Fate of Factions is officially released, although we still have plenty of work to do!
The game is currently linked on our page, but this week on the dev blog we decided to reflect on our time in Fate of Factions, and our thoughts now that our capstone class draws to a close....
"Coming up with the idea for Fate of Factions (originally Fantasy Faction Wars), I never could have imagined how far we would come. In my head the game was a simplistic achievable concept, but now being able to retrospectively look back, I do not believe any project is simple and easy. Even though I had so much fun along the way, we had many hurdles to jump. The most notable being having to make the second half a college group project during a quarantine. Things like this challenges us as collaborators but it's been amazing seeing how everyone handles it. Fate of Factions production kept on rolling and I am very happy with how the game turned out. I love making games, and this project has only solidified that." ~Josh Haakana, Creative Lead, Artist
"When I first heard the pitch for Fate of Factions, I knew it was the capstone project I wanted to tackle. The concept presented itself with so many paths to create something truly unique, while sticking to a rigid design that focused on solid gameplay at its core but simultaneously allowed plenty of space to polish and expand. I also felt like Fate of Factions represented a genre of games far too underutilized for Stout’s capstone experience - the multiplayer party game! It has been an honor working along side this tight knit faction of creators who are dedicated to making this game a success, and moreover, it has been a riot to be able to develop my own skills and to have the opportunity and freedom to work with a talented team to bring our own fantasy world to life! I hope that anyone who picks up a controller to play our game can sense the passion and creativity of all our team members who poured their heart into making this game work, and more importantly, I simply hope everyone has fun playing." ~Tim Schultz, Art Lead
"I joined Fate of Factions because it was relatable to my first pitch of a PvP clashing game that is fast paced and is easy to pick up and play. In the creation of this game, I got to experience several new roles in game making such as UI creation and particle effects. I have created UI for other games before, but I have never made it my main task, and I used new techniques to create a unique style for the game. The particle effects were also enjoyable to make. My favorite part of our group is how helpful and insightful people are of each others work. It is always enjoyable to see new things group members create each week, and have a group that gets along so well and is enthusiastic about Fate of Factions everyday we come to class. This has been a really enjoyable journey up to this point, and this has been a great group to make this game with." ~Haden Gregor, Artist
"When Fate of Factions was first pitched, I was excited by the idea of a fast-paced PvP game and fell in love with the stylized concept art that was shown. Being on this team has given me the ability to relearn how to use Unity as well as improve my confidence with Substance Painter and Illustrator. I've enjoyed watching our game come together as the sprints went by, and it's been great working together to make something great. This group has been like one big family, and our support and openness with each other has been incredibly admirable. Despite the personal difficulty of adjusting to my last months of college being safely shut in at home, our team is going as strong as always, and I am proud of all of the people who worked to make this pitch a reality." ~Callie Swensen, Artist
"I joined the Fate of Factions team because the initial concept was something that could be fully realized within the scope of our class. The concept of Fate of Factions was designed with our limited time in mind, and everyone on the team was on the same page in regard to the scope of the project (and trying not to let it grow TOO much). This team did a great job getting scheduling and organization laid out that we could not have been as successful without. As the character animator on the team, I really loved getting to reconnect with animation and remember my passion for it. I'm very proud of what we've created in a student game, and I'm excited to see what project game development takes me to next." ~Lucas Thomas, Artist
"Working with this team has been an enjoyable learning experience. It is incredible to see what we were able to create as a group. Every single person on this team worked hard throughout the entire year in order to have the game turn out the way it did. We learned a lot as a group and developed many new skills. I am very proud of what we were able to accomplish." ~Brad Haze, Lead Programmer
"I’ve had a great time making Fate of Factions with my team. One of the things I love best about working on FoF is that every member of my team is committed to seeing our game be the best it can be. This is one of the oddest semesters we’ve ever encountered and the first time I’ve experienced trying to make a game with a team when we can’t meet face to face. I’m glad that we can use technology to playtest and video call with each other. From this experience I’ve learned that it’s important to be prepared to adjust to environment changes. After working from home for a few weeks now, the biggest changes I’ve had to adjust to are relying on WiFi versus a wired connection and adjusting from using two monitors back to one. One take away from my experience of working on FoF is that a good team is what makes a game fun to develop no matter what situation you find yourself in." ~Karie Holmstadt, Balance Lead, Programmer
"I joined Fate of Factions because when it was first pitched I thought it would be really fun and it was something I could envision myself putting a lot of time into making. Working on Fate of Factions has been an amazing experience and has really gotten me to appreciate how much time and effort goes into making games. It has been a lot of work, and I’ve had to familiarize myself with a number of features in Unity that I had previously not looked much into, but I’m really glad I got to work with such an amazing team on a game I can be proud of." ~Ben Collins, Programmer
"It's so crazy to believe where Fate of Factions is now. This game has been one of the most amazing games I've ever got to be a part of. I got to work with so many talented individuals and friends on something that I think we all can be proud of. Becoming the Scrum Master presented its own set of challenges, but this group of individuals made it so exceptionally fun to do so. I'm glad that as well as programming, I pulled myself into as many different facets as I did, because working on dev blogs, organizing the website, and hosting social media are all things that I knew a little bit about, but learned a ton more by doing it. I'm kind of sad that this last half of the semester we couldn't meet face-to-face, but we didn't lose our team chemistry and camaraderie, because every time we'd meet in our virtual meetings, we'd still chat and greet each other as if we were in class.
Reading this prompt for the first time, I knew I had to be a part of it. It was everything I wanted from an SGX game, and it was fun to create something that isn't as commonly found at our game expos. Working on that first prototype taught me a lot, and expanded the world enough to where I knew I wanted it to continue, and was not sure what I was going to do if it didn't. But after our team was created, and Fate of Factions (at the time Fantasy Faction Wars) was started, I knew it was the start of something magical. But I think now, it became even better than I could have hoped. Each member of our team brought all of their skills and talent to making this the best game we could, and I'm proud of what we accomplished. In a way, our efforts really did decide the Fate of Factions." ~Christina Miller, Scrum Master, Programmer
Thank you so much for following us through our development. There may even be more to come, so you should follow our itch.io page to follow our journey, and stay here as well, because this is certainly not the end of the Fate of Factions....
Our Online Game Expo happens on May 15th, and we hope to see you all there!
Choose your class and fight for the glory and honor of your faction! Fight until you are the last person standing! Your strength and efforts will decide the Fate of Factions!
~The Fifth Faction