The Matter King Windows, Android game

A 2D PLATFORM THRILLER WITH AN EPIC STORYLINE

“The stars are dying; the universe has been quiet for a long time. But in deep space a seemingly impossible cluster of stars remains, orbiting an artificial behemoth that has been dormant for eons. But something equally impossible has awakened it from its slumber.”

“Slender meets Thomas Was Alone. Seriously chilling.” - Beta Tester

“I’ve never felt more unnerved playing a platform game…” – Beta Tester

“A story that leaves you asking so many questions every level… with the only way to answer them is navigating frustratingly painful puzzles. I love it.” - Beta Tester

The Matter King is a sci-fi platformer which focuses on:

• An epic storyline;
• Death a gameplay mechanic;
• A thrilling atmosphere achieved by the use of 2D dynamic lighting and music.

The Matter King, Aura Games’ first game, is due to be released in Q4 of 2016, and is a sci-fi platformer that utilises a maze based puzzle system. It follows our protagonist, Alpha, on his disorientated exploration through the abandoned starship, The Revenant.

“Alpha awakens in a tall metal room, surrounded only by silence, darkness and fear. At first Alpha’s concern lingers only on his inability to place where he is or how he got here, until he attempts to recall his memories. Alpha realises he is unable to see through an artificial block placed on his mind; he has no idea who he is. All he remembers is that he is Alpha.

Aided only by the dull light emitted by the visor he awakened with, Alpha begins to explore his broken surroundings. Where he is has suffered severe damage, damage he remembers witnessing. Maybe even causing.

As Alpha continues to explore his prison he comes across an area of his world that has suffered major damages, and parts of his memory come flooding back to him; suddenly it becomes all too apparent where he is. Alpha is on board The Revenant, a starship, in the middle of deep space. The area in front of him confirms this; exposed to the openness of space, smashed open by laser fire. But how does Alpha know this?

But in his exploration of the ship Alpha learns that he is not alone in this maze of horrors… An old enemy waits for him in the shadows, seeking revenge for the actions of Alpha’s past he cannot remember. As Alpha begins to interface with the computer systems on the Revenant he begins to understand who he is… What he has done… and what the creature waiting for him in the shadows actually is…

And he learns that death is only the beginning of fear.”

GAMEPLAY

In The Matter King you take control of Alpha, navigating the maze of the Revenant and solving the puzzles inside and outside of the ship, whilst attempting to escape the keeper of The Revenant, Drone, a damaged cyborg left alone in the darkness for centuries.

Through Alpha you will attempt to escape The Revenant, and in doing so seek out its computer systems interface points, called terminals. Interacting with the terminals trigger memories of Alpha’s past, allowing him to figure out who and where he is.

• AN EPIC INTERACTIVE STORYLINE SPANNING THE AGE OF THE AG UNIVERSE– Who is Alpha? What are The Revenant’s secrets? Why is Drone so fixated upon revenge? The storyline is told in two ways; firstly in game dialogue from both Alpha and Drone as you navigate the maze of The Revenant and secondly by interacting with the terminal, revealing a piece of Alpha’s past.

• DEATH AS A GAMEPLAY MECHANISM – In The Matter King death is just the beginning. Drone’s idea of revenge goes much further than just killing Alpha; he plans to do it over and over and over again. Upon death Alpha will be reconstructed at the last terminal he interacted with, in real time, and without resetting/reloading the level. Certain puzzles will require Alpha to destroy himself in order to remove an obstacle in his way, and only after doing so will Alpha be able to move through the puzzle unobstructed.

• A MYSTERIOUS AND CHILLING ENEMY – Drone pursues Alpha through the darkness with an intense hatred to kill him over an over again; making The Revenant a tomb and torture chamber for Alpha. Coming into contact will instantly incinerate and kill Alpha. Drone is damages at first but as you progress through the Revenant he begins to manufacture new bodies to inhabit, providing him with new ways to pursue and stop Alpha.

• INSTAKILL – The Matter King employs an instakill system; there are no heath bars. If you encounter a death object you are sent back to the last terminal that you interacted with, regardless of how much progress has been made since that interaction.

• ZERO G AND SPACE AREARS – The Revenant is extremely damaged, exposing some areas of it to open space. In contained and undamaged sectors controlling Alpha works just like any normal platform game, but in arears exposed to the vacuum of space gravity disappears, allowing you to control Alpha in zero G.

• LIGHTING – Lighting is an important feature of a suspense based game and we use this as a feature of The Revenant. Despite being a 2D platformer using sprite based assets the Matter King utilises dynamic lighting, allowing 2D objects to be lit as lit they were 3D. This also means that if a part of the maze isn’t lit, you will be unable to see it. There are various light sources scattered throughout the maze.

• REVENANT TECHNOLOGY – If this is sounding very one sided right now don’t worry. Alpha will be able to utilise The Revenant’s technology to turn the tables on Drone:

• Servitor – a small floating orb which will glide towards the nearest exit;
• Emergency disruption module – if activated within the vicinity of Drone it will disrupt his teleportation module, jumping him to a random part of the maze;
• Personal defence servitor; Defends Alpha against drone when he is in his vicinity, slowing his attack;
• Beacon servitor; a floating orb that follows Alpha for a certain period of time, casting a bright light to guide his way;
• Vacuum shielding – allows Alpha to survive one attack from Drone.

We also want the Matter King to be game you can pick up and play after completion, so we have a few incentives up for players looking for replayability;

• TWO MODES – Experience an endless challenge in infinity mode – a randomly generated maze that goes on and on forever. The aim of the game is to survive for as long as you can. Unlike in story mode death in infinity mode is game over.

• TIME TRIALS AND ACHIEVEMENTS – Done with story mode? Go for bragging rights by obtaining 100% completion (just like in the old days) by playing through the story levels on time trial mode and then try and grab all of the in game achievements.

• LOCAL MULTIPLAYER – Dungeon crawler type games are always better with your friends. Push through The Matter King with a friend; if one of you is killed however you’ll be thrown back to the last terminal you made contact with.

THE START OF A UNIVERSE

At Aura Games we’re never just thinking about one game at a time; we operate a “one universe” story, meaning all of our games take place in the same universe. This means events in one seemingly unconnected game can have an impact on later games. Backing AG now is not just support for our game but also to get our future games off the ground and create an epic story told throughout a multitude of mediums. Think Game of Thrones, but in space.