The time has finally come! I'm going to start this dev blog update with the news you really want: the Identity Town Square module will be published to Steam before the end of this month (October)! This means that you'll be able to create your characters, meet other players and set up your homes very soon. Here's how it'll work: before the end of the month, the Identity Town Square store page will be published. At this point, we need to wait for Steam's approval of our application which takes a couple of weeks. Once approved and released, you'll be in the square! The great news here is that when the Town Square does show up on Steam, the date shown (which will be quite near) is the absolute date that you'll be playing. We're so very close to getting the foundation of Identity out there for you to get your hands on! Next to come, the SWAT module's development will take but a fraction of the time to create as the Town Square has the foundation in place for the entire MMORPG. The back-end we need to push forward is here and from the point of the Town Square release our development focus is switched over to gameplay features. As a developer, this feels great! Get your Identity Steam key! We're getting close! You can now connect your Steam account to your Identity game account and obtain your Identity game Steam key. This key will add Identity to your library so that when Identity is released, you can download it and start playing immediately without having to do anything else. To get your key, login on the main site at www.IdentityRPG.com. You can then go to the Account tab of your profile where you'll see an option to link your Steam account. You must have BETA ACCESS on your account to claim a key! ATTENTION! You can only attach one steam account to one game account, and it's permanent. Be sure you're logged into your game account which has the items you've purchased before attaching a Steam account! While you won't get Identity in your game library just yet, you will as soon as we're published and approved. Handing out the keys like this allows us to reduce load on our servers. We currently have 20,000 keys in the system and we'll be adding more. Once you've obtained your key from the Identity website you can enter it into your Steam client, but be sure that you're logged into the Steam account where you'd like to own Identity. Click the Games menu in Steam, and then Activate a Product on Steam. Identity Insider: Prison Life Another Identity Insider is here, giving you a detailed look into the prison mechanics of Identity. You can see more Insider updates on the about page of the Identity website. Identity prison concept art Eventually, your luck is going to run out. Crime does pay, and it pays well, but the long arm of the law will catch up with you. For minor crimes you might see a ticket or time in jail, but serious offences will land you in prison. In Identity, prison has a culture and lifestyle of its own. You might be there as punishment, but there’s a lot going on while you’re serving your sentence. Put in your time in your cellblock’s relative safety, or choose to step out and join a prison gang. Prison Gangs Prison gangs are the core of your activity behind bars. With three gangs vying for control around you, you’ll need to choose a side to stay safe on the inside. Those without gangs are even more vulnerable when they step outside the safety of their own cellblock. Each prison gang has access to a private contraband market, providing its members with unique looks, makeshift weapons and more. Don’t get caught with illegal goods, though, as some police officer players could be serving as prison guards in their down-time. Infamy You’ll need to pull your weight if you want the protection that a gang can offer. Your gang is going to ask a lot of you; prison life is incredibly dangerous. Each gang member will be offered tasks to carry out for cigarettes, the prison currency of choice, allowing access to equipment and items from the contraband markets within the walls. You may be asked to shank a rival inmate or to destroy a treasured artifact deep in hostile turf, for example. Special achievements available within prison, often related to nefarious activity, will unlock customizations such as tattoos or haircuts so that you can send a message to those around you on the outside. Sentencing You could be serving up to 45 minutes behind bars. That is, unless you take matters into your own hands! As a good and obedient inmate, you have the options of working for the prison with small jobs such as pressing plates or cleaning up trash in the yard. This work will reduce your sentence time. Time is money, though. Sometimes you just can’t wait. If you’re willing to take the risk, you can force your way out. When conditions are right and the inmates are ready, you might be able to get into a guard room and get your hands on a weapon. This can kickoff an entire player-versus-player scenario between a group of inmates and the guard forces. Fight your way out through an increasingly difficult situation and you’re home free; you’re going to have an even bigger bounty on your head, though. Prison breaks can also happen from the outside. If the prison isn’t on lockdown, outside gangs can gear up and bring the fight to the police. These conflicts are much more intense, though, and there is a lot of risk involved as the police are well equipped and the attackers can lose everything if killed or arrested. Trial by Jury If you hate the idea of getting your hands dirty with work but you’re not up for risking a longer sentence trying to escape, you might want to try your luck in front of a jury of your peers. Those with a heavy term can request a trial. Several random citizens around the land will be summoned to jury duty, being paid if they answer the call. Your fate will be in their hands, and also on the shoulders of your attorney. You might represent yourself or hire a smooth-talking legal corporation to help get you off the hook. You or your lawyer will have a short opportunity to explain how the law must have wronged you (you’re innocent, right?) and then it’s all up to the jury. If most of the jury declares you not-guilty, you’re free to go; however, if only a few don’t buy your story it’s back to your small cell. Serving Your Time When you’re not in the mood for the gritty and competitive life in gang warfare, find your way to the common areas in the prison. Common areas are safe zones with all sorts of ways to pass the time with other inmates around you. The common area gives you safe access to weightlifting, TVs which play from a variety of streaming services, billiards and more. You might be locked up, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have fun! DasMEHDI plays Town Square live! Earlier this month, DasMEHDI, a popular Twitch streamer, had the chance to hop into our development build and explore the Town Square with his friends. Check out the hilarious footage below! Note that this is an early development build, which was already outdated at the time of play, and is not representive of the Town Square's current state. Still, it's a lot of fun! DasMEHDI Early TS Development Build Play New website is 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 learn of Identity's fine details! -- John VanderZwet

Based on the few videos we have seen on Identity, it's going to be crap as well. The animations were terrible, and we forgave them because they said they are placeholders. Who's to say the same thing isn't happening here? Not necessarily. It means they are efficient, it just further shows that we have been waiting longer than is standard practise. Same thing here, Identities videos look like crap but you are okay with those and anyone who brings this up gets bombarded with Identity fanboys. Please elaborate on this, because I have seen 0 evidence that Identity has been 'full winging' it either.

You are such a hypocrite. You shame anyone who criticises Identity and here you are making completely speculative statements and presenting them as facts. How do you know the same is garbage, it isn't out yet? How do you know they are rushing? How do you know their mechanics will be minimal? How exactly is Identity more in depth? You would ask these questions if anyone posted your comment in reference to Identity, so take your own advice. This just shows the delusion that goes on in some peoples heads. The sad part is you wont even be man enough to admit it, you will come back with some half-assed response or simply just resort to ad hominem.

IDENTITY CENTRAl IDENTITY CENTRAL IS THE PLACE TO PROMOTE YOUR ADVERTISEMENTS, RECRUIT APPLICANTS FOR YOUR BUSINESS, AND ORGANIZE TRADES. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Identity Central is an upcoming website that will allow its users to do everything listed above, along with much more in the future. At the very bottom of this post I will list important links regarding this website and other social medias used with it. To start off, I have put together a FAQ below which may answer any questions regarding this post and what this website is about. FAQ Q: HOW DO I REGISTER MY BUSINESS TO BE ADVERTISED ON THE WEBSITE? A: VISIT THE WEBSITE AND CLICK ON THE LINK THAT TAKES YOU TO THE FORM TO GET YOUR BUSINESS ADVERTISED OR USE THE GOOGLE FORM LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST. Q: WHEN WILL THE WEBSITE LAUNCH? A: THERE IS A TIMER ON THE PAGE THAT LISTS THE SUGGESTED TIME THE WEBSITE WILL LAUNCH (FIND A LINK TO THE WEBSITE BELOW) Q: HOW DO TRADES WORK? A: WE PLAN TO ALLOW A USER TO UPLOAD A SPECIFIED TRADE THAT THEY WANT, AND THROUGH THAT, THE RESPONDING USER WHO WANTS THE ITEM YOU HAVE WILL CONTACT YOU THROUGH EITHER STEAM OR DISCORD. THEN, YOU WILL MEET WITH THE PLAYER IN-GAME AND DEPENDING ON WHETHER IDENTITYRPG SUPPORTS A TRADING SYSTEM, YOU WILL EITHER DROP IT ON THE GROUND AND TRADE THAT WAY OR USE THE TRADING SYSTEM. Q: HOW DO PRIVATE SERVER LISTINGS WORK? A: THE WEBSITE WILL BE SET UP TO RETRIEVE THE API FOR THE SERVER LIST, IT WILL FETCH AND DISPLAY THE SERVER LISTINGS ON THE WEBSITE. WEBSITE: identity-central.com DISCORD: discord.gg/36TdzcK BUSINESS/ADVERTISEMENTS REGISTRATION FORM: https://goo.gl/forms/uk3BiOLbmzDDICwe2

i m 25 but if identityrpg release i m 96 ^^

It’s nice to read a well thought, kind topic like this. Really, it is. Thank you

Sorry I wasnt being very specific I guess what I meant by "early game" was like in the beginning we all wont have tons of money right? I more so meant early game as in new players and late game as in players with more money or money to spare. Again these were just suggestions sorry for my ideas.

We're very open to additional competition. In fact, I don't even see them as direct competition as any growth in the "life RPG" genre is a great thing. Identity and Nine to Five are incredibly different and will not play the same at all. That said, Identity's promotional trailer and overview video took about two weeks to produce. I wish them the best of luck. It's not an easy road to travel but it's very rewarding.

In a general sense, yes. But if it takes you three days to produce a pile of shit and someone else can do it in an hour, they are more efficient. 9 to 5 has achieved roughly the same thing in less time, meaning they are more efficient. Well maybe it was more than one bug. Point is, they said minor issues. Still has taken them months to fix some 'minor issues' which turned into major issues. My original statement is valid.

Calling someone a hypocrite isn't necessarily an insult. I certainly didn't mean it as a personal attack on his character, I just wanted to show him the hypocrisy that was going on when he complains about people saying the exact same things about Identity that he is saying about Nine to Five. Also when I say he shames people, I don't mean in this sub. He is constantly starting on anyone who uses the same criticisms about this game that he is saying about Nine to Five. Irrelevant. This is exactly the point I was trying to make, he cannot know that it is being rushed. They are being efficient, it's not an opinion. They have produced a similar product to Identity in a quarter of the time. Even if the quality isn't the best, it is efficient. It could be both, we don't know. I am 90% sure the devs said themselves that there was one minor bug to fix, which turned into a major bug when they tried to fix it. I'll find a source soon, busy atm. I'm confused. I understand what they mean, I don't understand the point of this comment.

Look at our tracker. Don't use "Chess" as an in game mechanic. Literally all of these mechanics are comparable to simple gmod plugins. What have they accomplished since they showed gameplay of town square? What have they done over these YEARS on Unreal Engine?

I definitely myself want them to break all the "game-breaking" bugs before release, but general gameplay bugs would be a lot easier to find when you have a few thousand people playing at once, messing around and doing things the developers might not have thought of.

They have taken so many months to fix 'one minor bug' which turned into a 'major bug'. Months. One bug does not take months. That is not full winging it. I am not nitpicking, I am saying you are a hypocrite. I also didn't say I was a help to this community, that was Beach Ball who said that about me. He agrees with me. I also never said I think ninetofive is better. In fact, I said it looked cheap. You are making all these random assumptions because you are just built to ignore everyone and assume you are always right. You are wrong. They have absolutely accomplished as much as Asylum has, you are just being stubborn if you refuse to admit that.

People on this forum that claim to be game developers are soooo uneducated in game development as a whole that I find it comical. Especially when they think one game will be better than another "because graphics". Can't tell if trolls, or just very...........ignorant.

I agree with you but I also agree with this: I think 9to5 looks quite low quality but everything else you said is spot on.

I myself am 33 (34 soon), and I honestly hope there's an option for more mature players. I'm not saying that younger players are necessarily immature, though I'm really trying hard to get away from the GTA kill-everything-that-moves mentality that is popular with the younger generation. I'm just hoping to find a more laid back, immersive and RP centric community.