Redefining FPS Games with Shrapnel Head Don Norbury

Don Norbury is the head of the studio at Shrapnel, a blockchain-enabled FPS game that is redefining how we play and own our games. Don has worked on many genre-defining video games including Bioshock and Sunset Overdrive. We had the pleasure of hosting a slogging AMA for Don and his community.

Jack BorehamApr 13, 2022, 2:53 PM

Hey @channel, please join me in welcoming our next AMA guest, Don Norbury.

Don Norbury is Head of Studio at http://www.shrapnel.com, the first blockchain-enabled moddable FPS game. From the genre-defining franchises of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Bioshock, Sunset Overdrive, and Crackdown, to the sports superstars Madden NFL and NASCAR, Don has redefined creative boundaries across platforms and player experience for over a decade.

You can ask him anything about:

Jack BorehamApr 13, 2022, 2:55 PM

Hi, Don Norbury, so great to have you with us! I would love to start by knowing more about your background and story!

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 3:42 PM

Hey Jack Boreham - thanks for having me! Always a pleasure to share the story and vision for Shrapnel with curious minds.

My story started back in the late 80's with a game called Think Quick that let you build your own maps and puzzles - but it wouldn't be until much later after studying computing in college that I would formalize that creative desire into a career and landed at EA Tiburon working on Madden NFL and starting my interest in gameplay and A.I. systems. I had been building my own game campaign using the Neverwinter Nights toolset at the time and they were apparently impressed enough to let me in the door. Over the following 17 years I moved across the industry from building teams and studios and into Publishing leadership.

After sports games at EA I moved to film franchises at Lucasarts working on Indiana Jones and Star Wars primarily focused on A.I.... then built the team and architecture from the ground-up for Bioshock Infinite (I think I was team member #6 or so for that project) at Irrational Games in Boston.

I spent the following 6 years in Global Publishing at Xbox within Microsoft - which was a fantastic way to gain business acumen and learn to juggle multiple titles. I was the lead for Sunset Overdrive and Crackdown 3 - but also assisted where necessary on titles like Ryse, Quantum Break, and Age of Empires.

Finally - life somehow put me in front of some very talented people from HBO's Interactive and Immersive Experiences team - which is where I met and worked with the people who are now the founders of NEON. We did both publishing and R&D in that organization - and when AT&T acquired Warner Media we started planning our exit and what we were going to do next.

We had the genius timing of founding NEON right before the pandemic - but as you can see: our amazing team held to that challenge. We did some virtual production work and had working products from HBO on the slate - and about a year ago was the inception of what is now the Shrapnel studio and project.

matveyolaApr 13, 2022, 4:35 PM

Do you have any specific plans for near future?

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 4:41 PM

We have a ton going on right now - primarily focused on delivering the phases outlined in the Roadmap on the site and in the whitepaper.

The team is operating in distinct swimlanes with crossovers that are: Game, Platform, Economy, Marcom, Experience, Creator Tools, and Partnerships.

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 4:43 PM

Our desire is to get creator tools into the community hands as quickly as possible - so much of the prioritization (including team structure and hiring) has been focused on how we make that happen properly. You can see the roadmap phases here: https://www.shrapnel.com/roadmap

LORDGUZLIKApr 13, 2022, 4:45 PM

When is the game expected to release? For the gameplay itself - we're preparing a playable experience for the community to engage with and give feedback on - which will include incentivization rewards for playing.

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 4:45 PM

We're not announcing a specific release date yet. And really - we'll be releasing in incremental phases in a program called Shrapnel Operator Qualifier

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 4:50 PM

Our game and platform is based on the ethos of community ownership, creation, and participation. The goal of Shrapnel is to eventually be entirely governed and operated in a decentralized manner. The development, iteration, release, and evolution of Shrapnel will adhere to that ethos as well,

matveyolaApr 13, 2022, 4:53 PM

As I understood, players will have an opportunity to create equipment for operators. That's why, I have a question - won't it be bad for balance in game? Maybe some guys can create enormous cool weapon.

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 4:54 PM

A.I. systems primarily. I'm also a fan of all things Lucasfilm - so it was a walking dream to be surrounding by all the film memorabilia every day. Concept plates... original costumes... the compositing camera they used for Empire... it was kinda nutty.

InternetdoughApr 13, 2022, 4:54 PM

What progress have you guys made on the game and the back end

LORDGUZLIKApr 13, 2022, 4:56 PM

Will you ever arrange a community call?

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 4:57 PM

They will not be able to modify gameplay-affecting intrinsic attributes that would imbalance the game. Gameplay tuning is an extremely hairy space and we will be maintaining balance as an ongoing effort based on analyzing telemetry from session data and making calls about necessary changes in what we refer to as a "War Room" every day.

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 4:59 PM

We are in early development - ensuring elements like ballistics, traversal, TTK, session-loop, meta, etc. are in a fun place before we drop the client on the community and start gathering feedback on the game itself. We're also working on a gameplay trailer so the community can have a more tactile idea of the pace, style, etc. previous to that point.

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 5:00 PM

- Sorry I don't follow - do you mean like a townhall in our discord?

LORDGUZLIKApr 13, 2022, 5:03 PM

Something like meeting in voice chat, where founders talking about their progress

Warbeast - ShrapnelApr 13, 2022, 5:03 PM

I have a question about modding and tools. Do we need a specific skillset or can anyone do it? And to what extent can we modd maps? Don Norbury

InternetdoughApr 13, 2022, 5:04 PM

I think what lordguzlik meant was that will you arrange an ama that is voice based?

LORDGUZLIKApr 13, 2022, 5:05 PM

Yep, something like that.

FractalApr 13, 2022, 5:09 PM

On the idea of ownership, do we have IP rights on items and maps we make using the creation tool? And in addition, will there be IP rights associated with any characters?

matveyolaApr 13, 2022, 5:09 PM

Will enemy NPC be in a game or we will just PVP with other operators?

InternetdoughApr 13, 2022, 5:10 PM

Think they addressed that in the whitepapers

InternetdoughApr 13, 2022, 5:12 PM

My second question is, will you drop like a male collection first and after that a female collection? Or is it just like all the genders in one collection.

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 5:12 PM

Yes! We'll be starting regular townhalls very shortly for the Discord community to get regular updates (and ask questions)

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 5:14 PM

Fractal - You'll have IP rights to your own creations. "Characters" are a combination of a base avatar plus gear/vanity. The piece that's creator-tool-based is the vanity/adornment part - so not the "character" all up per say, but instead the individual components on them.

FractalApr 13, 2022, 5:18 PM

Don Norbury thanks, sounds good. Also, what can you tell me about the comic book series being made?

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 5:19 PM

There are non-player enemies. We're currently playing with the scope of these. I spent about 6 years as an A.I. lead in gaming so I have... opinions. 😆 But ultimately the call on the initial form of these combatants and how they evolve over time will be determined by our game team and production. We're actually talking with a couple behavior capture companies that can essentially enable something like "drivatars" but for shooter NPCs so we can enable extremely believable A.I. combatants with player capabilities. But ultimately - IMO - most of the really interesting A.I. is crafted entirely for the player experience (as part of the experience instead of just something like a player) with movement, abilities, etc. that are unique and interesting.

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 5:29 PM

Fractal and - I think I can answer both your lines of questioning at the same time (if I'm interpreting properly). Our team comes from a transmedia background - so we're deeply involved in world, story, and character building across all available forms of media from the very beginning of the project.

We've laid out the kernel of Shrapnel to the community on the site and in the whitepaper - but there is obviously much more story to tell (and the community will eventually become an enormous part of that story). The comics series tells the stories of 5 individual characters from different parts of the world around the time-frame of the actual Shrapnel lunar impact event from their perspectives and intertwined with their own personal drama.

The Operators NFT series is tied to the comics - with each character represented as a limited-run series to be released with a bundle of utility related to community, the game, and the comics themselves. The exact details around release timing and cadence will be revealed soon!

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 5:31 PM

Warbeast - Shrapnel - Fantastic question. The tools will span a range from extremely accessible to more complex/professional grade - depending both on what type of content you're making and how deeply you want to get into the creation process. The tool capabilities are also tied to your Shrapnel Reputation - with tiers of unlocked capabilities provided to players/creators who have established themselves within the Shrapnel community.

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 5:34 PM

You'll be able to easily create - for example - your own Patch with your own brand and set of material expressions in an easy-to-use interface that you can wear (or trade)... with extra tooling and materials unlocked as you progress with creation. Likewise with maps - you can build more chunky modular pieces until graduating to more granular control over placement and prefab options - with the highest tier of creator being able to import custom prefabs for the rest of the community to use/trade/etc.

Warbeast - ShrapnelApr 13, 2022, 5:35 PM

Don Norbury what would you suggest for tools to learn so that we can be ready to be content creation in the future game? Also, how would you control that? Can I create, for example, cover for my operator or remove cover so it's more of an open map? Or is it not that specific ?

Warbeast - ShrapnelApr 13, 2022, 5:37 PM

Can I add physical obstacles for example? Or is it more of a skin creation and more on the aesthetics of things and how they look ?

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 5:38 PM

Warbeast - Shrapnel - Learning just typical map creation in Unreal is probably the most useful thing to do unless you're looking to get into art (in which case you'll want to pick up something like Blender and importing content into Unreal). For many of our asset classes you won't need any sort of professional skill... think Livery Editor from Forza.

Don NorburyApr 13, 2022, 5:39 PM

Warbeast - Shrapnel - It's both. Maps need to be differentiable from a gameplay/flow/lanes/no-mans-land/etc. perspective.

Warbeast - ShrapnelApr 13, 2022, 5:41 PM

Don Norbury Thank you for the answers. This is awesome

Limarc AmbalinaApr 14, 2022, 3:05 AM

This is super cool and I'm loving the art design. I'm very much into FPS games.

I'm a fan of the bioshock series so I just have to ask: what was it like working on Bioshock Infinite?

What lessons do you take from your time on such projects that have helped you with developing Shrapnel?

Don NorburyApr 14, 2022, 4:44 PM

Limarc Ambalina Thanks for the kind words! My time on Bioshock was formative in every way imaginable - creative and production process, architectural challenges, team building, etc. I could probably dedicate an AMA itself to the journey through that project. I'll talk about one creative (and team) element and one technical element.

I would say I learned that a successful creative process involves continuously questioning your own vision and quality bar, destroying what you made, and rebuilding it again. If you read anything about the Pixar process you'll see something similar there. We built that game 10 times over again - and as a result the tools and process had to be very slick to accommodate rapid iteration. Also you learn to pivot quickly... identifying which ideas are precious and which are tertiary (that you maybe though were critical) and leave your ego out of it. I learned how to do this myself and then how to guide others through that journey. As an example: we had an entire amazing PvE multiplayer mode that we had to cut to ensure single-player shipped. Going through that process personally (and quickly) and then supporting others through that same adventure was an enormous growing experience for me.

From a technical perspective, I learned that you only get to make about one big technical bet per year. You make tons over the course of the project - but only one BIG one - so you better make sure it's an absolute PILLAR for the game. For Bioshock Infinite, the first big bet was the floating world's technology. On the generation of console hardware we were developing for - you couldn't have giant pieces of moving geometry with gameplay on them (i.e. - needing to be physics integrated, have gameplay logic, etc.). So we basically built a system where everything was actually static and the movement transforms handled separately. On the rendering side that transform was applied and then there were hooks into gameplay and A.I. logic that allowed the rest of the game to understand what was "happening" movement wise. We extended the coordinate/vector/etc. system in the game so instead of (X,Y,Z) you had (X,Y,Z,R) - where R was the "frame of reference" you were in (the floating island or attack ship/barge or whatever). It was technically clever - but took about 6 months to implement and then tons of fallout bugs afterwards. Obviously: this was a PILLAR for the game and in retrospect completely worth it and the right call for that year's big bet.

Jack BorehamApr 19, 2022, 7:31 AM

Don Norbury, thanks so much for joining us on this AMA. Any final thoughts to wrap up this AMA?

Don NorburyApr 19, 2022, 6:01 PM

Jack Boreham Thanks for having me and allowing me to share our vision and plans for Shrapnel as a game, platform, and blockchain protocol for creation, discovery, and performance. If anything in here interested, you then check out our site at https://shrapnel.com or come join the community at https://discord.gg/shrapnel and keep up-to-date with the latest on our Twitter at https://twitter.com/playSHRAPNEL. I'm always happy to chat and answer questions myself as well. I'm in Discord as Don | Shrapnel, and you can find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DonNorbury. Thanks all!

Don NorburyApr 19, 2022, 6:01 PM

Additionally, if you're looking to sink your teeth in a more detailed level, you can read our whitepaper here: https://www.shrapnel.com/Shrapnel-White-Paper.pdf