MACH//BREAK

BreakFlag

The loop. Two bases. Each holds a Core on its Core Station. Take the enemy Core, carry it home along a Breakline, and touch it to your own Core Station while your own Core is safe at home. The Runner gets the capture, the team gets the point. First to the cap limit, or the most captures at time, wins.

The operation. Around that loop: escorts clearing the route, interceptors waiting on the ridge where the fast Breakline crests, a Bulwark shelling the base so the defence is repairing instead of chasing, a Strider on the far route nobody is watching. Every capture is a small operation, and every link in it can be broken.

The routes. Every Core has at least three ways out: a safe, slow one; a fast, exposed one; and an extreme, technical one that only a practised runner can hold. Map notes name the official Breaklines; players find better ones.

The grab. A Core can be taken at speed. A runner who arrives at 200 km/h leaves at 200 km/h, minus whatever the defence takes off them on the way through.

Status

In development now, on greybox maps: two bases, three frames, projectile weapons, bots with roles (runner, escort, interceptor, stand defence), server-authoritative simulation with client prediction, replay logging.

Competitive target: 7v7. Playtest target: 8v8. The menu will still explain it as capture-the-flag; the systems and words are our own.

In development
Development build: the Core ring on the Tallow test map
GreyboxCore ring on the Tallow test map

Team roles in a BreakFlag match

Roles are what you are doing, not what you picked in a menu. Any frame can do any of them; some frames do some of them better.

  • RunnerTakes the Core and brings it home. Usually a Strider.
  • EscortClears the route ahead of the runner and shoots what follows.
  • InterceptorStops the enemy runner where the Breakline is predictable.
  • Disruptor / RaiderHits base systems: power, sensors, the Core Station's defences.
  • Anchor / SentinelHolds the base and the Core Station; long-range overwatch.
  • HunterFinds and kills the enemy's beacons, jammers and infiltrators.
  • Vehicle Assault · Air DefenceLater: the vehicle layer and its counters.
  • EW · EngineerLater: jamming, false signals, repair, deployables.

Maps

Maps are designed as Breaklines first, scenery second. Three scales: Arena, Battlefield, Theater. Every base has sensor shadows, beacon opportunities, sweep routes and counter-battery positions; vehicle lanes cross infantry routes without dominating them. The current maps are greybox test terrain; the boards below show the direction.

Echo Ridge map concept: forest ravines and caverns
ConceptEcho Ridge · ravines, caverns, ambush routes
Sundancer Peaks map concept: high alpine terrain
ConceptSundancer Peaks · vertical routes, long sightlines
Breachline Desert map concept: open dunes
ConceptBreachline Desert · open dunes, vehicle warfare

Map names on the boards are working titles.

Planned

No dates. Each of these waits until BreakFlag is finished and people keep coming back to it. Ranked candidates are marked.

Frontline

Large territory warfare, 32v32 scaling towards 64v64. Combined arms, logistics, forward bases.

Planned

Breakpoint

A moving objective. Mobility, rotations, temporary control.

Planned

Vector Control

Multi-node domination. Split pressure and route decisions.

Planned

Relay

Pass-and-carry race with combat. Speed, passing, interception, escort.

Planned · ranked candidate

Convoy

Escort or destroy. Vehicles, ambush, air cover, route denial.

Planned

Strike

Attack and defend infrastructure. Staged sabotage, repair, siege.

Planned

Hunter

Collect and extract fragments. Risk, reward, visibility.

Planned

MachBall

High-speed sport mode. Passing, positioning, aerial control.

Planned · ranked candidate

Duel

1v1. Movement and prediction, nothing else.

Planned · ranked candidate

Vector Arena

2v2 to 5v5, equalised competitive combat.

Planned · ranked candidate

Survival

PvE, solo or together. Mechanics training and lore delivery.

Planned

Incursion

Four-player PvE missions. Contracts, lore, a place to learn the chains.

Planned

Movement Trials and Mach Academy

Movement Trials

Named Breaklines with a clock. Run the route, race your ghost, race the leaderboard, watch the replay of the runner above you. Trials are the movement school and the movement sport at once, and they need nothing but the terrain, so they arrive early.

Planned · after core prototype

Mach Academy

The training system: tutorials that teach Glide, Burn and the Burn Arc in that order; bot matches; time trials; a vehicle sandbox later. Nobody is thrown into a 7v7 at 250 km/h without having been shown how to stop.

Planned

Solo and local play are part of the architecture, not an afterthought: LAN, offline bots, a practice server, map testing and community rule sets.

Competitive integrity

Everything that affects gameplay is available to everyone from the start. Nothing gameplay-affecting is ever sold, grinded or gated. Progression is cosmetics, titles, records and mastery badges. Rank reflects skill by mode, not account age or spending. Competitive servers are server-authoritative and anti-cheat protected. Ranks run from Initiate to Apex. Ranked is planned for BreakFlag, Vector Arena, Duel, MachBall and Relay.

Guilds, tournaments and community play →