Gaming
Exclusive Q&A w/ Colin Foran, CCO at Shrapnel
Colin Foran is CCO at Shrapnel. With 15 years of publishing experience in bringing rich narratives to platforms ranging from mobile, to indie, to AAA flagship products, Colin has worked on such titles as Ryse: Son of Rome, Sunset Overdrive, and the Emmy-winning Westworld VR: A Delos Experience. Prior to joining Shrapnel, he served as Creative Lead at HBO and as an Art Director at Microsoft.
With the evolution of the gaming landscape, why is merely creating a game no longer sufficient, and why is there a growing emphasis on building expansive universes and transmedia lore?
People have an overwhelming number of entertainment options competing for their time, and if they don’t feel like they have a world in which they can invest in and explore, you’ll never get them through the door. I think it’s worth saying that a transmedia approach isn’t necessary or ideal for every game – sometimes a simple and direct interaction with your audience is all you want or need. But studios that are striving for rich, long lasting stories should understand the strengths and weaknesses of different media and explore them where it makes sense.
At Shrapnel, we’ve been exploring comics, live action shorts, CGI pieces, and frankly anything that sounds interesting to us as a way to help explore our characters and world. Each medium conveys a story differently, and if you’re willing to take chances here and there, you can find yourself in interesting territory. One of the nice things about founding a studio is that there’s no one to tell you not to experiment with a narrative, which gets really exciting when you start inviting the community to contribute. Our hope and belief is that as the universe starts to solidify, our community will contribute to the lore just as much as we are at the studio.
Tell us more about Shrapnel’s journey in curating a unique transmedia brand. How have initiatives like comic book releases and the award-winning trailer contributed to the anticipation surrounding the game?
The benefits for the studio have been huge both from a public facing perspective, and in helping us tighten up our thinking internally. We’ve built out our universe very quickly, and the ability to interrogate story ideas in our comics or make bold visual statements with the trailer has helped to ensure a common vision in the studio.
When we first started to define the world in pre-production, we had a general set of themes we wanted to explore and went through the usual exercises you’d see at the beginning of a new title, such as mood boards and concept art. Our CEO, Mark Long, had had a lot of success in the past working with comics and shorts as a way to cover ground quickly, and he encouraged the team to get comfortable committing ideas to paper.
At the same time, we were starting work on our first live action piece, Solitarius Lupus. It can definitely feel anxious to start spending money before the story is entirely buttoned up, but my request to the team at the time was to ensure we were telling stories that could exist in this world. They didn’t have to be the stories – those would change over time and continuously over the development of the game. But once you get over the initial shock of starting the work, it’s an exciting process. Later, we started work on our official CGI trailer; that development was very much informed by what we thought worked and what didn’t in the earlier pieces.
Shrapnel is being developed by an esteemed team with accolades like BAFTA and Emmy awards. How do you believe this expertise and experience in areas like virtual production and transmedia storytelling have influenced the game’s development?
A common trait across the members of our team is an affinity for weird, complicated projects that merge new technologies and storytelling. After you get a few of those under your belt, you start to build up strategies and processes that can break intractable problems into manageable production beats. With a project as large and complicated as Shrapnel, that sort of perspective is essential.
Any game that successfully ships is a miracle, and every production is a collection of a thousand daily successes and failures. Our team members that worked at Infinity Ward, or Irrational, or even HBO all had to navigate unique production constraints, personalities and politics to produce something they were proud of. Now we’re going one step further and mashing up those techniques and perspectives into a new studio that hopefully builds on lessons learned in past gigs.
One standout feature of Shrapnel is the empowerment it offers players in terms of modding, shaping, and owning their creations. Can you delve deeper into how you envision this impacting the overall gaming experience for players?
Our hope is that user generated content becomes the core of the Shrapnel experience. We look at our role as providing exemplar content – such as artwork and specific mechanics – and seeing what the community can do with it. But our perspective is that the tech is only part of the equation; there’s an enormous amount of community engagement and active mentorship that we want to provide to gamers to help expand their skill set and make the most of what we’re making available.
We’re hoping we’ve got the timing right: we’re creating a universe for gamers that have grown up with UGC in games such as Roblox, Minecraft, and Forge, but don’t really have a next lilypad to jump to as their tastes naturally gravitate towards more sophisticated or mature experiences. This is also happening at a time when a lot of the sharper edges have been shaved off of historically complex content creation tools, and people’s familiarity with online worlds has become super sophisticated. We’re developing with Unreal Engine 5, and the idea that our users might have their own casual knowledge of engine software like that would have been totally insane like 10 years ago.
Community engagement seems to be a pivotal element in Shrapnel’s development, with the community actively driving gameplay decisions. How has this involvement shaped the game’s universe, and can you share some notable instances where it led to significant in-game enhancements?
The quality of the feedback we get from our community blows my mind – we consistently get thoughtful questions or ideas that surprise the devs and get them thinking about new directions we can take the story or tech. Going back to transmedia, the comic series and Operator campaign introduced the world of Shrapnel to a huge audience, and they immediately started telling their own stories with their own Operator characters. And on the UGC side of the house, user feedback is constantly being integrated. At this point our roadmap is almost entirely driven by user feature requests.
In the early days, I was worried that community input would be at odds with our natural desire for creative control, but I think that’s just a holdover from our days in traditional publishing. After a while you start to realize that in the AAA space you don’t necessarily do things because they’re correct, you do them because any process that gets a game out the door is better than the alternative. That sometimes confrontational relationship between gamers and the people making their games strikes me as one of the worst examples.
Every hook that we’ve given the community into the world – whether it’s voting on which levels enter preproduction or competitions around world lore – has been met with a ton of enthusiasm and good will. I’m really excited for the game to go live so we can open up even more of the game to people.
The trailer of Shrapnel, created with Unreal Engine 5 and in collaboration with renowned names like Plastic Wax and Jerry O’Flaherty, has set high expectations. What can fans anticipate in terms of gameplay and graphics, especially with the upcoming release of the never-before-seen footage on Shrapnel’s Twitter?
The idea behind using Unreal 5 to render the trailer was to give people a 1:1 vision for what we want the game to feel like. Our Early Access level will take place in the same environment, and players can expect to see familiar faces when the build becomes available. Things are going to change over the course of development, but I’m really proud of how closely we’re sticking to the beats that we’ve telegraphed out to our community. It really does feel like we’ve been building this thing alongside people online, and we’re super excited to get those first early playables into peoples hands. In the meantime, check out the trailer or hang out in the Discord!
Gaming
THE BATTLE OF POLYTOPIA RELEASES NEW AQUARION SPECIAL SKIN IN LATEST UPDATE
Midjiwan, the award-winning independent studio behind The Battle of Polytopia has today released a new Aquarion Special Skin, additional language options and balance updates to the recently reworked Aquarion tribe. Players will dive deep into the Ritiki Marshlands encountering a lost Aquarion outpost with the new skin known as “The Forgotten”.
Long ago, when the Aquarion Empire vanished beneath the waves. One remote outpost in the swampy atolls lost all contact, leading its inhabitants to believe they were the last of their kind. This forgotten tribe evolved in isolation, adapting to the marshy landscapes with squid-like appendages and unique abilities to command the swamp and its creatures.
Using the unique abilities of “The Forgotten”, players can build on water, summon giant squids, create speed enhancing bubbles, ride crocodiles, tame toads, and traverse their marshy terrains with ease.
In addition, the latest update to the game now offers expanded language options: Hindi, Indonesian, Malay, Polish, Thai, Turkish & Vietnamese.
Christian Lövstedt, CEO of The Battle of Polytopia, commented: “I feel that this skin is one of the best we’ve created and has quickly become my personal favourite. Additionally, we have added Bubble Tech to the Aquarion Waterways, making that tribe even greater. With expanded language options and new gameplay mechanics, we’re inviting players to dive into the rich lore and strategy that make the Battle of Polytopia truly special.”
To celebrate the launch of the new update, Midjiwan hosted an exclusive livestream event, offering fans a unique look behind the scenes, live gameplay, and discussions with the development team – the livestream is available to watch now: The Forgotten livestrea m by Midjiwan.
Conferences in Europe
Gamecity Hamburg connects Decision Makers from International Studios with new “Portside Game Assembly” Conference Format
Gamecity Hamburg announces the premiere of the “Portside Game Assembly” (PSGA) for June 27, 2025. The new B2B conference format focuses on networking and the exchange of learnings between leading international indie game studios. Portside Game Assembly enables studio heads and decision-makers to exchange knowledge in a confidential setting in extraordinary locations of Hamburg, around the harbor – and on the water.
“The idea for Portside Game Assembly was born out of conversations with studio heads and managers from Hamburg and around Europe. Anyone navigating an indie studio through the games market benefits greatly from exchanging learnings with other decision-makers facing similar challenges. With a curated guest list and a focus on impulse talks and roundtables, PSGA will offer studio leads contacts and discussions which are highly relevant to their work and current developments in the industry,” explains Margarete Schneider, Project Manager at Gamecity Hamburg.
“The heart of PSGA is the conference, which will be held on a ship sailing through the Hamburg harbor and to which we welcome attendees from all over Europe and beyond. The conference will be complemented by a networking brunch and two evening events, which invite PSGA participants to meet the vibrant and diverse Hamburg games scene,” adds Dennis Schoubye, Head of Gamecity Hamburg.
The conference program for decision-makers at game studios
On June 27, 2025, the first Portside Game Assembly will kick off with a networking brunch.
Afterwards, the studio managers and decision makers will enter the conference ship, which offers three decks for keynote speeches, roundtables and networking, including a cruise through the famous Hamburg harbor.
Studio managers and decision-makers from the following studios are already attending:
- bippinbits (Dome Keeper, PVKK: Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant) / Germany
- Ghost Ship Publishing (Deep Rock Galactic) / Denmark
- Indoor Astronaut (Unrailed 1 & 2) / Switzerland
- Landfall Games (Content Warning, Totally Accurate Battle Simulator) / Sweden
- mooneye studios (Lost Ember) / Germany
- Maschinen-Mensch (Curious Expedition 1 & 2, Mother Machine, Codecks) / Germany
- Overhype Studios (Battle Brothers, Menace) / Germany
- Rockfish Games (Everspace 1 & 2) / Germany
- Torpor Games (Suzerain) / Germany
Leads and executives from established indie game studios can register to take part in the Portside Game Assembly via our registration form.
Networking events as part of the Portside Game Assembly
The evening closing event “Games Industry Party” brings conference guests and other members of the games industry together for networking with cool drinks and snacks. Tickets for the Indie Networking Brunch and the Games Industry Party are available separately for non-conference attendees and will go on sale at a later time.
On the evening before, June 26, 2025, there will be an “Opening Mixer” with a panoramic view over Hamburg’s famous St. Pauli district in the Astra Tower, at Bytro Labs office. Portside Game Assembly participants and contacts from the games industry in Hamburg will be invited.
Registration for studios and participants
The conference itself is aimed exclusively at studio managers and decision-makers from internationally successful indie game studios. To enable a curated selection of participants, there will be no direct ticket sales, but studios can register for participation here: registration form.
The conference ticket includes the Opening Mixer event the evening before, access to the Networking Brunch, the main Conference and the Games Industry Party for a total of 189 euros.
Asia
Nazara integrates with ONDC Network to Launch “gCommerce” in India, Unlocking a new era of In-Game Monetization
Nazara Technologies Limited, a leading diversified gaming and sports media platform, and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) are proud to announce their integration to launch “gCommerce” – an innovative in-game monetization platform that seamlessly integrates e-commerce within games.
The integration aims to address a persistent challenge for Indian game developers: low in-app purchase (IAP) conversion rates and poor yields from advertising. Through gCommerce, Nazara and ONDC Network are reimagining game monetization by leveraging India’s thriving e-commerce landscape and providing developers with new, scalable revenue streams.
This strategic integration will allow game developers to monetize through an affiliate revenue-sharing model, earning a commission on every successful transaction initiated by players through the gCommerce platform.
Creating Value for Developers and Gamers
ONDC Network’s expertise in creating an open, interoperable network for digital commerce will enable Nazara’s gCommerce platform to connect with a wide range of sellers across more than 10 categories, ensuring a rich diversity of product offering for gamers. This integration enhances the user experience by allowing them to make informed purchases while they continue their gaming journey.
“We are excited to announce the upcoming launch of gCommerce by Nazara via integration with the ONDC Network, as it represents a significant step forward in our mission to empower game developers with effective and innovative monetization solutions,” said Nitish Mittersain, CEO of Nazara Technologies. “We are not only creating new revenue opportunities for developers but also enriching the overall experience for our gamers.”
T Koshy, CEO of ONDC, added, “Nazara coming on ONDC Network to launch gCommerce is a testament to the versatility of the Network in supporting various industries and use cases. By bringing e-commerce into the gaming ecosystem, we are paving the way for a seamless blend of entertainment and shopping that adds value for players, developers, and the broader digital commerce network.”
The gCommerce platform is currently in soft launch and will be rolled out to game developers starting Q1, FY26.
-
Asia6 days ago
VSPO, the largest esports company in Asia, rebranded Hero Esports to support global growth strategy
-
Central Europe6 days ago
Evoplay enters Czech market with exclusive Fortuna collaboration
-
Latest News6 days ago
Week 45/2024 slot games releases
-
Industry News6 days ago
iGB Affiliate attracts registrations from 55 nations in just six weeks
-
Industry News6 days ago
Endorphina Affiliate Hub: Huge Benefits for Affiliates
-
Compliance Updates6 days ago
Aviatrix lands in the Netherlands
-
Compliance Updates6 days ago
Comtrade Gaming Receives UKGC Approval to Distribute Gaming Content
-
Balkans6 days ago
Endorphina Partners with Volcanobet