Howdy pardners.

It's been some time since you've read from Firstful of Frags so we believe that it's high time to update you on the latest news but also present you with FoF's Halloween "GhostTown" game-mode once more!
First things first though... some news.




We need to start by addressing the "elephant in the room" as they say, and that would be nothing other than sharing what some have probably suspected already.
The main developer and the creator of this awesome game (Rebel_Y) has been missing for about six months now, the exact reason for this is unknown and only speculations can be made, but we will leave that aside for the time being, the truth of the matter is that Fistful of Frags needs him without a doubt.

This of course has led to some issues when it comes to properly administrating the game in various ways; most notably it has left the "Highlight Server Browser" (henceforth called HSB) on "autopilot".
No server (old or new) can be highlighted to show up on the server browser with the image tiles (the HSB) without Rebel_Y around which is very, very unfortunate.

In order to view all the servers that exist out there and not only those that are being "served" to you, you need to look for them by using the "FIND SERVERS" button which is on the game's title screen. This is very important as many believe that the game doesn't have enough servers for people to have fun on but that's very far from the truth.



We need Rebel_Y back as soon as possible, let's hope he’s doing well wherever he is.
Now... there's one thing we know he would approve of 100% and that is of course, celebrating Halloween, let's go with a YeeHAW!


As many of you know FoF's "Ghost Town" game mode received a very fun update 2 years ago, that was the TnT bow, Ghost Town returns to us with the TnT Bow in tow this year as well.

The TnT Bows spawn simultaneously at the start of each round and will keep randomly respawning when they are "lost", one for each team (up to 4 in a 4Team Shootout), and they bear the color of each team. It's relatively easy to track these bows and those that wield them as they are almost always shown even through walls with a discreet but very clear colored highlighting. The TnT Bow is a very powerful weapon so use it carefully. At first you need to get used to its blast radius if you want to avoid blowing yourself up, but no one can take this weapon away from you as long as you're not blasted by something or killed by an enemy.



You will find her cauldrons at 3 different spots around each map, don't be spooked by them, drink the witch's juice and feel the Peacemaking power building in ya!
If you manage to drink enough of the stuff you will transform into a butt grinding Peacemaker with infinite ammo for a limited time and also get to keep these "instruments of Peace"!



All in all, great gameplay and opportunities for lots of fun but all that would mean nothing if we didn't have great maps to play on.


The spooooky versions of some of the maps we've played and loved over the years like Desperados, Nest, Cripplecreek and Overtop return to us with yet one more addition, the...


Introducing the Halloween iteration of fof_warehouse, "gt_warehouse" a community map created by Yami of "The Saloon".
The map features the regular layout of it's 9th revision but with a more festive dressing without a doubt!
This is considered a work "under construction" as it is in it's beta form still and needs some work in order to find what is causing one specific issue involving it's performance, something that The Saloon's playtesters will be working on during this first week of the Halloween celebrations.
Make sure to check it out as it will be hosted on a limited amount of servers due to it's beta phase.


With all the above mentioned nothing remains than to give you some suggestions of servers that do not appear on the "HSB" that have the game mode already running for you to have a taste.

The servers below can be accessed either by the game's in-game console or the option "FIND SERVERS" from the game's title screen.

EU based
"★ [EU] The Saloon | Ghost-Town | Happy Halloween!"
connect 164.132.145.6:27015

US East Coast based
"★ [US] The Saloon | Ghost-Town | No-Horses, Music"
connect 162.248.88.40:6315

US West Coast based
"[US] Kyekful of Frags Ghost Town #FreeChitch"
connect 64.52.108.68:27040

Server owners that want to enable "Ghost Town" mode on their servers need nothing more than to set it up in their server.cfg settings, change their map file settings to include the maps with the prefix "gt_" and make sure to add two variables that enable the TnT bow spawning sequence and highlighting.
"fof_sv_ghost_town 1"
"fof_sv_ghost_town_xbow 1"

We hope to see you out there passing the whiskey and enjoying this Halloween in Fistful of Frags.
Thanks for supporting this game with your free time, you are the ones keeping it alive!

Pass the witche's Juice ! ːsteammockingː

credits : Article cover and header by Ⓢ RangerLicious Ⓢ of "The Saloon", Gif Artwork by JPM岩

The stylized texture set is back, with more textures, some improvements and this time as an optional side download, check it out:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1965120/Fistful_of_Frags_Retextured/

Here's a new version of this level that already had a couple of major revisions before. Hoping this will be the definitive one.

A bit of background: Tortuga was very open and lineal, quite different from some of our classic maps. While variation is welcomed sometimes, in this particular case I think most players didn't appreciate its unique layout and features. So here's a version more in line with what you would expect from a Fistful of Frags map: more connections, escape routes, tight gameplay and controlled line of sight.

Howdy there pardners!

The whiskey never stops flowing in Fistful of Frags and as such we've prepared for you a competitive event to try your skills going against some of the very best players at the game at the moment.
This event is something that happens only once or twice per year so don't miss out!

The dates and times that the event will be taking place are as follow

• [EU] 25/2/23 7pm (London UK time)
  
• [US] 26/2/23 4pm (PST)

27 / 2 / 23
Another night of absolute mayhem, this time on the US region!
So many answered the "call of the whiskey" and came in to show their skill.
Even making it into the Finals means a big deal when you're competing against some of the best players in the game and that stands true for both the [EU] and the [US].
We're honoured to share with you the names of the Top5 [EU] and [US] players!

O.R.C.S [EU] season3 Top 5

• (1st) Scamper9 Ⓢ
  
• (2nd) YAYOI Ⓢ
  
• (3rd) Spunty Ⓢ
  
• (4th) Fresho
  
• (5th) wojtusu Ⓢ

O.R.C.S [US] season3 Top 5

• (1st) Lidnunis Ⓢ
  
• (2nd) Soviet Doggo Ⓢ
  
• (3rd) Dark
  
• (4th) A Pair of GlasseⓈ
  
• (5th) Kyeki Ⓢ

The 1st player of each each region will receive the Golden Guns effect, turns every revolver or one-hand type of gun to appear in Flashing Gold!
The Top 3 will be awarded an exclusive cosmetic, in-game scoreboard badge that makes
them immune to votekick!.
The Top 3 as well as the Top 5 will also receive rewards in the form of Steam games.
(will be contacted within this week)

We want to congratulate the winners but also thank everyone brave enough to have taken part in this competitive event.
You are part of the reasons why this community still exists...the dedicated few.
So here's a toast to you, the dedicated playerbase of Fistful of Frags, we hope to see you again in the next season!

Pass the whiskey!

26 / 2 / 23
After an night of pure awesomeness and incrediblly sweaty tryharding im proud to announce that we have the Top3 EU players!

• (1st) Scamper9 Ⓢ
  
• (2nd) YAYOI Ⓢ
  
• (3rd) Spunty Ⓢ

Gongratulations to the [EU] champions of this season!
The Top 3 and the Top 5 will be contacted in private to be given their awards and rewards!
(within the week)

Now... the event moves on with it's second and last part, the [US] region!
Please take look at the Countdown Clock to confirm that you have the right time in mind and the "excel" sheet bellow to find your group and server to join!
O.R.C.S. [US] Countdown Clock
O.R.C.S. Season 3 Group Lineup and Server Info

REGISTERED CONTESTANTS ARE ADVISED TO JOIN
THE SALOON DISCORD FOR BETTER EVENT CO-ORDINATION

The Saloon discord
https://discord.gg/jUhK37s3KF

Please show up 30 minutes earlier so we can start on time!
Cya there, pass the whiskey!

Update
25 /2 /23

This is it ladies and gentlemen, we've reached the final point. :)
In a few hours the O.R.C.S. [EU] event will begin, please make sure to be on time. Being 30 minutes earlier is always good to get ready.

O.R.C.S. [EU] Countdown Clock

O.R.C.S. [US] Countdown Clock

Check the excel sheet bellow please to find the group you belong to and the server you need to connect, both server names and IPies can be found in it.
O.R.C.S. Season 3 Group Lineup and Server Info

REGISTRATIONS ARE CLOSED FOR BOTH REGIONS

REGISTERED CONTESTANTS ARE ADVISED TO JOIN
THE SALOON DISCORD FOR BETTER EVENT CO-ORDINATION

The Saloon discord
https://discord.gg/jUhK37s3KF

We are also looking for streamers interested in streaming the event!

For more info please visit the forum thread linked bellow.

O.R.C.S. season 3 Registration Thread

We hope to see ya there!

Pass the whiskey!

credits : Saloon member "Rangelicious" (cover art)

It never was a big development milestone, in part because gameplay didn't really required vehicles of some sort, but this year came with lots of big changes and additions and... here we are. I'll save you the technical details, isn't really hard to add horses to Source engine if you go the simplest route, but there's a lot more. Riding horses probably wouldn't have happened without the superb animations made by Nimrod Hempel, community member that has helped FoF over the years. The main motivation source came from the sheer will, positiveness and insistence from another community member called Paralhama. Finally, also big thanks to The Saloon people that joined our playtests and helped with final touches.


The inclusion of horse riding into a game known by its small arms and silly footed combat could cause some scepticism at first. So let me clear something up, we don't want to change how most of our maps play. We have chosen a few regular maps as Fistful, Depot or Tortuga for this experiment to take place, there still exist areas (mostly indoors) where cavalry can't enter. A couple of new horse exclusive maps were added, this is probably the main direction where horse riding should be going, but I must say that the experience in some of our larger traditional maps has been very positive so far.




Horses offer great advantages when it comes to movement speed and attack power. For instance, there's no moving penalty while aiming or slowed down speed while reloading. Ramming other players to death is a key advantage for riders.



However, horse riding requires good control, isn't just about speeding around mindlessly. Turning fast at high speed makes horses slide/drift. This side effect may be used to deal with trailing enemies though. The control scheme is quite similar to standard first person view, in short: aiming and movement direction are tied. Some degree of free aiming should be expected in upcoming updates, such improvements were delayed due time constraints.


We are reaching new horizons, do you want to ride along us?



Credits : The Saloon ("Badass Gunslingers" steam group)
Playtesters : Nimrod Hempel, Paralhama, El Indio, Chitch, Yami, Flaydin, Kyeki, Papa Pasda, Paollus, Decathlon Antifa, Ranger, sid3windr, Ψευδαίσθηση, Treed and YAYOI.
Also thanks to Kyeki for providing a test server for the beta tests. Pass the whiskey!

Fistful of Frags existed way before its Steam release in 2014, in fact, only half its existence has happened on this platform. It was the end of year 2007 when this adventure started. Those were other times for sure: YouTube or Facebook? two small start-ups. Smartphones? ha! Freemium exploitative games? Fortunately not.

As a western modification for Half-Life 2, our first public beta was rather small, unpolished, yet engaging. Vigilantes, desperados, team based gameplay (way slower than it is now), 5 maps and a handful of weapons.



Many more betas, weapons, maps, game modes and lots of changes came, and of course, a release on Steam that allowed us to be known and played by millions of persons. Ain't the subject of this modest reminder to talk about all those releases. Some FoF 'historians' around could tell you the positives and negatives of such lengthy development cycle.

Beyond success and failure, what's really important to me is how lot of great people shared their time with each other, making assets, giving feedback or publicising the game around. That's how many stories of friendliness (and even romance!) started. Do you have any story to share? I'd love to read them.

Finally, the past is gone and future is always around the corner. Here's a sneak peak of something we'll be playing soon!



(yep, that in the background is one of our first maps, tramonto_lite)

Howdy pardners

This is a reminder, a singal boost one might call it for an event that is bound to take place really soon.
This has already been mentioned in the previous news release but it seems people have missed it somehow.

>>> Event forum thread <<<

Visiting the link above will give you all the information you need just hurry cause there ain't much time left !

Pass the whiskey !

Howdy pardners !

The summer is almost here but the whiskey never stops flowing in Fistful of Frags !

It's been a long time since we had a news release, we aim to rectify this and use this opportunity to fill you in with a surmise, a presentation of all the "latest" important updates the game has seen in the past few months.

A lot of maps have seen small changes, optimisations to make spawning safer but also to change/guide the playerflow in different ways thus making them play out in a new kind of way.
A lot maps have even seen additions like secret rooms, secret spots with stationary Gatling guns and even Cannons creating new hilariously funny battle situations, so make sure not to miss out !
Some of these maps are fof_fistful, fof_sweetwater, fof_nest, fof_desperados, fof_impact and in the case of fof_tortuga, a full revamp by it's creator !
So make sure to check each of them and let us know what you think. :)



Do you want to shoot while moving fast? Now it's possible by picking up the Slide perk, it'll give you the ability to slide by pressing the crouch key when at running speed, for longer slides make sure to press and hold the crouch button. Note that accuracy remains at standing still position while sliding.





The speed and length of the slide is dependent on the speed you had when you first initiated it but not only, it also scales with the verticality of the terrain. For example, running at top speed and sliding down a hill or set of stairs will produce a way faster and longer slide overall in comparison to a slide performed on a completely horizontal, flat terrain.

Tip
For the element of surprise use this new perk to your advantage and initiate your battles with it cause it gives you faster <<gun draw speed>> and allows you to shoot accurately (just like when standing still) during the slide's duration, you also deal slightly higher melee damage when you're sliding.

Picking up this perk will give you the ability to wall jump.
While you're performing a wall jump you can connect that with a kick (wall jump kick) and deal even greater damage !
This movement perk will give you access to some areas that you wouldn't be able to reach normally, it will also significantly reduce the fall damage you get when dropping off high places.

This jump perk is the first of it's kind much like the slide is for Fistful of Frags, it "came about" as we were looking for new interesting ways to evolve and refresh the game-play so we believe you will enjoy it once you master it.



Tip
It can be hard to pull off a wall-jump-kick but there's a way to use it very practically.
For example, if you ever get cornered (back towards the wall, touching) you can use it to jump over your enemy and corner him instead or wall-jump-kick above his own kick and fast "turn the tables on him".

The Black Bow features a higher damage output (faster fire rate and slightly more damage per arrow) which makes it very effective when you are taking shots at targets that are close to mid range away from you, making it ideal for close quarter encounters but distant ones as well, you will find it inside the red weapon crates at a fairly reasonable price for your enjoyment !



The FragMaster progression system was introduced mainly as a response to battle the issues the game faced with cheaters getting banned and creating a new account to bypass their ban.



It does not fully protect from cheaters of course, that's impossible to achieve especially in a completely, 100% free to play game.
This system locks away the most lethal weapons of the weapons/perk load-out screen, this affects exclusively level zero (0) Steam accounts, any account level 1 and above will not be affected by this system.
Players with Steam level 0 accounts will have to play to unlock these weapons.
The amount of FragMaster points you get at the end of each round depends on how well you've played (Notoriety score).


There are more updates coming down the line, a new very powerful weapon will be added soon to the game, one that has been in the design board for quite some time but couldn't be included thus far due to balancing factors.

Thank you for sticking with Fistful of Frags for so many years and supporting it by playing and helping with the content creation, this game cannot survive without you so we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

For more info on the game's updates you can visit the official patch notes thread via link bellow.
Fistful of Frags | Patch Notes 4

One more thing to mention, The Saloon, one well known community of Fistful of Frags is holding a competitive event very soon (early June) that might interest you.
For more info please visit the thread linked bellow.
The Saloon's T.E. Competitive Event 2022
*Credits* : Community member Yami (pictures and gifs) and community member Kyeki (news cover+banner pics)

Please leave your opinion or any questions bellow.
We hope to see you in-game passing the whiskey !

Today marks the start of the second season of the Official Ranked Competitive Shootout (O.R.C.S)

Tonight we watch as players from the EU fight eachother for a chance at glory !
Come join us and have fun watching the stream, show your friends if you like... this how it is when the whiskey is passed !

countdown clock

Here's the channel where you can join and enjoy the event.
O.R.C.S [EU] Official Livestream

Pass the whiskey !

Howdy there !

We're proud to announce that the registrations for the second season of the competitve event have already begun !
In order to make sure that all players have been notified we're having this public announcement.

Anyone who's interested in partaking in this event can find more info in the below linked thread !
Official Ranked Competitive Shootout season 2 registration thread

Prizes await the top 3 and top 5 of each region, come and pass the whiskey for a shot at glory !
Register today !

Howdy pardners !

Having Halloween behind us and some cool updates coming in the next couple of months we wanted to take some time to present to you the great work being done by the Fistful of Frags community !




As you can see a lot of effort and focus has been put into showcasing all of the different features of the game and highlight it's slow paced but also fast paced action !

It's always heartwarming to see how players can come together to create new content for Fistful of Frags, a game that still stands to this day as a testament to the power of the modding community .

Bellow you will find a small Q&A section dedicated to the player who created the trailer and some of those who contributed to it's creation .
Every one's voice matters when it comes to whiskey passing in Fistful of Frags so stay tuned for more exciting updates !

Pass the whiskey !

Player and trailer creator Kyeki

Q : How and when did you found about Fistful of Frags ?

A : I started playing Fistful in about late 2018. At that time, Red Dead Redemption 2 came out and I was looking for alternative cowboy games as the computer I had at that time stood no chance at running that game. I discovered Fistful from an old Jerma video and it stood out to me: completely free to play, runs on Source Engine so my computer could handle it, and plenty of cool guns. So, I downloaded it and tried it out and, well, here we are !

Q : What do you enjoy most from the game, what makes you come back for more whiskey every time ?

A : I really appreciate the sense of community I've gotten over the years I've played the game, that's probably what keeps me coming back.
For as long as I've played, I can rely on seeing a name I recognize or a friend in any server I join and everybody has a sense of belonging that I don't see in any other game I play. I also really like how customizable every loadout is.
Every player's playstyle is unique, and there's so many unique skills that form unique combos that in turn make the game harder/more interesting to play, like gun throw and Mare's for example.

Q : What did you have in mind/focus while you were creating the community trailer ?

A : I wanted to capture the diversity of gamemodes and playstyles present within the game and the sense of community I feel whenever I play Fistful. The easiest way to show both of those things, of course, would be to ask for gameplay clips from some of the best players Fistful has to offer that I happen to be friends with.

Q : What are your hopes and wishes for the future of Fistful of Frags ?

A : For the future, I'd really hope that Fistful keeps growing as a community and Rebel keeps actively maintaining it. I'd really appreciate seeing new skills and weapons added to the game, too. I can't think of any good ideas off the top of my head, but the more you can customize the more people I feel will pick up a unique playstyle they enjoy and continue coming back to the game. More community maps being officially added would be sweet too.

Veteran FoF player Yami

Q : How and when did you found about Fistful of Frags ?

A : I first started playing Fistful of Frags 7 years ago this year, back in 2014, when a bunch of my friends and I were new to Steam. We were looking for free-to-play games, and FoF caught our eye.

Q : What do you enjoy most from the game, what makes you come back for more whiskey every time ?

A : I think what I love most about Fistful of Frags is how varied and customizable everything is. So many different perks, weapons, maps, tactics, and more that allow every player to create their own perfectly viable playstyle. Beyond gameplay, FoF has a lively and dedicated community committed to improving the game wherever possible. You can just about always find a friendly face or several that you can play a few rounds with for a good time.

Q : What are your hopes and wishes for the future of Fistful of Frags ?

A : Like most players, I’d of course love to have new unique guns and maps to help keep things fresh. Being able to pick your playermodel & voice lines in FFA would also be great to see, as well as the potential return of player-collisions with props. Most importantly though, I just hope FoF continues to see new updates and attention from Rebel_Y, all the fantastic contributors, and the great FoF community.

Veteran FoF player Chitch

Q : How and when did you found about Fistful of Frags ?

A : I came across Fistful of Frags through Skallagrim in 2016; it was one of the first games that I got on Steam. I used to play it while sat in bed, with an old laptop on my lap and my mouse on the blanket. Five years later and I've got a powerful PC, a great set-up, nearly 700 games... and I still often find myself drawn back to FoF.

Q : What do you enjoy most from the game, what makes you come back for more whiskey every time ?

A : To put it simply: I can't name an FPS with more satisfying mechanics. The slow rate of fire and focus on accuracy makes for fun shootouts, and the longer than usual time to kill allows for strategic and wacky encounters that you won't find anywhere else. Running away from or razzle-dazzling enemies is often viable, and it's fun to use map and movement to ones advantage. In what other game can you can throw a gun back "Big Trouble in Little China style", or dance around an enemy with half-sideways bunnyhops as you slowly reload?

Q : What are your hopes and wishes for the future of Fistful of Frags ?

A : New maps would be a welcome addition to freshen up the game. Although, I'm not keen on the idea of gameplay and balance changes, since I've found many such changes questionable throughout the years. My main wish is that FoF maintains an active player count. I would love to be able to hop into a full server 5 years from now, because this is undoubtedly a game that I will always be able to come back to.

Veteran FoF player BrainDamagedGod

Q : How and when did you found about Fistful of Frags ?

A : Skallagrim's old video. I saw it in late 2019.

Q : What do you enjoy most from the game, what makes you come back for more whiskey every time ?

A : Prop throws, the "gunthrow" perk, melee combat, and making mods.
I like the game's more funny parts too, voice lines, ragdolls, environmental deaths.
It has low fire rate weapons which you have to stand still to shoot to be able to aim accurately, I don't know of any other games featuring this kind of gameplay. It also makes melee more viable and combos more effective, raising the skill ceiling.

Q : What are your hopes and wishes for the future of Fistful of Frags ?

A : I would like to see weapons world models and player models able to be modded again, as well as their materials. Particle mods and UI mods would be nice too.
I can understand not wanting client-side mods for player models or materials used on map textures, since people could use those to cheat. But I don't see a reason not to allow particles and ui mods.
I'd like to see the the speed cap raised a bit so I can bhop with hatchet/machete without getting the movement penalty. Another ~20hu/s should do it (probably).

Veteran FoF player 277

Q : How and when did you found about Fistful of Frags ?

A : So.. it's 2014 and i'm browsing around steam for games to play with my friends within their budget (£free). Fistful of Frags fit the bill so we gave it a try and in the years since then Its gone on to provide more entertainment than many other games I've paid for and shown itself to have a solid & welcoming community.

Q : What do you enjoy most from the game, what makes you come back for more whiskey every time ?

A : The thing with Fistful of Frags is there is very little fat on the bone. No long loads, no matchmaking waits. You can go from zero to gaming in 20 seconds. It's an "all meat experience" and it doesn't waste your time.
Gameplay wise; it offers many honestly unique playstyles, too many to list here...
A top pick of mine is disarming a foe in close combat, taking their weapon and shooting them with it, never gets old.
To sum up its staying power, its quick to start playing and it's easy to have fun, also there is a huge talented modding scene if that's your kinda jazz.

Q : What are your hopes and wishes for the future of Fistful of Frags ?

A : I don't hope for much more than to be able to drop in and pass some whiskey when the mood takes me, and it's never failed to do that for me. My compliments to the chef !

Veteran FoF player Wolfgang V2.35

Q : How and when did you found about Fistful of Frags ?

A : I found out about Fistful of Frags in December of 2014, and now have over 1800 hours in-game. I really liked historic weaponry and wanted a game that had the weapons' feel and function.

Q : What do you enjoy most from the game, what makes you come back for more whiskey every time ?

A : The main thing that got me into the game was the feel of the weapons.
Another one of the things that really interested me was map making, but it was only Garry's Mod.
I didn't realize that I wanted a more combat oriented game to make maps for, until Fistful of Frags. Aside from this creating Old West inspiration in me, it also introduced me to the community.
The community is my favorite part of the game !
I like how most of the longer-term players care to progress the game in new and exciting ways, and how kind and welcoming the majority of them are.
Not to mention the modding community: Skins, maps, sounds. What more could you want from modders?
The community is absolutely the largest contributor to my staying and I don’t plan on leaving.

Q : What are your hopes and wishes for the future of Fistful of Frags ?

A : To be honest, there isn't much that I really want to change. But because I make maps myself, I would love to see some new maps in Fistful of Frags. New weapons would be nice things to have, despite there being many new ways to use weapons. I know that I still haven't tried every combination.
But the thing is, I am confident that changes like these will take place, the community wants the same thing, and are willing to work for it. Me included!