Meet your Maker : Adapting a mobile genre into PC, games, mobileconsole

Behaviour Interactive Inc. released Meet Your Maker on April 4, 2023. The game represented an ambitious attempt to evolve the original concepts the studio is known for perfecting—specifically, a new take on asymmetrical gameplay. However, since its launch, the title has faced a fundamental « device problem. »

The Core Concepts

The gameplay loop consists of two distinct phases:

The Raid: Players enter user-generated dungeons guarded by traps and sentinels to retrieve « Genmat »—a vital resource. Once obtained, the player must escape the dungeon to successfully secure the loot.
The Building: Players construct their own outposts, hiding Genmat and strategically placing traps and guards to eliminate raiders.

The game is asynchronous; players do not need to be online simultaneously. You can raid or be raided at any time.

Building & Raiding : A mobile game genre

This « build and raid » loop is a staple of mobile gaming. Well-known examples include Supercell’s Clash of Clans (2012) and Zeptolab’s King of Thieves (2015). The genre thrives on mobile devices for several reasons:

Simple Mechanics: Clash of Clans focuses on strategic unit placement, while King of Thieves relies on well-timed jumps.
Short Loops: Games are designed for quick sessions « on the go. »
Live Operations: Features can be rapidly tested and iterated upon via updates.
Monetization: The intertwined phases allow for systems that increase ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). For instance, players can pay to skip « build times » or maintain defenses while upgrading.

What does this mean? For example, these games offer upgrades that take time. You have to wait X hours or days to get your upgrade. To avoid this delay, you can pay. What’s more, an upgrade can make traps and defences unavailable to incoming players. You can’t upgrade everything at once, unless you pay. Players are encouraged to spend money to play more and maximise their progress, while playing daily for rewards. It’s a clever take on the game’s scalability. It works thanks to all the elements mentioned above.

In short, the mechanics and concepts are designed for mobile and work perfectly.

Social Dynamics

The strength of these games lies in their social ecosystem. Analyzing an enemy’s base informs your own builds, and a successful raid on your territory highlights weaknesses in your design. While mobile titles use clan systems and Battle Passes to drive engagement, Meet Your Maker attempted to translate this social feedback loop into a high-fidelity 3D environment.

The Proposition and Its Obstacles

*Meet Your Maker* mirrors *King of Thieves* in its validation requirement: you must be able to complete your own dungeon before publishing it. However, translating this to a first-person perspective created balancing hurdles.

**Pacing:** While the game supports various playstyles, the freedom given to builders often discourages aggressive raiding.
**Resource Scarcity:** To prevent players from methodically « sniping » every trap from a distance, ammunition for ranged weapons is limited, forcing raiders to move into dangerous territory to recover bolts. While clever, this often slows the game’s pace to a crawl in difficult dungeons.
**The Balance Gap:** Melee weapons and shields frequently feel underpowered when faced with high-density « kill boxes. »
**Update:** While post-launch content has expanded the toolkit for both builders and raiders, the core philosophy—and the struggle to balance these two sides—remains the central challenge.

A Marathon, Not a Sprint

Raiding and building are popular on mobile but historically struggle on PC/Console. Successful PC asymmetrical games, such as Dead by Daylight, Among Us, or Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, usually rely on direct social interaction or high-stakes teamwork.

Asynchronous multiplayer games often struggle to maintain a critical mass of active players. We have seen titles like Lemnis Gate shut down, and Evolve famously struggled with its business model and design balance.Unlike mobile games, which can rely on aggressive user acquisition and low development costs, PC/Console titles require massive retention to justify ongoing DLC production. Meet Your Maker occupies a difficult « middle ground »: it has the soul of a mobile hit but the coat of an ambitious PC title.