A Hobby Project for BattleTech Fans
MakaMek is my personal take on bringing BattleTech into the digital world. It's a passion project I've attempted three times — in 1998, 2011, and 2024. Or every 13 years, apparently. This time I'm finally making some progress, though it's still far from finished.
MSK-6S Mackie painted by Remy Makarevich based on the picture by Arclight Miniatures
What's Working So Far
This is a hobby project, so features are being added as I learn and experiment. Here's what you can actually do right now:
Hexagonal Battlefields
Autogenerated and configurable hex-based maps. Currently supports basic terrain types and no levels!
Combat Basics
Heat management, ammo tracking, and critical hits are in. All the core mechanics should work.
Local & LAN Play
Play solo or with friends on the same network. Internet multiplayer is on the wishlist but not there yet.
Cross-Platform Support
The app works on most devices across multiple platforms and screen sizes, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and Web Browsers.
What It Looks Like
Here's the current state of the project. Yes, UI/UX is definitely not my strong side 😂
Want to Try It?
Fair warning: this is alpha-quality software without any "official" releases. Expect bugs, rough edges, and missing features. But if you're curious, here's how to run it:
- 1Just go to https://makamek.online
- 2The browser version should work on any device, but mobile experience/layout is not optimized.
- 3It also lacks networking capabilities.
- 1Find the latest stable build link for your platform from GitHub Releases
- 2Alternatively, you can find the latest available build in GitHub Actions by following the links in the Status section of the readme
- 3Download the corresponding build artifact
- 4Extract (if it's a zip file) and run the installer
- 5Agree with running an untrusted app (there's no malware, but the signing certificates for Windows are costly, it doesn't make sense to pay for them for an FOSS project)
- 1There are no packages available for iOS.
- 2App Store distribution is not an option due to licensing restrictions, and the AdHoc option is only available for a limited number of users.
- 3If you're a developer, you can clone the project and build it from source.
About This Project
Shadow Hawk SHD-2D painted by Remy Makarevich
Why I'm Building This
I encountered the BattleTech universe, maybe, at its peak in the late '90s with MechWarrior 2 and MechCommander, and soon discovered that it was much more than just computer games. It had deep lore, dozens of books, and, of course, the core and origin of it all — the board game.
At that time, I lived in a place where it was almost impossible to get my hands on the actual game, and MegaMek didn't exist yet. That was the very first time I decided to fix that myself and bring tabletop to computers. But it was probably too ambitious for a 16-year-old with no skills and minimal experience. A very similar fate awaited my second attempt 13 years later — though back then, the main problem (or excuse) was lack of time, with work and small kids running around.
Nowadays, my kids are not kids anymore (and are actually contributing with art and play testing), I have some spare time, and I've started this project as a playground to experiment with all the technologies and tools that interest me but that I don't get to use in my daily work.
This is purely a hobby project, fueled by enthusiasm for the universe. No big promises — just me tinkering in my spare time.
The name is a mashup of MegaMek (obviously, a source of inspiration and assets 😂), my surname (Makarevich), and the Mackie — the first BattleMech ever built.
Legal Stuff
This is a fan project, not affiliated with The Topps Company, Catalyst Game Labs, Microsoft and/or any other official BattleTech rights holders. BattleTech and MechWarrior are registered trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. Microsoft holds the license for MechWarrior computer games, this game follows Microsoft's "Game Content Usage Rules"
I'm using some art assets from MegaMek's data repository (under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0). All game code is my own work, released under GPLv3. If you have concerns about any assets, please reach out.
Open Source & Contributions
The code is on GitHub under GPLv3. Feel free to poke around, report bugs, or contribute if you're interested. I'm always happy to get feedback or help!
Contact
Find me on GitHub or email anton.makarevich@gmail.com if you want to chat about the project.