January 16th, 2016
MYHA: http://www.theblackcube.fr/myha
itch.io: http://the-icehouse.itch.io/myha
The Icehouse: http://www.theicehouse.fr/games-digital---asa-remastered-edition.html
MYHA: http://www.theblackcube.fr/myha
itch.io: http://the-icehouse.itch.io/myha
The Icehouse: http://www.theicehouse.fr/games-digital---asa-remastered-edition.html
What is this page?
Hi! I will keep a nice souvenir of this Myst Game Jam on itch.io, and maybe in a few years I will be happy to read these lines again? I created Myha in a limited amount of time and it was quite a challenge! Of course it was difficult, and I wouldn't have made it without the help of my team, Bob and Deki, and if the rules of the Jam had been more restrictive. We were allowed to create anything and everything related to Myst, and it was even possible to begin the project before the official date (9th of January 2016). As soon as I discovered this game Jam, I thought that I had to participate. It was in December 2015 and I started thinking about the game and talking with the team... I hope you tried to play MYHA and that you liked it. I'm sure that it can bring some nostalgia if you used to be a fan of Myst. Please keep in mind that it is only a free tribute created for the fun!
Simon Mesnard
Simon Mesnard
Getting ready
First I had to gather a team and choose my tools. I knew the guys of the Adventure Maker community, and I was sure that I could rely on them.
Our team
Simon: graphic designer, developer
Bob: english localization, puzzle ideas, AM engine support
Deki: voice record, music, AM engine support
Rashko: voice actor
Tools
I created the pre-rendered graphics with 3dsmax and After Effects. I built the game with the AM engine (Adventure Maker). It's quite an old-school engine (Visual Basic scripts), which resulted in a very strong Myst-like feeling: slideshow game, low resolution... I totally assume this choice to create a retro design and I hope you will like the result if you're a Myst fan.
I also think that Adventure Maker is perfect when you need to work quickly on a pre-rendered adventure game, and it helped me during this jam. Technically outdated, but reliable and fast to use!
Opening movie
I started the development of MYHA with the creation of a very short film, that was used as the opening movie of the game. This short film helped me create the world of Myha, prepare the character, the story, etc. It was in December 2015 and I made this film on my own during a weekend. It helped me discuss with the rest of the team. It was a starting point.
Our team
Simon: graphic designer, developer
Bob: english localization, puzzle ideas, AM engine support
Deki: voice record, music, AM engine support
Rashko: voice actor
Tools
I created the pre-rendered graphics with 3dsmax and After Effects. I built the game with the AM engine (Adventure Maker). It's quite an old-school engine (Visual Basic scripts), which resulted in a very strong Myst-like feeling: slideshow game, low resolution... I totally assume this choice to create a retro design and I hope you will like the result if you're a Myst fan.
I also think that Adventure Maker is perfect when you need to work quickly on a pre-rendered adventure game, and it helped me during this jam. Technically outdated, but reliable and fast to use!
Opening movie
I started the development of MYHA with the creation of a very short film, that was used as the opening movie of the game. This short film helped me create the world of Myha, prepare the character, the story, etc. It was in December 2015 and I made this film on my own during a weekend. It helped me discuss with the rest of the team. It was a starting point.
Original Plans
That's what I wrote before the Jam officially started (January 9th):
We learned about this Jam in the beginning of December. According to the rules, it was possible to begin the development immediately, so I started talking of the game to the rest of my team. With Bob and Deki, we tried to find ideas for the scenario, puzzles, game design... It took us a few days. Then I created the opening movie in a weekend.
The development of Myha was then paused during our Christmas break (21st December 2015 to 04th January 2016) and didn't make any progress.
I started my work on the graphics of the main island on the 6th of January, and I created all the puzzles that we decided earlier. Today on the 9th of January, the main island is more or less finished and I am ready to start the renderings (pc calculation). Hopefully it should be finished tomorrow, which would allow me to improve the raw 3D pictures and videos in After Effects.
I plan to work on the development with the AM engine on the 11th, which might allow me to release a private demo for the rest of the team to discuss of possible improvements and ideas. The rest of the time will be dedicated to the development of the puzzles and the consistency of the game. Then we will include the diary (texts and voices) and add music, make some tests, and we should be ready to release for the 17th before the end of submissions...
We learned about this Jam in the beginning of December. According to the rules, it was possible to begin the development immediately, so I started talking of the game to the rest of my team. With Bob and Deki, we tried to find ideas for the scenario, puzzles, game design... It took us a few days. Then I created the opening movie in a weekend.
The development of Myha was then paused during our Christmas break (21st December 2015 to 04th January 2016) and didn't make any progress.
I started my work on the graphics of the main island on the 6th of January, and I created all the puzzles that we decided earlier. Today on the 9th of January, the main island is more or less finished and I am ready to start the renderings (pc calculation). Hopefully it should be finished tomorrow, which would allow me to improve the raw 3D pictures and videos in After Effects.
I plan to work on the development with the AM engine on the 11th, which might allow me to release a private demo for the rest of the team to discuss of possible improvements and ideas. The rest of the time will be dedicated to the development of the puzzles and the consistency of the game. Then we will include the diary (texts and voices) and add music, make some tests, and we should be ready to release for the 17th before the end of submissions...
Designing the island
I would like to explain how we designed the island of our project. It had to be a very fast work (because of the limited time we had for the Jam), so we had an idea: we could just get inspired by the original island of Myst. It would be a very nice tribute for all Myst fans. Of course our island would be totally different in the end, with a completely different way to visit it, different paths and a different look. But the basic idea was to use a similar topography.
People who know Myst are familiar with the island, that we can see on the cover. It has always been the main artwork of the game:
People who know Myst are familiar with the island, that we can see on the cover. It has always been the main artwork of the game:
The design of the island is very important in Myst, and it's part of the success of the game. It's mysterious because of the fog everywhere, because of the strange buildings and machineries, because of that lonely mountain peak, the rocket and the forest. Everything is isolated, surrounded by water, and there seems to be no possible escape. The player is isolated. That's what I liked in Myst, and what we wanted to do in Myha. Here's the first model of our island:
As you can see, it's slightly different, but we kept a few things from Myst: the mountain, the rocket, the water all around (of course, it's an island). I thought it was fun if the rocket had crashed on the island, and if it was possible to visit it in the game, just like in Myst!
At this stage, all you can see in our island is a rocky ground everywhere, but there will be more details in the end: buildings, vegetation, different paths, etc. This is only the basis of work. And even with such a poor island, we could prepare the game design: we started to place several important things in the game. I created a top view of the island that I shared with Bob and Deki, and we thought of the best way to place the starting point and the end of the game, some doors and buildings, the paths that are available at the beginning, and those that are blocked, and also where we could put the diary (scenario parts).
We used the top view as follows:
At this stage, all you can see in our island is a rocky ground everywhere, but there will be more details in the end: buildings, vegetation, different paths, etc. This is only the basis of work. And even with such a poor island, we could prepare the game design: we started to place several important things in the game. I created a top view of the island that I shared with Bob and Deki, and we thought of the best way to place the starting point and the end of the game, some doors and buildings, the paths that are available at the beginning, and those that are blocked, and also where we could put the diary (scenario parts).
We used the top view as follows:
It's not beautiful but it's a work document. This map has been very helpful for me to model everything in 3dsmax. I created the doors, the cave in the mountain, the inside of the rocket, the marina, etc. And moreover, it helped me place the different paths and stairs depending on the topography. In the end, some of our initial choices (above) will be changed, but I couldn't have created the final island without this plan.
Modeling
Now I will share a few 3d models that I worked on for Myha. They were either used for puzzles or to fill the island. It might not be obvious, but modeling objects is time consuming and I had to make these models simple in order to go as fast as possible. Anyway it helped me reach the retro feeling that I wanted to give to the game, so I think it's good?
First I worked on the cosmonaut. That was one of the first things I did in early December. I needed the model in order to work on the short opening film. I didn't really have the time to create an all new character, so I used the model that I had created for ASA, and I just updated a few things. I changed the helmet, colors, etc. I tried to choose colors that remind soviet cosmonauts, but I wanted to do something different because our cosmonaut comes from a sci-fi world (planet Terra), region Tongolia. In the mythology of the Black Cube series, Tongolia is an equivalent of Asia, and the hero of Myha comes from a part of this world that could more or less remember Russia (which explains some of the designs of the game). Also, Myha takes place in 2012, which is far in the past compared to ASA (2057), so this spacesuit couldn't look too advanced from a technological point of view.
First I worked on the cosmonaut. That was one of the first things I did in early December. I needed the model in order to work on the short opening film. I didn't really have the time to create an all new character, so I used the model that I had created for ASA, and I just updated a few things. I changed the helmet, colors, etc. I tried to choose colors that remind soviet cosmonauts, but I wanted to do something different because our cosmonaut comes from a sci-fi world (planet Terra), region Tongolia. In the mythology of the Black Cube series, Tongolia is an equivalent of Asia, and the hero of Myha comes from a part of this world that could more or less remember Russia (which explains some of the designs of the game). Also, Myha takes place in 2012, which is far in the past compared to ASA (2057), so this spacesuit couldn't look too advanced from a technological point of view.
Then I had to create other models for the island and puzzles, as explained above. In order to create them, I had to have in mind the final ideas for the game. So now you see why it was so important to prepare a map of the island before, in order to know what I need to do, where to place the puzzles, and how they are supposed to work together. For example I needed several large gates that are originally closed, and they need passwords to be opened. So the gates model has a keyboard device in order to input a password.
I think it is better if I don't tell too much about these 3D models, because it could spoil the game, so please have a look at them:
I think it is better if I don't tell too much about these 3D models, because it could spoil the game, so please have a look at them:
Final Island
At this stage I had successfully finished a large part of the renders, and I had a few pictures to work on. So here's the "final" design of the island of Myha. I have to admit that it's not very detailed, but as explained previously, I wanted to:
1 - make it in time for the Jam
2 - keep an old-school touch just like in Myst
1 - make it in time for the Jam
2 - keep an old-school touch just like in Myst
There are already several places to visit on this island and some curious buildings.
At that time I also started working in Adventure Maker (the game engine), and I imported the first frames, created the main menu and prepared the diary. Working with AM is fast and efficient when you are familiar with this soft, and it is the exact reason why I chose it. I didn't want to work on the Jam with a tool that I didn't know well, or that had a more sophisticated scripting language. I was not skilled enough with the programming part. I also knew that I could rely on Bob and Deki from my team if I had troubles with Adventure Maker, or if I needed help with the scripts (Visual Basic).
This is what the Adventure Maker interface looks like:
At that time I also started working in Adventure Maker (the game engine), and I imported the first frames, created the main menu and prepared the diary. Working with AM is fast and efficient when you are familiar with this soft, and it is the exact reason why I chose it. I didn't want to work on the Jam with a tool that I didn't know well, or that had a more sophisticated scripting language. I was not skilled enough with the programming part. I also knew that I could rely on Bob and Deki from my team if I had troubles with Adventure Maker, or if I needed help with the scripts (Visual Basic).
This is what the Adventure Maker interface looks like:
Graphics
Previously, I showed the final island and I prepared the first renders. How does it work? Myha is mainly a game in omni 3d. It means that the pre-rendered backgrounds are played in a cylindrical panorama in the Adventure Maker engine. It allows to look around at 360° in the static views, just like in Myst IV. In order to create the panoramic views, I had to render the pictures with a special distortion and a wide resolution (the pictures are wrapped on a cylinder in AM, so they had to be wide enough). In the case of Myha, the size of the pictures is 4000x800. Here's the raw 3D render of the very first view of the game:
In this single view, we can see everything around the hero at 360°. The very left and right of the picture is behind. The middle is the front. In between are the sides. It is often disturbing to look at a flatten cylindrical image and try to find the good orientation, but I find it funny, as if we had eyes behind the head or could just look everywhere with the eyes of an insect!Then I wanted to work the colors and ambiance of this world, in order to fit with the foggy atmosphere that we could see in Myst. In order to add fog, I used a Z-depth pass:
The Z-depth is a very simple pass that can be very useful. It is made of black and white only. Everything that is near the camera is white, and everything that is far is black. In between it creates a gradient of greys depending on the distance.
With this pass, I could add the fog (I inverted the colors and changed the contrast of the Z), and then I obtained this final picture:
With this pass, I could add the fog (I inverted the colors and changed the contrast of the Z), and then I obtained this final picture:
It is exactly the picture that I will be using in the game in the first 360° view. What result does it give in the game? This picture is in 4000x800 but the game runs in 1024x432 (which is close to the maximum resolution of Adventure Maker). We can only see a small part of this picture in the game when we rotate the head to look around. The following picture is a screenshot when we look on our right, and shows the result of the graphics in Myha:
And yes, a picture of 4000 wide is needed for a game that runs in 1024... ! In the picture above, we can continue to turn the head 360°, or move to the next picture to visit the island.
Programming
Well I'm not good at programming, I said it before. But Adventuer Maker is easy to use, and I could rely on the knownedge of Bob.
In the previous part I have shown how the graphics were prepared for the 360° views. Even before, I had shown the interface of Adventure Maker. Now let's go a little further: how do I script the game in this engine? How do we set the link between each picture? Don't worry I'll choose a very simple example. It's just to write a few lines of VBscript (Visual Basic), and show how easy it is in Adventure Maker.
First, let's imagine that we are in the first view of the game (from above). We turn the head around, and find a kind of notebook (a small computer device). The first time that we see it, it is closed, like this:
In the previous part I have shown how the graphics were prepared for the 360° views. Even before, I had shown the interface of Adventure Maker. Now let's go a little further: how do I script the game in this engine? How do we set the link between each picture? Don't worry I'll choose a very simple example. It's just to write a few lines of VBscript (Visual Basic), and show how easy it is in Adventure Maker.
First, let's imagine that we are in the first view of the game (from above). We turn the head around, and find a kind of notebook (a small computer device). The first time that we see it, it is closed, like this:
Let's call it (above) Frame1_closed.
Of course we can click on it, and it opens. We will call this other one (below) Frame2_opened:
Of course we can click on it, and it opens. We will call this other one (below) Frame2_opened:
Then we go back to the first view of the game (the panoramic 360), and when we come back and click again on the notebook, we want it to be already opened (Frame2), because we leaved it opened in our last visit. This is only possible if we define a variable. So in Adventure Maker I create a variable named Notebook_opened.This variable can have 2 states, 0 or 1. If the variable is set to 0, then the notebook will show as closed (the game displays Frame1_closed). On the contrary, if the variable is set to 1, then the notebook will show opened (the game displays Frame2_opened). It is very easy, there are only 2 possible states. 0/1 for closed/opened.
How does it translate in Visual Basic? First let's write this script again with our own words:
When we have these steps defined and know exactly what we want to do, it's easy: we only need to translate our human words to computer words: the Visual Basic language. Even if you don't know Visual Basic, Adventure Maker comes with a good documentation that allows to find easily the good code. This is the result:
1 _ Action.GoToFrame "Frame1_closed"
_
2 _ If Notebook_opened = 0 Then
_ Notebook_opened = 1
_ Else
_ Notebook_opened = 0
_ End If
_
3 _ Action.GoToFrame "360_Panorama"
And that's all. You can notice that at step 2 I have switched the value: if it was at 0 then it becomes 1, and if it was at 1 it becomes 0. As a result, we can open/close the notebook as much as we want in the game, and it is saved in memory.
There are a very lot of possibilities. You can look at the full list of language options in Adventure Maker here. For example :
Action.CreateTimedEvent 5, "Action.Message ""Amazing!"""
will wait 5 seconds before it displays the text "Amazing". It's mainly a matter of syntax!
How does it translate in Visual Basic? First let's write this script again with our own words:
- Go to the frame where the notebook is closed (Frame1_closed)
- If the notebook is closed, then open the notebook (change the variable Notebook_opened from 0 to 1), or the contrary
- Go back to the 360 panorama.
When we have these steps defined and know exactly what we want to do, it's easy: we only need to translate our human words to computer words: the Visual Basic language. Even if you don't know Visual Basic, Adventure Maker comes with a good documentation that allows to find easily the good code. This is the result:
1 _ Action.GoToFrame "Frame1_closed"
_
2 _ If Notebook_opened = 0 Then
_ Notebook_opened = 1
_ Else
_ Notebook_opened = 0
_ End If
_
3 _ Action.GoToFrame "360_Panorama"
And that's all. You can notice that at step 2 I have switched the value: if it was at 0 then it becomes 1, and if it was at 1 it becomes 0. As a result, we can open/close the notebook as much as we want in the game, and it is saved in memory.
There are a very lot of possibilities. You can look at the full list of language options in Adventure Maker here. For example :
Action.CreateTimedEvent 5, "Action.Message ""Amazing!"""
will wait 5 seconds before it displays the text "Amazing". It's mainly a matter of syntax!
Summary
Finally I used all these techniques and worked until January 15th where the development reached its end in the evening. That was quite a tough period but I think that Bob, Deki and I can be proud of the result, whatever you think of the final game. Of course we really hope that you find it interesting and that you'll be able to finish it. There's no guarantee that we didn't forget a bug here or there. It's our main fear, because we didn't have the time to run a Beta Test!
Myha in a few words
- Work on the game began in December 2015: I created the opening movie during a weekend. The development really started on the 6th of January and took around 10 days in totality.
- Myha development team: 1 person + external contributors (Bob and Deki: puzzles, scripting, music and ideas)
- The budget was nil of course. The game was created for the game jam with a lot of fun!
- The 3D software used was 3dsmax, the raw 3D renders were improved with After Effects
- The programmation/engine was Adventure Maker
- The whole game was created with the technique of Box Modeling and all models were created on purpose for the game - except the spacesuit of the hero (it is an update from the hero of ASA).
- Most textures came from CGtextures.com, the rest came from my personal library
- The game resolution is 1024x432
- In total Myha has around 5 minutes of video (3d animation FMV)
- And around 150 3d-rendered images, including 360° cylindrical views in 4000x800
- Working on the graphics alone, and in a limited time, has been the main limitation in production
- Music: 8 free royalty free tracks + 1 track from team member Deki and his metal group (total 28 minutes)
- Myha was published on January 16th 2016