Instead of using your time off to do another game how about speak to your community at that time? Dissapearing for more then half of a year and coming back with a news that a new game is made besides identity isnt funny, really. So there was time to doing that, but no time to write some words, interessting. If i have a company which is struggling at everything i dont start anything new at my "off time" and instead try to deliver the promised stuff for the main project. What is that for an behavior? you dont feel ashamed for that? The icing on the cake is that you even talked about the town square stuff that you delivered what was promised. I had a laugh as i read this, really what you delivered is less then nothing.

slower pace is funny, if we look what we got after years.

I've had to explain this more than I should have already because of the video posted above. Claims made there, aside from the fact that I'm the director of both corporations, are simply not true. Phony Games is a mobile game producer, hence the punny name (ie: phone-y). Furballs began as a small project I'd work in on my off time. It took a while to create because I'd only work on it a few hours a week as Identity was my full-time project. To continue it's development faster, Phony was established. Furballs has had about a dozen people work on it, including artists. None of them, not a single one, had any involvement with Identity. They are two ENTIRELY different companies with entirely different people behind them. Furballs was funded out of my own personal pocket. The email is worded as it is because, well, it's entirely accurate. Phony and Furballs exist without Identity, and the email has nothing to do with its development or release. Phony is a new company and has little reach publicly on it's own. Asylum, on the other hand, can reach out to hundreds of thousands of people. Thus, it makes sense to have Asylum help publish for Phony as it has and will continue to do far outside of the single email sent. In return for this added value, Phony will be providing a royalty to Asylum and Identity; this will happen with or without Kickstarter funding. Phony gains access to marketing and publishing services, and in return provides royalty income. It's quite simple and an extremely common practice.

the development of identity isn't affected by furballs the same way spaceX isn't affected by tesla. Furballs started out as a hobby project that paratus worked a couple hours a week on. He can do what he wants with his free time, everyone has hobbies.

It's intentionally obtuse at best, extremely scummy at worst. The fact that John is the head of Phony Games is obviously a crucial bit of info that should've been mentioned in the newsletter, and the fact that they didn't is telling. The issue arises from time spent. The indication that Asylum is merely the publisher for the game implies that development for Identity has not been affected by Furballs. Unless John spent literally 0 hours on Furballs, this just isn't true. Basically, it's an attempt to coo meaningless reassurances while also asking for more cash. What a disaster. After months of no communication, we get a new Kickstarter and a death knell.

have heard nothing from the devs for a long time, i dont know what to believe

Some of these accounts feel like bots...

At the end of the day i believe the developer. John insists that its got nothing to do with Identity then fine. Im all good for having more than one company. A developer is only as good as his community. We gotta support them with this as i have for many years. Im sure that john means every word of it. He just doesnt come on here any more because people are belittling him. Im sure that John knows full well that if Identity gets fucked then its gonna be a shit storm. Ive tried my best at making games (Never successful but just testing) and there is nothing wrong with going back to something old. Just because you dont like the idea of having a game like Furballs (no offence but i aint a mobile fan) and im sure a high percentage doesnt either there is still a percentage and we can all spread the word. Theres i dont know how many people on here but its a lot. Just gotta hope that it helps our way up in Identity. If it doesnt im sure John will continue with the help of the community. Also btw John, the new idea behind updated (a gradual, linear update system) is great. you should have done it before. Keep up the good work John. Prove em all wrong. End of the day, you are trying. Everyone else have copied and failed. We still waiting for Identity by dude, but no one else has come close. So take your time.

I keep reading about how people are mad about how long it's taking for the devs to release some kind of info about SWAT after almost a year, and I don't see these people talking about some key info which has existed since Identity went on Steam. Identity's Steam store page has the "Early Access Game" section, which has a "Read More" button. This area talks about the approximate release schedule for all modules, and the overall beta of Identity. There are a couple of paragraphs with the title "Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?". The second paragraph basically says this: "With our current pace, we estimate: SWAT: late 2019 Racing: 2020 Feature-complete Identity beta: 2021 ...these are not to be taken as release dates but as our current best estimates." Now obviously, SWAT is past it's estimated release, but given the wording, I think they're "technically" still on the schedule they mentioned in that Early Access info bit. What do you think? Do you think SWAT WILL be released in the first half of 2020? Or will it be much later? Maybe never? Comment what you think.

So we've got confirmation that nobody is working on this full time, and they're depending on more sales and people buying the garbage they have in the store. Otherwise they're functionally out of money and have mostly moved on to other things. Great! I think the most galling part, though, has to be this: "One of our primary reasons for releasing modules during development was to account for crowdfunding requirements. Having met those demands with the release of Town Square, we no longer have such an obligation and can explore new options." Are they trying to be funny? They have not come CLOSE to fulfilling their obligations for the Kickstarter. In fact, they've actually failed to deliver on the Kickstarter not only in duration (it's been over twice as long to get a full beta and we're not even close), but also through the release of the modules themselves, something they promised they wouldn't do. I have to say I don't appreciate the dismissive tone of the newsletter at all, it's like Paratus seriously cannot grasp how far gone this is. Trickling out features with NOBODY working on it full time and with no roadmap to change that is a surefire way for this to bleed out and die. But maybe that's already inevitable, given the status update. Edit: Gotta say, there's something off about this Furballs thing appearing out of the ether, with John being the only name attached to this "Phony Games". 😒

Paratus - 16/01/2020 : ''

Also I wouldn't know if he was active in the discord because I was banned. Great community we have here ladies and gentlemen.

I'm not gonna make this into some long rant about the developers or the video game itself. I'm simply gonna state what I see in front of me, you can support it or not. Doesn't matter, we all get an opinion, and here's mine. The game developers have made their business off of promises, promises that were never kept. It is time for everyone to be real now, after years of promises and "supposed" updates about their development, depicting that they are just about done with the SWAT Module, and we'd be getting gameplay soon. All of which never happened. For a project that has over 1 million dollars (before anyone says the usual "a million dollars isn't much for video game", you should really look at all the projects that got kickstarted with less money but still became amazing games nonetheless. No excuse.) in funding and to have such little to show for it makes all of ours biggest worries seem true. This game is never coming out and was a cash grab. It's time for the devs to admit they failed their promise of a game and give us our money back for wasting it and our time.

Nobody is buying this. The Kickstarter failed, Paratus should be focusing all of his efforts on the massively overdue Identity beta. We are NOT going to support some Rocket League clone to indirectly support Identity, how stupid do you think we are?

Asylum entertainment detailed in their latest newsletter that they were publishing an up and coming mobile game by another game studio named Phoney games, whilst encouraging people to pledge to it the same way through that people did with identity, through kick-starter. Now, the link below shows a video of a popular YouTuber looking at the company records for this 'Phoney Games' studio which details that it was registered in December last year, and the director is in fact John Vanderzwet. This means that Asylum are likely the people behind this new mobile game. So why would Asylum lie about them not being the developers of the new title? Well considering the disaster that was the Identity kick-starter and the now non existing trust relationship between consumer and Asylum, it would seem a better idea to try and siphon more money out of the community through a seemingly different developer. I don't think there's much more reason people need to not trust this dev studio anyway, but here it is.

If you buy Identity on steam Early Access or the equivalent $30 Founder package on the site shop then you will have access to identity during the Steam EA period, and after. So yes, you will have it now. The latest Newsletter stated that it will no longer go through module stages but will get significant updates as a whole and so it will be like other EA games and not in small separated portions

We have released a new patch that reworked character movement which is essential for Identity's future content updates along with many bug fixes. The newsletter detailing our changed release plans and the future ahead can be located here! https://identityrpg.com/mailer/newsletter.html

I didnt refer to identity as a hobby project, i refered to furballs as a hobby project. however I do understand the confusion so I went ahead and edited my post

It make sense, they promise lots of thing at the start (november 2016), they were actively responding to the forums and discord. Year passes, they literally dont respond at all (given they raised over $1m dollars), the moderators are supposely backing the developers (which I have no idea if the moderators can even get into contact with the devs) Any concerns raised in the discord gets you banned, as well as the developers are constantly online in the discord but they never talk. Very similar thing happend to RAW, except that kickstarter flagged them as fraud

If you read the whole statement you would be seeing the entire reason he had given that amount.

i do not trust ANY word of this newsletter. Asking for more money after all this shit is just a joke. they do not give a fuck about us nearly a year. They could say anything in this news months ago, its not that hard to write some words to your community. the game will not be ready in 20 years with that pace. What we got is just a joke and never a work of a few years.

No, it is not dead. It is still in development but at a slower pace. Paypal has a 6 month refund policy and so if you purchased it within the last 6 months then, you can get a refund.

the post says this: " There will be an update very soon with systems that were needed for combat/SWAT," Just like the updates we were supposed to get exactly one year ago? i know at this time last year i was looking forward for an update where we could use the police station and actually use guns, together with some other updates. Never came LOL

You know we would believe you if a dev actually looked at the forums in the last 5 months

@LSFAxelI know how you feel about waiting but no the town square is not abandoned and can we not use profanity as well it is not needed here.

"Quite soon"..."Really soon"..."When its ready"... Here we go

Probably never but if we're lucky maybe 2025? Usually small dev teams take 6-8 years to get to a certain state where the core game is still ridden with bugs but has content to it.

Is the game dead? It certainly feels like but considering this.. I paid with PayPal and unsure if it’s protected within the buying pay as a preorder preorder product so I am unsure if I can get a refund. This is the final game I will ever fund. I’ve done 3 and all gone dead this including and I know the names too so I would look out for anything they try to release in the future and never touch. I was so hoping this would be great and a game changer but it seems not.

This is what paratus said: We're still at it, but development is much slower than we'd like it to be for financial reasons. The income we're receiving currently simply isn't enough to employ many working hours. The developers all have families, so they can't work for free (understandable for any developer with experience). While we're moving along slowly, there will be an update very soon with systems that were needed for combat/SWAT, mainly player movement mechanics and animation. What we have in Town Square now was just too clunky for good combat. Because the pace is so slow right now, we're looking into other development sources, too. I plan on putting out a lot of information with the coming update, but if you guys have questions.. fire away. I've been ridiculously busy, but I'm going to make it a point to poke my head in here more often. Source: Discord

They've raised roughly $1.5 million or so, maybe $2 million with steam sales. That money wouldn't last long with a dozen developers being paid competitive wages without spending anything else on other operating costs. If all they had to pay were salaries (and they do have a lot more to pay for than just salaries though) then that money might last 18-24 months for a dozen full time developers and artists. Realistically that little amount of money for a game studio with a dozen developers would be gone in a year.

Dude Says a budget issue? For fuck sakes he got 300 bucks from me. Imagine how many other people that paid like i did for crap in game. I know I am not the only one. There are people still buying it from steam. A budget issue? Took our money an ran!

as we have already explained to you before, that office was a budget office, and they havent had the office for a while now because everyone is remote... they didnt "blow" their whole income on that office, and getting an office like that isn't bad business practice at all.

A budget issue, eh? Oh, because they spent all of our investment money on a luxurious office and high end crap they don't need? I knew that was the biggest mistake they've made back when they posted pictures gloating of all the shit they bought... that is something you do when you finish a complete game so you can continue to make a steady income. You don't blow your whole investment income on nonsense before you even make a product, bad business practice through and through. Amateurs.

At this point I'm assuming the game is cancelled. I don't think the devs were intentionally trying to scam everyone. I think they really gave it their best effort and realized halfway into the development that they didn't have the resources and ability to deliver what they were promising. Fortunately I only spent $15. This will be my life lesson never to fund another unfinished game ever again.

he is merely clarifying that estimates and release dates aren't the same, and that they shouldnt be seen as the same thing. estimates can shift and change over time and shouldnt be taken as actual release windows. the project isn't done for and is still being worked on, and we dont want everyone to forge this happened.

Basically what he's saying is to fuck off. He knows the game is done for, but he won't say it. They want everyone to forget this happened. (this'll prolly get deleted, because it's negative of the game)

So the game has not been updated for 5 month now, here is your proof

The game was released a year ago, and in that year it received countless of updates. Sure, the updates werent huge, bur they were there.

Ok I am not against mods or anything, but why do I get keep banned every god dam time I raise a concern about the devs? Developers not responding for over 4+months is not normal

18. Discuss Moderator or Administrator actions Publicly. Read the rules @xRP. You keep breaking the rule above.

Ever notice how a pot of water takes longer to boil when you're staring at it waiting for it to boil? Or how when at school or work, staring at the clock counting the seconds until you can leave seems like an eternity? My point is while watching a project in anticipation of news/updates/releases you need not focus on it or time will move very slowly in your perspective on development. This is by far not a AAA company making a game and they do not have unlimited funding like Rockstar, EA, or Ubisoft would (who all in my opinion are horrible developers when it comes to either moderation/interaction with their customers or delivery of "showcased" materials). The best thing you can do in this situation if the developers are not able or are unwilling to spend the time to provide an update to us, just check back once every two weeks so you don't drive yourself mad. I have faith that the reason they are not showing off anything is because either they are working hard on making it all work correctly together, look good, and/or they are working on elements of the game that cannot be shown off as easily due to it being mostly backend. The reason I have faith in them is because I do not check every day for an update because that would drive me crazy just how it would drive me crazy staring at the clock all day at work waiting for the day to be over. Edit: Ironically I wanted to add the purpose I'm even on these forums right now is to look for any news or updates

Bedrooms and items are account tied so you shouldn't lose those. You may lose the items your characters has though, like furniture inventory and food items.

People who put money into identity and are not happy with the state of development should have known the risks before hand by doing their own research into kickstarters and early access. It does not take much effort to find information that will lead you to "this is a risk that you may not be happy with the results". The people who are complaining that they put money in and are negatively talking about identity are actually contradicting their own, because by speaking negatively instead of supportive, they are working against their own money they put in. Trying to destroy the game for the future because you are unhappy with the money you spent and did not receive a finished product yet will compromise you ever receiving that finished product. I am a kickstarter of identity and I will continue to support them in their goal to finish this game because as far as I'm concerned, my investment of money that I donated into the kickstarter is still there being put towards game development and I want the development team to use it and work on the game and finish it. Know the risks of your money - Do research on the product or idea you are paying into Weigh the worth - if you are not willing to lose your money, don't gamble or invest with it or only gamble/invest with the amount you are willing to lose Take responsibility for your own actions - If you have invested money, it is your own free will. What you do forward may have a negative effect on you or other people. Being negative does not solve anything, look at all of the positives such as; look how fast they have squashed all of those bugs in the last week or so. They are obviously trying hard to get everything up and running for people to checkout.

Honestly, it's SOOOOO ANNNOYYINGGGG. I knew about this game ever since it was first announced and I'm not mad AT ALL about there being issues, it's expected. This is why people don't like doing stuff for others because of this very reason. Keep on they're going to abandon the game and y'all will really be mad. GTA online had the same problem starting off and its ran by a huge company. It was playable at first, but now they're trying to fix it. THIS IS A SMALL TEAM, so STOP.

But the thing is everyone kept moaning because it kept getting delayed, now they've got it out and everyone is moaning because it's not working right. I'm sure people would of moaned if they had to wait an extra week before TS came out even if it was perfect, the devs can't win either way. I understand people have paid for this game & it not working, I understand that some people have been waiting around 4 years, but that's what you get when you back a game in Early Access, I mean the people who pedged on kickstarted or whatever (I didn't know about the game back then) they could of put their money into it & not got anything at all,I mean shouldn't we all just be happpy that it's a game & will come out at some point & we will all love it & it will be a hit? I brought a game in Early Access a while back, EmergeNYC & that isn't still playable for me, really bugged and the camera movement is a bag of something else, but I don't care because when it's out-out I will love it

Seems like a lot of people are expecting the full game or beta to be released with this Town Square module. The devs have said countless times that this is just a small part of a town (social area) where you will be able to see features the game will have to offer. Streamers are even so dense that I heard one saying he doesn't see how the 3 modules will make a full game when the town square is so small. I am a kickstarter backer of identity and everyone needs to be patient with it. You aren't going to lose a leg if it doesn't come out today and there is no reason to stress out the devs over what is essentially a preview of features. Yes, they said it was coming out way earlier and never did, delayed. Yes they do lack highly on PR and a proper response to the issue which is holding them back from releasing today, Nov 30th like they said they would, but some people need to calm down here with the "scam" accusations and be a little more patient than you are wanting to be. And to the developers, keep up the great work in development; Get much better at PR please and keep us more up to date on issues especially when they are happening. Nothing worse than the developers MIA without much of a word on what is going on and everyone waiting around for something to come out. tldr; I think everyone can afford to be a bit more patient for something that is essentially a "demo" of features and not even the full game rather than freaking out over it not going live as expected due to some sort of error.

Nah just a bit weird overlooking the convo. I respect it though, glad to see someone getting off weed.

I’m seeing good things for you!

Well this was a great story.