New Might and Magic fan game- Monsters of Mican

[Skittzo]

Hey folks, I'm relatively new around here, but I've been a longtime fan of the M&M series, so much so that a couple years back I was sick of nobody else making games like it so I decided to take it upon myself to make a brand new game heavily inspired by Might and Magic. (Hey if JVC could do it in the 80s why can't I now when game development is 5000x easier?)



Originally I wanted to make a full semi-open game that kinda blended the concepts of MM1-5 and 6-8, where you'd have a world map traversed in first person (like 1-5) but towns/dungeons/areas all separate spaces like 6-8 with full 3D movement in both the world map and other instances. However, my design doc for this game wound up at a staggering 28 dungeons, and I was on pace to do maybe 5 dungeons a year so I decided to significantly scale back my project and make it a much more linear dungeon crawler.



Still, the game has Might and Magic DNA everywhere. There's a fully customizable 4 member party, a skill system like 6-8 where you upgrade ranks for new benefits, turn based combat like in 6-8 (no option to do toggle between that and action, a sequel may have that), dungeons having puzzles and objects/statues/interactibles that inexplicably grant massive boosts or vaporize your character, a very, very M&M style story which blends ridiculous scifi concepts with traditional fantasy settings, etc.

I've added a ton of my own design philosophies as well, including specific and unique boss encounters, an action bar which gives you quick and easy access to your character's spells/abilities, a "trait" system where enemies can have varying special abilities or properties based on what traits they have (from a list of like 75 traits), a randomized loot system which is kinda similar to MM6-8 but with some big changes, and tons of other more QOL features that we all wish the older M&M games would have.





The game is complete now, I am working on finishing up post-game challenge dungeons which I had originally planned to be post-launch content, but going from finishing a game to launching it takes longer than I thought so I have the time! I am still trying to polish it and squash any remaining bugs, so I am always looking for people to test the game and give me any and all feedback they may have. There's a free demo out with the first 3 (out of 10+) dungeons, but I can also give out codes for the full game if anyone wants to do any more rigorous QA testing.

Demo is here: https://skittzo.itch.io/projectmm

I'm planning to launch in October on the Epic Games Store, then later on Steam and Itch and eventually if possible bring it to consoles.




Please let me know if this type of post is not appropriate for this forum! Thank you for reading and thanks for being Might and Magic fans!

[Skittzo]

I just realized I completely forgot to post my trailers. Whoops!

[Tomsod]

From watching the trailers, it's indeed very Might and Magic -- you seem to have combined the UX of MM9 with the wackiness of the DOS-era MM games. I'll have to play the demo, for inspiration at least! I see it's not open-source, do you at least plan to have some kind of manual/wiki/documentation explaining how everything works, or are in-game hints enough?

[Skittzo]

From watching the trailers, it's indeed very Might and Magic -- you seem to have combined the UX of MM9 with the wackiness of the DOS-era MM games. I'll have to play the demo, for inspiration at least! I see it's not open-source, do you at least plan to have some kind of manual/wiki/documentation explaining how everything works, or are in-game hints enough?

There's an in-game tutorial at the start which should help, but now that I think about it I should totally throw together a manual or something, huh.

For now I can just explain the basics:

-WASD for full movement
-mouse controls the camera outside of menus
-C/esc brings up the character menu with tabs for all menu functions
-tab switches between active chars outside of combat, switches targetable enemies in combat
-1-7 keys use the current abilities/spells mapped to those keys
-R rests if you're able to rest

That's about it for controls. Gameplay is basically clicking to activate interaction items (like NPCs, levers, doors, chests), click on enemies to select them then use an attack/ability when it's your turn. Some abilities don't need a target (like heal or fire wave). That's more or less it, the only other unusual caveat is MP works inversely to M&M, MP raises as you use more abilities and if you exceed the MP max threshold your character will be damaged.

All of this stuff is explained in the game in tutorials and tooltips but yeah it should be good to have it in a readme too at least, I'll work on that. Thanks.

[Strobe]

By mechanics looks very charming, but the design choices are way too goofy for my taste.

[Skittzo]

By mechanics looks very charming, but the design choices are way too goofy for my taste.

Ah sorry to hear that, goofy/whimsical design and dialogue is absolutely something I aimed for. But I'm glad you like the look of the mechanics, thank you for the feedback!

[Skittzo]

From watching the trailers, it's indeed very Might and Magic -- you seem to have combined the UX of MM9 with the wackiness of the DOS-era MM games. I'll have to play the demo, for inspiration at least! I see it's not open-source, do you at least plan to have some kind of manual/wiki/documentation explaining how everything works, or are in-game hints enough?

So I took a bit of time to write up a PDF manual, and also copied the manual to a devlog on the itch page here-

https://skittzo.itch.io/projectmm/devlo ... f-mican-v1

If you're still interested. Thanks for reminding me to do this, it does do a good job of explaining some of the less intuitive mechanics I think.

[Tomsod]

Welp, I've tried for a while and I couldn't get either Linux OR Windows demo to run on my Linux laptop. The native build crashes on startup, while the Windows one (with Wine) complains about no MSVC runtime, then fails to install it -- installing VC2015 runtime manually doesn't help either. Too bad!

[Skittzo]

The game is officially launched on PC! https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/mon ... can-02e3ee

Here's my launch trailer:



I hope some of you check it out, I really think you'll like it if you like Might and Magic!

Welp, I've tried for a while and I couldn't get either Linux OR Windows demo to run on my Linux laptop. The native build crashes on startup, while the Windows one (with Wine) complains about no MSVC runtime, then fails to install it -- installing VC2015 runtime manually doesn't help either. Too bad!

The Linux build crashes on startup? That's surprising, I may have to look into how Linux UE4 builds are handled on the client side.

Oh well, thank you for trying it! I will try and get a Linux version available at some point, Mac too if possible.

[Karol]

I just played the Linux Demo.
Set video settings to max in main menu, but in game it auto-switched to "normal" (middle option).
I switched it back, but couldn't see obvious differences.

I was a bit lost in the first combat (luckily there is a button: "I am stuck", every game should have it), but then I realized, I didn't gasp the combat procedure:
pressing 2 for bow, but then selecting enemy (either by mouse or TAB.) and then AGAIN press 2 to actually fire the arrow.

I like how the circle indicator shows, when a enemy is near enough for melee attack.

Q: Dodge is valid when I am using pants, cloaks and such? (does Dodge invalidate itself only when the hero wears body armor, like leather armor and such?)

Audio and Visuals are goofy, as mentioned above, but the combat system is real and working, and that is what matters.
It feels you actually did put real effort in it, but most probably you alone are designing the whole game from scratch...
I personally like your battle system better than the one from Arcante, and Arcante is being sold for some good money, and DEV created two instances, while supporting none of those.

There is a long and rocky road for tuning this game, but it has potential to be sold not only on Itch.io or Epic, but also on Steam or GoG if you make it to the final, polished look.

[Skittzo]

I just played the Linux Demo.
Set video settings to max in main menu, but in game it auto-switched to "normal" (middle option).
I switched it back, but couldn't see obvious differences.

That might be a glitch in the UI, showing the "normal" choice and not reflecting the change you made. Different OSes handle that code differently so I may need to look into how it works on Linux.

I was a bit lost in the first combat (luckily there is a button: "I am stuck", every game should have it), but then I realized, I didn't gasp the combat procedure:
pressing 2 for bow, but then selecting enemy (either by mouse or TAB.) and then AGAIN press 2 to actually fire the arrow.

I like how the circle indicator shows, when a enemy is near enough for melee attack.

You don't need to choose the action before selecting an enemy. Some abilities require you to select an enemy (like melee attack or ranged attack) and some don't (like heal, or fire wave), so the ones that require a selection first simple need for you to have an enemy selected at all. You can click on the enemy with the crosshairs, or hit tab as you did to cycle through available targets.

I've since added an optional combat tutorial explaining some of that. The circle actually shows you how far you can move during combat, there's a "crossed swords" image that'll show up on the bottom right when you're in melee range.

Q: Dodge is valid when I am using pants, cloaks and such? (does Dodge invalidate itself only when the hero wears body armor, like leather armor and such?)

Dodge requires you to be without all armor, including pants/gloves/helms/etc and also shields. As the description says this no longer applies to light armor once you've reached Master rank.

Audio and Visuals are goofy, as mentioned above, but the combat system is real and working, and that is what matters.
It feels you actually did put real effort in it, but most probably you alone are designing the whole game from scratch...
I personally like your battle system better than the one from Arcante, and Arcante is being sold for some good money, and DEV created two instances, while supporting none of those.

There is a long and rocky road for tuning this game, but it has potential to be sold not only on Itch.io or Epic, but also on Steam or GoG if you make it to the final, polished look.

Thank you for that feedback!

Visuals and especially audio are meant to be goofy, the game is going for a very light-headed whimsical vibe, similar to the first 5 Might and Magic games.

I did really put a ton of work into the combat system, and if you're just playing the demo you still haven't seen much of it. The best feature IMO is the enemy trait system, which allows me to give any of the enemies one of like, 75 unique traits that greatly change how combat works. Some traits will give them knockback, some make their damage higher when their health is lower, some give them a shield which makes them completely immune to damage for one strike, some make other monsters try to attack them.

With these traits I managed to make a set of post-game "themed" dungeons, like a "rock concert" with stone golems and croc stars that all have the "Virtuoso" trait (they can play a tune that greatly increases nearby enemies' stats), and a "banquet" which makes enemies all try to attack specific food-themed monsters with the "Outcast" trait, also giving them the "Ambrosial" trait which gives the killer of the food monster- whether that's another monster or one of the player characters- a huge temporary stat boost.


I'm planning a few more updates, including a monster-catching update which is almost complete, and a hidden secret dungeon containing an uber-boss, and possibly a separate "arcade" mode. I absolutely do plan to release this on Steam and GoG, as well as consoles if I am able to get developer authorization, once my Epic exclusivity period is up. I've been updating the polish with each new update too, and will continue to do so. I also plan to put out an updated Linux demo build soon, and possibly a full-game Linux build on Itch.

Thank you again for all the feedback, it's really vital to me to continue making this game the best it can be.

[Karol]

If you made the visuals intentionally as they are, that's totally fine. I am much more into playability, than visuals.
As matter of fact, I am playing Mordor: Depths of Dejenol 1.1 till Today, because I like the challenging combat system and dungeon exploration, more than high-res graphics of games, where the combat is boring or otherwise lame.

If you have a lot of trouble with Linux, I believe that as me, so any Linux user could use Wine or other tool to run your Windows build, too. So you might pull Linux down on your priority list.

Most importantly, best luck with your release. On GoG I would buy your game right away (or Itch.io, too), as on Epic, my account was stolen and Epic support was one huge disappointment, so I swore not to be Epic customer anymore, sorry.

Even playing version 3 (demo for Linux on Itch.io) I can clearly confirm perfect playability not only on technical level, but also gameplay experience - find a nearby town - check shops & trainers. Enter dungeon, win few battles and make it out alive back. And next time dwell a bit deeper -> principle of every good RPG.

For one-man development team, you did huge amount of progress. Reminds of Andrew, who singlehandedly developed Heroes of a Broken Land, and despite sells of his first game were low on $ (he sold many copies, but mostly under normal price), he still decided to start 2nd sequel. Hard worker, just like you.
Good luck!

[Skittzo]

If you made the visuals intentionally as they are, that's totally fine. I am much more into playability, than visuals.
As matter of fact, I am playing Mordor: Depths of Dejenol 1.1 till Today, because I like the challenging combat system and dungeon exploration, more than high-res graphics of games, where the combat is boring or otherwise lame.

If you have a lot of trouble with Linux, I believe that as me, so any Linux user could use Wine or other tool to run your Windows build, too. So you might pull Linux down on your priority list.

Most importantly, best luck with your release. On GoG I would buy your game right away (or Itch.io, too), as on Epic, my account was stolen and Epic support was one huge disappointment, so I swore not to be Epic customer anymore, sorry.

Even playing version 3 (demo for Linux on Itch.io) I can clearly confirm perfect playability not only on technical level, but also gameplay experience - find a nearby town - check shops & trainers. Enter dungeon, win few battles and make it out alive back. And next time dwell a bit deeper -> principle of every good RPG.

For one-man development team, you did huge amount of progress. Reminds of Andrew, who singlehandedly developed Heroes of a Broken Land, and despite sells of his first game were low on $ (he sold many copies, but mostly under normal price), he still decided to start 2nd sequel. Hard worker, just like you.
Good luck!

Thank you for the great feedback! I am hoping to get a GOG, Itch and Steam version up ASAP but it's taking longer than I'd hope due to the holiday season.

I do want to let you know that I've released a massive update to the Linux demo which includes many fixes that you suggested, in addition to a bunch of new features and other QOL fixes. Full list of changes (and download link) here-

https://skittzo.itch.io/projectmm/devlo ... er-buddies

[Karol]

Great job, thank you, already playing and enjoying new Version 4 for Linux

[Skittzo]

Just thought I'd update you all that version 2.0 of the game releases on Steam next Monday, March 25th! With tons of new fixes and features!




New trailer here:





Hope you give it a look!

[kurtsanders]

You're right, game development has come a long way since the 80s, but it still requires a lot of work, dedication, and skill. It's no small feat to create a game, especially one inspired by a complex series like M&M.

[Skittzo]

Thought I'd share that I released a new free expansion for the game, adding a bunch of new non-linear dungeons making the game feel a bit more open like a real Might and Magic.

You're right, game development has come a long way since the 80s, but it still requires a lot of work, dedication, and skill. It's no small feat to create a game, especially one inspired by a complex series like M&M.

Thank you! I appreciate that, it definitely was not easy but I enjoyed every minute of the development.

The marketing on the other hand is kinda soul crushing...