Halo co-creator turns Renegade with first-person shooter for iOS

Industrial Toys is determined to make first-person shooter games as big on mobile as they are on the consoles and PCs. To that end, the Pasadena, California, company is launching Renegade on the iOS app store today.

It’s a free-to-play shooter with role-playing game elements, set in the company’s Midnight Star universe. It is the brainchild of Halo co-creator Alex Seropian and his cofounder, Tim Harris.

“With Renegade, we’re looking to change expectations for what kind of experience core gamers get from their mobile devices,” said Seropian, the CEO of Industrial Toys, in a statement. “We’re breaking new ground on everything from the visuals to the story to the ongoing support we’ll provide in the way of content, events and player involvement. It’s gonna be nuts.”

Above: Ultra-customized characters and 150-plus levels of action in Renegade.

Image Credit: Industrial Toys

Made with the Unreal Engine, Renegade is the culmination of a lot of FPS experience, completely re-imagined for mobile. It’s controls use the touchscreen. You tap and swipe inputs to run, dodge, chase, fly, etc. It has 150 campaign levels, daily and weekly multiplayer events, and gear to make a number of customized rifles, pistols and grenades.

Renegade is an arena-style shooter. Players build their characters from recruits. Weapon crafting allows players to construct a variety of weapons, like an auto-fire electro-shock rifle or a pure-ice rocket pistols that you can dual-wield. Combined with custom skinning, players make characters that are truly their own.

The game gives you the option for moving on your own, or having the game move your character automatically. With the latter style, you can focus on targeting enemies more easily using the touchscreen controls.

Using the Unreal Engine 4, the game has high-end graphics effects such as HDR lighting, full screen render effects and real-time shadows. The game story is set 130 years into our future. Renegade players have to unravel the secrets of an alien civilization that disappeared 22,000 years ago. When we discover we are not alone in our search, an epic war erupts for the future of the galaxy.

“The first Midnight Star game successfully demonstrated that a gorgeous sci-fi shooter can be right at home on mobile, and Industrial Toys is raising the bar even more with Renegade,” said Joe Kreiner, head of Unreal Engine licensing for the Americas, in a statement. “Midnight Star: Renegade is built for speed, it feels great to play, and the community is going to love the daily challenges in store.”