As many of you know, some pages were deleted from the Myth WikiPedia section for not having sources, and the admin who deleted it also made regular 'undo' recovery impossible. A lot of well written information was lost, and nowhere else to be found on the net.
Thankfully, I have been able to work with another Wikipedia Admin (who doesn't suck) and he let me retrieve the lost information. I am posting it here because if I were to repost them, they would just get deleted again since no works were cited. If anyone wants to take the time to properly add sources, then it would be okay to repost it. However, until then I will post the raw Wiki information here, so there will be no losing it again to time.
Remember this is the raw Wikipedia code post, so if u copied and pasted this in a new Wiki page, it would properly format. The information is also outdated to the time the page was deleted, June and July 2007 respectively.
(Reply 1 = Myth (computer game) 3rd Party Projects and Personalities page)
(Reply 2 = Myth (Computer Game) Development History page)
Deleted Myth Wiki Articles Recovered
Deleted Myth Wiki Articles Recovered
Last edited by GodzFire on Tue Apr 20, 2010 1:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Deleted Myth Wiki Articles Recovered
- Myth (computer game) 3rd Party Projects and Personalities -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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{{prod2}}
{{notability|date=November 2006}}
==Notable Third-party projects for Myth II==
====Partial and total conversions====
''Projects with several completely new units are considered to be '''partial conversions'''. Even maps with completely new unitsets usually used recycled models, scenery, textures, and sounds; only a few "true" total conversions were ever made. Due to the difficulty of importing new unit graphics into ''Myth'', only a small portion of the thousands of releases featured them.''
*'''Chimera''': The official Myth II expansion pack; its aim was to be a challenge to people who had mastered the main Myth II game.
*'''The Seventh God''': The largest and most expansive project in terms of its long solo campaign and its new graphics, sound and music.
*'''Homeland''': One of the earlier breakthrough single-player projects.
*'''Jinn''': A true total conversion, set in a futuristic [[post-apocalyptic]] alien world.
*'''Bushido''': A total conversion based upon feudal Japan.
*'''Leggo My Myth''': A humorous plugin that replaced Myth units with [[Lego]] equivalents.
*'''Civil War''' and '''1861: Civil War''': Two separate total conversions based on the [[American Civil War]]. A third plugin, [http://projectmagma.net/bg.shtml '''Blue and Grey'''], was later released with new units and gameplay.
*'''WW2: Recon''': World War II inspired maps featuring modern military units and weapons were, in their day, arguably the most popular Myth maps played online, particularly in ranked play.
*'''WW2: Titans''': Inspired by WW2: Recon, this map-pack was not played a lot, but the unit tagset was used in all future WW2 maps.
*'''The Wild West''': A total conversion set in the [[19th century]] [[United States|American]] [[Wild West|West]].
*'''Discovery''': Multiplayer map that added some new [[medieval]]-themed units to play with.
*'''Sisters of the Blade''': Myth meets [[Xena]].
*'''The Legend of Gor-Ash''': Single-player project exploring the enmity between two warring races of ''Myth''.
*'''Green Berets''': A true Total Conversion released commercially by Take Two. Set during the [[Vietnam War]].
*'''MythChess''': An adaptation of the game of chess to the Myth II engine.
====Outstanding non-conversions====
''The ''Myth'' engine allowed for plenty of creativity apart from unit graphics. The following projects were all notable for their beauty, coherence, creativity, innovation, large scale, game scripting, humor, popularity, enjoyability, or some combination of these.''
*'''Mazzarin's Demise''': A cooperative map series with a plot set in the shadowy past of Myth. Released for both Myth and Myth II.
*'''Dorfball''': A comical sports-oriented map with gameplay resembling [[dodgeball]].
*'''Fetchball''': A comical sports-oriented map with gameplay resembling [[soccer]] or [[hockey]].
*'''Axis vs. Allies''': A modern warfare TC based on WW2 units.
*'''Coming of the Dark''': A series of levels themed as fan-fiction prequels to the events of ''Myth''.
*'''Under Myrkridian Standards''': Award-winning solo campaign.
*'''Throne of the Lich King''': Puzzle-based solo map.
*Several plugins were released allowing one to play through the Myth campaign from the point of view of the Dark forces) including: "Myth II: Broken Cycle" and the minimalistically named "Solo Campaign")
*'''The Northlands''': A simple 'defend the fort' map with units from many total conversions.
*'''Ghol Rugby''': A Myth: The Fallen Lords map-pack, which simulated Rugby.
*'''Bolo''': Myth 2 unitset and maps that convert Myth 2 into a version of the 2D Macintosh computer tank warfare game "[[Bolo (computer game)|Bolo]]".
*'''Giant Fighting Grounds''': Multiplayer map featuring nothing but Giant Myrkridia. Highly addictive due to its style of play, consisting of throwing bombs at opposing Giants' feet (and dodging them), as well as risking one-vs-one lusts.
====Tournament maps====
''Several multiplayer maps were so popular that they were frequently used in [[Myth (computer game)#Myth World Cup|Myth World Cup]] and other tournaments.''
*'''Phoenix Rising''' is the most notable of tournament maps perhaps (at least for its origins) because it was created/commissioned by Bungie for the final round of the ''[[Myth II: Soulblighter Tournaments#Seven_Phoenix_Rising_.28March_1999.29|Seven Phoenix Rising]]'' tournament. The six Heron Guards on this map are named after the six finalists from the tournament.
*'''Creep on the Borderlands''' and '''Keep across the River''' - These two maps were popular maps from the first game that for some reason did not make the cut into Myth 2. They were quickly ported by third parties and are staple tournament maps.
*'''Lichen Unto Death''' - A large map that uniquely included a healing temple - basically a fountain on top of a temple that heals surrounding units periodically. Also included a General with a unique power (initially confusion, in a later version was changed to a small deflection field). The map didn't seem to lose balance with these features, and it's appeared in nearly every team tournament ever held for Myth 2.
*'''Smells Like Blood in Here''' - An indoor maze of a map with surprisingly balanced and interesting gameplay, this map provides a great alternative to the standard maps, and has been a favorite pick for tournaments for as long as Lichen has. One of the very few maps where warlocks have the confusion power instead of the ring of fire.
*'''Shuffle off this Mortal Coil''' - A large map that, like Creep on the Borderlands, divides the map into 4 quadrants, with a river running across one way, and a wall across the other, each with 3 openings/fords. Its dark mesh was made popular after Rolling Rock picked it for his National Myth League tournament, and it became one of the favorites of many later tournament operators, due to its excellent strategic and tactical balance, and interesting mix of units.
*'''The Great Divide''' - A map with several good variations, this one includes huge cliffs, mountain passes, and rocky outcroppings. Trow, soulless, spiders, and mortar dwarves typically reign supreme. The terrain cannot be ignored here and becomes an integral part of the strategy. This makes it a great map to play when both teams are experienced and well-practiced.
*'''The Barrens''' - This map was finished by Rohan just in time for Myth World Cup 2001. Its most notable mesh is the Venice x2 mesh, which makes the gameplay very similar to an allied game on the built in map ''Venice'', with different (wide open) terrain. It is well balanced, as is Venice.
*'''Caer Cadarn'''
*'''Calm Before the Storm'''
====Vaporware====
''Myth'' has its share of [[vaporware]]. The most notable, perhaps, was an early commercial project called ''Daimyo'', an ambitious total conversion set in feudal Japan, that was killed off by its publisher (widely believed to be Bungie). Some parts of the project ended up released in other forms, including "Assassin"; a solo map based on one of the Daimyo projects and ''Seinaru Tochi'' a multiplayer map designed for use with the Bushido units which re-used some of the Daimyo elements from ''Assassin''. The frequency with which projects were announced and disappeared led to the vaporware spoof TRON Total Conversion. TRON generated some controversy as to whether or not it was a serious project, but the intentional sloppiness of its website [http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Keep/6463/] and the outlandish claims in its press release (such as that the entire game engine was being ported to BeOS) made it clear that the project was nothing but an elaborate joke.
====''WW2'' takes over Ranked====
Shortly after its release, ''WW2: Recon'' began dominating the game lists in the ranked rooms of bungie.net. Its sequel enjoyed similar success. While it is undoubtedly true that many were drawn to the unique gameplay of the mod, another large factor in its popularity was that, due to the way the ranking system was set up, a player who played only ''WW2'' could level much faster than a player who played only games of normal ''Myth''. This caused some resentment, and some players switched to the unranked rooms out of frustration. Many players have switched to playing only ''WW2''.
===Map-making teams and Individuals===
==== Former teams and individuals ====
===== Badlands Games=====
This group contained Bungie employees and is credited with work on Myth II: Chimera, the official expansion. Known for creating some of the first and also some of the most beautiful multiplayer maps in Myth's history. Members of Badlands were also contracted to create Myth II's multiplayer levels. Additional highlights include Phoenix Rising, Lichen Unto Death, Dorfball, Smells Like Death in Here, Caer Cadarn and The Great Divide. Bungie employees included Plague (Christopher Barrett), Ferrex (Tyson Green) and Ruiner (Paul Bertone, Jr.).
* [http://www.badlandsgames.com Badlands Games]
* [http://www.badlandsgames.com/chimera/ Myth II: Chimera] - the official Myth II solo/co-op expansion
=====Creation Games=====
A large and prolific organization responsible for several total conversions. Major projects included [http://www.mything.org/maps/readmes/sev ... anual.html ''The Seventh God''], [http://www.mything.org/maps/readmes/bushido_units/ ''Bushido: Way of the Warrior''], ''Homeland'', and the ''Coming of the Dark'' series. Members included Clem, Ares, and Cydonian along with many others.
=====Men of Rohan=====
Creators of such classics as the very humorous ''Leggo'' conversions, MWC-standard ''The Barrens'' and ''MythWarrior'' - an early conversion. Also well known as skilled Myth II players.
=====Renaissance=====
Members of this group created maps for all 3 of the Myth games; including ''A Broken Arrow'',''Dol Baran (TFL)'',''Throne of the Lich King'',''Traitor of Darkness''.
=====Smiths of Muirthemne=====
An early mapmaking group that released several solo plugins for Myth II. Members of this group later joined Renaissance and then Project Magma.
*[http://geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dragon/2486 Smiths of Muirthemne]
=====They Might be Mapmakers=====
Lesser known than some of the other mapmaking groups, TMBM created a few multiplayer maps, some solo maps (Stinkies Graveyard) the ambitious Dreamseedz total conversion, and finished/polished up Strangelet's ''Alien Dark Tide'' total conversion (based on the [[Alien (film)|Alien]] series of movies). The group was primarily known for their humor both in maps and online.
=====The Vista Cartel=====
Vista was a Myth II order dedicated to mapmaking, though they are arguably known more for the mapmaking tools and tutorials they created than for their own creations. In mapmaking terms they are probably best known for ''Fetchball'' and their [[magnum opus]], [http://www.mything.org/maps/readmes/jinn/index.htm ''Jinn'']. Their legacy was revived in 2005 when a fan (Phex) created an update to Jinn for Myth II v1.4+
=====Santa's Head=====
The man who created WWII: Recon, WWII: Titans and WWII: Units, among others. He was also on the Myth III: The Wolf Age development team, and gave some support on creating ''Green Berets''.
=====Clem=====
Colormap expert, and a driving force behind Creation Games, The Mill (see below), MythDev, and FlyingFlip. Also involved in Myth III: The Wolf Age development of map-making tools until recently. Despite his great wealth of talent, Clem is known for his overbearing, condescending, and generally less-than-personable working style.
=====Frigidman=====
Creator of The Mill, which was the largest and most popular Myth mapmaking website/community hub. Also created The Wild West Myth II total conversion.
=====Cydonian=====
Widely considered to be among the best unit-makers, Cydonian was also by far the most prolific, creating the all-new models and graphics for the units in ''Bushido'', ''The Seventh God'', ''1861: Civil War''(later incorporated into ''Blue & Grey''), ''Homeland'', "Pirates of the Caribbean", and many other conversions.
==== Current teams and individuals ====
=====Project Magma=====
The most active current mapmaking team for Myth II (and the only one in this list still producing things for Myth). This group is known for the [http://projectmagma.net/mazz4.shtml Mazzarin's Demise] map series, and for porting all of the Myth II multiplayer maps to Myth: The Fallen Lords and vice versa. Released ''Special Forces'' and [http://projectmagma.net/bg.shtml ''Blue & Grey'']( a civil war based conversion). The group is also responsible for maintaining and updating the Myth series of games. Notable members include: Ironduke, ChrisP, Myrd, CIK, Infininight, Doobie, and Jagman. It's members also help with the running of the uDogs Hotline Server - hl.udogs.net - the largest repository of Myth data (many members of Magma are uDogs too).
* [http://projectmagma.net Project Magma]
* [http://hl.udogs.net uDogs Hotline Server]
=====The Idiot Mapmaking Collective=====
A group not nearly as well famed as the others on this list, but well known for creating a ''WWII: Recon'' port for ''Myth III: The Wolf Age'' and co-working on ''Sisters of the Blade'' with Creation Games. One of the few groups to have recently developed maps for Myth III, they are perhaps better known for their classic (and comical) holiday themed maps; ''A Very Idiot Halloween'', and ''A Very Idiot Christmas'', the latter complete with exploding reindeer and snowball throwing dwarves. Idiot projects are currently on hold and most of the group left Myth II for World of Warcraft but the group is technically still together with their last release being the Myth III map-pack in June 2005.
* [http://www.idiotcollective.com/ The Idiot Map-Making Collective]
=====Flying Flip=====
A Myth III focused group that has been led by Blades and Clem. Currently in the middle of some long-term work after a period of inactivity, the team recently lost Clem. Historically Clem had run the map-making side of things and Blades ran the Myth III coding role. The group's future as map-makers are unknown.
=====Blades=====
Leader in development of Ballistic, a Myth III development tool for Myth III v1.3.x, creator of the now-defunct ''Myth Maps'' map/plugin archive site, and one of the primary people responsible for Playmyth's game server.
=====IronDuke=====
Sparked off and led Myth II Development at Project Magma, as well as providing major contribution to the map-making side of the organisation too.
=====GodzFire=====
Ported a number of units from Myth I to Myth II which were not included in the sequel. This allowed 3rd party map makers to include these units in their work without trying to extract what was needed from the Myth I tags.
=====Clan McCoolness=====
Two rather eccentric mapmakers from Perth, Australia, William Wallet and Da Cid have made two major campaigns (Freedom I and Freedom II), many random multiplayer maps and a few singleplayer scenarios. Currently they are working on a new project named "Rabican's Last Stand", although besides a few snippets of information, it has been rather secret. Recent comments from Will and Da Cid both indicate a possibility of the Project turning into VaporWare. They both frequent the Project Magma forums and Da Cid plays on PlayMyth.net occasionally.
====The Future of Myth Map-Making====
Myth's map-making has been in decline in recent years. The Idiots have been drawn away to other games, as has Clem leaving Myth III map-making dormant. Plans for a new Myth III patch will, hopefully, help to revive this.
Project Magma stated that after having completed Myth II v1.5.2 no major map-maker-oriented updates will be released and the group itself is slowly winding down. Several of Magma's projects (no pun intended) have been cancelled and the remaining ones are delayed. However, this is not the last gasp for Project Magma with more on the way in the form of Special Forces 2, The Siege of Or'Garnen, The Battle for Urbarahz, and Khellek's long awaited Laws of Evil.
=====The Onyx Warlords=====
A newer, unpublished until recently (other than a short three-level demo for TFV) Myth II mapmaking group working on a several large projects; The Fallens' Vengeance (TFV) and Carlinho's Greek Tagset, the former being a Myth II campaign advertised as being as epic in size as a "Myth 4", and the latter a Greek total conversion. In October 2006, the Onyx Warlords released two solo plugins: Grave Tidings, and The Nine vs. The Fallen Lords.
The Onyx Warlords are led by Horus (the groups creator, and author of TFV), Graydon (the lead designer), and A-Red. Other notable team members are Pyro, Souly, Plague, Zeph, Carlinho, Ar (aka The Helmet), oogabooga, and Jagman (oogabooga and Jagman are also members of Project Magma).
* [http://www.onyxwarlords.com/ The Onyx Warlords]
====!DIE!====
The oldest myth 2 clan to date. With members such as Enigman, evilroot, eilnereus, nosferatu, spacebar and more. They made up the legendary unbeatable team at Raid. Only one of the members still plays the game to date. Also creaters of the ever popular GFG (Giant Fighting Grounds) by enigman.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
<!-- Do not use the "dated prod" template directly; the above line is generated by "subst:prod|reason" -->
{{prod2}}
{{notability|date=November 2006}}
==Notable Third-party projects for Myth II==
====Partial and total conversions====
''Projects with several completely new units are considered to be '''partial conversions'''. Even maps with completely new unitsets usually used recycled models, scenery, textures, and sounds; only a few "true" total conversions were ever made. Due to the difficulty of importing new unit graphics into ''Myth'', only a small portion of the thousands of releases featured them.''
*'''Chimera''': The official Myth II expansion pack; its aim was to be a challenge to people who had mastered the main Myth II game.
*'''The Seventh God''': The largest and most expansive project in terms of its long solo campaign and its new graphics, sound and music.
*'''Homeland''': One of the earlier breakthrough single-player projects.
*'''Jinn''': A true total conversion, set in a futuristic [[post-apocalyptic]] alien world.
*'''Bushido''': A total conversion based upon feudal Japan.
*'''Leggo My Myth''': A humorous plugin that replaced Myth units with [[Lego]] equivalents.
*'''Civil War''' and '''1861: Civil War''': Two separate total conversions based on the [[American Civil War]]. A third plugin, [http://projectmagma.net/bg.shtml '''Blue and Grey'''], was later released with new units and gameplay.
*'''WW2: Recon''': World War II inspired maps featuring modern military units and weapons were, in their day, arguably the most popular Myth maps played online, particularly in ranked play.
*'''WW2: Titans''': Inspired by WW2: Recon, this map-pack was not played a lot, but the unit tagset was used in all future WW2 maps.
*'''The Wild West''': A total conversion set in the [[19th century]] [[United States|American]] [[Wild West|West]].
*'''Discovery''': Multiplayer map that added some new [[medieval]]-themed units to play with.
*'''Sisters of the Blade''': Myth meets [[Xena]].
*'''The Legend of Gor-Ash''': Single-player project exploring the enmity between two warring races of ''Myth''.
*'''Green Berets''': A true Total Conversion released commercially by Take Two. Set during the [[Vietnam War]].
*'''MythChess''': An adaptation of the game of chess to the Myth II engine.
====Outstanding non-conversions====
''The ''Myth'' engine allowed for plenty of creativity apart from unit graphics. The following projects were all notable for their beauty, coherence, creativity, innovation, large scale, game scripting, humor, popularity, enjoyability, or some combination of these.''
*'''Mazzarin's Demise''': A cooperative map series with a plot set in the shadowy past of Myth. Released for both Myth and Myth II.
*'''Dorfball''': A comical sports-oriented map with gameplay resembling [[dodgeball]].
*'''Fetchball''': A comical sports-oriented map with gameplay resembling [[soccer]] or [[hockey]].
*'''Axis vs. Allies''': A modern warfare TC based on WW2 units.
*'''Coming of the Dark''': A series of levels themed as fan-fiction prequels to the events of ''Myth''.
*'''Under Myrkridian Standards''': Award-winning solo campaign.
*'''Throne of the Lich King''': Puzzle-based solo map.
*Several plugins were released allowing one to play through the Myth campaign from the point of view of the Dark forces) including: "Myth II: Broken Cycle" and the minimalistically named "Solo Campaign")
*'''The Northlands''': A simple 'defend the fort' map with units from many total conversions.
*'''Ghol Rugby''': A Myth: The Fallen Lords map-pack, which simulated Rugby.
*'''Bolo''': Myth 2 unitset and maps that convert Myth 2 into a version of the 2D Macintosh computer tank warfare game "[[Bolo (computer game)|Bolo]]".
*'''Giant Fighting Grounds''': Multiplayer map featuring nothing but Giant Myrkridia. Highly addictive due to its style of play, consisting of throwing bombs at opposing Giants' feet (and dodging them), as well as risking one-vs-one lusts.
====Tournament maps====
''Several multiplayer maps were so popular that they were frequently used in [[Myth (computer game)#Myth World Cup|Myth World Cup]] and other tournaments.''
*'''Phoenix Rising''' is the most notable of tournament maps perhaps (at least for its origins) because it was created/commissioned by Bungie for the final round of the ''[[Myth II: Soulblighter Tournaments#Seven_Phoenix_Rising_.28March_1999.29|Seven Phoenix Rising]]'' tournament. The six Heron Guards on this map are named after the six finalists from the tournament.
*'''Creep on the Borderlands''' and '''Keep across the River''' - These two maps were popular maps from the first game that for some reason did not make the cut into Myth 2. They were quickly ported by third parties and are staple tournament maps.
*'''Lichen Unto Death''' - A large map that uniquely included a healing temple - basically a fountain on top of a temple that heals surrounding units periodically. Also included a General with a unique power (initially confusion, in a later version was changed to a small deflection field). The map didn't seem to lose balance with these features, and it's appeared in nearly every team tournament ever held for Myth 2.
*'''Smells Like Blood in Here''' - An indoor maze of a map with surprisingly balanced and interesting gameplay, this map provides a great alternative to the standard maps, and has been a favorite pick for tournaments for as long as Lichen has. One of the very few maps where warlocks have the confusion power instead of the ring of fire.
*'''Shuffle off this Mortal Coil''' - A large map that, like Creep on the Borderlands, divides the map into 4 quadrants, with a river running across one way, and a wall across the other, each with 3 openings/fords. Its dark mesh was made popular after Rolling Rock picked it for his National Myth League tournament, and it became one of the favorites of many later tournament operators, due to its excellent strategic and tactical balance, and interesting mix of units.
*'''The Great Divide''' - A map with several good variations, this one includes huge cliffs, mountain passes, and rocky outcroppings. Trow, soulless, spiders, and mortar dwarves typically reign supreme. The terrain cannot be ignored here and becomes an integral part of the strategy. This makes it a great map to play when both teams are experienced and well-practiced.
*'''The Barrens''' - This map was finished by Rohan just in time for Myth World Cup 2001. Its most notable mesh is the Venice x2 mesh, which makes the gameplay very similar to an allied game on the built in map ''Venice'', with different (wide open) terrain. It is well balanced, as is Venice.
*'''Caer Cadarn'''
*'''Calm Before the Storm'''
====Vaporware====
''Myth'' has its share of [[vaporware]]. The most notable, perhaps, was an early commercial project called ''Daimyo'', an ambitious total conversion set in feudal Japan, that was killed off by its publisher (widely believed to be Bungie). Some parts of the project ended up released in other forms, including "Assassin"; a solo map based on one of the Daimyo projects and ''Seinaru Tochi'' a multiplayer map designed for use with the Bushido units which re-used some of the Daimyo elements from ''Assassin''. The frequency with which projects were announced and disappeared led to the vaporware spoof TRON Total Conversion. TRON generated some controversy as to whether or not it was a serious project, but the intentional sloppiness of its website [http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Keep/6463/] and the outlandish claims in its press release (such as that the entire game engine was being ported to BeOS) made it clear that the project was nothing but an elaborate joke.
====''WW2'' takes over Ranked====
Shortly after its release, ''WW2: Recon'' began dominating the game lists in the ranked rooms of bungie.net. Its sequel enjoyed similar success. While it is undoubtedly true that many were drawn to the unique gameplay of the mod, another large factor in its popularity was that, due to the way the ranking system was set up, a player who played only ''WW2'' could level much faster than a player who played only games of normal ''Myth''. This caused some resentment, and some players switched to the unranked rooms out of frustration. Many players have switched to playing only ''WW2''.
===Map-making teams and Individuals===
==== Former teams and individuals ====
===== Badlands Games=====
This group contained Bungie employees and is credited with work on Myth II: Chimera, the official expansion. Known for creating some of the first and also some of the most beautiful multiplayer maps in Myth's history. Members of Badlands were also contracted to create Myth II's multiplayer levels. Additional highlights include Phoenix Rising, Lichen Unto Death, Dorfball, Smells Like Death in Here, Caer Cadarn and The Great Divide. Bungie employees included Plague (Christopher Barrett), Ferrex (Tyson Green) and Ruiner (Paul Bertone, Jr.).
* [http://www.badlandsgames.com Badlands Games]
* [http://www.badlandsgames.com/chimera/ Myth II: Chimera] - the official Myth II solo/co-op expansion
=====Creation Games=====
A large and prolific organization responsible for several total conversions. Major projects included [http://www.mything.org/maps/readmes/sev ... anual.html ''The Seventh God''], [http://www.mything.org/maps/readmes/bushido_units/ ''Bushido: Way of the Warrior''], ''Homeland'', and the ''Coming of the Dark'' series. Members included Clem, Ares, and Cydonian along with many others.
=====Men of Rohan=====
Creators of such classics as the very humorous ''Leggo'' conversions, MWC-standard ''The Barrens'' and ''MythWarrior'' - an early conversion. Also well known as skilled Myth II players.
=====Renaissance=====
Members of this group created maps for all 3 of the Myth games; including ''A Broken Arrow'',''Dol Baran (TFL)'',''Throne of the Lich King'',''Traitor of Darkness''.
=====Smiths of Muirthemne=====
An early mapmaking group that released several solo plugins for Myth II. Members of this group later joined Renaissance and then Project Magma.
*[http://geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dragon/2486 Smiths of Muirthemne]
=====They Might be Mapmakers=====
Lesser known than some of the other mapmaking groups, TMBM created a few multiplayer maps, some solo maps (Stinkies Graveyard) the ambitious Dreamseedz total conversion, and finished/polished up Strangelet's ''Alien Dark Tide'' total conversion (based on the [[Alien (film)|Alien]] series of movies). The group was primarily known for their humor both in maps and online.
=====The Vista Cartel=====
Vista was a Myth II order dedicated to mapmaking, though they are arguably known more for the mapmaking tools and tutorials they created than for their own creations. In mapmaking terms they are probably best known for ''Fetchball'' and their [[magnum opus]], [http://www.mything.org/maps/readmes/jinn/index.htm ''Jinn'']. Their legacy was revived in 2005 when a fan (Phex) created an update to Jinn for Myth II v1.4+
=====Santa's Head=====
The man who created WWII: Recon, WWII: Titans and WWII: Units, among others. He was also on the Myth III: The Wolf Age development team, and gave some support on creating ''Green Berets''.
=====Clem=====
Colormap expert, and a driving force behind Creation Games, The Mill (see below), MythDev, and FlyingFlip. Also involved in Myth III: The Wolf Age development of map-making tools until recently. Despite his great wealth of talent, Clem is known for his overbearing, condescending, and generally less-than-personable working style.
=====Frigidman=====
Creator of The Mill, which was the largest and most popular Myth mapmaking website/community hub. Also created The Wild West Myth II total conversion.
=====Cydonian=====
Widely considered to be among the best unit-makers, Cydonian was also by far the most prolific, creating the all-new models and graphics for the units in ''Bushido'', ''The Seventh God'', ''1861: Civil War''(later incorporated into ''Blue & Grey''), ''Homeland'', "Pirates of the Caribbean", and many other conversions.
==== Current teams and individuals ====
=====Project Magma=====
The most active current mapmaking team for Myth II (and the only one in this list still producing things for Myth). This group is known for the [http://projectmagma.net/mazz4.shtml Mazzarin's Demise] map series, and for porting all of the Myth II multiplayer maps to Myth: The Fallen Lords and vice versa. Released ''Special Forces'' and [http://projectmagma.net/bg.shtml ''Blue & Grey'']( a civil war based conversion). The group is also responsible for maintaining and updating the Myth series of games. Notable members include: Ironduke, ChrisP, Myrd, CIK, Infininight, Doobie, and Jagman. It's members also help with the running of the uDogs Hotline Server - hl.udogs.net - the largest repository of Myth data (many members of Magma are uDogs too).
* [http://projectmagma.net Project Magma]
* [http://hl.udogs.net uDogs Hotline Server]
=====The Idiot Mapmaking Collective=====
A group not nearly as well famed as the others on this list, but well known for creating a ''WWII: Recon'' port for ''Myth III: The Wolf Age'' and co-working on ''Sisters of the Blade'' with Creation Games. One of the few groups to have recently developed maps for Myth III, they are perhaps better known for their classic (and comical) holiday themed maps; ''A Very Idiot Halloween'', and ''A Very Idiot Christmas'', the latter complete with exploding reindeer and snowball throwing dwarves. Idiot projects are currently on hold and most of the group left Myth II for World of Warcraft but the group is technically still together with their last release being the Myth III map-pack in June 2005.
* [http://www.idiotcollective.com/ The Idiot Map-Making Collective]
=====Flying Flip=====
A Myth III focused group that has been led by Blades and Clem. Currently in the middle of some long-term work after a period of inactivity, the team recently lost Clem. Historically Clem had run the map-making side of things and Blades ran the Myth III coding role. The group's future as map-makers are unknown.
=====Blades=====
Leader in development of Ballistic, a Myth III development tool for Myth III v1.3.x, creator of the now-defunct ''Myth Maps'' map/plugin archive site, and one of the primary people responsible for Playmyth's game server.
=====IronDuke=====
Sparked off and led Myth II Development at Project Magma, as well as providing major contribution to the map-making side of the organisation too.
=====GodzFire=====
Ported a number of units from Myth I to Myth II which were not included in the sequel. This allowed 3rd party map makers to include these units in their work without trying to extract what was needed from the Myth I tags.
=====Clan McCoolness=====
Two rather eccentric mapmakers from Perth, Australia, William Wallet and Da Cid have made two major campaigns (Freedom I and Freedom II), many random multiplayer maps and a few singleplayer scenarios. Currently they are working on a new project named "Rabican's Last Stand", although besides a few snippets of information, it has been rather secret. Recent comments from Will and Da Cid both indicate a possibility of the Project turning into VaporWare. They both frequent the Project Magma forums and Da Cid plays on PlayMyth.net occasionally.
====The Future of Myth Map-Making====
Myth's map-making has been in decline in recent years. The Idiots have been drawn away to other games, as has Clem leaving Myth III map-making dormant. Plans for a new Myth III patch will, hopefully, help to revive this.
Project Magma stated that after having completed Myth II v1.5.2 no major map-maker-oriented updates will be released and the group itself is slowly winding down. Several of Magma's projects (no pun intended) have been cancelled and the remaining ones are delayed. However, this is not the last gasp for Project Magma with more on the way in the form of Special Forces 2, The Siege of Or'Garnen, The Battle for Urbarahz, and Khellek's long awaited Laws of Evil.
=====The Onyx Warlords=====
A newer, unpublished until recently (other than a short three-level demo for TFV) Myth II mapmaking group working on a several large projects; The Fallens' Vengeance (TFV) and Carlinho's Greek Tagset, the former being a Myth II campaign advertised as being as epic in size as a "Myth 4", and the latter a Greek total conversion. In October 2006, the Onyx Warlords released two solo plugins: Grave Tidings, and The Nine vs. The Fallen Lords.
The Onyx Warlords are led by Horus (the groups creator, and author of TFV), Graydon (the lead designer), and A-Red. Other notable team members are Pyro, Souly, Plague, Zeph, Carlinho, Ar (aka The Helmet), oogabooga, and Jagman (oogabooga and Jagman are also members of Project Magma).
* [http://www.onyxwarlords.com/ The Onyx Warlords]
====!DIE!====
The oldest myth 2 clan to date. With members such as Enigman, evilroot, eilnereus, nosferatu, spacebar and more. They made up the legendary unbeatable team at Raid. Only one of the members still plays the game to date. Also creaters of the ever popular GFG (Giant Fighting Grounds) by enigman.
Last edited by GodzFire on Tue Apr 20, 2010 1:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Deleted Myth Wiki Articles Recovered
-Myth (Computer Game) Development History-
---------------------------------------------------------
The [[Myth (computer game)|Myth video game series]] has had a development history unlike any other. Despite originally being published first party, the franchise was sold to Take2 Software. This itself is quite unusual. After this, it made internet-headlines by having development continued by the fans. Despite Myth I/II losing official support in 2000, and Myth III in 2001 (almost immediately after it's release) the games have had continued frequent updates. Other than compatibility issues, level editors, interfaces and actual gameplay enhancements have been added. Also, the games have been worked on by two separate organisations, Flying Flip and Project Magma. The community's internal power and coding ability have frequently been mentioned on various websites.
When Bungie and Take 2 were finished with the games, Myth's release were as follows:
* Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.3.0
* Myth II: Soulblighter v1.3.1 (with Fear v1.2 and Loathing v1.2 development tools)
* Myth III: The Wolf Age v1.0.2 (with semi-finished development tool beta Vengeance)
MythDev, Project Magma and Flying Flip have updated the Myth series. Publicly available now are:
* Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.5 (with development tool betas Loathing and TagEdit)
* Myth II: Soulblighter v1.6.0 (with Fear v1.6.0 and Loathing v1.6.0 development tools)
* Myth III: The Wolf Age v1.3.1 (with Ballistic v1.0.1 development tool)
= Game History =
== Bungie (1996 - 1999)==
Bungie created the first two Myth games, Myth: The Fallen Lords (Summer 1997) and Myth II: Soulblighter (Winter 1998). Following their releases, patches of the games were released up to the end of 1999 - Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.1, v1.2, v1.3 and Myth II: Soulblighter v1.1, v1.2, v1.2.1, v1.2.2, v1.3 and v1.3.1. Updates were relatively minor up to this stage outside of the map-making side of things and repeated, major bug fixes. Bungie's last Myth patch, Myth II v1.3.1 was released near the end of 1999 - for a long time they left the series alone.
==== Release Summary ====
* Myth: The Fallen Lords v1 - v1.3
* Myth II: Soulblighter v1 - v1.3.1
== Take 2 (1999 - 2002)==
Though Take 2 have official ownership of Myth still, post-2002, the company has shown little interest in the franchise.
Upon receiving ownership of the Myth franchise and games from Bungie, Take 2 showed no major interest in looking after the previous games, with their only additions to the existing game catalogue being a repackaging of Myth II (called 'Myth II Worlds') that combined the original Myth II game with fan created maps and plugins, and 'Green Berets - Powered by Myth II', a modern warfare conversion of Myth II from fantasy medieval warfare to Vietnam era warfare. They shifted focus to Myth III: The Wolf Age, released near the end of 2001. A rushed release meant that patches came out almost as soon as the (far from finished) game did, though the development team Mumbo Jumbo was sacked shortly after patches 1.0.1 and 1.0.2 were released. Ultimately the patches were to fix problems they didn't have time to finish in their initial schedule and did not add to the games. The map-making program Vengeance was never quite completed either and left in a buggy, explosive state.
==== Release Summary ====
* Myth III: The Wolf Age v1 - v1.0.2
* Myth II Soulblighter v1.3 - Myth II: Worlds collection
* Myth II Soulblighter v1.3 - Myth II: Green Berets total conversion
==Post Bungie/Take 2 (2002 - present) ==
=== Part I: MythDevelopers (2002)===
In 2001, Marius and Conner, of the Myth Clan "Clan Plaid", reverse-engineered the Bungie protocol and created their own Myth game server which they called 'MariusNet'. MariusNet played a crucial role in keeping the Myth online gaming community alive when Bungie (in 2001) shut down their Myth: The Fallen Lords game server and then again (in 2002) when the Myth II: Soulblighter game server was shut down. For a period of almost a year in the case of Myth : TFL and a few months in the case of Myth II, MariusNet was the only functioning myth game server available to the public.
Myth Developers (commonly shortened to MythDev), led by group figurehead Blades and Myth II map-making legend Clem, acquired legal permission to support the Myth series in Take 2's name. Blades was relatively unknown at the time within the Myth community since his services had not been of use, but Clem's past work and ability to gather like minded individuals gave the group a degree of credibility. They were allowed to make major changes to the game without clearing it with Take 2 at any point. MythDev quickly recruited a team of developers, who simultaneously worked on creating their PlayMyth.net game server. This itself was based on the original Bungie.net source code which Bungie released for free when they closed their Myth 2 game server. Initially the server only supported Myth II and Myth III, but later the original Myth was also added - albeit minus ranked gaming. This ultimately led to the slow, drawn out decline and demise of MariusNet's active playing community.
===Part II: Arrival of Project Magma (2002 - 2004) ===
MythDev's primary interest was in fixing bugs in Myth III leftover from it's rushed launch and updating both the game and it's unfinished tag editor (Vengeance), but to help keep a fan-following (Myth III development was of little interest to the vast majority of Myth players at the time who were unable to see the game's potential and didn't really care anyway) they did a small amount of work on Myth and Myth II. MythDev member IronDuke was frustrated by the lack of support in MythDev for updating Myth II beyond modern compatibility issues, and joined the map-making group Project Magma to enlist programming and testing assistance on Myth II. Project Magma's Myth and Myth II maps were very popular and the team were well trusted to carry the torch. Project Magma then gained permission to work on first two Myth games (via MythDev, not directly from Take 2), provided all their work was released under the title of 'Project Magma in association with MythDev'. As time progressed, MythDev worked on Myth III patches 1.1 (April 10th 2003), 1.1.1 (October 8th 2003) and 1.1.2 and then began working on Patch 1.2, with minor contributions from members of Project Magma (not enough to be credited for in patch credits - the project was however listed on Project Magma's project list for a while)). Patch 1.2 was never finished enough for a public release.
Meanwhile, Project Magma worked on Myth II v1.3.2 (March 14th 2003) allowing Myth II to run natively on Mac OS X, then the ambitious v1.4, v1.4.1 and v1.4.3 (June 14th , August 7th, August 30th). The 1.4.x patches added the vTFL (virtual Myth: The Fallen Lords) emulation which is seen as one of the biggest modifications in the game's history. It has been refined since then though many players still prefer 'real' TFL.
MythDev then seized control of all Myth development and released a no-CD-crack Myth II v1.4.4 patch, which was said to cause many other problems and was largely unused due to backwards compatibility with v1.4.3 anyway. Shortly afterwards, MythDev released Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.4 (July 31st 2003), which added Mac OS X compatibility and made the game run more efficiently (apparently, most players noticed little difference) and also installed PlayMyth.net (MythDev's server) as the default Myth server. This stopped Myth: The Fallen Lords players reaching other servers, like the popular (for the original Myth game) MariusNet server. This produced community outrage, but was left unchanged. This project was undertaken despite MythDev's agreement to leave Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth II: Soulblighter development for Project Magma and focus on Myth III. The patch was largely seen as an aggressive move by MythDev against MariusNet (rivalry between the servers had been an issue due to rules differences leading to a degree of rivalry over which server the 'coolest' Mythers congregated on), and a pointless update.
There followed a tumultuous period that saw MythDev threaten MariusNet with a [[DMCA]] based lawsuit and contact the host of Magma's website alleging that the site promoted copyright infringement and that large portions of it's forums made it seem like a 'hate site' about MythDev's leaders(causing the site to be temporarily shut down). Though the details of the arguments are not important in the context, it should be understood that PlayMyth.net was MythDev's server and was always seen as such. MariusNet meanwhile, despite having been set up by non-Project Magma members had close ties with the group. MariusNet and Project Magma's association with Myth/Myth II and MythDev and PlayMyth.net's association with Myth III further created with image of MariusNet as 'the Magma server'.
==== Release Summary ====
* Myth III: The Wolf Age v1.1 - v1.2 Beta
* Myth II: Soulblighter v1.3.2 - v1.4.4
* Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.4
===Part III: Flying Flip and the 'free' Project Magma (2004 - present)===
Shortly after this, MythDev disbanded, following an extended quiet period. Project Magma was joined by ex-MythDev members to work on Myth II v1.5 later with an announcement that Myth development would continue. Project Magma's future releases were not released as being associated with MythDev and MythDev never had further connections with Magma (to the public).
Myth II v1.5 was released on June 4th 2004. Myth v1.5.1 was released March 28th 2005, with a remade version of the Myth II Demo updated to v1.5.1 - the first demo update since 1.3.1. Members from MythDev (including Blades and Clem) formed the Flying Flip group to develop Myth III v1.3.1 (June 25th 2004), with v1.3.1 quickly following on July 2nd. At first people were unsure who was behind Flying Flip but Blades soon revealed his identity. The URL to MythDev's website became a mirror for Flying Flip's at this point confirming Flip's status as successors to the previous development team.. Flying Flip also released Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.4.5 on October 03, 2004, for Mac OS X - credited to MythDev since it had been an unreleased project. It was incompatible with the most modern versions on other operating systems and proved unpopular, though Myth: The Fallen Lords play had almost vanished at this stage. Project Magma later updated Myth: The Fallen Lords to v1.5, for all operating system. Project Magma released Myth II v1.6 in February 2007.
==== Release Summary ====
* Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.5
* Myth II: Soulblighter v1.5 - v1.6
* Myth III: The Wolf Age v1.3 - v1.3.1
== Current Events ==
The present versions of the Myth games (as of April 08 2007) are as follows:
Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.5
Myth II: Soulblighter v1.6
Myth III: The Wolf Age v1.3.1
Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.5 was to be the last major Myth I update (bar native-compatibility patches for modern operating systems) though recent rumblings from the Project Magma camp suggest this may not be the case after all. 2007 is to be the game's 10th anniversary and the game may receive more attention than usual too.
Myth II: Soulblighter v1.6 is currently set to be the last new builds for the games with any major updates, other than to keep the games running on modern operating systems. Renwood and Project Magma's oogaBooga recently announced the possibility of a custom build for a Myth 4 mod they hope to work on.
Clem has publicly returned to the Myth fold and Flying Flip are reportedly working on Myth III v1.3.2 and planning Myth III v1.4. The patch is believed to be minor, largely bug fixed based. More significant changes to the game are planned for after this, however.
= Development Tool History =
== Bungie (1996 - 1999)==
The original Myth title was not released with an official editor, though the developer versions of these tools were eventually leaked to the community some time after the game's release. Instead, enterprising hackers simply scoured the game's files searching for clues to its makeup and data structure. It soon became evident that these files followed a hierarchical structure of "tags" that linked separate parts of data to one another and together comprised the separate levels of the game. With a little luck and intuition, one could use a hex editor to create bizarre but enjoyable hacks like barrels that exploded into dwarf heads and archers that never missed their targets. As the level of understanding grew, so did the complexity of these creations. Bungie was mildly surprised by these efforts, but rather than discourage their fans the company decided to improve upon its own tools and ship them with the next version of the game, hoping to sustain interest in the franchise and expand sales.
With the release of Myth II: Soulblighter, Myth map-making became much easier and grew rapidly. Initially difficult and without any initial successes (in terms of popularity), the level of expertise required to contribute to the community was substantially lowered by Bungie's inclusion of their own tools, Fear (a "tag" editor) and Loathing (a "mesh" and level editor), along with documentation, allowing the community's map-making skills to improve over time. Updated to versions v.1 then 1.2 by Bungie, the programs were left to gather dust.
== Post-Bungie (2000 - present) ==
=== Myth ===
The original Myth: The Fallen Lords development tools were made available by Project Magma shortly after they became major players in the Myth games' development. TagEdit (a counterpart to Myth II's 'Fear' program) and Loathing for Myth: The Fallen Lords were originally unfinished betas by Bungie. They were not considered ready enough for a release when Bungie shifted development focus onto Myth II. Though the tools have been used very little since and many of the community had access to them already, some people used the programs after their release to some limited success. One downside to the tools was that they were Mac only, and success was variable on Mac emulators for Windows computers.
=== Myth II ===
Project Magma's Fear 1.2.3 update was the first in years. Starting with Myth II v1.4, map-making additions became a major drive for the game's patches and improvements were made to each version of the game to allow for this. Many features were only implemented for the sake of Project Magma's own releases, many of which acted as showcases for the game's improvements. Many of their most popular releases would never have been possible under previous constraints. These updates were done to the Windows versions of the tools for Myth II v1.4, 1.4.1, v1.4.3 and v1.5, until Myth II 1.5.1 - when an updated Mac OS X version of Loathing was also made available. A version of Fear for Mac OS X was later released with Myth II patch 1.6. Further map-making updates are unlikely because Project Magma do not want to expand the game to the stage where more limited computers can run it.
=== Myth III ===
Myth III: The Wolf Age had a rushed release, and the release of the tag editor Vengeance (PC only at release) was an incomplete job. Some Myth map-makers who had been involved in the creation of Myth III admitted they were also upset that the game and tools were released before they were completed. MythDev updates later ported Vengeance to the Mac, but it received very little updating after the initial port. With Myth III v1.3.x, Flying Flip re-invented Vengeance as Ballistic, by updating it, adding new features and porting it to Linux (despite Myth III itself not running on Linux systems). Shortly after, Ballistic v1.0.1 was released, and since late 2005 a beta for v1.0.4 has been open for public testing. Currently very little use has been made of the tool outside of Flying Flip itself which appears to be done with map-making for the time being.
==References==
* [http://www.mythdev.com/ MythDev] - now dead link leads to Flying Flip.com
* [http://projectmagma.net Project Magma] - Myth and Myth II developers
* [http://flyingflip.com Flying Flip] - Myth III developers
* [http://playmyth.net PlayMyth.net] - Main Myth II community hub, owned by Blades head of Flying Flip and former head of MythDev
* [http://bungie.net Bungie] - original developers of Myth and Myth II
[[Category:Myth]]
[[Category:Video game development]]
---------------------------------------------------------
The [[Myth (computer game)|Myth video game series]] has had a development history unlike any other. Despite originally being published first party, the franchise was sold to Take2 Software. This itself is quite unusual. After this, it made internet-headlines by having development continued by the fans. Despite Myth I/II losing official support in 2000, and Myth III in 2001 (almost immediately after it's release) the games have had continued frequent updates. Other than compatibility issues, level editors, interfaces and actual gameplay enhancements have been added. Also, the games have been worked on by two separate organisations, Flying Flip and Project Magma. The community's internal power and coding ability have frequently been mentioned on various websites.
When Bungie and Take 2 were finished with the games, Myth's release were as follows:
* Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.3.0
* Myth II: Soulblighter v1.3.1 (with Fear v1.2 and Loathing v1.2 development tools)
* Myth III: The Wolf Age v1.0.2 (with semi-finished development tool beta Vengeance)
MythDev, Project Magma and Flying Flip have updated the Myth series. Publicly available now are:
* Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.5 (with development tool betas Loathing and TagEdit)
* Myth II: Soulblighter v1.6.0 (with Fear v1.6.0 and Loathing v1.6.0 development tools)
* Myth III: The Wolf Age v1.3.1 (with Ballistic v1.0.1 development tool)
= Game History =
== Bungie (1996 - 1999)==
Bungie created the first two Myth games, Myth: The Fallen Lords (Summer 1997) and Myth II: Soulblighter (Winter 1998). Following their releases, patches of the games were released up to the end of 1999 - Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.1, v1.2, v1.3 and Myth II: Soulblighter v1.1, v1.2, v1.2.1, v1.2.2, v1.3 and v1.3.1. Updates were relatively minor up to this stage outside of the map-making side of things and repeated, major bug fixes. Bungie's last Myth patch, Myth II v1.3.1 was released near the end of 1999 - for a long time they left the series alone.
==== Release Summary ====
* Myth: The Fallen Lords v1 - v1.3
* Myth II: Soulblighter v1 - v1.3.1
== Take 2 (1999 - 2002)==
Though Take 2 have official ownership of Myth still, post-2002, the company has shown little interest in the franchise.
Upon receiving ownership of the Myth franchise and games from Bungie, Take 2 showed no major interest in looking after the previous games, with their only additions to the existing game catalogue being a repackaging of Myth II (called 'Myth II Worlds') that combined the original Myth II game with fan created maps and plugins, and 'Green Berets - Powered by Myth II', a modern warfare conversion of Myth II from fantasy medieval warfare to Vietnam era warfare. They shifted focus to Myth III: The Wolf Age, released near the end of 2001. A rushed release meant that patches came out almost as soon as the (far from finished) game did, though the development team Mumbo Jumbo was sacked shortly after patches 1.0.1 and 1.0.2 were released. Ultimately the patches were to fix problems they didn't have time to finish in their initial schedule and did not add to the games. The map-making program Vengeance was never quite completed either and left in a buggy, explosive state.
==== Release Summary ====
* Myth III: The Wolf Age v1 - v1.0.2
* Myth II Soulblighter v1.3 - Myth II: Worlds collection
* Myth II Soulblighter v1.3 - Myth II: Green Berets total conversion
==Post Bungie/Take 2 (2002 - present) ==
=== Part I: MythDevelopers (2002)===
In 2001, Marius and Conner, of the Myth Clan "Clan Plaid", reverse-engineered the Bungie protocol and created their own Myth game server which they called 'MariusNet'. MariusNet played a crucial role in keeping the Myth online gaming community alive when Bungie (in 2001) shut down their Myth: The Fallen Lords game server and then again (in 2002) when the Myth II: Soulblighter game server was shut down. For a period of almost a year in the case of Myth : TFL and a few months in the case of Myth II, MariusNet was the only functioning myth game server available to the public.
Myth Developers (commonly shortened to MythDev), led by group figurehead Blades and Myth II map-making legend Clem, acquired legal permission to support the Myth series in Take 2's name. Blades was relatively unknown at the time within the Myth community since his services had not been of use, but Clem's past work and ability to gather like minded individuals gave the group a degree of credibility. They were allowed to make major changes to the game without clearing it with Take 2 at any point. MythDev quickly recruited a team of developers, who simultaneously worked on creating their PlayMyth.net game server. This itself was based on the original Bungie.net source code which Bungie released for free when they closed their Myth 2 game server. Initially the server only supported Myth II and Myth III, but later the original Myth was also added - albeit minus ranked gaming. This ultimately led to the slow, drawn out decline and demise of MariusNet's active playing community.
===Part II: Arrival of Project Magma (2002 - 2004) ===
MythDev's primary interest was in fixing bugs in Myth III leftover from it's rushed launch and updating both the game and it's unfinished tag editor (Vengeance), but to help keep a fan-following (Myth III development was of little interest to the vast majority of Myth players at the time who were unable to see the game's potential and didn't really care anyway) they did a small amount of work on Myth and Myth II. MythDev member IronDuke was frustrated by the lack of support in MythDev for updating Myth II beyond modern compatibility issues, and joined the map-making group Project Magma to enlist programming and testing assistance on Myth II. Project Magma's Myth and Myth II maps were very popular and the team were well trusted to carry the torch. Project Magma then gained permission to work on first two Myth games (via MythDev, not directly from Take 2), provided all their work was released under the title of 'Project Magma in association with MythDev'. As time progressed, MythDev worked on Myth III patches 1.1 (April 10th 2003), 1.1.1 (October 8th 2003) and 1.1.2 and then began working on Patch 1.2, with minor contributions from members of Project Magma (not enough to be credited for in patch credits - the project was however listed on Project Magma's project list for a while)). Patch 1.2 was never finished enough for a public release.
Meanwhile, Project Magma worked on Myth II v1.3.2 (March 14th 2003) allowing Myth II to run natively on Mac OS X, then the ambitious v1.4, v1.4.1 and v1.4.3 (June 14th , August 7th, August 30th). The 1.4.x patches added the vTFL (virtual Myth: The Fallen Lords) emulation which is seen as one of the biggest modifications in the game's history. It has been refined since then though many players still prefer 'real' TFL.
MythDev then seized control of all Myth development and released a no-CD-crack Myth II v1.4.4 patch, which was said to cause many other problems and was largely unused due to backwards compatibility with v1.4.3 anyway. Shortly afterwards, MythDev released Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.4 (July 31st 2003), which added Mac OS X compatibility and made the game run more efficiently (apparently, most players noticed little difference) and also installed PlayMyth.net (MythDev's server) as the default Myth server. This stopped Myth: The Fallen Lords players reaching other servers, like the popular (for the original Myth game) MariusNet server. This produced community outrage, but was left unchanged. This project was undertaken despite MythDev's agreement to leave Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth II: Soulblighter development for Project Magma and focus on Myth III. The patch was largely seen as an aggressive move by MythDev against MariusNet (rivalry between the servers had been an issue due to rules differences leading to a degree of rivalry over which server the 'coolest' Mythers congregated on), and a pointless update.
There followed a tumultuous period that saw MythDev threaten MariusNet with a [[DMCA]] based lawsuit and contact the host of Magma's website alleging that the site promoted copyright infringement and that large portions of it's forums made it seem like a 'hate site' about MythDev's leaders(causing the site to be temporarily shut down). Though the details of the arguments are not important in the context, it should be understood that PlayMyth.net was MythDev's server and was always seen as such. MariusNet meanwhile, despite having been set up by non-Project Magma members had close ties with the group. MariusNet and Project Magma's association with Myth/Myth II and MythDev and PlayMyth.net's association with Myth III further created with image of MariusNet as 'the Magma server'.
==== Release Summary ====
* Myth III: The Wolf Age v1.1 - v1.2 Beta
* Myth II: Soulblighter v1.3.2 - v1.4.4
* Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.4
===Part III: Flying Flip and the 'free' Project Magma (2004 - present)===
Shortly after this, MythDev disbanded, following an extended quiet period. Project Magma was joined by ex-MythDev members to work on Myth II v1.5 later with an announcement that Myth development would continue. Project Magma's future releases were not released as being associated with MythDev and MythDev never had further connections with Magma (to the public).
Myth II v1.5 was released on June 4th 2004. Myth v1.5.1 was released March 28th 2005, with a remade version of the Myth II Demo updated to v1.5.1 - the first demo update since 1.3.1. Members from MythDev (including Blades and Clem) formed the Flying Flip group to develop Myth III v1.3.1 (June 25th 2004), with v1.3.1 quickly following on July 2nd. At first people were unsure who was behind Flying Flip but Blades soon revealed his identity. The URL to MythDev's website became a mirror for Flying Flip's at this point confirming Flip's status as successors to the previous development team.. Flying Flip also released Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.4.5 on October 03, 2004, for Mac OS X - credited to MythDev since it had been an unreleased project. It was incompatible with the most modern versions on other operating systems and proved unpopular, though Myth: The Fallen Lords play had almost vanished at this stage. Project Magma later updated Myth: The Fallen Lords to v1.5, for all operating system. Project Magma released Myth II v1.6 in February 2007.
==== Release Summary ====
* Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.5
* Myth II: Soulblighter v1.5 - v1.6
* Myth III: The Wolf Age v1.3 - v1.3.1
== Current Events ==
The present versions of the Myth games (as of April 08 2007) are as follows:
Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.5
Myth II: Soulblighter v1.6
Myth III: The Wolf Age v1.3.1
Myth: The Fallen Lords v1.5 was to be the last major Myth I update (bar native-compatibility patches for modern operating systems) though recent rumblings from the Project Magma camp suggest this may not be the case after all. 2007 is to be the game's 10th anniversary and the game may receive more attention than usual too.
Myth II: Soulblighter v1.6 is currently set to be the last new builds for the games with any major updates, other than to keep the games running on modern operating systems. Renwood and Project Magma's oogaBooga recently announced the possibility of a custom build for a Myth 4 mod they hope to work on.
Clem has publicly returned to the Myth fold and Flying Flip are reportedly working on Myth III v1.3.2 and planning Myth III v1.4. The patch is believed to be minor, largely bug fixed based. More significant changes to the game are planned for after this, however.
= Development Tool History =
== Bungie (1996 - 1999)==
The original Myth title was not released with an official editor, though the developer versions of these tools were eventually leaked to the community some time after the game's release. Instead, enterprising hackers simply scoured the game's files searching for clues to its makeup and data structure. It soon became evident that these files followed a hierarchical structure of "tags" that linked separate parts of data to one another and together comprised the separate levels of the game. With a little luck and intuition, one could use a hex editor to create bizarre but enjoyable hacks like barrels that exploded into dwarf heads and archers that never missed their targets. As the level of understanding grew, so did the complexity of these creations. Bungie was mildly surprised by these efforts, but rather than discourage their fans the company decided to improve upon its own tools and ship them with the next version of the game, hoping to sustain interest in the franchise and expand sales.
With the release of Myth II: Soulblighter, Myth map-making became much easier and grew rapidly. Initially difficult and without any initial successes (in terms of popularity), the level of expertise required to contribute to the community was substantially lowered by Bungie's inclusion of their own tools, Fear (a "tag" editor) and Loathing (a "mesh" and level editor), along with documentation, allowing the community's map-making skills to improve over time. Updated to versions v.1 then 1.2 by Bungie, the programs were left to gather dust.
== Post-Bungie (2000 - present) ==
=== Myth ===
The original Myth: The Fallen Lords development tools were made available by Project Magma shortly after they became major players in the Myth games' development. TagEdit (a counterpart to Myth II's 'Fear' program) and Loathing for Myth: The Fallen Lords were originally unfinished betas by Bungie. They were not considered ready enough for a release when Bungie shifted development focus onto Myth II. Though the tools have been used very little since and many of the community had access to them already, some people used the programs after their release to some limited success. One downside to the tools was that they were Mac only, and success was variable on Mac emulators for Windows computers.
=== Myth II ===
Project Magma's Fear 1.2.3 update was the first in years. Starting with Myth II v1.4, map-making additions became a major drive for the game's patches and improvements were made to each version of the game to allow for this. Many features were only implemented for the sake of Project Magma's own releases, many of which acted as showcases for the game's improvements. Many of their most popular releases would never have been possible under previous constraints. These updates were done to the Windows versions of the tools for Myth II v1.4, 1.4.1, v1.4.3 and v1.5, until Myth II 1.5.1 - when an updated Mac OS X version of Loathing was also made available. A version of Fear for Mac OS X was later released with Myth II patch 1.6. Further map-making updates are unlikely because Project Magma do not want to expand the game to the stage where more limited computers can run it.
=== Myth III ===
Myth III: The Wolf Age had a rushed release, and the release of the tag editor Vengeance (PC only at release) was an incomplete job. Some Myth map-makers who had been involved in the creation of Myth III admitted they were also upset that the game and tools were released before they were completed. MythDev updates later ported Vengeance to the Mac, but it received very little updating after the initial port. With Myth III v1.3.x, Flying Flip re-invented Vengeance as Ballistic, by updating it, adding new features and porting it to Linux (despite Myth III itself not running on Linux systems). Shortly after, Ballistic v1.0.1 was released, and since late 2005 a beta for v1.0.4 has been open for public testing. Currently very little use has been made of the tool outside of Flying Flip itself which appears to be done with map-making for the time being.
==References==
* [http://www.mythdev.com/ MythDev] - now dead link leads to Flying Flip.com
* [http://projectmagma.net Project Magma] - Myth and Myth II developers
* [http://flyingflip.com Flying Flip] - Myth III developers
* [http://playmyth.net PlayMyth.net] - Main Myth II community hub, owned by Blades head of Flying Flip and former head of MythDev
* [http://bungie.net Bungie] - original developers of Myth and Myth II
[[Category:Myth]]
[[Category:Video game development]]
Re: Deleted Myth Wiki Articles Recovered
It wasn't hosted anywhere in it's exact form, but I am pretty sure I saved it before the big purge, and much of it ended up in one form or another in the long neglected "Myth Community History" project.
http://www.mything.org/history/community/pmwiki.php
http://www.mything.org/history/community/pmwiki.php
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phordicus2
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Mon May 04, 2009 12:01 am
Re: Deleted Myth Wiki Articles Recovered
nice save.
correction, though:
correction, though:
creep was a bungie tfl map. keep was made by mormith, not bungie.*'''Creep on the Borderlands''' and '''Keep across the River''' - These two maps were popular maps from the first game that for some reason did not make the cut into Myth 2. They were quickly ported by third parties and are staple tournament maps.
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The Elfoid
- Posts: 1014
- Joined: Mon May 03, 2004 5:30 am
- Location: Devon, England
- Contact:
Re: Deleted Myth Wiki Articles Recovered
I wrote most of that shit! God that was so long ago. Memories man, memories. Seriously, not all of it but I think almost all of it's my work....probably ALL the dev history one. Thanks a lot man, I hated losing it.
I remember Doobie once being like "dude, that myth development history thing is pretty accurate!". I was flattered that the complex story I'd heard from a billion places had come together in a coherant manner.
My writing skills were awful then compared to now though, uggggh. But still, nice to have a record of it.
I'll get someone to put it on enculator's myth wiki. Vinylrake (bound to read this right?) if you wanna adapt/improve any of it for your various places you keep myth things, go nuts.
I remember Doobie once being like "dude, that myth development history thing is pretty accurate!". I was flattered that the complex story I'd heard from a billion places had come together in a coherant manner.
My writing skills were awful then compared to now though, uggggh. But still, nice to have a record of it.
I'll get someone to put it on enculator's myth wiki. Vinylrake (bound to read this right?) if you wanna adapt/improve any of it for your various places you keep myth things, go nuts.
http://theramblingelf.tumblr.com/ - my blog
Re: Deleted Myth Wiki Articles Recovered
Or here:
http://mythipedia.wikia.com/wiki/Myth_II:_Soulblighter
I am surprised there isn't a full on myth wiki that's a good source of knowledge yet.
http://mythipedia.wikia.com/wiki/Myth_II:_Soulblighter
I am surprised there isn't a full on myth wiki that's a good source of knowledge yet.
PSN: Jon_God
XBL: J0N GOD
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The Elfoid
- Posts: 1014
- Joined: Mon May 03, 2004 5:30 am
- Location: Devon, England
- Contact:
Re: Deleted Myth Wiki Articles Recovered
VR's site has the most information. Not everyone can edit it wiki-style but given he'll put anything he perceives as useful on it (and tends to be a solid judge) that thing's the nearest there is.
http://iutgea32.free.fr/index.php?title=Main_Page and we have this
http://iutgea32.free.fr/index.php?title=Main_Page and we have this
http://theramblingelf.tumblr.com/ - my blog
Re: Deleted Myth Wiki Articles Recovered
i have no interest whatsoever in letting _everyone_ on the internet have the ability to edit content on my site (that way lies madness), so i basically use existing sources (credited of course) or wrote stuff i knew. but i am not opposed to getting help - I have more than once put out feelers looking for people interested in contributing content or to help editing and the only reply was from Elf, who then got busy with real life.
that said, the myth history part of mything.org (a private wiki) is in need of some serious updating/revamping. if anyone has any ideas or the interest in making it better I am open to suggestions as to how to best do this, offers of assistance, volunteer writers, editors, etc. Also, if there are other sources of myth info which aren't represented in the myth community history project section of mything.org please let me know.
that said, the myth history part of mything.org (a private wiki) is in need of some serious updating/revamping. if anyone has any ideas or the interest in making it better I am open to suggestions as to how to best do this, offers of assistance, volunteer writers, editors, etc. Also, if there are other sources of myth info which aren't represented in the myth community history project section of mything.org please let me know.