Myth III: The Wolf Age

Myth III: The Wolf Age
Cover art for the Macintosh version of Myth III
Developer(s)	MumboJumbo
Publisher(s)	Take-Two Interactive
Series	Myth
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS
Release date(s)	November 2001 (2001-11)
Genre(s)	Real-time tactical combat
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Media/distribution	Optical disc

Myth III: The Wolf Age is a real-time tactical combat video game developed by MumboJumbo. Released for the PC in November 2001, the game is the third installment in the Myth franchise but is the only game in the series to be developed by MumboJumbo. The game is a prequel and takes place 1,000 years before the events of the first game in the franchise. In the game, players assume the roles of different Fallen Lords, a group which would later become corrupt and appear as the villains in the previous games.

Gameplay

Similar to its predecessor, Myth III is a real-time tactical combat game which focuses on tactical combat and does not require intense resource management like other games in the real-time strategy genre. Players battle enemies in a 3D environment and make use of landscape to gain the higher ground during combat or outflank the enemy.^[1]

Spellcasters use a resource known as mana to cast magical spells to damage enemies.

Plot

Myth III occurs 1,000 before the events of the first Myth game and follows the story of the Fallen Lords, a group which becomes corrupted and is seen as the villains in the earlier games from the franchise. The story focuses on Connacht the Wolf, also known as the Fallen Lord Ballor, and his close friend Damas.^[1]

Development

In 2000, Microsoft purchased Bungie Studios from their main competitor, Apple, in order to have the studio develop Halo exclusively for Microsoft's new Xbox game console. Early development versions of Halo resembled a sci-fi clone of one of Bungie's other franchises, Myth.^[2] As part of the sale of Bungie, the rights to the Oni and Myth series went to the video game publisher Take-Two Interactive who were holding a large share of the studio at the time of the sale.^[3] Take-Two hired the startup company MumboJumbo to develop Myth III based on Myth II's code. MumoJumbo was founded by employees that left Ritual Entertainment and Myth III would be the first game they created. Take-Two also hired many talented members of Myth II's modding community to work on both expansions for Myth II^[4] and the new Myth III.^[5] The developers made significant changes to the existing code to improve the game's visual aesthetics including the removal of bump mapping which would no longer be required with the increases made to the game's texture quality. The new engine also sported full 3D characters each with 300 to 800 polygons and at least 13 different animations, unlike its predecessor which relied on sprites for characters and animations. Soon before the game's release, PC Gamer's staff writer Jim Preston wrote that he was skeptical as to whether the developer had been given enough time to satisfactorily complete the game.^[1]

The developers worked to support the modding community by taking Fear & Loathing, the application used to create mods for the previous games, and creating a new, easier to use application known as Vengeance.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Preston, Jim (December 2001). "Myth III: The Wolf Age". PC Gamer (91): 24. ISSN 1080-4471. 
2. ^ "Inside Bungie: History". Bungie. Archived from the original on 2004-10-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20041012021413/http://www.bungie.net/Inside/CustomPage.aspx?section=History&subsection=Main&page=6. Retrieved 2011-08-27. 
3. ^ Svitkine, Alexei (2005-08-23). "Postmortem: Project Magma's Myth II 1.5 and 1.5.1". Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2380/postmortem_project_magmas_myth_.php. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
4. ^ Liberatore, Raphael (2001-11). "The A Team - Despite Bungie's MIA status, the MYTH II legacy continues". Computer Gaming World. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-78574033/team-despite-bungie-mia.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
5. ^ "Interview with "Mumbo Jumbo's Craig Goodman (Santa's Head), Paul Callender (fisj), and Richard Cowgill (iggy popped) on Myth III: "The Wolf Age"". Mythwolfage.com. Archived from the original on 2001-02-23. http://web.archive.org/web/20010223091331/http://www.mythwolfage.com/interview1p1.shtml. Retrieved 2011-08-29.