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''Myth'' is a series of
real-time tactics Real-time tactics (RTT)(Article at IGN discussing their perception of RTS and related genres as of 2006. RTT is discussed as a new and not yet established genre from the publisher's perspective, so currently all RTT possible titles are still con ...
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s for
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
and
Mac OS Two major famlies of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded "M ...
. There are three main games in the series; '' Myth: The Fallen Lords'', released in 1997, '' Myth II: Soulblighter'', released in 1998, and '' Myth III: The Wolf Age'', released in 2001. ''The Fallen Lords'' was developed by
Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (progr ...
, and published by Bungie in North America and
Eidos Interactive Square Enix Limited (formerly Domark Limited and Eidos Interactive Limited) is a British subsidiary of the Japanese video game company Square Enix, acting as their European publishing arm. The company formerly owned ''Tomb Raider'', which was in ...
in Europe. ''Soulblighter'' was also developed by Bungie, and was published by Bungie in North America and
GT Interactive GT, Gt or G-T may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games * GT Interactive, an American video game developer * GameTrailers, a video game website * '' Golden Tee Golf'', golf video game * ''Gran Turismo'' (series), a series of racing video games ...
in Europe. ''The Wolf Age'' was developed by
MumboJumbo MumboJumbo, LLC was an independent developer of games for personal computers, game consoles and mobile devices. MumboJumbo Mobile, LLC publishes entertainment software for Android and iOS devices. History The company was founded in January 200 ...
, and co-published by
Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal g ...
and
Gathering of Developers Gathering of Developers, Inc. (shortened as G.O.D. or GodGames, and branded as Gathering between 2003 and 2004) was an American video game publisher based in New York City. Founded by Mike Wilson and associates in January 1998 and originally b ...
for Windows and by Take-Two and
MacSoft MacSoft was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1993 by Peter Tamte as subsidiary of WizardWorks, specializing in the production of video game ports from Microsoft Windows to Macintosh operating systems, as well as producti ...
for Mac. All three games received generally positive reviews. ''The Fallen Lords'' was especially lauded, and is credited as a defining title in the fledgling real-time tactics genre. Reviewers praised its plot,
graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture ...
,
gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pla ...
,
level design In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, stage, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively-increasing difficulty t ...
, online
multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
mode, and differentiation from traditional
real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...
games. It went on to win multiple awards from publications such as ''
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...
'', ''
Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...
'', ''
Computer Games Strategy Plus ''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...
'' and ''
Macworld ''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macint ...
''. It was also a commercial success, selling over 350,000 units worldwide. ''Soulblighter'' was praised for improving on virtually every aspect of ''The Fallen Lords'', with critics citing more detailed graphics, enhanced
sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...
s, more varied gameplay, better AI, and a more intricate level design. It also sold very well, considerably outselling the original. ''The Wolf Age'' was seen as inferior to the two previous games, although it still garnered positive reviews. Reviewers praised the storyline, graphics and general gameplay. Major points of criticism included the many bugs in the Windows version, and a poorly implemented online multiplayer mode. Some critics felt the game was rushed to release, with several speculating the development team had not been given enough time to complete it satisfactorily. The ''Myth'' series as a whole, and ''Soulblighter'' in particular, supported an active online community for over a decade after the official servers went offline. The first formally organized group of volunteer-
programmers A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...
was MythDevelopers, who initially formed with the purpose of fixing the bug-ridden Windows version of ''The Wolf Age''. MythDevelopers were given access to the
source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
of both the first games by Bungie and ''The Wolf Age'' by Take-Two. The most recently active ''Myth'' development group is Project Magma, an offshoot of MythDevelopers. These groups have worked to provide ongoing
technical support Technical support (abbreviated as tech support) is a call centre type customer service provided by companies to advise and assist registered users with issues concerning their technical products. Traditionally done on the phone, technical suppor ...
for the games, update them to newer
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
s, fix bugs, release
unofficial patch An unofficial patch is a patch for a piece of software, created by a third party such as a user community without the involvement of the original developer. Similar to an ordinary patch, it alleviates bugs or shortcomings. Unofficial patches do no ...
es, create mods, and maintain online servers for multiplayer gaming. As of 2017, the IP is owned by Take-Two Interactive (which owned 20% of Bungie before Microsoft's acquisition), but the trademark registration expired in 2021.


Games

* '' Myth: The Fallen Lords'' was developed by
Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (progr ...
for
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
and the
Classic Mac OS Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and ending with Mac OS 9. The ...
. Published by Bungie in North America and by
Eidos Interactive Square Enix Limited (formerly Domark Limited and Eidos Interactive Limited) is a British subsidiary of the Japanese video game company Square Enix, acting as their European publishing arm. The company formerly owned ''Tomb Raider'', which was in ...
in Europe, it was released in North America for both Windows and Mac on November 25, 1997. * '' Myth II: Soulblighter'' was also developed by Bungie for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. Published by Bungie in North America and by
GT Interactive GT, Gt or G-T may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games * GT Interactive, an American video game developer * GameTrailers, a video game website * '' Golden Tee Golf'', golf video game * ''Gran Turismo'' (series), a series of racing video games ...
in Europe, it was released in North America for both Windows and Mac on December 28, 1998. It was later ported to
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
by
Loki Entertainment Loki Software, Inc. (Loki Entertainment) was an American video game developer based in Tustin, California, that ported several video games from Microsoft Windows to Linux. It took its name from the Norse deity Loki. Although successful in its go ...
. On November 15, 1999, Bungie released a special edition called ''Myth: The Total Codex'', which included ''The Fallen Lords'', ''Soulblighter'', the ''Soulblighter''
expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game or collectible card game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, characters, or an ...
''Myth II: Chimera'', and official ''Strategies and Secrets'' guides for both of the main games. In 2001, ''Soulblighter'' was also re-released twice by
Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal g ...
. Firstly, included with ''Green Berets: Powered by Myth II'', a fan made
total conversion Video game modding (short for "modification") is the process of alteration by players or fans of one or more aspects of a video game, such as how it looks or behaves, and is a sub-discipline of general modding. Mods may range from small changes an ...
set in the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, which was released on July 31, and secondly as ''Myth II: Worlds'', a three-disk set published by Take-Two subsidiary
Gathering of Developers Gathering of Developers, Inc. (shortened as G.O.D. or GodGames, and branded as Gathering between 2003 and 2004) was an American video game publisher based in New York City. Founded by Mike Wilson and associates in January 1998 and originally b ...
, containing ''Soulblighter'' and two disks of fan-created
single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...
campaigns,
multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
maps, and gameplay mods, which was released on October 2. * '' Myth III: The Wolf Age'' was developed by
MumboJumbo MumboJumbo, LLC was an independent developer of games for personal computers, game consoles and mobile devices. MumboJumbo Mobile, LLC publishes entertainment software for Android and iOS devices. History The company was founded in January 200 ...
for Windows, Classic Mac OS and Mac OS X. Co-published by Take-Two and Gathering of Developers for Windows, and by Take-Two and
MacSoft MacSoft was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1993 by Peter Tamte as subsidiary of WizardWorks, specializing in the production of video game ports from Microsoft Windows to Macintosh operating systems, as well as producti ...
for Mac, the Windows version was released in North America on November 2, 2001.


Gameplay

All three ''Myth'' games play very similarly. They are
real-time tactics Real-time tactics (RTT)(Article at IGN discussing their perception of RTS and related genres as of 2006. RTT is discussed as a new and not yet established genre from the publisher's perspective, so currently all RTT possible titles are still con ...
games, and as such, unlike the
gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pla ...
in
real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...
games, the player does not engage in resource
micromanagement In business management, micromanagement is a management style whereby a manager closely observes, controls, and/or reminds the work of their subordinates or employees. Micromanagement is generally considered to have a negative connotation, main ...
or economic macromanagement, does not construct a base or buildings, and does not gradually build up their army by acquiring resources and researching new technologies. Instead, each
level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights *Spirit level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *Canal pound or level *Regr ...
begins with the player's army already assembled and ready for combat. During the game, the player controls forces of various sizes made up of a number of different units, each possessing their own strengths and weaknesses. In
single-player mode A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...
, only Light units are playable, but in online multiplayer mode, the player can control both Light and Dark units. Basic gameplay in all three games involves the player selecting and commanding units. To select an individual unit, the player clicks on that unit. Once selected, the unit is surrounded by a yellow rectangle, beside which is a
health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
meter, which diminishes as the unit takes damage. In ''Soulblighter'' and ''The Wolf Age'', units capable of utilizing
magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
also have a mana meter in addition to their health meter. As they use magic, this meter diminishes, and then slowly regenerates over time. Units do not regenerate health, and there is no way to construct new units (although in some single-player missions, reinforcements are automatically received at predetermined points). To select all nearby units of a given type, the player
double-click A double-click is the act of pressing a computer mouse button twice quickly without moving the mouse. Double-clicking allows two different actions to be associated with the same mouse button. It was developed by Bill Atkinson of Apple Computer (n ...
s on any individual unit of that type. To select multiple units of different types, the player can either "shift click" (hold down the
shift key The Shift key is a modifier key on a keyboard, used to type capital letters and other alternate "upper" characters. There are typically two shift keys, on the left and right sides of the row below the home row. The Shift key's name originated f ...
and click on each individual unit) or use "band-selection" (click and hold the
mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
button on a piece of ground, then drag the
cursor Cursor may refer to: * Cursor (user interface), an indicator used to show the current position for user interaction on a computer monitor or other display device * Cursor (databases), a control structure that enables traversal over the records in ...
across the screen. This causes a yellow box to appear, which grows and shrinks as it follows the cursor's movement. When the player releases the button, any units within the box are selected). The player can instantly select all units on screen, irrespective of type, by pressing the
enter key On computer keyboards, the enter key and return key are two closely related keys with overlapping and distinct functions dependent on operating system and application. Functions The return key has its origins in two typewriter functions: ca ...
. The player can also assign manually selected unit groupings to a specific key on the
keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
, and when that key is pressed, it instantly selects the desired group of units. In ''The Wolf Age'', the
HUD Hud or HUD may refer to: Entertainment * ''Hud'' (1963 film), a 1963 film starring Paul Newman * ''Hud'' (1986 film), a 1986 Norwegian film * ''HUD'' (TV program), or ''Heads Up Daily'', a Canadian e-sports television program Places * Hud, Far ...
also includes a "Unit Grouping Bar" which allows the player to click on the corresponding number rather than using the keyboard to select their group. Once one or more units have been selected, the player can click on the ground to make them walk to the selected spot, or click on an enemy to make them attack. Units with projectile weapons, such as
archers Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...
and dwarves can also be ordered to attack a specific spot on the ground, rather than an enemy. It is also important that the player have their units facing in the right direction. In ''The Fallen Lords'', this is accomplished by "gesture clicking" - using the mouse to indicate which way the units will face when they reach their destination. In ''Soulblighter'' and ''The Wolf Age'', it can be accomplished by either gesture clicking, or by pressing the left or right arrow key as the units move to the selected location. Facing the correct direction is especially important when using formations. After selecting a group of units, the player must press the corresponding formation button on the keyboard, and then click on the ground where they want the units to form. The player can also order all selected units to scatter and to retreat. In ''Soulblighter'' and ''The Wolf Age'', all formations, as well as commands such as stopping, guarding, scattering, retreating, and reversing direction, are also available via a single click in the Control Bar at the bottom of the screen. When a single unit is selected, information about that unit appears in the "Status Bar" at the top of the HUD; the unit's name, a brief biography, how many kills he has, how many battles he has survived, and (if he is capable of carrying items) his inventory. When multiple units are selected, the names, types, and quantity of units will appear, but there will be no biography or information on their kills or previous battles. The HUD also features a transparent overhead
mini-map A mini-map or minimap is a miniature map that is often placed at a screen corner in video games to aid players in orienting themselves within the game world. They are often only a small portion of the screen and must be selective in what details ...
, which displays information about the current battlefield; the player's field of vision is indicated by a yellow
trapezoid A quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is called a trapezoid () in American and Canadian English. In British and other forms of English, it is called a trapezium (). A trapezoid is necessarily a Convex polygon, convex quadri ...
, enemy units appear as red dots, friendly non-playable units as blue dots, and the player's army as green dots. The player can click anywhere on the mini-map to instantly jump to that location. However, the mini-map does not initially display the entire battlefield; the player must explore the area for it to become fully mapped. In ''Soulblighter'', the player can also order troops to move to any location on the mapped area of the battlefield by right-clicking on that area in the mini-map. The player has full control over the
camera A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...
throughout the game, and can move it backwards and forwards, left and right, orbit left and right (keeps the camera focused on a single spot while making a 360 degree circle around that spot), pan left and right (the camera remains in the same spot but the player's point of view moves from side to side), and zoom in and out. All movements can be carried out via the keyboard. In ''The Fallen Lords'', the mouse can be used to move the camera forwards, backwards, left and right by moving the cursor to the top, bottom, left or right of the screen, respectively. In ''Soulblighter'' and ''The Wolf Age'', the player can also select preferences to allow them to control rotation and orbiting via the mouse, by moving the cursor to the top and bottom corners of the screen, respectively. Selecting and commanding units only forms the basic gameplay of the ''Myth'' games. The battles are more complex than simply commanding units to attack the enemy, with strategy and awareness of the conditions of the battlefield, and even the weather, also playing important roles. For example, due to the game's
physics engine A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, such as rigid body dynamics (including collision detection), soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics, of use in the domains of computer gr ...
, objects react with one another, with units, and with the terrain. This can manifest itself simply in a severed head bouncing off one of the player's units and changing direction, but it can also have more serious consequences. For example, a dwarf could throw a molotov cocktail at an enemy on a hillside and miss, with the projectile rolling back down the hill towards the player's own units. Projectiles in general, both those used by the player and the enemy, have no guarantee of hitting anything; they are merely propelled in the direction instructed by the physics engine.
Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...
s, for example, may miss their intended target due to a small degree of simulated aiming error that becomes more significant at long range, or the target may move out of the way, or behind a tree or building. If archers are firing at enemies who are engaged in melee combat, they may also hit the player's own units instead of the enemy, causing the same amount of damage. This is also true of dwarfs' molotov cocktails. As such, friendly fire is an important aspect of the game. The weather is also something the player must always bear in mind. For example, rain or snow can put out explosive-based attacks, and in ''The Wolf Age'', strong wind can cause archers problems in hitting their targets. It is also much easier for projectile units to hit enemies below them rather than above them, and as such, positioning of the player's units is an important aspect of the game.


Single-player

In the single-player campaign of all three games, the player starts each mission with a group of soldiers, and must use that group to accomplish a specific goal or set of goals. These goals can involve killing a certain number of enemies, defending a location, reaching a certain point on the map, escorting a unit safely to a certain area, or destroying a specific object or enemy. The focus of the single-player campaign is on a smaller force defeating a much larger enemy force; in every mission, the Light units are outnumbered by enemies, often vastly, and so the player must use the terrain, employ the specific skills of their individual units, and gradually decrease the enemy force, or attempt to avoid it altogether. Units in the single-player campaign acquire experience with each kill. Experience increases attack rate, accuracy, and defence, and any unit that survives a battle will carry over to the next battle with their accumulated experience (assuming the next battle features units of that type). In the single-player campaign in ''The Wolf Age'', players can avail of a "morale boost" for normal units when fighting alongside "Champion" units; any normal unit who is engaged in combat whilst in the close proximity of a Champion unit will gain experience at a faster rate than normal.


Multiplayer

Upon release, ''The Fallen Lords'' and ''Soulblighter'' could be used for multiplayer gaming on Bungie.net, or via a
LAN Lan or LAN may also refer to: Science and technology * Local asymptotic normality, a fundamental property of regular models in statistics * Longitude of the ascending node, one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in sp ...
on PC or
AppleTalk AppleTalk is a discontinued proprietary suite of networking protocols developed by Apple Computer for their Macintosh computers. AppleTalk includes a number of features that allow local area networks to be connected with no prior setup or the n ...
on Mac, whilst ''The Wolf Age'' could be played on
GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...
, or via a LAN on PC or AppleTalk on Mac. In multiplayer, the player starts with an army, and can customize it by trading units with other players, using point values that approximate the value of the units being traded. All three games have similar, but not identical multiplayer modes. Common to each of the three games are "
King Of The Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...
" (a hill on the map is marked with a flag, with the hill captured when one or more of a team's units move within a certain range of the flag and eliminate any enemy units in the same area; the winner is the team who controls the hill for the longest amount of time), "Steal The Bacon" (somewhere on the battlefield is a ball; the object is to get the ball and keep it away from the opponents, with the winner being the last team to touch the ball), "Balls On Parade" (each team has a ball; the object is to capture as many of the opponents' balls as possible, with winner being the team in possession of the most balls at the end of the game), "Flag Rally" (a number of flags are on the battlefield, with the winner being the first player to touch them all), "
Capture the flag Capture the flag (CTF) is a traditional outdoor sport where two or more teams each have a flag (or other markers) and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base", and bring it safely back to their own base. ...
" (each team begins the game with one flag, with the winner being the first team to capture the other team's flag), "Scavenger Hunt" (a number of balls are on the battlefield, with the winner being the first player to touch them all), "Captures" (a number of balls are on the battlefield, with the winner being the player who is in possession of the most balls at the end of the match), "Body Count" (team
deathmatch Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill (or "frag") the other players' characters a ...
), and "Last Man On The Hill" (whichever player owns the hill when time runs out is the winner). Unique to ''Soulblighter'' and ''The Wolf Age'' are "Assassin" (each team has a "target unit", with the winner being the team who kills the opponents' target first), "Hunting" (each team must kill as much wildlife as possible; each animal has a point value, and the winner is the team with the most points at the end of the game), and "Stampede!" (each team starts with a herd of animals and a number of flags; the object is to shepherd the herd to the enemy flags, with each successfully herded animal earning the team one point. The winner is the team with the most points at the end of the game). Unique to ''Soulblighter'' is "Choke the Chicken" (identical to Assassin, except the target unit assigned to each team is a non-playable chicken). Unique to ''The Wolf Age'' is "Assault" (the game begins with one team defending a flag, and the other team attacking. After a set period of time, the teams switch. The assaulting team scores a point if they touch the flag, the defending team score a point if they prevent the flag being touched. The winner is the team with the most points after both teams have attacked and defended).


History


Development


''The Fallen Lords''

'' Myth: The Fallen Lords'' was originally conceived by Jason Jones as
Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (progr ...
was nearing the end of development of ''
Marathon Infinity ''Marathon Infinity'' is a first-person shooter video game, the third in the science fiction ''Marathon Trilogy'' by Bungie. The game was released on October 15, 1996 and included more levels than its predecessor '' Marathon 2: Durandal''. These w ...
'' in late 1995. They had planned to do another
first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...
as their next game. However, when Jones saw the first screenshots from
id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and ar ...
's '' Quake'', he became concerned that Bungie's new game would be too similar. As such, he approached his colleagues with the question: "What do you think about having this world with 100 guys fighting 100 other guys in 3D?" His idea was to bring Bungie's experience in 3D
action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform gam ...
s to a
real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...
game. The team agreed their new shooter was developing along lines too similar to ''Quake'', and, as such, they abandoned the project, and switched focus to what ultimately became ''Myth''. Dubbed "The Giant Bloody War Game", initial inspirations were films such as
Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...
's ''
Braveheart ''Braveheart'' is a 1995 American historical drama film directed and produced by, and starring Mel Gibson. Gibson portrays Sir William Wallace, a late-13th century Scottish warrior who led the Scots in the First War of Scottish Independence ag ...
'' and literature such as
Glen Cook Glen Charles Cook (born July 9, 1944) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction, known for ''The Black Company'' and ''Garrett P.I.'' fantasy series. Biography Cook was born in New York City.The Black Company ''The Black Company'' is a series of dark fantasy books written by American author Glen Cook. The series combines elements of epic fantasy as it follows an elite mercenary unit, the Black Company, through roughly forty years of its approximate ...
''. Doug Zartman, Bungie's director of
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
and one of the game's writers, explained: "We wanted to capture the feeling that you get watching large groups of people clashing on the open field". He was also eager to differentiate the game from standard RTS games: Once they had decided on the basic
game mechanics In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide the player's actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, a ludeme is an element of play like the L-shap ...
, which ultimately became known as "
real-time tactics Real-time tactics (RTT)(Article at IGN discussing their perception of RTS and related genres as of 2006. RTT is discussed as a new and not yet established genre from the publisher's perspective, so currently all RTT possible titles are still con ...
", they drew up a list of elements they wanted to avoid (RTS
cliché A cliché ( or ) is an element of an artistic work, saying, or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being weird or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was consi ...
s, references to
Middle-earth Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is t ...
, allusions to the
Arthurian legend The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...
, any narrative involving "little boys coming of age and saving the world") and those they wanted to incorporate ("any ideas that contributed to the visual realism of the game", such as a 3D landscape,
polygonal In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two tog ...
buildings, particle-based weather, and battlefields littered with body parts). They were also determined to include a robust online multiplayer mode as a key gameplay feature. Work on the game began in January 1996, with a major early decision being to develop and release the game simultaneously for both
Mac OS Two major famlies of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded "M ...
and
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
. To date, Bungie's only Windows game had been a port of '' Marathon 2: Durandal'', with which they had been unhappy, and they were determined ''The Fallen Lords'' be a genuine cross-platform release. As such, 90% of the game's
source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
was platform-independent, with 5% written for Windows
subroutine In computer programming, a function or subroutine is a sequence of program instructions that performs a specific task, packaged as a unit. This unit can then be used in programs wherever that particular task should be performed. Functions may ...
s and 5% for Mac-specific functionality. All of the game's
data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...
was stored in platform-independent
data file A data file is a computer file which stores data to be used by a computer application or system, including input and output data. A data file usually does not contain instructions or code to be executed (that is, a computer program). Most of the ...
s called "tags", which were automatically
byte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...
-swapped when necessary and accessed via a cross-platform
file manager A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...
. Although ''The Fallen Lords'' employs a fully 3D terrain, with 3D polygonal buildings, the characters are 2D sprites. To bring the 3D environment and the 2D characters together, the team developed four separate
programming tool A programming tool or software development tool is a computer program that software developers use to create, debug, maintain, or otherwise support other programs and applications. The term usually refers to relatively simple programs, that can b ...
s; "Tag Editor" (edited the
constants Constant or The Constant may refer to: Mathematics * Constant (mathematics), a non-varying value * Mathematical constant, a special number that arises naturally in mathematics, such as or Other concepts * Control variable or scientific const ...
in the cross-platform data files), "Extractor" (handled the 2D sprites and the sequencing of their
animations Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...
), "Loathing" (the
map editor In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, stage, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively-increasing difficulty t ...
), and "Fear" (dealt with the 3D polygonal
models A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...
such as houses, pillars, and walls). Of the four programs, Jones explained: By November 1996, Bungie had a demo with rudimentary
gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pla ...
in place. In an effort to create media buzz, they took the demo to several gaming magazines. Speaking in 2000, Doug Zartman explained the
physics engine A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, such as rigid body dynamics (including collision detection), soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics, of use in the domains of computer gr ...
was a major factor in the game even at this early stage: ''The Fallen Lords'' originally supported both
software rendering Software rendering is the process of generating an image from a model by means of computer software. In the context of computer graphics rendering, software rendering refers to a rendering process that is not dependent upon graphics hardware AS ...
and
3dfx 3dfx Interactive was an American technology company headquartered in San Jose, California, founded in 1994, that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units, and later, video cards. It was a pioneer in the field from the l ...
's
Glide Glide may refer to: * Gliding flight, to fly without thrust Computing *Glide API, a 3D graphics interface *Glide OS, a web desktop *Glide (software), an instant video messenger *Glide, a molecular docking software by Schrödinger (company), Schr ...
hardware acceleration. Soon after it was released, Bungie released a v1.1 upgrade
patch Patch or Patches may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Patch Johnson, a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'' * Patch (''My Little Pony''), a toy * "Patches" (Dickey Lee song), 1962 * "Patches" (Chairmen of the Board song) ...
, which added support for Rendition's
Redline Redline refers to the maximum engine speed at which an internal combustion engine or traction motor and its components are designed to operate without causing damage to the components themselves or other parts of the engine. The redline of an en ...
, and 3dfx's Voodoo Rush.


''Soulblighter''

'' Myth II: Soulblighter'' went into development immediately after ''The Fallen Lords'' proved a commercial success. One of Bungie's main goals with the sequel was to include gameplay aspects and game mechanics which they had wanted to feature in ''The Fallen Lords'', but had been unable to implement due to time constraints. Of the initial planning for ''Soulblighter'',
Alex Seropian Alexander Seropian (born 1969) is an American video game developer, one of the initial founders and later president of Bungie, the developer of the ''Marathon'', ''Myth'', and ''Halo'' video game series. Seropian became interested in computer pro ...
, Bungie's co-founder, said: New to ''Soulblighter'' were moving 3D models within the gaming world, something none of Bungie staff had ever created before. For example, the opening
level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights *Spirit level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *Canal pound or level *Regr ...
features a fully functional windmill, and a later level features a drawbridge that closes as the level begins, and which the player must then lower so their army can gain access to a castle. Although the original game featured the same kind of 3D polygonal models, none of them moved, and implementing this feature proved to be one of the biggest challenges the team encountered in making the game. Another challenge also involved something not seen in the first game; a level set indoors. For this level, which is set in a large castle, the AI had to be rewritten as two enemy units could be right beside one another but not be able to see each other because of a wall between them. Previously, two units standing beside one another would automatically attack. Writing this new code into the AI
scripting language A scripting language or script language is a programming language that is used to manipulate, customize, and automate the facilities of an existing system. Scripting languages are usually interpreted at runtime rather than compiled. A scripting ...
proved especially difficult for the
programmers A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...
. In terms of the game's graphics, as with ''The Fallen Lords'', each level in ''Soulblighter'' is constructed on a
polygonal mesh In 3D computer graphics and solid modeling, a polygon mesh is a collection of , s and s that defines the shape of a polyhedral object. The faces usually consist of triangles (triangle mesh), quadrilaterals (quads), or other simple convex polyg ...
. However, the mesh used in the sequel is four times finer than in the original, and hence the graphics are more detailed and smoother. Also like the first game, although the game world itself is fully 3D, the characters populating each level are 2D sprites. The sprites in ''Soulblighter'' have many more frames of animation than those in ''The Fallen Lords'', and so move much more smoothly. Explaining why the team stuck with the concept of using 2D sprites in a 3D terrain,
producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
Tuncer Deniz stated: ''Soulblighter'' originally supported software rendering, all 3dfx and Rendition
GPU A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobil ...
s, and any
graphics cards A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or mistakenly GPU) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device, such as a computer moni ...
that supported
Direct3D Direct3D is a graphics application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D uses hardware a ...
for Windows and
QuickDraw 3D QuickDraw 3D, or QD3D for short, is a 3D graphics API developed by Apple Inc. (then Apple Computer, Inc.) starting in 1995, originally for their Macintosh computers, but delivered as a cross-platform system. QD3D was separated into two layers. ...
for Mac. The game also supported
3D audio 3D audio effects are a group of sound effects that manipulate the sound produced by stereo speakers, surround-sound speakers, speaker-arrays, or headphones. This frequently involves the virtual placement of sound sources anywhere in three-dimensio ...
, specifically
Aureal Semiconductor Aureal Semiconductor Inc. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid-late 1990s for their PC sound card technologies including A3D and the Vortex (a line of audio ASICs.) The company was the reincarnation of the, at t ...
's
A3D Aureal Semiconductor Inc. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid-late 1990s for their PC sound card technologies including A3D and the Vortex (a line of audio ASICs.) The company was the reincarnation of the, at t ...
and
Creative Labs Creative Technology Ltd. is a Singaporean multinational technology company headquartered with overseas offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Dublin, and Silicon Valley (where in the US it is known as Creative Labs). The principal activities of the compa ...
' EAX. When ''Soulblighter'' was released, Bungie included the "Fear" and "Loathing" programming tools, which allowed players to create new units and maps. Bungie themselves strongly encouraged the creativity of their fan base in using these tools. For example, in April 1999, they issued a
press release A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...
regarding the
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
total conversion Video game modding (short for "modification") is the process of alteration by players or fans of one or more aspects of a video game, such as how it looks or behaves, and is a sub-discipline of general modding. Mods may range from small changes an ...
''Myth II: Recon'', saying: "This kind of plug-in was exactly what the ''Myth II'' tools were intended to inspire, and is an excellent sign that ''Myth'' mapmakers are taking this game world in fascinating new directions".


''The Wolf Age''

In 1999, Bungie sold 19.9% of their
shares In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...
to
Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal g ...
. In June 2000, Bungie was purchased outright by
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
, with Take-Two acquiring the ''
Oni An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess i ...
'' and ''Myth''
intellectual properties Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
. '' Myth III: The Wolf Age'' was announced by Take-Two subsidiary
Gathering of Developers Gathering of Developers, Inc. (shortened as G.O.D. or GodGames, and branded as Gathering between 2003 and 2004) was an American video game publisher based in New York City. Founded by Mike Wilson and associates in January 1998 and originally b ...
in January 2001, when they revealed
MumboJumbo MumboJumbo, LLC was an independent developer of games for personal computers, game consoles and mobile devices. MumboJumbo Mobile, LLC publishes entertainment software for Android and iOS devices. History The company was founded in January 200 ...
were developing the game for Windows and Mac OS. ''The Wolf Age'' would be MumboJumbo's first game. Addressing the issue of remaining faithful to the two previous games whilst still introducing new elements to the franchise, MumboJumbo president Mark Dochtermann explained the developers did not intend to reinvent the series' basic gameplay, although they were keen to try out new things: "There's a lot left to explore in the ''Myth'' franchise even before we go in a somewhat different route. Although, we are taking a ewroute in terms of adding 3D acceleration, 3D models, and doing stuff with the terrain engine and physics that are still way beyond what the other RTS games are doing right now". Similarly, producer and lead designer Scott Campbell stated: "We intend to pay respect to ''Myth'' and its fans. We don't care to change the whole appeal of the game just so we can call it ours". With this in mind, MumboJumbo hired three members of ''Soulblighter''s modding community to work on the game. Although initially hired to work on technical aspects, they became invaluable to MumboJumbo in terms of writing the storyline. Executive producer Mike Donges explained that "they're our ''Myth'' lore experts, so if we try to put in something new, they have the ability to eject it. Although ''The Wolf Age'' was built using ''Soulblighter'' source code, the developers made significant changes, the single biggest of which was that everything in ''The Wolf Age'' is rendered in
OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardwa ...
3D, including the characters and all environmental objects. ''The Wolf Age'' was the first ''Myth'' game to feature fully 3D characters, rather than 2D sprites in a 3D environment. Of the move to full 3D, Dochtermann points out that the 3D engine allows for things not possible in the previous games: "There's some very cool
kinematics Kinematics is a subfield of physics, developed in classical mechanics, that describes the Motion (physics), motion of points, Physical object, bodies (objects), and systems of bodies (groups of objects) without considering the forces that cause ...
stuff. So when you have explosions, and when your units move through the world, the trees will respond. And not just blowing them up. You'll see the shock waves from explosions, and you're affecting the environment a lot more. It's a lot more realistic". The new game engine also supported
real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...
shadows A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, o ...
and
dynamic lighting Computer graphics lighting is the collection of techniques used to simulate light in computer graphics scenes. While lighting techniques offer flexibility in the level of detail and functionality available, they also operate at different levels of ...
, as well as being capable of blending six to seven different
texture Texture may refer to: Science and technology * Surface texture, the texture means smoothness, roughness, or bumpiness of the surface of an object * Texture (roads), road surface characteristics with waves shorter than road roughness * Texture (c ...
layers, depending on how close the camera is to the action. Regarding the programming tools used to create the game, MumboJumbo initially began by using Bungie's "Fear" and "Loathing". However, they never intended to use them for very long, with the plan always being to develop their own tool. Speaking a few months into development, Campbell stated: "We are planning on doing a merger of the tools later on ..we're actually making tools right now that we will be using for ''Myth III'' that are not only cross-platform compatible, but will also allow you to do all the neat new things, use all the new scripting commands and the new models and 3D units and stuff that we're using in this game". The new tool was eventually called "Vengeance". At the E3 event in May 2001, MumboJumbo promised that Vengeance would ship with the game. ''The Wolf Age''
went gold A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...
on October 17, 2001, completing a development cycle of only ten months, a relatively fast time to develop a major video game. Soon before the game's release, ''
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...
''s Jim Preston wrote he was skeptical as to whether the developer had been given enough time to satisfactorily complete the game. On November 16, lead programmer Andrew Meggs posted on Mythvillage.org that the entire ''Myth III'' PC team had been laid off by MumboJumbo the same day the game had been released, November 2. In a post titled "Some ugly, but honest truths", Meggs wrote: Meggs explained the team knew there were problems with the Windows version of the game that needed addressing, but, as they had been fired, they were unable to do so. He stated they had been working on a patch to fix many of these problems when they were let go, and he was unsure if this patch would be released. He also acknowledged that many of the criticisms regarding bugs in the game would have been addressed by the patch. The same day Meggs made his post, November 16, MumboJumbo closed their offices in
Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...
, with a view to consolidate their resources in their
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
headquarters. Three days later, MumboJumbo denied the ''Myth III'' team had been laid off, saying all staff members had been invited to work in the Dallas office. They also announced the patch Meggs had spoken of would be released within the week. On December 19, Mark Dochtermann promised the patch would be released before Christmas, along with Vengeance, which had not been shipped with the game. The patch was never officially released by MumboJumbo.


End-of-support

After Bungie released the ''Total Codex'' bundle in 1999, which contained ''The Fallen Lords'' v1.3, ''Soulblighter'' v1.3 and the ''Soulblighter''
expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game or collectible card game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, characters, or an ...
, ''Myth II: Chimera'', they ceased working to develop the game's source code, as Microsoft wanted them to concentrate on ''
Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...
''. The official
Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (progr ...
''Myth'' servers were closed in February 2002.


Community-driven development

Despite the official end-of-life, the ''Myth'' series continued to have an active online fanbase, particularly ''Soulblighter''. The first organised group of programmers,
artists An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, the ...
and coders from the game's community were known as MythDevelopers, who asked for, and were granted access to the
source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
so as to continue its development. With the blessing of Take-Two, Bungie released their entire archive of ''Myth''-related materials to MythDevelopers, including the source code, artwork, all creative files (such as maps, 3D models, scripts, etc.), and documentation, over 80 GB of material. MythDevelopers were also granted access to the source code for ''The Wolf Age''. Bungie also
open sourced Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open ...
their ''Myth''
metaserver {{unreferenced, date=July 2017 A MetaServer is a central broker providing a collated view (similar to a database view) for dispersed web resources. It is used to collect data from various web services, web pages, databases, or other online resour ...
source code in 2002. MythDevelopers used this material to improve and further develop the games. Although their initial focus was on the bug-ridden release version of ''The Wolf Age'', they also worked to update the first two games to newer
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
s on both Mac and PC, fix bugs, and create
unofficial patch An unofficial patch is a patch for a piece of software, created by a third party such as a user community without the involvement of the original developer. Similar to an ordinary patch, it alleviates bugs or shortcomings. Unofficial patches do no ...
es to enhance both the games themselves and the mapmaking tools. They also developed their own library, dubbed the Myth Core Library, which provided networking, input routines, and other low-level functions. This enabled MythDevelopers to avoid the necessity of licensing any external libraries, and instead allowed them to develop everything in-house. This was part of their deal with Take-Two, as they couldn't incorporate anything into the games which they would be unable to give Take-Two the rights to should the company ever ask for the source code back; all modifications remained the intellectual property of Take-Two, who were free to use them in a future commercial version of ''Myth'', if they ever wanted to re-release an upgraded version of one or more of the games, or incorporate the modifications into the development of a new ''Myth'' game. In April 2003, MythDevelopers released a v1.1 patch for ''The Wolf Age'' for both Windows and Mac. Fixing over forty gameplay and stability issues, and addressing numerous bugs, the patch also included new multiplayer maps and gameplay modes. MythDevelopers disbanded in December 2003, with Project Magma becoming the main development group for ''The Fallen Lords'' and ''Soulblighter'', and FlyingFlip Studios for ''The Wolf Age''. Magma's final patch for ''The Fallen Lords'' was v1.5, released in 2005, which added support for OpenGL 1.3 for both PC and Mac. FlyingFlip's final patch for ''The Wolf Age'' was v1.3, released in 2004, which introduced multiple gameplay and stability improvements, as well as bug fixes, and performance enhancements. FlyingFlip disbanded in 2007. ''Soulblighter'' received considerably more attention from the modding community than either ''The Fallen Lords'' or ''The Wolf Age''. Between 2003 and 2013, Project Magma released multiple major patches, each of which included fixes for bugs, graphical problems, gameplay problems, and interface issues, as well as improve the Fear and Loathing tools and the online multiplayer mode. However, each patch also tended to feature one or more "major" enhancement. For example, v1.3.2, developed in association with MythDevelopers in 2003, allowed ''Soulblighter'' to run natively under
OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
. Also developed in association with MythDevelopers in 2003 was v1.4, which introduced OpenGL support for the OS X version and allowed the player to play ''Soulblighter'' with ''Fallen Lords'' style gameplay (dubbed v''TFL''). In 2004, Magma released their first standalone patch, v1.5, which was originally intended as a minor clean-up patch for some of the problems introduced in v1.4. For example, v1.4 broke a number of fan-developed plug-ins. Additionally, as the developers did not have access to ''The Fallen Lords'' source code when designing v''TFL'', the feature was unreliable. Magma's plan with v1.5 was to get the gameplay and plug-in compatibility back to the standard of Bungie's last official version of the game, but retain the v1.4 features that worked. During development of v1.5, they also gained access to ''The Fallen Lords'' source code, and so completely rewrote the v''TFL'' option. Magma's final patch, v1.8, was released in 2013, and added several new game modes to multiplayer gaming, improved the usage of
CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...
resources, added a new texture decompression code which loads sprite frames twice as fast as before, enhanced both the texture mapping and the
pixel shader In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene - a process known as ''shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of spec ...
, and included (for the first time in a Magma patch)
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
-specific improvements.


Community servers

Prior to disbanding, MythDevelopers created and operated PlayMyth.net, the most popular online ''Myth'' server after the official servers were taken offline. Although built using the ''Soulblighter'' server, PlayMyth could also run both ''The Fallen Lords'' and ''The Wolf Age'', which was developed by MumboJumbo using a network gameplay system designed to run on
GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...
rather than Bungie. PlayMyth went offline in October 2007 after it was repeatedly hacked, with the most popular servers becoming MariusNet.com and GateofStorms.net. MariusNet had been online since just prior to Bungie's ''Myth'' servers going offline, and was officially approved by Bungie. The original impetus behind the project was as a temporary replacement for ''Myth'' players in case the original servers were shut down, which had been rumored for some time. The Bungie servers had not supported ''The Fallen Lords'' since November 2001, and the community believed the servers would soon close for ''Soulblighter'' as well. When ''The Fallen Lords'' servers closed in November, the only way to play a multiplayer game was via a
LAN Lan or LAN may also refer to: Science and technology * Local asymptotic normality, a fundamental property of regular models in statistics * Longitude of the ascending node, one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in sp ...
or
AppleTalk AppleTalk is a discontinued proprietary suite of networking protocols developed by Apple Computer for their Macintosh computers. AppleTalk includes a number of features that allow local area networks to be connected with no prior setup or the n ...
, and MariusNet was created as a Bungie "emulator", which, like PlayMyth, supported all three ''Myth'' games, and thus gave players a way to play ''The Fallen Lords'' online. At the time, Bungie had not open sourced the metaserver source code, so creating a network for ''The Fallen Lords'' was accomplished via
reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
. Dave Carlile, the main programmer of the server, explained: MariusNet closed in 2014 when the server company shut down, and the hardware was damaged whilst being moved to its new location. GateofStorms, which was created by Project Magma, and only supports ''Soulblighter'' v1.8 (released by Magma in 2013), remains active, and continues to host individual games and tournaments.


Reception

All three main games in the ''Myth'' series received positive reviews, especially ''The Fallen Lords'' and ''Soulblighter'', which were universally acclaimed. Although ''The Wolf Age'' was generally well reviewed, it was seen as considerably inferior to the two previous games.
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
's Michael E. Ryan wrote of ''The Fallen Lords'' that it "can claim its place among the best strategy games on the market", calling it "one of the most impressive games you'll see this year", and "a truly remarkable real-time strategy game".
Game Revolution ''GameRevolution'' (formerly ''Game-Revolution'') is a gaming website created in 1996. Based in Berkeley, California, the site includes reviews, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as webcomics, screenshots ...
's Calvin Hubble called it "one of the most impressive looking strategy games to hit the market". Ryan called ''Soulblighter'' "as good as a computer game can possibly be" and "one of the best games to be released this year". Hubble called it "both one of the best sequels to hit the scene and one of the finest titles on the RTS market".
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
's Tal Blevins said the game "lives up to (and surpasses) all of the hype surrounding t. IGN's Dan Adams wrote of ''The Wolf Age'': "Fans of the series shouldn't be disappointed by MumboJumbo's effort to follow in the mighty footsteps that Bungie left behind". GameSpot's Sam Parker wrote that " ''Myth III''s single-player game represents the best the ''Myth'' series has to offer". However, he was critical of the absence of many promised multiplayer features, the absence of the Vengeance mapmaking tool, and compatibility issues with
Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...
.
GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...
's William Abner wrote: " ''The Wolf Age'' isn't a complete product. It's close. And parts of it are just as fun, if not more so, than the earlier games, but a laundry list of bugs, hardware glitches, and severe multiplayer issues keep the game from reaching its potential". He too was critical of the absence of Vengeance and of multiplayer mode.


Sales and awards

According to Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian, ''The Fallen Lords'' cost roughly $2 million to produce and market, by far Bungie's most expensive game up to that time, and as such, they needed it to be financially successful, especially as it was their first original PC game. The game did prove to be a commercial success, selling over 350,000 units worldwide at roughly $40 per unit, earning the company $14 million, and becoming Bungie's most successful game thus far. By 2000, the game had over 100,000 people registered with online accounts at Bungie for multiplayer games. The success of the game also helped Bungie rank #101 in '' Inc.''s 1998 list of the 500 fastest growing private corporations in North America. Primarily due to the success of ''The Fallen Lords'', Bungie's profits had increased by 2,228% from 1993 to 1997. ''The Fallen Lords'' also won numerous awards, including "Real-Time Strategy Game of the Year" from ''
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...
'', "Strategy Game of the Year" from ''
Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...
'', and "Game of the Year" from both ''
Computer Games Strategy Plus ''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...
'' and ''
Macworld ''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macint ...
''. ''Online Game Review'' named it one of the fifty greatest games ever made. ''Soulblighter'' considerably outsold ''The Fallen Lords''. In North America, pre-orders for the game reached 140,000 units. When v1.1 was released on January 7, day one sales reached roughly the same number of units the original sold worldwide.


References


External links


Project Magma
{{Bungie Fantasy games Classic Mac OS games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer online games Myth (video game series) Real-time tactics video games Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1997 Windows games