TEST JAR LABS

Developing a New Genre of MOBAs at Test Jar Labs

Join Ghosties in the Battle for the Bones — a championless fighting game in a MOBA jungle.

Co-authored with Emily Jiang

At Test Jar Labs we have one mission: to stitch together the ever-growing chasm that has separated AAAs and Indies. And our first effort at doing so will be with Ghostie: Battle for the Bones.

Our dreams are big, stemming from our desire to change the future of the games industry. We believe that not only can we build a MOBA, but also that we can push forward a new genre of MOBAs with completely unique gameplay. We will set a new standard for what can be done within and by a modern game studio.

A New Genre of MOBAs

The MOBA genre has begun to stagnate and players (like many of those on our team, who exclusively played MOBAs for the last decade) are left wanting more. We are ready for something new.

Thankfully, Test Jar Labs is ready to fill the empty hole in our hearts that have been left by the staling MOBA genre! To do so, we are developing a brand new game genre combining elements from MOBAs and fighting games that is refreshing for players and sustainable for our team.

Ghostie: Battle for the Bones

A free-to-play championless fighting game in a MOBA jungle.

MOBAs are incredible at encouraging high-level thinking and strategizing in their macro gameplay. You must learn when to team fight and when to 1v1, when to take objectives and how to steal them from the other team, you must learn the meta, and when you begin to understand the game, learn to break the meta.

Fighting games are king when it comes to powerful and rewarding micro gameplay. You feel each hit you land and each hit you receive, you have incredibly satisfying combos to learn and master, and you are truly fighting.

Ghostie brings this all together by incorporating the macro gameplay from MOBAs and micro gameplay from fighting games.

Drive the Meta

Build your own champions.

Choose your bone parts and create your builds. You must equip a head, body, and back bone part from sets of your choosing, each of which gives you a unique passive, basic attack or spell, dash ability, heavy attack or spell, and an ultimate. With this system you have more freedom to explore and expand your kit.

Create Value While Playing

Leverage new ways of thinking about player experiences.

In-game assets are on-chain so that you are able to buy, sell, trade, and earn from your bone parts and cosmetics freely. Essentially, your game assets are collectibles. If you own a game asset that you don’t want to use anymore, such as a bone part cosmetic you don’t use anymore (because you unlocked a way cooler one), you can sell it — it will never need to sit in your collection collecting dust.

Other benefits of having assets on-chain are that you can see the history of the bone parts you buy from other players, fuse Matter (a.k.a. stat and replay trackers) to your bone parts which increase the value of your parts, and you can get some pretty cool stuff from others. Imagine your favorite streamer was giving away a bone part they just used to absolutely destroy the other team — and you can get it and use it in your own games. Pretty cool.

Let’s Change the Games Industry, Together

Come build with us! We are a passionate team surrounded by game industry legends and experts as advisors and mentors. We are game developers and designers who have had a taste for what Indies, AAs, and AAAs have to offer for us as creators. And we have decided that we need to pave our own path.

If you’re excited or curious about what we’re working towards and want to join us for the ride, follow us on Twitter and join our Discord. We will be hosting AMAs, discussions, and various events with our team and with you.

If the hyperlinks to our Twitter and Discord don’t work, try the ones on our website: https://www.testjarlabs.com/