Good Eve gents and gals, I want to bring to light a common issue i have seen in games that are offering content for real life currency. Its good to have, but one thing i noticed is that, it could lead to people actually not playing the game to its full potential. Lets be honest here. If i paid for a luxury apartment and not actually grind for one, i would look like a scrub. Its like putting cheat codes in GTA and getting free money / apartments / guns etc. You get my point. I think the paid cosmetics is a bit to early to advertise. I would have liked to see a different way to fund development costs. However, i am a bit understanding of the business move. I think people will get bored if the top looking apartments were bought with real money and not earned in game from hard labor. My goal obviously here is to make a lot of money. I want to experience that feeling of reward when you buy an expensive apartment. Are these apartments going to give an edge in comparison to people having regular apartments? Hopefully @Beach_Ball could answer this. Now, mind you that i understand the funding that this will bring. However, i am not convinced that its effective. Sorry, our opinions are different on the matters. You see, i want the pure enjoyment of finally being able to walk in that smooth upscale apartment after a long grind. Please, don't forget the feeling when you spent the last 3 weeks of your life grinding for an apartment. Finally you get that dopamine rush to your brain of rewarding accomplishment as you walk in it for the first time. Bravo! Anyone remember such nostalgic feeling that we experienced in games like GTA V, WoW , etc ???? I Do. I hope i still can feel such rewarding feeling. *Drops $400 on the game.... I feel like a scrub. What are your thoughts?

Here's a step by step guide to claiming your Steam key in preparation for Town Square! Step 1: Head over to https://www.identityrpg.com/account/view/profile to view your items. You'll need to have the "Beta Access" item in order to gain access to the Modules. Step 2: Click the "Account" tab on the side and navigate to the "Click To Link" button beside the Steam logo. You'll be given a warning that linking your Identity Account with your Steam Account is a one-time procedure. When you're ready to make the link, click the button to proceed. Step 3: You'll be brought to Steam's website. Log in with the Steam Account you wish to associate with your Identity Account here. Step 4: After logging in with your Steam, return back to your profile page on the Identity website. You should now see a Steam key beside the "Steam Product Key" heading. (Clicking the "Linked" button beside the Steam logo will now bring you to your Steam profile.) Step 5: Take your product key and register it using Steam's "Product Activation" feature. You can find this by launching the Steam client, clicking the "Games" dropdown menu button on the top left corner of your screen, and then by selecting the "Activate a Product on Steam..." option. Step 6: You should then be greeted to an "Activation Successful!" screen, stating that "Identity: Town Square" has been associated with your Steam Account. Please note that Town Square won't appear in your Steam Games Library until we finish making the final few adjustments required to release the Module. Once we complete the final task on our Task Tracker, we'll then be able to make the Module visible.

Sry i dont wanna hate, as i think this game has a lot of chances to be one of the greatest games, the devs are posting lot of stuff and showing it to us but seriously are you really fu**** kiddin us???? in the beginning of the year the town square ( ONLY THIS MODULE !!!! not even a real beta/alpha) should be released - i have to talk to one of my friends very often that he shouldnt get a refund and as he says "fu** this game" Get your sh*t together and release this goddamn module! You seriously sitting since (i think) more then a month on that goddamn UI interface 1 tag? dont you think its goin to far with this put off/push back? goddamn...

Crowdfunding, Kick Starter, Early Access, Backer, Founder, Etc. Have a certain expectation level that comes with them if you so chose to engage in the process. Many negative Nancy's here seem to ignore that fact, or simply make up their own expectation level when they themselves feel that progression is slow or communication is lax from the developers and studio. If you so chose to engage in said process, you should really follow the the studio and developer announcements early on, as I did and many of you did. Once you feel comfortable with the proposed product and feel reasonably satisfied with what the vision of the end result is, then and only then should you be reaching in your pocket. For some that's the first day for others that is three years down the road. I followed the prospect of Identity for almost three years before I reached into my pocket or even made forum account for that matter. Either way, if you don't go into this with the attitude and mindset that you just threw your money on red number 7 on the roulette table, then you have set yourself up for disappointment. The fact is, these projects are a gamble and if you chose to partake, You own it, it's all on you.

Not a vine, but from a great vine artist back in the day.

You are right. It is our choice to invest, but why do you think that means we can't be annoyed when our expectations aren't met? You have every right to cancel dinner plans with your wife, that doesn't mean she cannot be annoyed at you for it. This is what you need to get into your head, no one is saying Asylum have committed any crimes. No one is saying that Asylum HAVE to listen to us. We chose to invest in a project, and if we aren't happy with the way that project is going, we can be annoyed at that. You are ignorant to blatant facts, which is that the developers of this game have failed on many levels, and while we understood this could happen coming in, that doesn't mean we have to just bend over and take it. We can voice that we are incredibly frustrated. The developers agree with me! Here is a quote directly from beachball to me in private messages. Look, I am not getting into another debate here. I'm not attacking the developers, I am not personally attacking you, I am just tired of the people who think that because we were aware of the risks coming in and chose to back anyway, that automatically means we cannot be annoyed when expectations aren't met.

This is that tiny little thing that frustrates me when people say: Give em some more time. Mate nothing personal, but really what more time do they need? The first release date was arround 2017, spring if i remember correctly. If not correct me! So from that date on, they lie to us all, since it never came out. Its 2018 Sept, a few more months and it will be 2019. Those keys are oke, but says nothing about a fast release. It could still take up months before they even release the module. Who knows? Only the devs know... Maybe even another year that passes us, before its release. We will only know by time, but it feels just like a joke with all the delays. One or 2 delays oke, so be it! But after that the count goes on, 3, 4, 5 delays and its annoying.

Ramping up It's been busy as usual here at the Asylum office! For the past few weeks, we've had our testers running through all of the systems in the Town Square and a whole lot of progress has been made toward release. They've done an awesome job in finding the remaining bugs, and our team's been doing an equally awesome job in squashing them. As you likely noticed when following the Dev Tracker on our website, we're down to the testing stages on one remaining task. We've been working on this one for a while as there were a couple significant bugs encountered. These bugs were deep in the engine and were show-stoppers. Fortunately, we've recently defeated them and put them behind us. We're now knocking out the remaining minor issues being found by our testers and things are looking great. With the new website online (more on this below) we're soon going to be handing out Steam keys for those with access to the Town Square. This doesn't mean you can play just yet, but we're getting close enough that we're going to be bringing you on board in preperation. If you're wondering how it's going to work, it's really pretty simple. Once we launch this feature shortly, you're going to be able to log into your game account on our website. You'll then see the option to link your existing Steam account. Once you've linked your account, you'll be given a key which, when entered into the Steam client, will add Identity's Town Square to your game library. You won't need to log in to play, as we know who you are based on your Steam account. I'd recommend following us on social media (Twitter and Facebook especially) to watch for this coming announcement. Gangs and Warfare We're changing the Identity Insider format! Instead of larger insiders once in a long while, we're going to be sending out more frequent updates. We're talking a few each month! These Insider updates will paint a detailed picture of Identity's full gameplay experiences. To kick this off, we posted the following update on our new website just yesterday: Identity Drug Cartel Concepts (click image for more) You've made stacks of cash pushing drugs and the odd robbery, but when push comes to shove, you'll find strength in numbers. A gang is a group of ruffians with the goal of obtaining power and infamy through the domination of those around them. Gangs are often at war with one another as they compete for limited resources, whether it's turf, drugs or blood. There's no shortage of criminal activity in the world outside of gangs, but true power belongs to the syndicates and cartels with the strength and fortitude to rule over their rivals. Comradery Identity is all about working together with your friends, and gangs are the social structure geared towards crime. You can belong to only one gang at any time, so choose where your loyalty lies. Your gang has a full rank structure and the leaders can control access levels for each member based on that rank. As your gang grows, it can also unlock additional perks for all members. The gang leadership can designate any home owned in the world as the HQ, giving access to all members of the gang. Hang out with your gangmates and stockpile weapons, drugs and anything else you can get your hands on. Your HQ, like your personal homes, can also be used for respawning on death. This makes it an important rally point when *#!% hits the fan! Cartels Cartels are conflict areas which are controlled by one gang at any time, providing the owners with control over trade and traffiking of their related substance throughout all the land. To the victor goes the spoils. The cartel zone is a functional HQ for the current owners. Turf Identity Turf Neighborhood Concept Take control of city neighborhoods with gang turf zones. While cartels control substances across the world of Identity, the gangs who dominate a neighborhood have direct influence over criminal organizations in that area, such as drug dealers. Lookouts in the area will spot rival gangs in the streets of your turf and text message members of your gang in the area. Controlling gangs get access to a safe house in the area, tightening their hold. Warfare Dominate gangs who cross your path and prove your strength. Declare war on your rivals and hunt them down. Gang members who are at war are completely vulnerable to one another through the stress system, and so you need to be on the lookout at all times. Prey on your enemies until they submit to your demands. When declaring war on another gang, the other gang must accept the spoils set by the agressor. The spoils can include cash, turf, real-estate and more. When one side has had enough and ends the war, they forfeit those spoils to the stronger gang. In Identity, most items people carry can be taken if they're killed. What's theirs, is yours. War is hell. New website is finally here! The Identity website has had an overhaul to prepare for the Town Square release and Steam integrations. The new website brings all kinds of cool new features, mostly for the game account systems and the Identity shop! We're also going to be filling up the About page with all sorts of new information from the Insider releases. Now that the website has a true and proper shop, you can now get your hands on cool new items without having to buy entire packages. The shop now has all kinds of exclusive items, including apartment pets! You'll be able to get your hands on friendly critters for your home in-game as well, although those featured on the shop are only available there. Some of these items are only available for a limited time. Some of the new items include: Custom T-Shirt Graphic - Upload an image which can be placed on T-Shirts you create in-game! Each image can be used on 10 shirts. Vanity License Plate - Show your style with a custom license plate, visible on your in-game vehicle. Vanity Phone Number - Want a number that's easy to remember? Get a vanity phone number for yourself or your business. More Apartment Floorplans - Floor plans which haven't been available since Kickstarter, including the enormous Penthouse. Huge Clothing Packages - Clothing packages including clothes with dozens of original brands. Pets! Cats, dogs and more - Pets currently available include sphynx and tabby cats as well as pugs, maltese and the shiba inu (doge?). Another important note: when the new payment options (aside from PayPal) go live, we'll shortly after be removing all of the old packages. We will at this time never again be selling cash, so there's not much time remaining to get starter cash before Identity goes live. This is not something we plan to sell again in the future, but all who have it in their account will be able to claim that cash once on each server. Visit the New Identity Site Now! 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

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. A few minutes of decorating an Ash Hill penthouse 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