Review Fix Exclusive Q & A with Heavy Water CEO Tammy McDonald

Review Fix chats with Heavy Water CEO Tammy McDonald, who discusses the company’s new and intriguing game platform, The Axis Game Factory.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration behind the Axis Game Factory?

Tammy McDonald: To create a product that allows everyone to create, design, build, play and share their game creations in an easy to use interface. We want everyone to be able to build what their imagination can draw.

Review Fix: How much time and effort went into creating all of these assets?

McDonald: The prototype that you see in our video has been in development for four to five months now. Many of the assets such as the characters, NPC’s, enemies, sets, props, textures, and some of the tech features, have been in development over the past few years. We have been self-publishing virtual worlds in PlayStation Home for years… all of these assets in our library span multiple genres, features, and functionality. It’s a treasure chest of awesomeness that offers a huge jump-point in our development.

Review Fix: What’s your favorite part of the platform?

McDonald: This is a hard question to answer… for Matt (McDonald, one of the co-creators of the platform), I would say his favorite part is the “build” mode. In this mode, you can piece together larger objects through a massive amount of objects that are provided in the warehouse’s parts department. Building houses, vehicles, obstacle courses, platforms, dungeons, modify vehicles with their unique weapons… there is a ton to do in this mode, and once you have created your object, you can bring it straight into design and you will always have that object in your library to use over and over again or share with friends that have the same items in their warehouse.

I personally like “Design” mode – this is where everything is brought together and planned out. All of your terrain, ground coverings, structures, furnishing, flooring, characters, NPC’s, enemies… this is where you select your camera modes (and can change as you go) – set your start point and layout gameplay objectives. At any time in Design mode, you can jump to “Play” mode to test out your game and see how it has all come together and make tweaks accordingly. It also has a great “play back” feature, so at any time I can load in a level and watch it come together from scratch. It

My seven-year-old, Gavin, likes the “Play” mode – he enjoys running around the environment as a character, finding objectives and battling enemies. Depending on the level of complexity in the design, it can be a challenge to find your way to the “exit” point in a level, and is very rewarding to enter the next level of gameplay.

Review Fix: What do you think is missing from the platform for it to be as successful as it should be?

McDonald: Right now, we need eyeballs.. as much support for the project on Kickstarter as possible. After we get off the ground, I will also be working with partners to bring in licensed IP so that players and Machinimators can create content using their favorite brands and characters.

Review Fix: Can players monetize their creations?

McDonald: We have not built a monetization feature into the Axis Game Factory as the focus is to empower users with the tools to create their own games. I think we need to walk before we run… I am not saying that it is not a possibility, but just not for the launch of the product.

Review Fix: What kind of updates are being planned for the platform?

McDonald: When we are close to being funded, we plan to release our stretch goals along the way. One of the main updates will include expanding the platforms… opening up to the iOS, Android, Tablet and Consoles. We are already building features into the game to ensure seamless control and functionality across platforms.

From there, we really plan to drill down on various genres and ensure we have a deep gameplay experience for all gamers who support Axis Game Factory. FPS with full campaign modes, diverse weapons systems and tactical combat systems. Supporting multiplayer and networked gaming… it’s all within scope, we just need to take it one step at a time.

Review Fix: What’s the next step if you guys can’t raise the necessary funds via Kickstarter?

McDonald: We will continue to move forward with the Axis Game Factory… the good news is that we have had tremendous outreach thus far from industry partners, publishers and entertainment partners alike. We would likely allow any supporters a chance to donate on our website using the PayPal we set up to ensure their reward status and tier.

Review Fix: What are your long-term goals for the platform?

McDonald: We see the Axis Game Factory as becoming a self-sustaining platform… by that, I mean, that the community will naturally evolve by sharing, collaborating and discovering new ways to interact with the software and by requesting new features to support their game visions and ideas.

We would love to see the main focus shift to the user-generated content of their games, movies, stories, films, animations and series they develop and collaborate as a creative community.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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