PAX Aus 24 wrap up: Servonauts from MAXART Games

Servonauts is described as an absurd couch co-op gas-station builder. It comes from Brisbane-based developers MAXART Games, and was one of the many indie titles on display at this year’s PAX Aus event. We caught up with Dale Thompson, Studio Director, at PAX to chat about the game ahead of its upcoming Switch launch.

In the game, you and your friends team up to manage a servo (that’s Aussie slang for “gas station”). You’ll be tasked with wrangling wobbly pipes and mixing the right fuel for each customer to make your way across the galaxy one job at a time.

Servonauts is the debut game for MAXART Games, though the team has been making serious games and simulations since 2016. They’ve also won accolades for VR, AR, and gamified learning along the way. But how did the concept of Servonauts come about?

It’s a simple and amusing story, as they always tend to be. It seems the team was spitballing ideas and thought: wouldn’t it be silly to create a fuel-station simulator? And so Servonauts was born.

Servonauts has been in development for about two years. The team had the Switch in mind right from the beginning, considering things like using one Joy-Con along the way. This meant a smoother port, though the team also learnt alot about any Nintendo Switch “gotchas” during development. For example, there’s a strict (and small) limit on the file size for future patches to games. So, if you’re a developer looking to port something to the Nintendo Switch, be sure to get to know the ins and outs of the system’s limitations.

Events like PAX Aus give indie devs a chance to not only show off their hard work, but gather feedback. One such addition to Servonauts is building elements, something that wasn’t originally planned. Now, only a month or two from release, the game is ready to go with 16 levels spread across 4 worlds.

We were able to spend some hands-on time with Servonauts at PAX Aus, and enjoyed the co-op dynamics. You’ll have to work with your team to complete each level, which opens up plenty of room for dialogue. The game sees players drill for oil, build refineries, and them pump the oil through hoses to mix colors. It’s fast-paced and a little manic, but super fun. There’s a little nod to the likes of Overcooked to give you an idea of how it works.

What’s next for the team? Well, MAXART Games wants to continue to develop experiences that bring people together and create memories. The couch co-op madness of Servonauts sure is a great place to start.

Servonauts will be released on the Nintendo Switch in late 2024. We’ll be keeping an eye on the release date as its announced, so stay tuned for further information.

Find out more about Servonauts or watch the trailer below.

Were you at PAX Aus this year? Let us know your favorite moment! You can also read about Nekograms and Snow Cone from Hungry Sky, as well as Which Way Up from Turtle Flip Studio.

We chatted about everything PAX related on this week’s Pure Nintendo Podcast, so stay tuned for our latest episode.