NEWS AND UPDATES
12 January 2026
Guardian Maia Kickstarter Updates
Our Kickstarter campaign ended successfully, we reached our goal and beyond, 248% funded!!
What an experience the Kickstarter campaign was. This was our first experience with crowdfunding and it was wonderful to have the support we had.
The holidays have ended and we're busy preparing the both the print and digital novel for distribution. This is so exciting for us to finally have the full Guardian Maia story ready for you to read Maia's epic journey.
We truly appreciated the support we received and we look forward to developing more Guardian Maia content in the near future.
Ngā mihi nui
16 December 2025
Guardian Maia Kickstarter Updates
We're in our last week of our Kickstarter campaign and 200% funded!
Going beyond our original goal means we can put that extra support straight back into Guardian Maia. Every dollar raised helps us continue building the project, including further polishing the game demo and supporting the wider growth of the Guardian Maia world.
We’re busy preparing the Guardian Maia novel for print and digital release, making sure everything is lined up so we can get it into your hands as smoothly as possible.
If you haven't backed us yet and you want to read a little of the story, you can read an excerpt of our novel here: https://www.theguardiangame.com/chapter1
We’d truly appreciate your support; every pledge helps bring Maia’s world to life.
Ngā mihi nui
3 December 2025
It’s been almost two weeks since we launched our Kickstarter campaign and thanks to you, we’ve already met our goal. We’re now preparing to get the Guardian Maia novel polished, printed, and into your hands. We’re incredibly grateful for your support in helping us reach this milestone.
As a thank you to our novel backers, we’re putting together a special digital collection of work that didn’t quite make it into the book. This includes a couple of extra chapters, a few scenario pieces, and a storyboard based on Chapter 1.
With 17 days still to go, we’d love to reach our stretch goal. Hitting this goal will help us further prepare and polish our game demo for pitching to publishers and as novel backers, you’ll receive exclusive access to play the demo once it’s ready.
If you haven’t backed the campaign yet, there are still a few printed novels available, along with unlimited digital copies.
We’d truly appreciate your support; every pledge helps bring Maia’s world to life.
Guardian Maia Kickstarter Updates
19 November 2025
Just a reminder that the Guardian Maia game demo is at the ACMI ‘Game Worlds’ Exhibition. The exhibition opened in July and we've had some amazing feedback from the public. We've been sent photo's and videos of our supporters from the exhibition. Our game will be there until next year so if you're in Melbourne then pop in and have a play! There are plenty of other awesome games there too, check the link for more information on the exhibition.
ACMI "Game Worlds’ Exhibition
17 September 2025
We're launching the Guardian Maia full story as a digital novel on Kickstarter. The story is written and finished but we still need to make it ready for public release.
We need your support to help with getting it over the line, this includes proof-reading, formatting and preparing the e-books for distribution.
We have some really cool rewards so visit our pre-launch page and hit the 'Notify me on launch' to get an email from Kickstarter when this project goes live.
Ngā mihi nui.
Guardian Maia launching on Kickstarter
26 August 2025
Te Wiki Āhua o Aotearoa
Show Title - Kaitiaki
A future burns through the forest, smoke rising from whenua that still remembers its name. Guardian Maia walks with it: part ancestor, part glitch in the system. ‘Kaitiaki’ by designer Junescry traces her path, across poisoned grounds, past collapsing ecosystems, through tangled whakapapa. Kakahu bear the marks of survival and adaption: woven tech and taiaha-slashed seams. Ancient silhouettes flicker through hyper-futurist codes, kinetic, resistant, uncolonised. This is not a costume drama. It’s a karanga from the edge of the world. A warning. A promise. And a reminder: not everything sacred is lost. Some things adapt. Some things fight back.
Check out the collection on Guardian Maia's Instagram page
05 May 2025
Game Show Adventures
Kia ora from the Guardian Maia team. We know it’s been a while since our last newsletter, but we’re back with some updates. Since the release of Guardian Maia Episodes 1 and 2, our team has been hard at work. We've just finished the first draft of Episode 3.
Guardian Maia Episode 1 and 2 is still available on the App Store but not on the Google Play store currently.
If you’ve been following us on our socials, you’ve likely caught glimpses of our behind-the-scenes progress, but here’s the latest update on what we’re doing at the moment.
Pitching to Publishers
Thanks to funding from CODE NZ last year, we had the incredible opportunity to build a demo and showcase it to publishers at BitSummit in Kyoto, Gamescom in Cologne, and PAXAU in Melbourne. We made some fantastic connections and are actively in discussions with publishers.
Having direct feedback from industry leaders was great, and while there’s still work to be done before the demo is fully polished, we’re making great progress toward our goal!
Story Development
The first draft of Episode 3 concludes the epic story of Maia's journey. Now we're onto looking into other opportunities and how we can integrate the Episode 3 into the current games story.
Other Updates
Tech’s always changing which continually reshapes our approach to game design. With each engine update and new tool release, we explore opportunities to enhance character models, refine art styles, and elevate the game’s presentation. Staying ahead of the curve demands constant learning but every adaptation pushes the project forward. We've also updated our logo recently too!
What’s Next?
Support
We're always being asked how our followers can support us. We'll, we've been working on something where your support will be most welcome. We've still got a couple of weeks before it's ready and we can’t wait to share it with you in our next newsletter.
Stay Connected
Want a closer look at our development journey? Follow us on social media for behind-the-scenes content and updates as we make them.
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