It was a dark and stormy night....
Wait, that's not exactly how a studio visit and game preview is supposed to begin. Let's try that again, shall we?
I recently had the privilege of visiting Sin City, Nevada for a visit to Petroglyph, developers of the upcoming mythology-based game, Mytheon. Just for the record, it was indeed a dark story day with epic rain falling for the duration of my visit. Enough rain fell, in fact, that my flight home that evening was cancelled. Go figure...
I spent my first hour with Dustin Mesa, True Games' representative on site. He filled me in on much of Petroglyph's progress with Mytheon and treated us both to a much-needed Starbucks to take the chill off. Then we headed to the Petroglyph offices.
For those not in the know, Petroglyph started up in 2003. The founding partners had all been employed by Westwood Studios until such time as Westwood opted to close their Las Vegas operations and move everyone to Los Angeles. The decision was a bad one for Westwood when Mike Legg, Joe Bostik, and Steve Tall moved out on their own and formed Petroglyph and stayed in sunny Las Vegas. Petroglyph founder, Mike Legg, spent a huge amount of time talking with me, squiring me about the offices introducing me to everyone and telling lots of great stories about the early days of Petroglyph. Petroglyph is definitely in this gig for the long haul and the Petro-staff's enthusiasm has definitely rubbed off on True Games. This is the real deal.
Petroglyph employees, 100+ as of my visit, have an impressive work history on a surprising number of games including Panzer General, Blade Runner, the Command & Conquer series, Star Wars: Empire at War and lots more. Experience makes a difference in game development and the collective experience of Petroglyph's employees shows, particularly in their latest endeavor, Mytheon.
During my visit, I had the opportunity to play Mytheon under the watchful eyes of both producer Randy King and development lead Chris Rubyor. Also on hand was publisher True Games' Dustin Mesa. Other developers flitted in and out of the conference room set up for my date with Petroglyph, each entering with a pleased smile aimed at the large screen occupying one end of the room where Mytheon was being shown in all its gorgeous glory.
Mytheon has been developed to be a free to play game from the get-go. That's right: FREE TO PLAY. But developers want you to know that their goal, amply demonstrated, I might add, is to create a Triple A game with regard to graphics, story, game play and more.
Essentially, Mytheon is a "trading card game" with ultra-cool graphics and tons of fun. But Mytheon is also a true hybrid of action-RPGs and strategy-based games. There is a lot to like for fans of all three genres. It's very difficult to categorize Mytheon but suffice it to say that Mytheon is definitely groundbreaking.
Getting into the game is very easy and the idea of the gameplay remains simple. But it also offers a lot to those who love to micromanage every aspect of a game. But more on micromanagement later.
Mytheon's initial foray begins in Ancient Greece. Mythology lovers (and even those who aren't) will run into many familiar creatures such as Medusa, the Cyclops, Poseidon and many more. By basing the game on mythology, Petroglyph has nearly unlimited expansion opportunities using stories from around the world. In fact, one of the player archetypes is the Eidolon with clear hints to Egyptian lore, a fact Petroglyph acknowledges as the next area of exploration.
So, what about the game? It looks and feels much like Diablo so head to page 2 to find out more!
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