About this project
You find yourself in the midst of a strange and mysterious universe. Twisting, shattering islands hurtle perpetually through interstellar space. Underground lakes wrap eerily around cavern walls. Streams launch spontaneously boiling waterfalls into vacuum. The shadow of a mysterious ancient presence echoes through a distorted time-scape.
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MaK is a physics playground - A sandbox world with engaging game modes built on top of it. We wanted to make something that gives you a sense of discovery and wonder - where creativity is king - a place to explore and experiment - to compete and cooperate - and to do it all with your friends. More than anything, we wanted to make something intensely fun. The major features that define the game experience, so far, stem from these concepts.
At its heart, MaK is a physics sandbox with tethers, rockets, engines, balloons, explosives, teleportation, relative gravity and potentially unlimited room for creativity.
MaK features relative gravity. There's no global up or down direction, and any surface can be a source of gravity. Simply traversing the game world is a unique experience. This means that we build our levels in really interesting and unusual ways. Objects orbit and react to gravity wells. Characters run, swim, and build structures on different surfaces. It's a cool and mind-bending sight to behold, and a great place to play in.
Experimenting with the possibilities in this kind of world makes for delightful surprises at every turn. We're constantly discovering new aspects and uses of the gravity system during our sessions with the game.
Building is at the creative heart of the game. It's simple to do, but deeply designed and as complex as you want to make it. The world of MaK is home to a variety of building blocks, representing the unique technology of its inhabitants. Each of these cubes has its own physical properties. Some are innate to each block, while others have to be activated. You can use these cubes to build anything from simple weapons and buildings to complex traps, circuits, and modes of transportation.
The list of blocks is growing and we plan to introduce some of the more exotic types as updates during this Kickstarter campaign. And, yes, we're open to suggestions, too :)
Besides snapping blocks together, you get a gun that shoots grappling tethers. They work like stretchy bungee cords for anchoring, pulling and attaching things at a distance. They're conductive and you can use them to transmit signals and build circuits. They serve as a great weapon, too. The signal sent down the tether is a jolt of electricity, and if it's used on another player or enemy, it works like a taser. Tethers are a deceptively simple tool with many uses. They can even work as trip wires that set off traps.
The tether system is currently fully functional, and we have plans to further expand it into something even more versatile and awesome.
Moving through the twisted environments of MaK requires massive leaps from planet to planet, clever planning, and impressive feats of parkour. Our goal is to make movement a joyous and exuberant experience. When movement is fluid in a game, it makes you feel like a boss, effortlessly pulling off acrobatic maneuvers and stunts. We are working hard to develop a high-end, procedural animation system and simple, intuitive controls to make jumping, swinging, swimming, and soaring between gravity fields fluid and exhilarating. This will ensure that the action is constant, fast, and spectacular.
We decided to build our prototype as a multiplayer game so that we could have character interaction early on, and so we could rapidly design and test gameplay. Since then, we've been building multiplayer modes around our core set of mechanics. We started with traditional game modes like Deathmatch and a UT style Bombing Run (using our explosive cube, which makes the runner both vulnerable to attack and dangerous in close quarters), and we are working our way towards exciting new concepts that are entirely unique to the MaK universe.
The game mode system we've built, enables us to rapidly prototype entirely new game modes within our existing set of mechanics, giving us the freedom to craft diverse and enjoyable experiences for every taste.
We're big fans of co-op games, and we're aiming to develop rich and meaningful ways for players to interact with each other, to encourage players to work together, and devise strategies as a group. These interactions can be as simple as joining forces to build large contraptions, as complicated as solving tandem teleportation traversal puzzles, or working as a team against AI enemies by building defensive structures and banding together to protect vital objects or individuals.
The setting and gravity twisting mechanics allow us to experiment with a really unique visual style. Our goal is to give the game an immense and sweeping scope. From the start, we wanted to create something fantastical, colorful, and vivid, contrasted by realistic lighting, surfaces, and camera effects.
The world of MaK is not what it seems at first glance, and its deepest secrets hit surprisingly close to home. Without giving away too much of the plot, the goal of the art-direction is to create a new reality adjacent to our own. We want to create a living world unlike anything that has been seen before.
Mak is the type of project we really believe can be made best with fan support. We want to have an ongoing dialogue with the people who care about the game most. The reception we have received from the gaming community since we first appeared on Steam Greenlight has been wonderful and overwhelming. Your feedback will help focus our development efforts on what’s important. We want to release a Beta that really helps improve the final game, rather than just stress testing our servers. And we want to share the game development experience with you, through update videos and development blog posts.
We set out to make an amazing and ambitious game that really pushes the boundaries of indie development. And we've come this far working with anywhere from one to five people at different times, between contract jobs and other obligations. We have a great prototype and systems built for rapid iteration and growth. To complete the game, we need to take this job full-time. Your support will help us to fill the game with the great content and gameplay features. Your contribution will put the power in our hands to make something really out of this world.
The game will feature:
- Networked & local multiplayer
- Single Player Sandbox Levels with creative goals and enemies
- Character customization
- In-game match replay & recording
- In-game YouTube™ integration
- Multiple competitive and cooperative game modes
- Achievements / In-game rewards
- Sweet graphics, leveraging the newest rendering techniques
Tools
We want to bring MaK to as many platforms as possible, so that no matter what you own, you can look forward to the experience we are working hard to craft. As a start-up, we don't have some of the industry standard tools necessary to release a game of this scope in the way it deserves. Software licenses and development kits are both expensive and absolutely necessary, along with a good sampling of hardware to test the game.
Growing
Game development can be very work intensive. A
project like this will require that we pull in additional
talent from time to time. As a start-up studio we are just bursting with youthful energy
and we can't wait to grow!
We have budgeted out everything that we will need to make a killer multiplayer game and a free-form single-player experience. We have a vision of many features and game modes to expand the scope of MaK to match your support and enthusiasm for the project. With every bit beyond our base goal, we will be able to make leaps in production values bringing you a bigger and better game! If we do surpass our baseline goal we will announce exciting Stretch Goals and additional contributor benefits.
Any additional funds will be used to add more features and content based on the feedback that we receive from you throughout the development process.
We're a handful of friends, with experience in different areas of game development and art. You can see our individual profiles on our site by clicking here.
We started out as a small group that would get together to discuss game design and personal projects. After prototyping a few games together for fun, we hit on some interesting ideas, and we began to consider the possibility of working on something more ambitious. In our spare time we started putting together the basic concepts that have since evolved into MaK.
It wasn't long before we noticed that we were onto something. Inspired by other independent developers, we decided to tabulate our savings, along with the good will of our loved ones, and we took the plunge. Life has been pretty exciting ever since.
Lend a hand and spread the word! There's a new universe waiting to be explored :)
You can check us out and vote on Steam Greenlight too: Link
Risks and challenges
We're devoloping a very full featured game, and aiming for a high-end entertainment experience. This means we'll be generating tons of content, developing robust gameplay systems and simulations, and resolving mind-bending technical challenges on a tight schedule. That said, we've already laid a good technical basis for what's ahead, and we have the expertise and experience to take the game through production and into your hands. That's why we're showing gameplay as opposed to a concept video. By contributing, you add to the resources we have and extend our reach. We really appreciate it!
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Funding period
- (31 days)