MythForce News

[h3]Hey Adventurers![/h3]

Welcome back! In our last dev blog, we took a deep dive into Maggie’s new skill trees and some of the radical new classes you’ll be able to mix and match with. We’ve been thrilled by the feedback so far, and are happy to see how many of you are excited about the 1.2 update!

This time, we’re focusing on another brand-new mechanic coming with 1.2—Elemental Combos. This new mechanic is something the team has been working very hard on, and we feel it addresses a lot of the issues/limitations players may have previously experienced with the current elemental system. Without further ado, let’s break down what elemental combos are and how they’ll enhance your combat experience in the upcoming update.

What Are Elemental Combos?

In the 1.2 update, elemental combos are triggered when two different elemental status effects combine. These combos can occur through spellbooks, elemental weapons, or special abilities. When triggered, they create an instant AoE (area of effect) explosion based on the combination of elements involved. The resulting AoE debuffs/damages all enemies within the blast radius. Importantly, elemental combos can only be triggered by players, so no need to worry about being nuked into oblivion by a group of acolyte casters.

What Was the Problem?

One of the goals for the MythForce team has always been to make combat feel IMPACTFUL but FUN. While there are plenty of cool elemental effects in the current version of the game, they’ve often gone underutilized. The reason? Many players felt that elemental-enhanced weapons weren’t pulling their weight compared to their non-elemental counterparts. Running around with a flaming greatsword or lightning bow should make you feel MORE powerful, but currently it feels more like a hindrance. The team settled on elemental combos as a way of not only encouraging players to enchant their weapons with elemental enhancements, but to add an additional layer of strategy when selecting weapon types and effects when playing as a group. Let's take a look at some of the elemental combos you can expect to see when battling it out in the dungeon.

[h2]FIRE + ICE [/h2]
Combining Fire and Ice creates a blast that weakens and exposes all enemies in the vicinity. Weakened enemies deal less outgoing damage, while exposed enemies guarantee your next hit will be a critical strike. This combo is perfect for setting up powerful follow-up attacks and controlling the flow of battle.




[h2]ICE + LIGHTNING [/h2]
Mixing Ice and Lightning results in a deadly combo that weakens enemies and links their damage. With damage link in place, hitting just one enemy will spread damage to all linked foes, making this combo ideal for clearing out large groups.




[h2]LIGHTNING + FIRE [/h2]
Combine Lightning and Fire for a devastating effect that both exposes and damage-links nearby enemies. Have a sharp enough greatsword? You might be able to take out a whole group with one swing.

(elemental combo debuff effects are subject to change pending playtest feedback)


Whether you’re switching between a fire spell and a greatsword as Rico or swapping between spellbooks as Maggie, we believe there are tons of exciting and deadly elemental combos for players to discover in the 1.2 update. Stay tuned for more info on how you can customize your hero with the revamped armory and enchantment system!

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts—drop your feedback in the comments below and join our Discord to stay updated on future testing opportunities.


See you in the dungeon!

Hey Adventurers!

It's been a while since our last update, and we know many of you have been eager to learn more about the upcoming 1.2 overhaul!

Since our previous dev blog, we’ve received lots of questions about some of the incoming changes and how they’ll impact the gameplay experience. So, over the next few weeks, we’ll be rolling out a series of deep dives that cover everything from the new skill tree system, encounter objectives, elemental combo mechanics—and more. While we are still not ready to release the update just yet, our goal is to get as much feedback on the new character trees and mechanics as possible to ensure this update truly resonates with the community. We’re even exploring pre-release testing to let you try out the changes before they go live. If you’re interested in helping shape this update, be sure to drop your thoughts in the comments or join our Discord for future beta test announcements!


One of the most exciting features in this overhaul is the introduction (or reintroduction, for our early access veterans) of skill trees. Unlike the current system - where heroes level up only during a run - the new skill tree system moves progression to the outer loop. Players will now earn XP across runs, which will level up each individual hero. When players increase a character’s level, they will unlock skill points that they can spec into one of three distinct skill trees—or mix and match between them.


Each of these trees offers unique play styles that cater to different kinds of players. In addition to the difference in playstyles between each of skilltree, each hero’s Overdrive meter will charge, and have different effects when activated depending on the skill tree you spec into. We'll explore all of the heroes in the coming weeks, but to kick things off, let’s take a closer look at the skill trees for Maggie.


We’ve been hard at work developing three distinct hero classes for our resident Mage. These classes include; Wild Mage, Artificer, and Battlemage, with each one offering a unique approach to combat. Whether you’re a fan of chaotic elemental damage, crowd control, or high speed action, there’s an class here for you.

Here’s the breakdown;



As a Wild Mage, Maggie’s all about unleashing chaotic elemental combos (more on this later) that can quickly shift the tide of battle against any powerful foe. Maggie’s abilities take on random elemental properties, adding another layer of chaos that makes fights feel fresh and unpredictable.

Some standout abilities for Maggie’s Wild Mage class include;

• Chaotic Combo: Applies a random buff to the player on any triggered elemental combo.
  
• Wild Owl: Familiar projectiles now explode in an AOE which damages nearby enemies.
  
• Conflux: Every enemy killed inside Maggie’s barrier increases its radius by 10%
  

When Maggie enters Overdrive in Wild Mage mode, things get even wilder! By applying elemental damage Maggie charges her Overdrive meter, and on activation, all enemies receive a random elemental debuff. Not only that, her elemental combos during Overdrive become extra lethal. If you’re looking for a balance of supporting your party, dealing damage, and creating a little chaos, the Wild Mage class is for you.





For those players that prefer a more tactical playstyle, the Artificer archetype turns Maggie into a powerful support hero. With the ability to freeze enemies, heal allies (finally), and summon multiple familiars, Artificer Maggie is a key player when it comes to controlling the battlefield and keeping your team in the fight.

Some standout abilities for Maggie’s Artificer class include;

• Familiars Mod: Familiars can now target Maggie and friendly players and HEAL on hit.
  
• Lockdown: Increased damage to chilled or frozen enemies
  
• Force Field: Allies inside Maggie's bubble gain recharge.
  

When you activate Overdrive as an Artificer, the entire battlefield chills out. Activating MythForce freezes all enemies in the current room, giving your team a chance to regroup, or get some easy hits on some undead popsicles. The Overdrive meter in the Artificer class is charged by activating special abilities, so keep laying down turrets and bubbles to trigger a second Ice Age.





If raw power and high damage numbers are your thing, look no further than the Battlemage. This class focuses on getting in enemies faces at close range with a portable shield/familiar and dealing devastating power attacks at mid-range while weakening enemies to set them up for even bigger hits. Battlemage Maggie is all about moving fast and maximizing damage with overwhelming force.

Some standout abilities for Maggie’s Battlemage class include;

• Focused: Power attacks have a chance to grant a speed boost to Maggie
  
• Besties: Enemies hit by Maggie’s familiar are debuffed
  
• Snappier: On snap activation, gain a speed boost
  

Once Overdrive is activated in Battlemage mode, Maggie debuffs all enemies on the battlefield, setting them up for massive damage spikes. Maggie’s power attacks charge the overdrive meter, so every hit you land brings you closer to lethal strikes against weakened foes. If you want to obliterate enemies with precision and raw power, Battlemage is where you’ll thrive.





We’re incredibly excited for players to get their hands on these new classes for Maggie, and curious to see what kind of build combinations players come up with when our 1.2 update launches. Whether you’re a fan of fast-paced elemental combos, strategic battlefield control, or raw damage output, Maggie’s classes will give you the tools to play the way you want. Which class are you most excited to try? Let us know in the comments below.

As always, keep the feedback coming, and stay tuned for more dev blogs & previews in the coming weeks.

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Hey Adventurers!

It’s been a while since we’ve given you an update on what we’ve been cooking up over at MythForce HQ, so here's the rundown.

First off, we want to give a BIG shoutout to the entire community for your amazing feedback to our 1.0.5 Harder, Better, Faster, Story Update, and recent Hotfixes. This feedback has been invaluable in shaping a lot of the design decisions being worked on for our next major update, which we are now calling 1.2 (formally 1.0.6). The name change reflects the extensive changes to the overall game loop and the significant amount of work involved compared to our previous updates.

While working on our upcoming overhaul the team noticed that there are parts of the game that seem to run counter to what we want to accomplish with MythForce. We’ve put together a plan to revise MythForce over the next while, which will see some systems completely go away, others changed and some new systems introduced. We are iterating as we go, trying to realize the potential that started us on MythForce years ago.

Big picture, We will be removing “inner loop leveling” which is what we call the gaining of levels within a gameplay session. Instead, all level progression will be moved out of session and into the outer loop. Playing an episode will give you XP, Gold and rewards which are then spent outside the episode to improve your character, your gear and open up new options.

To facilitate this we will be introducing character profiles at startup, giving you slots for your characters. This will allow players to have multiple builds across characters that they can instantly swap to without the fear of losing progress on a specific hero. Our aim with this system is to allow players to experiment freely with different build combinations across a variety of playstyles.


Constellations and star shards are going away and will be replaced by a skill tree system which allows much greater personalization and customization of character builds. The skill trees will allow you to build from a greater variety of abilities and power ups to better realize the character you want.

While our current constellation system allows for huge bonuses to stats, it doesn't offer much opportunity to vary how you approach gameplay outside of weapon selection. This creates some extreme challenges to game balance, as we have to allow for stats with hundreds of points difference in the same encounter, making many much too easy or hard. Our ultimate goal with this new system is to make the core gameplay loop for each hero feel unique and give players the freedom to experiment with different playstyles.

The armory and weapons as a whole will also be receiving a lot of attention as we examine elemental effects, potential elemental combos, and weapon enchantments to further weapon enhancement and customization.

As we make major changes to many systems, we are going to focus on the PC build to implement, polish, and iterate on those changes. Once we are satisfied with the state of the game, we will evaluate our timelines and resources for other platforms. Since we are a small team, this process will take some time, but the changes will be profound and worth the wait.


We are making numerous other changes throughout the game that aim to extend the overall replayability of MythForce and make each run feel unique. For example, we're looking to introduce more interesting encounter objectives into the mix. We are also working out a mechanism to ensure those who have spent a great deal of time unlocking progression in the old system are able to carry some benefit to the new system. We are just getting started on this large scale rework, so we ask for some patience as we dig in and revamp a large number of major systems. This is going to take some time, so we are holding off on providing an estimate, but the changes will be worthwhile.


We are eager to start teasing out some of these changes and talking about them, so stay tuned to our Steam page/socials in the coming weeks for a look at what to expect!