Those are all pretty good answers. The closest well-known game to the crime/heist side of things would probably be the Payday series.

For sure. We're also trying to make every bit of the environment as interactive as possible, too. We already have nice motion-captured animations for sitting on the benches, waving and that kind of stuff. We'll try to get multiple walking animations to choose from as well but that's actually lot of work. Walking is actually dozens of different animations working together. Some animations have purpose, too. For example you can "greet" people to wave, which will (on some private servers who choose it) allow those people you greet to know your character's name.

The policing career is the most in-depth of all the careers in Identity because it serves a very important role in the game as a whole. When you first start out as a rookie cop, you'll begin patrolling and responding to dispatch calls. If there's a dispatcher online you can speak to them directly with your radio and if not it's handled by an automated system. As you progress you can unlock additional perks in the policing career and eventually you can experience new specialty roles like detective, SWAT, and so on. A police officer can only ticket or arrest another player for something they are known to have committed. If a cop sees you speeding down the road, he then has the opportunity to ticket you. If he turns on his emergency lights and you refuse to pull over for him, the system will now allow him to charge you with resistance. That is, at the base level, how the system functions. Private servers have the option to remove all restrictions and leave it up to the discretion of the officer, although this system keeps the police in-line. A lot more information on policing will be available on the website very shortly. I just had to hide about half of this thread since it was completely off-topic arguing. Let's try to keep that to the private messages.

We'll support a bunch of VR systems. In fact it's getting it's finishing touches coded up behind me right now.

I don't experience these issues on my phone. Which phone are you using? Also, to log in and such you want to click the 3-line button on the right side of the forums, not the one in the top left (that's for the main site navigation).

Yep, wearing gloves will help prevent the discovery of fingerprints.

The way you've described it is similar to how it works in Identity now. Not exactly the same but close enough that I think you'll like what you see.

I'm sure you've seen my favorites. Off the top of my head: Avatar, Gladiator, Braveheart, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Patriot. If you want to waste a lot of time, watch the miniseries Rome and Pillars of the Earth.

Horses are something we'd love to add later, but they won't be here on release.

Most illegal weapons will be produced by players and sold directly or via an arms dealer.

You can move around. There are even some minor things to do on the train while you wait.

The trains cannot be controlled only because a lot of player may rely on their schedule and giving control of that to players would cause all kinds of problems if a griefer got behind the... stick? The trains are not instant travel, but they're fast. They are actual trains driving through the land on a set schedule.

Identity will have official servers in each continent.

Police work on sort of a point system, where there are a lot of things you can do but shouldn't. If you do these things and get caught it could lead to demotion, or worse.

If I remember correctly, the standard issue pistol for the police is a Glock 17/19 while the Sheriff department uses the Beretta M9.

On the official servers gun damage is quite realistic, but keep in mind that high-powered rifles are quite rare. Most people who have a weapon will be using a 9mm pistol or such. That said, we can very easily allow private servers a weapon damage modifier property so that they can control damage to an extent.

Your friend isn't wrong, technically. Most his points are correct and quite valid. Our Altis Life game is using pre-made assets but you need to keep in mind that I produced Altis Life at no expense at all, $0. The majority of the Identity fund is spent on art, with a significant chunk to pay full-time programmers in our office as well. The original plan was to create a proof of concept, which we have most of already, and then proceed with investors and publishers. The problem there is that we lose a large chunk of the Asylum company and publishers will pressure creativity for maximum profits. While we do have multiple publishers wanting on board, we're doing what we can without them. Should crowdfunding go well and word of Identity spreads, they'll simply not become necessary. Financially, right now we're comfortable and money has been budgeted to last. That said, the more exposure Identity gets means that our budget will allow quicker development (more developers on staff) and allow us to work in more polish. So, we're on track as it is, but there's always room to improve. The server infrastructure you speak if is already complete.

For sure. It was just a bit cheaper back then.

You'll soon have badges showing your pledge levels and rewards.

There are a lot of different versions of Altis Life, but I created the one which became well known and even today is quite popular. We were the first to add almost every major feature. Because it's a mod, a lot of that work has made its way to the other editions (viewable source code) now although the Asylum servers still lead the way.

When I first read this I thought it was going to be a question about firefighting! As for gun fights, the weapons in Identity are incredibly realistic with realistic damage models. Our ballistics and such could be compared to a game like Arma, so cover will be incredibly important. You'll also have to consider penetration of cover, which is based on a bunch of variables such as the type of bullet, velocity, cover material type and thickness.

I can't give a real estimate, although I wish I could. After the holidays we'll re-examine our situation but I'm happy to say that just about every major system for the Town Square is in place in some sort of basic level at least. The best way to judge would be to watch the progress bar move on the Town Square page.

Weed being legal isn't up to us, it's up to the currently serving governor on the server. You can get hydroponics systems for your home that will allow you to do small scale growing without as much risk as growing outside, but you're very limited in how much can be done at a time.

Can confirm all of the above!

There are two components to this, tracking and reporting. When some minor crimes happen, they'll have to be reported by someone who witnessed it. Some major crimes, like robbing a bank, are automatically reported to police. If you dial 911 on your phone you may be connected with an actual dispatcher player by phone/voice. Tracking, which depends on a few variables, is how the police find you after you're wanted. When quite wanted, going into populated areas can trigger a presence report, etc. Think of it like the star system in Grand Theft Auto, only less automated. You will have a record and recent records can affect your becoming a cop.