Marko: Beyond Brave is a metroidvania, hack and slash action game in which you face powerful mythological beasts inspired by Slavic legends of old. To achieve this vision, Bulgarian studio Mechka creates adrenaline-pumping action in a hand-drawn 2D world that seems nostalgically inspired by ’90s Disney cartoons. Marko: Beyond Brave is a game where you jump, shoot and slash anything that dares to cross your path.
IT.MK: What can you tell us about your studio and your previous projects?
Boyan Vasilev: I started Studio Mechka in 2016 as an outsourcing studio with fewer than five people. Since then, we have become a trusted partner in the gaming industry, specializing in boutique game development services. We have contributed to more than 15 game projects, building on our expertise and reputation. This solid foundation enabled us to start development on our first original game, Marko: Beyond Brave, in 2020.
What is the one thing that makes Marko: Beyond Brave stand out from other similar games?
First and foremost – Marko is a labor of love. We believe that engaging gameplay is the cornerstone of a successful game and so we spent a lot of time trying to get this part right. As game developers, we believe that the experience of gaming should be, first and foremost, fun. After all, if it’s not fun, why play?
Personally, I cannot claim that our game is the best or groundbreaking in some amazing new way. We have no advanced graphics or amazing new technologies to showcase. We have used tried and tested methods. What is unique is the story we are telling. It is incredibly difficult to stand out in today’s oversaturated media environment, and my only hope is that the energy that we’ve put into this project and how much it means to us will be recognized and perhaps even loved, if not by a lot, then at least some people out there.
Marko: Beyond Brave is out and about on September 17th! The demo itself shows a promise for an amazing game that features interesting exploration mechanics and impressive interaction with legendary heroes. Boyan was happy to tell us that the demo was well received and that they are especially glad that the players had fun it. ‘We try not to live in the creator bubble and be aware of our shortcomings always. The reception to the demo has been overwhelmingly positive and while, sure, there are a couple of bugs here and there, the key takeaway is that people like it!‘
The world in Marko: Beyond Brave is breath-taking and the battles provide numerous opportunities to test your reflexes, especially when a boss comes into play. You have a variety of unique locations and challenging enemies; each with a challenging set of offensive and defensive mechanics. As we’ve mentioned, the stars of the show are the bosses, but also the highly responsive movement and fighting mechanics. Impressed by all this, we asked Boyan to tell us what inspired him to create the world, the bosses, and the soundtrack, which, by the way, we absolutely love!
I think games are a great storytelling medium. They are engaging and universal. If you want to tell someone a story, games are a fantastic way to do that, and in the end, what better story to tell than the one you know and borrow from already existing sources? We draw a lot of inspiration from both Slavic themes and uniquely Balkan fairytales. The figure of Krali Marko / Marko Kraljevic works as a great focus point, first because he is uniquely regional and, secondly, because he is so mystical. The roaster of mythological creatures of South-Eastern Europe is so rich on one hand and so badly presented in modern media that it creates a great opportunity. The majority of the myths and creatures are open to interpretation, just because there are so rarely any written or drawn sources. Most of these traditions are preserved verbally. This was great because we could interpret what sources there are on our own and imbue them with a unique vision without anyone feeling they would be ‘wrong.’
Was there a certain mechanic that you wanted to introduce in the game but then decided against it?
Yes, certainly. There are a couple, actually. As you know, soulslike games are quite popular these days, and a lot of game developers fall prey to the trends. Including us. At first, we were thinking of adding soulslike death mechanics and corpse runs to Marko in order to raise the stakes and create a sense of urgency and potential loss to the game. We tried it, and we hated it. The small group of friends that playtested the game didn’t like it, either. And we wondered why did we even add this in the first place. The answer was not because we thought it would be fun, but just so we could appeal to the masses of soulslike fans in the hopes that they would try out our game. These were the wrong reasons, and so we scrapped it entirely.
At our interview was coming to a close, we asked Boyan about the biggest challenges related to the game, as well as some of the most remarkable moments related to Marko: Beyond Brave.
Since the inception of the project, we knew we wanted to animate the world and its characters in classic frame-by-frame animation. This is very work-intensive, and I did underestimate the amount of work and time it would take, but in the end, it is incredibly rewarding, and I feel it was the right choice.
Attending gamescom with our own product last year was amazing. This wasn’t our first trade show, but the overwhelmingly positive reception we got from the people we met was truly inspiring.
Just like your studio, we have a lot of ambitious developers in North Macedonia. What advice would you give to anyone that’s just starting out?
Attend game jams, visit trade shows if you can, but most importantly, collaborate with each other and help one another when you can. Indie developers are the ones who make the industry go forward, and our region can seriously benefit from more professionals.
Any final words you would like to say about your game, team or anyone who has supported you along the way?
I would like to thank all of our Kickstarter backers for their patience and help along the journey, the supportive team at Digital Dragons who helped us move the project forward, and the amazing online community who are so excited about the game that we’ve made.
IT.MK would like to thank Studio Mechka and wish them all the best in their future endeavors!
