THE GEEZERS FROM HELL MAP MAKING GUILD ANNOUNCES A TRON TOTAL CONVERSION FOR MYTH 2
August 6th, 1999

The Geezers from Hell Map Making Guild are proud to announce a project that will change the way you play Myth 2: Soulblighter. From the minds that Brought you Strange Bedfellows, Florida Bay and Thirst for Speed now comes A Total Conversion of the Cult Hit movie TRON that promises to be stunning in every way.

The Geezers from Hell Map Making Guild:

Convened in the summer of 1999, GfHMG saw the union of three of the best and brightest Map Smiths in the Myth Community. First, on the heels of his deliriously entertaining map "Strange Bedfellows", and tired of a game that he felt no longer challenged him, Sancho saw the need to search out something more. Expressing his feelings to the mastermind of the upcoming "Florida Bay" trilogy, Sancho found that he wasn't the only map smith that shared a pre-millennium ennui for Myth in its present form. Together the two came up with a concept for the TRON total conversion. Knowing that the 1982 Disney movie starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner and David Warner was an important watershed in the development of a community based on a video game, the need for a total conversion was obvious.

"I just Love the subtext. The idea that way back in 1982, a movie could be produced that so neatly encapsulates the Myth community is a constant source of amazement to me. We felt that a TC would be both a welcome addition to the Myth cannon and a fitting homage to a movie that we genuinely love."
---Myshkin, June 2, 1999

Sensing that such an ambitious project would require a technical proficiency that even they lacked, Myshkin contacted fellow Geezer Kazaak in April of 1999.

³I felt it was more then serendipity when Pixar announced it was developing a project that would take up where Tron left off in a long promised sequel a scant four days after Kazaak joined the team! It was like divine intervention. Our initial concept was largely based on the Tron movie, but when Pixar made its announcement we all dug out our Tron books to find supplemental inspiration. Some of the new units we are developing will only be seen on the big screen once the new Tron movie is released in 2002. Perhaps the most exciting result is that Kaz has been able to implement hybrid land/air units that don't upset the balance of play.²
---Sancho, June 2, 1999

Kazaak is a Myther who has been employed by various programming firms in the recently booming Denver area. For a time, rumors swirled that Kazaak had left off playing Myth to work with Bungie on its upcoming Halo project, but Kazaak withholds comment citing a NDA. Privately, Kazaak also expressed a boredom with traditional myth gaming and felt that with a dedicated team he could capture the early TC promise that was hinted at in the early Myth TFL "elven maps".

"To tell you the truth, I was looking for a project that would excite me again, really get me going. I had always been entranced with those early "Elven " maps; you know, giant spiders, archers that could climb hills, scuba dorfs. But when Sancho pitched the TRON idea to me, I was just floored. I couldn't believe that no one else had come up with the idea!"
---Kazaak, June 1, 1999

Combining the Map Making Skills of Myshkin and Sancho with the incredible programming touch of Kazaak, was all that was really needed to get the ball rolling. An unexpected bonus was the Web Building experience Kazaak had acquired working on the up-coming Geezers From Hell Film Vault.

Expected Features:

  1. New Units featuring hybrid land/air units based on the Tron story cycle, perfectly rendered Light Bikes as well as sprites of all the main characters.
  2. New Physics that stunningly capture the "new Logic" that Disney explored in the ground breaking film.
  3. A full single player campaign as well as new net maps and new net games such as Bike races and Controller Wars.
  4. A BeOS and a Linux version as well as full compatibility with Windows and Macintosh based computers.

The Authors Comment:

Kazaak

Well I remember liking the movie, but I was much younger when I saw it. There're several things that we'll be working on ... you know we just reached this point where we can announce it. We've done a bunch of concept sketches and started putting together a story line with the intros for the solo-player levels. You know we got to that point we're confident to announce it.

Myshkin

I couldn't be more excited. First the concept just felt so right, but when I saw the concept Art that Kazaak came up with and when I saw Sancho's scripting elements come together on the early alpha's of our first solo player maps I was absolutely amazed. I think there are going to be a lot of people out there who see this and are drawn back to Bungie.Net. I can't wait to hear the echo on blizzard.net when this baby comes out!"

Sancho

So far its been a stone cold blast. Even the music that Mysh has put together sounds so right. Its going to be a very immersive environment. I only wish that after playing a few hours of it we could all hop on our respective Schwinns and play Œlight bike¹ like we all did in 1982 while the images are still dancing in our heads. Woo 1