks unified in a blueprint object.

This has the advantage that you can very easily create a lot of different modular parts by re-using all kinds of building blocks, however, it also means - in the case of our hallway - at least four times the draw calls of what is necessary. So once you enter the polishing phase and you know how things are laid out, this is a primary target for performance optimization.

You need to merge those four meshes into one and replace the respective blueprint objects. Luckily Unreal Engine provides an actor merging tool and replacement mechanisms that can do all of that relatively quickly. It takes a while but it’s manageable and the results are pretty satisfying.

Now another way of optimization here is not only merging the meshes, but also merging the materials. I won’t go into much detail here, but a very simple and effective way to do this for static environments is vertex painting. Essentially, what you are doing here is applying a mask to the mesh, that tells the material on which surfaces to display which textures and how strongly to blend the two.

And now instead of having two draw calls for let’s say a ground material and a wall material, you only have one material including ground and wall textures, and as such one draw call. And that is quite significant because that’s at least half the draw calls for an object. You can expand on this technique by using RGB and alpha channels for vertex painting as well, giving you access to four different surfaces in a single material. So optimizing your materials and meshes in this way is like a gold mine in terms of draw call improvements.

Now, the other problem, the lightmap sizes, can largely be solved hand in hand with the aforementioned problem. I mentioned separator walls before: Most minor building blocks were built to be used on the edges of the grid system. So for example, most walls were not just one-sided objects, but actual two sides walls. This is great for prototyping, but not so great for performance. You have an easy time blocking out environments fast, but a lot of the walls’ surfaces will end up facing out-of-bounds areas.

That’s a waste of lightmap space. So not only would I replace multiple meshes with singular merged meshes, but I would also, wherever possible, remove these two-sided walls. Depending on the level this brings down the lightmap size significantly.

So far I have done this whole optimization procedure for the Heartlands and the results are showing. The average draw calls now sit at a convenient 2000 per frame, which is, if I remember correctly, roughly in line with what’s recommended in Unreal Engine’s documentation. I still need to optimize the later areas in the game but with the new meshes, a lot of work has already been done in this regard.

I also tested these new, optimized meshes by creating a few mini-dungeons. One of these was expanded into a new tutorial section, which will also be included as a starting area in the next patch.

This change went hand in hand with a minor restructuring of the general area progression that I wanted to do for a while. The demo area you know was moved to a later point in the game.

Besides these changes in level design and performance, I also made sure that most of the character voices are done by now. One thing that should maybe be highlighted here are the wastelander voices. These guys now have their own language, including a legitimate vocabulary, which can be, if you are attentive enough, translated throughout the game.

Some new music is also in the works and should be done before the next patch.

Originally I thought that Beta Update 4 would be a little smaller, since it’s technically just the main hub and the main quest, but I think that preponing some performance polishing tasks was a good idea, because it makes the beta testers' job easier as well. Otherwise, I would have started this process directly after Beta Update 4 so practically no harm done timewise. Performance polishing should actually happen continuously, so the sooner and more often the better.

Anyway, I’ll go back to finalizing this patch now. It shouldn’t take long anymore. Out of all patches, I’m probably the most excited about this one so far, because the full experience is now coming together really well and certain new elements, like the voices and combat music, really help immersing yourself in the setting.

So, I’ll keep you updated and see you soon!

 

[Gargaune]

A nice little primer on modern performance optimisations. I'm getting fuzzy on the roadmap, though, are we expecting a full Gold release by Christmas?

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

And is Monomyth learning from Baldur's Gate 3's massive success? Will the skeletons in the tunnels try to seduce your character? Will there be bears?

 

[mediocrepoet]

A nice little primer on modern performance optimisations. I'm getting fuzzy on the roadmap, though, are we expecting a full Gold release by Christmas?

Yes. Of some year.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3907702

State of the Game: Video Devlog 7.0 | Beta Patch 4​

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

The new video devlog is here! Sorry for the delay!


In this update, I would also like to draw your attention to a promising little Kickstarter project that is launching its campaign shortly:

Sorceress: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wabba/sorceress

As always you can find the video transcript below.

Best wishes,

Michael

---------------------

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

It's finally time for a new update on Monomyth. This one took a little longer because I wanted to make sure that the latest patch was in a proper state before moving on. Before we look at Beta Patch 4 however, I would like to draw your attention to a little project that is launching its Kickstarter very soon.

Sorceress is an immersive, magic-focused, first-person action game that strongly draws inspiration from classic titles like Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. I had this game on my radar for a while now and I thought you might be interested in it as well. So if you like first-person melee combat, emergent gameplay, and nicely stylized environments you can find the link to the Kickstarter page in the description.

With the latest patch, we are finally entering Beta 4, one of the last development stages of the project. This patch contains the last bit of main content that will be available in the first public version of the game. It also knits together the different areas in a cohesive main quest and gives the players a hub to return to during their adventures in the underground. So let’s take a detailed look at the content added in this patch.

We already talked about the main hub in the last update. The inner fortress of Lysandria serves as sort of a base camp for the player but it also contains a few quests on its own. To have a little more space for these quests I attached a few separate areas to the hub, which are themselves again connected with other parts of the underground. This provides different entry points and makes the world even more interconnected.

During the last update, I also mentioned a few mini-dungeons I made while testing a new set of modular geometry assets. I expanded one of these mini-dungeons into a new tutorial area. This tutorial area is now done and fully integrated into the game.

Additionally, I integrated the other mini dungeons. I polished these up and scattered them throughout the game’s world. The mini-dungeons are very traditional in terms of design. That means a lot of swing blades, moving spikes, fire traps, and puzzles. They were a lot of fun to make and they are probably the areas that are closest to King’s Field in terms of level mechanics.

As I already mentioned, the main quest is now also done. There is no separation in chapters since you can tackle the quest in a very freeform way, but to give you a rough overview it consists of about four major parts. Some of these parts are integrated with the general progression throughout the world, whereas others rely on you exploring different parts of the underground on your own.

A fifth and final part of the main quest will be added during an early access phase together with the very last area. These will be more separate from the rest of the game.

So, how are we going to continue from here on out? Beta Patch 4 is now done and it will be on Steam’s beta branch shortly. I am still playtesting the whole game, which is already going hand in hand with what’s to follow.

For the next few updates, I will concentrate on polishing and reworking different aspects of the game.

The polishing phase can be roughly separated into mechanics and visuals.

First and foremost I will concentrate on combat as well as enemy mechanics. My goal is to generally make the game feel more smooth in its moment-to-moment interactions. This also overlaps with combat animations, as well as sound and visual effects.

I am also planning to rework a few of the art assets. I will try to give some of the areas a more distinct visual identity and further improve performance.

With all major areas integrated, the game urgently requires some rebalancing. The item progression has to be adapted, especially that of equipment. This of course also overlaps with encounter design, because ultimately, the usefulness of equipment is linked to the damage output of enemies. Correspondingly, your damage output is linked to defense values and the health of enemies. All of the involved numbers should ideally grow in a nice curve, so the rebalancing process will probably require another big table and a lot of careful planning. That and testing, testing, and more testing.

Speaking of which, once the game is properly cleaned up, we will finally start the Open Backer Beta. At that point, Kickstarter backers will finallybe able to retrieve their key and test the game. During that beta phase, there will probably be several smaller patches, but I will try my best to keep your save files intact.

I will inform you in time on how to retrieve your keys. After the Open Backer Beta, the game will enter an Early Access phase. As I mentioned before, during this phase backer content as well as the last part of the main quest will be added.

So it’s still a good amount of work, but we are steadily progressing towards release. I am confident that we will soon be able to talk about the concluding steps in this project and likewise, you will hold the game’s key in your hands in a not-too-distant future. Until then I will keep you updated and see you soon!

 

[garren]

Those moving forcefields that fill the whole pathway kinda remind me of gelatinous cubes. Not really referring to Monomyth here but it would be so cool if a game did that sometimes, a huge gelatinous cube slowly moving in the pathways like a force of nature, maybe only killable in a special way, so you'd have to just avoid it, if you get close it would try to suck you in. Has any game done something like that? (though I guess Arx did have the worm which filled the tunnel so you had to run away, kinda the same idea)

 

[VonHoffenHeimer]

nice artwork

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Gelatinous cubes are one of the two best D&D/AD&D monsters.

Spoiler

The other being owlbears.

 

[Ivan]

Gelatinous cube

 

[The Wall]

RatTower How's your game going on? What programming language and Engine are you using?

 

[RatTower]

RatTower How's your game going on? What programming language and Engine are you using?

I am using UE4. Right now I am preparing the upload of Beta Patch 4, after which I will finally be able to concentrate on polishing.
I still have to do a playthrough of the new regions, then rebuild the lighting and whatnot.

A nice little primer on modern performance optimisations. I'm getting fuzzy on the roadmap, though, are we expecting a full Gold release by Christmas?

I'll try to get to the Open Backer Beta as soon as possible, though it greatly depends on polishing. Especially item rebalancing, mechanics and some visual/performance improvements are required. Still a good amount of work.

 

[Gargaune]

I'll try to get to the Open Backer Beta as soon as possible, though it greatly depends on polishing. Especially item rebalancing, mechanics and some visual/performance improvements are required. Still a good amount of work.

With beta in the final stretch, is this a good time to ask whether you've considered distribution off Steam? Floated the idea way back, I'd be perfectly happy to wait until after EA if it meant I could get my key on GOG. I'm trying to slowly crawl out of Gabe's pocket going forward.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/836367155/monomyth/posts/3930321

Quick Update: Beta 4 is now live!​

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

The fourth closed beta update is now online. Steam will automatically update your game. I have added a few options to the debug tool's area tab. You can immediately teleport to all new zones, however, it should be possible to play the game from start to finish without that.

As a side note: I have removed some of the NPCs from the Cathedral of the Seventh Oath. These will come back later in a small patch.

Now starts a phase of thorough polishing and rebalancing. As always, I'll keep you updated!

Best wishes,

Michael

 

[Child of Malkav]

RatTower Well at least you're making progress towards release unlike some other indies.
You're legendary dude.

 

[Eisen]

i need to play Monomyth NOW