Mythruna

One of the first types of "just bad guys" that will be implemented are a set of elemental homunculi called Takwin.  They are a side-effect of player presence and a convergence of magic.  Their one goal is to steal your life energy.

They come in four forms in increasing difficulty:
-Wood Takwin
-Mud Takwin
-Ice Takwin
-Metal Takwin

Since takwin form from a convergence of magic energies, their deaths will often yield many of the magic crystals and gems that helped them spawn... for the player skilled at retrieving them.

There will be spoilers after the pictures so if you want to be surprised then stop reading at the pictures.

I started making some concept sketches a week ago or so.  It turned into a full-blown painting but I haven't finished it yet.

Here is a mud takwin sketch:
(http://i.imgur.com/CJCHFMu.png)

The takwin come in multiple sizes so I added some smaller ones.  (More on that in the spoilers.)
(http://i.imgur.com/QKpIf1N.png)

Many hours later, I had started fleshing out an environment for them... still very much unfinished but I won't be working on it for a while so I wanted to post it even in its unfinished state:
(http://i.imgur.com/AASvBav.jpg)

I have in mind some concept art for the wood and metal Takwin, also... but those will have to wait.

Note: the below is somewhat speculative.  I believe I can do all of it eventually but any implemented takwin will be a subset of these features for a long time.  Maybe forever.

---------- SPOILER ALERT ----------

Players bring a special kind of magic to that world that is not native.  This magic can have an effect on existing magic convergences causing new reactions.  In this case, the right combination of elemental, spirit, and player+life magic will spawn these small elemental homunculi that I've called Takwin (basically a fancier name for homunculus that is not overused).

Initially, several smaller takwin will form.  As they gain power and if they live long enough, they will eventually spawn a larger takwin by merging there powers.  It is rare but possible that a medium size takwin may spawn right away.  At least one larger size will exist if conditions are right and the battle goes poorly for the player(s).

Players have an innate abilities to sense high concentrations of magic so there will be some awareness that you might be entering an area where takwin are possible.  Magic is hard to judge, though.

---------- EVEN WORSE SPOILERS ALERT ----------

Wood Takwin

This version spawns from trees... in many cases, the tree will not survive this.  The largest of the wood takwin will actually be a form of walking tree.

Their primary attacks are bludgeoning and potentially spikes.  These are the easiest takwin to damage, though.  Any bladed weapon will cut them and since they are made of wood, fire will severely damage them.

Mud Takwin

This version spawns in swampy areas where magic is high.

Their primary attacks are bludgeoning but they also carry poison, acid, and disease.  The larger ones can spit any of these.  Damaging them is more difficult as bludgeoning weapons will have almost no effect and a bladed weapon damage will be quickly healed unless the limb is completely severed.  Given enough time, a mud takwin may reattach severed limbs.  Ice and water may come into play as a decent attack against them.  Also, they are very susceptible to ranged weapons, which although won't directly cause damage, carrying the weapon in their mud bodies can disrupt the magic that keeps them alive... especially if something is added to the weapon that increases this effect...

Ice Takwin

This version spawns in frozen tundra and ice caves.  These takwin explode from the ice which may cause shrapnel damage right at the beginning.

Primary attacks are bludgeoning, ice spikes, and frost breath.  The smaller ones can perform all of these attacks.  The larger ones can actually shoot spikes and their breath is an area effect.

Against an ice takwin, bludgeoning weapons are more effective since bladed weapons tend to slide and miss.  Fire is great against an ice takwin but it would have to be large flame as a) they only appear in cold in the first place, and b) they are already pretty darn cold and can breathe frost.  The heat would have to be intense to melt them.

Metal Takwin

This version spawns in the deepest magic caves where the ore is rich in spirit crystals and other gems.  There is a rumor that they are extremely likely to appear in the vicinity of a stone dragon.

Their outer shell is a hardened mixture of metal plates that surround a magma and fire core.  They can spit either of this things at the player.  The hands/claws are either metal spikes or sharpened blades.  The smaller metal takwin, walk on all fours like an ape and have a metal horn for piercing.  The larger ones walk upright and have spikes on their backs.

Successful attacks will melt standard steal weapons.  There are currently no known good attacks for a metal takwin.  Best to stay away.

---------- STILL YET EVEN WORSE SPOILERS ALERT ----------

Since the takwin form from player magic, leaving will cause them to disperse again in some time that is dependent on how powerful they became.  However, once a takwin has spawned in an area then it is very likely to spawn there again until killed.  So a decent strategy for an inexperienced player is to run away until another day.

Once an area is cleared of takwin, they will not spawn again.  By then the crystals and gems that focused them into existence will have been harvested or destroyed.  ie: no creature farming

There may or may not be a few other surprises that are either too speculative or too secret to mention... probably both.

I started reading past the pictures, so I tried hopping past "spoiler alert" without reading it, then I just kept seeing more spoiler alerts. I didn't read any of them. Haha. I like how they look! Would be a nice feature to spook you if you aren't careful in swamps.

I read partials of the spoilers, so I am partially spoiled ;D

I'd love the Metal Takwin to look something like this (http://static.neatorama.com/images/2007-08/laputa-robot-ghibli-museum.jpg)
From the movie Castle in the Sky

I must confess, I read it all. So I am fully spoiled, a la child with rich doting grandparents.

Heheh... cool.  I think you might be disappointed then. :)

...but we'll see. :)

awesome now i know what 1 of the first creatures i will hunt in mythruna is  :P

Lol that's fine, I'm sure you have a cooler design in mind.

wait won't the npcs eventually make the connection that the player indirectly brings the takwins with them eventually driving the player the player out of town?

SPOILER: What I'm saying comes from Paul's spoilers
They only spawn in areas with specific, magic-related, conditions. The NPCs might be smart enough to make the connection from a couple instances, which is all that could feasibly occur. I don't know if the NPCs will be able to form superstitions (hopefully!), but if they can they might try burning you at the stake or something.

I do want NPCs to be suspicious in these cases.  A lot depends on how much detail I can add to their personality traits.  But assuming that I can handle it...

Kind of a bit of a spoiler:
Most NPCs won't know that you are special unless you do something to make it known.  NPCs that have been attacked by something they've never seen before... especially a magic something... will be distrustful of any outsiders.  Not just players.

If I get a gossip system working then information specifically about you may spread over time if it is important... like harming them with magic, etc..

On the other hand, if you do something nice for them and they associate that with "player abilities" then their default disposition towards other players will tend to be more friendly.  This kind of rumor would spread, also.

The AI personality part and detecting "good and bad" is kind of tricky but the gossip system is relatively straight forward.  It just may end up being too much data to track in an endless world.  If I can roll it into the AI LOD layers then it could work.  Frankly, it would have to be pretty size-intense for me not to try it because I think it's important.

lol there will e a ton of Takwins on multiplayer servers  :P

Until they are killed.

Does this mean Takwin don't respawn?

If you didn't read the spoilers before then I'm not sure I should spoil things now. :)  No, they don't respawn once killed.

There is no "kill 400 badgers" style farming in Mythruna because there is no XP.

I didn't read the spoilers.. or at least tried my best not to lol.

Once the takwin are killed for a particular area then the magic that created them has been dispersed.  Only in the strongest magical areas will there be another spawn nearby enough to call it the same place.

Wow. Just wow. I thought this: If Paul is willing to spoil something, it can't be thaaat big of a deal. So I read the spoilers :3. I know by reading that the game is NOT SPOILED AT ALL because I know once he adds in monsters ETC, there will be TONS of secrets he didn't tell us about. :3.

Anyway, Treants anyone?

Just a minor note to Paul directly:
Dont pull a minecraft and make only 3 main mobs. Even variety of one mob is better than what minecraft rolled at us.
In the latter of achievement for combat systems, strive towards closer to Skyrim than Minecrap.
 8)

o:

It's already been stated many times that Skyrim is more of my target than Minecraft.

These initial creature designs are all just thing that are either necessary for world maintenance or relatively easy to achieve in the short term (either because of AI simplicity, mesh simplicity, some combination, etc.).

I look forward to the day where adding new creatures is my primary function.

Yeah, I saw the thread stating that. I just wanted to put that in based on the combat systems.

"Minecrap": (http://i.imgur.com/ODOzFXR.jpg)
I guess I'll be having fun in this barley field while you aren't :D Hahaha.

Edit: No barley field creatures sadly. Hehe

Holy graphics - this is why i'm upgrading my computer.
At first, minecrafts simplistic graphics were cute, but once they added all this stuff, it makes me want to kill Notch for not upping the graphics with a surprisingly unsimplistic gameplay. Mods are just crazy these days, I'll tell you 'hwhat

until update 1.6.23567 comes out and overwrites ALL of your mods. D:<

Jeb is the main developer or Minecraft for quite some time, blame @jeb_

Nope. I'm playing Aether 2 with the Shaders mod right now on 1.6.2 actually. (http://i.imgur.com/SGU5ZuT.jpg)

Installation is different, but this is Mythruna, not Minecraft. Antvenom did a great tutorial on how to install mods for 1.6+