Mythos: The Beginning

[Dark Gaia]

Hot on the heels of the last update, I've been working on Mythos and I'm having a bit of a dilemma: what exactly do I want to do with this game? If I continued working on the game as it is now, I could have it finished and ready for the submission deadline with no problems. However, after tweaking the ending cutscene a little today, I realised that Mythos could be so much more than it is right now. What I've done so far is, in my opinion, a pretty decent effort with a chance of winning, but I can't help feeling that by cutting out so much to release the game by the contest deadline, I'm not doing my original concept justice.

The fact is, Mythos doesn't want to be a contest entry. It was meant to be an hour long, and it's ballooned out to 3 hours. Even with that length, there are still two main areas that I've had to cut out to release Mythos by June 30. Two main areas... considering the game as it is contains four main areas, that's a chunk almost equivalent to half the game. It's another 1-2 hours of gameplay, at the least, not to mention the missing story elements and pacing that those areas would have provided. There are also skills, puzzles and additional gameplay elements that I originally intended to include but just couldn't because of time restraints. And I really would have liked to have them in the game.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm figuring out what to do with Mythos. I didn't really intend for this to become a "proper" project, but after spending so much time and effort on it, it's eventually morphed into one. So, what do I do? Should I continue to work on the game as it is now, with large parts cut out, in order to release it in time for the contest? Or should I gracefully withdraw, take my time working on the game implementing all of the planned content, and give it a proper commercial release?

That's the question

 

[kartersaint]

Hot on the heels of the last update, I've been working on Mythos and I'm having a bit of a dilemma: what exactly do I want to do with this game? If I continued working on the game as it is now, I could have it finished and ready for the submission deadline with no problems. However, after tweaking the ending cutscene a little today, I realised that Mythos could be so much more than it is right now. What I've done so far is, in my opinion, a pretty decent effort with a chance of winning, but I can't help feeling that by cutting out so much to release the game by the contest deadline, I'm not doing my original concept justice.

The fact is, Mythos doesn't want to be a contest entry. It was meant to be an hour long, and it's ballooned out to 3 hours. Even with that length, there are still two main areas that I've had to cut out to release Mythos by June 30. Two main areas... considering the game as it is contains four main areas, that's a chunk almost equivalent to half the game. It's another 1-2 hours of gameplay, at the least, not to mention the missing story elements and pacing that those areas would have provided. There are also skills, puzzles and additional gameplay elements that I originally intended to include but just couldn't because of time restraints. And I really would have liked to have them in the game.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm figuring out what to do with Mythos. I didn't really intend for this to become a "proper" project, but after spending so much time and effort on it, it's eventually morphed into one. So, what do I do? Should I continue to work on the game as it is now, with large parts cut out, in order to release it in time for the contest? Or should I gracefully withdraw, take my time working on the game implementing all of the planned content, and give it a proper commercial release?

That's the question

That's the one thing I worried about. If the person dedicates the contest torridly but it became suspicious by comparing others.

Professional development team is able to make good games that more than one-hour length within one month, but for an amateur or a newbie, they can make it either but it may have poor quality. And there is a chance about needless arguments that "Hey! That guy polished game too much! Better than my game! I'm only able to make the game with this quality but that quality is extremly polished! That game must be cheating! Not possible to make within a month!" Then... Boom!

As seeing many views in this forum, my opinion is be free to extend your game. Do not have too much concern about other games or proper project, just thinking about the best game you can make.

But still worrying about the judge result can be reflected by the comments section that users made. And judges are not God who can detect the game is really made in a month and the team is trained or not.

The more you think, the more you lost your confident. At least I made the routes in my game that can finish the game before 1 hour or extend the game around 2 hours. Hope the judges chose the short route of my game. Then they may feel fulfilled.

 

[Dark Gaia]

I think I'm liking the idea of gracefully bowing out and turning Mythos into a proper game. There are plenty of other great entries (I myself am rooting for PV Games' Ashworth, which is similar in many ways to Mythos) and I'm sure there's no shortage of great games out there. However, after working on Mythos, I've realised that I enjoy working with this concept so much that I feel bad to cut it down and ignore all the fantastic ideas that have popped into my head while working on it. If I were to release Mythos now, I'm sure people would enjoy it, but if I'm just going to take it and extend it and release it again as a "proper" game later, then I should probably just do that from the word go -- forget about the contest and just make the game I want to make.

If anything, I'm thankful to this contest that it made me so excited to get working on a game and enabled me to come up with such a great concept... but I think now that I've found something I like working on I want to make it into something much bigger and better polished than what I can do in the next 10 days. So I'm probably thinking I might do just that

Besides, who'd pay for a commercial game that's just an expanded version of a free contest entry anyway?

 

[Dark Gaia]

Update #12:


I have finally decided to withdraw Mythos from the Indie Game Maker Contest. This was a hard decision, but for the reasons I outlined in my previous few posts, I feel that I'm not doing the game justice with what I can put out in the next 10 days. It's playable as it is and I'm sure it's a decent game, but I don't feel that I have achieved my original vision of what I want Mythos to be. I started the game for this contest, but as it's grown over the last month, I've had more and more ideas come into my head that I just can't do due to time restraints, but would make this game so much better. In setting out to make a game worthy of entering this contest (and believe me, I wanted to keep it simple -- I wanted to take a good long break from RPG Maker before this contest spurred me back into action), I've made a good basis for a "proper" project that can meet the full potential of my original concept.


So my final decision is to keep working on Mythos as a normal project, with the intention of giving it a proper commercial release to follow Legionwood 2. I want to take the time to make this game amazing, and I just don't think it's fair to anyone to release Mythos in a cut-down state only to expand it later anyway. I may as well go all out and make the game I want to make. With a couple more months to work on it, I can make Mythos into a game that I can be really proud of, including all of the stuff I wanted to implement from the start but was unable to.


Thank you to everyone for the support and interest. I will keep you posted on the progress of the full version of Mythos on my website and Facebook. Hopefully it will be ready within the next couple of months.


Good luck to the other contestants (especially PV Games -- I can't wait to play Ashworth).

 

[Jesse - PVGames]

Awww man, that is a bit disappointing that you took it out of the contest. I understand where you are coming from though, so if it's best for the project and it will let the project have a bigger, better life, then so be it. But I don't think I quite understand why it can't be both - Make what you can for the contest, then expand on it afterwards regardless of winning or not.

At any rate, I am sure it will shape up to be great like your other titles and I still very much look forward to seeing how it comes out! Any idea when it might be finished? Or if you need a tester sometime in the near future, I would gladly volunteer

 

[kartersaint]

It's kinda sad that you withdrew the project... Just as a fan of lovecraft mythos, I just wanted to see the game based on him in the contest.

Well, good luck with your project, even that does not participate in the contest, it's still worth it.

 

[Zairot]

Like PVGames said, I don't understand why you can't have your cake and eat it too Dark Gaia. I actually plan on developing the "IGMC" versions of my entries then after the contest, news of my horrible placing and a day-long period of weeping, commercialize and sell them as full games;the public gets a small demo.

I was about to say "Don't fall for it, it's a trap!" but you've made the decision to bow out already, so good luck.

 

[Dark Gaia]

Thanks guys, but I just don't feel it's right to release a cut down version of a game that I'll just want to release commercially later, especially when (as is the case with survival horror games, which tend to be rather short) the commercial version would be exactly the same just with an extra hour or two at the end. It wouldn't be a "small demo" -- it'd be 1/2 to 2/3 of the actual game. I'd much rather develop the game properly in the first place and release it when it is ready. I actually fully intended to make a simple game for this contest, but now it's become a case of my idea growing so big I'd just love to work on it at my own pace without worrying about deadlines and give it the attention it deserves.

@PVGames: I've already added you to the list of people to contact when it is time. I plan to give it another month or two of work. Survival horror games aren't very long (and Mythos will only be about 4-5 hours in length) so July should give me more than enough time to expand it properly and re-implement all the stuff I cut out.

 

[Dark Gaia]

Hi everyone. It's time for my final post in this thread before I gracefully bow out of the contest. I have set up a game-page for Mythos on RMN with all the current information for those who'd still like to follow its development. I have also added a discussion forum on the Dark Gaia Studios website. I plan to spend the next month restoring the cut content to the game and giving it the attention it really deserves. Now that I'm not bound by the contest rules to release a game with a complete story, I will be dropping a free-to-play demo showcasing the first area next week sometime.

Cheers for all of the support, and make sure you check out PV Games' fantastic entry, Ashworth!

 

[Indrah]

Here's my very quick and sketchy take on the game (link for info on why it's so short and all that jazz)




+THANK YOU. No, I do not want fullscreen, but I appreciate you asked rather than shove it in my face by default.


+Character creation, yeeaaah!


+The voice acting is pretty bad. But in a funny way XD


+While not masterful the graphic and sound design is good enough.


+Bypassing puzzles? Why thank you.


+Decoding stuff gives me exp? Yey!


-It can be hard to notice what bits of the environment are interactable when it’s so dark (someone had to tell me to check near the door, I’d have never seen that number lock by myself).


-The typing machine at the intro is too slow. While I understand the point is to make it synch up with realistic typing speed, it just feels annoying.


-Oh come ON, the Master key is used up after one time? BOOO.


-Well I almost got friggin killed on the first obligatory encounter, what the frick?


-The “scary” noise cues are more startling than the graphics. Maybe I’m just jaded, but that penis headed dog (yeah I’m calling it that) does not look threatening.


To the developer: I didn’t play long enough to get a proper handle on the game, but it’s at least a promising start. The “scary” aspect is bit lacking when it comes to the enemies, but is good enough on sound (in fact the sound eclipses the graphics when it comes to scares). Some design choices are a bit shaky (using up the Master Key, vital elements being very hard to see, battle difficulty) but I can see it being a decent game. Maybe not a GREAT horror game, but still not bad.