Developer Mechanist Games is growing, and their first title City of Steam is gathering more attention along with it. The indie title has started making waves across the internet of late, granting early game previews to a number of media sites, and even recently being nominated for Selected Project at Game Connection Asia 2012.
City of Steam’s Alpha release will be spread over a number of weekend tests scheduled for July 20-22, July 27-29 and August 3-5th. Each weekend will see the addition of new content such as extra races to play, new quest lines, and contests where players can win prizes, both digital and physical. Separate weekends will also focus on testing different aspects of the game to cover a broader perspective of overall performance and playability. Being a strongly community-driven developer, their aim is to receive as much feedback as possible in regards to refining the game for future releases. The active community, with plenty of development sneak-peeks, polls, contests, can be joined on the forum.
For the duration of the Alpha period, Mechanist Games are offering Collaborator Packs, which contain an array of in-game benefits, downloadable content and City of Steam-themed merchandise, the highest levels including a poster personally signed by the developers and other unique supporter-designed items. Each pack also contains Alpha keys to get access to the game’s upcoming testing, higher level packs guaranteeing future beta access. Proceeds from these packs are used to fund and support further game development and prepare the game for a full launch.
Outside of those received from Collaborator Packs, Alpha keys to access City of Steam will be in limited supply. However, priority is given to Newsletter subscribers; those interested can try their hand by signing up on the City of Steam website.