maestros-of-the-anthymn
Latest
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.
Music MMO Anthymn rebrands and preps Kickstarter campaign
After falling well short of fundraising goals in 2013, music-focused Anthymn is gearing up for another shot at a Kickstarter campaign in the near future. The title has rebranded itself as Maestros of the Anthymn, and according to its Facebook page, it is getting ready to make the case for crowdfunding. "To all of our amazing friends and fans -- we are proud to formally announce the name of our upcoming Kickstarter project," String Theory posted. "Welcome to Maestros of the Anthymn, a groundbreaking episodic adventure of song, sword, and sorcery for PC and Mac. Stay tuned later today for our big update on the game, our vision and what's next for the Kickstarter launch plans!" It is unclear whether or not Anthymn will be retaining its MMO focus or going another route entirely with this rebranding. The original concept was for an entire fantasy world where music and magic infused entire nations and where every class had a musical focus and theme.
