Interview with Mythic Blades developer Eric Petersen

Questions by Russell D. Carroll [May 6, 2005]

(GT) Mythic Blades appears to be the first release of Cartel Games and Vermillion Entertainment, what background can you give us on these two companies?
(Eric Petersen) Cartel Games was formed in 2003 as a co-developer and publisher for independent games. Some of my previous game releases include Titans of Steel, Titans of Steel: Warring Suns and now Mythic Blades. I've been developing computer games since 1994. Some people may recognize me as the brother of Sandy Petersen (game designer of Doom, Doom II, Quake, Age of Kings etc and so forth). The focus of Cartel Games is to do Action/Fighting games for PC/Mac but we are interested in any really good development team with a fun demo.

Vermillion Entertainment is a very talented development group owned by computer wiz, Miguel Angel Pineda Nieto. He and his brother created the Rage engine, Escultor 3D modeling tool and worked with me to create Mythic Blades. Although its their first release, its easy to tell they have huge potential.

(GT) For those who haven't seen the game, how do you describe Mythic Blades?
(Eric Petersen) Its a stunningly beautiful fighting game with a classic feel combined with the 3D graphics of the new generation.

(GT) Many people consider the golden age of fighting games to be behind us with such classics series such as Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Virtua Fighter, King of the Fighters and Tekken having run out of steam for the most part. What was behind the decision to do a fighting game?
(Eric Petersen) The PC has been lacking fighting games for years and we saw it as an opportunity. As our first title we wanted to be able to have a news story that would spread and get the word out about Mythic Blades, Vermillion Entertainment and Cartel Games. From the kind of publicity and acceptance we've been receiving, I think we might have made the right mistake. But at the end of the day, we wanted to make a game that we ourselves could be proud to have been part of developing. I am surprised at how closely we have been followed by a fan base that up to the release of Mythic Blades has been relatively ignored;  we are happy to provide them with something that will [give] them many hours of fun.

By doing a fighting game for PC we've become the focus of a very deep niche. From talking with the people that are in the shipping and handling business (the ones who actually see what ships and what sits), they'll tell you that the deep niche is what works as a business on the Internet. Do something that no one else is doing and everyone that likes it will come to your website. Everyone in the world interested in a PC fighter will eventually come to cartelgames.com Our webstats show that most of them already have. We ship our boxed CD-rom everywhere and with the release of the digital download anyone anywhere is now able to enjoy Mythic Blades almost immediately. Polls have shown that 9% of fighting fans prefer their fighting game[s] on the PC. We are happy to cater to this exclusive group and anyone else that enjoys action.

(GT) In noting the fighting games listed above and others, what does Mythic Blades bring to the table that makes it stand out?
(Eric Petersen) One stand out is that Mythic Blades was made specifically for PC. It will work on Win 98/ME/2000/XP. It will work on many laptops. If you're tired of all the same old genres on your PC and want to try something else, Mythic Blades delivers your fighting game fix.

In terms of gameplay, we have set up 2 types of characters. There are the speed characters that can do really high combos and move a little faster and we have the power characters that are a little slower but they take less damage and deal out much bigger damage. Some of the un-lockable characters are combinations of both types. The Divine attacks also stand out. Instead of the typical finishing move, we created the divine attack that could be unleashed whenever your characters power bar becomes full. It gives you a little more power as you're taking damage than if you're dealing out damage. This is useful as you can counter a brutal combo with a divine attack and you're right back in the game instead of just getting beaten worse and worse with no hope. The divine attack evens the odds. They are blockable though which adds another element of strategy to gameplay. I've played a lot of fighters and none of them play exactly like Mythic Blades. It has its own feel even though many of the moves are standard patterns.

(GT) The Greek mythology behind Mythic Blades is a very interesting backdrop. What was the inspiration in creating Mythic Blades?
(Eric Petersen) We are fans of other fighting games but most are based on Oriental legends, Anime, or Wrestling. The Iliad was inspiration for going this route. In the Iliad the Gods don't directly fight each other. Instead, they inspire, tempt or control humans, villains or monsters to do their will. In the game these appear in the form of divine attacks and can help a losing player that's just getting pounded back into the game at an even level with their opponent. Its a nice way to avoid just getting pounded into the ground. If you aren't pulling off divine attacks then you're not going to do well in Mythic Blades. They are essential strategy. We also reward players who are victorious in the tournament with a unique ending for each character accordingly. This also unlocks their profile in the shop, use credits they earn from winning the game to purchase further storyline, artwork, profiles, and un-lockable characters. We felt that by doing a game based on Greek Mythology we could have an Epic storyline combined with a very fun action/fighting game. There are a lot of people that love Greek Mythology and Mythic Blades is their chance to play as many of them in a tournament of the gods.

(GT) In playing Mythic Blades I was a little surprised. The screenshots reminded me of Soul Caliber, but the game plays a bit more like the Street Fighter series from the player's perspective (fixed camera angle). How did you decide to go with the fixed camera even though everything is clearly done with 3D models?
(Eric Petersen) Most fighting fans list Street Fighter as their favorite fighting game of all time. We wanted to give them something along the same lines but add the 3D graphical element of today. In the process, we hope we've created a fun entertainment title.

(GT) Most games in their creation run into a couple or road-blocks or challenges that take more effort than anticipated. What was the most ambitious aspect of creating Mythic Blades?
(Eric Petersen) Its true that we really pushed a lot of boundaries with the development of Mythic Blades. From experience, I was able to foresee problems and deal with it before it became an unsolvable mess so things really went relatively smoothly. We were able to easily wrap our brains around this project so nothing was really a big problem and it even allowed us to add a lot of gameplay elements and really fine tune the AI.

(GT) As players play Mythic Blades how do you hope they'll remember the experience?
(Eric Petersen) That even when things seem desperate, you can still win in the end with a little divine inspiration. I'd like people to remember that it was a satisfyingly fun game.

(GT) With Mythic Blades finished, what is up next for the people who brought us the game?
(Eric Petersen) An OSX version is scheduled for a late summer release. There are also other projects in the works. I will be sure to let you know!

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A big thanks to Eric for taking the time to chat with us.  Mythic Blades is now available for the Windows PC and there is a demo checking in at just under 20 mb that players can download to get a feel for the game.  The demo contains one speed and one power character, though from playing the full version I've got to say that there is so much more in the game than in the demo that you might just want to skip right to the full version.