
MYTHO is a new browser-based strategy game drawing from the tales and lore of ancient Greece and perfect for mythology lovers. Originally conceived as an answer to the Mythomagic game described in the Percy Jackson series, the game quickly grew legs and developed its own individual identity.
Players can collect over fifty unlockable cards, inspired by heroes and gods, to build a team of five that they can take into battle. Each card comes with unique abilities that can be used to outsmart opponents. By competing against other players and against AI bosses, as well as participating in League Wars and progressing through dungeons, players can rise through the ranks and unlock new cards and game modes. Here at Mythos we were thrilled to get a chance to chat with the game’s creator, Miya (Also known as miya7090) to talk about their inspiration behind the game.
Q. What first drew you to Greek Mythology?
Like many others, I was introduced to Greek Mythology as a middle-schooler via the Percy Jackson book series. As a touching tale of heroism, it became, very quickly and suddenly, my favourite book series of all time. I became the "mythology nerd" of my school and would spend my weekends dreaming of alternate lives and digging deeper into the myths. As I grew up, I kept that interest in mythology. I continued to explore other angles on the ancient legends - whether media adaptations like the Hades video game, philosophical interpretations like Camus' Myth of Sisyphus, feminist reflections upon the tale of Medusa, Miller's takes on the stories of Achilles and Circe, or KAOS' retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. So, although it was the ideals of heroism that first drew me to Greek mythology, I think it was the deeper themes behind the myths that continued to draw me into it.
Q. What inspired you to create the game, MYTHO?
After graduating college, I wanted to pursue a creative project as coding practice, to keep my skills sharp and flex my imagination. I had always been interested in video games, and one of the ideas I considered was creating my own take on the game Mythomagic described in the Percy Jackson series. So, I started just that - I created a non-commercial fan game. It quickly became popular, not only with Percy Jackson fans but also those interested in broader mythologies and strategic games in general. After a while, though, I realized that MYTHO had significantly grown apart from its original vision as a Mythomagic rendition, to the point where it made more sense to design and develop it as an independent project. I made some modifications to ensure I was respecting the Percy Jackson IP, then briefly worked on MYTHO full-time before relegating it once more to a passion project, as it is now. While Ko-Fi donations and merch purchases have been extremely helpful in offsetting costs of hosting the game, at its core, MYTHO was never designed to be financially successful or to extract money from its players. It's simply a game built for fun and a labour of love.
Q. What was the most difficult part of designing and creating the game?
When I was first brainstorming for MYTHO, I genuinely didn't think that it'd become popular enough for people to play; I was creating it for my own personal interest, as a passion project. You can see the repercussions of this mindset if you venture far enough back into MYTHO's code - you'll find quite a few parts that are very hacked together, whether that's chunks of duplicated code or unfinished TODOs. However, since accumulating a regular player base, I've shifted my focus from creating for my own curiosity to creating for the community. I've done my best to clean the game up and refactor code along the way, which has greatly helped reduce the number of bugs reported as well as speed up future changes. I'm pretty satisfied with MYTHO's current state, and that's thanks to the change in mindset of avoiding cutting corners.
Q. Do you have a favourite Greek Hero/Deity and why? I think my "favourite" Greek hero or deity often changes. My usual answer is that it's Achilles, whether his story in Homer's Iliad or in other retellings, like the Song of Achilles or Percy Jackson's arc about Clarisse and Silena. I would say I'm drawn to the deep tragedy of Patroclus' death, and the tale as a study on human emotion: pride and a will for justice interacting with love and clemency. That being said, a close second would be the myth of Sisyphus, specifically Camus' interpretation of it as an allegory for the meaning of life. Disclaimer: I haven't actually read it yet, but I've heard rave reviews about it from my partner, so it's next up on my to-read list.
Q. Do you have a favourite Hero/Deity card to play in the game and why?
Most MYTHO players know this - I'm absolutely terrible at playing my own game. Maybe because I'm overly focused on edge cases and combining niche skills in theoretically interesting strategies, rather than the practicality of what will win a match. (Or maybe because I'm simply bad at it!) My go-to card would be Atalanta for her fast movement and capacity to quickly deal relatively high amounts of damage, thanks to her ability "First Blood", inspired by the Calydonian boar hunt. However, my actual favourite card would probably be either Psyche, who gains more ATK the more she's injured due to her "Unfaltering" passive, inspired by the trials of Aphrodite, or Daedalus the inventor, who constructs Automatons and bestows them upon allies with the ability "Fabricate". I'm also fond of the ultimate’s of Circe and Dionysus, which turn enemies into pigs and dolphins, respectively.
Q. What’s next for you?
For the foreseeable future, I'm focused on the challenges and joys of life and my current "real person" job. Of course, I try to keep MYTHO from getting dusty through regular maintenance, outreach to new players, and holding fun events and tournaments in the Discord, not to mention gradually fixing up its (very broken) mobile site and its long-forgotten Mount Etna co-op mode. I've pondered a couple different future directions for MYTHO, but for now, I'm happy with it being something that I maintain in my free time, and I'm happy with its status as a free web game that players can come back to - hopefully after years and years.
For those of you who haven’t yet had the opportunity to play this game, you can find it here (https://www.mythogame.com/). Free to play, and accessible on all devices, the game offers a great opportunity for players to immerse themselves in mythical world, the power of gods and heroes at their fingertips.
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