McLeodGaming Launches Fraymakers Kickstarter

McLeodGaming, the studio behind the Super Smash Flash series of Smash fan games, has launched a Kickstarter campaign for an original platform fighter titled Fraymakers. First teased with a title reveal in October, Fraymakers is an all-new indie crossover platform fighter with built-in modding tools. The campaign is set to run until December 17th, 2020 and has a goal of $46,000, which they reached in their first three hours.

The game is set to feature a roster of six playable characters, consisting of Welltaro from Downwell, Commander Video from the BIT.TRIP series, the Watcher from Slay the Spire, Octodad from the series of the same name, Ultra Fishbunjin 3000 from Ittle Dew and Slap City and Orcane from Rivals of Aether. While this roster is relatively small, it will also be bolstered by a variety of guest assist characters, featuring everything from indie gaming icons like The Kid from I Wanna Be the Guy, Fancy Pants Man from the Fancy Pants series, Captain Viridian from VVVVVV and the Newgrounds Tankman to deeper cuts like Aine from Renaine, Pizza from Chicory and Birthday from King of the Hat. These assists can be called upon once you've filled a meter by dealing damage to your opponent.

Fraymakers is also set to include five stages, each with a hazards-on mode geared for casual play and a hazards-off mode for competitive play. Judging by early footage, the difference seems closer to the difference between Rivals of Aether's Basic and Aether stage modes than it is to Smash Ultimate's stage hazard toggle, with some stages having completely different layouts between their hazards-off and hazards-on modes. The game will also feature a soundtrack from Super Soul Bros., with two tracks—a BIT.TRIP medley and an Octodad medley—available on their Soundcloud page already.

In terms of gameplay, McLeodGaming is targeting the same sort of fast, freeform feel the platform fighter genre is known for. Unlike Super Smash Flash 2, their previous platform fighter outing, Fraymakers will run at 60 frames per second, as is typical for the genre, and will feature a homegrown rollback netcode solution. There are also a few tweaks to the game's core mechanics meant to set it apart from Smash. Air dodges have been replaced with air dashes, which can be canceled into attacks at any time. Shields only cover the front of the character, meaning crossups are possible like in traditional fighters. Fraymakers also features parries, universal counters performed by pressing shield and special at the same time.

Fraymakers will also come with FrayTools, a toolkit to aid in developing custom content, consisting of the very same tools McLeodGaming built to develop their own official Fraymakers content. Not only will it be possible to create custom characters, stages and items in FrayTools, but also custom menus and game modes as well. It's designed to be robust enough to serve as a general 2D game development workflow, complete with plugins for exporting content to other engines, but also intuitive enough that someone without programming experience can learn the ropes quickly.

McLeodGaming also has a few stretch goals lined up, including an additional character, stage and song at $60,000 raised. The other stretch goals, whose funding goals have not been announced yet, include another four stages, alternate soundtracks from FamilyJules and OCRemix, and several mystery goals that have yet to be revealed. Pledge rewards include an early copy of the game, a digital art book, in-game cosmetics and custom sketches and sprites from the game's artists.

Fraymakers is set to enter early access by early 2022.

Credits:
Graphics (McLeodGaming)

 

Not gonna lie, while exciting news, the roster for this game is just.. straight up bad. Very few of these series I would count as true indie darlings. And that's coming from someone who's played these games.

Peppino makes it an A+ game tho through his sheer existence. Pizza Tower is really good

 

While Fancy Pants not being playable is a little sad, I'm really excited to play Welltaro (from my favorite indie game, and my Indie Pogo main) in a more traditional platform fighter. He also looks like he's gonna be real fun to play. I can't wait for this to come out.

 

Can't wait for Shovel Knight's reveal.

 

I hope Hat Kid has a chance of getting added to this game. I don't understand why AHIT hasn't gotten any representation before in these indie crossovers.

 

Fancy Pants? I’m sold.

 

Not gonna lie, while exciting news, the roster for this game is just.. straight up bad. Very few of these series I would count as true indie darlings. And that's coming from someone who's played these games.

Peppino makes it an A+ game tho through his sheer existence. Pizza Tower is really good

Has Pizza Tower released yet? I thought it hadn’t.

 

Has Pizza Tower released yet? I thought it hadn’t.

Not yet. I've been keeping a close eye on PT's development, I'd say it's most likely to be released mid-2021 given the level designs are mostly finished.

 

Not gonna lie, while exciting news, the roster for this game is just.. straight up bad. Very few of these series I would count as true indie darlings. And that's coming from someone who's played these games.

Peppino makes it an A+ game tho through his sheer existence. Pizza Tower is really good

It's not THAT bad of a roster. Yeah, it might not have some of the most popular indie games represented, but a lot of them are recognizable. Plus both Orcane and Fishbunjin represent some of the biggest indie platform fighters, so it makes sense that they would be included over other options.

Besides, if one character doesn't get put in the official release, they'll probably just be modded in later.

 

I don't usually get involved in crowdfunding (literally the only game that I've helped to crowdfund is Psychonauts 2), but I'm tempted back this. I haven't played much of the Smash Flash games, but they were good from what I remember of them, and while I'm only familiar with half of the roster (Octodad, Orcane, and Commander Video), it seems like a good starting point, and a reasonable goal to set. (as opposed to setting their sights too high like Bounty Battle seemingly did)

 

It's not THAT bad of a roster. Yeah, it might not have some of the most popular indie games represented, but a lot of them are recognizable. Plus both Orcane and Fishbunjin represent some of the biggest indie platform fighters, so it makes sense that they would be included over other options.

Besides, if one character doesn't get put in the official release, they'll probably just be modded in later.

As an addendum, there's currently two potential extra characters in the stretch goals, so as long as people support this, one of their indie faves could get included.

 

As an addendum, there's currently two potential extra characters in the stretch goals, so as long as people support this, one of their indie faves could get included.

Honestly, I feel like I'd be fine with just about anyone - even if I'm not familiar with their franchise, it gives me a reason to look into it. I just figure the Goose would be hilarious.

 

Personally I don't think the roster is the best if they were going for indie icons (but a few of them seem that way, like Octodad), with some of the assists feeling like they should've been playable instead (like Fancy Pants) and some icons missing completely, however there's the editor tools anyway so eh okay.

(of course, not all of them have to be icons, else the other dudes wouldn't get a chance in the spotlight, but the roster still feels weird depending on what they were going for imo; idk, it's good if it's just "indie crossover" though, and the chosen characters seem cool)

 

It's not THAT bad of a roster. Yeah, it might not have some of the most popular indie games represented, but a lot of them are recognizable. Plus both Orcane and Fishbunjin represent some of the biggest indie platform fighters, so it makes sense that they would be included over other options.

Besides, if one character doesn't get put in the official release, they'll probably just be modded in later.

Let me rephrase this: for a roster of this size, the choices are bad.

Like, I know who all these characters are, but not a single one is an A-tier indie character, with Octodad and Commander video being the closest to hitting that.

 

Let me rephrase this: for a roster of this size, the choices are bad.

Like, I know who all these characters are, but not a single one is an A-tier indie character, with Octodad and Commander video being the closest to hitting that.

Wouldn't focusing entirely on well known A-tier characters defeat the point of making an indie fighter?

 

Wouldn't focusing entirely on well known A-tier characters defeat the point of making an indie fighter?

I'm assuming it's A-tier by indie standards - your Shovel Knights, Shantaes, or Sanses.

 

Wouldn't focusing entirely on well known A-tier characters defeat the point of making an indie fighter?

I'm referring to A-tier in the indie scene. Stuff like Cave Story, Shovel Knight, Hollow Knight, Shantae - stuff like that

 

I'm referring to A-tier in the indie scene. Stuff like Cave Story, Shovel Knight, Hollow Knight, Shantae - stuff like that

I know that. What I'm trying to say is that since the whole point of the indie scene is to bring attention to the "little guys", shouldn't an indie crossover feature the "little guys" first and foremost?

 

This game does look fantastic visually and I'm super excited to see what happens with it - both in terms of more official characters and mods. That said, 2 Platform Fighter characters and then 3/4 of the rest already being in Indie Pogo is a tad bit underwhelming, all things considered. Watcher is a super fun off-the-wall pick though!

 

Looks pretty cool!

Wario Wario Wario
Shame Peppino is not a fighter, but I'm okay with him being an Assist.

 

...why am I getting flashbacks to Playstation All Stars and it's utter mess of a roster with no consistent art direction...?

especially when you compare the likes of Parappa and Spike ( in his really noodle limbs Ape Escape 3 look) to the likes of MGS4/MGR Raiden and the alternate Dante that nobody likes...

 

This is pretty damn cool, I like the air dash and take on shielding, but the assist mechanic's great, love the shout out to flash games which are often forgotten, I'd especially like Burrito Bison as an assist lmao

 

I enjoyed SSF2 so I'm looking forward to this game. The assist mechanic for this game easily sets it apart from other platform fighters. Being able to summon different characters in the middle of a match by using a meter is what I wanted Smash's assist system to be.

I do wish the roster expands a bit more though. I like Octodad and Fishbunjin but I'm lukewarm about the rest of the fighters. I hope we get more fighters later down the line that spice things up like Zagreus and Hollow Knight. I also hope we get Reimu and Sans but getting them is a long shot.

 

I enjoyed SSF2 so I'm looking forward to this game. The assist mechanic for this game easily sets it apart from other platform fighters. Being able to summon different characters in the middle of a match by using a meter is what I wanted Smash's assist system to be.

I do wish the roster expands a bit more though. I like Octodad and Fishbunjin but I'm lukewarm about the rest of the fighters. I hope we get more fighters later down the line that spice things up like Zagreus and Hollow Knight. I also hope we get Reimu and Sans but getting them is a long shot.

At least two characters are being added through stretch goals. (Likely more, but only two have been revealed). One of those goals (last I checked) has already been met.

 

Damn sad that my own game char couldnt be in it cus im still waiting to get the Rights!
anyways cool game

 

I feel like a lot of people don’t realize this game probably isn’t supposed to be a collection of the most important indie game characters. It seems like just taking whatever indie game characters could be the most fun/varied and making a game out of them. And I actually personally really like that idea and think this could be a fun game.

It’s not “smash bros but with the most important indie game characters” like the one thorgi’s arcade video and if you look at it like that you’re gonna be disappointed. Sure, someone really important like sans or shantae might get added in the future if people request them but still, importance is not the reason characters are being added to this.

 

I feel like a lot of people don’t realize this game probably isn’t supposed to be a collection of the most important indie game characters. It seems like just taking whatever indie game characters could be the most fun/varied and making a game out of them. And I actually personally really like that idea and think this could be a fun game.

It’s not “smash bros but with the most important indie game characters” like the one thorgi’s arcade video and if you look at it like that you’re gonna be disappointed. Sure, someone really important like sans or shantae might get added in the future if people request them but still, importance is not the reason characters are being added to this.

True but my char is neither interesting nor important nor Existant so i lose either Way HEHHEHE!