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Maestros of the Anthymn begins its Kickstarter campaign
Will the melody be with Maestros of the Anthymn this time around? The rebranded music-based game has launched a new campaign to fund the development of its launch episode, "Dark Tide." The team previously told Massively that the episodic game will hopefully lead into a full-featured MMO. According to the project's new Kickstarter page, "One of the biggest drivers for all of us at the studio is knowing that one day we might have players creating, sharing and wielding music in hopes of completing The Anthymn." The story will follow a musical genius who uses his talents to reunite a country shattered by civil war. String Theory Creative Director Riley McDougall says that this game will use music in a whole new way: "Beat-matching music games are fun, but what if you could literally mold the world around you, solve puzzles and conquer impossible enemies through creating and wielding music itself?" Maestros of the Anthymn is looking to raise $200,000 CAD in pledges over the next month. The team has future plans to create three more episodes to make up the game's first season, as well as a story for four seasons past that. Each episode will contain sandbox, cinematic, and puzzle elements. [Additional source: String Theory Entertainment press release]
Maestros of the Anthymn is definitely still an MMO
MMORPG bard fans, furbish up your lungs! Earlier this week, we posted about Maestros of the Anthymn, a unique music-flavored MMO from indie dev house String Theory (whose name makes us grin every time). Under its original name, Anthymn, the game failed to reach its Kickstarter funding goals, but the developers prevailed and have plans for another run. However, the devs' reference to "episodic content" made us wonder whether the game might not be less an MMO than once planned. MotA's Creative Director Riley McDougall reached out to Massively to dispel those concerns. YES! Our end goal is to still make it an MMO. The episodic format is our way of getting there. I think a lot of people forget the legwork it took for Blizzard to gain such a massive and dedicated community with WC1, SC1, Diablo, WC2, Diablo 2, WC3 before even thinking about launching an MMO. Our intent is to follow the same format, use the episodic to build the brand and our community while dedicating more studio resources to the online RPG as we move forward. Long road ahead but we've come this far, no way we're giving up. The developers also posted an in-depth Facebook introduction on Wednesday. "What we believe makes Maestros of the Anthymn (MotA) so unique is the way in which sound and music are used in game," writes String Theory. "There's a ton of game design philosophies and methodologies out there but no matter what feature or mechanic we're crafting, we begin with the same vital question. What does it sound like? Building from a foundation of sound design has allowed us to breathe an emotional resonance into every part of MotA, from the way our mountain ranges are shaped to the revolutionary 'call and response' musical combat system. This is going to be something truly special and worth your attention come January 15th" -- which just happpens to be when the new launch trailer and Kickstarter arrive.
Making music together: An interview with Anthymn
It's safe to say that many of us on the Massively team were seduced by the promise and potential of Anthymn when we first saw its Kickstarter campaign. The concept of an entire fantasy MMO that revolves around music instead of swords and sorcery is a refreshing approach in this day and age. The folks at String Theory Entertainment are downright passionate about bringing the power of music to online games. While Anthymn is still in an early stage of development, the idea behind it stretches back a decade or so. The developers aren't just using music as a quirky feature for the sheer heck of it, either; this is a studio full of musically talented folks who know how infectious and bonding a song can be. We sat down with the creative leads behind Anthymn to get a better feel for the project and the future of the game, with or without Kickstarter's help. Check it out after the jump!
