We reached a large milestone today while crossing into the six figure
range in our ongoing Kickstarter Campaign. With that milestone we
reached a stretch goal that will bring Cooperative Structure Placement
into the game. Decorators and city builders should enjoy this feature,
which is documented in our most recent update.
It also means that
all backers with Closed Beta Round 2 or earlier access will receive the
opportunity to invite one of their friends into Closed Beta Round 3.
The invited player will also gain access to one preview weekend of
access at some point during during Closed Beta Round 2. This was our way
of saying thanks to our backers for all their support.
Our sights
are now set on our $115k stretch goal: Traveling Vendors, which has
been one of our most requested features. This goal allows players to
mark themselves as a vendor at any time. They can do this from anywhere
in the world, even when out adventuring. While this flag is enabled
other players will be able to interact with them to browse and purchase
goods which they have marked for sale, without any player interaction
necessary.
It doesn’t end there though. Your goods will also
appear in the auction system. Players can elect to purchase your goods
automatically through this system, provided they are willing to pay the
shipping fee. Or they can elect to travel to purchase the items from you
in person, avoiding the auction fee.
If you wish to sell items
while you are sleeping or AFK, you will be able to flag yourself as an
AFK Vendor. This will cause an icon to appear over your head, denoting
to other players that you are open for business. This is an easy way to
attract the attention of others if you are in a crowded location, such
as a city. It will also allow players to gain a tracking arrow to your
location if they found one of your goods in the auction system, and
would like to find you to avoid the auction fee.
Player Created
Cities will be able to specify which players are allowed to create
traveling vendors within their cities, and be able to collect an
optional tax on any item sold in their city. For example, you could only
allow your nation’s members to place these vendors to avoid crowding,
or to disallow them entirely, if you so wish. You could also aim to
create a bustling trade market, by allowing any allied player or any
non-hostile player to set up shop in the city. NPC controlled cities
will apply a flat fee for goods sold to avoid overcrowding in cities.
But you will be able to set up vendors for free in PvE Housing Areas.
Needless
to say we’re pretty excited about this feature. We hope that it will
provide PvE only players with an opportunity to create their own vendors
and shops, without forcing them to brave contested territories. We also
envision the taxation options in Player Created Cities to create an
interesting market dynamic, which allows towns to differentiate
themselves from one another.
The second stretch goal is behind us, and ensures that Adversarial
Camps will become a reality. You can expect an article on this feature
after the implementation is complete
The next stretch goal is an
extension to the engagement system which we are referring to as Points
of Intrigue. In the PvE world Points of Intrigue will pop up in random
places infested by creatures or NPCs. Some will require a few players to
clear out, others will require multiple groups. The more complicated
the Point of Intrigue the better the rewards for capturing it. Rewards
will include longer term buffs that will aid your player during your
play session, as well as the usual assortment of engagement rewards.
Once a Point of Intrigue has been captured, any player who visits that
location will receive a receive a buff for a period of time. Some Points
of Intrigue will also spawn special NPCs who are only available upon
their completion. Once the timer expires, a new Point of Intrigue will
appear somewhere else in the world, attracting players to the new
challenge.
The PvP variety will work in a similar fashion with
players needing to conquer the Point of Intrigue, but only 1 Nation can
be considered the winner. The Nation then will be able to select if
Allies of the Nation will receive any of the minor benefits. More Point
of Intrigues will provide city and nation incentives, such as improving
happiness in the Nation’s cities.
The goal of this system are
similar to most engagements: To provide an ever-changing list of
opportunities, which encourage players to work together under a common
goal.
We’re happy to announce that we’ve reached our first stretch goal.
When we crossed $60k in pledges it ensured that the Rocharus Mount will
make it into launch, and become our first tamed mount. Stadi Thompson
spent the past few days getting this mount rigged and ready. We still
need to write some of the mechanics for these and there is some
animation work to be done, but you can find a screenshot the first pass
implementation of this mount at the end of this update.
We now turn our sights to our $70k stretch goal: Adversarial
Camps. Adversarial Camps are a new spawn system which is aimed to add
even more randomization to our areas. Adversarial Camps work similar to
our Den system, except with very different goals.
Dens were designed to scale spawn rates based on the number of
players, to be able to randomly select the mob types in an area, and to
provide a variety of different spawn rules to allow for scaling waves of
content. They were also designed to shut down though if no players
remain in the den’s trigger grid for a period of time, and also to
prevent an area from running out of mobs when there are larger
concentrations of players. The combination of these features makes them
very scalable and in general we are happy with the system. But they
also need to be laid out in a grid, which means that their locations are
static, they just turn on and off based on need.
Adversarial
Camps are similar to dens in many ways, but they are able to handle
longer term spawn manipulation. That functionality is currently only
available through engagements. When the world manager decides that it
needs a new camp from a certain type and range of monsters it will
randomly place one into the world. Once spawned this camp will grow in
size and difficulty until it is stopped. The chosen location and the
rate at which it expands is independent of players. If an Adversarial
Camp is left unchecked it can grow to become very large, but will also
generally provide greater rewards for the player who band together and
clear it out. The longer they exist, the tougher they will become. Where
Dens ensure that our world has a constant supply of mobs, Adversarial
Camps mix up the counts to allow for more random infestations.
The
goal of this system is to add variety to our existing spawning systems,
to allow us to create new content more quickly, increase the randomness
of our spawn systems, and to add an additional layer of variety from
one trip into an area to the next. They should make a fine addition to
the game.
We’re happy to announce that our Kickstarter
campaign has reached it’s initial goal with 21 days remaining on the
campaign. We’d like to thank everyone who has backed or supported the
title over past couple of years. You guys have been amazing, and we look
forward to getting many more of you into the game over the next few
months.
With the initial goal behind us, we turn our sights on the
stretch goals. They are the primary purpose of this campaign after all.
We hope to cover each stretch goal as it gets on deck.
The first stretch goal, at $60k is the addition of tameable
Rocharus mounts. These will be the first mounts in The Repopulation. We
had originally planned to only support vehicles, and then possibly
explore tameable mounts post-launch. But this feature was requested so
many times over the years that we had hoped to be able to squeeze it
into launch. We designed the vehicle code to be able to support these in
the future, and after we hit the $60K stretch goal these mounts will
become a reality.
We’ve attached a screenshot of what the
Rocharus species looks like in-game to give you an idea of what you’ll
be riding. Make sure not to jump on it from the front.
We have spent a bit of time looking at the crafting system in previous
articles, and even have a 20 minute video, so we thought it was
important to have an article looking at the other side of this system:
resource gathering. In order to properly fuel the crafting system,
resources need to be collected in some fashion. We feature 2 systems for
this and this article is going to focus on the first one: Extraction.
Extraction is the process of removing resources from dead creatures. In
most games the standard extraction method is an ability and the results
are based on the level of the creature. While our method includes an
ability, Corpse Extraction, we do not have a traditional level system
built into the game, instead we focus on the resources' grade. At the
lowest difficulty, a creature can yield grade A results, but the chances
are slim. When the difficulty increases, the chances for a higher grade
also increase. As you extract from a particular species, you gain
Species Mastery, which allows you to more easily extract resources from
that creature. In addition, species mastery can also be increased by
engaging in combat with the species in question.
Extraction is completed using a 2 round process: the first round allows
the player to determine how difficult the extraction will be, while the
second round is used to determine the grade of the material harvested.
Both are impacted by your skill and your species mastery. The more
skilled you are the quicker and easier the process. Driving up the
difficulty during the extraction will increase the chances of getting a
better grade. Various creatures have differing maximum difficulties.
The next step is to increase the grade. The grade is generated once the
difficulty stage is completed. Once the Grade stage starts, it will
list the maximum available grade that you can reach. Time, as well as
your skill, comes into play here.. If you aren’t greatly skilled at
extracting, getting a grade A result might be a bit of challenge in the
time allowed.
The last choice is the quick option. Choosing Quick will save on button
presses and time by combining 3 difficulty and 3 grade increases in one
click and then finishing the extraction process. If the maximum
possible result for the grade ends up being an A the automatic process
is stopped so you can manually increase the grade. The 3 grade
“increases” done through the Quick method most likely not result in an A
result allowing you to take advantage of the high quality opportunity.
Once the process is finished the system will then check against the
extraction list and spit out the appropriate results. Much like the
crafting system there are multiple possibilities based on difficulty and
grade. At low grades, it is possible that no items will be extracted.
At higher grades, the chance of an item being extracted increases and
additional options might open up as well.
Beyond these changes, there are a few things still on the table to be
implemented a bit further down the road. We would like to add an event
like system similar to what we have with crafting, to allow a bit of
extra randomness and risk taking in the process.
Our next article will focus on harvesting and the options available for non-combat oriented harvesting.
One
of the major aspects of the game we often espouse is a heavily player
driven economy to fuel and drive the game versus a heavy emphasis on
end-game raiding. Our team is working diligently to create the recipes
for the many skill lines, and today we wanted to take a closer look at
the interdependence created from the many recipes, skills, and
ingredients that will be available. What is interdependence exactly or
how do we define it? In many other MMOs you might have some reliance on
gathering for crafting, but the design is simple; you either collect the
raw materials or purchase them, and then you craft everything yourself.
We have a system in place that at times goes 4-5 layers deep with a
wide variety of recipes and skills used to create the components that
would go into what we call an “end product” such as a Fitting.
This might sound a little excessive at first, and when you see our
flowchart for a single fitting it certainly seems like a lot, but
crafting is one of the core components of our system and building
interdependence will ensure that players have to work together to create
the best products in the game. It can be as a solo crafter working
through the auction system, shops, or work order system (reverse
auction) to purchase the ingredients and agents needed. Alternatively,
it can also be with a few friends or new online friends to work together
as a group or as a large group feeding the needs of their nation who in
return supply them materials and other resources. Materials are
gathered through harvesting; whether it is from an ore mine or a
defeated creature all the raw materials harvested are useful to one
trade or another.
This gives all crafters a specific role to fill since, although crafting
an end product like fittings might be a lucrative business, crafting
the subcomponents required to make those end products can be equally
lucrative. The interdependence of the crafting skills ensures that each
skill can be a great source of income. We also have crafting options
available for the gatherers in the system as most of the “raw” collected
resources will need to be refined before they can be used by crafters.
In the case of fittings, this is a very important step of the process as
the refined materials determine the available attributes for the
fitting to utilize.
As mentioned a few times before, since we have no levels there is no
artificial limit in place to stop brand new players from building up
their crafting skill and recipes. If you can acquire the materials,
through gathering them yourself or purchasing them, you can create
anything you have enough skill to create. We have both a grading and a
progression system with recipes. The grading system will allow crafters
to learn higher quality recipes than other crafters who are just
beginning a crafting skill, and the progression system will gradually
increase the quality of frequently crafted items.This will help to build
up demand for highly skilled crafters and the high grade materials that
they will need to craft the best products in the game. Mix that with
some special rare drops and a robust recipe system that easily changes
the outcome with a simple ingredient change, and you have the ability to
provide even more high quality and scarce results. Finally, the
crafting attribute system wraps this process up by adding flexibility to
stats for fittings and allowing us to wrap other systems around these
attributes for other recipes not involving fittings.
Here is an example of a mostly finished recipe set out in a flowchart.
This is one of the most complex items in the game, so it will serve as a
premiere example of how interdependency works. Remember, recipe
mastery, resource quality, sub-component quality, skill level and luck
will all play into the quality of the end product. You will not be
making '+3 iron dagger' just like the 47 thousand others just like it on
the auction house. You will be making the best item you possibly can,
using material that you, or other dedicated crafters, have gathered and
created. In this example the “Dodge” stat would be the primary one and,
depending on the attributes granted by the refined bar, will contain
other stats that will be considered secondary and tertiary. We hope you
enjoyed this look into crafting interdependence and encourage you to
keep an eye out for a new crafting oriented video before PAX East
showing how crafting is shaping up for Beta.
Click to enlarge picture.
We wanted to highlight one of the new
additions added to the crafting system in December, the attribute
system. Though briefly mentioned in our change notes and on the forums,
the attribute system was a fairly major modification in the crafting
process. The exciting part about it is that the attribute system further
impacts the customization of your character’s equipment. Before we
start to walk through the system, it might be important to do a quick
run over how our system works for those who might not be familiar with
it.
As many of you might be
aware, The Repopulation has no levels. Instead we offer over 70
independent skills. For Trade Skills we offer a mix of resource
collection and crafting skills that intertwine. In addition, some
crafting lines include collection skills. The trade skills also include
skills for creating fittings which are like sockets, stems which are
like boosters, traps, robotics, vehicles, and so much more.
Without
levels, we have no artificial restrictions placed on crafting by other
aspects of the game (such as needing to be level 30 to craft something
even if your crafting skill is high enough). Naturally, you cannot
create the biggest and best stuff early on. You will need to hone your
skills over time. If you want to make a name for yourself as a crafter
in The Repopulation you will be able to do so without other barriers
restricting you.
We have a
rather distinct configuration for our equipment using what we call
“shells” and “fittings”. The armor, handguns, rifles, and swords are
simply basic shells that have basic stats. Weapons all have base stats
and different uses such as automatic weapons are best against lightly
armored foes where sniper rifles and heavy impact weapons do the most
damage against heavily armored foes. However, there can be multiple
visual representations of this rifle or that piece of armor, which have
the same core stats. This lets you choose your equipment based on a
certain look and then you can customize the armor to match your play
style.
Each
piece of equipment holds a specific amount of modifications slots that
we call fittings. These modification slots are similar to a socket
system where you can place certain types of fittings in an item based on
their major attribute types. The fittings have a letter label (“A”,
“C”, “E”) and based on the label, their attribute type will make them
modify damage resistance, accuracy, energy regen, and other stats
associated with a shell. This lets you modify the base shell of your
armor however you see fit without having to choose specific weapons or
armor because of their stats.
Now
that we have taken that minor detour lets look at the new change we
implemented, the attribute system. Our crafting system already featured
a flexible recipe component system where putting different parts into
the recipe produces different results. We also have a quality/grade
system to differentiate the results of beginning crafters and
experienced crafters. We wanted to add a bit more flexibility to the
system by allowing more control over some of the stats associated with
the fittings. To overcome that hurdle we introduced the attribute
system.
Each resource in
the game used for fittings has primary stats that are directly
associated to that resource in some fashion such as Physical Resistance,
Accuracy and so on. These resource attributes are not randomly
assigned. Each material has multiple attributes that are assigned into 3
categories: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary. Primary attributes have the
highest values (typically 7-10) with secondary in the middle (4-6) and
tertiary at the bottom (1-3). These values are static so a chunk of
calibrite will always have the same attributes, but it can have a random
grade value associated with it that impacts the rarity and significant
worth of the material (grade A being the best).
The
next step in the process is refining the material. Calibrite ores'
primary attribute is Physical Resistance, there is no other ore that can
provide as high a bonus to Physical Resistance as Calibrite. As part of
the crafting process, refinement requires the player to take the
harvested ore and create a refined metal bar. Based on the agents
players use in the recipe, they get to choose which attributes are on
the final product. With more than ten attributes available on each ore,
players must decide which ones are most important to them as they create
the refined metal. The refinement system does not only use pure ores,
but allows for combinations of ores and minerals to create alloys which
have unique attributes of their own. The refined results are then used
by another craftsman (or if you are skilled enough) in another recipe to
create a fitting with the refined materials.
As
mentioned with fitting there a letter classifications for fittings such
as “A” or “C” or “E”. These are typically comprised of primary,
secondary, and tertiary stats much like the materials such as calibrite.
“A” class fittings primary consist of the core combat attributes
dealing with damage increase and mitigation across the different damage
types (physical, energy, fire, etc) and have secondary and tertiary
stats that are more limited in value. “C” class fittings deal with
recovery/retention style stats for health, energy, momentum, and
endurance and might include some secondary and tertiary stats available
in “A” class fittings. Across the spectrum, players can add multiple
stats and make detailed choices about customization, but the system is
tailored to prevent people from stacking full damage on everything and
creating an excessively unbalanced weapon or piece of armor because each
fitting has a limit of each attribute that can be placed on it from the
refined metal used to create it. The crafted fitting takes the
attributes passed to it by the refined metal and its grade to spit out
the stats. When the fitting is slotted in a weapon or piece of armor
equipped to a character, those stats are added to the character or used
by the weapon or armor when used.
One
of our goals is to create a fairly complex crafting system. Our economy
and ecosystem are designed around the idea that there will be no
moderate to high end fitting drops, facilitating a fully player driven
world. We feel this will provide a diverse crafting experience, offering
both a quick learning process and the complexity of refinement and
producing sought after end products along with a high level of
customization that will satisfy players of all backgrounds.
We
hope you enjoyed this deep dive into the crafting attribute system. We
look forward to doing more of these in the coming months and soon you
will be able to get your hands dirty experiencing it for yourself.
Hello and welcome to our 2013 Preview for The Repopulation. 2013
should present itself as a great year for us with the next major
milestone in our development, Beta release, around the corner. We are
also looking forward to opening the doors for more people to start
testing and eventually playing The Repopulation. 2012 offered a lot with
us attending GDC and getting an excellent chance to show an early Alpha
build to the public and that resulted in a few nice write-ups much like this one here.
Around the same time during the summer we started Alpha testing and
our Kickstarter campaign. The additional capital helped to offset some
of our costs and bring in some additional help. We are still taking
Alpha requests, and plan on at least one more small wave of alpha
testers before we open for private Beta testing. Your applications will
still be valid as we move into Beta.
After a busy summer things have been fairly silent from us in
comparison to the first half of the year. Our primary focus has been on
development. During that time we have seen an engine upgrade or two,
significant improvements and adjustments to many major systems in the
game bringing them closer to completion. A major world design overhaul
provides a better seamless experience while allowing us to complete the
work even quicker than before, and a considerable amount of content has
been added or updated.
Now, looking forward to 2013 our first major milestone that is
quickly approaching is closed Beta. We are not to the point where we can
announce a date yet, but our best statement on the timeframe is Spring
2013, with release tentatively scheduled for the end of the year. We are
not under any major deadline, pressure, or financial duress to release
by a certain date or time so we want to make sure the game is ready to
go when we set an official release date. This will of course depend on
how well the Beta goes and the feedback we receive. Our top priority is
to ensure that the game launches in a polished and solid state.
One of our shifts in 2013 is going to be the amount of
information/press features that will be releasing this year. Starting
this month we will be doing more frequent press features focusing on a
variety of topics and will start to do more video updates as well in the
coming months and more as we enter into Beta. We have a large amount of
information available on our website and our forums, but having a more
detailed approach on certain topics should help get the word out,
allowing those on the fence to evaluate their interest a bit more
without drudging around in our forums. We should even have an update to
our website/forums early this year with a new sleeker look as well.
Last year we attended GDC and this year we will be attending PAX
Prime (Labor Day weekend in Seattle). If you plan on attending or live
out in the area and want a chance to come check out the game or just
stand around and talk with us please be sure to stop by and visit. We
will have additional information once everything is taken care of, but
for the time being it is the only planned conference we plan to be at
for 2013. We will also be open to talk with the press and show off the
game and field any questions during that time so please be sure to get
in contact with us if you are interested in an interview as we would be
happy to talk to you.
That is mainly all we have for now. We will be putting out weekly
updates along with increasing more screenshots to our website, facebook,
and email lists. We are still taking Early Adopter pledges that get
most of what we were offering during Kickstarter and those will be good
till we open for Beta testing. You can find more information about Early
Adopter on our website. We want to thank everyone that has backed us so
far and all of those who have been putting in a good word for us as it
has helped to bring attention to this project and make our goal of
getting this grand idea of ours out the door and ready for everyone to
enjoy. We look forward to hearing from everyone in 2013 and hope 2013
ends up being a great year for everyone involved.
