Arrowstorm Entertainment is what you might call ‘serial Kickstarters’, as they’ve successfully completed 13 different campaigns on the crowdfunding site—mostly focusing on small budget sword and sorcery flicks starring the likes of Kevin Sorbo from Hercules (1995) and Kristian Nairn (aka Hodor) from Game of Thrones (2011). Now looking to VR for their next project, Arrowstorm is putting together a live-action role playing game with the level-building capabilities of Dungeons and Dragons. The game is called Mythica VR.
The game, which is projected for a July 2017 release, is said to include a map builder so would-be game masters can design levels, place items, and populate the dungeon with monsters—something Arrowstorm says can be done in either a desktop-based top down map editor, or a more immersive VR editor.
Just like in tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, the game master in Mythica VR is supposed to strings quests together into campaigns, and generally direct the flow of the story. But in Mythica VR, game masters will have the ability to jump into NPCs so they could technically act the part of a monster or a helpful questgiver.
Provided the project reaches its $80,000 funding goal, the studio is aiming to release Mythica VR on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift/DK2, Google Cardboard and with future support for Google Daydream.
“It’s not full role-playing for me unless I’m with my party,” says Rogan Griffin, lead engineer on Mythica VR. “There is nothing like when you’re being overwhelmed by a horde of undead skeletons and you hear the battle cry of your friend as he hacks his way in and saves you.”
Griffin comes to the Mythica VR from Pixar Studios, with previous work as a visual effects artist for films such as Brave (2012), Toy Story 3 (2010) and Up (2009).
The project will focus heavily on motion controlled interactions like sword play and point-and-click teleportation, which for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift (with soon to release Oculus Touch) is pretty well established. But for Google Cardboard, Mythica VR is promising support for a sort of improvised motion controllers set-up that allows you to use two other smartphones networked over WiFi. The phones, much like Wiimotes, use their inertial measurement unit (IMU) to determine the orientation and acceleration of the handsets. This set-up however doesn’t provide positional information, neither for the headset nor the improvised controllers, so just how immersive the Cardboard solution will be remains to be seen.
Campaign Rewards
- Pledge $20 or more – The game on release, for PC with the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, or iOS or Android with Google Cardboard. Estimated Jul 2017
- Pledge $30 or more – For those who’re eager to start we’re offering early access to the game, and continual updates as it is being developed. This reward level is perfect for Game Masters who want to start building their quests now so that they’re ready for their gaming group to play on release. Estimated Dec 2016
- Pledge $65 or more This reward comes with a Google Cardboard headset, branded with Kickstarter exclusive Mythica VR artwork, so you’re ready to go on your phone the day of release. Also includes: The game on release for PC, iOS or Android, the digital soundtrack, a Kickstarter exclusive weapon for your character. Estimated Jul 2017