'Solid and fun' Kiwi vehicle combat game

SCRAPS: Bill Borman, video game developer and musician, is rapt his Scraps vehicle combat game has made Early Access status online at PC game distributor Steam. PHOTO/FILE

Former Masterton man Bill Borman has brought his Scraps computer game to market after almost three years of development and $30,000 in crowdfunding.

Mr Borman, who developed the vehicle combat PC game at his home-based Moment Studio in Morrinsville, said Scraps had been finally released to the public through leading PC games distributor Steam.

The Rathkeale College old boy said his game had taken almost three years of development, mostly solo, and in 2013 he had raised about $30,000 in one of the first Kickstarter funding campaigns aimed at the production of a Kiwi video game.

"In hindsight, I should have known that creating a complex multiplayer buildable vehicle combat game mostly on my own would take a particularly long time. But this release is solid, and fun - although, of course, I would say that."

Mr Borman is also a musician and recording engineer who holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree after studying multimedia systems engineering.

The first game he created solo was called Skylight, a 3D platform jumping challenge featuring randomly generated levels and music he had penned.

An earlier YouTube video for his Scraps game highlights gameplay snippets of construction and wheeled war, and is all set to a tune Mr Borman penned and recorded called When I Rule the World.

Each of the battle chariots obey most accepted laws of physics such as gravity, inertia, recoil and roll, as the vehicles advance, engage and retreat across an arena of green and rolling hills.

Combatants at times may need to redesign their vehicles and the digital adventure is described as a vehicle combat game where players "have the freedom to design your vehicle from the chassis up".

Mr Borman said the game features deathmatch-style combat, parts scavenging, repairing, upgrading, unlockables, and "plenty of room for your designs to either dominate the competition or go terribly wrong".

"You can easily host your own internet games, play single-player against the AI, or play on LAN with your friends - only the host needs to own a copy for all your friends to play."

He said Scraps will be bolstered with additional content in future. For more information go to scrapsgame.com, or Scraps Early Access Launch Trailer on Youtube.

For Early Acccess go to store.steampowered.com.