Today Jason Citron, founder of OpenFeint, is revealing an early look at Fates Forever – the first game from his tablet-only company, Hammer & Chisel. Fates Forever is a reinterpretation of the world’s most popular hardcore game, League of Legends, reimagined as tablet-only. Designed solely to be experienced on tablets, not smartphones or PCs, the game employs unique mechanics never before used in the genre. For the first time, players will be able to literally touch their heroes and execute fun and visceral special moves not possible with a keyboard and mouse.
“I love hardcore games and I love mobile games – a space I’ve been involved with since day one,” said Citron, founding craftsman of Hammer & Chisel. “I’ve been watching the next-gen consoles floundering while most people are buying and spending time on tablets. I really want to show the world what a great game in the post-PC era looks like.”
Hammer & Chisel’s goal is to be the Blizzard of the post-PC era. To do this, the company is creating a hardcore gaming experience designed exclusively for tablets. Fates Forever combines respectful, modern monetization techniques with traditional, deep game design. The game takes advantage of the unique characteristics of touchscreens and pushes the limits of what’s possible on a tablet. For example, one character’s special move is triggered using a swipe mechanic. Another character uses flicking gestures to activate its special moves.
Citron believes that touchscreen devices, especially tablets, are replacing consoles as the primary medium for strategic and competitive gaming. The game developer community is following Citron in his post-PC ambitions. In a poll taken during the 2013 Game Developers Conference last March, 58 percent of gaming professionals said they plan to release their next game on a tablet or smartphone. About 11 percent said they’d develop on the Xbox One and around the same amount intend to develop on the PlayStation 4.
Hammer & Chisel was first announced last July when it closed $1.1 million in funding from top Silicon Valley investors including YouWeb, Accel Partners, and General Catalyst Partners. For the past year Citron and team have been building Fates Forever from the ground up, and intend to launch this summer.
