Development of the ShooterofIO franchise
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The ShooterofIO franchise is a first-person shooter media franchise developed by SOI Studios, Air Studios, War Games, and Supreme Studios. The franchise is published by Monsteristic and is owned by Microsoft and is part of the Microsoft Gaming category of franchises.
Starting in 2007, the franchise began with ShooterofIO 1: Modern Ops, that released in October 2007, and released live service support until the release of Air Studios' game in 2008, which was ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare.
History
2004-2006: Foundation of Monsteristic
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Childhood friends Freddie Goodwin and Mark Rogueson sought to make a business using their skills in game development. In 1998, they founded Monsteristic, which opted to create text-based video games whilst working on their own video game engine to have it prepared to be used before 2010. By 1999, the development of their engine reached an all new peak when 60 more people joined their team.
Goodwin and Rulesman worked together to create a new plan to create a game series and the two business men split up in the teams. The 110 employeees split up into groups of 55 with Goodwin leading game direction and Rulesman focusing on the producing side of business. Goodwin pubically announced in June 2003 that they were looking for a team of developers to make a first-person shooter video game.
2005-2007: ShooterofIO 1: Modern Ops and the founding of SOI Studios
ShooterofIO 1: Modern Ops was developed by a team of 60 people, over the course of a year and a half. After being aquired by Monsteristic, the SOI Studios team decided to create a first-person shooter video game, that would be supported for two years before moving to a potential sequel if the game was successful. At first, the game was simply going to be titled "Modern Ops". Three months into development, the game title was changed to simply "ShooterofIO". Shortly before the reveal of the game in 2007, it was retitled to be ShooterofIO 1: Modern Ops. The team changed the title to what it is due to them learning of Air Studios' upcoming game as an installment in the series of games, with them deciding to make things a franchise.
While developing the story for ShooterofIO 1: Modern Ops, SOI Studios chose to avoid referencing current, real-life wars, and keep the series' common theme of two opposing forces of similar strength. To enhance the realistic feel of the game, the development team attended a live-fire exercise at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, a training facility in the California desert. This helped the developers to simulate the effects of being near an Abrams tank when it fires. The team also talked with U.S. Marines who were recently in combat to get a feel for the background, emotions, and attitude of Marines in combat. Veterans were also recruited to supervise motion capture sessions and the artificial intelligence design of the game.
The development team designed the online multiplayer component to be balanced and rewarding for new players while still offering something for experienced players. An early idea to implement air support (air strikes and attack helicopters) involved players fighting over special zones to access a trigger for air support against enemies. This idea was discarded because it discouraged the type of deathmatch gameplay they intended. The killstreak reward system was put in its place to encourage the improvement of player skills. Players were allowed to select weapons before matches to get accustomed to weapons more easily and minimize weapon hunting. Maps were designed primarily for deathmatch games—the developers felt such designs suited other types of gameplay as well. Map layouts were designed to minimize locations players could hide from enemy gunfire.
ShooterofIO 1: Modern Ops runs on the SOI 1.0 engine, which features true world-dynamic lighting, HDR lighting effects, dynamic shadows and depth of field. Bullet penetration is calculated by the engine, taking into account factors such as surface type and entity thickness. The game runs in a native resolution of 600p on the Xbox 360 and PS3.
Certain objects, such as cars and some buildings, are destructible. This makes distinguishing cover from concealment important, as the protection provided by objects such as wooden fences and thin walls do not completely protect players from harm. Bullet stopping power is decreased after penetrating an object, and the decrease is dependent on the thickness and surface type of the object. The game makes use of a dynamic physics engine.
Games
All together, the ShooterofIO franchise has released sixteen video games all developed by SOI Studios, Air Studios, and War Games. All the games were also published by Monsteristic.
Released
Upcoming
| Title | Platform(s) | Release date | Developer | Publisher | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare 6 – Declassfied | Windows | October 25, 2024 | Air Studios | Monsteristic | ||
| PlayStation 4 | ||||||
| PlayStation 5 | ||||||
| Xbox One | ||||||
| Xbox Series X/S |