Like other everlasting gaming communities out there, the one surrounding the Myth series continues to live on far beyond the expectations of the game's creators. You see, with games like Myth that feature such unique characteristics and addictive elements, community members have trouble finding other games comparable to it when the flavor runs out. A group of developers, whom we won't name, attempted to create a 3rd installment of Myth in order to feed that large hunger for a new Myth title. Though not entirely the developers fault, the game failed to satisfy veteran players as well as new players. Post release, players returned to the familiar platforms of Myth:TFL and Myth2. Despite M3 using the same engine as the previous titles and being graphically enhanced, the game-play was very far from favorable. With people moving on to newer things, young people growing up, Bungie's closing of their free online server (and purchase by Micro$oft), and a declining number of new players, the community began to shrink into a tight-knit community of friends and hardcore competitors.

The community is not dead, however. Custom maps and solo/coop scenarios are still being made, tournaments still get organized, and some veteran players return on occasion to play with old friends. With the advent of free gaming servers PlayMyth.net (no longer available) and Marius and new advancements in mapmaking, new players have even began to discover the greatness that is Myth and Myth2. You may thank the folks at Project Magma for the product we have today.

So, where do we come in? We are attempting to do what Bungie did when they released Myth 2. Our goal is to create a new addition to the Myth series, while not leaving out the important formulas that make Myth so unique, but also adding in new elements to the mix. We are working to improve and advance on an already successful medium, to ultimately lead up a modern version of a now classic game.

Just about every gamer over the age of 20 has experience dating back to the Super NIntendo days. Not every gamer takes gaming serious enough to attempt to turn it into a trade or even, a career. When Myth2 was released, Bungie included a set of tools for users to easily create their own maps or edit pre-existing maps, models, units, etc. The tools allowed for people to create some stunning solo scenarios and introduce players to new challenges. Using these same tools, and some of the 3rd party software released by community members, we were able to begin work on our massive project. Not that we are looking to release another TC, but to work on the same platform as a sort of sketchpad.

The background of this project is a story itself. It all dates back to when Renwood was in highschool!

From the man himself...

Let me start by saying I was studying game engines and editors back in high school (1996) and have never stopped. Since then I have worked on many development teams for user created video games for several years.

Now for a little story from LONG ago. Waaaay back in the day, I would Bug every Bungie employee I could with marketing ideas for Myth related products. Like action figures (I'm a sculptor), a big budget Myth movie, a comic book series or board game or another great Bungie myth computer game. This was back when some of them still played on Bungie net. Though the names of all the people I talked to are lost to the mists of time now, I do remember having the same conversations with Ferrex and Mordia, about why Bungie wouldn't make a Myth movie. They both told me: "Nobody in the company has that job of writing screenplays, and that if one was ever made, it would be because somebody like you wrote it and submitted it to the Bungie marketing department to see if they thought they could sell it." Those words stuck with me.

I spent a few years toying with the idea of how the Myth TFL and Myth2 stories could be made into a script for a movie. But, I could never figure it out. Those stories seemed to take place over too much time and have too many people involved in them with battles all over the place. Lots of which we never saw at all, but only heard about second hand. The narrator always seemed to jump around in his tales of what was going on where and to whom. It seemed too random or wide spread or missing too many parts for me to nail down a concept of what a Myth movie would include or not include in the story. All I could think of was turning the best missions from the game into stories for the script. I wasn't happy with this though, as it would be just live action versions of the maps/missions and would be very segmented. So much of the story is told through narration alone and often only referred to in the Myth games. So I don't believe you could only show what took place on the maps.

I, in fact, gave up this "Myth Movie" notion for a while. Much later on I then realized how it could be done! I couldn't figure out how to write a Myth story for a screenplay based on Bungie's TFL and SB story-lines. I could, however, figure out how to have a Myth universe based story for a screenplay. How? If I started from scratch and wrote an ALL NEW STORY! One That takes place in a different time in Myth history!

We have enriched the game-play, level of action, and interactivity that can be had in a session of Myth far beyond what Bungie themselves were able to achieve. Be it due to their 1-year development cycles for the first 2 Myth games, lack of time to make said projects, or due to the fact of what their vision of what a "huge bloody war game" wasn't. At that stage in the late 90's, such a task was too much for the slow computers around at that time. Thus many of the things Bungie wanted to do with Myth never came to light. Don't be mistaken, the Bungie made Myth games are the greatest online games ever created! Why else would we all still be playing them 10 years later?!

Thanks is owed for the hard work these last few years by the noble guys at Project Magma. They've given the community great new map making tools, mod developer features, new engine enhancements (engine optimizations, streamlining, bug fixes, gameplay changes, etc). All of which has given us (The M4 Dev Team) the ability to make bigger, bloodier, and cooler things. Not to mention, we've been able to create our more interactive and action packed vision that is the Myth universe during the Wind Age.

Myth4, like Myth3, will be a prequel, story-wise. We don't want to spoil anything before it gets released, but tidbits about the story will be noted from time-to-time. Be sure to stay tuned to our website.

With new units, and classic units with new abilities, players will be introduced to an environment that is new but familiar on a level that they have enjoyed for years. Myth should never fail to satisfy that unique feeling players get while blowing up their enemies (or friends) in a multiplayer game, and the same goes for single-player scenarios.