Nyrthos: The First Chapter Announced
Officially, Nyrthos was announced on January 3rd of this year, but it seems that much of the Internet only became aware of its existence today. I actually only took note of it when someone on Twitter likened it to Ultima 7, and then saw that GameBanshee had posted an article about it yesterday.
This image reminds me strongly of Ultima 8.
Details about the game are a bit sparse at the moment, but here’s what can be said about it at the very minimum: it looks almost exactly like an Infinity Engine game (Icewind Dale, Baldur’s Gate, etc.). The world map seems to be fairly large and densely populated with places to visit; world accessibility will evidently scale with player level, and the world itself may expand as subsequent chapters of the game are released by its develoeprs, BeerDeer Games.
Very pretty, very isometric.
The game will be playable in a browser, and Android and iOS ports are also in the works. Gameplay will be split between three modes: story, survival, and arena. Player choice evidently plays a major role in how the world is shaped and how the story evolves. The story synopsis given on the Nyrthos website is of the generic “land about to be swallowed by darkness” variety, but it’s not as though there aren’t interesting ways of telling such stories.
Sergorn Dragon also tells me that the developers cite Diablo and Gothic as influences, which is rather promising, and hopefully indicates that the game will feature a much more dynamic, living world than most Western RPGs tend to.
Fight the enemy! Prevent the cannonball people from taking over!
If you’re interested, Dragons and Dragonettes, might I recommend that you sign up for the game’s closed beta?
Also: May I just take a moment to point out, or highlight again, that this will be a mobile and browser-based game? This is what I and others have been talking about, when we argue in favour of the potential in these new gaming frontiers. Nyrthos is way beyond Farmville, my friends, and it will be the first of many such games.
Heh, that ringed treasure chest in the first image makes it look so ‘gamey’ and ruins the image they tried to project.
“Ooh, lava and obsidian, creepy, looks like Mordor and OOOOH SHINEY”
I’m not sure how the game will end up, but that really *looks* awesome.
When I say that browser games offer a chance for actually more old school gaming (and that this might indeed imply to future Ultima endeavour) this is exactly what I mean.
I mean what would excite old school Ultima fans more between a game looking somewhat like, or a game somewhat like… I dunno, Dragon Age II ? 😛
I too was drawn in by the Ultima 7 tweet a few days ago. I spent the next several hours devouring all the information I could about the game because I was immediately stunned by the visuals. They remind me a lot of the visuals from Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood (http://www.gamespot.com/robin-hood-the-legend-of-sherwood/) which is my absolute favorite style of graphics.
Needless to say, the visuals alone for this game had me jumping up and down (which a rarity for me). I immediately signed up for the beta, hopefully I’ll get in.
I have high hopes for the game. (Which shouldn’t be confused for high expectations) 😉
Ultima 7 eh? Single player isometric eh? Hmmm…
You don’t like the treasue chest? Well, what do you use to store your valuables in when you leave them in a cave?
The graphics are astounding. I wonder if they’re original or from a licensed set.
The FAQ states, “We plan to release the game on PC, where it will be playable directly from the web browser, and later on Android and iOS devices.” I hope by “PC” they mean personal computer, as in an arbitrary-architecture micro/personal computer, and that by Android and iOS devices they mean porting it to the somewhat Draconian and limiting ToS, form factors and dev environments of the devices running those OS’s. When people use the term PC to describe a personal computer with a specific OS installed I go ape shit for the sheer ignorance of the notion. From the sound of the post it seems they’re smarter than that, which is refreshing.
They also mention “Multiplayer is definitely one of the things on our radar and we would like to make it happen sometime in the near future. Unfortunately, we probably wont be able to make it to the initial release.” That’s damn good news, though somewhat disappointing that it’s not being built in from the ground up. Multiplayer will force changes to almost every local (single-player) mechanic if it’s not already set up for it.
While I haven’t had much success getting help or helping people in need on this forum, I have quite a bit of experience in building a game for multiplayer. If any insight or specific strategies are needed I’d be glad to consult gratis. Yes, it’s my first stab at real multiplayer network programming, but I do have dual client/server transactions histories with packet ordering, redundancy, and “need-to-know” basis client/server datasets. Client-side position interpolation for non-PC entities to mask 10 FPS or lower network update frequencies is also a huge boon to playability.
Also, the treasure chest makes the game look fucking awesome. Definitely don’t change that (or leather/cloth sacks or any other cool container).