Panty Thief and Project Xandata make an appearance in this year’s ESGS!

Last October 28-30, we participated in one of Southeast Asia’s biggest gaming events, the E-sports and Gaming Summit (ESGS). The event gathered games, game developers, gamers, and personalities that ranged from casual, hardcore, indie, local, and international. It was a momentous event as it was our first time to exhibit our original IPs. We’ve been brewing our original IPs over the past few years and have always wanted to exhibit these games in events such as ESGS. We prepared Panty Thief, our second mobile release, and made the public announcement of Project Xandata, a multi-player, fast-paced first-person shooter.

We were both excited and anxious in exhibiting, but throughout the event, we received great support and steady participation with our games. We were thrilled to see our original IPs so well-received by the attendees. We also have our academic partner, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (CSB), and sponsors Redfox Technologies and PCworx, to thank for supporting us and making our exhibit a success.

Project Xandata had a smooth run throughout the event on the Alienware’s that were kindly provided by CSB. Beyond the event, the academic partnership with CSB will strengthen the relationship of academe and industry in the field of game development. Aside from having numerous CSB alumni on staff, we are proud to say that CSB students have been part of the development of Project Xandata’s public alpha. They have been part of 3D art assets creation for the game, showcasing their talent in 3d art. There is more to come for the partnership in the coming year.

In a hail of bullets, rockets, wind and lightning, Project Xandata entered ESGS with its first public alpha playtest. Players of all levels and backgrounds lined up for a turn to play the game and beset the booth on all sides with spectacle and awe. Project Xandata captivated onlookers with its flashy graphics and kept them hooked with its fast-paced, thrilling gameplay.
Developed on Unreal Engine 4, Project Xandata is the studio’s entry in the first-person shooter genre. Players take the role of Xandats – champions in powered armor imbued with elemental capabilities from superweapons of an ancient time. The ESGS floor show was host to the first taste of Team Deathmatch, a staple game mode in the genre where the team that scores the most kills after a 10-minute round is declared the winner.
Project Xandata stands out in the genre with the level of customization players can have for their character. Loadout customization involves both weapons and abilities. Players choose three weapon from a wide selection. The primary weapon, for bread and butter combat. The secondary weapon for more specialized situations (a sniper rifle for ranged combat, or a shotgun for close quarters). And lastly, a heavy weapon to easily wipe out multiple enemies, that is if they can get dibs on the ammo.
Loadouts would also involve choosing four skills: a class-specific skill, a melee ability, a grenade and an ultimate skill. These choices are further deepened by a choice of Elemental God Material (G-Mat for short) to infuse with players’ Xandat Armor, adding new element-themed choices to each category or enhance existing ones with elemental properties. This level of customization allows a healthy amount of role-playing to be added to the game, opening up the field for all kinds of tricks and strategies to be employed.
As of ESGS, only the Marksman class is available out of the six planned classes (the next two are currently in development). The Marksman is all about skillful gunplay and was designed to be very accessible to anyone who has played an FPS before.
Two choices of G-Mats were also available on the floor show: Galura Wind turned the player’s grenades into vacuum grenades, holding any unfortunate victim in place for a short time before exploding. The Lightning-based Malandoq Blade turns them into charged grenades with electromagnetism, allowing them cling to surfaces before explodes three times. providing cover and control over an area.
The public alpha session gave everyone a good taste of what the game offers, which quickly garnered a following with visitors coming back for more. Everyone, from light-hearted casual gamers to the hardened veterans of the genre, to even those not familiar with first-person shooters joined the battlefield. After a quick rundown of the basic controls, players got the hang of it quickly, and thrust themselves into the fray with the other players. With the grand reception we received, we had player after player lining up to sign-up for our weekend events, the first ever Xandata Tournament and the Challenge the Devs.

During the hot Saturday afternoon, the competition turned up the heat even more, with guns blazing from our 8 participating 4-man teams. After a grueling climb to prove themselves the most dominant Xandata-wielders, Team WASD took home the cash prize and Xandata goodies.

Out of all the players, one would expect the developers themselves to be the most well-versed with the game, so what would make Sunday more challenging than to battle the devs themselves? Brave contestants from all around signed up for the 2v2 and 4v4 categories, with those rising to the challenge and successfully defeating the devs claiming victory as well as the coveted prizes.
Development of the game will continue to a full release. Aside from the completion of the planned classes, future features include more game modes, customizable armor, passive skill trees, as well as interchangeable weapon perks. We hope to roll these out as we feature the game again in future conventions. Get ready to be weaponized! Like and stay tuned to the Project Xandata Facebook page and the Secret 6, Inc. Facebook page for more updates!

For our mobile IPs, we’ve been holding internal game jams for the past two years, which cultivated many fresh and crazy game ideas. Panty Thief was a result of one such internal game jam. Through months of further development, it became polished and ready for release on iOS and Android back in July of this year. It was perfect to showcase this game as part of our exhibit, and the team already has a lot of ideas on how to promote it on ground.

We collaborated with Redfox Technologies to bring Panty Thief to the audience in our booth. The game was powered by their Wizpad 101, running the game efficiently throughout. It was a sight to see people being competitive in stealing panties and getting slapped a lot in-game. Scaling floor after floor was worth it, it got them their panty headgears along with lots of stickers. But until now, the high score of 4210 Panty Points still cannot be beat! Panty Thief updates can always be found here in the Panty Thief Facebook page!

Like Panty Thief, the other mini-feature originating from a game jam, was S.O.A.P. or Scrubbing Old Adorable People. S.O.A.P was powered by Redfox’s PC stick, and displayed through Redfox’s TV monitor. The PC stick is controlled by a remote-controller that is waved in front of the TV. This made the scrubbing part a challenge for the game. It was a delight to see people laughing and enjoying the game as they played.

It was a great experience to be part of such a big gaming event in the country. It was a weekend of panty headgears walking around, fast-paced first person action, and all things gaming. A huge congratulations to the teams that worked so hard on the games. Thank you to everyone who dropped by the booth, giving feedback and supporting our games. Panty Thief and Project Xandata’s first step into the gaming scene was a huge success, with a big thanks in part to our partners and sponsors.

Watch out for Secret 6 in ESGS 2017, and some other events secretly being planned!