Madfinger’s Shadowgun War Games crosses 2 million mobile downloads

Fast-action gameplay

Above: Shadowgun War Games is a bit like Overwatch on mobile.

Image Credit: Madfinger Games

Madfinger Games started work on a Shadowgun War Games prototype at first, and it began development on Shadowgun War Games in March 2019. It launched the game 11 months later.

In Shadowgun War Games, players can choose from a gallery of heroes, each with unique personalities and skills to match their play style. With an emphasis on quick pick-up-and-play action, Shadowgun War Games is another example of a console-quality team-based action game for everyone with access to a mobile device.

Madfinger uses the Unity game engine to help Shadowgun War Games scale its performance to ensure smooth visuals and gameplay. The art style was inspired in part by Overwatch, which has a more accessible approach because it isn’t as demanding as other high-end 3D games. Shadowgun War Games has art that is more cartoonish.

“We are inspired by other games as we play them a lot, but we never outright copy anything,” Rabas said.

But competition is tough right now, with hot rival games such as Call of Duty: Mobile from Tencent and Activision Blizzard.

But Rabas believes that Call of Duty: Mobile’s success (topping 150 million downloads) will foster more appetite for console-like games on mobile for hardcore players. Those players will consume a lot of titles, not just one, he said.

“It has motivated us to do something really cool to fight against these guys,” Rabas said. “We are trying to make those super hardcore games on the mobile, and we have done it for 10 years. But we never had the power of Tencent or Activision to change the market. We are happy that games like Fortnite, PUBG, and CAll of Duty: Mobile are on the market. They’re educating the market for us.”

On top of that, as an indie that owns its own game properties, Rabas said, “We can do something crazy if we want to.”

Updating Shadowgun War Games

Above: Shadowgun War Games can have more zany characters than other games.

Image Credit: Madfinger Games

With Shadowgun War Games, the company wants to prove that a smaller team (yes, 100 people is a small team for this kind of mobile game) can also create the highest-quality hardcore game.

“We hope that every indie can see us as an example that mobile is still very suitable for indie games,” Rabas said.

Shadowgun War Games debuted on February 13. It had some issues at the beginning with matchmaking and connectivity, but the team has steadily chipped away at those problems.

“The core mechanics are working and people are happy, but they were disappointed with the stability of the connection,” Rabas said.

Madfinger Games is busy working on a new season of content for Shadowgun War Games, with a load of new features like ranking systems, leagues, and modes such as controlling zones (Domination). It will eventually get started on a new game.

As for the Czech Republic, the country doesn’t have as many game studios as Montreal or Helsinki, but it does feature some big companies such as Bohemia Interactive, Hangar 13, Warhorse Studios, and others. Local governments are working on supporting companies because the studios create jobs.

“We want to continue and bring ore people here and create more jobs,” Rabas said.