Foxhole (video game)

Foxhole
Developer(s) Clapfoot
Publisher(s) Clapfoot
Designer(s)
  • Mark Ng
  • Alkas Baybas
Programmer(s)
  • Stephan van den Heuvel
  • Rohun Banerji
  • Chris Grebeldinger
Artist(s)
  • Adam Garib
  • Matthew Rigg
  • Henrique Barbieri
  • Julian Lancaster
Composer(s) Rom Di Prisco
Engine Unreal Engine 4[1]
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Genre(s) Real-time strategy, action
Mode(s) Multiplayer

Foxhole is an upcoming cooperative sandbox massively-multiplayer action-strategy video game being developed and published by Canadian video game company Clapfoot, whom are based in Toronto, Ontario. The game uses Unreal Engine 4, utilising an axonometric projection perspective, much like that of a conventional real-time strategy video game with a top-down view. The game allows the user to join one of two factions as a soldier, having the choice of contributing to a persistent war by organising, acquiring and transporting resources as well as supplies, providing manpower and vehicles in combat, building and managing fortifications and upgrading production facilities with the end goal of annihilating the opposition. The game has been in alpha-stage since 28 July 2017, with a planned full release on Microsoft Windows.[2]

The game was released for Microsoft Windows on Steam's early access program in July 2017, garnering a peak no. of 4,813 concurrent players in under 2 weeks.[3][4][5][6]

Gameplay

Players can choose between two opposing factions, The Colonials and The Wardens, with up-to 70 players on each side. The role of the player is not predetermined: there is no class-based system used, which encourages players to react to the dynamics of a war without being limited by their initial choice. The game features an in-game economy that is player-driven, necessitating the need for players to use tools, such as a hammer or sledgehammer, in order to gather raw resources from stylised ore deposits, that are indicated with map markers. Gathered resources can be stored by the player until they become overencumbered, forcing them to either unload the materials into a nearby storage box or truck for later transport to a manufacturing plant, where the gathered resources can be refined and used in order to manufacture supplies, weapons and ammunition, as well as fortifications and vehicles.[7]

Upon choosing a faction, the player spawns outside of a town hall of the starting base of their chosen faction, which are the first structures available in-game that are capable of storing stockpiles of equipment that any player is capable of acquiring from the stockpile. Stockpiles can be stored at any town hall, barracks or outpost in-game, all of which can be replenished with crates of specific supplies that are made and delivered by players. There is a heavy reliance on coordinated logistics in the game, requiring organised supply drops to frontline outposts in order to keep players who are fighting on the frontline supplied with weapons and ammunition, as well as providing materials for engineers who can repair fortifications and vehicles.[8]

Players are encouraged to work together to efficiently use resources, intel, vehicles, weapons and ammunition to gain the upper hand over the opposition. Players can also plan and execute attacks as part of squads, coordinating attacks using a map-marking system, with environmental features coming into play with terrain variation, as well as the possibility of carrying out reconnaissance to gain a tactical advantage over the opposition. Although secondary to the objective of winning the war as a faction, a players efforts towards the war can be noticed by peers, which allows players to rise through the ranks within a faction through fellow players commending them for their support.[9] A day and night cycle exists in the game, with one in-game day being equal to 1 hour in real-time.

In Campaign mode, all opposing outposts must be captured or destroyed in a region in order to gain access to the next region. Alternatively, servers that are independent of the Campaign mode restart conflict in the same region from Day 1.

When offline, players' soldiers will remain in-game but will be shown as inactive with a sleeping animation until the player returns to that server.

Development

Clapfoot Inc. conceived the concept for Foxhole in early 2016, succeeding the completion of several small-scale mobile projects.[10] Foxhole's goal was to make a massively multiplayer war game that took place in a persistent world, leaving it up to players to drive all aspects of the war effort.

Early conceptualisations of the game explored possible features such as a first person perspective camera and a turn-based gameplay format. Ultimately, a top-down perspective was adopted to encourage a focus toward strategy and player collaboration rather than immersion. The decision was made early on in the development process for the game to take place in a fictional universe that paid creative homage to early 20th century warfare. Clapfoot's direction was centered on developing vehicle, weapon, and character designs that were original rather than historical.

Clapfoot began working on prototypes for Foxhole in early 2016, which lead to public release in pre-alpha stage in July 2016. The first iterations supported 64 players per server instance in one region, eventually leading to 120 player support. A planned mode called World Conquest has been tested, involving all 6 in-game regions that could support up to 480 players per shard, but is yet to be implemented into a public release of the game.[11]

Reception

Despite being an early access title, Foxhole has been generally well received by players, as well as reviewers who have opted to give preliminary reviews. The game has a 85% approval rating on Steam, based on 1,792 user reviews, as of 10 August 2017.[12]

Green Man Gaming's Rob gave the game a positive preliminary verdict, commenting on its "unique gameplay...adding a new-depth to online play" with a suggestion that the early-access game could be a "[potential] contender to knock [PlayerUnknown's] Battlegrounds off the current top spot".[13]

Rock Paper Shotgun's Brendan Caldwell discusses the gameplay of Foxhole, commenting on the logistics system, as well as general skill-based gameplay elements, along with the nature of the top-down view in the game, on their Electronic Wireless Show podcast.[14]

An in-depth preliminary review from IGN's Lief Johnson comments on the cooperative human element of the game, saying "I enjoyed Foxhole, and I know much of that enjoyment grew out the marvel of watching so many players working together."[15]

In December 2017, Foxhole received the Player's Choice award for "Indie Game of the Year Award 2017" from IndieDB.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Unreal Engine 4 Games - Epic Wiki". wiki.unrealengine.com. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
  2. ↑ "Foxhole - Persistent War MMO". Foxhole - Persistent War MMO. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  3. ↑ Walker, John (2017-08-14). "Steam Charts: Top 10 Games Edition". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
  4. ↑ "Steam Community :: Foxhole". steamcommunity.com. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  5. ↑ "Foxhole - Steam Charts". steamcharts.com. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  6. ↑ "Steam Top Sellers (30 Jul, 2017 – 6 Aug, 2017)". Steam Database. Archived from the original on 2017-08-13. Retrieved 2017-08-13.
  7. ↑ "Foxhole – Oddysee". www.oddysee.org. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  8. ↑ Margherita, Nick (2017-08-07). "A Detailed Look At Foxhole's Online Warfare Gameplay". GameSpot. Retrieved 2017-08-13.
  9. ↑ "Foxhole Game Review - MMOs.com". MMOs.com. 2016-09-06. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  10. ↑ "clapfootgames". clapfootgames. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  11. ↑ "A developer that knows its audience: Clapfoot on World War MMO Foxhole". Gameumentary. 2017-01-11. Retrieved 2017-08-11.
  12. ↑ "Foxhole on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  13. ↑ "Is Foxhole The Next PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds? - Green Man Gaming Blog". Green Man Gaming Blog. 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  14. ↑ Caldwell, Brendan (2017-08-09). "Podcast: The Electronic Wireless Show talks Inside, Foxhole and TV show adaptations". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  15. ↑ Johnson, Leif (2017-07-28). "Foxhole Early Access Hands-On: An RTS Where Every Unit Is a Real Player". IGN. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  16. ↑ "Players Choice Indie of the Year 2017 feature". Indie DB. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
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