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The Repopulation Kickstarter Coming Soon -Draft Edit
firefly2003
Member UncommonPosts: 2,527
DISCLAIMER:
The Kickstarter Document is NOT finished and finalized yet and is subject to changes this is a draft. Making changes at request of The Repopulation website. This is the newest version of the draft and IS subject to change
What Is The Repopulation?
The Repopulation is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. The action takes place on the planet Rhyldan, with the only known remaining human population fighting for their very existence. The indigenous life forms did not meet their colonization efforts with open arms. Worse yet, humans have managed to splinter themselves into warring factions.
It is a sandbox oriented MMORPG with an eye on innovation. Rather than forcing players down preset paths they are instead allowed to walk the path which they enjoy the most. With a variety of combat oriented and non-combat activities to pursue, we believe we’ve created a game that can stand the test of time.
Quotes Out Of Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2012
“I really could go on and on about everything I saw at GDC, like how credits in-game will be earned through the mission system... but I had to be dragged out of the interview because I was so riveted!” - Massively.com’s MJ Guthrie
“The Repopulation was one of our biggest surprises of GDC, and looked better in pre-alpha than a number of beta MMOs we’ve seen. ” - TenTonHammer.com
“Not since Star Wars Galaxies have we seen a game so focused on non-combat feature sets” - Massively.com’s Jef Reahard
What Sets us apart?
- Unique three faction PvP system where the third faction allows characters to create their own independent Rogue Nations.
- Player created city system allows players to form and design their own cities, structures and homes.
- Nations can own multiple cities, and even besiege the cities of their enemies.
- Mayors can be assigned to oversee a city and manage it using some strategy index. Keeping your citizens happy is important.
- Military advancement system which rewards players with unique titles, abilities and items for advancement.
- Set your reaction to other nations to one of five different levels ranging from Ally to Nemesis.
- Create up to 99 ranks for your nation, each with their own customizable names and settings.
- An Advanced Generated Mission system allows us to create complex multi-stage missions which are tailored specifically for your character.
- Missions can have branching outcomes based on a player’s actions.
- Generated missions are mailed to your character as job offers and are accessible from anywhere in the game using your in-game PDA system.
- NPCs can talk about things that have happened to them to other players and NPCs.
- Your actions will be remembered by NPCs, and they may exploit your tendencies if you let them.
- One Time Missions spawn in random locations throughout the wilderness to encourage exploration.
- Players can filter which types of missions they wish to receive, so only those missions are generated for them.
- Missions are not all combat oriented. There are crafting, harvesting, diplomatic, and other non-combat variations available.
- Completing missions in a group will generate bonus rewards and automatically split them among your group.
- Skills based gameplay which features 75 unique skills, and 14 tiers within each skill line.
- Players are not forced into combat roles. Crafting, harvesting, diplomatic or other non-combat oriented skills can operate and progress independently of combat.
- Skills increase automatically through use. Abilities are earned and not given automatically.
- Skill Imprinting system allows you to imprint knowledge of skills into yourself, to make up for time lost while doing activities such as missions.
- Fitting system allows players to customize their appearance and stats to their playstyle.
- Most of the equipable items in The Repopulation are cosmetic shells which set the category of armor or weapon in that slot. The bulk of their stats come from their five fitting slots.
- Fittings are similar to sockets or augmentations in some other games, but are available on most armor and weapon items from the very beginning of the game.
- Engagements are similar to public quests which can mutate and spread throughout an area, changing its appearance or content.
- How players respond to an engagement will affect how it progresses or spreads.
- Engagements are intended to get players working together from the early stages of the game or encourage exploration.
- There are both combat and non-combat oriented engagements.
- Settlements can turn into dungeons and towns can be overrun. Allowing this to happen can seriously alter the content available in an area.
- Player vs. Player engagements are similar to Open World battlegrounds.
- Three unique types of pets: Tamed, Genetically Engineered and Robotic. Each has their own systems and benefits.
- Tame animals when they are young, then have them slowly grow into fully matured pets. But only if they receive proper care and feeding.
- Genetically engineer species by splicing DNA and Tissue from different species.
- Robotic pets can serve a variety of different combat and non-combat roles.
CRAFTING
- Advanced Crafting systems which allows players to create thousands of variations of items through a total of 23 different trade skills.
- Harvesting system allows players to harvest their resources in both combat and non-combat related fashions. Over-harvested areas will run dry of resources and recover slowly, rewarding players for discovering more remote locations.
- Event system will require players to make decisions during the crafting process which will influence their result.
- Each of the game’s recipe has its own mastery level which can be increased to produce higher quality items.
- Access the Auction Network from anyplace in the world using your in-game PDA.
COMBAT
-
Two distinct modes of combat: Action Mode and RPG Mode. RPG Mode works like traditional RPG combat. Action Mode allows players to control the game in ways similar to a First Person Shooter. You can toggle between these modes at any time.
- Several twists to make combat more interesting including Momentum, Limb Targeting, Species Mastery, Energy Shields, Cover, and Postures..
- Generated special abilities system for bosses will force groups or raids to adjust on the fly when fighting bosses rather than simply looking up spoiler information on the internet.
- Encourages grouping with a slew of social features such as skill gain bonuses and treasure bonuses while grouped. Along with those bonuses abilities make use of openings created by other abilities allowing for players to exploit those openings.
- Vehicles can serve in combat roles.
Why Kickstarter?
Above and Beyond Technologies is an independently owned development studio. It consists of a small team which has spent every last moment of free time at their disposal to fund and develop this title over the past four years. Each of our team members either works a day job, or makes ends meet by working as an independent contractor. We’ve invested years worth of our time because we believe strongly in this project, and that it will be a success. You may be wondering why we would look to kickstart now?
We’re realists. We realize that the game’s success lies not only in its feature list and gameplay, but in the level of polish and presentation that it can provide at launch. To date we’ve managed to keep our costs down to a minimum due to our core team working for free, and by outsourcing to affordable contractors out of our own pockets. We were prepared to do this until launch, but the amount of interest in this project over the past few months has led us to believe that we owe our rapidly growing user base the most polished content we can provide at launch. We’re kickstarting to ensure that we can accomplish that. By polish we’re referring to the little touches like graphical upgrades, more NPC species, more advanced mission templates, and the like. Those small touches that can make the difference between a good game and a great game. Unfortunately indie studios often find themselves in positions where they simply have run out of funds and are forced to launch a game that is buggy and unpolished. Kickstarter will help ensure that this does not happen with The Repopulation.
We elected to set a very modest target for our kickstarter campaign, but we want to make it clear that we are developing towards a launch in 2013 and every last cent earned through the campaign will go to adding more content and features into the project by allowing us to bring on more artists, animators, and developers into the fold to make this great game even greater. We start private Alpha testing for a lucky handful in late June of this year and will slowly start adding more individuals in for testing for the remainder of the year until Beta is ready later this year or early next. We are well beyond the building of a prototype stage and look forward to releasing our vision on our own schedule and when it is ready instead of having it rushed to market in an incomplete state. Your backing of this project will assist in this process and we have made it so the early tiers are getting a very lucrative break on the eventual costs once the game is released so you are doing more than simply pledging to the cause, you are pre-ordering as well.
What do all these pledge offerings mean?
We have a wide variety of offerings for our pledges so this section will explain what those are in detail so you know what you are getting. Many of the early tiers offer a substantial reduction in cost of packages and credits that will be available upon launch so not only are you donating to the cause, you are getting memberships and store credits for half off. If you have any further questions by all means ask us so we can sort out any confusion.
Membership Package
We are what is called in the industry as a Free to Play (F2P) title. We distribute the game for free and you can play it at no continuing cost. Obviously, the game will not last very long if no one pays any money so we sell memberships with additional perks. Our planned initial offerings for the memberships include additional character, inventory, bank, shared bank, mission, housing, and auction slots. There are 3 membership levels available and the higher end memberships offer more slots. Additionally, Silver membership will offer access to be part of the City Council and be part of Nation Leadership, Gold Membership will open up being a City Mayor, and Platinum Membership will allow you to create a Nation. Memberships are offered at a discount through kickstarter and will be available for future purchase upon release and each membership includes the previous ones. Memberships are one time purchases and will never expire. Kickstarter Memberships will be given at release and are non refundable.
Store Credit
Part of being F2P is that we have what is also called a cash shop where players can purchase in game items. We do not sell what are considered Pay 2 Win (P2W) items that require players to spend money in hope to compete in the game; instead, we sell cosmetic items that players can use in game along with a small variety of time saving options such as what is commonly referred to as an experience potion. Store Credit can also be used to purchase a membership if you don’t have all of the levels. We understand the value of both paying and non paying customers and want to provide extract incentives to paying customers without non paying customers feeling like they are playing a demo. Kickstarter Store Credit will be given at release and is non refundable.
Beta Testing
Beta testing is the process before release where the game is nearly complete and players are allowed to play to test out the game. They help with final bug reporting and to stress test the servers. We are offering 2 levels of Beta testing as part of the pledges.
Preferred access will give you guaranteed access to the 2nd round of Beta testing to happen shortly after the 1st period. Some preferred accounts will randomly get access to the 1st as well depending on how many there are.
Guaranteed access will give you guaranteed access to the the 1st round of Beta testing to happen after Alpha testing ends. Some guaranteed accounts will randomly get access to Alpha testing during phase 2 if they are not part of phase 1.
Head Start
Once Beta is over and the servers are ready to be opened you will get a head start on everyone else. The listed is the minimum you will be given and there might be more based on the numbers. If there is any kind of queue or limit on active accounts upon release any head start member will skip this aspect and be included in the initial count. There will be no reset during this process so whatever you have you get to keep once the general public is allowed on the server.
Titles
You will be granted titles that are exclusive to this promotion that can be used in game. These perks will not be available for purchase upon release.
Kickstarter tokens
These are special tokens that can be used to get special in game items as a thank you for supporting us. Instead of giving specific ones at each level we will offer you tokens and you will have a choice of different options with some costing more than 1 token. These items will be cosmetic in nature only and will not give you any additional functionality or power over other players. Examples of what you can expect are: equipable shell items such as armor, weapons, and clothing, a special edition vehicle, and trinkets and even special buildings for your housing and nation.
Founder or Voyage plaque
The Founder Plaque and Voyage Plaque are large monuments that will be displayed in both of the major cities in the game for either the OWON and FPR faction. We will etch an approved name into one of the monuments for everyone to see in game. We will also do a “photo-op” with everyone in game if there is interest once in Beta for everyone to keep as a momento if they wish. This plaque is awarded to all other tiers above it as well.
There are additional levels that will get you a higher rank on the plaque so you will be listed with less people. A small plaque will be given that can be used in your private housing to show off as well at higher tiers.
Character Name inserted into Lore
An approved name of your choosing will be inserted into the game lore. We will present you with a few options on where it can go and you will choose from them. The reference will be a minor one and will not be associated with an NPC unless you have an NPC at another tier.
NPC
We will work with you on the appearance and name of an NPC in game that will be used in the game and players will interact with on at different levels. In higher tiers you will specify Personality, Profession and Mood for your NPC that allows the NPC to be part of more missions tailored to your liking. This could include different traits that can be viewed as positive or negative depending on how you look at it. We reserve the right to deny any suggestions here and hope of course we do not have to do that. Part of this perk is that we will perform this on the development server so you will get to watch as we do it in realtime and the next update your NPC will be live in the testing environment. Development server access is for the period of time only to create the NPC unless you have previous access for some other reason.
Lifetime Store Discount
Anything you purchase in the store for the lifetime of the account will be discounted at the rate listed.
Custom Weapon
This is a truly custom weapon that will be a different look from the others in the game and unique in that sense. Since we use what we call shells for items the weapon will not have any advantage over others besides people drooling over it while you stand there. We will try to work with you on tweaking it some, but please understand we will present some ideas and go with some minor modifications from there. If you are capable of drawing or designing the weapon we will try to work from that as well to the best of our ability. Part of this perk is that we will perform this on the development server so you will get to watch as we do it in realtime and the next update your weapon will be live in the testing environment. Development server access is for the period of time only to create the weapon unless you have previous access for some other reason.
Monument
Along with the giant plaque, each city will have 12 monuments to some of the great leaders of the past. We will work with you on becoming one of those monuments and introducing some lore into the game about that individual. We do reserve some rights on how far we can go with the lore and will try to work with you the best we can. Part of this perk is that we will perform this on the development server so you will get to watch as we do it in realtime and the next update your statue will be live in the testing environment. Development server access is for the period of time only to create the statue unless you have previous access for some other reason.
NPC Species
Want to join the fun of creating an NPC species? You will work with one of our artists on building a custom creature that will be all over the world for you to kill or be killed by. You will also work with our lore folks to build a story around the critter and be generally involved in the process. Part of this perk is that we will perform this on the development server so you will get to watch as we do it in realtime and the next update your NPC creature will be live in the testing environment. Development server access is for the period of time only to create the NPC creature unless you have previous access for some other reason.
Generated Mission Template
Wow thanks for supporting us, first off. You will get to work with the team first hand to create a generated mission template that will be used in game. We will work with you on a complex generated mission up to 20 steps. This will be much more complicated than a simple kill 10 of x mission and hopefully other players will appreciate the work everyone put into this.
Meet and greet at a major gaming conference
Choose a conference of your choice in 2012-2013 in the continental US and we will meet up with you and do dinner with you and up to 4 guests. If we can arrange to do something during the conference we will try to make that happen as well as you helped us out quite a bit. We are open to suggestions here if you are serious about this tier or anything higher so please contact us with your ideas and we will be more than happy to listen.
Want to learn more about us?
We encourage you to visit our website and check out the Game Features section along with the FAQ section that has quite a bit of detail about the many aspects of our game. Check out the Forums for some detailed discussions between the developers and the community, check out our Youtube channel for most of the videos shown here, and if you want more outside details check out the Press Features for written, audio, and video interviews with the developers.
We are a small and ambitious Indy team and we strongly hope you will support us in the process to build a game with a strong and vibrant community for years to come.
Pledge Rewards
Pledge $10 or more:
You will receive a Silver Membership Package*, a $20 value. Your name will appear in a list of Kickstarters on our website and in the game credits on request.
Pledge $20 Or More
You receive $20 in store credit which can be redeemed when the game ships**, as well as your Silver Membership package*. Your account will gain access to the prefix title “Founder” which will be available exclusively through this Kickstarter opportunity. In addition, you will be given preferred access to private Beta Testing. Your account will be also be credited with a Kickstarter Token, which can be redeemed in game for your choice of special rewards*****.
Pledge $30 Or More
In addition to previous rewards, you will receive an additional $20 in store credit** for a total of $40.00. You are guaranteed at least a 1 day head start before the servers open to the general public.
Pledge $40 Or More
In addition to previous rewards, your membership is upgraded to the $40 Gold Membership. You are also now guaranteed at least a 2 day head start before the servers open to the general public. Your account will also be credited with an additional Kickstarter Token*****, bringing your total to 2.
Pledge $50 Or More
In addition to previous rewards, and you will receive an additional $20 in store credit bringing your total up to $60. You will also receive another Kickstarter Token*****, bringing your total to 3. You will also be upgraded from preferred to Guaranteed access to private Beta testing.
Pledge $65 Or More
In addition to previous rewards, your Membership will be upgraded to the $60 valued Platinum Membership. You receive an additional $5 in store credit, bringing the total to $65.
Pledge $80 Or More
In addition to previous rewards, you will receive $15 in store credit** for a total of $80. You will also have an extra day head start bringing the total to 3 days. Last but not least your account is credited with an additional Kickstarter Token*****, bringing the total to 4 tokens.
Pledge $100 Or More
In addition to previous rewards, the name of your choice*** will be added to your choice of OWON’s Voyage Plaque or FPR’s Founder Plaque in game, and on our web site. The OWON Voyage Plaque is a monument that houses the names of the men and women from the Northern Star colonial vessel. The FPR Founder Plaque is a monument listing the names of the founders of Freedomtown. These plaques will be permanent fixtures in the game world to commemorate your contribution. You will also have an extra day head start bringing the total to 4 days and an extra $20 in store credit bringing the total to $100.
Pledge $125 Or More
You will also receive an additional 2 Kickstarter Tokens bringing your total up to 6 and an additional extra day head start bringing the total to 5 days.
Pledge $150 Or More
In addition to previous rewards, your account will gain access to the suffix title “Northern Star Veteran” which will be available exclusively through this Kickstarter opportunity. The TSS Northern Star was the original colonial vessel on Rhyldan. You will also receive a preferred position on the Founder or Voyage Plaque and on our web site. You additionally receive a unique plaque that can be placed in your virtual home as a furniture decoration. Your account will be credited with an additional 2 Kickstarter Tokens*****, bringing your total to 8.
Comments
Pledge $200 Or More
In addition to previous rewards, a character name*** of your choice will be subtly inserted into one of the items in the game. For example, there may be a book written by your character name, or your name will be on a client list, etc. You will also receive an additional 2 Kickstarter Tokens bringing your total up to 10 and an additional extra day head start bringing the total to 6 days.
Pledge $250 Or More
In addition to previous rewards, you will have an NPC created in game with your input. You will be able to specify the NPCs name***, gender and have some control over their appearance. You will receive one of the the highest placement positions on the Founder or Voyage Plaque. You will also receive an additional guaranteed day of head start access, bringing your total to 7 days.
Pledge $350 Or More
In addition to the previous rewards, you will be able to select a Personality, Profession and Mood for your NPC likeness. These traits will allow your NPC to take part in more generated mission opportunities that will be partaken by players in the game. You will also receive an additional guaranteed day of head start access, bringing your total to 8 days.
Pledge $500 Or More
In addition to previous rewards, we will allow you to submit custom logo that will be added to a specific standard piece of armor or clothing that others can see in game******. This will be an account wide perk and the piece can be claimed by all of the characters on your account. Your name will be listed in the credits and on our web site as a Sponsor***. You will receive a lifetime 5% discount on all Repop Store purchases. You will also an additional guaranteed day of head start access, bringing the total to 9 days.
Pledge $750 Or More
In addition to previous rewards, you will receive a custom weapon with the name of your choosing***. This will be a cosmetic item, with the exact same stats as the store bought variant (all of our stats come from Fittings), but it will be a status symbol. You will also an additional guaranteed day of head start access, bringing the total to 10 days. The 10 day head start can also be shared with 5 other accounts of your choosing.
Pledge $1000 Or More (Limit 24)
In addition to previous rewards, we will allocate a monument to you created in your choice of Plymouth or Freedomtown. You will be given your choice of which of these two areas they will appear in, but it is first come first serve and only twelve monuments are available on each side. We’ll also work with you to provide some backstory and lore as to why this character was important****
Pledge $1500 Or More (Limit 24)
In addition to previous rewards, your Repop Store discount is upgraded to 10%. Your name will be listed in the credits and on our web site as an Investor***, and you will have a second NPC created in game with your input. You will be able to specify the NPCs name***, gender, have some control over their appearance, personality, mood, and profession.
Pledge $2000 Or More (Limit 20)
In addition to previous rewards, you will be able to select one of the two NPCs you created from the previous levels and we move that NPC in either the OWON or FPR tutorial areas. You will be given your choice of which of these two areas they will appear in, but it is first come first serve and only ten NPCs are available on each side. In the case that these slots have all been sold our and you are receiving this option through a higher priced pledge, we will substitute this reward by creating an additional NPC with your specifications elsewhere***.
Pledge $3000 Or More (Limit 10)
In addition to previous rewards, you will be able to work with our team on designing an NPC creature species****. You’ll have input on the name and visual appearance of this species, as well as on traits you’d like to see them possess***. In the case that these slots are full, then higher priced pledges levels will be able to substitute this slot with an additional NPC with their specifications***.
Pledge $4000 Or More (Limit 10)
In addition to previous rewards, we boost your Repop Store discount to a 15% lifetime discount on all purchases. You will also be able to work with The Repopulation team to design a unique Generated Mission Template of up to 20 steps****.
Pledge $5000 Or More (Limit 5)
Meet and greet at a major gaming focused conference in the United States. We will include dinner for you and up to four guests. Transportation and lodging not included.
* Membership packages are a basic collection of useful account upgrades at a discounted price. This includes things like additional inventory, character and bank slots.
** Store Credit is non-refundable. It may be spent in our microtransaction store once the game goes live. This will allow you to purchase account upgrades, cosmetic items or perks.
*** Names are subject to the our Naming Policy. If we feel a name is inappropriate we will allow you to change it to a different name that fits into our guidelines.
**** Content is all subject to lore and quality control restrictions. Our staff will work with you to try to bring your vision to the game, but we reserve the right to balance or modify content for lore purposes. We will keep you in the loop and provide you with early details as we implement your content.
***** These tokens may be redeemed for special cosmetic or furniture items that will only be available through this Kickstarter opportunity.
****** We reserve the right to reject any logos which we feel to be inappropriate. In the event that this occurs you will be able to substitute your logo for a more appropriate one.
New Kickstarter Draft Editt :https://docs.google.com/a/therepopulation.com/document/d/1eB5imeebRpLXSp6A5deTQo8sxifbwUGqBmBRBnucyG4/edit?pli=1
The Repopulation Forums:http://www.therepopulation.com/forum/index.php?f=1&t=462&rb_v=viewtopic&start=50
The Kickstarter hasnt offically started yet but more info will probably hit in the coming week...
Certainly going to fund this project. If they can pull it off it will be one of the best MMOs out there....
Have there been any Kickstarter success stories, yet? I've only just started hearing about it, but I have no idea how long its been around. If it's as new as I think it is, though, its way too soon for that. I look forward to seeing if it does produce some good games..
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Welll 100% funded projects that are in the works now are Wasteland 2, Shadowrun, Double Fine Adventure, Lesiure Suit Larry, and a ton of other projects that have been fully funded I guess once the development's complete we will see if any of them pan out I personally have helped fund all the games I did list above. I personally think these will be great games made by gamers. So if the Repopulation Kickstarter is a success who knows we may see it sooner
Yeah, looking forward to Wasteland2 especially, and I guess so are a lot of other people, as they recieved 3x their target. It's impressive, but I won't personally consider it a success, until there's a decent game to show for it all. and maybe even some profit for the devs
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Have to say, reading through the features of the Repopulation above really impressed me. Only thing I would be concerned about is if an independent studio can complete and distribute such as ambitious project - may think about donating to this one.
M
"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death!"
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War
Support the Indie Developers - Kickstarter
Um...if you consider your team working for free and contractors affordable on your own, what do you need the money for?
Um, WHAT? They're trying to get money to actually work full time on the project now thus adding extreme amounts of polish to the product.
You realize it's essentially a group of friends making a game in their spare time, right? What they've done is fantastic, and i'm a bit angry over your comment
.
That aside, anyone else slightly put off by the fact there's a TEN (10) day head start?! That's rediculous. I'd accept maybe a 3day headstart, but 10?! REALLY?
O_o
I was interested in funding the project for ~$65, but not if the headstart is that far along.
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity:
Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
Kickstarter is a "too soon to tell" idea that holds great promise but as of yet zero results (again no fault of their own given it's general developer audience and lifespan to date). Hopefully it will prove to be "the next thing" to support indie ideas, I mean honestly if this doesn't work WTF can we possible hope for next?
So that is what they need the money for. . which is what you asked. They are splitting their time currently between contracts and working on the game. That is not efficient. If they had money they could work full time and get it done sooner and likely better.
The article explains it. I would suggest reading it again.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
Sure, everything is easier when you got the money but that does not say anything why anyone should give them money and what they are going to spend them on.
They can just continue making the game the "inefficient" way or quit their jobs if they believe that the game will be successful.
If they are not doing so, I can only assume they either do not believe in their project themselves or they just do not want to bear the risk their business takes and are looking for someone naive enough who will.
This is a basic business practice and mandatory part of any business plan.
Because everyone can afford to quit their job, obviously. Morgage payments pay themsevles and children don't need food right?
Stop trying to beat down the people who are trying to advance the genre. Unfortunately the Repop devs aren't ridiculously wealthy and they can't solo fund a project with this kind of scope and detail. They need the money because so few people are willing to give a game a chance if it isn't super pretty and sparkly.
Instead of whining about how you think things should be, how about you offer studios that are trying to achieve their vision on zero budget whatever skills and talents you have. Take some classes on 3D graphic design and offer your services for free, learn to code and pitch in, do something other than whine on forums because they need jobs to support themselves while the MMO is in development. And in case you didn't realize it... development = no money coming in. Which means quitting their jobs would leave them without ANY revenue to pay for artwork and whatever else they need done.
I'm doing what I can to help these guys out and when the kickstarter goes live I'll be donating.
Because everyone can afford to quit their job, obviously. Morgage payments pay themsevles and children don't need food right?
Stop trying to beat down the people who are trying to advance the genre. Unfortunately the Repop devs aren't ridiculously wealthy and they can't solo fund a project with this kind of scope and detail. They need the money because so few people are willing to give a game a chance if it isn't super pretty and sparkly.
Instead of whining about how you think things should be, how about you offer studios that are trying to achieve their vision on zero budget whatever skills and talents you have. Take some classes on 3D graphic design and offer your services for free, learn to code and pitch in, do something other than whine on forums because they need jobs to support themselves while the MMO is in development. And in case you didn't realize it... development = no money coming in. Which means quitting their jobs would leave them without ANY revenue to pay for artwork and whatever else they need done.
I'm doing what I can to help these guys out and when the kickstarter goes live I'll be donating.
Thanks Kay u beat me to the punch with your reply,may i just add that if anybody wishes for the correct information and not rumours and conjecture get your ass on the forums and interact with one of the best communities and dev teams on the net.
The Repopulation is going to blow you guys away. For an indie mmo, this game has so much to offer. As for the kickstarter, noone says you have to pay a dime, but unfortunately the game wont be released for another few years if they don't get some sort of funding.
As we stand at this point, the Alpha will be opening up for the starting content of the game. There still needs to be a ton more built, there is only 1-2 fully built locations and there are only so many props, this is what the funding is mostly for... art and modeling.
That is the difference between a job and owning a business.
So they can count on you donating?
Businesses require capital to function. In-development MMOs bring in no capital. Welcome to the reason why indie games don't tend to make it. Now instead of being part of the problem, how about you become part of the solution and do something about it?
No reason why anyone should donate someone else living. If they cannot fund the project, the project does not deserve to live.
I am not part of the problem, it is not my problem at all. It is THEIR problem, why would I want to be a part of the solution of THEIR problems?
Makes no sense whatsoever. Would you donate my living if I ask you?
Did you even read the pitch? It tells you here...
We’ve elected to set a very small target, but the more funds we can generate through kickstarter, the better. Much of our team is taking contract work on the side to make ends meet, which results in them splitting their time between The Repopulation and other projects, which lowers our overall efficiency. Removing some or all of the side work from the equation will allow them to give the game its full attention, and increases our team’s productivity. The bottom line is that the more money we can generate from kickstarter, the more polish and content we can provide at launch.
Which is a perfectly good reason for a Kickstarter, and matter of fact its why Kickstarter was created in the first place.
So either, wait for their kickstarter and help then out because you like the idea of the game, or don't, but there is no reason to sit here and * and moan becasue they are trying to make a great game and need some help.
All I heard was... "Well aren't you just a little lolly pop triple dipped in psycho."
Guys, don't waste your time, I am not saying I am donating, but no one is making me do it either way....But the guy is not going to donate, and doesn't see the point in it...Just go on with your discussion without him. Everyone can have an opinion, they are set on theirs, so no point in trying to change it....
Game looks like it could be cool, or another bug ridden flop, so polish will make or break it imo.
This is a fair concern. We'll be releasing a new video along with the Kickstarter, though it's going to be more of an overview. One thing that we'll touch on there is where we are in development right now.
At this point, we're well beyond the prototype stage, where most games typically kickstart. In our case, we're looking at roughly a mid-2013 launch. The only features mentioned in the feature list that are not yet functional in game are vehicles and sieges, so we were pretty vague about both of them. We have some code written already for vehicles, but it's more of a prototype. We pushed both features to be post-alpha as we felt they were less important than some of the other things in the early game. All of the other features are already in game though. Most of them have been functional for some time now.
I think that even without any funding we would be looking at a 2013 release (though later in the year), but we wouldn't be able to provide the same level of polish. The easy thing to say there is just keep delaying, but at some point a game needs to ship or else its window has closed. In the case of The Repopulation we've actually been in development for five years already. We just kept things extremely low key for most of that time, by design. We didn't want any attention before we were ready for it.
The main thing we're looking at now is that much of our team can only dedicate 8-14 hours a week right now. We've been able to move along fine like that for the few couple years because we still had a lot of code to be written, and the two founding members of our team are both programmers (myself and Josh Halls), who probably had more free time available than the rest of the team. So we outsourced to contractors (out of our own pockets) when we needed things done quickly, and our in-house artists could work at their own pace. These guys and gals have dedicated pretty much any free time they've had, in some cases for years to the project. But there's only so much time available.
We've now reached the point though where 90% of the code is done and it's time to start going full bore into world building, content and polish. At this stage the needs shift largely to the art and creative team. So now we're reaching the point where we really need those guys undivided attention. We could (and still do) spend whatever spare money we have bringing in contractors, but that will only get us so far. We'll be using Kickstarter to try and generate enough funds to bring the art and content guys on full time for as far as the money stretches. Even if we only generate a few months worth of time doing that. One month of having our guys on 40 hours a week as opposed to 10, that would still allow us to get 16 months of work done in 4 months. When you put things into that perspective it means that we could have things done by the end of this year that otherwise would have taken us until the end of next year to complete.
So what we're looking at generally is a way to speed up the process, so that we can have the game ready to move from alpha into beta by the end of the year (that's our goal). We're wary about letting too many eyes into the game until it has a certain level of polish. And this allows us to reach that point more quickly.
We're hoping that the pledge rewards will also be things that the people contributing to the project will also find valuable. Those levels are not yet set in stone, there's still subtle tweaks going on. But our main goal is for the normal money pledges to provide substantial discounts in Membership options and Store Credit, as well as some unique titles and cosmetic things that will only be available through Kickstarter. Anything $100 or up will give people a permanent place in the games lore. Starting with the names on the in-game plaques, and going up to more substantial things like monuments, NPCs, Items named after your character, etc. We realize that anyone pledging is obviously doing us a big favor, becuase they are helping us to create a better game. So we want to make sure we can reward them as best we can.
https://www.therepopulation.com - Sci Fi Sandbox.
Just read the info from Kickstarter on how to pledge. It is extremely easy so I'll be pledging when you guys get it going.
For anyone on the fence I recommend going to the Repop forums and reading some of the dev replies there. They are definitely a class act and have accomplished a lot on their own. The kind of people I am happy to assist.
They have an Updated google doc here
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eB5imeebRpLXSp6A5deTQo8sxifbwUGqBmBRBnucyG4/edit
The OP thread and this link in this post is subject to change as the private version of their kickstarter isn't finalized yet. I'm sure JC or someone will update a post here on MMORPG when the kickstarter goes live for those interested.
Until then visit www.therepopulation.com and spread the word
All I heard was... "Well aren't you just a little lolly pop triple dipped in psycho."
I don't see any word of a kickstarter program on the official website therepopulation.com. This could be a scam?
Never trust a screenshot or a youtube video without a version stamp!