Paratus
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Posts posted by Paratus
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The missing arms and legs was a product of using our development client and isn't a bug to fix.
The cafe isn't planned to open at release, nor is the tattoo shop. They'll be shortly after.
We've shown the apartments in depth, so that wasn't a focus. You can find that video on YouTube.
As for the combat video we showed, keep in mind that we're developing Identity in full. Some core features aren't in the Town Square, and it's not usually the same people working on those areas. You'll notice that area had less polish than the soon-to-be-released Town Square because it had less focus at this time
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3 hours ago, Cstove said:John u savage ????
He seems to have a sense of humor.
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1 hour ago, Casino said:i mean, im a big deal... im a streamer who has like.... 4 people watching me at all times.... OH EM GEE!!!!!
We were all just taking breaks and watching TV, but after reading this post you've set us straight! Thank you for getting the team back on track.
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A visual feast!
As we approach the release of the Town Square, it's time to start showing off! Identity's gameplay is unique; there's no game in the world which accomplishes what we've set out to create and as a result, this will be one of the most immersive gaming experiences available. In some senses, graphics weigh heavily on environmental immersion and we've really started to show Identity's beauty in this last week.
Last week, we did a short live stream on Twitch to show off the Town Square in motion. If you weren't there for the stream, check out the details below.
Ash Hill Cinema ticket boothIn addition to Identity's artistic beauty, we also want to show you what the base gameplay will be like in the Town Square. We do plan on doing another stream shortly where we'll move on into the interiors and interact with some of the features you'll find when you log into the Town Square.
We'll have to mute the karaoke and streaming radio elements for Twitch and YouTube, though. I really do wish we had more time in our last stream but we were an hour late getting the stream started and what was meant to be a 10 minute display ended up being half an hour long. Half of that time was spent in character creation, so if that's of any interest to you be sure to check out the stream. I'll leave the video below.
Ash Hill's Town Square in early morning
Ash Hill's Town Square at nightWith our next gameplay stream, I'd really like to show off the Town Square at night. Check out the screenshot above to see why I feel that night in Identity has an incredible atmosphere. Night will be useful in Identity too; for example, some animals will be more active when the sun goes down.
Just imagine running from (or with) the cops in the dark of night! A beautiful and well-designed environment makes great gameplay even better.
Ash Hill's fruit and vegetable marketAs you can tell by now, I went a bit overboard taking screenshots of the Town Square environment. I'm so proud with what our art team has accomplished, so you're getting a handfull with this developer blog!
The market seen here is in the Town Square, although it won't be the only food market in Ash Hill. Markets play a fairly important role, and not only for your own access to food. Gathering and growing food will be a safe and reliable way to make some money in Identity. It doesn't require any sort of investment, so it's one of your options for making a living the moment you step foot in the world. It will get much easier with a vehicle, though.
RIDE bicycle shopThe screenshot above is from the interior of the bicycle store you'll find in the Town Square. You won't be able to buy them right away, but once we start implementing our final vehicles we'll likely unlock the bikes in the Town Square, too.
Bicycles will be an important tool in Identity. If you can't afford a vehicle (they're not cheap) then they're your best option for getting around town without dishing out cash for a cab.
Ash Hill Tattoo interiorMy final screenshot today was the interior of the tattoo shop you'll find in the center of Ash Hill, and thus the Town Square. Hidden in the back of the parking lot behind the DMV, this parlor will be opening shortly after the Town Square release.
Tattoos in Identity are either paid for or earned; some tattoos are only unlocked with achivements, most of which being for less than legal actions. Tattoos aren't available during character creation and must be gotten through a shop such as this.
Town Square gameplay live stream
YouTube Town Square preview streamIf you missed our live stream of Town Square gameplay last week, click on that big image above to check it out now. If your email client is afraid and you don't see the images, you can always click here.
I spent the first while creating a character and then took a quick look around the exterior of the Town Square environment. I can't wait to show more!
The tasks at hand
Our new task tracker has been one of the most well received additions we've ever released, and it's very easy to see why.
As the Asylum developers continue to knock out tasks daily, we're getting very, very close to allowing you all into the Town Square. As of my writing this, only 3 primary tasks remain and are already in progress.
The tracker is showing only Town Square tasks, although many of those in our team (who don't have anything left for the Town Square release) are already hard at work producing SWAT module content. It won't be long before you start seeing a lot of our SWAT efforts appearing, and I'm extremely excited to give you more information on how it'll play.
Keep your eyes on the tracker, as it will continue (even after Town Square release) to be the best indicator of when you can get your taste.
A quick thank you to our supporters
We've been working hard to create the game that can, quite seriously, affect the entire MMORPG industry. Nothing like Identity has been done before, mostly because a game of this scale is a risky project for any established studio.
It is because of you receiving this update, our pledgers and supporters, that our dreams and ambitions are becoming a reality. The ultimate RPG is on the horizon, and I'm so very grateful to the wonderful community around me.
Again, I just want to say thank you as I sincerely appreciate your support. You're helping to create a game which thousands, who don't even know we're here yet, will come to enjoy. You're here on the ground floor.
The Twitch Clips
If you've been following Identity's development closely, you probably already know that developers stream their work live on the Identity Twitch channel every Tuesday and Thursday. We also use that time to answer almost every question that gets asked about Identity's development and gameplay.
Now that we've been doing this a while, we've answered a lot of questions. Our awesome community manager, BeachBall, has taken the time to compile a massive list of questions linked to clips where they're answered by a developer.
Get comfy and head over to the Twitch Clips Directory forum thread. If you haven't found this already, be prepared to spend a good bit of time listening to all sorts of awesome information. This is the best place to get to know the fine details Identity!
-- John VanderZwet
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40 minutes ago, MariusG69 said:How come they haven't been able to update the tracker either? It was supposed to be "automatic."
You'll see both today. Neither are automatic, I have to do both manually and I've been swamped.
I did intend to update the tracker last night but I lost track of time in a meeting at the end of the day yesterday. Sorry about that.
The tracker data is automatic but the website update process is manual, for now. It'll be automated and updated most likely by the hour on the new website.
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It's amusing to me how much people wanted me to jump. You can jump, but I just never even thought to do it given that I was running on a flat surface the entire time.
Once I turned off the PC and walked out into the main work room I heard about the jump spam requests!
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I'm happy to see you guys enjoyed the stream. It was a lot of fun for us to finally show it off.
To answer a couple of the concerns above, all of the buildings are enterable with full interiors. This had to be a short stream because we started an hour late and it was only supposed to be 10 minutes long to start. We'll show more!
I do agree that the player animation needs more work. They're improved, but we're still working to replace the animations for the mid-speed jog. The slower walk and sprint are pretty good, I think. I'd also like to implement more interaction animations. We do actually have some done already that just need "plugged in."
As for visibly carrying items, you're thinking of weapons. Weapons will be visible on your character and some items can also be held in your hands. There's no feasible way to show all items on your character, though.
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32 minutes ago, Cstove said:No, John just hadn’t got to it yet.
I was reminded by walking past Beach's PC which was sitting in wait.
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5 hours ago, CloudyMedusa920 said:Why is character art removed? From the progress bar?
One task was deemed non-essential. The tracker displays only the tasks required for the next milestone which in this case is the Town Square.
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Step inside my office!
We're in the home stretch, now. The Town Square module is almost ready to go, and now you can follow the Asylum developers as we approach the release.
Exactly two weeks ago we launched the new Identity Task Tracker; check out that link, or click the big green button on the Identity website. The task tracker shows you our progress from the point of release a couple of weeks ago until now, and we update every weekday. This tracker displays the data right out of our own project management software that we use to drive and organize the developers inside the studio.
All tasks on the tracker are those that remained as of two weeks ago up to the point we consider the Town Square module to be ready for release. These are not all of the tasks we've done (there've been thousands), but just the ones remaining. I'm pretty proud of the progress our guys are making each day. It's only been a couple of weeks but you'll see the majority of those tasks are marked completed! It's really amazing what a team of this size can do when it has such talent.
Keep your eye on the tracker; when our important tasks there are done it's time for a Steam release! We're all extremely excited over here.
Town Square barber shop interior, work in progressThe World Wide Wait
An all new Identity website is very, very close to release. In fact, it's so close that we're only waiting on a technology partner to finalize their end of things.
Our new website enhances the style of our existing site but is focused far more on improved functionality. A very robust new account system is in place to help you get in the game, and our new shop has some other big requested features! Finally, you'll be able to pay with dozens of methods (PayPal, credit cards, PaySafe and more) and even gift purchases to your friends.
With the release of the new website also comes the return of the Identity Insider. The Insider will be a monthly detailed addition to the website, containing all sorts of information you may not have heard before and diving deep into a specific Identity gameplay topic.
Our current pledge packages will remain on the website for only one week after the new website launches. After that, many of those rewards will never be sold again and those which are will be a bit more expensive as we prepare for retail pricing. Now's the time to join in the support of Identity's development if you have been on the fence!
A look inside the Asylum
Everyone at Asylum has been working like crazy. The poor guys are in overdrive and won't be slowing down anytime soon. In fact, just this last week we hired four new programmers to join the team, more than doubling the programmer team size, to ensure that we can get content to you faster.
I've myself continued to put a lot of development hours in when I'm not busy with business stuff. I've added some interesting things in the last weeks including substance use and effects. You won't need to spend your time in the Town Square digitally sober!
Mark, our graphic designer, has been taking his excellent art into the game engine with the creation of wallpapers for homes as well as a bunch of clothing options. I hoped to have a couple dozen cool wall options available to start with the Town Square release. When I looked over his shoulder today it was somewhere around 300. Wow, I can't even imagine the options when crafting decorations is introduced on top of that.
We're pretty much ready to go on the art side of things. Those who follow us on Twitch will have seen Jade/Lee has finished will all of the housing floorplans and the final touches are being done to integrate them into the game today. A lot of our floorplans are based on pop-culture; see if you can identify them. You'll have the chance to walk through them in the Town Square to help with your home-buying decisions.
Keep an eye on our Twitch streams! We're going to be showing some cool stuff quite soon.
It's been a long wait for the Town Square release, but the wait is almost over.
The Twitch Clips
If you've been following Identity's development closely, you probably already know that developers stream their work live on the Identity Twitch channel every Tuesday and Thursday. We also use that time to answer almost every question that gets asked about Identity's development and gameplay.
Now that we've been doing this a while, we've answered a lot of questions. Our awesome community manager, BeachBall, has taken the time to compile a massive list of questions linked to clips where they're answered by a developer.
Get comfy and head over to the Twitch Clips Directory forum thread. If you haven't found this already, be prepared to spend a good bit of time listening to all sorts of awesome information. This is the best place to get to know the fine details Identity!
-- John VanderZwet
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The tasks on the tracker, as it states in top, are only those remaining for the town square release as of last Thursday night. We're talking two full business days. I think the progress has been quite decent, considering.
If we were displaying all tasks completed it would be in the thousands.
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23 hours ago, JoelKeys said:Last month, you stated that you were nearly done but needed a little bit longer to finish up, and so gave yourselves an extra month to deliver the TS module. This, was clearly intentional lies. Judging by your dev tracker, you haven't completed UI, UX, gameplay, animations, 2D graphics, character art, environment, props, technical art, or systems. How could you have possibly been 'nearly done' last month when the most basic elements weren't completed. Last delay, you made it out as if you just needed to smoothen out some animations or design a new font, which was intentional deceitfulness. I ask you this, what have you completed 100%? Because it seems to me the most basic elements of a game aren't even close to being done, so what exactly is done?
Most systems are done. Few are not. Having a task for a system doesn't mean it's not complete, it means we need to enhance it or correct some things. You see a few tasks listed, you don't see the thousands that are already completed before the tracker went live.
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Just now, Shroomey said:So it should be maximum of about 1 week delay? I assume.
We didn't give a date because it all depends on how smoothly things go. I don't expect it to be very long though. This is why the tracker is the ideal solution; you can see the progress as it's happening and as we knock out more tasks you'll get a good understanding of a release date.
Essentially, you have most of the data we do (minus task time estimations) for establishing release dates now.
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2 minutes ago, Shroomey said:So the time they have been making the game they have only been able to complete 6/64 Tasks?... So I guess we will see the release in 2027-2028 GG.
The tasks included in that tracker are those from the time the tracker was developed, just over a day ago.
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The past months here at the studio have been hectic, but our labors are paying off.
It is with regret that I must make the decision to push back the public release of the Town Square module from April 23; however, the delay will be quite minor. Because this is now the second delay to an official firm release date, and because we expect this delay to be short-lived, we are as of this announcement releasing the Asylum Task Tracker.
The new task tracker, visible on the Town Square section of the official website (here's a link for you), offers the Identity community and fans absolute transparency in our development progress. You can now see the tasks we have to complete before we're ready for the module to be publicly available. It will be updated each and every day. The list is not long, and displays all tasks since the tracker was created only a day ago. When all of the tasks are completed, of which none are major, Town Square will be released on Steam and available for play.
Furthermore, the new Identity website is on schedule for a release just next week! The new website will come with all sorts of cool new features and we'll be building on it constantly as we move forward, too.
With the release of the new website, I'm also going to begin regular Identity Insider releases. These Insider publications will add a ton of very detailed information on key systems within Identity.
Delays are unfortunately a reality of all game development, whether a game is being produced by a large studio with hundreds of developers or a small team, such as ours, with only dozens. We faced unforeseeable technical issues recently; however, all of the issues we had have been fully resolved and, as you can see with the new tracker, release is extremely close.
As soon as we get some final bits of art in place, we're going to compile a Town Square trailer video and begin showing off the game and environments on our development streams.
So to sum it all up, keep an eye on the new tracker (see that link above) and follow our progress. The tracker will be updated once per day as it has to be done manually. Once we get our production software updated so that it can be automated, it'll be a live display.
I also want to say that you to our loyal community and fan-base. Delays are never a fun thing to experience with any game, so everyone here in the studio is working overtime like crazy to get you into our world.
You'll be in the Town Square very soon and this is going to make the game a much better experience. I'm really excited for our first module release as it's shaping up to be a really fun and beautiful experience. In fact, the Town Square is much more than I even though it would have been early on; I'm extremely happy with what we've put together.
I hope you enjoy the peak behind the scenes with the new task tracker and we'll be seeing you in the square soon!
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Committed to the Asylum
Wow, what a month. This has been the busiest, craziest month we've ever had at Asylum Entertainment and the hard work is really showing. Most of the guys here at the office have been putting in a lot of overtime hours to get the Town Square module ready as soon as possible. I myself have been working half my time as a programmer, tossing some cool new systems together. I really, really can't wait for everyone to see what we're putting together!
For the past few days my personal pet project has been a total overhaul of the character control and animation system. We're working on getting new animations entirely, but it's amazing how much nicer character movement looks right now after some extra TLC.
In the past Identity videos, you'll notice the camera is always locked behind your character and you rotate the character with the mouse. Now, movement is a little more like games such as Grand Theft Auto in which you can run toward the screen or parallel to it, too. If you're holding your forward run key/stick, it'll play like before. It really adds a much better sense of control. Alternatively, when you're in combat mode (weapons or melee), the view is again locked behind your shoulders. None of this applies to first-person view, of course.
We've been putting a lot of time into polishing and enhancing character creation and customization in preperation for the Town Square launch. I wanted to share a screenshot to give you an idea of the extensive customization options available. You can control your gender, race, blemishes, hair and a ton of facial modifiers. You can select from a couple dozen pieces of clothing to start in, too, but most will have to be purchased at a shop.
Character creation work in progressI've been waiting a very long time to see Identity in the state it is right now. We have a powerful new server making nightly builds for testing on Steam and everything is beginning to have that good polished feel you expect in a real, released game. There's still work to be done but it's an incredibly exciting time for us here.
Sooner rather than later
There are all sorts of features we want for the Town Square which were always planned to be added months after release. With art development moving at a faster pace than I ever anticipated it would, given the relatively tiny size of our team, it seems that we might be able to include some of these features sooner than I expected.
Some of these features, which should be ready somewhat soon after Town Square is available, include tattoos, haircuts and even the shooting range.
Tattoo shop (WIP)
Tattoo design and development progress (WIP)A look inside the Asylum
In keeping with our committment to transparency and open communication with the community, our new website will soon be launching (even before the Town Square). The new website will have all sorts of shop options for you to check out, but one of the more interesting aspects will be our development tracker.
We're going to be showing you exactly where our development stands in regards to each milestone, such as the Town Square release. You're going to see live data showing what we're working on and how long we expect each element to take. Then, following the Town Square release we'll keep this going for each future development milestone. It'll sort of be like looking over our shoulders in the office yourself.
The Twitch Clips
If you've been following Identity's development closely, you probably already know that developers stream their work live on the Identity Twitch channel every Tuesday and Thursday. We also use that time to answer almost every question that gets asked about Identity's development and gameplay.
Now that we've been doing this a while, we've answered a lot of questions. Our awesome community manager, BeachBall, has taken the time to compile a massive list of questions linked to clips where they're answered by a developer.
Get comfy and head over to the Twitch Clips Directory forum thread. If you haven't found this already, be prepared to spend a good bit of time listening to all sorts of awesome information. This is the best place to get to know the fine details Identity!
-- John VanderZwet
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You will have speech bubbles in Identity. Perhaps not at the initial Town Square release, but shortly after.
This is a system we've used a lot in the past; I coded this mechanic in Mortal Online and it's existed in many games prior, including the very first mass-market MMORPG, Ultima Online. Infact, even World of Warcraft has this feature but I'm not sure if it's on by default.
We agree that it's far more immersive this way than having to look down at your chat box when speaking with someone in front of you.
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6 hours ago, WhtGhstBlckGhst said:Lets take the classic scenario of being robbed. I'm minding my own business yeah? Having a stroll down a sketchy alley. I'm also a law abiding concealed carry owner as is required by the city. This guy jumps out from behind a dumpster, waving a pistol in my face, stress levels on both sides rise. I pull my gun and wave it in his face causing his stress levels to rise as quickly as mine is from his weapon. Then what? We're both just standing there pointing our weapons at each other? Yelling and biding time until one or the others stress level is high enough to cause instant death from a bullet to the face? Am I getting this right?
What if a cat is just running his mouth, going on about what ever this troll wants to annoy people with for the day. After a bit of arguing trying to get this guy to shut up my mates had enough. He goes out and grabs the Louisville Slugger from the boot and proceeds to hit this dude over the head knocking his character out and effectively shutting up the troll. But what? My mates gotta threaten the guy? Wave the bat around a bit in his face until stress peaks enough to get in a silencing blow? Talk about breaking immersion from a situation.I want to preface this by mentioning I didn't read your entire post, but just these scenarios.
Given our current design, the first scenario would not play out that way. Because the robber had his weapon out, his stress level would be maxed out as soon as he equipped the weapon. Therefore, he's immediately vulnerable. You on the other hand don't have your weapon out, and thus you have a decision. With the weapon aimed at you, your stress is going to rise very quickly. You have only seconds to respond. If you were to surrender (put your hands up), your life is no longer at risk but you can be robbed. If you decide to fight back you become immediately stressed by unholstering your weapon. Chances are that you'd be shot before you had time to fire back, if he was already aiming at you. If you took cover and then pulled it out you might have more luck.
A melee weapon, as is mentioned in your second scenario, works similarly (but might not raise stress quite as quickly). That is, when he pulls out a melee weapon in front of the other guy, that guy has only seconds to make the same decision. He can run (which causes stress to go up faster) in hopes of getting away but also making himself vulnerable, surrender to save himself or fight back.
The goal of the system is two fold: first, to reduce random player-killing, and second to give you the option of fight, flight or surrender.
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13 hours ago, NanoSpace said:One thing i would like to point out is that their is one thing to give an estimate of a release and giving a hyped up date where the whole point is that their is no way for it to be delayed, which is the case of the TS delay. While I know delays are a normal thing in development, people are more pissed off about being unnecessarily lead on by the devs, which I imagine no one likes.
The delay is unfortunate, for sure. We at Asylum feel it more than most and we hated to do this, but it's necessary.
First impressions are the only ones that matter. We have to be sure that when we release the Town Square, server issues and the like are minimal.
The only thing we'd ever said regarding the previous date was that we were "on schedule", which was true. It would have been very tight, though.
Moving forward, this new date is only one month longer but that gives our developers time to make sure things are done right and not rushed.
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Crime Doesn't Pay, This Time
Earlier this month we released a quick and raw gameplay video showing off an interaction in a rural area of the world. The art in the video is very much in development, but it's a great way to see some of the features and how they work. You'll get a glimpse of a drug production mini-game, the computer system used by police officers, and more.
For this dev blog I wanted to toss in a couple clips that didn't make it into the video; all in glorious GIF form.
The environment shown in the video is actually quite old. For example, those trees have been in use for a couple years of our development. The character animations (in fact, the entire way you control the character) will also be much different when you get into the Town Square.
To give you an idea of how our art has progressed over time, see below one of the older placeholder trees, as is seen in the video, compared to a more recent tree which will be found in the Town Square.
The Finishing Touches
As you'd expect, our priority for the last month has been getting the Town Square ready for play! We've been working overtime getting everything into place, and it's shaping up very nicely. You'll see from the image above that our artists have been producing absolutely incredible assets. In my own opinion, it's the nicest looking environment I've ever seen in an MMORPG to date.
With the original release date for the Town Square quickly approaching, it's become evident that we're unfortunately going to have to push the date back, although the delay will not be long.
More work is required to ensure that the launch goes smoothly; we need time to reinforce our server structure and do more internal playtesting. The Town Square will be released to all Founders (and above) one month later on April 23. This is an unfortunate reality of game development, but we want to make sure you get a quality product which isn't rushed out the door too soon.
To help ease the pain of waiting for a taste of Identity, we're going to start throwing more media out for you, including a Town Square trailer video overviewing the features you'll find inside.
Making it Big!
We recently hit the incredible milestone of $1,000,000 USD raised! In fact, right now as of this writing we're in at just under $1,025,000. The support from our community and pledgers has been absolutely incredible. I wanted to take this chance to say thank you; it's because of you that Identity is becoming a reality. The game we've all wanted for such a long time is coming.
Around the Studio
We're in overdrive over here, working hard to get the Town Square ready to go! As I sit here in my office typing this blog post, Andrew is finishing up the new character creation system. The user interface Artur made is beautiful. I couldn't be happier with the new UI systems he's produced following Scaleform's demise (our old middleware which is now dead).
The biggest change here in the office this month is the addition of Mark (who the community has dubbed Marker), our resident graphic designer. He's pumping out amazing art for in-game brands at an incredible pace. This will translate into all sorts of clothing brands and patterns, wallpapers and much more. He'll be bringing you a whole lot of customization options throughout Identity.
The real big news, though, is the birth of our lead programmer Henrik's (Sone) new baby boy! Be sure to congratulate him if you spot him on Discord. He's probably too tired to read, though.
Liam has been getting a lot done on the new Identity website, too. You'll be seeing the launch of this new website quite soon, and it's going to bring a whole bunch of new options and features for you to enjoy.
The Twitch Clips
If you've been following Identity's development closely, you probably already know that developers stream their work live on the Identity Twitch channel every Tuesday and Thursday. We also use that time to answer almost every question that gets asked about Identity's development and gameplay.
Now that we've been doing this a while, we've answered a lot of questions. Our awesome community manager, BeachBall, has taken the time to compile a massive list of questions linked to clips where they're answered by a developer.
Get comfy and head over to the Twitch Clips Directory forum thread. If you haven't found this already, be prepared to spend a good bit of time listening to all sorts of awesome information. This is the best place to get to know the fine details Identity!
-- John VanderZwet
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1 hour ago, Jaxrud said:I would prefer the camera to move without the character to move yes, but the characters head until it's moved over a certain point where it makes sense the character takes a few steps to rotate the body.
For the computer, I think it makes sense lol, it's known governments and large companies usually are using super old UI's that's dated back by like 10 years. Because the programs themselves are so complicated and deep, it cost a ton to make an upgraded and also more user friendly software, but it's also been in their learning program over many years and it's what they know.
The character animation and control will be more as you described by the time Town Square comes around. It will follow the player only when a weapon is drawn, otherwise the head will move without the body.
I forget the name of the systems off hand, but the computer UI is based off real police systems. It's a blend of two, one called iforce and another which escapes me.
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You can restrain people who surrender to you if you have zipties. You can then toss them in a vehicle. You can also call the police if you like.
Identity is about freedom, and this is the sort of thing that's possible.
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16 minutes ago, tozany4u said:heya all and kudos to you MR. Motown and everyone at your team....is there a translation for the words in the middle of the screen below the red lobster t shirt? also will you be able to play as both sex's during the launch of the town square module on march 21st?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum
Yes, you'll be able to play as both male and female.
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A Sneak PeEk
Environment out-take from coming video; player-ownable farmsteadI'll get right to the bits which I know you're all excited for and wondering about: the upcoming gameplay video. We'd really hoped to get it out in January, but I sit here at 10pm on the 31st finally getting time to write up this dev blog. It won't be tonight, but it's going to be really, really soon.
We did run into some delays for animation content which set us back almost two weeks on the video content. The delayed art was external and out of our control, but it's all handled and now we're polishing it up to show you first-hand. It's days, not weeks, away.
Around the Studio
It was an incredibly busy month for everyone on the team. My last bit was consumed with ever-so-exciting annual tax preperations and hunting for new blood. Andrew's been hard at work getting the last bits of technical content for the video flushed out and Henrik has accomplished some really big things bringing the Town Square together.
Prototype UI design for inventory and shop transactionAs you can see above, Artur's new UI design overhall for Identity and the Town Square module is looking fantastic. After Scaleform (our old middleware for UI) was abandoned by Autodesk, we had to rebuild our UI from scratch. In hindsight I'm glad that happened as I really like our new systems much more!
Also of note is a very heavy overhaul of foliage (trees, bushes, grass) and other environment bits using photogrammetry. This is a fairly new method used in creating incredibly realistic art assets. You're going to be blown away by the results our resident photogrammetry guy, Philipp, has achieved.
We've begun working with another studio to hasten art development for Town Square and other parts of Identity. Some of these guys have worked with us in the past, and the art we're getting back is some of the best in the industry.
Full Steam Ahead
After years of effort, I have to admit it's pretty fun and exciting seeing the Town Square module coming together. In the last weeks we've both launched our development game servers on the Google Cloud as well as a working development client on Steam. Internally, we're now at a point where we can prepare for access to the game world just as you'll be experiencing it in the Town Square.
With the release of Town Square, all Founder package holders are going to be issued a key to redeem Identity on Steam. Town Square will be played through Steam and your Steam friends will be able to join you in the same game instances.
Committing to the Asylum
Finally, after more than two years of trying, the Canadian government has granted a work visa to our Executive Producer, Sean (also known as Motown) and he's been here at the office for the last couple of weeks. We've already seen a boost in productivity having one of our key developers on site, and I'm excited to see where it leads!
There's still some room in the office, though. We're looking for talented technical artists, Unreal Engine generalists and animators especially, but we always love to meet talented individuals no matter their field of expertise! If you, or someone you know, would be interested in working for Asylum, check out our careers page.
The Twitch Clips
If you've been following Identity's development closely, you probably already know that developers stream their work live on the Identity Twitch channel every Tuesday and Thursday. We also use that time to answer almost every question that gets asked about Identity's development and gameplay.
Now that we've been doing this a while, we've answered a lot of questions. Our awesome community manager, BeachBall, has taken the time to compile a massive list of questions linked to clips where they're answered by a developer.
Get comfy and head over to the Twitch Clips Directory forum thread. If you haven't found this already, be prepared to spend a good bit of time listening to all sorts of awesome information. This is the best place to get to know the fine details Identity!
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Dev Blog #019 - The finishing touches
in Dev Blog
Posted
The finishing touches
Greetings, and again thank you, to all of Identity's backers receiving this dev blog. Everyone's been hard at work putting together a game that can change the industry, and you're soon going to be getting your first taste.
With the Town Square (Identity's first social gameplay module) nearing release, we're hard at work testing and putting the finishing touches on two of the major features. Everything's been progressing very well and I'm quite proud of the team. These last systems are the art/canvas mechanics and the player housing. Both of these have been functional for a long time, although a couple tweaks need made before we push Town Square out the door.
We've added a new button in the elevators to allow you to visit a public version of any apartment. You can run around and see them in their default state before committing to buying them for yourself. This will be a very useful way to explore the available options, given that some of the floorplans will be very rare to come across with other players.
Above is the penthouse after a few minutes of quick decoration. I'm not exactly a decorator, myself, but you can get a good idea of the way it looks now! It's a huge space with three large bedrooms (which means you and two friends can use it as your home) and tons of storage.
We've had to refactor the backend of the housing system a good bit, but the end result you see is everything you saw in the prior Identity Insider apartment video. All features shown then will be ready for you soon in the Town Square! We have lots of other cool features coming for your house parties that you haven't seen yet, too. In case you hadn't seen that video, or you want to see it again, I've linked it below.
Identity Insider: Housing - CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO
Town Square gameplay live stream
With my last developer blog post I included a link to gameplay video from our live stream showing character creation and the exterior environment in the Town Square module.
Recently, I joined in on another development live stream to show about 20 minutes of more Town Square gameplay. This time I showed off interior environments as well as a few of the gameplay mechanics you're going to come across in the Town Square.
YouTube Town Square preview live stream 2 - CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO
The team and I are so very excited to show you guys what we've made in the Town Square and beyond. The Town Square isn't enormous on its own, but it's a very good way to give you an idea of how the world looks and feels.
The task master
The Task Tracker is a new tool on our website which displays up-to-date data pertaining to how much work is remaining for the Town Square release.
If you've been following our progress through the tracker, you'll have seen that just a couple of days ago it progressed to its current point, with only two tasks remaining at the in-testing state (the ones I described above in this blog post).
Keep your eye on the tracker to get the best idea of when we're ready to go. You will of course also get notified by email when the Town Square is published on Steam!
The future of the Dev Blog
This may be one of the last couple developer blogs being sent out in this format as we're planning on soon transitioning to more frequent developer video blogs!
In the past, it's always been myself who wrote these blog posts. They've been a great way to reach out and letting everyone who doesn't follow us on social media know what we've been up to. That said, I think I speak for most people when I say video is more interesting and entertaining!
Look forward to meeting the team face-to-face in short but frequent videos. Some will be general updates about our work on Identity and some will be focused on certain aspects within the game.
Also, on that note, you're going to be getting a very interesting Identity Insider very shortly, covering criminal activity and gameplay. It's a major part of the game and we've surprisingly not been asked many questions about these systems in the past. You'll be getting all kinds of juicy new information and ideas of what you're going to encounter!
The Twitch Clips
If you've been following Identity's development closely, you probably already know that developers stream their work live on the Identity Twitch channel every Tuesday and Thursday. We also use that time to answer almost every question that gets asked about Identity's development and gameplay.
Now that we've been doing this a while, we've answered a lot of questions. Our awesome community manager, BeachBall, has taken the time to compile a massive list of questions linked to clips where they're answered by a developer.
Get comfy and head over to the Twitch Clips Directory forum thread. If you haven't found this already, be prepared to spend a good bit of time listening to all sorts of awesome information. This is the best place to get to know the fine details Identity!
-- John VanderZwet