“Salvage the past and bring hope home.”
This is the vision Team Plutinite had while creating the game State of Matter, an FPS puzzler where the player is an intergalactic agent tasked with delving into an abandoned facility on a frozen asteroid. With the help of a gun that can blast matter in various states, the player must solve puzzles and defeat enemies to explore deeper into the facility. State of Matter, which is now available on Steam for $1.99, is Open 3D Engine’s (O3DE) first-ever commercial game.
Players are immersed within the engaging narrative context of this world and story while discovering the intricate workings of the new element Plutinite, the primary focus of this game. Players make use of this mysterious substance’s three states of matter to complete puzzles in clever ways, engage in heated combat, and unravel the truth within an abandoned mining facility that this substance was discovered in.
State of Matter places the focus on freedom of thought and creativity; There is never one single path to victory. Challenges were designed to make the player think, “What can I do to solve this?” instead of “What does the game want me to do?” Your solution to a problem may not be the same as someone else’s solution.
The video game is part of Project Eureka, an academic collaboration with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Magic Spell Studios. Open 3D Foundation (O3DF) sponsored a team of students and faculty to build a commercial game using O3DE. Project Eureka is the first of its kind for O3DE and will grow the library of O3DE assets for use by other aspiring creators; helping to build a pipeline of talent for internships, mentorships and employment; and foster O3DE adoption among the next generation of developers, artists and content creators. The Team Plutinite developers helped identify O3DE feature gaps and bugs in real time, help to create solutions that will benefit all user of O3DE. Student teams competed for the opportunity to build a game they are passionate about using O3DE, significantly enhance their portfolios, learn from industry experts, and hone their game development skills in an applied setting.
Now, just one year later, the 2023 Project Eureka team aka Team Plutinite has launched its game. The team includes:
- Jack Kalina: Project Management/Programming
- Kenny Rossi: Level Design/Creative Lead
- Tyler Lynch: Programming
- AJ Biswas: Programming/Music
- Liam Alexiou: 3D Design/Texturing
- Aidan Roberts: Game Design/Sound Design
“While many people love the First-Person Puzzle genre with titles like Portal 2 and Metroid Prime, gamers may not have seen many games produced within this realm in recent years,” said Aidan Roberts, a member of Team Plutinite. “Our team has multiple people who are extremely passionate about this genre, and we poured our passion into something that we hope players will truly enjoy. We hope that our dedication shines through as players become immersed and engaged in the world of State of Matter. We wish to deliver an experience that can resurface the types of emotions brought along with these games, some which may not have been felt in a long time.”
“We are so proud of Team Plutinite,” said Joe Bryant, Executive Director of Open 3D Foundation. “Not only did they prove that a game made with O3DE can be developed through the entire project lifecycle and released it on a popular store platform but they also now have a major cornerstone to put on their resumes.”
“Every person on the team gained immense experience within their respective focuses on this project ranging from design to asset production to programming and performance optimization,” said AJ Biswas. “Most importantly, having overseen the progress of State of Matter from concept to release, we have real experience with the full production process of game development, something you really can’t get from college alone.”
State of Matter can be purchased and downloaded on Steam here. Play the game and share your thoughts with the O3DE Discord Community.
Follow Team Plutinite:
