With its rights to the Gears of War franchise sold to Microsoft, Epic Games Inc is probably best known today for its popular game engine, Unreal Engine 4, which has been used in dozens of triple-a games and probably hundreds of indie games.

While Epic could perhaps easily rest on the laurels of Unreal Engine, the studio still occasionally turns out a game or two, and one of Epic’s most anticipated new titles is Paragon, a recently announced MOBA/Shooter hybrid. In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Paragon creative director Steve Superville talked about how the studio is combining gameplay elements popularized by MOBAs like League of Legends  with elements from Epic’s action gaming roots.

“We’ve tried to bring our DNA of being action game developers into Paragon—not just controls but arena and ability design and all that sort of stuff,” Superville said. “For the arena, we wanted to keep the MOBA feel and allow a lot of open lines of sight, because one of the exciting things about a MOBA is the ability to see the teamfight that’s happening that I might not be part of. The map is designed to facilitate that, even though we have a third-person camera.”

Superville explained that unlike most modern shooters, there are no infinite-range weapons in Paragon, so fights require a lot more coordination between players.

“80 to 90 percent of the abilities in our game are projectile-based or body-based versus instant-traceable, line-scan stuff,” Superville said. “It’s much more about positioning and teamwork, like in a traditional MOBA, than it is about—you know—jump-180-no-scope headshots. We don’t even have headshots in the game, currently. Maybe they’ll come in later for a particular character.”

He added, “It’s much more about heroes and abilities and team comp and itemisation, strategic opportunities on the map and controlling map space and the economy that goes with that.”

With the incredible popularity of games like League of Legends, MOBA gameplay elements have been making their way into other genres, and Paragon is likely only one of many hybrid games we can expect to see over the next year or two.

Image courtesy of Epic Games Inc