The Splitgate fan community has grown exponentially recently, as the launch of Season 0 marked a huge milestone for development. Fans have flocked to the game's social media channels to share thoughts and occasional fan art.
Splitgate, a free-to-play competitive first-person shooter from 1047 Games, launched its "Season 0" two days ago. The Battle Pass rewards include a Legendary Assault Rifle made of cardboard.
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Not missing an opportunity for fan engagement, the official Splitgate Twitter account made a recent post about the cardboard assault rifle, asking who the first would be to create a real-life version of the cardboard weapon. In just under two hours, user lalonde_mason replied with a video of their cardboard creation in action. Since the game's rifle is designed to look like it was made with common household equipment, mason's recreation is highly accurate, even including an ammo slot and cardboard ammunition cartridge to load into it. The recreation also includes the permanent marker drawing on the sides.
Cardboard is a surprisingly common element of fan creations, as the material is ideal for rapidly creating 3D art, has good structural integrity if used correctly, and allows for surprisingly high creative freedom, as demonstrated by DanCreator's Monster Hunter Charge Blade. Regardless of what skill level or funding any artist may have, cardboard makes for a cheap and incredibly flexible way to create.
Splitgate's success may be partially due to the constant comparisons to Halo and Portal, but it is difficult to deny that the combination of those games' play styles creates something that stands on its own. Splitgate Season 0's recent launch along with the Contamination game mode have brought many positive changes and mechanical tweaks to the game, and the developers at 1047 Games show no signs of slowing down with more improvements. There may be no solid release date in sight, but the beta is rapidly approaching a full game's worth of content with unique gameplay and a large player base.
The massive success of Splitgate and subsequent growth of the fan community is naturally bringing fan artists in, some of which may be coming from the Halo and Portal communities. The game's lack of a story mode leaves fewer situations available for fan art, but a multiplayer focus does not necessarily turn away the idea. Other successful multiplayer games have still managed to have well-developed character personalities and stories for fans to appreciate, but it remains to be seen if Splitgate will take the same approach.
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