Hello everyone,
As a lot of you are aware a few weeks ago we made a decision to
redesign Mysteries of the Ancients and renamed that game Tomb Hunter:
The Temple of Life. We decided to upgrade to a 3d first-person format,
and as can be expected got a rather mixed response from the gaming
community at large. Some loved the idea, and others were decidedly
upset by the change. So we've been trying to think of a fair solution
that would make both sides happy and would fulfill our obligations to
those who preordered Montezuma's Revenge in 2008.
What we essentially have been considering is developing two separate
games in tandem. The first would be a side-scroller named Mysteries of
the Ancients, a substitute for Montezuma's Revenge, and the other
would be our 3d FPS game, Temple of Life. As the Tomb Hunter series of
games are intended to be an accessible clone of the Tomb Raider games
I would like them to take on a 3d first-person format to closely
resemble the game play of the Tomb Raider games. So that left us with
the question of what exactly to do with Mysteries of the Ancients.
Well, we have come up with an idea we believe you will like.
Essentially our solution is to develop a game more closely resembling
the original concept and the game you preordered. Obviously, given the
copyright issues at hand we can't create Montezuma's Revenge per say,
but there are a number of classic video games such as Montezuma's
Revenge, Pitfall, etc that have a decidedly Indiana Jones type theme
to them. So while we can't create Montezuma's Revenge exactly it is
possible to create something that offers the same sort of game play
and to be honest something we should have thought of doing a long time
ago.
In brief what we have been looking at doing is developing a
side-scroller similar to the Pitfall games where you are in a
Mezo-American jungle exploring caves, ancient temples, and pyramids
looking for treasure and artifacts. A long the way you will encounter
various snakes, giant spiders, skeletons, spirits, etc. There will be
the usual traps you find in such games like lava pits, fire pits,
giant spikes, chasms, poison darts, rolling boulders, quicksand, etc.
Last but not least, it will be a 2d side-scroller with plenty of ropes
and vines to climb on, stone staircases to ascend and descend, ledges
to jump up and grab, etc. So in short many of the things you have come
to know about MOTA will still be there with a slightly different story
and setting.
One of the major changes I can see here is while the Tomb Hunter games
like Temple of Life will feature a female character, Angela Carter,
we're thinking of using a male character for Mysteries of the
Ancients. As you might expect he'll be the typical Indiana Jones type
character who is a historian, archeologist, and adventurer. Although,
we don't want to copy the Indiana Jones character too closely given
Lucas is a fanatic about copyrights, but we don't believe being able
to find Indiana Jones leather bull whip somewhere in the game is
outright steeling George Lucas's copyrights. In addition to the
classic bull whip we've been thinking of adding some Spanish weapons
and armor to the game since we'd imagine that swords, daggers, knives,
shields, spears, and body armor could possibly be left behind in
various ruins. Plus all of the native Americans that lived in Central
and South America made tools and weapons out of bone and stone. Those
would be easier to find given that iron weapons will rust but stone
weapons are practically impervious to decay as long as they aren't
exposed to the weather.
That leaves us with one more issue we haven't decided upon, but is
open to discussion. That is the sf element of the game. In Montezuma's
Revenge, for example, it was sort of a combo of ancient weapons and
magic with some decidedly technological traps like electric walls,
vanishing platforms, and things like that. It was a bit strange having
torches, swords, rolling boulders, existing side by side with
technological traps that have no explanation for their existence.
We're thinking of being decidedly low tech for this game as we're not
at all sure that such things should exist in an ancient ruins unless
there is a realistic explanation for their existence the way Lucas did
in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Anyway, we're looking forward to your thoughts. Is this something you
would consider a reasonable compromise for Montezuma's Revenge?
Thomas Ward
USA Games Interactive
http://www.usagamesinteractive.com
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