While not strictly related to Blizzard, we’ve been following the progress of the former Flagship Studios’ developers, so this is relevant.
GameCyte has a new interview up with two of them who have started a new studio, Runic Games, who are Max Schaeferand Travis Baldree. The interview delves deep into why the company moved, why they think FSS failed like it did. It specifically mentions the current state of FSS right now as well. Specifically Max makes an emphasis on the fact that for all intents and purposes Flagship Studios is closed down, and Bill is just there to finish off the closure.
Max then goes on to talk about his brother and his involvement with the team. It then goes on to talk about if FSS had any chance of staying open. They then talk of the sorts of games they want to make with the new studios.
Next they talk about the game’s (Mythos) differentiation with Diablo 3 and Sacred 2, as well as the whole colour issue in Diablo 3. Lastly they mention that Namco at the moment is just handling the box sales of Hellgate London, but there is no current knowledge of what they plan to do with the game later.
WarCry network has posted up a new interview with Runic Games founder, Travis Baldree. He talks of the new studio, talks a little bit about Diablo 3 which may be their direct competition later, the sorts of games they want to make as well as what payment systems they are thinking of doing.
A new article has popped up today about Mythos. It deals with the way that Hellgate was received as well as how Mythos plans to make a larger dent in the market.
The article has appeared on Eurogamer and it’s sister site GamesIndustry.biz.
“If we made a mistake with Hellgate, it was trying to do too many things for too many people,” admitted Schaefer, in an interview with our sister site Eurogamer.net.
“We wanted a cutting edge graphics engine, we wanted multiple business models with subscriptions and free play, and single-player, we wanted to combine third-person play with first-person play, we wanted to do random 3D levels, and when you’re starting with a brand new game studio with very limited budget and no existing technologies, that was probably biting off too much.
“We ended up rushing it to market and not keeping it in the oven long enough, just out of necessity.”
[...]
“With Mythos we’re definitely taking our time, we’re well within our budget and our means to make it. It’s a little bit of a turning point for us - don’t try to do everything for everybody. Just be more realistic about your design goals. Bring it back to nine tenths instead of ten tenths and things will go much sooner,” he detailed.
[...]
“Can we take down the big boys? I think we can take down some of them. And I’d like to put a dent in the others.”
Online Welten has a nice 11 question interview with Travis Baldree, lead designer and developer of Mythos. It comes in both German and English, so check it out!
German Interview [HERE].
English Interview [HERE].
Not much new info, but the bit about the naked footrace is funny
* Memory usage reduced substantially
* Some performance improvements in general, and specifically for players using ‘low’ shadows
* Pets should no longer lose their stats on zoning
* Breaking down magical items should always result in scrap
* Tesla Widgets shouldn’t become useless in the overworld
* Runestone sellers in close proximity to all Runegates
* Overworld automap improved to better show impassable regions
* Points of interest properly cleave to the edge of the automap
* opening panes in windowed mode with gamma adjusted should not result in a stretched screen
* Monster aggro range in overworld increased
* Monster respawn time in overworld decreased by 30 seconds
* But where path nodes were getting occupied on clients, making impassable regions - fixed
* All anchorshrines show on the worldmap
* Another Enchanter has been added in a more accessible location
* The Warden returns to Stonehill Market to allow for payment to return to the last visited dungeon
* New 3rd person camera and camera selection options
* Camera mode can be switched with the ‘ hotkey
* Trees that fade out leave ’stumps’ showing their location
* Camera does not collide with faded out trees
If you have an account check it out and report to the Devs with your finds.
The official Mythos website is reporting on a couple of bits of new Mythos things.
First is a set of new exclusive screenshots of the Overworld by RPG Vault and second is a front page magazine review of Mythos, in an online Magazine, Thirteen1 Online.
Over at RPG vault there are six exclusive Mythos screenshots of the Overworld now available in our Test Center server. Check them out by clicking Read More… below.
Mythos was given a cover spot on the latest issue of Thirteen1 Online Gaming Magazine as well as a three page preview. Check out the June 13th issue over at their website.
Are you tired of having to pester Flagship Studios for small tidbits of news about the game?
Are you bored of not having any recent exclusives?
Are you eager to hear about some new and exciting information about Mythos?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you’ve come to the right place!
That’s right! We here at Mythos Guru have gone out of our way to do the job for you. You won’t have to wait in line to get one measly question answered. You won’t have to leave your kids alone in the car, baking under the hot sun, as you dash to your news press to find the latest goss on the game only to find a police officer waiting for you with a warrant and a pair of silver handcuffs when you return. You won’t have to sit there doodling words and pictures on your wall hoping they will be the new exclusives for Mythos.
All you simply have to do is feast your eyes upon our wonderous interview with the amazing Max (Note: Max may or may not actually be amazing, but the interview is indeed wonderful!). Not only do you get exclusive new information at Mythos Guru about the game’s upcoming new modes of transportation, brand new ways to live and die, new ways to dress and express, as well as the secret race that was going to be put in until Max was abducted!!!
You will see the answers to these questions and more by read not one, two, or even five, but twenty four whole questions that will make you wish that you could hibernate until open beta!
Headshot Radio has a new review up of Mythos, where they talk of the various aspects of the game, as well as having a short interview with the devs at the end of it.
This is exactly what it feels like to play Mythos. Mythos is a game in production by Flagship Studios, a company with numerous people who worked on the Diablo Series, worked at Blizzard, and more talent from other companies, such as programmers from FATE as well. The combination is a fast paced, imaginative, and fun dungeon crawler with a sprinkle of MMORPG elements spread throughout. All the things that made Diablo and Diablo II fun are there: Multiple classes, randomized dungeons, lots of loot, multiple skill trees, item customization via crafting, gems, enchantments, etc., and so much more. To make it even better, there are numerous new elements in the game, such as different races, Achievements (which can be equipped for stat boosts and such), a PvP-only version of the game world, and much much more awaits. To top it all off, the game is free to play, with an in-game store (described in the interview at the end of this article) as the company means of making money from the game.
As ThyrsaM has reported on our forums, the new Overworld is now live on the Test Center of the game.
To add to that, Massively is also reporting on the new layout and what the experience is like. They also have a whole set of screenshots to go with the launch.
For the past week, the folks at Flagship promised the Overworld Real Soon Now. A deathwatch was kept on the forums. It was going to be the next day, or the day after, or in a few hours. Players gathered on Mythos‘ IRC channel where devs tossed out tantalizing hints of what was to come. Then around 9pm EST dev Taylor Balbi advised everyone to re-patch and log in to the Test Center to see the Overworld. He gave some advice as people hurried to be the first into the new world.
Test Center will be a separate server.
Test Center and Beta Server will be online at the same time and require the same client.
To tell which version you currently have, the login screen screen will make it obvious (two different ones).
Test Center will start lagging after like 800 people, Mythos Beta won’t.
Taylor Balbi is Awesome.
We think the other Flagship devs are pretty awesome as well. Though there were more than a few glitches with patching, we were able to eventually get in and take a quick run around some of the Overworld, its dungeons, the villages outside Stonehill, and the city of Stonehill itself. All we have left to wait for now is the open beta, expected in the next several weeks.
Enjoy
P.S. Also congratulations to ThyrsaM who is now a moderator on our website!
Mythos Guru was founded early in 2007 as the first fansite and forum ever dedicated to Flagship Studios' online game, Mythos. It caters to an international base of players and guilds. Following in the footsteps of its predecessor Hellgate Guru, Mythos Guru shares a proud tradition of sponsoring and organizing community backed projects and events, and a powerful skill calculator. More
