The folks from MumboJumbo are occupying a trailer at The Promised Lot, Gathering of Developers’ famed off-site presence at this week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). It’s there that they’re giving folks the first look at Myth III: The Wolf Age, the newest real-time strategy game to carry the Myth name.
In creating this prequel to the first two Myth games, designer Scott Campbell said that he went back and carefully studied the history developed by the game’s original creator, Bungie Software. They’ve woven the story line for this game into the already detailed back story developed by the first two games’ original team.
Myth III: The Wolf Age is set a millennium before the events in the previous games. The story details the exploits of Connacht the Wolf, the man who would one day unite all humanity as emperor.
The basic gameplay hasn’t changed — it’s still a squad-based real-time strategy game — and it will look immediately familiar to fans of the first two games. But rather than using sprite-based graphics, Myth III incorporates a completely 3D environment. Campbell said that each character is modeled with a high polygon count, and the ground’s texture map shows off a terrific level of detail. Objects cast realistic shadows; ambient elements on the terrain like trees can be deformed through explosions or other incidental damage.
Myth II introduced details now standard in this class of game — ambient life, for example — like critters who run around the landscape while you move your troops around. Myth III expands on that, as well. Trees move and sway with the wind. Artist Craig Goodman said that he’s been able to do a lot with very few polygons, and the attention to detail pays off.
The game features 25 levels and dozens of units. Myth fans will go toe-to-toe with familiar baddies, along with new creatures like Myrkridian Pack-Mages, Trow Iron Warriors, Ghol Priests and more.
Netplay hasn’t been neglected, either. The game will ship with at least five different netplay maps, and Campbell suggested that the development team is working on new forms of netplay to enhance the experience, as well. And, as with previous Myth games, cross-platform multiplayer support will be included.
Mod fans will be happy to know that MumboJumbo is taking third-party add-ons very seriously. The tool used to create the game — Vengeance — will work identically on both platforms, Windows and Mac OS, and will be included in the box at the time the game ships.
Recently Take-Two Interactive Software and Infogrames announced a deal that will result in Myth III: The Wolf Age’s publication for the Mac specifically by MacSoft. MumboJumbo is leaving it to MacSoft to make the final decision on Mac OS X support for the game. But for now, they’re targeting a 400MHz machine with a RAGE 128 graphics card as their minimum system requirement.
MumboJumbo has a core of serious Mac fans, though. They plan to deliver Mac and PC versions for manufacturing on the same date when the game is ready to ship later this year.