Micro-transactions in RPG will tottally kill it.

[Micro-transactions in RPG will tottally kill it.]

While Identity will have microtransactions, they're entirely cosmetic or low-impact. By this I mean items which will not give you a competitive advantage.

We're not selling good vehicles for real money. If you look at those currently for sale, you'll notice they're all toward the low end. The advantage is only for the early game; when you first start playing you'll have an easier time getting around. However, after playing a while you'll move on to bigger and better things which you purchase with game currency. We're extremely careful here in that powerful items will never, ever, be sold for real money.

Apartments will only be sold for some areas of the world, mostly in large cities, using microtransactions. They're also unlimited in availability and mostly social in nature. They can function as storage, which is their only advantage, but that's precisely why they're not located in areas near important resources.

This is something we take VERY seriously and we're being quite careful about how they're implemented. These microtransactions are designed to make your first days more convenient, but in no way will someone who spends more real money ever have a competitive advantage.

[Household Items]

Your apartment in Town Square will come with such things, and they'll be placable in the environment where you choose much the same way as you'd place down furniture.

[Dev Blog #013 - Keeping it Real]

Happy Holidays From Asylum!

The holidays are upon us, and the team at Asylum begins their short rest! We've been busier than ever, and this coming January is shaping up to be one of our biggest months in a very long time, if not ever.

Our expanded team has been working hard on game features beyond the Town Square, and you're finally going to be getting a glimpse of true Identity gameplay very soon in the new year; that's just the start.

Keeping it Real

Primary systems in Identity such as weapons and vehicles are being developed to operate as realistically as possible. Last week a few of the developers braved the freezing temperatures at a local range to record audio directly from a slew of real firearms in all sorts of conditions.

It's very important to us that the weapons in Identity look, sound and react as close to reality as possible. We've even modeled the ballistic physics based on real-world mathematical formulas.

Powerful weapons are going to be rare in Identity. Assault weapons, for example, will likely be used in major circumstances. For the most part players will have access to less powerful weaponry; melee, hand guns, hunting rifles, and so on will be the norm.

Here it Comes!

With the Town Square development moving along, we're not far off from showing the world real Identity gameplay! Like I said up there, January is going to be a big month. For us in the studio, we're excited to get our hands on a few new technology demos that might have a huge impact on Identity! For our fans, January is going to be the month you see the first true world gameplay video. Not only that, but soon after we're looking to release a Town Square trailer! Keep your eyes out on Identity's Twitter and Facebook.

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 (except on this coming week due to holidays). 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

[Town square]

51 minutes ago, Gamepilz said:

I expect a delay even for the 1st video

And you should, given that we have never said that it'll be released before the new year. This is our final week in the office before we're off for the holidays and the video content is almost ready to go, so we're still pushing hard to get it out right away. That said, you'll most likely be seeing it first thing in the new year. We'll go into this more in the next dev blog on Friday!

[Information about gameplay video?]

We hope so, but we don't know for sure. It's a little tight in that there's only a week and a half before the guys are on a short break for the holidays, but they're hard at work!

[Dev Blog #012 - The Merge!]

Family matters

It was just a month ago that we announced the official release date for the Town Square module. Since then, we've been hard at work turning that promise into a reality. Team expansions, UI drama, family additions and a whole new Unreal Engine amounted into a crazy time!

For me, the biggest news this month was the arrival of my second beautiful daughter, Aria, on the 19th. It's been a lot of fun and not as sleepless as I expected. It meant a week off for me although the team in the office hadn't skipped a single beat while I was away.

My week away was the first week of work for two new developers here at the office. Andrew (McWOLF), a gameplay programmer, and Artur (Archer), a UI/UX designer and developer have joined the team. Both have already proven themselves to be great at what they do!

 

You've got questions, they've got answers

Identity's community members and YouTubers have interviewed the developers. Your questions have been asked; check it out to see what the developers say about the way Identity is played!

IDENTITY RPG DEVELOPER Q&A NOVEMBER, 2017

Identity Game - Podcast - Developer Q&A - #2

 

Join us on Twitch at 4PM EST on Tuesdays and Thursdays to watch Identity's developers at work. Most of these streams also have other developers present to answer the questions of those watching, live!

Are you interested in hearing answers to other questions? Our developers have been answering questions on live streams for some time now and Brandon (BeachBall), our community manager, has compiled an enormous list of questions and answers. Check out the TWITCH CLIPS DIRECTORY forum thread.

 

The little engine that couldn't

We're really excited to show you gameplay footage, not only of the Town Square module but what you can expect to see beyond the modules! We've been hard at work on this, but our aging build of the Unreal Engine just couldn't cope with the advanced vehicle physics systems we're implementing in Identity!

This meant it was time for the dreaded engine merge, something our lead programmer Sone has been fearing for years! Every once in a while (usually every year or so) we have to merge all of the modifications we've made to the core Unreal Engine into the latest release. It's an absolutely enormous undertaking, but it's done and good to go.

Now that we're running the latest version of the engine, we can support more advanced technologies and we can bring you a more immersive experience, even in the Town Square. Just wait 'til you see what we're doing with vehicles!

 

The UI disaster!

Early in the month we hit a road-block. Our licensed middleware system for the user interface in Identity, Scaleform, was discontinued! The industry leading system would be no more, and we had to make the tough decision to abandon it now to save grief in the future.

It was like a slap in the face. All of our user interface code had to be scrapped and replaced! While Scaleform was a Flash based system, our new UI would not be. We've signed on with Coherent Labs, and the new UI is under way.

While unexpected, it's actually a blessing in disguise! Our new Coherent system allows for faster development, and while it's a minor setback now it'll speed things up considerably going forward. Our new guy, Artur, is dedicated to the user interface in Identity and our UI will be stronger now because of it.

With Artur's help, I don't expect this to affect development time for Town Square even at all. We have more hands on deck to cover the added work.

 

On the horizon

With our expanding development team, we're able to focus our efforts in more areas of Identity's development. With vehicle and weapon systems now getting attention, we're once again progressing towards a short but feature packed gameplay video for you guys to check out. Keep your eyes out on Identity's Twitter and Facebook!

-- John VanderZwet

[New Screenshots (UPDATED)]

I'm always impressed by the art produced by the Identity team! That talent is pretty undeniable.

[A game maker inside identity]

You'll find board games and more in Identity. In fact you might even find a chess board in the town square if time permits.

[What will happen when you are offline?]

2 hours ago, Jenoah said:

So, actually, if you want to keep your house, you need to come on every week?

Let's say that you are on a holiday to the middle of nowhere for an extended period of time, without the ability of accessing a computer. That means that you lose your appartement/house, right? And do also lose your furniture layout? And what if you have a two bedroom appartement/house? Will then the other person pay the rent if there is one?

Thanks,

The current upkeep time is set to 1 month and it applies only to houses, not apartments.

[Townsquare Module Housing]

17 hours ago, Preston_bodhi_343 said:

If anything that seems pointless, what's the point in owning multiple apartments if you can't rent them out? Likewise with houses if you can rent them out why restrict people to just one? The logic just doesn't add up 

Our reasoning for this is that we don't want people who can afford to buy apartment spaces through microtransactions to have an advantage in the game. If you were able to rent out the apartments, which you may have gotten through a pledge/MT, you could then translate that into in-game currency through rental income. We've got to consider all angles to make sure everything remains as fair and balanced as possible.

You can have multiple people living in an apartment, though! And you can have more than one apartment for access to your stuff in different areas of the world.

[Welp that just happened]

10 minutes ago, NanoSpace said:

So I'm checking out the mobile version of the forums again to see if it looks better, and it looks so bad, I don't think the devs have looked at the mobile version after updating because if they did they would fix this....

If you want to know what I'm talking about go take a look.

Poking @BentBot! He's our web guy.

He's in yelling range of me but it's easier to just do this because lazy.

[The right to bear arms]

24 minutes ago, Killed_IRL said:

This topic needs a poll but first lets get some ideas flowing

Taser gun for non-lethal defense

Salt handgun for non-lethal defense

Desert Eagle for armored assailants

Shotgun for wide spread

Since I might have re-railed things just a bit, I'll give you a more serious response!

You will, definitely, see tasers and shotguns in Identity. There will be several less-than-lethal weapons available.

[The right to bear arms]

[Name the World]

7 minutes ago, Xilvius said:

Adding Muylsa for Cyber

(Its Asylum backwards)

Is it, though? Is it?!

[Dev Blog #011 - Town Square Release Date and More]

The time draws near!

In the last dev blog I sent out, I mentioned that we were going to announce the release date for our first playable game module, the Town Square. Those of you who follow our Twitter and Twitch streams will have already learned this date. It's a very exciting and important time for Identity; we're fast approaching the time where you'll first step foot in Identity's grand world.

We've crunched all the numbers and can now say with fair confidence that the Identity Town Square module will be released, to all backers with a $30 or higher pledge, on this coming March 21st.

What will you find in the Town Square?

The Town Square is a social game module. You'll be able to create your character, which may be transferable to the retail game after release, and meet hundreds of other Identity backers in the town square of the clean and quaint city of Ash Hill.

You'll be able to talk to those around you, add them to your phone contacts and have full phone and IM support to stay in touch. You'll find a completely functional cinema playing full movies around the clock, a karaoke bar to show off your skills (or see me making a fool of myself), a working restaurant, art gallery, shops and more.

The biggest single feature is the housing system. You're getting a taste of the full and complete player housing mechanics that you'll find in Identity. Everyone will have access to a tiny apartment, but those who pledged for higher rewards will be able to check out and decorate their larger spaces. It's a preview of what you'll have in the full game. Invite friends to your place and party it up!

After the initial release of the module, we'll continue to add features to the Town Square as they are completed in development for Identity. Barbershops and tattoo parlors will let you customize your character further. A garage will let you sample your vehicles. You'll even get to test your ability with firearms in the police shooting range before the SWAT module is released.

For me, one of the most exciting parts of Town Square is just to get inside the game and finally get a feel for Identity and how it plays.

Check out a few of the Town Square work-in-progress shots we've released in the past. It's been a long road for the development team here at Asylum, but we're almost there!

 

 

 

Flexing our new manpower

Productivity has skyrocketed with our new office. We're working better and there are now many more of us knocking out code and assets each day. Our programming team has expanded with Charles and we're still hiring more. We've brought three new and incredibly talented 3D artists on board as well as a new technical artist. Brandon, our new Community Manager, has been hard at work keeping you in the loop. These guys are all proving their worth each day and I'm extremely excited about where Asylum is going.

Looking to the future

With some of our Town Square art wrapping up now, we're beginning to shift a bit of our focus to the second module: SWAT. The SWAT module will be a team vs team competitive shooter using the combat mechanics you'll find in the full Identity release. Expect combat to be slower and more realistic than most similar games. You'll learn much more about this module as work progresses.

Above is an MP5 sub machinegun which will be used by the SWAT forces. This particular model was created from scratch in a matter of days by one of our new artists, Dan. The awesome talent of our art team is undeniable!

-- John VanderZwet

[My one problem with Identity]

18 hours ago, Nomis323 said:

DEATH!!!

This is where i have my issue with Identity. 

Death should really be a more serious issue. Dying  then respawning in a safe area with all your belongings apart from your wallet maybe doesn't seem to be the best solution.

What if you want a top politician killed for being to corrupt, or if you want to take a rival business owner out of the equation. 

From what I see at the moment there  us no way of doing that. 

Kill him, Rob his wallet then watch him respawn with all his wealth job and or business still there. 

And it's not as if it's easy to die anyway. There is always ten minutes for paramedics to get to you and save you.

And given that's it's going to be difficult for players to access deadly weaponry in the game. Players dying really shouldn't be a regular thing. So when it does happen. Consequences should be more severe for the deceased in my opinion. 

 

It seems like your one problem might not be much of a problem after all.

In Identity, it's mostly just low influence (mostly cosmetic) items which cannot be lost. Things like your debit card, your clothing, and so on. Items which don't give you a strength but instead offer convenience. Most other things can indeed be lost.

If you die out in the woods because you thought you could fist fight a bear then you might not have lost much, as there's a good chance you could get back to that place before everything despawns. When someone else is around though, they can loot your corpse and take what's dropped.

This is mostly an issue of convenience, and we go for a balance of such versus risk. We fully understand that for life to be exciting, death has to be scary. At the same time, why make people go back to their closet and change their outfit over and over again?

[Is it worth the $60?]

In the earliest days of Identity's release, most people will likely start with bicycles for transportation. The bicycles can, for the most part, hold only a single person and are clearly not as quick as a motorized vehicle. They also don't have trunk space.

Now imagine trying to make some early dollars by doing odd jobs around town. Gathering, delivery tasks, and so on will be a lot easier if you can both get around quicker and carry larger hauls.

[DevBlog #010]

6 minutes ago, dimin69 said:

i think im in love with you guys office , its so sweet , how big is it tho ?

About 1,600 sqft. Not huge but large enough to house our team with some room to grow. People in Ottawa will be free to schedule a drop by and meet the team once things are going.

[DevBlog #010]

The office looks great, but it's more of a budget space than it looks. I've been busy there for weeks as I assembled all the furniture, cut and hung the decor.. we've saved a lot of money by doing everything ourselves. 

In fact, we're a very frugal bunch and our funding is quite healthy.

[DevBlog #010]

18 minutes ago, mezdoo said:

wasn't the video supposed to be released before the dev blog ?

Yep. Read the summary near the end. I explained that.

[Proxy chat]

That's right. The proximity voice system in Identity is fairly advanced. Walls and such between your head and the speaker's head will affect the sound. Furthermore, there are devices (loud speakers, microphones, etc) that can affect how far your voice can travel.

[Will headshots be fatal]

As @Villasenor mentioned, it really depends on the server. On official servers, with the stress system enabled and at default settings, that depends on their current stress level. On private servers, which can completely disable the stress mechanic, a headshot from most calibers will likely result in death.

[Dev Blog #009 - Moving On Up!]

There's never been a more exicting time for the Identity development team than right now. We're growing from a small team of passionate and skilled developers into a true studio with real development horsepower.

Asylum Entertainment's New Home

Identity is being produced by a very small team, although with our new office (see above) we're on a hiring craze and expanding in a big way. In fact, our programming team is going to be three times larger by the end of September. That's only the tip, too, as we're also bringing in a full-time dedicated community manager so that you get the regular updates from the team which you deserve. Our art team is also expanding with some of the most incredible talent in the industry.

It pains us that Identity has seen delays; we truly want the game in your hands as soon as possible. With our modest team it's been a difficult road but, with the great help of yourself and other backers, it's full-steam ahead.

Once we're situated in our new office (we get the keys in one week) and your new community manager is ready to go, it's our intention keep this great community in constant contact with the team!

New in the Town Square

If you've been watching closely on the IdentityRPG Twitch Channel, which is live for a Q&A with the developers every Tueday through Thursday, you've seen a lot of art these last few weeks. From concept art to screenshots and clothing, below are just a few of the pieces we've shown, plus something new for good measure.

We're really pushing the development streams now, too. You'll be able to watch environment artist Antoine at work Wednesday, August 30 at 1PM EST. Moving forward, we're going to try to give you at least one development stream every single week. Watch Twitter for announcements.

Town Square Clothing Store

Remember the clothing store concept art we showed last month? This in-game screenshot shows how concept translates to reality (minus the actual clothing). Another new addition, ambiant radio, brings this scene to life. When you walk into this clothing store you'll notice music playing from the speakers. It's not just music in our game, either, it's real streaming radio playing songs you know. Different stores can now play ambiant music that matches their style and enhances immersive atmosphere.

Ash Hill Police HQ Concept

The Ash Hill police station will open it's doors in the Town Square module shortly after its release. Seen above is the concept for the lobby, locker room (where players "sign in" as an officer) and the shooting range. The shooting range will be available in the Town Square to give you a feel for weapons in Identity before you get your hands on the SWAT module.

Ash Hill Barber Concept

While a large variety of player customizations will be available during your initial character creation, some options are reserved for locations in the world. Barber shops, like the Ash Hill Barber you'll find in the Town Square shown above, will have additional hair options; other shops around the land will present different styles.

Some rarer character customization options may be unlocked through gameplay achievements.

A peak at pledge rewards

Below are concept pieces of the pledge rewards you may already own. Our new website, almost ready to go, will bring new options while some of the existing will no longer be available.

Pledge Reward Concepts

-- John VanderZwet

[Dev Blog #008 - Art of the Town Square]

This month in development

Another month and another dev blog to keep you updated! I want to start this one by giving a thank you to everyone who's receiving this blog post by email, our backers who are making Identity a reality.

It's an exciting time as our team is growing and our pace quickening as a result. Identity's beginning to get more exposure and every pledge we receive helps us produce content faster. It's been slower than we'd like in the past because our team has been tiny, but this growth we're seeing as of late has been opening doors and propelling us forward. As of this month we've now raised over $700,000 USD; a large amount of money and what we've needed to bring on more talent.

Talent we've lost to other studios and existing contracts in the past, some of our absolute best, is now returning to Asylum Entertainment to work on Identity full-time. We're really looking forward to the work from those being added to our roster, which will result in more clothing options as well as much prettier environments. We're also looking to pick up another programmer and a new community manager very shortly, to improve our PR situation and give you guys a more transparent view into development.

Case variations for one of three phones in Identity

With our art team growing with top industry talent, we're also making some good progress in content programming. Our elevator system has been finalized after being re-hashed. This elevator system is used in the Town Square, and throughout Identity where apartments exist, to bring players up to their lofted homes. The interesting part is these function like real elevators, and you'll see other players in them going to and from their floors. They act as loading zones, so instead breaking your immersion with a loading screen we load the apartment and it's customizations in the background while you ride the elevator. By the time the door opens everything's in place and you don't even notice that you've moved into a special instance of the world.

 

Art of the Town Square

When creating new environments, we first have our concept artist draw up a layout and artistic design. From there, environment artists create the 3D assets from that piece and a level designer places them in the world you inhabit. We're pleased to have our incredibly talented concept artist, Alexander, back in full-swing as we prepare the final pieces of environment necessary for the Town Square.

Clothing store concept; hotel and art gallery in rear

The clothing store is interesting in Town Square because it's operating on a system we've created for many computer-controlled shops in Identity. It has a fully functioning shoplifting mechanic. In most games you walk up to an NPC (non-player character) and interact to purchase items. You then simply walk away with your items. Stores in Identity are a different story, and are unique in the gaming world. You'll add items from racks and shelves to your cart. You can then walk into the dressing room to preview those items (assuming it's clothing) or walk up to the register to pay. What if you don't pay and simply walk out the door with your cart?

Shoplifting is a reality in Identity, although it's often not recommended. If you're not skilled, and most people won't be, you'll set off alarms and have a hard time getting away. You'll likely spend time in jail for the attempt. Expensive items can also not be shoplifted for game balance purposes. Even something so simple as using a shop gives freedom and oppportunity not found in any game before.

Last month we showed you a bicycle which will be ridable in Identity. Below you'll see the bicycle shop concepts for the Town Square. While you won't be able to ride them in Town Square, you'll be able to browse many options which will be available to you.

Bicycle shop concept for the Ash Hill town square

These final two interiors are being created by our artists as we speak, and are the last environments required for Town Square's release, along with some minor systems programming and polish.

Art gallery/library concept art, previously shown

Art gallery and library in-game, without player art

 

The near future

One of our top priorities right now is to give all of you who have been waiting a glimpse of real gameplay in a video. Identity's funding and progress has exploded since we showed you the workings of the housing and apartment systems on YouTube, and now we want you to see vehicles, drug production and weapon systems.

I can't promise any dates on this video, but it'll be soon. In fact, I expect you to watch this video before you receive the next dev blog. This coming video is sort of a catalyst, and I can't wait to show you what's in store after it.

The Town Square is also getting near the point where we're going to be able to start showing off videos of the gameplay elements you'll find within it, leading up to the public release of the module. These videos will be coming after the previously mentioned video.

We do regret how little we've been able to show you thus far. We're a tiny team stretching a small budget to its limits, so things take some time. Now that much of the core exists and other supporting pieces are falling into place, I'm excited that we're now really making progress that can be witnessed.

-- John VanderZwet

[DevBlog what time it is today?]

16 minutes ago, Lexan said:

Hey guys, i wasnt on stream when they said so i hope someone could enlight me with some info, thanks

The dev blog will send out around 8PM EST tonight.