Kwari’s game of the same name is a first-person shooter (FPS) with a difference; players make money off each other in real-time. The game will ultimately be free to download online, but instead of being subscription-based it will use a unique free-to-play/pay-to-play model whereby Kwari sells the player ammunition in place of flat rate charges or monthly subscriptions.

The skill-based game has been built from the ground up around the concept of money changing hands at a tremendously fast rate, and was developed using some of the most advanced technology available to ensure total financial infallibility fused with benchmark playability.

Kwari flies in the face of the social network gaming ethos, which hinges on projecting an identity online, and for others to be able to interact or engage with that online persona. Bring money into the equation, however, and the rules have to change. Anonymity becomes necessary as well as psychologically appealing to a point where Kwari is virtually diametrically opposite to the core values of social networking.

Steve Wang, Head of Studios for Micro Forté commented, “We’re really excited by the recent announcement of Kwari and even more so to announce our involvement in bringing this unique game title to the table.”

The Kwari game, which has been developed out of Micro Forté’s Canberra studio since mid 2006, is being built on BigWorld’s award-winning Technology Suite, and is due for release later this year. It goes to show that one can develop an action MMO in under 18 months using the BigWorld platform.

“Working on Kwari has reinvigorated the act of making games for me, without sounding crass it really does represent a paradigm shift that is going to happen sooner or later in gaming whether we like it or not.” said James Sutherland, Producer for Micro Forté. “From a development perspective the existence of money as the core mechanic means you have to throw away much of the conventional thinking and start from scratch; when a health bar suddenly represents real cash the player expectations change radically and you have to adjust everything accordingly. The amount of thinking that has gone into each and every subsystem of the game is far above and beyond anything I have worked on previously during my time in the industry”

Gamers playing Kwari for cash set up an account, are matched on the basis of skill, and enter a game at a pre agreed stake level ranging from one cent to one dollar a hit. During the four-round matches (3x 16-player maps, 1x 64-player last man standing map called ‘The Killing Floor’) every time a player hits another, money is decremented from the target’s stake and added to the shooter’s. In a way, the player’s money stake mirrors their in-game health, except it’s exchanged from one player to another.

There are also jackpot prizes which require keys to unlock. These jackpots are fed by self-inflicted damage sustained by the players in all games being played globally. For example, if a player jumps from the top of an arena or takes damage from a hazard, their stake is decremented and this feeds into the jackpots, which are then released hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly - the latter are expected to pay out millions of dollars. Most importantly; all money paid in to the game by players is won out of the game by players.

Being a game of skill, how much money a player can win depends partially on their in-game performance. So to ensure a level playing field, all games are skill-matched so that only players of equal ability are able to compete.

The game will be available for download towards the end of the year. Until then, the company has opened a sign-up website for the beta test program starting next week at www.kwari.com.