"Enter the Wormbridge"
Hall of the Machine King is an upcoming VR game being developed by Stress Level Zero. It has a focus on Sabrelake and is set outside a virtual simulation, in an abandoned mining facility in the throes of robot revolution.
Plot
Set in a remote mining facility that uses robots developed by TOTOL Robotics, you play as a Sabrelake agent known as Safety Steve. When the robots gain sentience due to the omniscient God:AI, and begin an uprising, you must destroy them and the facility in order to save the world. The game also involves the Wormbridge, a mysterious link to the Voidway and the possible cause of the robots' sentience.[1]
Development
Hall of the Machine King was first concepted after Hover Junkers. However, Duck Season was published before work began on it. Development of Hall of the Machine King proceeded until the end of preproduction, where Stress Level Zero decided the game was too big, and chose to create a similar 'offshoot' game with smaller scale to build up to it, adapting it into DeadFM. However, that too was considered on too large a scale, and so from that, BONEWORKS was created.
Most of the information regarding Hall of the Machine King was provided by Nate Ebbing, a 3D artist working for Stress Level Zero. On his ArtStation page, he posted screenshots of models that are presumed to be used in Hall of the Machine King. These posts are now removed. Extra concept art for Hall of the Machine King can be found in Duck Season's files, confirming the game was in preproduction before Duck Season was released.
Gameplay
Several features seen in tech demos (when the game being developed was Machine King) are not present in the base game and are presumably shelved.
Items had a yellow-orange outline around them when available for force-grabbing, instead of the white grab dot seen in BONEWORKS. Ammo counts were also displayed in floating text next to the weapon.
Gallery
- ↑ "HOTMK Plays in a Remote Mining facility that uses robots developed by TOTOL Robotics corporation to help with all work going down. Somehow and suddenly, the robots become self aware and rise up. You, as "Safety Steve" need to demolish these robots and save the mining facility, your friends, and yourself." - Nate Ebbing