About this project
Mages of Mystralia
CA$ 234,238
4,912
Most succinctly described as Legend of Zelda meets Harry Potter, Mages of Mystralia is a single-player action-adventure set in a lively fantasy world in which you can design your own spells.
In this homage to the fantasy genre's most iconic archetype, the mage, you will need to master the art of spellcrafting. Through solving environmental puzzles and defeating formidable enemies, you will come to explore the millions of possible spell combinations on your path to becoming a real mage!
The story is being written by bestselling author Ed Greenwood, creator of the Forgotten Realms fantasy world for Dungeons and Dragons, which served as the basis for games like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, as well as about 170 other fantasy books.
This epic adventure has an immersive soundtrack that was recorded live by the Video Game Orchestra and orchestrated by Shota Nakama (Final Fantasy XV, Kingdom Hearts II.5 HD Remaster).
Feel free to listen to a mash-up of our original OST while reading!
Mages of Mystralia was created around a new and innovative spellcrafting system that allows you to create millions of new ways to fight enemies and solve environmental puzzles!
To accomplish this, you are given a spell book with four basic spell types:
You can modify these spells by adding and combining different runes to them.
- Behavioral runes: Adds a specific behavior that stacks with other behaviors attached to the spell.
- Augment runes: Modifies the runes to which they are connected, changing the variables of the behavior.
- Trigger runes: Nests additional spells within the current spell when certain trigger conditions are met.
As the game progresses, your spell book's contents will grow, opening up an exponentially growing number of options. You can then mix and match runes in order to create mega-spells that are greater than the sum of their parts. For example:
If we start with an Actus Orb of Fire...
By adding the 'Move' behavior rune, we get a fireball.
And adding a 'Duplicate' behavior rune gives us a triple fireball.
Now if we attach the 'Duplicate' behavior rune to an Ice Ego spell instead, it gives an ice sculpture that can be used as a decoy to escape enemies.
Then, we can add the 'Periodic' trigger rune to our ice sculpture to nest another spell. When prompted, we select the triple fireball. This creates an ice turret!
Finally, attaching the 'Right' augment rune on the turret will make it turn clockwise, shooting in 360 degrees.
You can also use 'Rain', 'Impact', 'Teleport' and many more amazing runes to create even crazier spells!
Four spell types, four elements and eighteen runes can be placed on the spellcrafting grid in order to create tons of incredible combinations! Whenever we put the spellcrafting system in front of new players, someone invariably comes up with a new spell we've never seen before!
So you're not constrained by what we, the game's creators, put in the game for you to discover. Instead, you are limited only by your own creativity and imagination.
At PAX East, PAX West, PAX South, PAX East again, SXSW and the PlayStation Experience, the reaction to our spell system has been incredible! But don't take our word for it, here is what the media had to say:
Learn more about our unique spellcrafting system!
Want to learn more about Mages of Mystralia's unique approach to spellcrafting? We've got you covered! The following video combines parts 1-3 of our spellcrafting tutorial, narrated by none other than Dan Adelman himself.
Keep in mind that this video only gives you a (very) small insight of all the possibilities offered! What spells will YOU create?
Mages of Mystralia has responsive action-adventure controls that have been perfected to feel intuitive and fun.
But be careful... The world of Mystralia is a dangerous place. Monsters roam freely in the wilds and you never know what enormous creatures lurk in the shadowy corners of the realm...
This polished gameplay, combined with the moving soundtrack and beautifully rendered cel shaded graphics really allowed the team to bring this immersive game to a level of quality that they are extremely proud of.
In Mages of Mystralia, you play as Zia, a young woman who discovers that she has been born with an innate sense of magic. Unfortunately, arcane powers have been banned from the kingdom, forcing her to go into exile and learn the ways of magic as she looks to gain some control over her powers and stumbles into a story of epic proportions!
On her journey, she meets other exiled mages and discovers runes with magical properties, realizing that she can combine these in different ways to come up with millions of new spells!
When Ed Greenwood set to the task of writing the story of Zia’s adventure, he couldn’t help but flesh out the entire world and its lore. The history of the kingdom of Mystralia was an interesting enough story in its own right, so we worked with acclaimed webcomic creators Brian Clevinger and Carey Pietsch to tell that story in comic book form.
The more you know your Mystralia history, the better you’ll be able to identify the subtle references to these events of the past and how they’ve come to shape Zia’s present.
A wide range of different environments are spread out across the vast world of Mystralia, where villagers, merchants and mages live. You will explore the many different areas of the game in order to find epic treasure, solve mind-bending puzzles and experiment with spells in order to become a true mage!
Mages of Mystralia’s original orchestral score was performed by the Video Game Orchestra and orchestrated by Shota Nakama, one of the masterminds behind the scores of Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts II.5 HD Remaster.
Furthermore, the music in the game is dynamic, meaning that depending on the setting and the actions a player makes, the music will adapt itself, adding instruments, accelerating or slowing the pace and basically modulating to fit every in-game situation!
Some of the projects our team members have worked on previously :
Borealys Games is made up of experienced developers who’ve spent years working in the AAA industry, which really allowed the team to add that extra layer of polish to the gameplay and visual elements of the game.
The game is already a lot of fun and the players' response at events has been heartwarming, but we still have some polish (improved animations, particle effects, and enhanced sound effects - among others) that we think will really take the game to the next level. In addition, we also have a few features up our sleeves as stretch goals that we would love to obtain.
More importantly, we want to get feedback on the game from our most ardent supporters, who will get the beta immediately after the campaign is processed!
Although the team has had years of experience in the industry, Mages of Mystralia is the studio's first public appearance and we are coming to Kickstarter to find and grow our core player community.
We want fans of magical action-adventure games to join us as we look towards the game's official launch in Q2 of 2017!
Recently there have been several Kickstarter campaigns that have raised an amount of funding to prove that the concept is viable, but then seek publisher or outside investor support for what they really need. We are taking the opposite approach. We built our proof-of-concept, got investment, and made our game. It is fully playable beginning to end, and many would consider it complete.
But as we’ve observed our playtesters and gotten feedback, we’ve generated a ton of ideas that would not take too long to implement but have the power to take this game to the next level. Adding all of those little tweaks and extra polish will only add a couple months to our schedule, so for a relatively modest sum, we can have a huge impact.
Of course, we already have plans for how we’d like to expand the game post launch with new game modes. If we exceed our goal, we’ll be able to staff up more aggressively and deliver those new features sooner than if we had to wait for the game to launch.
Adding digital copies to your order is simple:
- Select your preferred pledge tier from the right of the page.
- At checkout, add 25$CAD ($19 US) for each extra digital copy you would like.
- At the end of the campaign, you will receive a Backer Form to confirm your add-ons and preferred platform(s) for your digital keys.
Adding a physical add-ons to your order is simple:
- Select your desired pledge tier from the right of the campaign page.
- At checkout, simply add the value of your desired Add-on(s) and the shipping fee that corresponds to your location.
- At the end of the campaign, you will receive a Backer Form to confirm your add-ons, address and T-Shirt size(s).
The Silver Treasure Chest contains:
- One Mages of Mystralia pin
- One Mages of Mystralia t-shirt
- One soft-cover copy of the 64-page Mages of Mystralia comic book by Brian Clevinger and Carey Pietsch
- One full-color 11x17 Mages of Mystralia poster
- One Mages of Mystralia pin
- One exclusive Mages of Mystralia dev team t-shirt
- One soft-cover copy of the 64-page Mages of Mystralia comic book by Brian Clevinger and Carey Pietsch
- One limited full-color 11x17 Mages of Mystralia poster, signed by Ed Greenwood
- One double-vinyl version of Mages of Mystralia's original OST, orchestrated by Shota Nakama and performed by the Video Game Orchestra
Final Week Standalone Add-ons!
Due to popular demand, we've also added the following standalone physical add-ons. Shipping for these is included in the price, so ordering one is as simple as increasing your current pledge with the desired item's value!
Should you be interested in more than one item type, remember that Treasure Chests offer an amazing value proposition!
Cool details about our awesome collector T-Shirts!
Here are the 5 different T-shirt models we're offering in our physical add-on packs! Backers who are eligible to receive one of these beauties as part of their rewards will get to choose the model and sizing once the campaign completes!
We will be unlocking Kickstarter goodies as we tick off community achievements so please feel free to participate! All of our social media links can be found below.
Please check the "Orchestral Score" campaign section for the OST's Making-of Video Documentary and SoundCloud tracks! :D
From everyone here at Borealys Games, we want to thank you from the bottom of our three HP hearts for helping us bring this game to the heights we know it can reach!
Kickstarter is known to be a great place for a new studio to start a community and we are psyched to meet and chat with you during the weeks, months and years to come.
Thank you!
Risks and challenges
Although it is true that Kickstarter projects for video games often come with a certain level of risk, it really isn't the case here. Backers will receive the beta access to Mages of Mystralia immediately after the Kickstarter is processed and we plan on the full release being sometime in Q2 of 2017!
Our team is filled with industry veterans who know what they are doing so there are no worries to be had on the game development front! The only thing that's new to us with this campaign is the sending of physical rewards, but we have already lined up partners to make sure all of that goes off without a hitch!
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