Archmagia: our first Unity 3D game

What is Archmagia?



Archmagia is a videogame. Well, it will be. Right now, it is under development.

You might well ask, what is Archmagia about? Well, think of any trading card game you have ever played, or heard about – most of them are great! But, we still think they can be improved. How? Have you ever dreamed about having all of your creatures and spells as real 3D animated models, complete with great visual effects, but still keeping all the classic strategy and fun? You have? Well, that's Archmagia!

It has been a while since the idea of creating a spell card game first crossed my mind. In fact, I have a large number of documents and some rules proposals from as early as 2007. While I have been thinking about it in the background ever since, in the meantime, I have started an augmented reality company, gathered a great team around me and have worked on a number of amazing projects for several years.

The Many-Worlds team have thought about it and have come to a decision: we really want to create this game and now is the time to do it!

Our developer's diary

To channel all our excitement about this development, we've decided to share the whole creative process with the public: planning, preliminary concepts, drawings, modeling, animation... everything!



That's why we have created a developer's diary. Here it is the link.

www.archmagia.com

In Archmagia developer's diary we want to share all our work with you. We will publish videos like these ones:

We will also try to post all our progress and keep people up-to-date about the whole development process as frequently as possible. Please do take into account that we are funding this work with our own resources so, from time to time, we will have to focus on other developments and projects.



This is another example of the videos we are producing for the developer's diary:

We would love to know your opinions. How could it be improved? Is a particular rule too complicated or too restrictive? How could the game be more balanced? With your help, Archmagia will become the great game we have dreamed that it will be.

Related resources

You can also find us on Facebook and Google +, so follow us on your favorite social network to keep you updated!

Finally, but not less important, you can also find a whole Archmagia section in our YouTube channel, so you have no excuses for not keeping up-to-date!



Welcome to Archmagia. This will be an amazing journey and we want to share it with you.

Thank you, and enjoy!

UPDATE 1-10-2013

After finishing our first scenery, Ancient Mines, we were playing with it in Unity and we realized that it didn't fit our needs. That's why we have taken some time to create a brand new one. This time, our two archmages, the Technomancer and the Rune Carver has been already inserted.

You can also see our first creature: the Obsidian Golem. It will be summoned by the Rune Carver.

In addition, while our CG artist was working in the scenery, I was working in the magic system. It will allow us to create spells with a great variety of effects from the editor. Our plan is to have the spells stored as prefabs in a remote database to allow player to learn them. In the video you can also see a fire ball already prepared to be casted.

We keep our work in our spare time. Our main objective is to have a playable demo in the next few months. Hopefully, we will also have a browser version in a few weeks, to show how is it going.

Right now, while I keep my work on the spell system, we will also start the UI design.

Here, you can take a look at the development process video. Please, I would appreciate if you could share your opinions about it. Also if you like it, you can subscribe to our development diary in www.archmagia.com.

UPDATE: 12-12-2013

After a couple of months of hard work, we are ready to show some gameplay of Archmagia. But first I would like to tell you about Archmagia's current state.

Current status

- Spell system: it is almost ready. We have developed an easy to use system that can be set-up by CG artists. They can prepare the assets for each phase: charging, casting, effecting, and post-effecting. After that they can set the spell prefab without knowing nothing about programming. This was one of our main requirements, since a lot of creatures and spells will need to be created. Our spell system currently supports several types of spells (personal area, remote area, cone, line, melee, etc.). And each type is fully configurable (speed, time, type of displacement - rect, parabolic, ...-, multi-effect configuration, etc.)

- Summon system: very advanced too. A summon is also a spell, but it is a very special one. Although the casting is standard, after that it will instantiate a summon prefab in the correct place. Animations and effects can be very different and we need to cover all of them from a generic perspective. It was pretty challenging.

- Customizable items spells: they are also similar to spells, but we wanted them to be even more spectacular. The main difference with normal spells are that they usually will have to manage an item animation (take a look at the fists attack of the Rune Carver). Since we also wanted this one to be a generic feature, it was also a bit tricky.

Next steps

- Regarding to art and CG, a new colleague has joined to our team: Adrián . He is a cartoonist and ilustrator and he will collaborate with us in the character design. He is currently working in the Necromancer concept. These are some designs he is currently working at:

View attachment 79579
View attachment 79578 ​

We will dedicate a entire post to him in our blog in the next few weeks, as soon as the full necromancer design is ready. Stay tuned if you like character design, since we are preparing a great footage!

- The next task will be to add multiplayer capabilities. For that, we are currently studying several alternatives (among others, Photon Unity Networking and Unity Networking. I like the P2P capabilities of PUN, but initially I find that it is not very well integrated with Mecanim. Still a lot of work to do, and BTW I would appreciate any comments, ideas or thoughts about this issue!

After all this text (sorry!), it is finally time for our last video. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did while creating it. As always, you really would help us if you could share it in case you like it, and tell us if you have any idea to share!

Regards!

UPDATE: 1-23-2014

Hi, everybody!

View attachment 83650 ​

We are very excited about our new Steam Greenlight Concept. It has been online for a week and we are surprised about how is it doing right now. I just wanted to share it with you. If you like it, you could help us by clicking thumb up on Steam!

This is the link to Steam Greenlight Concepts:

View attachment 83654

Please, share your opinions and thoughts, they have been really helpful so far!

Thank you! I hope you guys like it!

Aernarion.


UPDATE: 12-9-2014

Hello, guys!

It has been almost a year and we had to left Archmagia for a while since we had a lot of work last year. As you know we are self funding this project, so we are forced to do things like this from time to time. We have been trying to get some time to work in Archmagia and the result has been that we were able to complete our third Archmage: the Necromancer.

If you recall, we already showed you the concept art for this Character, by our new concept artist Adrián Fernández. Well, our CG artist started to work with it and this is the final result:



For those of you willing to see more, here you have the video illustrating the full process. I hope you enjoy it!

And if you are already an Archmagia addict, and can't get enough of it, take a look at this two posts we have published in our development diary:

Necromancer's concept art

Necromancer's modeling process

We are looking forward to hear your thoughts and comments. Please, let us know what do you think!

And remember that you can favourite us on Steam right here!

Thank you!

Aernarion.

 

Very good environment (level), really like your timelapse modeling videos, keep making them more.

 

It's beautiful, the characters, the map, all of it... love it great work!

 

Not my type of game, I am not a fantasy type of man, but the quality of your work is great. The way you use normal maps for your characters is a joy to watch.

 

Keep updating this thread. Your work is looking good so far.

 

The art looks great!
How many persons are working on this?
Do you have more details on what the gameplay looks like? I'd love to see more of this!

 

Is it supposed to have a slight toonish style, similar to borderlands,If so I like it!

 

Thank you very much! We put a high percentage of our efforts in making this material. And don't worry, we'll produce these videos as frequently as possible, so stay tuned! Remember that you can subscribe to our developer's diary in www.archmagia.com.

Thank you! You comments encourage us to keep working hard!

Ok, now you made Daelon (our CG artist) blush. Thank you very much!

Thank you for your comment! We'll post as soon as we have new material. We are working on some nice summons right now. Stay tuned to receive updates. I suggest you to subscribe to our developer's diary in www.archmagia.com.

Currently we are two people working at this project: a CG artist and myself, a programmer. We intend to hire some more people if the feedback is good and we find some kind of financial support. There is a long way to go!

Regarding to the gameplay, we are still studying two alternatives: the first one is to let players find their new spells through research, mixing components and different amounts of mana in their chambers (take a look at www.archmagia.com for more info about Archmages' chambers). The second option is to use a more random system, just like a traditional trading card game. Any suggestion or opinions on which system would you prefer would be really appreciated.

Yes! That's exactly the idea! We are glad that you like it!

 

I loved watching the creation of the interior area Please make more vids like that. I myself haven't really messed around with high poly sculpting before but it has a really nice look to it!

 

Wow, the dev videos are awesome and I really like what you have so far. Looking forward to seeing more!

 

Thank you very much! We are already preparing a new one with our first summon: the obsidian golem. But we need some more time! Just keep an eye on this post to stay updated.

Again, thank you! It is great to see that all the hard work we are doing is good enough for you to like it.

...And now the update:

I just wanted to take the chance to offer some more data about our four main Archmage classes. You can find more information on individual guilds on our developer's diary.



Shamans

Archmages belonging to this guild have the ability to reach altered states of consciousness in order to interact with the Spirit World. This class of Archmage can cast spells to draw upon the energy of a wide range of spirits of nature to empower their senses and abilities. They are specialized in blessing and healing themselves and their minions. They can also summon several natural creatures such as wolves, bears, fairies, bugbears, green dragons, manticores, etc.



Rune Carvers

Archmages of this class weave their spells by carving runes into different materials: stone, wood, sand, etc. Carved runes channel Archmagic to summon, among others, strong trolls, mountain giants, rock worms, sand elementals or diamond golems. Those runes also allow the Rune Carvers to cast earthquakes, throw magma bolts, transmute their skin into obsidian, or heal their wounds using a healing rune.



Technomancers

Members of this elder society of Archmages obtain their powers through technology…but a special kind of technology: steam-powered. Nano-machines, robots, explosives, lasers, turrets and Artificial Intelligence controlled entities are some examples from the technomancer spellbook.



Necromancers

This ancient order of Archmages uses dark and forbidden energies to mold mana and distort the thin divide between life and death. With their power, necromancers can summon zombies, ghouls, powerful liches, mummies, vampires, bone dragons, and all kinds of undead creatures. They can also cast spells to drain the life force of their enemies, cast rotting curses, throw dark energy missiles, or summon black tentacles to strangle anyone brave enough to confront them.

Do you like our classes? Based on these descriptions, which one would you choose and why?

 

UPDATE 1-10-2013

After finishing our first scenery, Ancient Mines, we were playing with it in Unity and we realized that it didn't fit our needs. That's why we have taken some time to create a brand new one. This time, our two archmages, the Technomancer and the Rune Carver has been already inserted.

You can also see our first creature: the Obsidian Golem. It will be summoned by the Rune Carver.

In addition, while our CG artist was working in the scenery, I was working in the magic system. It will allow us to create spells with a great variety of effects from the editor. Our plan is to have the spells stored as prefabs in a remote database to allow player to learn them. In the video you can also see a fire ball already prepared to be casted.

We keep our work in our spare time. Our main objective is to have a playable demo in the next few months. Hopefully, we will also have a browser version in a few weeks, to show how is it going.

Right now, while I keep my work on the spell system, we will also start the UI design.

Here, you can take a look at the development process video. Please, I would appreciate if you could share your opinions about it. Also if you like it, you can subscribe to our development diary in www.archmagia.com.

 

The arts are breath taking. So much details in the normal maps.
I'm really envious of your CG artist's talent.
Do you know which application is he using, Zbrush or perhaps mudbox?

 

Telling from the videos it looks like ZBrush.

 

Yes, it is ZBrush. Thank you very much, I am glad you like it.

 

The art style and the scenery looks stunning. when do you think you will be able to show some game play?

 

Hi, Nofosu1. Thank you very much!

We are working in this project as many hours as we can, but it is hard to say, since we can only work on it in our spare time between projects and this use to be the busiest part of the year. Anyway, we are fully involved and very excited about this project, so our plan is to have something playable before the end of he year (a very little demo). Please, do not understand this as a release date since a lot of factors may alter this estimation. Anyway, we will update all our development process in the official development diary (www.archmagia.com), so feel free to subscribe to be updated! This post will also be a good way to be informed.

Thank you for your interest!

 

UPDATE: 12-12-2013

After a couple of months of hard work, we are ready to show some gameplay of Archmagia. But first I would like to tell you about Archmagia's current state.

Current status

- Spell system: it is almost ready. We have developed an easy to use system that can be set-up by CG artists. They can prepare the assets for each phase: charging, casting, effecting, and post-effecting. After that they can set the spell prefab without knowing nothing about programming. This was one of our main requirements, since a lot of creatures and spells will need to be created. Our spell system currently supports several types of spells (personal area, remote area, cone, line, melee, etc.). And each type is fully configurable (speed, time, type of displacement - rect, parabolic, ...-, multi-effect configuration, etc.)

- Summon system: very advanced too. A summon is also a spell, but it is a very special one. Although the casting is standard, after that it will instantiate a summon prefab in the correct place. Animations and effects can be very different and we need to cover all of them from a generic perspective. It was pretty challenging.

- Customizable items spells: they are also similar to spells, but we wanted them to be even more spectacular. The main difference with normal spells are that they usually will have to manage an item animation (take a look at the fists attack of the Rune Carver). Since we also wanted this one to be a generic feature, it was also a bit tricky.

Next steps

- Regarding to art and CG, a new colleague has joined to our team: Adrián . He is a cartoonist and ilustrator and he will collaborate with us in the character design. He is currently working in the Necromancer concept. These are some designs he is currently working at:

​

We will dedicate a entire post to him in our blog in the next few weeks, as soon as the full necromancer design is ready. Stay tuned if you like character design, since we are preparing a great footage!

- The next task will be to add multiplayer capabilities. For that, we are currently studying several alternatives (among others, Photon Unity Networking and Unity Networking. I like the P2P capabilities of PUN, but initially I find that it is not very well integrated with Mecanim. Still a lot of work to do, and BTW I would appreciate any comments, ideas or thoughts about this issue!

After all this text (sorry!), it is finally time for our last video. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did while creating it. As always, you really would help us if you could share it in case you like it, and tell us if you have any idea to share!

Regards!

 

Wow, looks great. Keeping my eye on this.

 

Are you just using zbrush by itself or with another 3D package.

I am not a 3D artist but it very much inspires me to have a go for fun.

 

Awesome game! It looks incredibly high quality!

Have your team thought on using kickstarter to finance your project? With such great idea and artwork I have no doubt you will get a lot of support (no doubt you will get mine )

Personally I would love to help your project (I'm a UI/Gameplay programmer myself). As soon as I have less workload I'd really like to send you my CV.

Cheers and keep up the amazing job!

PS: I still can't believe you're just a 2-people team! maximum kudos for you!

 

Thank you very much! It would be great if you could also like us on Facebook! It is the fastest way to get all the updates!

Hi, TheRaider. Thank you! It is just ZBrush!

Thank you, Neroziros. Your comments are very inspiring.

I have to say yes, we have thought about looking for financial support via Kickstarter, but to be sincere, we are far away from there. I have seen better games failing their kickstarter campaigns, and I don't want to be on a rush. If we ever go to Kickstarter, I want to know that people are interested in what I am trying to create. That's why we are putting so much effort in this blog, our developer's diary and the Facebook and Google+ pages.

We really appreciate your comments anyway. It is the people that think like you what we are looking for. BTW, you can contact us directly at info[AT]many-worlds[DOT]es. Feel free to send any info about you that you think we can be interested on. Hopefully, if Archmagia keeps going on, maybe some day we will need some more people!

Regards!

 

Hi! Aka Daelonik, cg-artist in this project. I guess what you are asking is about what soft we use for our project. As Alvaro said, we mostly use ZB for the modeling and part of the texturing process. Rigging and animation are made in 3D Max and we also use Xnormal for the best projection normals. I hope this info will help you

Anyway you can find several making-of in our development blog www.archmagia.com. So, enjoy and tell us if you have any other question. We're completely open to give-recieve with the developers community!

 

Thanks for the reply. I was just looking at the process for high poly to low poly with normal maps. I thinking I could maybe get an educational licence for zbrush but blender would be my only option which I have limited skills in for the rest.

I also wonder how that sort of scene would run on a mobile lol

 

Hi, TheRaider. I can tell you that it wasn't easy. We had to choose carefully the shaders and watch the texture size. The override option for textures was amazingly useful. It gave us a lot of headaches, but finally we did it. From my point of view, it is more a trial and error process than anything. Anyway, we have bought a couple of optimization assets and we need to find time to take a look at them. If they work fine and we finally decide to use them, I will let you know here.

I am pretty sure that you will have taken a look at this, but just in case, since it is a great starting point.

This was also useful to determine the maximum memory available in every ios device.

Regards,

 

That's a very nice work from you guys.....i'm pretty sure when you finish your proof of concept you will be getting money from the kickstarter community or somewhere else.

Felicitaciones!

 

Wow, that was inspiring, now I need to practice or do something (today Dec. 25th midnight)

 

UPDATE: 1-23-2014

Hi, everybody!

​

We are very excited about our new Steam Greenlight Concept. It has been online for a week and we are surprised about how is it doing right now. I just wanted to share it with you. If you like it, you could help us by clicking thumb up on Steam!

This is the link to Steam Greenlight Concepts:



Please, share your opinions and thoughts, they have been really helpful so far!

Thank you! I hope you guys like it!

Aernarion.

 

UPDATE: 12-9-2014

Hello, guys!

It has been almost a year and we had to left Archmagia for a while since we had a lot of work last year. As you know we are self funding this project, so we are forced to do things like this from time to time. We have been trying to get some time to work in Archmagia and the result has been that we were able to complete our third Archmage: the Necromancer.

If you recall, we already showed you the concept art for this Character, by our new concept artist Adrián Fernández. Well, our CG artist started to work with it and this is the final result:



For those of you willing to see more, here you have the video illustrating the full process. I hope you enjoy it!

And if you are already an Archmagia addict, and can't get enough of it, take a look at this two posts we have published in our development diary:

Necromancer's concept art

Necromancer's modeling process

We are looking forward to hear your thoughts and comments. Please, let us know what do you think!

And remember that you can favourite us on Steam right here!

Thank you!

Aernarion.