Myth Postmortem

Introduction The Making of a Legend, er, Myth What Worked What Went Wrong Post-Release Reactions

As the team at Bungie Software put the finishing touches on the Marathon series of first-person action games, our thoughts drifted to bringing our 3D game experience to the real-time strategy game (RTSG) genre. We were inspired by movies such as Braveheart, with its close-up portrayal of bloody melees between large forces, and books such as Glen Cook's The Black Company, in which gruesome tales of battle contrast with engaging and intriguing characters. We envisioned a dark, amoral world where opposing sides are equally brutal and their unity is torn by power struggles within the ranks. We dreamed of game play that combined the realism and excitement of action games with the cunning and planning required by strategy games.

Our original design document, if you could call it that, was simply opposing lists of "Stuff that Rocks" and "Stuff that Sucks." Anything vaguely cliché, such as excessive references to Tolkien novels, Arthurian legend, or "little boys coming of age and saving the world," went in the "Sucks" category. The "Stuff that Rocks" list was filled with ideas that contributed to the visual realism of the game: a true 3D landscape, polygonal buildings, reflecting water, particle-based weather, "blood-spattered battlefields littered with limbs," explosions that send shock waves through the terrain, and "lightning frying guys and their friends."

Our goals for the product were lofty: simultaneous release on Windows 95 and Macintosh platforms, integrated Internet play, and a free online service to allow players from across the globe to battle one another. From this vision, Myth: The Fallen Lords was born.