Update — 25 October 2026: SHADOWFRAG now includes Shogun conquest, Shogun Highlands and Precision Dojo. Read why we describe it as a Movement FPS and explore the current 21-map roster.
SHADOWFRAG started as ninja instagib: one hit kills an unprotected opponent, so landing a shot matters and movement makes that shot harder to line up. As I added a bow, other projectiles and team objectives, I found that the same movement could support a much broader game.
A leap might help you close on an archer, escape with a flag or reach a scroll. The weapon waiting at the other end changes what you do when you arrive. I wanted players to keep using what they had learned about movement as the match around them changed.
Building around shared movement
I made the map, objective, weapons and protection rules separate choices. That lets me revisit a familiar arena with a different question: how does it play when every unprotected rail hit kills, when a kill restores a shield, or when a projectile requires you to aim ahead of a moving opponent? The jumps remain shared, while access to shadow grenades can be configured separately.
Some of the work needed to support that is less visible. Mouse input has no smoothing and is not multiplied by the time taken to draw a frame. The client responds to your movement immediately through prediction, and the server checks it using the same movement rules. Practice uses a real client/server connection too, so learning a route offline also exercises the systems used in multiplayer.
Renaming the project on October 19 brought another practical job: carrying existing player profiles into the new package. I preserved the original profile data and checked the package and launcher together. A player who had already tuned their settings should be able to keep them under the new name.
A development build with room to grow
The build described in the original version of this post had 20 maps, practice bots, private hosting, direct connection and Map Studio. Windows and Linux were the active platforms. The 64-player limit, including bots, came from testing after the rename; that testing has its own entry.
This was still a game in development, with Steam integration, broader Internet testing and release qualification ahead. The part that made me want to keep building was already there: colorful arenas where learning a route gives you another way to approach a fight. The guided tour shows how the movement and combat fit together.