Predecessor interview with Robbie Singh: Harnessing the power of community
When Paragon launched in 2016, it was Epic Games’ attempt at cracking the MOBA genre, to compete with the likes of League of Legends. Throughout the few years the game operated, it managed to gather a community of dedicated fans who loved everything about it. Unfortunately, for the Paragon community, Epic Games was developing another game at the time. The other game was Fortnite.
Due to the overwhelming reception to Fortnite, Epic Games made the difficult decision to end development on Paragon, shifting their focus over to the battle royale. Paragon was struggling to find an equal audience, and a choice had to be made. With hindsight, we know this was the right move - Fortnite has gone on to become a billion dollar platform, and one of the biggest games of all-time. This left millions of fans wanting, as their new favourite MOBA was shuttered.
Thankfully, after ending production, Epic Games took an unprecedented step. The company also owns and runs the Unreal Engine platform, used to create thousands of games each year. The creatives decided to publish all Paragon assets via the Unreal Engine platform, making them free-to-use for anyone designing a game within the game engine. This meant that community creators, professionals, modders, could all use character assets, textures, animations, VFX, and much more.
For a few members of the Paragon community, this was key to starting a new journey. It feels like a trite metaphor nowadays, but the roots of Paragon would soon rise like a phoenix from the ashes as Predecessor. Developed by Omeda Studios, Predecessor picks up where Paragon left off, delivering a 3D, third-person, MOBA using the basis of the Epic Games game, and excelling as its own thing.
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It all started with a conversation between Robbie Singh, and a few other members of the Paragon community. Robbie had made a name for himself as a Paragon content creator, playing the game consistently, improving his skills, creating clips, and engaging with the game every day. Robbie was using YouTube to build his own community, finding himself as a key player in the world of Paragon. However, as the game ended, Robbie was left without his favourite game, and after chatting with others, the decision was made to shift from content creation to game creation.
“I really loved that game, and I thought they were building something truly special,” said Robbie as we sat down to talk about everything Paragon and Predecessor. He continued, touching on his content creation, hitting this stumbling block, “that was a dark day for my content creation, but it was [also] the first time I had really seen how passionate people were about a video game being shut down.”
Robbie started getting a lot of comments from fans of Paragon on his YouTube channel, saying how much they loved the game and were sorry to see it shutting down. Many reflected on how it had positively impacted their life, and this got Robbie thinking, “there's something really special here.” Of course, Robbie wasn’t the only one thinking this, as he explained, “as it happened, I guess a few other people also thought the same thing, and decided that when Epic Games released the assets, they would try and build something on top of those.”
It was here, in these discussions, that Robbie met his co-founders of Omeda Studios, and the idea of creating a new third-person perspective MOBA was born. “We spoke a little bit about what I was looking for, what I thought was really special about the game,” says Robbie. After long talks, it seems together they aligned on concepts and “saw massive potential for a MOBA of this kind.”
Key to Omeda’s story is the community they have fostered from Paragon, and continue to build upon. That community of players always saw Paragon as a success, but as Robbie explains, “It just wasn't a Fortnite level success, and naturally, as a company, you have to pick and choose where you can allocate your resources. And I think today, we think of Epic Games as a massive company, but they were much smaller back then.” It’s his belief that had Epic Games continued on with Paragon it could have garnered more success, though it still would never reach the levels of Fortnite, because how could it?
I wanted to know why Omeda Studios decided to pursue another MOBA, rather than a single player experience using the assets and world of Paragon. “I believe there's a massive gap in the market where I think there deserves to be a third-person MOBA that feels truly immersive,” says Robbie, “From day one, I wanted to build a third-person MOBA, I like the characters, and I really was attached to them.” So, the team started on Predecessor, pulling in vital parts of what came before, expanding on others, and cutting back what didn’t work for Paragon.
Omeda Studios wanted the new MOBA to appeal to a wide audience, however, they decided to pass over the mobile market, despite knowing the genre tends to flourish there. Bringing the game to PC was always on the cards, but the genre doesn’t have a great deal of competition on Xbox and PlayStation. The team started small, and as Robbie says, “we really had to choose our battles, right? So we started with PC, and then when we raised more funding, we were able to deliver the game on console.”
Even then, it wasn’t smooth sailing. Robbie speaks fondly of the community accepting the team’s ideas and work ethic, saying, “There was a bit of time when we couldn't really deliver as many features that we wanted to. We were only so big, and we could only do a few things at a time. I think our audience have been great, they really played the game out of love.”
As Robbie talks about the early days, he explains that they weren’t “shipping a lot of content into the game” and this was because of the heightened focus on the console version. Key to the community acceptance was the company’s openness. As Robbie goes on to explain, “we've always been pretty transparent with our audience, telling them, ‘Hey, this is where the focus is at the moment. So this you know you may not get the things that you want, but know that we're kind of building towards a better future.’”
It’s a topic we kept returning to during our conversation. Community is key, and when developers accept and appreciate that, the game they produce can grow. Omeda Studios is grateful that their audience allows them room to breathe and create something special. I wondered what Robbie’s thoughts were on seeing so many live-service games being shut down nowadays. Are some companies too quick to shut down these games? Robbie replied, “I sometimes think, especially with live service games, they need a bit of time in player's hands. Then you need to iterate.”
Reflecting on the early days of Predecessor, Robbie explains, “we were fortunate enough that we had a very engaged community [on day one]. But, when we did our first Predecessor alpha play test, which was 2018 around 2019, the game was awful.” Continuing, he said that after this initial reaction, the team knew they had to restart. This was achieved through the community’s guidance and feedback. It’s with this in mind, that Robbie believes companies need to give games room to grow.
While Predecessor is Omeda Studio’s first game, he advises that “once you launch a game, you should probably allocate another six to 12 months of that feedback loop with your community. Find the people that are extremely passionate about your game, and listen to them.” It’s hard to ignore that so many games have come and gone over the past few years. Producing games, especially in a multiplayer or live-service space, is a huge gamble nowadays. There are so many games, and only so much time on players’ hands. It’s not always possible to give them time to breathe, but sometimes it’s vital.
As Robbie touches on, “there are great examples of games that kind of just bubbled along and then, boom, they popped because of a new update or a feature or something that people really resonate with.” This is the attitude Omeda Studios is taking with their game, they want to continue patching and updating, bringing new features, never giving up. Robbie sums up their thoughts, “there’s a saying, right? You don’t want to be three feet away from gold and stop digging.”
Despite this, Robbie and the team know that what they’re creating will always be a roll of the dice. They’re a new company, learning the ropes as they build, and this means there are lots of significant hurdles to leap over. After asking him what some of the important lessons learned have been, Robbie notes that it began by asking questions - “how do you even make things feel good? How do you make characters feel good? How does the sound impact the way a player perceives it, alongside the visuals?”
It began with giving players a sense of impact and weight to their actions. Making the game feel visceral, and tangible, creating a sense of power in the heroes they would be controlling. This was tricky, because Omeda Studios was shifting a traditionally top-down genre into a 3D space. To truly deliver a great play experience, the studio brought in playtesters who had never touched a MOBA before and watched them interact with Predecessor.
When the players were getting stuck in, the development team watched closely. Robbie details what they looked for, “[we wanted to know] are there things that, before they even get into the game, they struggle with? The UI? The core experience?” But how do you sell a player on a genre they’ve never played? Or one that is traditionally suited to mobile or PC settings?
“[It’s] very hard,” admits Robbie, “even though people playing on console may not have access to a MOBA, most people have heard of MOBAs because of how big they are on other platforms.” It’s hard to find a player who hasn’t heard of League of Legends, or DOTA 2, but what pulls those players into Predecessor? Omeda Studios believes the key is the third-person perspective, creating more of an ‘action game feel.’
Robbie describes the concept simply, “it's a team game, where you can strategise, and you have these unique characters with unique abilities. You kind of come together as a team to defeat another team of five, however, the cool thing about it, compared to other hero shooters, is, as you play the game, you acquire gold, which you can use to buy items that further customize your heroes, adapting your hero's play style over the course of the game.”
It’s a great elevator pitch, and it’s one that should appeal to those who are looking for something akin to a hero shooter like Overwatch or Marvel Rivals, but with some dynamic play, over longer matches, and detailed tactics powering it all. None of that would sound too surprising to a player of League or DOTA, but the extra hook here, I suppose, is the ability to sit on your sofa and play on the TV, using the console’s communication features and online structure for simplicity.
This is something Robbie is keen to emphasise, saying, “I started playing video games on a console, sitting back on my couch and playing on a screen. And so to me, I thought, there has to be a MOBA here, so that people who want to just chill, relax on the couch and play. This is the game that they should play, in my opinion, and so that's what we try to deliver.”
But how does a MOBA translate to a console? The genre is often bogged down (and that’s not a negative) by intricate positioning, exploration, and battlefield views designed for a top-down perspective. The solution was to make the gameplay feel familiar to other action games, and our conversation cycled back to Fortnite. “Everyone's played Fortnite on a PlayStation,” says Robbie, “it's, like, the most popular game. And so the player says, ‘Oh, the perspective is the same as Fortnite.’” Omeda Studios wants Predecessor to feel “like any third-person shooter,” but “it just so happens that the gameplay loop is a MOBA.”
It’s hard to deny Robbie’s passion. Something that he once utilised on his YouTube videos and Twitch streams - something he still communicates via social media. It’s easy to disregard things studio owners say sometimes, as players can feel like it’s all a sales pitch, but Robbie came to Predecessor because his passion was fuelled by his favourite game closing, and that passion has shifted to his own vision - one that brings a game to a likewise passionate community.
The future of Predecessor is limitless, and as the game expands, the development team are keen to tap into an overarching narrative and story for players to follow in the incremental updates. Though this wasn’t always part of the plan, it’s happening because the community wanted more. “People were becoming more invested in the story,” Robbie comments, “So now, when we survey users, one of the top three requests from them is always the story and lore.”
This has pushed the team into looking at their heroes differently. Omeda Studios began hiring new talent with the purpose of expanding their universe. “We're doing it strategically. So we're seeding some story pieces here and there, and then we do community events. The most recent one, for one of our characters, who is a space cop, got a crime scene. We posted the crime scene to our audience so they can investigate the crime scene alongside the hero.”
The game’s latest character, Boris, is a huge cybernetic bear that packs a punch. This comes alongside a new push to give players more rewards for their time spent in-game. After receiving feedback from the audience, Omeda Studios decided to reward players with Loot Cores, the game’s lootbox, which will bestow premium items for time played, rather than currency. So far, the reception has been positive, and Robbie sees this as another success formed out of listening to players and their wants. These daily rewards will be given to all players after many reported “they really feel like there should be systems that value their time,” and Omeda agreed.
Robbie is cautious to always listen when the players speak; this comes from his time as a content creator, where community is integral to success and growth. Though, he never saw his career taking this turn. After years of simply playing games, he’s now responsible for making one being played by over two millions players, and that comes with challenges. Not only the challenge of making a great game, but building the studio alongside it, growing together.
“This is hard work, especially with live service games functioning 24/7,” explains Robbie. He continues discussing the challenges of juggling game and studio - “[we’re] trying to build a company with a really great culture, and find the right talent as well.” - and he looks to the future, discussing how the company is looking to expand Predecessor into Asian markets.
Before we wrapped up our chat, we couldn’t help coming back to the community of Predecessor, and Robbie was eager to sing their praises, and never understated that Omeda Studios wouldn’t be building the game without their dedicated players. “I think with a live service game, you're constantly proving you're only as good as your last patch. And so we're always looking at like, do we really understand what our players want?” said Robbie, as he reflects further saying that members of that community are actually helping build the game. “Most of the people that I hired were from the community. So game designers came from the community, and they were people that during my Paragon era, were coaching me on how to play better, and utilise hero builds.” Who better to help design the core mechanics?
“We still continue to bring people in from the community, especially in roles like QA,” says Robbie, “everyone's already so passionate about the game, you just have this really great environment where everyone just wants what's best for Predecessor.” With one last comment on the game’s playerbase, Robbie said, “if you can build a really great relationship with your players or your community, it'll help a lot. And obviously, then, a lot of people want you to succeed as well. They're always rooting for you.”
Predecessor is available to play on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Microsoft Windows via Steam and Epic Games. For more information, visit www.predecessorgame.com.
Topics: Interview, Features, Xbox, PlayStation, PC