Ignite your passion for indie games and explore mayhem-fuelled co-op in our Servonauts Developer Interview!
Servonauts, developed by local Brisbane developers MAXART Games is a co-op gas station (otherwise known as a servo in Aussie) builder for up to 4 players!Servonauts has just released on Nintendo Switch and Steam. We spoke to studio producer Louis about Servonauts and what kind of chaotic shenanigans we can get up to!
Hi there Louis, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today!
Hello! It’s an absolute pleasure.
Can you tell us about yourself and MAXART Games? I see before Servonauts, your studio has been creating VR/AR projects?
Sure thing. I’m Louis, and I’m the producer on the Servonauts team. It’s my job to manage timelines and scope, and to make sure everyone on the team has what they need to do their work.
That’s right. At MAXART, we’ve been building training and simulation software for eight years. Servonauts is our first for-entertainment game, and it’s been a heck of a journey. Our team has a huge amount of expertise when it comes to technical and artistic talent, but there are some lessons that can only be learned by making and shipping a game – and we’re learning a ton in that regard.
Can you tell us about the debut game, Servonauts?
Easy – you’re astronauts, and you’re building a servo! You and your friends are airdropped onto asteroids with natural oil resources just waiting to be exploited. It’s your job to build a network of pipes, drills and refineries to process the natural resources into cold hard cash for your heartless employer. Perform well enough and you may even earn some time off.
This game looks like chaotic fun! Can you tell us why you went with this genre for your first game?
We play a lot of games together in the office. Our goal was to explore different aspects of “people fun” and see what kind of funny, emergent experiences we could engineer. “Ah-ha!” and “oh no!” moments are both important, where people are helping each other and subverting each other in unexpected ways.
We were exploring initial prototypes in early 2022, and the aspects of togetherness and social connectedness that the couch co-op genre offers were particularly meaningful in a post-COVID context.
What were the inspirations behind Servonauts?
There’s no mistaking the Overcooked influence – it’s a favourite in the office for sure. However, there’s also quite a bit of Factorio in there. In my experience, it’s easy enough to get a group of friends together for one session of Factorio on a Friday night. But I can never seem to get them back for session two! One of our goals with Servonauts was to create a couch co-op experience where you can scratch that building and logistics itch and still be comfortable bumping players in or out, or even pausing for dinner and jumping back in afterwards.
The visual style is very bright and striking; can you tell us about that art style and why you went in this direction?
The visual style of Servonauts has evolved a lot over time as the world and tone of the game solidified. In the early days of the project, we drew inspiration from the boldly over-the-top gross and absurd aesthetic of 80s & 90s cartoons. As our style became more established, it was refined into something more vibrant, maintaining the humour and absurdity while finding its own identity.
A major turning point came when we introduced colour-mixing mechanics. This decision led us to embrace a colour-drenched aesthetic, which became central to our visual identity. However, it also presented a significant challenge: balancing the visibility of our brightly coloured characters against the equally vibrant world and gameplay elements. We soon found ourselves running out of colours! After much iteration, we struck a balance that’s both visually striking and functional, ensuring the game remains clear and engaging while preserving its bold, colourful style.
The gas pipes in Servonauts must get tangled a lot; can you explain what goes into developing these physically simulated pipes?
Yes, they tend to get tangled in-game and also behind the scenes in the code, haha. We use a special physics plugin to simulate rope physics, with a whole lot of custom code to wrangle them into our game mechanics. Lots of tuning to make sure they’re perfectly floppy, and we use procedural animation techniques so the Servonauts’ arms latch on as they drag the pipes around the asteroids.
That said, the pipes themselves might actually have been the most stable part of the game’s identity. Every other part of the game has changed in some way or another along the way, but there have always been these wobbly physics-based pipes.
If we get all 3 stars, can the Servonauts finally go on vacation?
No spoilers! You’ll have to wait til launch tomorrow and see for yourself.
I’ll offer this teaser, though…: our credits are in an interactive, playable scene.
Servonauts supports up to 4 players, do you think we need 4 players for the full experience?
Absolutely not. For me personally, three players is a sweet spot in terms of balancing chaos and communication. However, I’ve gotta say the single-player experience holds up really well! In single-player, build times are shorter and you get a coin-collecting vacuum (piloted by two baby ducklings!) to help you on your way.
What made MAXART pursue video game development after these VR and AR projects?
It’s something we’ve always wanted to do! We’re certainly continuing with our client-driven work; it’s part of our identity as a studio, and it allows us to keep agile and flexible, especially given the uncertain times in the industry at the moment.
Can you tell us about your recent experience at PAX showcasing Servonauts?
We love PAX. This year was our second time running the demo there. We’re really grateful that our game performs really well on showfloor events – we always seem to attract queues and crowds of interested onlookers – I guess groups of friends and families see our colourful artwork and can immediately tell it’s the kind of game they’ll have a blast with. We love what PAX does for indies and are excited to come back as many times as we have the opportunity to!
What is next for Servonauts and the team after release?
What’s next for us very much depends on how well the game performs at launch tomorrow! (Please check us out on your platform of choice!!)
The moment just before a game launches is always the scariest. It’s the point where you’ve poured in all your time, effort, and resources, but whether it will pay off is still unknown. Right now, we’re keeping our fingers crossed, knowing that with the support of our amazing publisher, Untold Tales, we’ll be able to bring Servonauts to fresh eyes. Regardless of what happens, we’re beyond proud of what we’ve created and the incredible team that brought it all to life.
If we can justify the extra work, we’d LOVE to do some DLC and additional updates. We’ll have to see what the future holds for us.
Currently expected for Switch and Steam, do you have plans for other consoles?
No plans as of yet. Switch was the most important one for us – that’s where our audience is. Couch co-op games don’t tend to perform as well on the other consoles, but we could certainly justify additional ports if we see an unexpected runaway success!
I am definitely going to mix the wrong fuel and blow myself up! Thanks for joining us today. How can players best keep up with Servonauts and its development?
Thank you so much for speaking with me! Here’s the link to our Steam page, and you can find us on the Switch here. For all our other socials, there’s our Linktree. Please click through to our store pages and take a look – like all indies, we’re beholden to the algorithm, so the more traffic and interest we get the more likely we’ll be able to keep making games into the future. Thanks so much again. We hope you enjoy the game!
This interview was kindly provided by guest author, Jayden Cusack, founder of New Zealand-based gaming website, GamesNight. Follow Jayden and read more of his articles over on the GamesNight site and be sure to join the Qualbert Discord where you can be part of our passionate indie game community!
