Mythruna

As you guys who have been following along know, I've had trouble working concentrated amounts of time on Mythruna because the next few 'critical path' pieces are larger than the chunks of time that I'm allotted.  I spend all of my time ramping up and down and not actually accomplishing anything.

To keep moving forward on "something" and to try out some proto-ideas for Mythruna, I've been working on other projects.  Sometimes the benefits are subtle.  For example, the IsoSurface stuff has a terrain pager that is superior to anything I wrote for Mythruna and can be plugged in almost directly.  Sometimes more obvious... if the SimArboreal stuff never replaces Mythruna trees then I will for sure at least use it for plants and stuff.

To that end, I've been poking here and there at another side-project with more direct benefits.  A simple game where I get to try out some ideas in simpler forms.  I get to prototype the music system, sound system, simple AI, companion AI, some raw physics things, hunger/thirst/fatigue, physics control, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting.  All in smaller chunks that are more simplified for a simpler game.

I've been hesitant to post anything about it because a) it feels somewhat like rubbing salt in a wound re: main game progress, and b) I've worried that it might not turn into anything real.  However, it does have a complete story line, is a story driven 'simpler' game, and has an emotional core that I'd like to see to completion.

That being said, if I get hardcore Mythruna time again then I will probably drop it like a hot potato, at least temporarily.

It's basically directly building on the terrain and tree open source projects that I did.  I didn't have this game in mind when I built them but I just kind of stumbled upon it.  Partly, the music I wrote for the last IsoSurface demo video pulled all of the pieces together.  Not sure I want to say too much more about that.

Here are a couple "rough around the edges" screen shots if anyone is interested.  The little tiny frog is the main character.

(http://i.imgur.com/1UlgpPN.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/KeZ8UW0.png)

It's got some nice vistas, though:
(http://i.imgur.com/gqKsrAX.png)

Bonus for those who read this far... true story: I actually used the same fractal formula that Mythruna uses but scaled it up quite a bit.  I've long wanted to see how the land would turn out in that case and the revelations so far have been both exciting and disappointing.  I will eventually do something similar in Mythruna (it's why I created the 'far horizon' stuff in the latest engine and it will be the only way to have huge/vast deserts and stuff)... but I already know a few paths I don't need to try anymore.  Mostly I want to try to find a way to dampen some of the flat land near water without getting rid of the more dramatic stuff.  In this incarnation, the area around 'classic spawn town' is just too chaotic.  (It's near there where the last pic was taken.)

Sorry if this is rubbing salt in old wounds... but I wanted to let everyone know that I'm still coding.  Just not perhaps as directly as I could be with more time.

Oh, and re: the frog... I've been supremely lucky to have a very talented artist helping me with some models.

That's a very beautiful landscape - and quite a specular frog, heh.

I thoroughly enjoyed the information given. I wouldn't quite say it's rubbing salt on an old wound, but more as finally putting a bandage on one (as cheesy as that sounds).

I enjoyed the frog, and the vista is a beauty to see. Keep up your good work, Paul. ;) If I ever get a chance, I'll make some mods on your new engine (when released) or we can team up in secrecy or something of that sort. Only downfall is I don't quite know how to use the JME and I'm stuck on my crappy/laggy laptop. GG

Maybe I'll sneak you guys a test build of this frog game when it gets a little further.

Never thought I'd be reincarnated as a frog in Mythruna.

That view is... breathtaking...

It's better than irl.

Thanks.  That's precisely what I strive for. :)  More leaning towards landscape paintings than realism.  Just like Mythruna skews more towards 'fantasy illustration' than realism.  I always liked that most screencaps from Neverwinter Nights could almost have come right out of D&D art books.

Yes, it truly is amazing Paul! Many people can not do grasp how to create other styles of art, but you certainly can.

Man, now I'm hyped about Paul releasing random things rather than Mythruna development.

So, I put up a test build.  Keep in mind that it's really rough around the edges so far.

http://www.dragonfly-odyssey.com/test-builds/Dragonfly-Odyssey-test-20140820-Windows.zip
http://www.dragonfly-odyssey.com/test-builds/Dragonfly-Odyssey-test-20140820-MacOSX.zip
http://www.dragonfly-odyssey.com/test-builds/Dragonfly-Odyssey-test-20140820-Linux.zip

One big known issue is that the water filter doesn't work on Macs so you'll have to toggle the settings HUD on and go and turn it off.

Keys:
------
Mouse - looks

W - moves forward

S - charges a jump.  Once charged, moving forward again will jump.  If you press and hold 'S' will in mid-jump you will continue to jump at a default power.  Useful for getting around like a frog.

Space - switches off movement and turns the mouse cursor on so you can select stuff.

Shift - in free flight mode, shift makes you fly faster.  Ctrl+shift will make you fly super fast.

F3 - Opens the settings HUD.  Different panels control different aspects of the visualization.  For example, the "Sound" panel can be used to adjust the sound volume.  The "Camera" panel can be used to turn off "frog mode" and therefore allow free flight.

F4 - Opens/closes the Debug HUD text in the upper left.
F5 - Opens/closes the standard JME stats

F12 - Toggles video recording on/off
PrtScrn/Scroll Lock - saves a screen shot

Known issues:
-No loading screen.  You will start with a black screen then it dumps you right into the game and the world isn't even fully loaded yet.  Test build.

-As mentioned, water filter doesn't work on a Macs right now.  Press F3 to turn on settings.  Press "space" to enable the mouse.  Go to the "Filters" tab and turn off the toggle next to "Water Filter".

-in free flight mode, if you fly too fast you accumulate some memory leaks and eventually the app will slow down and crash.

-Cannot charge a jump while standing on a rock.  For some reason, hitting 'S' will just jump immediately.

-The jump charge indicator does not accurately indicate where you will fly or land.  It's close sometimes.

-The crawling sound stutters sometimes when going down hill.

-Jumping up hill can be a little weird as the hill will instantly stop your jump.

-You can currently climb up hills that are too steep for the final game.  Don't get used to the short cuts. :)

-Similarly, jump+crawling can sometimes get you places you also won't be able to go in the final game.

-You may clip and be able to see through the ground.

-The tree line is currently too low so there are some treeless areas that will be forested in the final game.

-Probably literally hundreds of other things...


If you are curious, the final goal for our poor little frog will be somewhere around location 2049, 93, 2092.  When the game is ready for an ending, there will be a giant tree there (at least 3x or 4x times as big as any other tree) and your frog-family waiting for you.  For now it's just a spot on the ground but it should give you an indication of one of the many paths this poor little frog will have to make to get there... and there aren't even any obstacles/predators/etc. yet.

Next immediate concerns: tongue mechanic and water/puddles/ponds not at sea level.  (Our frog will have to stay moist.)

As the game gets closer to "playable" for real, I will stop posting test builds as it is my hope to earn a little cash with this if it turns out to be decent.  I kind of think the micro-perspective hasn't been well explored yet in games and it's an interesting problem/scenario.

Because people will ask "Why Dragonfly Odyssey?"  You play a frog but your friend will be a dragonfly.  She will help you find stuff that you will need to get home.  After all, when you are at frog's eye level, it helps to have a friend that can fly around.

Dragonflies have a very short lifespan. Might be worth consideration, so as to enrich the story a little (or impose a sort of time limit).

No spoilers.

Too late Paul... we all know the frog gets hungry at some point....

It's going to have such a sad ending... :(


Dead Space death scenes pls.

Also I'll buy it when you sell. Might do a Let's play of the very beginning to give you that extra publicity.

And for the record, adult dragonflies can live up to 5-6 months.  Not as long as a frog, but long enough.

Interestingly enough, they start life similar to a frog in that they hatch in water and spend most of their lives there. (and breathe through their butts)  I wasn't aware of their aquatic beginnings and will have to slightly adjust some of my dialog accordingly.

Lol, I can see it now. They grow up as puddle buddies. xD

Nah, in this case, you are a starving young fresh-from-tadpole frog without a home or a mother and you try to eat this big dragonfly.  She tells you it's probably not a good idea but shows you where the good small food is.

Something like:
(http://i.imgur.com/6Pk9cSV.png)

That's how the friendship begins.

P.S.: The dragonfly's name is Odonata if that wasn't obvious. :)

WHAT!? That's her name!? Such a spoiler, I would have never figured it out! (Sarcasm?)

Spoiler: the dragonfly can fly and the frog can jump... and his name is Pip.  At least in this story.  (He wasn't given a name yet by his mom so Odonata calls him "Pip".)

You're funny Paul. This is why you have such an awesome community.

I'd love to somehow see a way for this to make an appearance in Mythruna. How about in a book, or a secret hidden area in one of the main servers? Would be cool.

Well, I can guarantee you that as cool as this frog model is, that it will definitely show up as a creature spawn in Mythruna.  If the dragonfly turns out half as cool it will be there, too.  Either might be quite a bit larger, though. :)  Actually, probably all/any creatures I create for this game will show up in Mythruna.  Some maybe with AI already ready to go.  We'll see.

The story may be in a Mythrunian children's book somewhere.  Who knows.

So... are you overhauling Mythruna with these new engines and ideas, is that the plan? or just very small parts of them

Mythruna will continue to be a block engine.  I've tried to be pretty clear about that.

I miss getting time to play around with this. Really wanted to make a mini story about community town but havent had a chance to even finish the town yet. The tunnels under your tannery paul was gonna be a smuggler area filled with stollen artifacts

You have been. I just wasn't sure if it changed. Hope you get time for Mythruna again!

How is this game doing? :3

I started working on Mythruna over Thanksgiving break and I'm still (notionally) working on that.  Side projects have (mostly) been mothballed for now.

Prior to my vacation, I'd made sure to work on Mythruna every day even if it was only for 15 minutes.  If I hadn't gotten sick on the way home, I might have picked up where I left off.  As it stands, this is the first day where sitting in front of the computer for more than an hour didn't make me a little queasy... and now I have some day job work to catch up on first.