If there’s one thing that the games industry is never going to run out of, it’s multiplayer shooters, but in a ridiculously crowded market, Double Eleven looks intent on making a splash. At last month’s Xbox Partner Preview, the developer announced and shadow dropped in early access a new multiplayer FPS titled Blindfire, which takes the most fundamental rules of a shooter and flips them on their head in fascinating ways. Conceptually, it’s sounding very promising, and early reception has been positive so far- but what makes Blindfire tick? To learn about all of this and more, we recently spoke with the game’s lead designer Matt Dunthorne. You can read our interview below.
"The response from players has been fantastic so far. For a concept as unique as Blindfire– one that redefines or removes so many of the core elements of traditional shooters- it’s been amazing to see how open-minded players have been."
For starters, congratulations on the early access launch of Blindfire! How has the response from players been in the immediate aftermath of the game’s launch, and how’s the team feeling?
Thank you very much, and thank you for the excellent questions. It’s great to talk to GamingBolt about Blindfire!
The response from players has been fantastic so far. For a concept as unique as Blindfire– one that redefines or removes so many of the core elements of traditional shooters- it’s been amazing to see how open-minded players have been. They’ve really embraced the challenge and discovered just how engaging the gameplay can be.
As for the team, we couldn’t be happier. Blindfire has been a true labour of love for all of us, so getting it out into the world and seeing players engage with it is incredibly rewarding. We’re all deeply invested in the game, and watching the feedback come in, and taking them on in the arena, has been a real joy.
Blindfire launched into early access on the day of its announcement. Shadow-drops can definitely create a lot of buzz, but can also have inherent risks, especially in a space as competitive as multiplayer shooters. Was it always the plan to handle the game’s release as you did? What led to the decision to take this approach?
Our plan from the beginning was to release Blindfire in early access and involve the community right from the start. The opportunity to partner with the Xbox Game Preview program came about more by happenstance than design. Since we work on multiple projects with Microsoft, we’re in regular conversations with them, and when we showed them the Blindfire concept, they were really enthusiastic. They asked if we’d considered bringing the game to Xbox, which sparked the initial conversation.
Not long after, the game was shown to the team curating the Xbox Partner Preview showcase in October, and they saw its potential to stand out. Things moved quickly from there. While it was a challenge to prepare an early access version across multiple platforms in a relatively short timeframe, the opportunity for that kind of visibility- a shadow-drop during such a high-profile event- was something we couldn’t pass up.
It was really cool for the team to see Blindfire in the showcase, alongside some of the most exciting up-and-coming games from all around the world. We had a watch party in the office. It’s a moment we’ll never forget.
Blindfire has a fascinating core hook. The idea of a multiplayer shooter played in the dark seems a simple one, but one that just grabs you more and more as you think about it. Can you talk to us about how that idea first came about, and how challenging it was to ensure that you could actually translate it into fun gameplay?
The idea for Blindfire came from quite an unusual source. Every couple of months, I run an event with my team called a “Shatterday.” It’s a design exercise where I split the developers into small, multidisciplinary teams and give them obscure design challenges to tackle. Each team brainstorms their potential concept before pitching it back to me and the others.
The twist is that these challenges are generated through a sort of “choose your own adventure” system, where the teams select random elements that must be incorporated into their pitch. On this particular Shatterday, one team ended up with a challenge that read: “What if you had to design an FPS where the only way to see the environment and the enemies was to shoot them?”. What they came back with was Blindfire, essentially fully formed.
When the team pitched the concept, it struck an instant chord with me. The simplicity and purity of the idea felt incredibly special- it had that rare quality of being so clear yet filled with potential. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. A few weeks later, I developed it into a full pitch and presented it to the Double Eleven board. Somewhat surprisingly, they also saw the potential, and by the end of the presentation, everyone was already throwing out ideas for weapons, traps, and mechanics. Something about the concept just demands to be built upon.
We had the core gameplay prototyped within a couple of weeks, and playtesting amongst the team revealed that it was just as fun as we’d hoped. Interestingly, that core experience has barely changed from what we initially developed to what players can play today.
Shatterday itself is meant as a training exercise to push the team out of their comfort zones as designers and improve their pitching skills, not as a viable product generator. Blindfire was a happy accident in that regard- a very welcome one, as it turns out.
"The moment you fire your weapon, your muzzle flash lights you up for everyone to see. Shooting, which is the aim of an FPS, becomes inherently dangerous."
Carefully making your way through the dark and trying to find enemies while remaining hidden yourself gives Blindfire a very different moment-to-moment feel for a multiplayer shooter. What sort of challenges did that pose from a balancing perspective, which can be particularly important in a multiplayer experience?
The core hook of Blindfire, and what I love most about it, is the risk-reward nature of shooting in the dark. The moment you fire your weapon, your muzzle flash lights you up for everyone to see. Shooting, which is the aim of an FPS, becomes inherently dangerous- it’s one of those “so mad it might just work” kinda deals.
However, to balance that risk, if you hit your target, their suit lights up and stays illuminated for a little while, making them a bigger target than yourself and drawing the heat from you. This creates a really satisfying dynamic where calm, tactical players who rely on their senses- particularly their hearing- can pinpoint an opponent with precision and take them out undetected.
Because sound plays such a pivotal role, our outstanding audio team went above and beyond to make the 3D positional audio as precise and immersive as possible. We wanted players to have the confidence to eliminate someone without needing to see them at all, and I think they’ve done a phenomenal job of achieving that. They worked so hard to pull that off.
That being said, navigation in complete darkness presents its own challenges. To get around this, we introduced the ‘Echo’ ability. Echo provides a brief outline of the environment, giving players a moment of clarity to plan their next moves with a bit more certainty. Even more importantly, if you use Echo in range of an enemy, you’ll see an outline of their last known position. This helps players make calculated shots while still preserving the game’s sense of tension and danger.
Balancing these elements was no small feat, but I think we’ve struck a great equilibrium between the thrill of the unknown and the satisfaction of executing a well-planned take down.
While players compete in the dark, spectators who have died can watch with night vision goggles, where environments take on an entirely different look. The game already has a very distinctive look when everything’s pitch black, but spectators get to see perhaps an even more eye-popping version of it. What was behind the decision to make this distinction? How did you land on the game’s overall look?
One of the big challenges for our art team was figuring out how to give the game a distinctive visual identity when most of the gameplay happens in total darkness. It wasn’t an easy task as you might imagine- how on earth do you create a striking art style when player visibility is intentionally limited?
The solution came in the form of blacklights and UV street art. In the darkness of the arenas, UV lighting can reveal a hidden world of neon colours and vibrant designs, not just in the environments, but on the players’ avatars as well. This approach allowed us to inject a lot of personality into the game’s presentation while staying true to the darkness in the gameplay’s core.
I absolutely love the duality it creates- there’s the pitch-black tension during gameplay, and then there’s this explosion of colour and vibrancy when the bullets start flying. It’s a style that’s so uniquely Blindfire, and it’s a credit to the incredible creativity of our art team. They really smashed it.
What are your current plans for supporting Blindfire? What should players expect from content additions and updates, and the cadence at which these updates will be released?
We’re hitting the ground running with our first content update going live at the end of November. This update introduces a brand-new game mode, Kill Race- a pitchblack variant of the classic Deathmatch- along with new weapons and features like global leaderboards. It’s an exciting start to what we plan to be a steady stream of updates during early access.
Our approach is to balance regular bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements with meaningful content drops. The goal is to release substantial updates roughly every couple of months, with smaller updates in between to keep things fresh and to keep us responsive to player requests.
We want to build a real community around Blindfire. Our roadmap is available on our website and on our Discord server, and we regularly review and adjust it based on the feedback we receive from fans. Community input is essential in the development of multiplayer games in my opinion and early access allows those players to feel involved in the future of the game which I love. I want Blindfire to grow into a game that players can feel deeply invested in.
Roughly how long do you intend to remain in early access?
It’s a bit of a cliché answer I guess but the legitimate answer is “as long as it takes”- we want to give Blindfire the time it needs to grow and morph as the community sees fit so that it can reach its true potential. I have a solid idea of what v1.0 looks like, but it means nothing if it’s not what the players want. So we’ll stay flexible and keep things open to adaptation based on the appetite of our community.
There’s no real rush. Our focus is on getting it right and creating something truly special. Early access gives us the perfect opportunity to fine-tune the game alongside the players who know it best.
"Balancing these elements was no small feat, but I think we’ve struck a great equilibrium between the thrill of the unknown and the satisfaction of executing a well-planned take down."
As a developer, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro? How does boost in GPU help in developing your game compared to the base PS5?
First off, I’m a lifetime PlayStation fan, so I can’t wait to get hold of a PS5 Pro. In terms of Blindfire, we haven’t specifically discussed a PS5 Pro enhanced version as of yet, but it’s definitely something we’re interested in working on down the line.
As a developer, typically more power means more possibilities. A significant boost in performance opens up opportunities to enhance things like visual fidelity, improved frame rates etc.
I’m looking forward to the chance for console players to experience Blindfire at similar settings to our highest PC configuration, with smoother performance and unlocked frame rates. It can only make the game feel that much better.
What are your thoughts on PSSR? What kind of opportunities will this open for the game?
PSSR is really exciting technology, and it’s definitely something that could massively enhance Blindfire, especially given how integral sound is to the game’s design.
While I’m not an audio designer myself, I can see the potential for PSSR to elevate the audio experience even further. For example, with its improved ability to place sounds more precisely in space, PSSR could allow us to enhance the positional audio, making it even easier for players to detect the exact direction of an enemy’s footsteps or the subtle sound of a weapon being reloaded or shells hitting the ground.
I have endless faith in our incredibly talented audio team, so I know they will be able to work wonders with it. I guarantee they’ll want to dive into this tech as soon as possible. Honestly, I’m excited to see how it could push the game’s sound design even further.
What resolution and frame rates will the game target on the Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PS5 Pro?
My ethos has always been that if it’s a contentious decision, you should probably just make it a setting and give the power over to the player. The age of game designers dictating how best to play their games is long over. With that in mind we wanted to give the players the choice to decide how they want to play, which is why we’ve included both Performance and Quality modes on the console version of the game.
A quick rundown of the impact of these settings is as follows:
- PS5 Performance Mode: 1080p, 60fps
- PS5 Quality Mode: 4K, 30fps
- Xbox Series X Performance Mode: 1080p, 60fps
- Xbox Series X Quality Mode: 4K, 30fps
- Xbox Series S Performance Mode: 1080p, 60fps
- Xbox Series S Quality Mode: 1440p, 30fps
Performance Mode typically results in the smooth, responsive gameplay a lot of players demand from an FPS, with a 60fps target. Quality Mode offers a visually more impressive experience at higher resolutions, but at the cost of overall FPS.
We are always working hard on optimising Blindfire to improve fidelity and performance. We evaluate our Performance and Quality modes regularly to see where we can push the overall experience across all platforms.
While we don’t have official PS5 Pro support yet, we’re keen to see how far we can push the boat out on the new machine as soon as possible.