An update from Paratus regarding Identity and it's current state

[HairyGrenade 1,144]

This is a posted announcement made tonight in the Identity Discord. 

 

Hello Identity Community!

 

It's been a long time, far too long, since I gave you a direct update on Identity and its progress. I wanted to take a moment to fill you all in and answer the more common questions I receive. As usual, you can feel free to reach out to me if you have questions as I always do my best to respond to everyone I can.

 

I know that the main question on your mind is, "when are we going to see a new update?" That's a difficult one to answer, but I do hope fairly soon.

 

Funding for Identity started a bit slow but really picked up steam after we released our apartment customization video, showing the depth of detail we're aiming for in the Identity game systems. We were quickly then able to expand from a single developer to half a dozen a few years back. We built some awesome systems for the back end of things, replaced them (obsolete from new UE developments or middleware just going out of business), and built up again. With the release of the Town Square module, we were able to show you the surface level of what we'd been working on. Unfortunately it wasn't long after that funding slowed very quickly and thus development slowed as the team shrank.

We hit a bit of a vicious circle here, where in order to improve funding and development time we'd need to give you some awesome updates to build trust. At the same time, we had to feed our families and we couldn't do that without the funding. We decided that we could start some smaller projects in-house to raise money for Identity, and that actually has gone quite well.

 

We'd mentioned we had other projects, but we never really discussed what they were. It was a combination of doing some work for other game studios to pay bills and also a couple internal projects which were funded externally. I can't describe what these projects were because of legal stuff and the timing, but I can say they went well and after some delays we do have a signed commitment for their acquisition which means, finally, Identity funding is on the horizon.

I wouldn't feel comfortable asking for any funding from the community. You guys have paid enough. In fact I will say right now that you shouldn't make purchases until we post more updates; not because it'll be unrealized but because after all these delays it makes sense to me that we need to prove ourselves again. On that note, it is our plan that we will freeze sales of Identity on Steam in the near future until we make a release with enough substance to warrant its sale there.

The delays in development, the failures in funding and, while I'm always open with those who ask, a failure in communication. That's on me -- I've been so nose down in constant effort to sustain my family and Asylum (we've retained employees from Identity even through this difficult financial time) that my mind has been mostly elsewhere most days. We've always several things on the go, with Identity being the priority and goal for the company.

 

That brings us to today. Like I said, some funding is on the horizon. We'll do what we can to fund this next push ourselves. While working in our off-work hours and with some volunteer hours, Identity has already been rebuilt entirely in Unreal Engine 5. I'm not talking a port, I mean a remake of most key systems with more recent technology. Some things, like the inventory system, needed a rebuild. It's crazy how much tech has changed in a few years, and we wanted to be on top of that. 

 

In our internal build right now, we have most of the base functionality rebuilt. There are only a couple things left before it's ready to release. It's now a full blown UE5 MMO with an improved network structure where we've tested over 400 simulated players on a server. My goal is that, preferably even before securing funding, we can soon push out a new update for the first time in ages. There will be changes, though. For one, we're going to shift to using our own launcher and moving away from Steam as a dedicated store. You will still find Identity there, but we'd like it elsewhere as well. I never liked how Steam forced us to list the Town Square branded as the full game. That confused a lot of people who weren't already followers within the community.

If you've been following my writings, you'll of heard that we're going to drop modules and jump right into the full game. I'd like our next release to bring you vehicles, weapons and the open world. They won't be in a final state, but we're going to release updates as quickly as we can. Remember, we're all still working right now as volunteers but that should change soon enough. I think after all the wait, it's better that we provide you with progress as it comes and not have you wait for huge update releases.

 

I'm going to do my best, as busy as I am right now, to keep an eye on the community. Again, I'm always open to questions and even conversations with anyone. My private messages are open. I get a lot though so it can sometimes take a bit to respond, but I'll get there.