Dev Blog #020 - Ramping up

[HairyGrenade 1,144]

Developer Blog Update

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 channelevery 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

Let's Make Identity Great!

Identity's development is going great thanks to the support of people like you, but systems like these take a lot of manpower and resources to create. Identity has an awesome community behind it, but when more people know about what we're creating and our budget grows from pledges, we can not only work faster but we can do more, too.

If you're as excited to play Identity as we are making it, help spread the word. The gaming industry has needed a game like Identity for too long; let's make it great together!

   

[ShiEksdee 151]

Thanks for the updates and yes, I think we'll benefit from meatier, more concise and frequent updates.

[nexus 5]

I look forward to the gang clashes in the cartels.

[man 0]

hey im attempting to link my frickin uhhh steam and it keeps saying "NOT LINKED" any idea what to do

[Cstove 374]

1 hour ago, man said:

hey im attempting to link my frickin uhhh steam and it keeps saying "NOT LINKED" any idea what to do

 

That feature is not working yet.

[quentiam 4]

why isnt this under the devblog section of the forums?

[JoelKeys 412]

Fair enough, but the excuse was always that there was huge bugs that spawned more bugs. This mentions that they have all been dealt with, so if we don't have the module in a reasonable amount of time then we know that there is no truth in this post.

[SausageBlaster 9]

Awesome update! Keep up the great work!

[patrick68794 54]

15 hours ago, JoelKeys said:

Fair enough, but the excuse was always that there was huge bugs that spawned more bugs. This mentions that they have all been dealt with, so if we don't have the module in a reasonable amount of time then we know that there is no truth in this post.

 

That isn't how development works. They've fixed all the bugs they've found and are doing regression testing (testing every piece of functionality in the game) to make sure there aren't any others. This can take over a week (probably more like two to three  weeks) to fully test something as complex as a game and it wouldn't be surprising if they find more bugs

Edited August 25, 2018 by patrick68794

[Asupra 56]

i dont know where am standing right now , the game will be taking more time , but the devs and @LuckyDuck is still providing good info , people are dividing , some making video's hyping it , some calling it a scam (not true )  , numbers on statistics Dont add up anymore , twitch streams are reallly promising , Waiting and non can be done  , but hoping and say to my self it will be good , yup am more confused than hyped or discrediting identity  right now NO IDEA WHAT AM TYPING HERE 

[Sico1134 0]

Paypal isnt working either. Trying to buy some stuff before launch of the module. It especially doesnt work on mobile. The button shows that its pressed down, but doesnt try go to paypal or anything.

[Paratus 2,230]

7 hours ago, Sico1134 said:

Paypal isnt working either. Trying to buy some stuff before launch of the module. It especially doesnt work on mobile. The button shows that its pressed down, but doesnt try go to paypal or anything.

 

I was unaware of this until I read your post. That's a major issue. We'll get it fixed up ASAP. It will work on a desktop browser. 

Thanks for the heads up.

PS: For those wondering about the statistics, the number seems higher because the new site shows number of game accounts while the old site showed number of pledgers.

[Doella 3]

I bet Al Gore must be stoked that his house is now a “concept art” in identity!

1504 E Mountain Dr, Santa Barbara, CA 93108