Consequences of Failure: blogNews and notes from Machine King Studios.https://consequencesoffailure.com/blog/2026-10-09T12:00:00ZMachine King Studioshttps://consequencesoffailure.com/img/favicon-64.pngWhat Consequences of Failure istag:consequencesoffailure.com,2026-10-09:/blog/what-consequences-of-failure-is/2026-10-09T12:00:00Z2026-10-09T12:00:00ZAn open-world superhero game where the city keeps score. The short version, mostly in pictures.<p>Consequences of Failure is an open-world superhero game. You get a whole city, and it keeps score.</p>
<h2 id="a-city-that-is-busy-without-you">A city that is busy without you</h2>
<p>Every city has its jobs, its police and an army down the road. Most people in it have no powers, and you don't need them to matter. <span class="badge badge-in">In the game</span></p>
<figure class="post-fig"><img src="https://consequencesoffailure.com/blog/img/war-1600.webp" srcset="https://consequencesoffailure.com/blog/img/war-800.webp 800w, https://consequencesoffailure.com/blog/img/war-1600.webp 1600w" sizes="(min-width: 760px) 720px, 100vw" width="1600" height="900" alt="A cloaked hero faces a two-legged walker mech with missile pods in a city street. A tank sits to the left and an attack helicopter hovers overhead." loading="lazy" decoding="async"><figcaption>A hero, a walker mech, a tank and a helicopter on one street. A real frame from the game.</figcaption></figure>
<h2 id="strength-you-can-measure">Strength you can measure</h2>
<p>Every powered person sits somewhere on one ladder, the Lefevre Threat Level Scale, from Civilian at 1 to Cosmic at 10. It decides what a full blast does to a house: a scratch at the bottom, nothing left standing at the top. <a href="https://consequencesoffailure.com/blog/how-strong-is-strong/">How strong is strong?</a> walks through all ten ranks. <span class="badge badge-in">In the game</span></p>
<h2 id="hits-leave-marks">Hits leave marks</h2>
<p>When you get shot, your armor should tell you how it is holding up without burying the screen in numbers. Here is the design we are building for that: one small gauge over each body, sparks for rounds the armor stopped, a hole for the round that got through. <span class="badge badge-coming">Coming</span></p>
<p><a href="https://consequencesoffailure.com/blog/what-consequences-of-failure-is/">Watch the moving diagram on the site.</a></p>
<p>The numbers in it are already the game's: a soft Kevlar vest lets a quarter of a pistol round through and almost all of a rifle round. The gauge and the marks are new and not in the game yet.</p>
<h2 id="guns-are-one-gun-plus-parts">Guns are one gun plus parts</h2>
<p>A gun in the game is the bare gun plus the parts you snap on: a silencer, an auto switch, a grip you printed yourself. Each part changes real numbers, and none of them changes the bullet. Beta members can read <a href="https://consequencesoffailure.com/blog/members/guns-are-modular/">the full breakdown</a>. <span class="badge badge-members">Beta members</span></p>
<h2 id="what-comes-next">What comes next</h2>
<p>We will post here as things land: short clips, real frames, and plain notes on what is in the game and what is still coming. Anything marked <strong>Coming</strong> is a design, not a promise of a date.</p>How strong is strong? The Lefevre Threat Level Scaletag:consequencesoffailure.com,2026-10-09:/blog/how-strong-is-strong/2026-10-09T12:00:00Z2026-10-09T12:00:00ZOne ladder, ten ranks, from Civilian to Cosmic. What each rank means, and what one full blast from each does to a house.<p>In a world with powers, people need a way to say how dangerous someone is. In the game that is the Lefevre Threat Level Scale: ten ranks, from an ordinary person to someone who can crack a world. <span class="badge badge-in">In the game</span></p>
<p><a href="https://consequencesoffailure.com/blog/how-strong-is-strong/">Watch the moving diagram on the site.</a></p>
<h2 id="how-you-get-your-rank">How you get your rank</h2>
<p>Your rank comes from your Strength, out of 100, in bands of ten. Strength up to 10 is rank 1, 61 to 70 is rank 7, and 91 to 100 is rank 10, the strongest there is.</p>
<h2 id="rank-7-is-demigod">Rank 7 is Demigod</h2>
<p>Demigod is where the scale stops being about people and starts being about terrain. A Demigod craters rock. One full blast wrecks a house. Every rank from here up is a disaster for the city it happens in.</p>
<h2 id="the-house-test">The house test</h2>
<p>To keep the ranks honest, every rank is measured the same way: one full-charge blast against a one-story house. At rank 1 the wall is scratched. At rank 6 the house is breached. At rank 10 nothing is left standing. The game checks these results, so a rank cannot drift.</p>
<h2 id="civilian-comes-first">Civilian comes first</h2>
<blockquote><p>Civilian is not the bottom of the scale. It is the reason for it.</p><cite>from <em>Lefevre: A Life</em>, a biography you can find on bookshelves in the game</cite></blockquote>
<p>Every rank above 1 is measured against an ordinary person. That is the point of the whole scale.</p>Guns are modular: attachments and what they changetag:consequencesoffailure.com,2026-10-09:/blog/members/guns-are-modular/2026-10-09T12:00:00Z2026-10-09T12:00:00ZA gun is the bare gun plus the parts you snap on. Here is what a silencer, an auto switch and a printed grip each do to the 9mm sidearm, with the game's own numbers. (Beta members only.)