Fractured is a new sandbox MMORPG that successfully funded through Kickstarter. It has now gained a publisher and plans to launch its beta in early 2022. MeinMMO was able to speak with Jacopo Pietro Gallelli, the CEO of Dynamight Studios, about the current state of the game and the general hurdles of the sandbox genre.

What kind of game is Fractured? Fractured is a sandbox game that fundamentally resembles Ultima Online. You experience the MMORPG in an isometric perspective and are supposed to be able to play however you want. Fractured relies on a very special concept.

There are 3 playable races that correspond to your player types:

• Those who play as Beastmen live on a planet with only PvE content.
• Those who choose to play as humans get a planet with limited PvP and a karma system for griefers.
• Those who play as demons enter a world focused entirely on PvP. Here, constant action and full loot are the focus.
• Each planet has its own biomes, assets, and a tailored geography. While it will be possible to switch between worlds, this will be subject to strong limitations.

Fractured also does away with fixed classes and instead offers you a talent tree. There, you can distribute the earned points according to your preferences and suit your play style. The MMORPG also aims to reduce the grind aspect by constantly inviting you to explore and kill new monsters through a knowledge system to level your abilities instead of experiencing the same activities repeatedly.

In the endgame, the focus is on cities that can be controlled by various guilds and conquered in PvP. There are said to be 30 large and over 90 small cities for players to fight over.

A first look at the gameplay and content of Fractured is provided by this video from YouTuber Idodmg:

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What state is Fractured in currently? Currently, the sandbox MMORPG is in an alpha state and can be tested at specific times. A guaranteed access is available through founder packages, while Fractured itself will be a buy-to-play game. However, all registered players can participate in some tests.

According to Jacopo Pietro Gallelli, the CEO of developer Dynamight Studios, the first beta is scheduled for the first quarter of 2022. The beta is also aimed at buyers of the founder package.

The German company Gamigo will assist the developers in the implementation and upcoming release, which officially announced on December 15 its take on publishing the MMORPG.

As part of this announcement, we were able to conduct an interview with Gallelli. We asked him about the typical issues of sandbox games, the PvE and PvP content, as well as the influence of Gamigo.

A new tutorial and quests to prevent new players from being lost

MeinMMO: Sandbox MMORPGs are viewed critically by some players. There is too much to do, but they don’t know where to start or what to actually do. Many lose motivation before they have properly played the content. What do you plan to do to prevent players from losing their orientation?

Gallelli: That’s a very good question, because many new players who are used to sandbox MMOs and are now coming to Fractured have exactly this problem. We had already implemented a tutorial that was helpful in this regard. But it’s not enough to just teach how progression works in a sandbox MMO. Many still get lost.

We are currently overhauling the tutorial, which is actually supposed to be completed before the beta starts. This will take place on private islands and will become increasingly profound and fun.

We are also planning quests that will guide players beyond the tutorial and show what the main activities in the game are when you want to progress. Namely exploring new areas, defeating creatures to unlock new abilities, joining a city, and acquiring land, and so on.

It is important to provide such guidance that goes beyond the tutorial. Of course, it cannot go on forever, otherwise, we wouldn’t be a sandbox MMORPG, but I think the most important thing is that players really understand what the activities in the game are and what they should do after completing the tutorial.

Worlds completely without PvP or with full loot

MeinMMO: Many players are also critical of PvP. In your initial announcement, it was stated that there would also be a bit of PvP for the Beastmen. Can you elaborate on that and what PvP content is generally available?

Gallelli: The basic concept of Fractured is that there are 3 worlds. Each of these worlds has different rules when it comes to PvP. Players have the choice. They can play as the evil demons, where there are basically no rules at all. There, full-loot PvP is everywhere.

On the opposite side are the Beastmen, the good ones. They cannot attack other players, except in agreed duels. This is the ideal choice for players who enjoy sandbox and RPGs but want nothing to do with PvP. In other sandbox games, it is often the case that you spend the first hours in PvE but then have to play PvP in the endgame. However, in the world of the Beastmen, you can experience the entire character development without being involved in non-consensual PvP.

Then there is the middle ground, the human planet. There, there is a possibility to become criminal, but also a punishing system if one decides to do so. You can be killed by a bounty hunter and end up in a prison. A physically real prison created by the players who own the city. And there you have to spend a certain number of hours or pay a lot of money to get out. However, in this world, there is theoretically a possibility of being killed by other players, but this happens rather rarely.

MeinMMO: And is there full loot in the human world as well?

Gallelli: We are currently discussing that. It was previously planned that there would also be full loot in the human world of Syndesia. In the last tests, we made some adjustments. We changed it from full loot to inventory loss. However, the loss of equipment should depend on how bad the reputation is. The worse the players were, the more equipment they would lose. However, we are still working on finding the right balance.

This planet is actually the hardest one since the other two are clear: no PvP and full loot PvP.

PvE endgame focuses on world bosses, events, and exploration

MeinMMO: What can PvE players expect? What do the gameplay loop and endgame look like?

Gallelli: For PvE players, I would say that world bosses are the biggest thing. They will be really challenging. You will encounter them in high-level areas. Eventually, we will also have more after the full release, as this is not a high priority right now.

But we will implement things like dungeons and more world bosses. At the moment, we still have no content like raids planned, which you normally find in theme park games, but our world is already quite challenging. There are also world events where various creatures suddenly appear that you have to defeat.

You can also search for and loot chests in the world. We will further expand the whole system. The game is called “Dynamic” for a reason. We are trying to change the world constantly so that there is always a reason to explore areas because you can find interesting events that weren’t there the day before.

30v30 battles for cities are an important endgame content – Here’s how it works

MeinMMO: A significant part of the PvP is the battles for cities in the game world. Are they also present in the human world?

Gallelli: Absolutely, a major focus is on city vs. city and guild vs. guild combat. You can lay siege to a city and bring catapults while the defenders can build walls. As attackers, you then have to break into the city, capture banners, and control points. The whole system was inspired by games like Shadow Pain.

MeinMMO: A major problem in territorial battles is the balance between the guilds. In New World, for example, one faction often dominates, and in other games, I know of mass guilds that own many cities. What are you doing to keep the balance in your game?

Gallelli: When it comes to territorial control, I find managing cities already quite challenging. It is time-consuming, and you would need an impossible number of players to control many cities.

There are also strict requirements for citizens to level up a city. These restrictions are already embedded in the game’s mechanics. Furthermore, fighting in large groups is not particularly advantageous in Fractured. Because in PvP areas, there is friendly fire, at least with AoE abilities. So if you shoot a fireball and it leads to an explosion, you hurt your friends as much as your enemies.

MeinMMO: So can I always accidentally hurt other players?

Gallelli: If you participate in PvP, whether you were attacked or you are the attacker, you have friendly fire. However, if you are a human not flagged for PvP and have not been attacked, you do not hurt other players with AoE.

You can already see this in initial videos about Fractured. You never really see a group of 20 players moving side by side. If too many players are clustered, they would kill each other with important skills. Players therefore tend to spread out, and I believe this is an important point in balancing player numbers.

MeinMMO: How exactly does a siege work? Do the guilds have time to respond to a declaration of war?

Gallelli: Yes, they do. When you declare a siege, you first need to pay with gold, the in-game currency. Then you have two or three days to prepare, though we still need to decide on the exact preparation phase. In the last test, it was two days during which the defenders could build a wall. However, it mainly depends on the attackers bringing the siege weapons into the area.

Once the preparation is over, the battle can begin. When the battle starts, only a limited number of participants can take part in the fight. Anyone who is not an attacker or defender will be kicked out of the city area. Currently, the battle size is 30 vs. 30, but we could also make that number larger.

During the battle, the attackers have one hour to capture the town hall of the city. To do this, the walls must be destroyed, which is only possible with catapults. Attacks from players or magic will not help. If the attackers succeed in capturing the town hall, they will win. If the hour runs out, the defenders win.

If the attackers take the city, all previous citizens are ejected, and the city will elect a new mayor.

In addition to the capture, there is also a raid system. If a guild starts a raid on a city, they only get resources and gold. If the city does not have enough, it will be downgraded. Explaining the whole system would take too much time now. However, we are constantly working on improving the battles and the way checkpoints work. A basic version of it was already playable in the last test.

Two planets are still missing, but there are new areas and over 300 hours of content

MeinMMO: We had an extensive interview with you back in the summer of 2020, and back then you introduced us to the basic game content and SpatialOS, the “wonder technology” used by you. What has changed in the 1.5 years since our last conversation?

Gallelli: A lot. Alongside the new publishing partnership, I would say that the development of the game has progressed well, even though we are still in the alpha phase. We have implemented most core functions aside from the other two planets and the two races.

The city system has been significantly expanded compared to 2020, with large PvP battles and sieges. We also made a graphical update with a post-processing shader in early 2021 that made the content prettier and improved performance.

We have greatly increased the number of skills and character progression. There is a new talent tree, and I believe we have tripled the number of skills. We have also introduced new world bosses, called legends, from which you can gain additional knowledge.

Additionally, we have revamped the type of the continent. The base of the continent is now procedurally generated, but the points of interest on the map are handmade. We have increased the number of these hand-made areas by fivefold or even tenfold.

Together with the engineers from Improbable, the developers of SpatialOS, we have implemented a more stable and powerful version.

These have been the most important changes. Overall, we have tried to bring Fractured to a point where there are about 300 to 400 hours of content available until you complete your character, learn all the skills, and upgrade your gear to the highest possible level.

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Gamigo exerts no influence on monetization or shop content

MeinMMO: You have already mentioned the collaboration with the German company Gamigo. What is the reason for the collaboration and what do you hope to achieve from it?

Gallelli: We have always been open with our community about the fact that we were looking for a publisher. We always stated two reasons for this.

One is, of course, financing, to be able to expand our team. We have always been able to sustain ourselves through our revenue from the sales of the founders. That was fine, but it has never allowed us to expand our team to more than 7 or 8 employees.

The second reason is that we lacked the internal capabilities to conduct marketing. We have always been very weak when it came to decent PR and community management. It’s just crazy to manage a major MMORPG with 7 or 8 people. And we also didn’t have the financial means to implement marketing campaigns.

For these two reasons, we have always looked for a publisher who would support us before the release and who has strong experience in PR, marketing, and community management, like Gamigo, which has engaged very actively with MMOs.

Everything matched very well, especially because of the experience and sheer size that the publisher has. The history with us and Gamigo already goes back some time, as far back as 2017. It was the very first publisher that approached us to discuss a potential partnership. They have been following the development of the game, testing it themselves, and giving us feedback for 3 years before we finally signed a contract in the summer of 2021.

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MeinMMO: And what changes now for players due to Gamigo? Will you continue to stay true to your payment model? And does the collaboration have impacts on the in-game shop?

Gallelli: The business model will not change. It is still planned to be a buy-to-play title with founder packages, just as it has been the case. And as far as the creative direction is concerned, we have full control over it. Of course, we discuss things like monetization with Gamigo, but they have never tried to impose things on us that we hadn’t already planned ourselves.

Fractured is a buy-to-play game with an item shop where cosmetic content is sold and a VIP subscription that offers discounts, both cosmetic and non-cosmetic content, some small time savings and convenience, but no additional power.

It is primarily aimed at players who have less time, and that has always been the plan and has always been stated, even back to the Kickstarter launch. However, we have not yet established complete content for the VIP subscription [editor’s note: According to the FAQ, it should provide an increased gain in knowledge points that are important for the talent tree, as well as further “vanity rewards”].

MeinMMO: You had stated in the last interview that it was dependent on the publisher whether you would launch on Steam or not. Is there any new information on that?

Gallelli: The current plan is not to wait until the beta to launch on Steam. After that, we will see. I think we will probably appear on Steam, but it will happen later. When we were on our own, our plan was to launch on Steam sometime during the beta, but now that we have the support of a publisher, we can delay the Steam launch to a time when the game is more complete.

The beta starts in Q1 2022, the full release could take place by the end of 2022

MeinMMO: Can you already tell us more accurate details about the start of the beta? Or even about the release?

Gallelli: I cannot reveal the exact start of the beta yet, but in the best case, it should start in Q1 2022. We have not set a specific date yet. But yes, Q1 it will likely be.

As for the full release, I would say it will probably be around the end of 2022. However, it is more difficult to give an estimate there. We still need at least 6 more months of data. This primarily relates to the introduction of the new planets. That is the biggest thing that requires a lot of work in terms of artistic design and world building.

Developers have analyzed the market, combating dull grind and PvP coercion

MeinMMO: The market for sandbox MMORPGs and MMORPGs in general is highly competitive. Why do you think Fractured will succeed there?

Gallelli: I believe Fractured has many unique features. When we started developing Fractured in early 2017, we carefully analyzed the sandbox game market to find the biggest pitfalls.

One of the biggest issues we identified was the amount of grind players had to go through in sandboxes. To level up things, you often had to repeat the same action over a very long period, often in the same area. It was so boring that players would often resort to a macro because it simply wasn’t fun.

Even Ultima Online, a game that I still admire today, falls into this trap with progression that is not enjoyable.

We developed a completely new form of progression with the knowledge system and the fact that you have to learn from knowledge. You cannot always learn from the same creature; you have to actively move around the world and learn from the abilities of creatures. The system is too large to explain completely, but it is meant to incentivize exploration and ensure it is pointless to stay in the same area for four days.

Moreover, the system is designed such that you can become competitive in a short amount of time. You can thus participate in high-level PvP and high-level challenges after a few days. Of course, you will not be as effective as an experienced player, but you can reach a usable level.

Another factor is, of course, PvP. We have already talked about how you can completely forgo it on one planet. This is an advantage of Fractured.

MeinMMO: Thank you very much for taking the time for the interview!

What do you think of Fractured? Does the concept of the sandbox MMORPG appeal to you, or does it rather put you off? What do you think is good and what bothers you about the ideas? Feel free to write it in the comments.

In June 2020, we at MeinMMO wrote a preview report for Fractured. You can read it here:

The MMORPG Fractured could become the next Ultima Online