StyLiS Studios/Phantom Forces

Phantom Forces Wiki

This game has a dedicated wiki project hosted by Fandom that is part of the Roblox Interwiki Project and provides more information about the game.

Template:Infobox place Phantom Forces is a first-person shooter game made by StyLiS Studios. It is heavily inspired from Battlefield 4 as well as Litozinnamon's older projects such as Call of Robloxia 5.

Phantom Forces has seen a mostly positive reception with the community, with an estimated 66K dislike ratio and a long-standing spot on the front page.

Developer Interview

The following interview was between Thundermaker300 and litozinnamon on Error: Page "User blog:RBLXDeveloperInterviews/litozinnamon: Phantom Forces" does not exist., as part of the Developer Connections Project.

What was it like developing Phantom Forces?

A lot of trial and error. Most of the beginning development was experimenting with different approaches to getting certain mechanics to work with Roblox’s technical limitations and limited tools. Organization also tends to deteriorate over time due to our lack of professional experience. Over the couple years of its development we have scrapped and rebuilt major parts of the game from scratch such as the gun framework and the UI framework multiple times and plan to do so again in the near future as structural issues rise again.

Much of the challenge in development comes from the lack of foresight in how big the project would ever become. We did not expect the amount of success PF would consistently maintain, expecting it to die out in a few years so that we would naturally move onto a new project. Because it still has a strong and potentially continually growing player base, we are motivated to keep adding new content to the game. However, this means major additions of code into a framework structure that wasn’t quite planned out far enough to anticipate new game mechanics or customization options, leading us to increasing organizational problems.

Another challenge is managing a ton of community contributors as the game grows. As an initial small group of three developers, we have somehow inevitably expanded to an entire Discord community of people who actively want to help with content creation, suggestions, map additions, and so forth. It becomes more difficult to organize the direction of development because everyone is always throwing in their own ideas, occasionally leading to internal conflicts even without involving the lead developers. But since I am always getting more busy with school and having less time to work on development, these contributors have filled in the gap of content creation that I would normally have done back in the early development stages.

What challenges did you have to overcome while developing? What was the most challenging?

Same as previous answer.

What did you enjoy most while developing Phantom Forces?

The best part about developing Phantom Forces is testing new game mechanics or content on live servers with random players who drop in for feedback. It is incredibly rewarding to play a successful test build of the game in a way that I envision it to work and seeing other players agree with my direction and implementation. Making steady progress on a part of the game, checking that each stage of it works correctly in these test sessions, and knowing exactly what to add next is what motivates me to keep developing Phantom Forces.

What was it like to develop a game that was featured in an official Roblox event?

In practice, there wasn’t really anything more special about developing a game featured in an official Roblox event. Getting selected was an honor, but the actual development was more or less the same with the exception that we now had to follow certain guidelines from our client. Usually we all develop and work at different paces, whenever we liked or wanted to push updates. Here, we had to follow up more consistently with our supervisor with our progress, getting the feeling of a more professional work environment with a specific project schedule. It felt very similar to our Accelerator internship experience at the Roblox HQ and funny enough we were working with the same Roblox admin who was managing us.

It was fairly easy and comfortable to discuss ideas with our supervisor for the event, such as our progress and technical problems Roblox needed to address on their end to get certain things working. And it is a great feeling to see the event go live and hear that the upper heads at Roblox say they like what’s going on.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Phantom Forces has always been a very interesting hybrid first person shooter of many of today’s most popular shooters. By studying popular FPS games, I often find out what aspects of their gameplay are frustrating as a player and what aspects are enjoyable. It is through getting inspired by what developers get right in mainstream FPS titles and borrowing pieces of these effective ideas to work towards creating an idealized vision of my own FPS game.

Gamemodes

Team Deathmatch

A race between teams to 200 kills, or the highest number of kills when the 15-minute time limit is reached.

Flare Domination

Flare Domination was the second gamemode to be added to the game. There are three capture points (A, B and C), which give you points. The more capture points your team owns, the faster your team's score increases. Similar to capture the flag. The first team to reach 200 points wins the round.

King of the Hill

Both teams (Phantoms and Ghosts) start with 600 points. The gamemode runs on a "health" style system; when a team controls the hill, the opposing team loses points. The first team to lose all their points loses the round. 

Kill Confirmed

The latest gamemode added to Phantom Forces. In this gamemode, Phantoms and Ghosts must pick up a Dog Tag from their team in order to score points. Like Team Deathmatch, kills play a huge role in this mode. If an opponent picks up your Dog Tag, the kill will be denied.

Maps

Crane (Formerly known as Crane Site)

Crane was one of the original maps of the game. Its iconic crane (hence the name) was featured in one of the original thumbnails for the game. Depending on the game mode, the crane can be one of the most useful spots on the map or useless. Skilled players will usually farm kills off of people who camp on the crane. The original Crane Site map also contains buildings with cramped staircases, making them perfect spots for knife fights. Since the 2.0.0 update, this map was revamped and made much more detailed.

Desert Storm

One of the most intense maps of the game, Desert Storm is known for its alleyways and trenches, as well as its initial lighting scheme. There are a few sniping spots from inside buildings, but it is easy to be exposed. Streets have two-story buildings lining them, making the map perfect for trapping a group advance. The trench in the middle of the map allows navigation to almost any part of the map easy without experiencing much resistance. However, the staircases leading to the trench are steep and a player with a knife can easily jump you without being seen. Since the 2.0.0 update, this map was revamped and made much more detailed.

Mall (formerly known as Mall Construction)

The Mall map is a more recent maps in the game. It is made up of a 2-story building, not including the ground floor and the roof. Just like the Crane in the Crane Site, the roof can be a valuable asset depending on the game mode. The roof is easy to camp on and it's really not hard to keep control of all the ladders/staircases that are in the map. There is a crane that is smaller than the Crane in Crane Site but it isn't climbable. The lag issues with this map have been fixed.

Metro

The map Metro consists of a subway and 2 large corridors that lead into a central hub, along with advertisement boards up along some parts of the map. It contains side routes which allow for spawnkilling, ambushing, distracting the other team for your team to do the objective. However, player spawns are usually VERY far from the actually "Fighting Zone" of the map, and notorious for causing players to lag, as it is an "Closed Battlefield" system, compared with other maps, in which they are mostly open (save for the building fighting, I.E. City Mall, while the fighting takes place inside most of the time, fighting can happen in the mall's courtyard.) Since it is a big map, snipers CAN be used, but it is usually hard to do so mainly because there is a lot of cover for players to avoid snipers. Side routes in the upper floor can lead to spawn camping for one team. Also, the players that take the side routes usually equip rifles or carbines to disrupt the enemy team more.

Ravod 911

This map is likely based on Zavod 311 from Battlefield 4. It plays out exactly the same, minus a few crates and tanks in the Team DeathMatch area of Zavod 311 (Russian: Завод 311 "Factory 311"). It is set in an abandoned Cold War-era Soviet tank factory and the forested area around it. The map is centered around the C,D and E flags of Zavod 311. It consists of a hill and 3 huts on the Ghosts spawn, and the 2 assembly towers near the Phantom spawn. Players can climb up to the top of these two towers, and there is also an exploit to get the very top, which isn't actually accessible. The map also features a tunnel system, which is accessible on both sides of the towers, and runs through the ground in between. Lot's of players snipe on the hills and the two assembly towers. This map features a lot of action like its Battlefield 4 counterpart, and is almost identical, except for the name (Ravod 911) and missing a few decorative features.

Base Luna (For ROBLOX Universe (2016)

This map takes place in space and on the Moon. Teams are spawned in different rocket launch areas or on the surface of the Moon. Players also has the ability to jump high because there is low gravity. A railgun was exclusively made for this map. This map was only available during the event.

Ruins (For The Ready Player One Event)

Ruins is probably the most expansive and detailed map in the game, stretching over a ≈350×650 stud area (i.e. ≈227500 studs²), with ≈85 studs of vertical height from the floor of the catacombs to the top of the clerestory (≈70 from the ground floor.) This makes for a large play area. There is a mixture of cover, both high and low, to allow for most playstyles. However, close quarter weaponry is largely disadvantaged in this map due to much of the play area having wide open sightlines. A grid system of catacombs runs underneath the map to provide access to both graveyards and the underside of the altar, which features some of the longest unobstructed sightlines. 

Mirage

Mirage is the latest map in Phantom Forces, released in the 4th of July update. Mirage consists of many tall buildings, a highway and two cranes. It is a large size construction site, located in a sandy area, possibly giving the map its name. There are many hiding spots in the buildings and two large cranes giving places to snipe enemies and a possibility to access the buildings below their tips. There are also billboards along the highway that can be accessed, giving a form of cover from enemies on the highway.

Rig

Rig is a map added in New Steel Part 2.

Weapons

Assault Rifles (Assault Class)

• AK-12
• AN-94
• AS-VAL
• SCAR-L
• AUG A1
• M16A4
• G36
• M16A3
• AUG A2
• FAMAS
• AK-47
• AUG A3
• L85A2
• AK-74
• AKM
• M231

Personal Defense Weapons (Scout Class)

• MP5K
• UMP45
• MP7
• MAC10
• P90
• MP5
• COLT SMG 635
• L2A3
• MP5SD
• MP10
• M3A1
• MP5/10
• AUG A3 Para
• PPSh-41
• Kriss Vector
• MP40

Light Machine Guns (Support Class)

• Colt LMG
• M60
• AUG HBAR
• MG36
• RPK12
• L86 LSW
• RPK
• SCAR HAMR
• RPK74
• MG3KWS

Sniper Rifles (Recon Class)

• Intervention
• Remington 700
• AWS
• BFG 50
• L115A3
• Mosin Nagant
• Hecate II

Carbines (All classes)

• M4A1
• G36C
• M4
• L22
• SCAR PDW
• AKU12
• Groza-1
• AK12C
• Honey Badger
• SR-3M
• Groza-4
• 1858 Carbine

Designated Marksman Rifles (Scout and Recon Classes)

• MK11
• SKS
• Dragunov SVU
• VSS Vintorez
• Beowulf TCR
• SCAR SSR
• Dragunov SVDS

Battle Rifles (Assault and Support Classes)

• Beowulf ECR
• SCAR-H
• AK12BR
• AG-3
• Henry 45-70
• FAL 50.00

Shotguns (Assault, Support and Scout Classes)

• KSG-12
• Remington 870
• DBV-12
• KS-23M
• Saiga 12
• Stevens DB
• SPAS-12

Pistols

• M9
• Glock 17
• M1911
• Desert Eagle 44.
• M45A1

Machine Pistols

• Glock 18
• M93R
• Tec-9

Revolvers

• MP412 REX
• Mateba 6
• 1858 New Army

Other

• Serbu Shotgun
• ZiP .22
• SFG-50
• Sawed Off
• Obrez

One Hand Blade (Melee)

• Knife
• Machete
• Mek'Leth
• Cleaver
• Karambit R
• JKey (Exclusive unlock from Ready Player One event)
• Ice Pick

Two Hand Blade (Melee)

• Hattori Hanzo
• Chosen One
• Nordic War Axe

One Hand Blunt (Melee)

• Crowbar
• Trench Mace
• Asp Baton
• Stick Grenade

Two Hand Blunt

• Baseball Bat
• Sledge Hammer

Weapons in Testing

• AK-103 (Assault Rifle)
• AK-105 (Carbine)
• Saiga-12U (Other)
• PPK-12 (Other)
• G3 (Battle Rifle)
• MP1911 (Machine Pistol)

Controls

Basic

W / Up : Forward

W (Double tap) : Sprint

Left Shift (Hold) : Sprint

S / Down : Backwards

A : Left

D : Right

Left : Turn left

Right : Turn right

Q : Toggle ADS (Press again to untoggle)

E : Spot enemies (on your screen)

R : Reload

P : Toggle cursor

F : Use Knife

F (Hold) : Equip knife

G : Toss Grenade

G (Hold) : Cook Grenade (Will detonate within 5 seconds)

H: "Admire" gun (seen  by occasional Console chat message)

V : Switch fire modes (Some guns only have 1)

C : Toggle through crouch (Stand > Crouch > Lie > Crouch > Lie)

X : Toggle through crouch (Stand > Crouch > Stand > Crouch) (Press repeatedly to "teabag.")

1 : Primary

2 : Secondary

3 : Melee

F5 (or B) : Return to menu (Suicide)

Spacebar : Jump/Mantle/Spawn

Mouse

LMB : Fire

RMB (Hold) : ADS

Scroll Up/Down : Switch weapons (Cannot access knife with this.)

Ready Player One

Phantom Forces hosted the Ready Player One event in 2018, and after the event concluded the JKey was allowed to be kept by all players who had unlocked it during this time.

April Fools

During April Fools 2016, the game was renamed to "AIMBOT FORCES" and Aimbot was sold for 100 Robux.

During April Fools 2017, the maps were put upside down and many weapons became overpowered.