U4iA Games studio head and chief creative officer Chris Archer posted details about the company’s upcoming game Offensive Combat. This ambitious title is a free-to-play first-person shooter with a heavy social aspect. It’s being made for web browsers and mobile devices, but aims to offer “AAA” console quality. Offensive Combat has a lot going on and it seems like a huge undertaking for a relatively small developer. Here’s what Archer had to say about U4iA’s goals for the game:
At U4iA, we wanted our game to be free, but we also wanted to let players buy and rent items to customize their experience. We wanted it to be much more than the typical low-end visuals that gamers had come to expect in free-to-play titles, and be of true “AAA” console quality instead. As if that wasn’t a difficult enough task already, we also decided to do all of this in a browser, so players could, at a click of a button, play a top-of-the-line experience for free… AND literally immediate! No waiting, just instant high-quality, e-sport level competition and gameplay.
So here we are today, less than a year later, heading into the FIRST reveal of Offensive Combat, most of the work so far was done by an average of 10 developers (we are now at a whopping 18!). That’s right, not the usual 100+ developers, just a handful of amazing developers making a free-to-play, console-quality, browser-based, multiplayer FPS to compete with the big boys. We did it, but not without a lot of help from some great products including Unity and Photon, some great investors that have let us be creative, a brand new and cutting edge “scrappy agile” project management and production system, and the best team I have ever worked with. We’re not done yet, but we are well on our way!
Archer would like to know what “AAA” means to you, so please leave a comment on his blog post when you have a chance.
As for the RPad.TV (friendly) neighborhood, I’d love to hear your thoughts on Offensive Combat. I know that most of you are primarily console gamers, but would you be interested in a free-to-play first-person shooter with a social twist? It sounds like a zany concept, but also one that’s rife with potential, don’t you agree?
I would need to know what kind of social features we are talking about. There is nothing wrong with a shooter being free to play. Battlefield Free2Play is a good game at its core. As long as they keep prices reasonable and don't give paid players to much power, it would turn out real good.