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M.A.V. is the Lego of mech games

m.a.v. bomb dog studios

With thousands of different parts, all free to be attached to your chassis of choice before trundling out onto the battlefield to blow your competition to shribbons, M.A.V. sounds enticing.

Considering it’s all being produced by one man, too, ‘ambitious’ doesn’t really cover it.

M.A.V. stands for Modular Assault Vehicle. While bipedal mechs are definitely on the cards for the this arena shooter so, too, are treaded vehicles, reverse bipeds, digitigrades, wheeled vehicles, quadrupeds, hexapods, and hovering chassis. On to those platforms you stick weapons from a selection of thousands. Where you place the parts also affects how the vehicle handles. Placing artillery low on a mech will help it remain stable when firing but it reduces its effective firing angle. Load up in armour and you will be safer but you will also be slower.

Your designs will all be a set of weights and balances. Maneuverability, firepower, armour, and sensors will all be more or less effective depending on where you’re willing to place them.

Outside of the workshop you’ll be able to take your creations online to fight in arena battles with friends

In what sounds like a poke at Mechwarrior Online, the developer Chad Mauldin writes that “M.A.V. is not a game about jump sniping” nor is it like other shooters with “one shot kill head shots, or super fast twitch play. What M.A.V. is about is making smart choices, working with your team, and adapting to situations.”

The Kickstarter is currently halfway funded with $10,000 and 25 days left to go. You can read more about it on the game’s project page.