andMarathon 2improved that 3D technology and applied it to an action game setting,
but with a more thought provoking game-world than was found in other first-person
shooters of its day. Most recently,Halorefined a lot of the concepts introduced inMara-
thon, taking the crude physics found in the older game and bringing it to a new level,
while also incorporating vehicles, massive indoor/outdoor environments, and keenly
smart AI characters, and finally wrapping it all in an intelligent and captivating science
fiction setting. Between the first-person action ofMarathonandHalo, however, Jones
went off in an entirely new gameplay direction with the strategy gameMyth, immersing
players in epic battles of strategic combat as no other game had. What is most important
to note, however, is that in none of these games does the technology come to dominate
the gameplay, as is so often the case when a game uses cutting-edge technology.
Instead, in Jones’ games, technology and game design work together to accentuate
each other’s strengths and create uniquely compelling experiences.
Use of Technology..............................
Mythis a good example of taking an established genre and then adding new elements to
it in order to transmogrify it into something new and unique. The original genre in
question here is real-time strategy games such asWarCraftandCommand & Conquer,
which had risen to tremendous popularity a year or so before development onMyth
began. The games were so popular and seemed simple enough to develop from a tech-
nological standpoint that suddenly every publisher had to have one. A sea of clone
games soon flooded the market. Most of these games attempted to function nearly
identically toWarCraftandCommand & Conquer, with minor improvements such as
waypoint systems for unit movement and production queuing. These changes were far
from revolutionary, however, and as a result, these games failed to offer any compelling
reason for the public to purchase them. Consequently, they disappeared without a trace.
In a way,Mythwas a part of the real-time strategy bandwagon, but Jones was too
smart to just clone the success of RTS games. Instead, it would appear, he examined the
Chapter 16: Game Analysis:Myth: The Fallen Lords 297
All the way back to his
second game,Pathways
into Darkness, Jason
Jones’ games have
exploited technology to
create new gameplay
experiences.