As we reach the end of the first half of 2021, I've been reading some fantastic news from various studios who are developing lane-pushing games.

I suspect that much of this news doesn't circulate nearly as widely as it should, so with this post I'd like to place a spotlight on some of the amazing work that has been going on in the genre, and how generously players and companies have been investing in smaller studios.

I have seven titles listed here in roughly chronological order — but I'm sure I'm missing a few so please get in touch if you have something to add!

Let's begin...

Community forms a huge part of the experience in the lane-pushing genre. Many things contribute: and one piece is the humble Code of Conduct.

In this article featuring my game Causeway, we discuss our journey to write one!

Stories hold power. What power do they hold in lane-pushing games?

In this article featuring my game Causeway, we share how one of our ideas in the narrative space ripples out to inform other parts of our game, and makes a positive contribution to our broader community and vision.

'Paragon' closed down in April 2018, but a number of teams have sprung up with new projects to fill in the void. I catch up with four of the dev teams to hear about their vision for the genre going forward.

Ethereal: Clash of Souls started development in mid-2018 as an Unreal Engine project that would be a 3D MOBA, not using the Paragon assets and declaring some significant changes in gameplay.

Following a number of early trailers and character reveals, updates on the game have been sparse. I spent some time chatting with Undying Games founder Luke to get a closer look at what the team has been working on:

Project CORE by Metabuff Studios was announced in November 2018. Initial videos shared concept art, a furnished level, and the essentials of working gameplay. Further trailers followed in early 2019, before an extended period of internally-focused production.

In August 2020, the team announced a change in direction: committing to development of original IP and art assets. I caught up with one of the Metabuff founders opolisprime to find out more about the team's journey so far and what's coming up next.

In late 2019, Fault was announced after a year of work behind the scenes. The first of its paid-access alpha tests followed only a few weeks later in December 2019, with several more alpha weekends in the months that followed. In July 2020, Fault launched via early access on Steam.

I caught up with Ryan Red, Community Manager at Strange Matter Studios, to find out more:

Predecessor by Omeda Studios was one of the earliest announced projects to make use of the Paragon assets. "Omeda" is a nod to a location of the same name in Paragon's lore!

The team started out with a transparent process featuring regular development streams. This changed after its first closed alpha in March 2019, when the game transitioned behind closed doors for a while — eventually re-emerging in July 2020 with a series of closed alpha weekends.

I caught up with rgsace, one of the Omeda Studios founders, to learn more about the project: