Way of Rhea Press Kit

Fact Sheet

Short Description

Games by Mason LLC is an independent game company currently working on Way of Rhea, a puzzle adventure. Hard puzzles, forgiving mechanics. Solve mind bending color puzzles, unlock new areas of a vibrant hub world, chat with townsfolk, and undo any mistake with the press of a button.

Gameplay

Way of Rhea is a puzzle game for fans of games like The Witness, The Talos Principle, Braid, Swapper, etc.

The game takes place across four biomes linked through a hub world. Each biome introduces a unique twist on the game’s main mechanic: changing the character’s color (accessibility options provided.) The game features an undo redo system, so while the puzzles are challenging, you’re not punished for making mistakes.

As you progress through the world, you’ll meet the characters that inhabit it, and master each of the biome’s twists, eventually combining all of the skills you’ve learned to beat the game’s final levels and bring your adventure to a close.

Graphics Package

If what you need isn’t here, let us know!

History

In April of 2018, inspired by a Bennett Foddy talk, Mason Remaley (formerly Google, Microsoft, CTRL-labs) gathered a team to complete a challenge: build a playable game in a week. He had built a game engine and scripting language, and they were ready to be used in a game.

Carolyn Whitmeyer joined as an artist and Colin Quinn as a musician. The team submitted their game to Playcrafting’s Spring Play expo, with one catch–the game didn’t yet exist. Over the next 9 days they came up with the concept, and put it together, finishing a build in time for the expo.

The initial plan was to repeat this exercise 4 times, but the demo was so well received at the expo that they decided to forgo the other demos and continue work on Way of Rhea instead. Nick Romero as a sound designer and second musician, and the game was then renamed from its working title Monsters and Sprites to Way of Rhea.

Technology

Way of Rhea is built in a custom game engine and scripting language built by Mason Remaley in the Rust programming language. The engine supports hot swapping of all assets and scripts–in other words, the game can be edited while it is running without requiring a restart.

Selected Articles

“You know how you can’t go through a door unless your fur is the same color, right? Well, Way Of Rhea is a puzzle game about exactly that experience. The 2D cartoon game is aiming to offer tough puzzles, but in a welcoming way, letting players easily undo mistakes.” - John Walker, Kotaku

“The artwork is gorgeous, the puzzles are clever, and everyone playing it, including my wife, were having a blast.” - Nintendo Fuse (2019)

“The first thing that caught my eye was the game’s redesigned artwork. Not that I wasn’t a fan of the old style, but the new backgrounds I fell in love with immediately. It lends a whimsical feel that meshes well with the character design and the general concept of the game. Mason Remaley, designer and programmer of Way of Rhea, explained that artist Carolyn Whitmeyer had repainted all of the backgrounds and revamped the artwork in the span of a month, which was, quite frankly, shocking and impressive.” - Tech Raptor (2019)

“Though the [2018 Play NYC Demo] only lasted about five or ten minutes, it was enough for me to get a good glimpse into the world of Way of Rhea, and now I’m looking forward to going back when the game releases.” - Courtney Ehrenhofler, Tech Raptor (2018)

“Finally, [Way of Rhea] is a puzzle game that reminds me a bit of Hue, but unlike Hue, lays everything out in front of you, choosing to double down on a sense of whimsy as opposed to a sense of minimalist mystery. While [Way of Rhea] is still very much early in development, I love the idea of tying color to the mechanics of a puzzle in a game. It’s a tried and true mechanic that has been used on everything from Red Doors to Blue Keys, but Indie games continue to reinvent this and re-imagine it in many ways.” - Jacob Wood, Indie Hangover (2018)

Team

Mason Remaley - Design, Programming

Mason programmed and designed Way of Rhea and its engine.

Mason is an independent game developer, a board member on the Zig Software Foundation, and occasionally teaches grad and undergrad students to make both games and game engines.

He previously worked on Windows 10 at Microsoft, internal tools at Google, and was tech lead for the Apps and SDK teams at CTRL-labs.

Carolyn Whitmeyer - Visual Artwork

Carolyn Whitmeyer created the artwork for Way of Rhea.

She has a bachelor’s degree in biology as well as a master’s degree in medical visualization. Her studies are motivated by her lifelong interest in art and nature.

She’s currently an Associate at the American Institutes for Research, and spends her spare time working with Games by Mason LLC and improving her art skills.

Colin Quinn - Music

Colin created the majority of the OST.

Nick Romero - Sound Design, Music

Nick created the sounds for the game, as well as some additional music.

Events (Non Exhaustive)

FAQ

Does it run well on Steam Deck?

Yes!

Why aren’t you using an existing engine?

Fast iteration time is important to us. Our engine was built from the ground up to to suit our needs, and supports instantly hot swapping out changes without reloading the game.

Also, we like writing engines.

How can I play Way of Rhea if I’m a Mac user?

Unfortunately, Way of Rhea does not run natively on macOS.

Here are some alternatives.

Can I have one of the crabs as a pet?

We do not recommend attempting to domesticate the crabs.