A new Cambridge-based studio formed by a team of ex-RuneScape developers is bringing its debut toys-to-life game Lightseekers to Kickstarter.
Play Fusion aims to raise $200,000 for the mobile action-RPG to finalise its production. The title revolves around the use of real-life figures with swappable weapons to play as in the game It's an idea similar to Activision's hugely successful Skylanders series.
The mobile game will also launch alongside a physical trading card game, which will also work with the mobile version through augmented reality to scan cards in.
The figures will be manufactured by toy giant TOMY. They will talk, vibrate, light up and store player progress as they level up their characters in game.
The figures can also have weapons and accessories swapped, which will affect their abilities in game. An additional "flight pack" will allow players to control their in-game character by moving the figure in the real world.
Something entirely new
Play Fusion is led by former Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard, who is a co-founder and CEO of the new studio.
"After 18 grueling months of working in complete stealth mode, we're ready to take the world by storm," said Gerhard.
"Our platform is an entirely new concept – a revolutionary suite of proprietary next generation interactive entertainment technologies – sentient action figures, smart accessories, innovative augmented reality, and ground-breaking image and audio recognition technology all brought together to provide completely new entertainment experiences."
The independent studio is employee-owned and has studios in the UK and US.
Lightseekers is expected to launch on mobile in 2017.