Fraymakers
Fraymakers is a customizable platform fighting video game developed by Team Fray and published by McLeodGaming.[1] Released in early access on January 18, 2023, for Linux, macOS, and Windows via Steam, it features crossover characters from prominent indie titles such as Shovel Knight, Celeste, and Rivals of Aether, allowing up to four players to engage in fast-paced, combo-heavy battles with assist mechanics.[1][2] The game emphasizes accessibility and depth, with intuitive controls that are easy to learn yet challenging to master, including features like rollback netcode for smooth online multiplayer and a unique shield/parry system.[1] Each playable character boasts full movesets with over 80 unique animations, while a roster of guest assists—drawn from more than 30 indie games—enables strategic depth and customization.[1][2] As of November 2025, early access includes seven playable characters, six stages, and ongoing updates, such as the addition of Hat Kid from A Hat in Time in version 0.8, released on September 18, 2025.[1][3] Fraymakers originated from a Kickstarter campaign launched in 2020 by McLeodGaming, the studio behind Super Smash Flash 2, which exceeded its $46,000 funding goal, raising $364,922 from 9,885 backers to fund its development as an infinitely replayable indie crossover fighter.[2] Development began privately in 2018, with public announcements in 2020 highlighting its focus on community-driven content via the FrayTools editor, which supports custom characters, stages, and modes for endless expandability.[1] A Nintendo Switch port remains in development, alongside plans for full release featuring expanded rosters, including recent additions like characters from Bug Fables.[2][4] The game's soundtrack, featuring remixes by artists like OC ReMix and FamilyJules, further enhances its indie appeal.[2]Gameplay
Core Mechanics
Fraymakers is a platform fighter that blends traditional platforming with competitive brawling, drawing inspiration from Super Smash Bros.-style gameplay to emphasize fluid mobility and strategic positioning. Players navigate multi-tiered stages using core movement options like double jumps, short hops, and omnidirectional airdashes, which can be canceled into aerial attacks for extended combos or evasive maneuvers such as wavedashing. Ground-based platforming supports close-quarters combat through tilts, smashes, and dashes, while aerial play allows for chaining attacks mid-air to build momentum and control space, fostering high-octane exchanges that reward precise timing and directional influence on knockback.[1][2][5] The damage system operates on a percentage scale, where accumulated hits increase a character's vulnerability to knockback without depleting a traditional health bar; instead, players aim to launch opponents off the stage boundaries for ring-outs, with victory determined by the last survivor or stock depletion in matches. Knockback intensifies with higher percentages, influenced by factors like directional input from the struck player to alter trajectories, and defensive options such as spot dodges, rolls, air dodges, and teching (fast-falling to cancel landing lag) provide counterplay to extend survival. Ledge recovery mechanics include hogging positions with limited invincibility frames, alongside getup choices like rolling, jumping, or attacking, enhancing the emphasis on off-stage comebacks and edge-guarding.[1][5] Control schemes support versatile input methods across playstyles, with single-player modes accommodating keyboard or gamepad for solo practice, while local multiplayer requires a gamepad per additional player (up to four total) alongside one keyboard slot for couch co-op sessions. Online matches leverage rollback netcode for responsive 60 FPS performance, minimizing lag in peer-to-peer battles and enabling cross-platform play where feasible. Moveset structures prioritize mobility, featuring neutral attacks for rapid pokes and combos, directional specials for zoning or traversal, grab-throw sequences executable in cardinal directions, and recovery options like up-specials or tethers designed for vertical and horizontal stage return, all powered by a custom engine with input buffering for accessibility.[1][2][5] Defensive tools further define interactions, including a directional shield that covers only the front-facing side (counterable by grabs or cross-ups) and a parry mechanic activated by shielding into a special input, allowing for punishes on predictable approaches. Damage dealt also charges a meter for briefly summoning assist characters, integrating support without disrupting core flow. These elements combine to create a responsive, combo-heavy loop where positioning and adaptation are paramount.[2][5]Game Modes
Fraymakers features a variety of game modes designed to accommodate competitive, practice-oriented, and casual playstyles, emphasizing accessibility and depth in its platform fighting framework. The core multiplayer experience is provided through Versus mode, which supports local and online battles for up to four players in free-for-all or team-based formats, including co-op play against AI opponents. This mode allows extensive customization of match rules, including stock-based lives where players are eliminated upon losing all stocks, time-limited rounds that end after a set duration, and the option to enable or disable items that appear randomly on stages to influence gameplay dynamics. AI opponents can fill unoccupied slots with adjustable difficulty levels, making it suitable for solo practice or mixed human-AI sessions. Online play utilizes rollback netcode for smooth connectivity, with options for matchmaking or custom lobbies to host personalized rulesets.[1][6] Training mode serves as a dedicated environment for honing skills and experimenting with mechanics, free from the constraints of competitive matches. Key features include dummy controls for setting programmable opponent behaviors, such as repeated actions or directional influence (DI) inputs; visual hitbox viewers to display active attack and hurtbox areas; and frame data overlays that reveal startup, active, and recovery frames for moves. These tools enable precise analysis of timing, combos, and strategies, supporting both beginners and advanced players in refining their techniques.[1][7] Versus mode also supports party-style play through team battles and customizable modifiers—like altered player sizes or randomized elements—to create chaotic, group-oriented sessions ideal for social gatherings, with support for up to four participants locally or online.[1][5][6]Customization Features
Fraymakers provides robust customization options that empower players to create and integrate their own content, enhancing replayability through community-driven extensions. The game's design emphasizes moddability, allowing modifications to core elements like characters and environments without altering the base gameplay structure.[1] Central to these features is FrayTools, the official standalone editor bundled with the game purchase, which facilitates the creation of custom playable characters, assist characters, and stages. Users can build characters using Sprite Entities for animations, Collision Bodies for hitboxes, and layered systems for visual depth, including foreground and background elements. Scripting capabilities, based on a Haxe-like language via the hscript interpreter, enable detailed control over behaviors such as attacks, AI logic, and interactions, supporting over 80 animations per character with timelines, keyframes, frame scripts, and motion tweens. Assets like sprites, audio files, and JSON data can be imported, with tools for scaling, nine-slice UI elements, and palette swaps for recoloring. Projects are organized in .fraytools files with dedicated library folders, and plugins extend functionality for UI customization and advanced features.[5][8] Mod support is integrated through Steam Workshop, where creators upload and share their FrayTools output as user-generated content, including full custom characters with movesets, assist buddies for special attacks or buffs, stages with unique layouts, skins for visual variants, and balance tweaks to adjust attributes like damage or speed. The Workshop features filtering by content type and guidelines for uploads, ensuring compatibility and quality, with automatic syncing for online play to load shared mods seamlessly between participants. Community contributions range from indie crossovers to experimental designs, vetted via reporting and automated checks to prevent malicious content.[9][5] In custom matches, players access in-game options to tailor rule sets, such as stock counts, time limits, or handicap modes, alongside controls for item spawns (enabling or adjusting frequency of power-ups like bombs or healing orbs) and assist integrations (selecting from official or custom buddies to accompany fighters during battles). These settings allow for varied experiences, from competitive tournaments to chaotic free-for-alls, directly incorporating Workshop content without external tools.[1] Export and import functions in FrayTools streamline sharing by compiling creations into game-readable files, which can be loaded locally or published to Steam Workshop for cross-platform distribution, bypassing direct file transfers while maintaining compatibility across updates. Documentation, tutorials, and sample projects within FrayTools guide users, from beginners importing basic sprites to advanced scripters defining complex AI behaviors.[8][5]Characters and Content
Playable Characters
Fraymakers features a core roster of seven playable characters sourced from acclaimed indie games, each incorporating mechanics from their origins to create distinct fighting styles that promote strategic depth and replayability. The game entered early access on January 18, 2023, with an initial four fighters—Octodad, Commander Video, Welltaro, and Orcane—before expanding through updates that added Ultra Fishbunjin 3000 on November 3, 2023, and The Watcher on July 31, 2024, culminating in Hat Kid's inclusion on September 18, 2025.[10][11][12][13] This crossover selection highlights the diversity of indie titles, blending platforming, roguelike, and adventure elements into a cohesive platform fighter experience. As of November 2025, the roster remains at seven playable characters.[1] The roster emphasizes varied archetypes to suit different combat philosophies: rushdown characters prioritize aggressive pressure and mix-ups at close range, zoners maintain distance with projectiles and traps to control the battlefield, and grapplers focus on command grabs and anti-air tools for punishing approaches. These designs ensure balanced matchups while preserving the essence of each character's source material, fostering experimentation in both solo and multiplayer modes.[5]- Commander Video from the BIT.TRIP series embodies the rushdown archetype with hyper-speed dashes, rapid multi-hit attacks, and a temporary rainbow trail that boosts mobility after landing hits, allowing for relentless offensive pressure.[14]
- Octodad from Octodad: Dadliest Catch operates as a grappler-zoner hybrid, leveraging floppy tentacles for extended reach in pokes, swings, and grabs that disrupt opponents from afar while struggling in tight quarters due to imprecise controls.[10][14]
- Welltaro from Downwell fits the zoner archetype, firing bullets from gunboots for vertical zoning and ammo management that rewards precise landings and enemy contacts, emphasizing resource control over direct confrontation.[10][14]
- Orcane from Rivals of Aether serves as an all-rounder with fluid water-based attacks, including puddle traps for stage denial, bubble projectiles, and teleportation for adaptive mid-range engagements.[6][14]
- Ultra Fishbunjin 3000 from Slap City represents the grappler archetype as a heavyweight brawler, wielding a massive dumbbell for slow but devastating swings, slams, and throws that excel in close-range dominance and edgeguarding.[6][14]
- The Watcher from Slay the Spire functions as a stance-based zoner, switching between Wrath, Calm, and Divinity modes via a staff to alter attack properties, projectile patterns, and physics, with accumulated Mantra enhancing ultimate abilities for adaptive zoning.[6][14]
- Hat Kid from A Hat in Time, added in version 0.8, adopts a rushdown playstyle centered on acrobatic dives, umbrella combos, and hat-swapping for ability shifts like sprinting or brewing potions, enabling chaotic mobility and overwhelm tactics.[13]