Steamweavers

Mediatonic, the London-based social gaming specialist, has announced the first details of Steamweavers, one of its first own-IP titles. Due to be launched initially via Facebook, with iPhone and browser-based Flash versions to follow, Steamweavers combines classic turn-based strategy with a lush, hand-drawn visual style and a strong emphasis on multiplayer. Designed with gameplay first and foremost, Steamweavers draws on Mediatonic’s wealth of experience in creating social gaming solutions for premier clients within the entertainment industry and the company’s own passion for bringing high-quality multiplayer gaming to as wide an audience as possible. To mark the announcement, Mediatonic has put Steamweavers into an open beta program, which is available to anyone with a Facebook account.

Steamweavers sets players the task of defeating up to six other armies per battle, with an emphasis on human-versus-human play. The titular Steamweavers are the focal point for game play, forming each player’s commanding officer and each faction’s main target to defeat. Combat is played out across a wide range of maps and consists of a well-balanced mix of building capture, revenue raising for unit manufacture and the tactical use of vehicles and special units. A fundamental aspect of S teamweavers is its multiplayer functionality, including an innovative cross-platform approach which will allow players to battle against each other irrespective of which format they’re playing from. Games can also be played on multiple platforms, meaning a turn can be taken on the Facebook version, with the next being taken on their iPhone.

Paul Croft, director of games at Mediatonic, comments “ S teamweavers is our take on a classic strategy design and a classic video game look. It has rock-solid play mechanics and great visuals, but its key strength is in providing a cerebral strategy title that players can play with friends and enemies alike at their leisure. We’ve taken a look at the strategy titles we love and tried to incorporate the best elements from each, as well as inject some of our own ideas into the mix.” He continues, “the thing we’re most proud of, however, is the cross-platform multiplayer. We’ve effectively made the game independent of its platforms, which will really open up the range of opponents as well as leaving you with no excuse to avoid taking your turns.”

The Facebook version of Steamweavers will be exclusively multiplayer and will feature the free-to-play and ‘pro’ subscription models, with the key difference being the number of games a player can take part in concurrently and, crucially, the range of configuration and customisation for each game in play. Free-to-play users get to play up to five games at any one time and have a limited range of units, Steamweavers and maps to choose from. ‘Pro’ subscribers see this increased to fifteen concurrent games, many more map and unit choices and access to special ‘Pro only’ Steamweaver commanders, as well as the option to design their own maps from scratch. For iPhone players, there’ll be the choice of the Facebook version’s comprehensive multiplayer options and a 10-stage singleplayer campaign. The browser-based Flash version is set to feature just the singleplayer mode, but will be entirely free to play. Cross-platform multiplayer will be implemented as each platform goes live.

To join in the open beta on Facebook, simply go to:

http://apps.facebook.com/steamweavers/

For more information, please contact Tony Coles at Peppermint P:

tony.coles@peppermintp.com

+44 (0)207 2402645

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About Mediatonic

Mediatonic was formed in 2005 to produce high-quality browser-based social gaming solutions for clients predominately within the entertainment industries. Based in the west end of London, England, Mediatonic’s team of 20 is dedicated to creating the best games they can, packing each release with passion, love and the utmost attention to detail. For more information, visit: http://www.mediatonic.co.uk/