Axis Game Factory is a build your own game platform based on the Unity4 engine which now started a kickstarter campaign.
With this easy to use, noob friendly game creating tool, you can create worlds and whole unique games from different genres.
At it’s basic goal the standard platform comes without the ability to code or import 3d files, however this might change in the “pro” pak in the future.
If you dream about creating your own game but can’t program or model, now is your chance!
MORE DETAILS ON “HOW” IT ALL WORKS!
We have been receiving a lot of fantastic questions regarding the Axis Game Factory and we want to use our first update to more clearly define what Axis Game Factory is and more importantly, what it is not. And please remember, what you are currently seeing is a prototype! Just think of how robust it will be in 9 months when we launch the product!
The Axis Game Factory is:
• A powerful yet simple tool for those who love to create, design, build, play and explore games
• A teaching tool for those who want to learn design basics
• A great way to collaborate and create a community through sharing levels and games
• A great way for Machinimators to create carefully crafted Machinima cinematics, movies, series and stories
• A community for gamers and Machinimators to collaborate their work and earn recognition, status and earn reward credit in the Axis Game Factory
The Axis Game Factory is not:
• It is not a full professional game engine like Unity or Unreal
• It is not a way to create games for sale
• While it is very powerful and will give players access to many types and styles of gameplay, at launch, it will not able to create every type of game (like MMO’s and turn-based)… that is a “stretch goal”
The Axis Game Factory will exist as a Free-To-Play product with basic design functions and building blocks. People are pledging for assets and extended features. Let’s break down what comes in the Free-to-Play version and what is unlocked in Deluxe by purchasing assets for Axis Game Factory.
Axis Game Factory: Free-To-Play
• Basic grey blocks to create environments with
• One generic character to control in “Play” mode
• Ability to save objects in “Build” mode
• Ability to save scenes in “Design” mode
• Two camera options for “Play” mode
• Generic lighting
• Ability to Undo and Redo actions on your saved Objects and Scenes
• Ability to “Scene-Link” up to three levels
Axis Game Factory: Deluxe
• Multiple cameras for “Play” mode
• Ability to save your own camera types
• Depth of field and atmospheric options
• More lighting options
• Unlimited “Scene linking” – creating transition points from one built scene to another (with your levels as well as with shared levels)
• Machinima input and playback features – great for Machinima or scripted events in game
• Edit your playable character
• Editing NPCs – textures, dialog, movement/animation, voice over options, etc.
• Editing Enemies – textures, stats, loot drop, movement/animation, voice over options, etc.
• Editing Quests/Objectives – Create quest or objective flows for your game
• HUD Overlays for different game types
• Deluxe Mode comes with a “Starter Pak” theme of your choice (at launch it will include Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Military) – these paks include expansive main characters, NPC’s, enemy, terrain, plants, vegetation, props, building material, vehicles, weapons, lights, cameras, sky boxes, atmospheric effects, sound, VO and ambient music – all in the theme of your choosing
Here are some new Frequently Asked Questions we would like to address in this update to help clarify the product.
Q: I have pledged X amount and will receive X Asset Pak(s) according to my donation level, will I have to pay for more assets later? What will they cost, if anything?
A: At launch, we will be releasing a substantial amount of assets for you to build the most diverse games possible from Day 1 in the paks that you have secured. Those who pledge get a large amount of assets for the donation price! After that, we plan to support the Axis Game Factory with more tools, themed paks, assets and features on a regular basis.
We plan to provide regular software updates to continue to improve upon the Axis Game Factory, and that will come automatically with the Deluxe feature mode. Additional assets and features will be made available for purchase OR acquired through in-game credit you have earned.
Q: How do I purchase/acquire more asset paks and features to expand my Axis Game Factory warehouse?
A: There are two ways in which people can bring in more features/assets to their warehouse – the first is to purchase them directly from the store. Items will be priced appropriately and will cost as little as $1.00 and could be as much as $25.00 – depending on what it all entails…
The second way to access new assets and features is through earned AGF credits… There are three ways you will earn credits in the Axis Game Factory: 1) Through time spent playing and creating in the Axis Game Factory – at the factory – you clock in on your time card and you earn AGF credits for doing so… the more time you spend, the more you earn. 2) When you post your creations to the Axis Game Factory, your peers get to help build your status… the more other players “like” what you’ve made, the more credit you earn. 3) By the amount of direct shares of your creations… this applies to games as well as any Machinimation created and shared on the Axis Game Factory You Tube site as well.
Q: Can I sell what I make with Axis Game Factory?
A: Currently, the “Deluxe” mode is not set-up for a retail model whereby players can monetize on their games except through the earned credit they receive to go toward the purchase of additional assets. The playable levels are made to work within the Axis Game Factory software only and cannot be distributed through other platforms. – We are looking at creating a “Pro” version – but that will not be made available until after we launch the Deluxe mode and have time to develop a proper model that will benefit our community accordingly.
Q: If I create a game or Machinima video, who owns it? Are there licensing issues with using the art and assets provided by Axis Game Factory?
A: Everything you create through Axis Game Factory is yours. We will not come after you with scary lawyers demanding a cut of your internet fame and fortune 😉 We will provide you with the proper language stating that you have the legal rights to use the assets in the Axis Game Factory. We will reserve the right to use clips of your work for promotional use only.
Q: If I build a house – can I go inside that house?
A: The Axis Game Factory is an open toolset that allows you to build anything – homes, buildings, cars, military vehicles… you do this in “Build” mode. In “Design” mode, you bring your assets in – or assets that are already complete and you begin to build your game level. You can go inside your house, furnish it, or bust it up – it’s up to you. The user interface is very easy to use – you don’t have to be a game designer or programmer to figure it out. All of the assets and most of the characters are scaled to work in a realistic way so that you can enter and exit buildings easily. You could also use Scene Linking to have an exterior of a house or building and create a whole scene that is the interior!
Here are some interesting quotes from the devs :
“Hi,
We have actually been making games as a studio for over 16 years… full games on multi-sku platforms and not the kind that use middleware as a jump point.
The PlayStation Home content that we have created as of late requires a ton of programming, as their HDK in built in LUA and is very difficult to program for. Additionally, we are one of a few that have actually created full blown games for the platform – Emo Ray vs. the Intergallactic Teddy Bears just shipped in November. Here is a link to the article that highlights the game…
http://www.hsmagazine.net/2012/11/emo-ray-vs-the-intergalactic-teddy-bears/
Furthermore, we have a team of programmers creating the Axis Game Factory, so rest assured, we know what we are doing, have delivered for decades and are quite confident we have an amazing product on our hands that consumers will enjoy and get that it is much more than a GUI overlay.
Thanks for your email,
Tammy McDonald
CEO
Heavy Water”
“If you are interested in checking out the regular software progression, you are welcome to check out the videos that are posted regularly here: http://www.axisgamefactory.com/videos.htm“
“Hi Dan,
Axis Game Factory is a stand-alone product… outside of the additional features, assets and software updates that we provide, and will continue to support with regular updates and content, we are not including any hands-on programming features.
This might change down the road as the product develops as we are considering a “Pro” pak as a stretch-goal, but our immediate focus is to provide users with an easy to use product that ANYONE can create games with and quality assets/content.
Thanks for the support, Dan. I really appreciate your time and hope I was able to answer your question.
Best,
Tammy”
“Hi James,
We are so glad you are excited about Axis Game Factory and see the vision that we are creating! There will actually be quite a bit of customization in Axis Game Factory… Depending on the type of game you want to make, you can control your main character’s actions, animation, behaviors, weapons, and gameplay attributes as well as the NPC and enemy characters; they will be adjustable through sliders.
Each character, NPC and enemy will have a variety of selections… from clothing, weapons, animation, sfx and voice dialogue. You will even be able to adjust hit points and damage.
Obviously, we still have work to do – and part of the excitement is working directly with our supports through the Forum once this goes live to collaborate and share the development progress with you.
Thanks again for your support!
Best,
Tammy”
“Dan,
So what you outlined in your scenario is basically this. There is a user character in an environment. In order to convey the quest you place an NPC character in the environment. Edit the NPC via the Interface, Turn on “can communicate” radio button. When the radio button is activated a dialog box will appear allowing you to add text to it. This is where you type in your information for the user to read. The character only gives this information to the user if the user chooses to interact with the NPC. The interaction code happens automatically when the user comes in contact with an NPC that has something to say. After the user reads the text and clicks the accept quest button or what ever you happen to name the button. The Quest would be added to the users Quest list. Then the user finds the Dragon you placed and the sword that you reward after it is killed. All editing is handled in the same manner with simple menus. Connecting multiple communications to the same quest would be like adding people to your “circle” of friends. Create multiple characters and add them to the same circle so that the code knows that they are all part of the same conversation for the quest. There are other ways it could be handled but what I laid out is probably the most straight forward.
Thanks,
Matt”
“Corpselocker, that feels odd to type BTW. There must have been a miss-communication. I don’t know where you got the “Sliders” impression as the only form of input for any data that might be need for any particular thing. I think it might have been gleaned from a generic answer from Tammy for editing something.
Please rest assured that I want the product to be as flexible and as powerful as it can be without being too difficult to use for beginners. “Easy to use but difficult to master” has always been my mantra for designing product. You want it to be accessible to all and at the same time have depth to keep people inspired. If there is anything I know about in life is making a tool-set like I have outlined in AGF.
I have literally been working towards this product for the last 22 years on a daily basis, almost 23 now. Ever since I bought my first computer an AMIGA 2000 and Lightwave 3d. I create something in 3D everyday, I have the Terra-bites of data since I have started to prove it.
We can all work together to make this product change they way the world creates this kind of content.
Thanks,
Matt”
And many more…
A cutting-edge open world toolset for players to create, design, build and share games: by industry veteran Matt McDonald’s Heavy Water
A cutting-edge open world toolset for players to create, design, build and share games: by industry veteran Matt McDonald’s Heavy Water
HEAVY WATER’S OPEN WORLD-BUILDING TOOL-SET
Industry veteran, Matt McDonald, and his development studio, Heavy Water, are excited to bring you a game-changing, open world-building tool-set that provides players with the ability to design, create, build, play and share their very own game creations with user-friendly technology and expansive game assets.
Axis Game Factory puts the power to create an entire game into YOUR hands! By providing players with endless assets, themes, characters, cameras, game modes – all of the ingredients to make amazing games – the only thing missing? You!
At Heavy Water, we’ve worked on every type of game and genre imaginable; having delivered on over 100 titles. We love to make games, but even more so, we want to put you in the driver’s seat to design and build your own creations, and that’s why we’re here – we need your help to make it a reality!
AXIS GAME FACTORY IS FOR ANYONE – KIDS, ADULTS, DESIGNERS, PROFESSIONALS, DIRECTORS, STORYTELLERS AND IMAGINEERS… IF YOU CAN DREAM IT – YOU CAN BUILD IT!
At Heavy Water, we know enough about building games, tools and content to know that it just shouldn’t be as difficult as it is! And there should be a way for EVERYONE to have as much fun making games as us. We have eliminated the need for you to have an entire game development team and instead, wrapped it all up for you in the Axis Game Factory!
Built for the PC/Mac/Linux systems, Axis Game Factory is a real time game tool-set (built in UNITY) that acts and looks like a scene editor/game development tool but we’ve taken all the hard parts out – without having to know how to program or model in 3D!
- Full GUI scene and gameplay editing tools
- Extensive art asset libraries for terrain, foliage, structures, props, atmospheres, characters, lights, and more from different art styles
- Ability to create custom models from separate pieces to use just like any other art asset in your toolbox
- Every saved file, scene or model, saves the history so even after you’ve closed and opened the file you can undo and redo the entire file
- Positional NPC’s that can be configured by altering variables via sliders, attaching animations, voice acting, way points, and sound effects
- Positional enemies that can be configured with variables via sliders same as NPC’s plus variable for aggressiveness, strength, etc.
- Scene linking between your different environments to give your game a larger than life feel, linking environments by start and end points
- Multiple camera choices during gameplay to create different types of games such as FPS, platformer, adventure 3rd person, and side-scrollers
- Multiple playable characters with expansive animations to fit various gameplay genres
- Press play at anytime during design development to play your level in progress to test out and then easily switch back into design mode
- The ability to play back user inputs from gameplay and choose different camera angles to create compelling Machinima
- Share your in-development scenes with friends who have the same assets to collaborate on a game design
- Become a real game designer by sharing your final game to the community to play for free and earn status within the community
- Update your warehouse inventory by purchasing new kits, themes and features
Anyone will be able to download and play Axis Game Factory in Basic Mode – but if you want all of the bells and whistles, you will need to step up and buy a starter-kit of a theme of your choosing, to unlock the “Deluxe Mode.” From there, you can add any number of kits and features as they are made available. You will be able to share your creations with your friends to play and rank you, as well as download other games to play and link your levels to for endless fun!
When we say, “we love what we do” – we mean every word of it – and providing YOU with the tools to create in the same space as the pro’s is a life long passion of ours. Having published our own games and virtual world content for the last several years, we know there is a better way to the finish line than going the traditional publisher route and having them as the middle-man between us and you.
Through Kickstarter, we get to collaborate directly with you about the game and development features we will be including in Axis Game Factory. Plus, we don’t have to make compromises with a publisher. We make the development decisions, we market the game, and we don’t have to answer to anyone but you – our fans. It’s time to put the power of your imagination into your hands and support us through Kickstarter!
We need to raise $400,000 to fund the development team that will be completing the tools, assets, features and networking platform required to support the Axis Game Factory.
The good news is that from our years of game and content development, we have amassed a library of amazing assets, tools, and features that will be going into the Axis Game Factory, so we already have a great head-start!
We have designed the Axis Game Factory to grow and expand with new features and models to support the community. Once we reach our target goal, we will begin to add-in more features from our list of stretch goals as they are met as well as input from our community members. All additional money raised will go straight into the development and support of the game to continue to seed new features, gameplay systems, characters, and additional genres.
So if you ever dream about developing your own games but can’t program on model, now is your chance !