It Has Arrived... (SUPER MEGA UPDATE)

The following is all true and the screenshots in the forums are all real. Tyras has evolved into an amazing, visually stunning, intensely action-packed, storyline driven MMORPG.

Check out all the details of the amazing new Engine, our great features, AND IN-GAME SCREENSHOTS:

Tyras Community Forums Update

Tyras Community Forums

So far we do not have an official Tyras website, but I quickly set up a forum so I can build a community.

Check it out and sign up:
http://tyras.nighthawkdev.net/

Upcoming Content...

Tyras has been going through some major development in the past couple weeks and we have been hush, hush about it. Well I thought I might as well give you a little bit on what we are doing, so here are a few updates, very vague updates:

• Graphics will be improved. The actual tiles and sprites themselves won't much, but the overall in-game effects will.
• Changes will be made to races in classes to ensure a quicker release.
• New world... can't say anything else about that.
• And a whole lot more stuff that will make you crap your pants with excitement, just have to get it all done first.

Also please don't send me a billions emails or instant messages asking me for more info, you'll just have to wait...

???

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/733/chaosq.png

Tyras ALMOST Gave you a Virus!

First off... WOW! Ok I've been posting that I've had a virus for some time now and trying to remove it. Well I finally found it and what was wrong.

Basically the virus got in and embedded itself inside all of my .exe files and such... including Tyras. I did a full deletion of all my hard drives and installed Windows 7 again (which I love). Well I had to get rid of the engine and all since it was infected so all I managed to salvage was the graphics (which is the main stuff I needed).

Well I guessed I could just get everything for Labmonkey (my programmer) that I needed, and then my webmaster and co creator Stealth reminded me of something... I gave his Tyras data and... well he hosted it online for tons of people to download.

Ok, by that time I was freaking out, you did not want to see me, I was running around like a mad man trying to get Labmonkey to respond on msn and get everything back to normal.

As it turns out, Labmonkey never touched anything but the map files on my computer. So, in the end, everyone is safe and virus free!

This just goes to show... I'M AN IDIOT XD

Tyras is on Eclipse

This new post will bring in more players and developers and hopefully help me create a team. Check it out at:
http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,52265.0.html

What's Up?

Well currently Tyras is going through a whole lot of problems. Yes, I was supposed to add a ton of content and stuff, but it has been going really slow lately due to a could reasons.

Reason number one I can't control, I am a human being and I am a young human being so I have school. Currently I'm having to work all day on weekdays so I can only work on Tyras on the weekend. I am definitely putting school work before Tyras, but I do occasionally procrastinate and work on Tyras a bit instead.

Reason number two, I'm sorry to say, is that I'm loosing my wonderful programmer, Labmonkey. He currently has his own project and life to deal with and I accept that. Labmonkey says he will get the basics done before he leaves including paperdoll, quests, and the GUI, but I need a new programmer then to do all the extras including the spell system.


So currently I am in need of a good vb6 programmer if I want to take Tyras further. I will post some more details later, but if you are interested, then E-Mail me at:
tyrasad@gmail.com

Beast O' the Week... Dead... For Now...

I really can't go on my blog every week and make a graphic, I just fall apart and forget after about three weeks.

Still, I will most likely continue this practice once the full game is release, for I have some special tricks up my sleeve to make the "Beast O' the Week" and must to read each week. Stay tuned for awesomeness...

The Interface!

Tyras GUI (Graphical User Interface for all those noobs to games out there) has been is serious development for some time now. Still, I keep on tweaking many menus and texts to get it just right.

Still, through all of that, I have finished 2 menus and the in-game GUI. Here is a preview:

In-Game: Click to Enlarge!


Inventory


Character Menu

New Tyras Forum

You can find the Tyras Sub Forum on Gravity at:

http://gravitycommunity.com/community/forums/31-tyras.html

Here you can post bugs reports, view new updates, and chat about the game.

What is to Come to the World of Tyras...

Well open beta released... ya... thats just about it. There was nothing really special about it I know. But this Beta is definitely not the last you'll see for a while. Me and my programmer Labmonkey are hard at work on more updates to the beta. Currently we are getting ready for the features shown below:

• Paperdoll Items
• GUI
  
• More Mobs
• Spell System (With Spell Recharge)
• Limited Lag
• Fixed Fringe Errors
• Fixed Sprite Errors
• All Items Slots
• AND MANY MANY BUG FIXES!

Soon enough Tyras will have a bug reporting area on Gravity as well as a place to build our community. Stay tuned for updates are on their way.

Download!

Sorry for the delay. I will give the beta download an hour early for vampire when all content is all good. Here is the link. Please report any bugs to me in any way you can:

http://www.box.net/shared/2j2s37mdlr

Little content, but you can check out the world.



Arrow Keys to move

Type , before text to do global chat

Press Ctrl to attack

***Open Beta Final News (READ!!!!)***

Ok, I've talked it over with my programmer Labmonkey, and being both of our faults, Tyras is not ready with everything we wanted. Sadly the game is, well... empty. Tyras is still using the base engine and such, while I wait for the full game.

And to add to that, even if we both had everything ready for programming, I still haven't converted all the items and monsters from concepts to in-game objects.

Overall, we F***ed up. But hey look at the bright side. What? You thought we would just give up and give you no beta? YA RIGHT! Tyras beta will go on as scheduled for Tuesday, September 1st (Pacific Standard Time), but it will still be a work in progress.

We call it a "walk and talk" beta because... thats what you do. You will be able to view the whole world we have for you guys, chat with friends, equip items, test out our combat system, and we may possibly even squeeze in some events to try out. The game will also be constantly building as you guys play though. One day the Lei Mines may be totally empty, the next day they could be infested with monsters and holding some early versions of quests. Once we believe all is well and we are ready, that it when we can classify Tyras as truly in beta.

We will try to keep Tyras servers on 24/7 and constantly check in on your bugs and add patches frequently.

If you have any comments just post them here on the blog.

Welcome to Ravenguard (Population: AWESOME)

*Click to Enlarge*

If you have been following some of my posts on the twitter and various other sites, you would know of the almighty Outpost of Ravenguard (Otherwise known as Ravenguard Outpost). This heavy defended fortress is the second town for the Sapien and much smaller than Lei Harbor.

In Ravenguard you can pick up your high level items, grab some epic quests, and finally, once Tyras full release comes out, you will be able to exit the northern gates of Ravenguard and enter the second zone, the Desolation (More info coming soon).

Ravenguard is a great place to stock up on supplies after powering through the Orc forces, but getting there is the issue. Ravenguard is surrounded by Orc bases and camps thus it will take a lot of sword swings and spells to get there.

Ravenguard will be in Open Beta, but it will not feature all the acceptable missions (Such as the raid on the Orc Fortress).

Hope to see you in Ravenguard September 1st!

Beast O' Week 5

Sorry for the delays, but last week and possibly the week before if I remember, I didn't post a beast of the week. But I'll get on track again now that Tyras is nearing it's release.

Beast of the week 5 is the mysterious Blood Priest:

The Blood Priest is part of the Order of the Abyss. They are immortals and hate the living, but they accept your presence if you have them an offering. Blood Priests will take the remains of fallen and use them to craft powerful weapons for your character. But the hard part is finding them. The Blood Priests hide in the shadows of secret rooms and dimensional rifts.

There are a total of 13 Blood Priests in the world, all of them spread out from the holy lands to the depths of the Abyss. They will give out the extremely powerful items, all of them for higher level players. The Blood Priests will start to appear in the second zones, so they will not be in game until beta. But keep an eye out for items they may want in exchange for their goods...

Beast O' the Week 4

Sorry for the delay this week, but I have pulled through and here you go. Number four will not be a Sapien beast, but a Spawn beast... actually, it is the Spawn:

The Spawn are not from Tyras, they came to Tyras from another dimension through "The Rift." The Spawn feed off of magic or "Essence" that is found inside Tyras. Without this magic, the Spawn would not be able to survive and would just fade away into mist. They do not have a mouth, but they can talk psychicly and consume items by draining the energy from them. The Spawn will be in the 3rd Open Beta, in a new location. They will not longer be starting in the Crystal Scar, but in the ruins of an ancient city.

Enjoy!

The Beta House

When you're not battle vicious beast and bandits, or warring the enemy nations and exploring the vast world... what do you do?

Well in Open Beta 1-4 Only, you can chill out in the "Beta House."

*Click to Enlarge*

What do you do at the Beta House? The building will be accessed by a spell given to all players. It is a place to mingle with friends in Tyras, even ones that arn't on your faction. You can buy the Beta Hammer here as well as all the Race Beta Items.

The Beta House is also a connection between areas within your faction. If you are a Sapien, you can simply just go to the Beta House and quickly then warp to the Spawn lands. The same goes for the Vampire and Drow.

Finally, the Beta House will feature various events, accessed through the cave entrance. There will be server-wide dungeons, boss battles, pvp, and many other events. Plus, these events can gain you super rare, one of a kind items that will only be up for grabs for a few hours.

Hope to see you all in Beta!

Beast O' the Week 3

For my third installment of the beast O' the week, I have chosen the trolls of the Sapien lands:
The trolls are first seen in the Lei Mines, the first dungeon for the Sapien race. But that is not the only place you will find trolls. Later, as more area's open up, you will see just how many trolls there are out there. They are stinky, dumb, ugly, but most of all, deadly. The trolls move around with their giant clubs in hand, killing all that wish to test their strength. The Cave Troll, inside the Lei Mines, will have a club you can acquire by killing him. Plus you can get Troll Beads, and a Loinclothe (if you don't mind it have troll urine on it).

The Truth About Open Beta

Seeing as how I haven't even finished up the Sapien lands and it is already getting close to September, I have decided for an alternative way to do the second Beta.

OPEN BETA WILL BE SAPIEN ONLY

You will only be able to play as the single race, but this way I can add much more content including more skills and quests. I have also decided that I will do 4 Open Betas and have each one unlock a different race. You can either play the new race or continue with your old ones.Once I release the 4th, I will finish up all the extra areas for each race and do a full release.

I will also be giving out a new beta item each Beta, one for each race. Here is a road map of what lies ahead:

Open Beta 1-Sapien
Open Beta 2-Vampire
Open Beta 3-Spawn
Open Beta 4-Drow
Final Release!

I hope to see you guys in beta soon. The first beta item will be a helmet for the Sapien race. Plus if you participate in any open beta, you get the Beta Hammer!

Beast O' the Week 2

For the second Beast O' the Week, I chose the infamous bandit, the scourge of Lei and all of Shial Coast:

The bandits roam the eastern shores of the Shial Coast. They pillage towns and kill the innocents to fill their need for gold and riches. Lead by the demonic spirit Duskblade, who is embodied inside a mortal form, they hope to one day take over the town of Lei, steal all the resources they have to offer, and burn it to the ground. It is up to you to stop them from doing so. These creatures will be part of the 3rd Quest Line and will be in the first beta.

Girlz

Girlz, I never really understood them, but today I found they are actually really complicated. They are a very complex figure and have many needs...

I'm talking about pixeling them, everyone knows girls have koodies.

I finally sat down and did the first frame of the female sprite for the Sapien... and it turned out quite sexy. I made sure weapons and helms still equip the same on them, but their armor's will be different than the male ones. Tell me what you think.

Beast O' the Week 1

I will now be doing a new weekly thing for this Blog, I will be showing a picture and info on a new beast each week for as long as I can. So to kick things off I will be going with a classic monster in almost every game. The Orc:




The Orc has always been a favorite for me since my first MMO I played. These creatures have been seen in all different ways. Brutalic yet dumb, Furry and Gorilla-ish, sometimes not even green. The Orc in Tyras is a more traditional one, it has a Orcish green and a variety of leather armor and crude weapons. The "Orc Slayer" quest line will be the 3rd one, having you attack the Orc fortress and kill their warcheif. It will also have side quests including one where you must escort captives back to the Orc slayer camp.

Lei Mines... DONE!

I just finished the first Sapien dungeon today and man did it take a while. The dungeon is not huge but it still does have a lot of dead ends and separate paths. Here's some screenshots of the various areas:

*CLICK TO ENLARGE*

I'm Back!

Man! Two weeks of vacation is what I really needed. But unfortunately I have another week of camping coming up so I will once again be AFK. I leave Sunday so I hope that is enough time to start wrapping up the Sapien lands and moving on to the Vampire territory.

I have already done a bit of work, I actually got back one the 3rd (Happy 4th of July or Canada Day) so I have done some work. Here is some more progress into the Lei Mines Dungeon:*Click the image to enlarge it*

Vacation

Everyone needs a get away from life and I'm still young, so vacation is a must every year. I will not be around too much this summer with all the trips and various LAN parties (<-- Super nerdy yet fun at the same time).

Don't worry, I will have Tyras all finished on time though. I will try to slip in work any down time I have. Hope to see you in Open Beta, September 1st!

Become a Follower (Or Else)

Follow my blog guys, let me know there are people out there that actually care about what I type here. It is as easy as clicking on the follow button and signing in to any of the accounts. Then you will be alerted of any new blog activities and be the first to get into the Open Beta when I post the download here before any other place.

Plus, you never know, followers may get something more in the future *cough*Special Items*cough* Sorry bad cold...

TYRAS BETA RELEASE DATE!!!

Tyras Beta will be released on Tuesday,
September 1st 2009.
Thank you guys for all of the support and I hope to see you in Beta.

TYRAS BETA RELEASE DATE!!!

The release date for Tyras Beta will be announced later today! Make sure to keep on checking in to see if I have posted it up.

Lots of the development coming my way, time to break out the late night coffee.

THE ALMIGHTY BETA HAMMER!

The "Beta Hammer" will be available to all Beta participants. I am still unsure how I will do the stats for the item, but I am definitely going to make this item a great advantage in bragging rights for all those Beta Testers.

Here is a preview of V1, I am going to make a V2 now since the old one looks really lame. So don't worry, this is just a concept, it will be a lot cooler:

Who Doesn't Like Capes?

Come on, capes made the man... or woman in any game. Only the kool guys where capes (please don't use that phrase to strongly though in the real world). So since we are true men... and women, Tyras has to have capes, and I delivered:






Enjoy, and remember: Capes do not make the man (or woman) in real life.

Enchanting Enchantments

The enchanting system is much like the Tier system, but for weapons. To enchant an item, all you need is an enchantable item and to find an enchanter. You can give your weapons damage bonuses, stat bonuses, and even have them give you more exp and gold. Here are a couple examples of some enchanted items:

Enchanted Steel Broadsword (Sapien)



Enchanted Blood Knife (Drow)



Enchanted Staff of Bloodshed (Vampire)

Items Galore

I have currently been working on my non-equipment items and I thought I might give you guys a sneak preview of some of my work. (Note: I still may change these around, judging on if I do a Loot or Drop System).

Leather Gloves



Leather Boots



Leather Wrist Guards



Mercenary Tag



Light Ammo Belt



Durok's Message



Ruby Potion



Enjoy :)

It's all about ME! (Sorta)

Not really, I appreciated all of my faithful fans of Tyras and my amazing staff, but this blog entry will talk of none of them... sorta.

In the game, there will be tons of amazing items. Still, like in almost every game, the staff have to be better. Thus I come to the part about me. I myself have "THE MOST RARE" item in the game, since really, you can't even sell it and there is only one. I currently posses the:

Chaotic Overlord Helm

This is one of the many custom items available to staff members. Of course, being the creator, I can't make any of the staff members be better. Still, all staff members, Programmers, Mappers, Game Mods, Web Designers, etc. will receive a custom helmet that is totally yours.

So, as an incentive, please, support Tyras and try to help us out by taking a position. I will start collecting moderators and extra mappers once the game is in Beta. Because really, who doesn't want to be a chaotic overlord?

Tiers

Almost all equitable items are separated into "Tiers." Tiers are basically item levels. A Tier 1 item will be quite basic and have few bonuses, where a Tier 2 item will look a lot more complex and give you stat, armor, damage, and even experience bonuses.

Here is an example of the difference from Tier 1 to Tier 2:


Tier1



Tier 2

Expect Tiers 1 and 2 in Beta and Tiers 1-4 in the full game.

Dusk Blade

The first major Sapien boss is called: Dusk Blade. He is a vicious bandit leader with a demonic appearance. This boss will need to be defeated to move on out of the first Sapien zone. So here is the run-down on how this boss will work:

• You will need about 6-8 people to defeat him
• Tier 2 Armor is recommended
• The boss will attack like any normal mob
• It also has spells to weaken you
  
• Each time you kill it, it will be reborn as a more powerful beast
• It has 3 stages: Normal, Possessed (Shown above), and Demon Form
• This boss will give you all kinds of items, including its weapon I'm making now

So look forward to this in the full release! I will be pixeling while I consult my programmer on how good this boss can be in terms of AI.

NPC's and QG's

I have just added my first NPC's (Non-Player Controlled) and QG's (Quest Givers) to the game. The world will be cluttered with NPC's to talk to and share information. Plus there will be hundreds of QG's for each race that will give you quests from delivering messages, to sieging a fortress.

Purple "!" is a QG and the Red "!" is a NPC.
*Click it to Zoom In

Welcome

Welcome to the the Tyras: Age of Darkness blog. I hope this will be the best way to add info on my upcoming game. I hope to post all sorts of updates here including stuff you cannot find on any of my active forums.

So keep checking in and expect more soon!