The developer of Mecha Break, an anime-inspired mech battler which recently had a popular beta on Steam, wants to make sure we feel like we're playing as mech pilots, rather than the mechs themselves. To that end, Amazing Seasun CEO Kris Kwok says that the studio is putting special attention toward building explorable, interactive hangars—with toilets that flush, as all videogame toilets should.
"The ultimate goal for the hangar is for players to be able to interact with everything they see," Kwok said in a recent interview with PC Gamer. "We've added things like a gym and even a toilet, so that too."
The beta that ran earlier this year included a short tutorial segment where players could run around the space station and hangar where their Break Striker was parked. Pilots had a bunk and bathroom and could walk out onto the bridge where cutscenes would take place. That short segment is a small part of bigger plans for the digital space.
"We want to reinforce to our players that they are acting as a pilot and not the mech itself," Kwok said via Zoom from Zhuhai, China. "So we want to have a space where players see themselves as a pilot."
Reinforcing the idea that the player is controlling the pilot also includes expanding everything about the hangar. Kwok hopes that the hangar will be a space where players can hang out together in lobbies that aren't as action packed as the PvPvE Mashmak mode, perhaps ahead of matches of the games' 6v6 and 3v3 modes. The studio also plans to deliver all plot points and lore through the hangar.
"For Mecha Break as a game that's very focused, it's actually quite hard to tell the narrative and present the lore in the battlefield," Kwok said. "We figure the hangar will be the best place to present the lore. It'll be up to the players to explore on their own."
Mecha Break will include a handful of new hangar content, including some mecha-themed easter eggs, when it launches on July 1. More content, including Kwok's vision for an interactive hangar, will come with later content updates.
I tried out the Mecha Break beta back in February, and was impressed by the combat and mech customization options, although the free-to-play monetization already felt intrusive. Amazing Seasun has also decided to make all mechs accessible at launch and limit the use of modules to certain mods, two decisions it said it was considering back in March.
