'MARVEL Mystic Mayhem' Unveils the Depths of the Dreamscape

Welcome to MARVEL Mystic Mayhem, a game where our iconic heroes confront their most formidable adversaries: their worst nightmares. Developed by NetEase Games, a team with proven unwavering passion for the Marvel Universe, this game takes you on a journey through the Dreamscape. Follow along as we introduce you to the game's world setting, offering an in-depth look at the nightmares that challenge our heroes.

World Overview

Could you share the basic structure of the game world and the role of the Dreamscape?

Robin B. (Narrative Team): The game's storyline is all about Marvel heroes facing their own nightmares to take down Nightmare, the lord of fear. In our game, the real world has been consumed into the Dreamscape, where it's been twisted and reshaped by the wild power of dreams. We've been working hand-in-hand with our art team to turn familiar places like New York City and Avalon into their dream-state versions. It's been an exciting and challenging task.

So, the Dreamscape is where the whole game world built on. It’s an astral realm, the collective unconsciousness of all sentient beings in the universe. It has been brought up several times throughout the Marvel history, yet still an undeveloped dimension waited to be explored. And by diving into each hero’s darkest dream, we not only get to explore the different realms of the Dreamscape, meet all sorts of quaint subconscious monsters, but also peek into those well-known heroes’ unwell-known inner worlds, to see their fear and what makes them humans, and to see how they conquer their fears and become “Super”.

Narrative Context

In MARVEL Mystic Mayhem, we can see heroes and villains joining forces to fight a malevolent force. Can you talk about the concept of the narrative and what makes it so unique?

Robin B.: Personally, I've always been so interested in Nightmare as a villain, and I think he was underestimated lots of times. He's the ruler of the Nightmare Realm, but also its prisoner. The plane of reality lures him with the minds and fears of mortals, thus he's always dreamed of taking over the waking world. Only now do we really see how powerful he can be with the never-before-seen power of the Nightmare Realm at his disposal. Furthermore, many Marvel stories tend to focus on clear external threats; I thought it would be very fun to also explore the depths of each character themselves.  Nightmare gave me the ability to look under the hood and see what makes each Marvel character—heroes and villains alike—tick.

Key Locations and Environments

What special scenes can you not wait to share with players?

Robin B.: There are many scenes the Art Team can’t wait to show the world that embody our design efforts. The Sanctum Sanctorum of Doctor Strange is one we're particularly excited about. We began conceptualizing this scene early in the project and continually reimagined and redesigned it. We positioned the Sanctum as a refuge for Super Heroes during Nightmare’s assault on reality, designing numerous display scenes to satisfy players' imaginations and meet their expectations for a dream refuge. The Darkhold is a very special environment where players can jump into the book and fight the dark force merging out from it. Shadow Space is a unique realm we created alongside the Marvel team, adding a creepy and weird flavor that matches the "nightmare" theme.

Visual Style and Aesthetics Philosophy

What are the inspirations for the game's art design? Is there a process in place to incorporate specific elements into the design to create a distinctive style?

Jack Yao (Art Team): Our design inspiration largely comes from the older, classic Marvel comics. When designing our villains and heroes, our first step is looking back into Marvel's rich history and seeing what the character's initial appearance looked like. Then, we sprinkle in a bit of modern flair to give the classic designs new life followed by interpolating the entire feeling through the lens of dreams and nightmares.

We also hope that these heroes and villains' strength will be even more prominent in our unique Dreamscape, so our designs place more emphasis on the feelings of mysticism than solely the heroes' existing characteristics. For example, we emphasize Thor’s lightning power when establishing his dream look. As a thunder wielder, his weapon and his body are assimilated by lightning. And for Scarlet Witch, we focused on her Chaos Magic and added a touch of darkness within it. Also, for Black Knight, we enhanced the curse of Ebony Blade, with thorns and flames, evoking the danger and darkness of the curse.

Is there a particular character design you yourself like best? Or a particular challenge you encountered when designing these new takes on the characters?

Jack Yao: As the lead artist, it's quite hard for me to pick a favorite character design because I've been fully involved with each one, working closely with our concept artists. Every character represents a significant investment of our creativity and effort. The overarching challenge in designing characters for MARVEL Mystic Mayhem is to create a sense of familiarity while also providing an unexpected twist.

Marvel's Super Heroes have established a very deep-rooted visual impression in the minds of the audience, many people more or less believe that certain heroes should look a certain way. Therefore, we need to find a balance here, choosing designs that would please the majority while still offering a fresh take. For example, when conceptualizing Hulk, we debated whether to give him so many arcane tattoos, long hair, and a beard, as these features could significantly alter his traditional image. But in the end, we've developed a method where we'd summarize characters with concise keywords and design around those. After settling on "rage" as the keyword for Hulk, we reassessed whether our design captured this essence. We felt that with long hair and arcane tattoos, Hulk embodied a weathered warrior returning from a dream world, which indeed intensified his sense of rage. Thus, we decided to present this bold design to our players. There are many such examples, and I am eager to continue sharing more in the future!

Music and Sound Design

How do the voiceovers enhance the storytelling and character development in the game?

Zhe Y. (Dev Team): In-game narration can enhance storytelling and character development through commentary, inner monologues, or environmental interactions. It helps players better understand the plot, characters' inner worlds, and background information of the game world. Through narration, games can convey emotions, strengthen atmosphere, and provide explanations for character motivations and behaviors.

What particular track do you like best? What did you compose in the track that helps to highlight a character storypoint or help set the mood of a particular setting?

Zhe Y.: Taking the "Nightmare Corridor" as an example, to align with the theme of nightmares, our entire soundtrack is based on Synthwave, maintaining a consistent musical style within the game. Our aim was to create a soundtrack that captures the dream like qualities of strangeness and unpredictability, with a slight infusion of Dubstep percussion.

For the musical tone, we've kept the main melody that evokes the feeling of Super Heroes, and on this foundation, we express the atmosphere of the character's struggle within the nightmare through a continuously rising arpeggio.

In the battles of the Serpent's Sea and the trials of Khonshu, you'll hear a lot of exotic sounds and tunes. The Serpent's Sea is adapted from the concept of Senet in Egyptian mythology, so we've used Egyptian instruments as embellishments and incorporated Phrygian and Egyptian modes, which form the long, thematic melody of it. The music is fast paced, representing the flow of the river, and you can also feel the conviction of Super Heroes in the continuous, climbing arpeggios.

Future Outlook

What else can we look forward to in MARVEL Mystic Mayhem?

Zhe Y.: Of course we have plans for more heroes, more stories, and gameplay, but we’re also working diligently on game optimizations based on feedback from Closed Alpha Test players, which will be presented in the upcoming Closed Beta Test.

Also, during the Closed Alpha Test period, our player discussions about the Eye of Nightmare in Nightfall have been incredibly engaging. Because of this, we're excited to announce the addition of a boss: Dragon Armor. Drawing from the comic book appearances of the Dragon Armor, and combining it with our game's world setting, we’ve created this boss based on the deepest fears of the armor. The Dragon Armor will actively hunt players during combat, continuously causing destruction and maintaining a very intense pace!

Thank you for joining us on this thrilling journey into the Dreamscape! We encourage your feedback and community engagement as we continue to develop and expand the world of MARVEL Mystic Mayhem.

For more information about MARVEL Mystic Mayhem, please visit marvelmysticmayhem.com.

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