The latest game from Hardball Games is seeing the brawler genre taken to new extremes with 16-player lobbies. Mixing simple controls with deep mechanical interactions, the game aims to provide a thrilling experience for all.
Hardball Games’ latest title OutRage: Fight Fest was showcasing its gameplay at WASD Live 2024, with the thrilling combat and wacky setting catching the eyes of many attending the London event last month.
While the current version of the game includes several game modes, development originally started with a battle royale in mind – however, the team would go on to realise that the game’s core mechanics were transferable to other game modes.
The game’s new preferred mode is a chaotic 8v8 brawler mode, where players engage in team-based thrilling combat with several unique gameplay mechanics, including an extremely destructive game environment and a rage mechanic that rewards player with an aggressive playstyle.
But that doesn’t mean the game’s not for you if you’re more of a tactical gamer – the game also incorporates a range of in-game objectives for players to help their team get the win.
The game’s distinct art style played a big part in catching the attention of the passers-by at WASD, blending the realistic cartoon style of Fortnite with the chaotic energy of Splatoon.
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Jason Avent, the representative of the team that was at the festival, spoke on the design choice behind the art direction.
“We wanted an art style that’s really vibrant – that everyone can relate to the happiness of, through a lot of use of colour and so on.
“But it was also an attempt to try and represent the chaotic nature of the game.”
Jason made no secret of the studio’s small size, detailing some of the considerations made by the 22-person team.
“The team is a small group of people that have been together for 15 to 20 years. We started off the first half of our careers working on Disney games and a range of other console and PC games, before moving on to mobile games for a bit.
“But these days we’re bridging those two models – bringing both areas together with crossplay. We as a studio are looking to create games that bring lots of players together – including the players’ friends – that aren’t just first person shooter or MMO-style games.”
However, a game like OutRage: Fight Fest doesn’t truly fit into any ‘box’ or genre. Speaking on its uniqueness, Jason says: “But we’re also differentiating in that there isn’t really a 16-player, 8v8 brawler. This concept of a mega-brawler – it’s not been done before.”
Many indie companies tend to find troubles with development, but the team’s wealth of experience helped them tackle this issue.
“We plan really well, and we have a really experienced core team, which helps deal with that issue of crunch culture,” he said.
This freedom in development allowed for a range of design choices, such as the length of games, which sometimes last as short as 3 minutes. Some bigger studios, on the other hand, are pressured by executives to push players towards lengthier gaming sessions.
He explains: “We also have a unique opportunity in that we’re self funded, and don’t have external influences.
“We’ve always been very ‘fun-forward’ in our development – we don’t have a licence saying ‘you can’t do this’ or a publisher saying ‘you must do that’. We just get to make what we think is fun.”
