The submarine sandwich shooter genre stay as militant as ever . sure titles , such asMarvel RivalsandOverwatch 2 , continue to germinate . Others like Concord have n’t been nearly as successful . Even with some occasional flops , any newfangled oblation aim to make its mark in a highly crowded plain . The next challenger up isFragpunk , an upcoming 5v5 Hero of Alexandria gunslinger from Bad Guitar Studio and Netease .
Fragpunkblends sci - fi and cyberpunk themes , along with fast - pace gunplay , to keep players on their toe every round . Most notably , it sport a Shard Card system where teams choose from a randomised pool of over 100 cards , some of which alter mechanics and environments , to make match as unpredictable as possible .
I spoke with Xin Chang , originative director and manufacturer ofFragpunk , to learn more about the project . He gave me some backstory on Hangzhou - based Bad Guitar Studio , which Chang helm , and how it perish from a squad of 10 to 100 . A lot is ride onFragpunk ’s success , fall in that it ’s also the unveiling championship for most member of the maturation squad .
From concept to reality
Fragpunkmerges the adrenaline of first - person shooter combat with the unpredictability of a roguelike . Two fight back teams pick out characters , know as Lancers , with special perk and power . From there , a match turns into a frantic wash to eradicate enemy and plant / defuse bombs at specific sites . In between troll , squad can also spend points to use Shard Cards , with various effects ranging from regenerative healing and increase movement speed to completely take out all door in a degree or wrick a thespian upside down .
“ Our team took stirring from the achiever ofother FPS gamessuch asCounter - StrikeandValorant , ” Chang severalise Digital Trends . “ We know we wanted to make a tight - paced game because it ’s fundamental in make our unique characteristic beam through . Fragpunkis , I hope , a great combination of what pretend private-enterprise FPS merriment while also bringing a novel feature article and strategic astuteness to the mixture with Shard Cards . ”
Fragpunkis expect to have 13 Lancers at launch , all with unequaled acquirement and ultimate moves . For instance , Broker ’s Cherry Bomb creates vigor blasts , while his Smokestack Lightning skill ( i.e. fume grenade ) is more justificative in nature . He also has an ultimate ability , Goddard ’s Vengeance , where he blows up foes with a garden rocket launcher . Some characters are similar to Broker in that their ultimates also allow them especial artillery for a limited time . Examples include Hollowpoint ’s Meteora runway gun that fires single - crack luxuriously - powered round and Axon ’s Electric Guitar that countenance him to blast enemies explosives .
“ Our Lancers were have a bun in the oven from gameplay - first brainstorming : ‘ What constituent feel omit in a match ? ’ ” Chang say . “ Abilities develop through playtests — some ideas were scrapped for being too disruptive , while others [ were retain ] because they enable unexpected synergism with cards . The process is long and sometimes hard , but as long as the Lancers impart a refreshing experience for our player , then it ’s all worth it . ”
Chang even listed their top three characters from other sci - fi media that would fit well inFragpunk ’s setting : “ David Martinez ( Cyberpunk : Edgerunners ) is definitely up there because he ’s a rebellious psyche with eminent - technical school fighting dash . I ’d also include Jinx ( League of LegendsandArcane ) due to her lawless energy and volatile contraption . And , of course , Neo ( The Matrix films ) , since his hummer - turning away and reality - bending powers are perfect for our card chaos construct . ”
Cards and clashes
The most enchanting aspect ofFragpunkis the Shard Card organization . The enceinte pool of cards allow players to strategize in between rounds , determining which option to allocate point into . As Chang severalise me , “ Fragpunk ’s Shard Cards have special ‘ prescript - breaking ’ powers , include transfer the weather , landscape , weapon and even characters in the game . ”
Most significantly , team can select up to three menu each round to come up with alone and surprising combinations . “ One of my favorite notice combo involves the manipulation of Blade Master and Turtleback , ” Chang says . “ The former net ball you impede attack from the front and the latter blocking guessing from behind . When these two cards come into effect together , you ’re able to block bullets from the front and back , and enemy can only damage you by film at your leg and feet ! ”
Since cards are randomized each circle , it make an element of uncertainness and even excitation . Of course , it can also lead to foiling since luck trifle a huge role . “ noise is inherent to our Shard Card scheme , ” Chang allege . “ However , we did notice that some less interesting carte du jour appeared too oftentimes during testing . That ’s why we include a auto-mechanic call in ‘ token ’ that allows players to hold back a card between rounds if they observe something that they like . ”
Given all the above — 13 characters , 17 weapon types , and over 100 Shard Cards at launch — Fragpunkis fill to the lip with potential combinations and synergism . That said , it can be a incubus to equilibrize or track possible exploits . Chang agrees and shares one particular issue that the team encountered .
“ When designing the ‘ World Flip ’ wag at the kickoff , we wanted to really plow the whole level upside down . But when we started to integrate the card with the levels , we experienced tons of hemipteran . After [ brainstorm ] for a whole week , we had to change our fashion of thinking and turn the character upside down instead ( as seen in ourtrailer for The Game Awards ) . So you’re able to see how wild our thoughts can be sometimes ! ”
Competition breeds innovation
The achiever of hero hit man count on how studio apartment keep their musician base engage for many month . “ Fragpunkhas free-enterprise and strategic elements , but we also desire to bridge over casual and competitive bunch , ” Chang says . The card system let down the barrier for entry since anyone [ might be golden enough to get ] a game - change jazz band , but supremacy comes from leverage RNG strategically . For example in ranked Shard Clash catch , think carefully when pick your squad ’s cards and banning your enemy ’s cards can [ make opportunities ] to interchange a losing match into a comeback . ”
To that end , Bad Guitar Studio focused on faster meter - to - kill ( TTK ) proportion , as react to a slower pace . “ Faster TTK rewards acute reflexes and positioning , while slow TTK emphasize sustained truth and teamwork , ” Chang says . “ Fragpunkleans more toward debauched TTK to complement its in high spirits - octane add-in combos . ”
It ’s decipherable that the squad wants to tolerate out among the competition , but that competition includes games within its own publisher . Fragpunkis being published by Netease , which isalso behindMarvel Rivals . I was odd if there was a respectable rivalry brewing among Netease ’s development teams .
“ We do try out each other ’s secret plan sometimes , but most of the clock time the teams work separately , ” Chang say . “ Healthy competition drives the genre ahead , and we ’re all participant at heart — so we ’re aroused to see how dissimilar studios interpret the hero shooter outer space ! ”
Chang is also a realist who recognizes that the hero shooter genre is a bit overcrowded right now and Fragpunk has to do something special to entice player . “ We spot that the hero crap-shooter market is extremely competitive , but we ’re highly prompt by our passion for this genre , ” Chang say . “ Other than the Shard Card system , we designed a Duel feature [ as a tiebreaker ] to play up each player ’s individual accomplishment . Also , apart from the standard Shard Clash modality , we will be introducing a number of different construct to enrich role player experience such as a ‘ one - shot - one - kill ’ mode . There ’s much more to discover once we officially launch , and we are confident that we will stand out from our competitors . ”
Fragpunkhas all the pecker require to keep match refreshing and its participant groundwork engaged . Now it ’s up to the fortune of the draw as player decide its ultimate fate .
Fragpunklaunches on PC , PlayStation 5 , and Xbox Series X / S on March 6 .
