Filipino-made FPS game Project Xandata is finally here

They say Filipinos are some of the most toxic players out there. But we say, we are the most passionate. And this passion for gaming is something not just unique to our casual and competitive gamers—it’s also shared by our local talent who have been leveling up the game development industry in the country in the last years.

Secret 6, Inc. is one of the first local game development companies in the Philippines after international brands began to see the pool of talent available in the country. In their years of experience and expertise, they have been tapped by many international clients to help create games such as We Bear Bears: Baby Bear Bonanza, Cartoon Network Game Maker, Yu Gi Oh! Duel Generations, and most recently, the acclaimed The Last of Us 2. 

But now, they’re finally ready to introduce to the world a brand-new IP that is uniquely theirs and uniquely Filipino: Project Xandata, a fast-paced 3v3 first person shooter game, where you can customize your weapons, elemental skills, and character to complement your playstyle.

Following its unveiling at the Electronic Sports and Gaming Summit (ESGS) in 2016, Project Xandata has begun to attract international attention and earn awards from various award-giving bodies such as the Southeast Asia Game Awards and Game Connection America. After several rounds of closed beta testing, Project Xandata is ready to open the beta test to the public. 

From November 12 to November 28, 2021, Project Xandata servers will be open 24/7 to the public. During this time, everyone from all over the world will be able play the game for free, and all cosmetics and progress you earn during the Open Beta will be carried over to the Early Access and beyond.

So why should you play Project Xandata? Three things: First, you’ll get to enjoy an amazing Filipino-developed FPS with Quake’s pace, Destiny’s customization, and Megaman’s art style—all set in an interesting science fiction landscape with heavy Filipino references.

Second, there is much to be explored and enjoyed in this game. There are three classes and three game modes to be explored, and from the videos we’ve seen so far, we’re excited to get a feel of the high-octane battles we’ll get to experience at Xandaigdig, Project Xandata’s fictional world.

Third, this is an opportunity for us to support and launch a Filipino-made FPS into the world. Project Xandata can be an AAA FPS esport—in fact, that’s the dream for the game’s creator and technical director Gene Gacho. And participating in the Open Beta will not only help Secret 6 improve what can be improved in the game, but also help the game gain the visibility it needs to continue development for a successful early access and full launch.

To give you a better idea of what Project Xandata has been through and what it has to offer, Speed talked to the talented team behind the most-awaited local game of the year.

The world of xandaigdig is heavily inspired by the country’s problems—a stark gap between the rich and the poor, anti-intellectualism, horrible politicians…

Can you talk more about the Filipino-ness of the game’s lore? It’s hard to miss cues like DIWAT (Diwata) and Xandat (Sandata), which feel like a way to elevate Filipino culture into something for the international market.

Project Xandata is something that we don’t really envision as a Philippines-only game. We want to show the world that this level of game can be developed and made here in the Philippines. So it was very important to take into account that we could also use it as a platform to showcase Philippine elements in it.

While we’re probably not going to be super on the nose with tikbalangs or tiyanaks, we instead want to showcase Philippine society and culture through the lens of science fiction writing.

The world of Xandaigdig is heavily inspired by the country’s problems. There are nods to it here and there. A great war in the recent past whose effects we can’t economically recover from. Horrible politicians. A stark gap between the rich and the poor. The lousy treatment of farmers despite providing more than half the world’s food supply. Religious extremism. Secessionist forces. Anti-intellectualism. Fascism on the rise. In the end, we know people are actually more monstrous than any aswang or manananggal. It’s quite a morbid truth hiding lightly underneath the surface of a fun, swagger-filled, high-octane action game where magitech-armored super soldiers try and shoot each other. 

We all know that shooter games are a genre where most of its fans care more about action than story. Was this the right place to try and pull this off? Maybe not. But we sure are having a lot of fun doing it. We want any given player to look at some place in Xandaigdig and be able to say, “I relate to the problems these people are facing…” probably because they see it in their lives. And maybe we also want to provide some form of escape by giving players a little power fantasy where people can make a difference (all you need is some magitech power armor!).

As we put out more maps, we hope that the world of Xandaigdig will start to feel like a different, yet familiar world to Filipino gamers everywhere.

How did the closed beta go and what were some of the changes you brought in in response to the feedback?

In 2019 we made a difficult decision to delay launch in favor of taking a step back in order to refocus the game. We listened to player (and internal company) feedback and removed a lot of things from the early 2017 and 2018 versions that were confusing to players. 

We removed being able to collect 800+ different weapons with randomized stat rolls in favor of the current system where each gun has meaningful customization options that suit different playstyles. We also doubled down on making classes more distinct from each other: The skill system was redone so that abilities aligned more with the flavor of each class (vs everyone just having a different-colored punch and a grenade). We added armor levels so that heavier classes felt tougher to kill than the lighter, faster ones. Finally, we added different movement abilities for each class/element combo so that even mobility options feel different for each class.

The beta we held with G.Round was to really test out this brand new 2019 core gameplay redesign. We wanted to see how an international audience would respond to the kind of game we ended up with. A lot of gamers and streamers in Europe and the US— regions who are traditionally more into the FPS genre—had very good things to say about our game. We also had some interested partners and investors, so we knew we were on the right track.

Now that the core gameplay is done, we’re just making sure we are ready for open beta and (soon) early access. We’re wrapping up on things like feature parity with other games, optimizations, as well as getting our seasonal pipeline ready.

How many years has it been since you started working on Project Xandata? What were some of the biggest challenges that you encountered during the development of the game?

Gene started the project for his personal learning back in 2015 and it wasn’t until early 2016 that it was made an official company project. We originally underestimated the amount of work needed to make the game according to the original vision, chalking it up to a development time of two years. However, only a limited amount of resources (mostly juniors) could be allocated at the start. This took a lot longer than expected. We took a step back in 2019 to refocus the game so we can realistically support it with the team size that we have. The new game is leaner, but a lot more focused on what makes the game fun.

Now we’re a little over six years in the making, but we are very proud of how much better the product is today. As public interest in the game grew with each floor show we attended, more and more seniors were added and more often than not, this would result in the overhaul of old works done by juniors that weren’t up to their standards. While this made the game better in the long run, this also meant a lot of work was redone.

It was also the first large-scale IP in the company, but our art production pipelines were built for outsource work. We had to grow more people into decision-making roles with stakes in the IP rather than just following job orders from clients. It was challenging to find people who were willing to grow into the requirements for the job, but a handful of people did rise to the occasion. Now those people are leading the discussions on how we can improve the game, our seasonal content and our production pipeline. Project Xandata is a live service game, so we really need people who have great ideas on what to give our players in future seasons of the game!

What kind of developments should we look forward to between the beta phase and the launch phase? How do you plan to monetize this game in the future?

Without giving too much away, our plan is to introduce more content into the game. We want to take what we’ve learned from our internal tests, closed beta, and the upcoming open beta and apply it to content for the game. We touched a bit on things we’re working on in our latest developer update. Some of the updates are still too early for our closed and open betas, but we hope to slowly introduce them to players in the future. There are pieces of content that we’ve been working on for a while and can’t wait to share with everyone.

Our approach to monetization is pretty straightforward. Even if we’re free-to-play, we never want to become a pay-to-win game. Maybe more of pay-to-look-good. Haha! We’ll have a Prestige Pass that has paid and free tracks. Of course the paid track gets most of the cool goodies, but we’ve got a few treats for people who are on the free track also. There’s going to be an in-game store where we’ll sell a variety of cosmetics—armor sets, weapon skins, emotes, intros, among others. Both the Prestige Pass and store will rotate every season and we’re trying our best to fill both with cool cosmetics.

the best way players can help us get to launch is to join our open beta and play the game. tell us what you love, like, dislike, and even hate.

What official launch date are you eyeing and when do you think will you get there?

You’ll have to wait for our official announcement on a launch date, but what I can say is that we’re aiming for it to be very soon. We just need to adjust a few more knobs before letting PXD out into the world.

What kind of support do you need to really bring Project Xandata to the international stage?

The best way players can help us get to launch is to honestly just join our Open Beta and play the game. Spend some time in our game and tell us what you love, like, dislike, and even hate. Constructive feedback is the best way for us to tune the game and get it ready for launch. 

In terms of bringing PXD to the international stage, if you like it (and we hope you do!), stream it, post all your cool elimination clips, invite your friends to join you, and just get the word out. Maybe buy an armor set or weapon skin, too? Haha! The more momentum we gain locally, the easier it becomes for us to expand internationally.

Project Xandata by Secret 6, Inc. is launching Open Beta from November 12-28, 2021. The game is available on PC and can be downloaded via Steam here. Join the Project Xandata Discord server for more updates and to send in your feedback.

Words Jovi Figueroa

The post Filipino-made FPS game Project Xandata is finally here appeared first on Speed Magazine.

Filipino-made FPS game Project Xandata is finally here
Source: Showbiz Hollywood News