Just like that other game

The detailed answer to “Isn’t this game just like Minecraft?”

It’s true that the block world idea was an inspiration. The truth is that I’ve been trying to write a fantasy role playing game for almost as long as I’ve been developing software. (Trust me. That’s a long time.) The problem as an indie developer was always getting bogged down in models, assets, terrain editors, etc.. I’ve been playing with terrain generation in one way or another for almost 20 years but it was always tough to easily mix fluid height-mapped worlds with man-made structures.

My last really serious attempt at an engine was two months of part-time twiddling and all I had to show for it was a fractal parameter editor (which I still use for Mythruna), some nice realistic terrain height maps, and some procedural fence models with bump maps. Compare that to last year when I whipped out a block engine from scratch over a weekend and you can see why this approach is appealing.

Minecraft is a mining game. To me, that’s it’s charm… it’s core. No matter how far you go down a particular line of gameplay, you are still going to whip out your shovel and dig a cave at some point. It’s a fabulous and simple mechanic… and it seems like the farther they stray the more original players they alienate. But it’s still a really fun game, to me.

Mythruna is supposed to be a straight-up RPG. My favorite games are the old-school RPGs like Baldur’s Gate and the heavily community supported Neverwinter Nights. But I want to break out of those limitations. I played Oblivion for nearly two weeks solid and never even touched on the main story line. That’s how I roll.

Mythruna will certainly have mining… but only because I’d be a fool not to include it. The engine is really flexible and if someone really wants to get their digging jones on then they should be able to dig. That being said, in the final game it won’t be a big focus. Most characters won’t even start out having the right tools or skills to dig anything other than dirt… and then only if they want to ruin their sword.

The reason this is confusing is because currently Mythruna is almost just like Minecraft classic or build mode. There is a reason for this:

If you really want to test an engine like this then you will let players loose on your world to put any block anywhere. I have found soooo many bugs simply because the players can currently do anything and everything. The real game won’t be like that.

I’m making a game that I want to play… which is why you find me on the server sometimes. If I wanted to play a game just like Minecraft then I’d still be playing Minecraft.