About the staff who made this module

[Edikosh 6]

I've been following this project since its Kickstarter launch but I decided not to pay a dollar despite being a RP fan. I prefer waiting to see a solid project with some real announcements and not just designs. Right now, the module looks like a chess + sims buying mode + social style game. No clue how is this gonna be a roleplay videogame.

 

So this is my question:

How many developers are working right now on game mechanics, gameplay and networking? I know that I'll probably get no answer but just giving a try.

 

I believe that they have only one making all the job which would justify why this game has no mechanics at all. Movement looks too similar (probably identical) to UE4 T-person project, no driving still, really few animations, almost no interaction that would imply complex collisions like shooting, fighting, etc...So it shows that this one programmer can't handle all this work or it's not even a programmer (that would be hilarious lol). And a big part of this project was built by programmers who already left the team. Not gonna guess the reason though.

 

I would recommend to everyone that when you're donating on an unreleased videogame, try to look up for the team that is working on it. Aslyum is kind of a designing team. All they show is their artwork, which I kind of like but it's not what they have promised. But well, sometimes a simple video can do the magic to convince us.

Edited November 3, 2018 by Edikosh

[subway244 205]

This is a massive game being developed by a 25 man group with a $1,000,000 budget. Compare this to other major games and see the difference.

 

If you would like to take a look at the staff directory, click here  - https://www.identityrpg.com/community/staff/

If you would like to take a look at the Identity YouTube channel, click here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFgxGhDGtorj_-EedFA4w5g

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by subway244

[JoelKeys 412]

5 hours ago, subway244 said:

This is a massive game being developed by a four man group with a $1,000,000 budget. Compare this to other major games and see the difference.

 

If you would like to take a look at the staff directory, click here  - https://www.identityrpg.com/community/staff/

If you would like to take a look at the Identity YouTube channel, click here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFgxGhDGtorj_-EedFA4w5g

 

 

Eh, it's not a 4 man group. Those are the forum accounts. They have at least around 15 artists and 3 programmers. Not quite as low as 4 but still very low. To put it into perspective, Fallout 4 took just over 100 people to make, GTA V took much more than 1,000, and Red Dead Redemption (the first one) took over 800 people. As much as I criticise the devs, you gotta hand it to them, this is a huge project and if they pull off half of what they claim to with a team 35x smaller than similar scale games, fair play to them.

[Edikosh 6]

Yes I know, I didn't want to argue the job of these few developers because if I were them, I wouldn't have got the job done with that amount of partners. But well, I can say now that these kind of games can't be developed by a small group.

I mean, you've made some good announcements in regards to features that will allow us to do roleplay: corporations, gangs and prison. However, none of these will be available on Town Square, right? If so, then it would be a waste of time to buy the game. I prefer to spend $60 dollars on a game I know it will contain roleplay features.

I hope you guys can make it, but humans have the horrible tendency to make estimations. So if this module took almost 4 years, I can only imagine the other features to be released on 2023. And nothing was said about vehicles. Back to GTA:V MP, I guess hehe.

Edited November 4, 2018 by Edikosh

[JoelKeys 412]

1 hour ago, Edikosh said:

Yes I know, I didn't want to argue the job of these few developers because if I were them, I wouldn't have got the job done with that amount of partners. But well, I can say now that these kind of games can't be developed by a small group.

I mean, you've made some good announcements in regards to features that will allow us to do roleplay: corporations, gangs and prison. However, none of these will be available on Town Square, right? If so, then it would be a waste of time to buy the game. I prefer to spend $60 dollars on a game I know it will contain roleplay features.

I hope you guys can make it, but humans have the horrible tendency to make estimations. So if this module took almost 4 years, I can only imagine the other features to be released on 2023. And nothing was said about vehicles. Back to GTA:V MP, I guess hehe.

 

I completely get what you are saying. I share the feeling that I would rather pay more money for a game I can trust, this one just stood out to me. 

I've said this before, but if we assume that the other two modules will only take 50% of the time it took to make this one, then we likely won't see a beta until 2023. Four years for this TS, two years from now for SWAT, and then a further two for racing brings us to 2023, which is when the beta would release (after all three modules). 

That's not to say the other two modules will take that long, they may only take a few months (unlikely), but the fact is we are more than likely not going to see any beta prior to 2021, and for some people that is just too long a wait. 

[ShiEksdee 151]

I hope you're not saying it took a 25 man team years to make this module........unless they're just never showing us anything in Streams/Youtuber play/etc., there is nothing..........nothing to really do in it much. I've seen a 2-man team make more than they have shown in about a half a year to a year's time before. And that's with 0 budget and with only a design background (and them learning programming as they go along). That's why I'm just so taken aback by this project, and the hype they've garnered. It makes no sense to hook people with only words. Still only words so far, really.

My only hope now is they can make the actual gameplay (not this "base") interesting and fresh. Once I see how the careers, combat, etc. will work, I'll know if I want to buy or not. Right now it's barely passable as a Free-To-Play game. But I'm still going to wait to see those aspects to see if the devs can start taking it a bit more seriously and try to semi-live up to the promises.

TL;DR: I still have a lil faith that the game could potentially turn out decent (which is why I stick around), but the recent gameplay showoff and trailer has made my faith sap a bit, due to its groundless shallowness. I want to believe the devs are better than this.

[LuckyDuck 1,444]

10 minutes ago, ShiEksdee said:

I hope you're not saying it took a 25 man team years to make this module........unless they're just never showing us anything in Streams/Youtuber play/etc., there is nothing..........nothing to really do in it much. I've seen a 2-man team make more than they have shown in about a half a year to a year's time before. And that's with 0 budget and with only a design background (and them learning programming as they go along). That's why I'm just so taken aback by this project, and the hype they've garnered. It makes no sense to hook people with only words. Still only words so far, really.

No I never said they have had 25 people working on the game over the 4 years, it was more like 3 people for 1 year, and then grew a little on the second and more up till now. The module was re-done 3 times in total I believe and that alone caused disruptions through development. 

14 minutes ago, ShiEksdee said:

My only hope now is they can make the actual gameplay (not this "base") interesting and fresh. Once I see how the careers, combat, etc. will work, I'll know if I want to buy or not. Right now it's barely passable as a Free-To-Play game. But I'm still going to wait to see those aspects to see if the devs can start taking it a bit more seriously and try to semi-live up to the promises.

The mechanics you want will be further along the line when they get shown.

[subway244 205]

On 04/11/2018 at 5:36 PM, LuckyDuck said:

25 man team

 

Thanks for the correction! 

 

On 04/11/2018 at 6:48 PM, JoelKeys said:

Why do people still trust Asylum's words over yours? You are in this industry, you know better than everyone else (especially Asylum, considering this is apparently their first project even though I have evidence otherwise) why do people not listen to you?

This is Asylum's forum, thus, most people listen to Asylum. Frankly, I find it disrespectful to speak against Asylum on their own forum.

[LuckyDuck 1,444]

On 04/11/2018 at 6:48 PM, JoelKeys said:

(especially Asylum, considering this is apparently their first project even though I have evidence otherwise)

This is the first Game Project Asylum has taken on their own. 

[JoelKeys 412]

1 hour ago, LuckyDuck said:

This is the first Game Project Asylum has taken on their own. 

 

But that is misleading, because they have worked on other games before, just not under the name Asylum. These people aren't some fresh out of college devs who are trying to work out how to use certain programmes etc., they know what they are doing.

[LuckyDuck 1,444]

12 minutes ago, JoelKeys said:

But that is misleading, because they have worked on other games before, just not under the name Asylum. These people aren't some fresh out of college devs who are trying to work out how to use certain programmes etc., they know what they are doing.

I didn't say they never had experience in game development. I just said It is the companies "First Game" on their own which is not misleading.

[JoelKeys 412]

1 minute ago, LuckyDuck said:

I didn't say they never had experience in game development. I just said It is the companies "First Game" on their own which is not misleading.

 

That is entirely misleading. They have worked on other games, they are experienced, you can't just claim it's their first game because it's their first game associated with this new company. Saying this is their first game implies that they have no experience in developing a game, which is simply false. Not only have members of Asylum worked on other games before, Mr VanderZwet has extensive experience in MMO games, so it is completely misleading to suggest this is their first game when it's just the companies first game.

[LuckyDuck 1,444]

1 minute ago, JoelKeys said:

That is entirely misleading. They have worked on other games, they are experienced, you can't just claim it's their first game because it's their first game associated with this new company. Saying this is their first game implies that they have no experience in developing a game, which is simply false. Not only have members of Asylum worked on other games before, Mr VanderZwet has extensive experience in MMO games, so it is completely misleading to suggest this is their first game when it's just the companies first game.

My first statement included as "Asylum" has taken on, not individuals being in other projects.

[JoelKeys 412]

1 minute ago, LuckyDuck said:

My first statement included as "Asylum" has taken on, not individuals being in other projects.

 

I know, which I am not disputing. You are telling the truth in what you say, you aren't lying, you are, however, misleading. Misleading is giving the wrong idea or impression, which is exactly what you do when you claim this is their first game.

[LuckyDuck 1,444]

2 minutes ago, JoelKeys said:

I know, which I am not disputing. You are telling the truth in what you say, you aren't lying, you are, however, misleading. Misleading is giving the wrong idea or impression, which is exactly what you do when you claim this is their first game.

If that is what it seems to you, but I didn't word it like that. People may miss interpret it but I clearly state that it's the first game project that Asylum (Being the company) has taken on their own. not of any individuals. I do see where you may find it miss leading and where you are coming from.

[Chase 32]

Yeah, this is starting to look like a free-to-play game. Just look at the shop

[Edikosh 6]

On 4/11/2018 at 3:47 PM, LuckyDuck said:

No I never said they have had 25 people working on the game over the 4 years, it was more like 3 people for 1 year, and then grew a little on the second and more up till now. The module was re-done 3 times in total I believe and that alone caused disruptions through development. 

Alright, now I get. The game's development didn't start in 2014 but more like in 2017. Otherwise, it couldn't have any sense based on the features that it's offering. Still, I can't understand how the gameplay would look like on this first module. Suppose the following:

*) I pay $30 bucks for playing the town square module. 

*) On November 30th, I decide to install and join the game.

*) After spending 15 minutes on character creation and being happy about all the choices it offers, I spawn on the main park.

*) Wandering around, checking all the possibilities Identity gives to me, I eventually find out many bots selling me stuff.

*) But I have no cash, so I can't buy anything. Then, I try to look for a job like I would do on any other roleplay game (and in real life aswell lol).

So that would be ~1 hour of gameplay, now my doubts are:

*) Where can I find a job?

*) How will the economy work?

*) Does the game contain any goals?

*) It's just all imagination or there will be a system which would assist us?

Edited November 9, 2018 by Edikosh

[dagtag 201]

29 minutes ago, Edikosh said:

I eventually find out many bots selling me stuff.

Bots wont be selling stuff in town square, everything in town square is free

29 minutes ago, Edikosh said:

*) But I have no cash, so I can't buy anything. Then, I try to look for a job like I would do on any other roleplay game (and in real life aswell lol).

Neither are there any jobs in ts either

29 minutes ago, Edikosh said:

*) Where can I find a job?

*) How will the economy work?

*) Does the game contain any goals?

*) It's just all imagination or there will be a system which would assist us?

There are no jobs until the beta, neither will there be an economy system until the beta. you set your own goal in identity, in the end it is a roleplay game, you cant win.

there are always systems in place, in the end a roleplaying game without any sort of system whatsoever wont be very functional.

 

Edited November 9, 2018 by dagtag

[Edikosh 6]

24 minutes ago, dagtag said:

There are no jobs until the beta, neither will there be an economy system until the beta. you set your own goal in identity, in the end it is a roleplay game, you cant win.

there are always systems in place, in the end a roleplaying game without any sort of system whatsoever wont be very functional.

 

I appreciate your answer, kind of helps but right now I just hear promises.

So unless a solid RP community joins Identity, it'll be hard to work on your own goals. Sometimes a system helps to demostrante you're close to archieve those goals. Otherwise, it's the same to build a Discord channel and say "Welcome! This channel is about roleplaying based on a real life world. There're different voice chats representing each part of the city. There are several rules so you can do whatever you want as long as you don't break those. Some channels are private, meaning you can join them only if you have the permission to (a private building). Each name tag represents your current job, faction, etc..By having that, people can either recognize you as your partner or something else."

I guess that would be funnier to try until Identity releases the whole package.

Edited November 9, 2018 by Edikosh

[PrimusPalus 28]

Wow. I've been following this game since the very FIRST announcement many years ago. I've been a member on this forum quietly watching for over two years now, and I feel like I should speak up and say something.

There are a TON of people running around here being far too critical, making wild assumptions, and being incredibly unreasonable/entitled. This game has been in development for a few years. They have a "working" game that you probably have seen videos/screenshots from. Just because they are releasing the Town Square as a standalone module doesn't mean they aren't far along with the development. 

Take a look at Star Citizen. They did exactly the same thing. They started development, began crowd funding, and released a small taste module of the game. Why? Because they wanted people to be able to get a feel for the game and explore a little. That's what these devs are doing. They're not releasing the module because "that's all they've done" or because "development just started". 

You, nor I have actually gone into the studio and looked at what's been made so far. Then why are you making assumptions? These guys are a new development team but not new to developing. Some of these Early Access Alpha titles that come out never end up being finished because they're created by a team that's never developed anything and don't have the drive or determination to see it through. I have no reason to believe these devs won't follow through with their promises/goals.

I read another thread that was complaining about the slow development time, the delays, etc. One person actually complained that the devs didn't get the Steam store page up and running by the end of October as they had planned. The problem was they submitted the information and Steam had to approve it which takes time. So it launched a few days later and this person complains. Really? How about giving these a break. They're working hard, putting content out (streams, videos, etc), and clearly are on track with their goal. Will it be a couple years before the whole thing is fleshed out? Sure. Are we getting tastes of the game in parts and sections? Yes. For a reason. 

Seems to me that people need to relax and sit back and wait to see what happens. I don't think the devs have given anyone here a reason to be concerned. If you're that hugely concerned over the process, ask for a refund and come back later when more of it is released. You coming here complaining, or challenging them isn't going to make anything better. I promise you.

Edited November 9, 2018 by PrimusPalus

[Edikosh 6]

23 hours ago, PrimusPalus said:

You, nor I have actually gone into the studio and looked at what's been made so far. Then why are you making assumptions? These guys are a new development team but not new to developing. Some of these Early Access Alpha titles that come out never end up being finished because they're created by a team that's never developed anything and don't have the drive or determination to see it through. I have no reason to believe these devs won't follow through with their promises/goals.
 

My current assumption is that this game's development began in 2017. And I'm glad you believe this team isn't new on game developing. I would like to ask you if you can show me any dev blog in which they explain something in regards to game mechanics (I'm being serious).

23 hours ago, PrimusPalus said:

Seems to me that people need to relax and sit back and wait to see what happens. I don't think the devs have given anyone here a reason to be concerned. If you're that hugely concerned over the process, ask for a refund and come back later when more of it is released. You coming here complaining, or challenging them isn't going to make anything better. I promise you.

 

I heard from lot of places that refunds aren't accepted anymore. Many people already have requested and didn't get it. But that's out of topic.

Edited November 10, 2018 by Edikosh

[PrimusPalus 28]

2 hours ago, Edikosh said:

My current assumption is that this game's development began in 2017. And I'm glad you believe this team isn't new on game developing. I would like to ask you if you can show me any dev blog in which they explain something in regards to game mechanics (I'm being serious).

I heard from lot of places that refunds aren't accepted anymore. Many people already have requested and didn't get it. But that's out of topic.

 

I think it's plainly clear development didn't start in 2017. At least two years ago they were showing game content. So at LEAST they were working on the game in 2016. I would imagine even sooner. I'm not sure what proof you need other than to look at the fact that there was a website and crowd funding page that showed clips. As far as refunds... give it a try if you want. I wouldn't believe everything you're told. 

[wiebley 111]

On 11/4/2018 at 6:32 PM, ShiEksdee said:

I've seen a 2-man team make more than they have shown in about a half a year to a year's time before. 
 

 

Agreed... I have seen Students final year projects with similar functionality and that was 8 years ago. 

We have all these people saying 'you have to take your hats off to what this small dev team has done' and let's be honest... So far, they have created a virtual chat room about 500 square meters wide, with chess, karaoke and apartment customization... This isn't really groundbreaking stuff lads... this wouldn't have been groundbreaking stuff 10 years ago... 

Watch the videos of this game on youtube and tell me honestly that it looks good and on par with other 2018 games? I'm sorry but it does not...  

 

[DocteurOod 11]

They created a lot of things, not just chess or a place. It's not ready for a release that's all. They are already working on the second module for exemple.

[LordBenji 210]

9 hours ago, wiebley said:

We have all these people saying 'you have to take your hats off to what this small dev team has done' and let's be honest... So far, they have created a virtual chat room about 500 square meters wide, with chess, karaoke and apartment customization... This isn't really groundbreaking stuff lads... this wouldn't have been groundbreaking stuff 10 years ago... 

I understand that the features of Town Square aren't ground breaking, and same for the other two modules. That also applies to many other games on the market. The idea of the Town Square module is simply to socialize around with other players, doing activities, customize your apartment or check out the other layouts, etc.

9 hours ago, wiebley said:

Watch the videos of this game on youtube and tell me honestly that it looks good and on par with other 2018 games? I'm sorry but it does not...  

Depends which video you're talking about. For example, the crime video was featuring a lot of placeholders which some were very outdated. Worry not, those will be replaced. As for the Town Square videos, it doesn't look that bad in my opinion. I've seen videos of a few games in development where they focused on the graphics but had very poor game optimization and several bugs.

If you're not satisfied yet about the current state of Identity, I'd recommend to wait before investing into it.