BEARZERKERS Windows, Mac, Linux, WiiU game

Genre: Local Multiplayer
Release Date: Approx. November 2014
Development State: Pre Alpha
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux (So Far!)
Controls: Full controller, Keyboard and Mouse support.

Game Modes:

• Classic - Based on our original prototype with a number of tweaks, Classic is a last man standing scenario with a variable number of bears, lives, and powerups, spread across a broad selection of open, twisting maps.
• Hunt - Hunt is a competitive survival mode that allows 2 or more players to become the bears, and hunt the critter players to their doom. The critters need to do everything they can to survive until the time runs out!
• Spiral - Spiral is a cooperative maze mode that has the players slipping and sliding across a bunch of different surfaces between various deadly hazards on their way to the finish. Inspired by one of our favourite mods - "Run Kitty Run" from Warcraft 3.

Locations:

• Eastern Forest
• Crystal Mine
• Graveyard Tundra

The Eastern Forest set is mostly completed as of now, and we are close to finalising the Graveyard Tundra. As it stands, much of the level work remaining is simply creating new layout designs and finalising them through testing, before giving them some art passes.Modifiers:A plethora of match options and tweaks to change the game up every round.

Bears of the Menagerie:

• Panda
• Grolar
• Sun
• Franken

Critter Ensemble:

• Armadillo
• Wombat
• Pangolin
• Hedgehog
• Badger

The Armadillo that features in our game footage at the moment is from our original prototype, and is due to be replaced. The bear and our concepts below are much more indicative of what we'll be aiming for in the months to come. Critters will also have full animation sets, and not be simply curled up and rolling about all over the place.

The concept of BEARZERKERS was born from one of the many game jams we attended in 2013. PAX Prime was rapidly approaching; we had a booth, but the game we were working on was just not ready for the public. A month before the show, a local jam was held to the theme of "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". We took the premise and rolled with it, creating a subversive multiplayer game all about turning a universal enemy against your friends. We called it Pandamonium, and it starred a froglike demon panda hunting down some armadillos on an island.

Click here for Pandamonium's page on IndieDB

You can download that prototype now for free to see what it was like!
The people who played it at PAX loved it, so upon arriving back in Australia we immediately decided to treat Pandamonium as a rough prototype and move forward. We recreated the game from the ground up with a less shaky foundation, and far more content.