The Repopulation is looking to achieve $25,000 in funding by July 2, 2012.



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Why Kickstarter?

Above and Beyond Technologies is an independently owned development studio. It consists of a small team which has spent every last moment of free time at their disposal to fund and develop this title over the past four years. Each of our team members either works a day job, or makes ends meet by working as an independent contractor. We’ve invested years worth of our time because we believe strongly in this project and that it will be a success. You may be wondering why we would look to kickstart now?

We’re realists. We realize that the game’s success lies not only in its feature list and gameplay, but in the level of polish and presentation that it can provide at launch. Unfortunately indie studios often find themselves in positions where they simply have run out of funds and are forced to launch a game that is buggy and unpolished. Kickstarter will help ensure that this does not happen with The Repopulation.

To date we’ve managed to keep our costs down to a minimum due to our core team working for free, and by outsourcing to affordable contractors out of our own pockets. We were prepared to do this until launch, but the amount of interest in this project over the past few months has led us to believe that we owe our rapidly growing user base the most polished content we can provide at launch. We’re kickstarting to ensure that we can accomplish that.

Even without kickstarter we are planning a launch in 2013 with all the features listed. A major part of developing any game, whether it is a simple single player game or a huge MMO, is offering more options and variety. Even with our very modest target for our kickstarter campaign this will help us to add more of the following into The Repopulation

More NPC Species, which may also serve as pets.
More refined animations for both players and npc species.
Even more armor pieces, hair options, weapon models, etc.
More advanced mission templates for an even more enjoyable mission experience.
More special effects for abilities.
More UI work for better overall usability and visuals.
Additional motion capture animations and emotes.
Improved cinematic effects for Missions and Engagements.
More aggressive beta and release schedule.

These are small touches that can make the difference between a good experience and a great experience. Many of these options also add content into The Repopulation, expanding the amount of gameplay that will be available upon release.

We start private Alpha testing for a lucky handful in late June of this year and will slowly start adding more individuals in for testing for the remainder of the year. Beta will be ready late this year or early next. As a thanks for backing us, the early tiers are getting a very lucrative break on the eventual costs once the game is released, so you are doing more than simply pledging to the cause, you are pre-ordering as well.

Access many more game/kickstarter details, pledge perks, screen shots and video here.

Looks like The Repopulation has surpassed its kickstarter funding goal of $25,000. There are still 14 days left to pledge money.

The biggest concern I have with this game is it will be F2P. Sandbox games that are suppose to have in-depth, meaningful crafting will be at odds with the cash shop. Another issue is the game is slated for forced PvP, but the devs are considering a PvE server. Why, oh why do game developers feel that sandboxes HAVE to have forced PvP? I know.....it is the cheap way of supplying player-made content.

Kazara wrote:
Don't ask questions you already answer

There is nothing wrong with forced pvp... if that is the market the game is aiming for.

In theory a cash shop could exist nicely with a deep crafting system if they both offer different items. Most developers can't even balance gameplay rewards with items offered by crafting, so it is unlikely that adding a cash shop into the mix will be any different... if not worse.

I am in agreement with Kaz: the fact that crafting that will compete with the cash shop is not a good one for me.

Add to that I have never played a F2P title worth the time it took to download.

If they want to lower the barrier to entry, I would suggest doing the opposite of what GW/GW2 does: offer the client "free" and charge a modest monthly fee ($5-$10) or some such, if they are going for a "sub-AAA" title.

As a standard "F2P with cashshop" game, it will get lost (and probably ignored) with all the others.

The cash shop could not sell gear, then it would not conflict with crafting. If it only sells XP potions, or baby elmo dolls or sparkle ponies, I don't see how that will interfere with crafting.

However, proof is in the execution.

Vanity items, fluff items, pets and sparkle ponies are still things that still could be craftable, rewards or loot drops. I would like to make some pets and sparkle ponies. In all seriousness, if cash shop 'similar' items are mostly available in game (craft, drop, reward) or through veteran rewards, then I am okay with it.

I would rather see account services make the bulk of the cash shop. Things like name changes, improved inventory, extra character slots, class changes, transfers, etc.. Cash shops are pushed inevitably by greed and it will become overly intrusive sooner or later, especially to sandbox game play.

Well, this company consists of like 2 guys and some artists. I don't think they are the corporate greed types some envision. I agree with you, I'd rather see account services appear in that kind of shop. But, tbh, I'd rather not have any cash shop.

An, Kickstarter.