Reloaded Productions Kickstarts an APB Sequel

[Fanghawk]

Reloaded Productions Kickstarts an APB Sequel

A proposed follow-up to APB: Reloaded features agility-based combat, modded custom servers, and a possible PS4 version stretch goal.

All Points Bulletin was one of those games that, on paper, sounded like a revolutionary MMO. Designed by Grant Theft Auto creator David Jones, it promised to rework GTA's sandbox into an online persistent world where players took on the role of a city's Criminals and Enforcers. Unfortunately, the finished product couldn't meet its high expectations, and servers were shut down mere months after release. The game managed to get <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105213-Free-to-Play-Publisher-Snaps-up-the-Rights-to-APB>a free-to-play re-release in APB: Reloaded, but Reloaded Productions thinks the concept can be expanded even further. The developer has taken a proposed sequel called APB: Vendetta to Kickstarter, hoping that John Woo-inspired combat will lure backers to its cause.

If successfully backed, APB Vendetta would be a buy-to-play MMO with agility-based combat as its core gameplay element. Inspired by Half-Life mods like The Specialists and Action Half-Life, Vendetta encourages players to keep moving and complete combo kills for higher point rewards. Prototype footage shows that characters can run on walls, slide under cars, and occasionally activate bullet time during combat. Character classes are designed across three dimensions, Speed, Health, and Agility, to allow a variety of special moves and playstyles.

Of course, MMOs can't survive without a strong community, so Reloaded Productions intends to fully support Community Hubs. Outside of simply providing a venue for group interactions, players can also attach rental servers to hubs for public or private use. Servers can be flagged for "Tournament" or "Newbie" gameplay, while custom modifications can be implemented using external editors or a stretch goal supported interface. For players who prefer solo-play, Vendetta will also include a single-player campaign that can be completed entirely offline.

Audiences haven't really been clamoring for a new APB entry, but these features certainly have potential. So far, Vendetta has earned a promising $12,000, but will need $300,000 for the core game alone. Increasingly expensive stretch goals include exported APB Reloaded custom content, advanced modding tools, and the ability to port Vendetta to platforms like the PS4. The Kickstarter runs until April 30th, so we've got about a month to see whether gamers are willing to give APB another chance.

Source: <a href=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/reloadedprod/all-points-bulletin-apb-vendetta>Kickstarter, via <a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-28-apb-vendetta-to-be-a-pc-and-ps4-persistent-online-extreme-mobility-shooter-not-scooter>Eurogamer

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[rofltehcat]

Huh... didn't the original APB flop pretty quickly? Can anyone with a better memory than my fishhead give a short explanation what went wrong? Or am I mixing it up with another game (that parcour-shooter-thing with the ships and the glass city on the horizon?).

Bullet time in multiplayer? How is that supposed to work?

 

[Andy Shandy]

I'm still annoyed at the stupidity of Realtime Worlds to make only their second game an MMO - which ended up killing them, especially when they had a good thing in Crackdown.

 

[hazabaza1]

Looks like it's going to be "Brink: Even worse edition."
Yay for us.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Oh dear God why? Why would the devs put themselves through all this again? Isn't completely failing and burning out in a spectacular manner once not enough?

 

[Dr.Awkward]

APB just doesn't need to be an MMO... Perhaps they should bank on the regular tried-and-true limited multiplayer model instead.

Or, they can take Minecraft's route - Everyone can run their own session, and then they can invite who they want into their game to challenge or mess/fix things up with in their city. I'm certain that if more MMOs would take this route of allowing private servers (with appropriate limitations), there would be a lot more interest in them.

CAPTCHA: untied laces
Indeed, they're going to trip over their own feet again if they can't figure out why APB's basis doesn't work...

 

[Sixcess]

APB is still up and running, under Gamersfirst now. So what they're proposing is a sequel to a still active pseudo-MMO that they spectacularly fucked up the first time around.

I'll be astonished if this goes anywhere. In the words of George W....

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice... [long pause]... won't get fooled again."

 

[Smooth Operator]

Riiiiigh... you fucked up the first one so bad it still holds the record for the fastest failing MMO of all time and you had to give it away for peanuts, now you want money for another one.
I have a better idea, how about we pile up 300 grand and film it burning for youtube, it will have hell of alot more entertainment value and possibly make more money.

Until the day you realize Crackdown was the best thing you had please do not even talk about video games, take up a shoe shop or something and contemplate.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

Oh dear God why? Why would the devs put themselves through all this again? Isn't completely failing and burning out in a spectacular manner once not enough?

If I'm not mistaken, APB: Reloaded is being handled by another team than the ones that made the game in the first place. Realtime Worlds no longer exists and another publisher/dev bought the rights to the game.

Still, as it stands, APB: Reloaded is only mildly better than the original so I'm not exactly leaping at the chance to throw more money their way. That said, the dev team to my knowledge has done very little besides updating and maintaining APB: Reloaded so I'm not entirely convinced in their ability to create a game from scratch.

Captcha: start from scratch
Indeed~

 

[Riobux]

APB: Reloaded is pretty much pay-to-win, with weapons being sold for actual money in the store. I'd sooner fund the BNP than this.

 

[Me55enger]

SHOCK! HORROR! I'M GOING TO DEFEND APB!

If I'm not mistaken, APB: Reloaded is being handled by another team than the ones that made the game in the first place. Realtime Worlds no longer exists and another publisher/dev bought the rights to the game.

Still, as it stands, APB: Reloaded is only mildly better than the original so I'm not exactly leaping at the chance to throw more money their way. That said, the dev team to my knowledge has done very little besides updating and maintaining APB: Reloaded so I'm not entirely convinced in their ability to create a game from scratch.

The rights to APB was purchased by GamersFirst (via K2 Network I think) for approx £1million (this is very much an approx) which has been worked on by Reloaded Productions, a team of now 40 members, whom most worked on it originally in RTW.

To suggest the current game is little better than the original is somewhat... wrong... RTW APB was in no fit state to be released when it was, and while some 75% of its own current community tend to be incerdibly critical of RP's work and work output, the fact of the matter is is that the small team are only just catching up with thier tails.

The last 18 or so months of work has been primarily trying to fix aspects of the game that were issues back in RTW, and with a team that is a tenth the size of the RTW folk who made it, it hasnt exactly been a fast thing to do. That is alongside some remarkable new content, (weapon and map) balacning, bug fixing and cosmetics as well. I for one salute them.

APB: Reloaded is pretty much pay-to-win, with weapons being sold for actual money in the store. I'd sooner fund the BNP than this.

This is almost entirely false in reality. They have stated on many occasions that any weapon purchasable with real money has an ingame equivelant that is free. And, ironically, many players now agree that, after several weapon balancing patches, the weapons exclusive to the real-money shop are for the most part worse than the ingame alternatives.

The exception here are the weapons found in the Joker Mystery Box gambling system, and specifically, one called the OCA Nano. This weapon was a total piss take for 6 months before it was nerfed. The community of APB is not naive to this.

Feel free to fund the BNP. I think they are short of flags and legitimate policy. And support.

Going back to OP: APB: Vendetta has been met with a pretty negative response within the APB commuity itself. The idea I think is actually pretty cool, but I'm doubtful it will make its goal.

M.

 

[Ympulse]

SHOCK! HORROR! I'M GOING TO DEFEND APB!

And I'm going to argue with you!

The rights to APB was purchased by GamersFirst (via K2 Network I think) for approx £1million (this is very much an approx)

K2 (Korean shoestring publisher) bought it for roughly 2-4 million, then had their internal/contracted studios bid on the rights to dev for it. The rights went to G1 for 1 mil. (or thereabouts) They then 'created' Reloaded productions as a PR move.

which has been worked on by Reloaded Productions, a team of now 40 members, whom most worked on it originally in RTW.

There were only 10-15 RTW employees that actually made the conversion, most were not devs. The rest of that "40" are support staff (think CS) and most likely are contract employees.

To suggest the current game is little better than the original is somewhat... wrong...

Having played both versions of the game at a very involved level, I can say that only three real changes were made. 1) TTK across the board was lowered. 2) Netcode was 'optimized' in that it stopped allowing textures to be sent before combat data. The endstate is that nothing changed for anyone with a connection above 5/1, shots still dropped on a regular basis, and 3) the pay to win shop.

RTW APB was in no fit state to be released when it was, and while some 75% of its own current community tend to be incredibly critical of RP's work and work output, the fact of the matter is is that the small team are only just catching up with their tails.
The last 18 or so months of work has been primarily trying to fix aspects of the game that were issues back in RTW, and with a team that is a tenth the size of the RTW folk who made it, it hasnt exactly been a fast thing to do. That is alongside some remarkable new content, (weapon and map) balacning, bug fixing and cosmetics as well. I for one salute them.

I'll agree here. RTW APB was a great Alpha, and APB:R is only just now starting to look like it's getting out of beta. However, their high level design choices are indicative of developing for the monetization model instead of the game.

APB: Reloaded is pretty much pay-to-win, with weapons being sold for actual money in the store. I'd sooner fund the BNP than this.

This is almost entirely false in reality. They have stated on many occasions that any weapon purchasable with real money has an ingame equivelant that is free. And, ironically, many players now agree that, after several weapon balancing patches, the weapons exclusive to the real-money shop are for the most part worse than the ingame alternatives.

There comes a time when you reach what is known as mechanical competence when playing a game. At that point, the tools you use are what the deciding factor is (in games such as APB, at least, with it's one hitbox damage system). Turns out those paid-only weapons are superior to ingame-only weapons when played by someone with mechanical competence.

Let us not forget the joke that is the rental system, as well

The exception here are the weapons found in the Joker Mystery Box gambling system, and specifically, one called the OCA Nano. This weapon was a total piss take for 6 months before it was nerfed.

The OCA Nano wasn't the only transgressor of this, it's just the most obscene.

Addition: The G1/RP/K2 support structure is decidedly Korean in that it's nonexistent, and the policies surrounding the game are consumer-unfriendly. (The only exception being the wall of shame, which I support personally)

@OP: I sincerely hope the kickstarter fails. K2/G1/RP need to not make a sequel to a game that's "still in beta"

 

[BeerTent]

APB just doesn't need to be an MMO... Perhaps they should bank on the regular tried-and-true limited multiplayer model instead.

Or, they can take Minecraft's route - Everyone can run their own session, and then they can invite who they want into their game to challenge or mess/fix things up with in their city. I'm certain that if more MMOs would take this route of allowing private servers (with appropriate limitations), there would be a lot more interest in them.

CAPTCHA: untied laces
Indeed, they're going to trip over their own feet again if they can't figure out why APB's basis doesn't work...

That wouldn't work with what APB wants to do. The objective is to have two teams. An AI Director, similar to that of L4D's will then assign players into a squad to complete missions. When it's "APB" the second team gets involved and provides the protagonist, another group of players assigned into a squad. If teams are unfair, the weaker team can call for Backup, potentially increasing it into a massive 32vs32 shit-show.

I played APB:R. It's insanely fun. You can customize your car, customize your character, so you can look like a fool, or badass. What's not fun is Gold Threat, which is apparently based on "Skill" the better you do, the higher threat you are, and, well... It's pretty fucking easy to do good when you can snap-fire and one shot someone with a sniper rifle at any distance, especially one containing paid upgrades. APB had a very long curve to get the good stuff... Exceptionally long... Which introduces the "pay-to-win" aspect of it. How fun is it to be matched against someone who's decked out when you have a default SUV and a low-level semi-auto carbine?

APB is incredibly fun. More-so if you've got a creative mind... And on paper, the gameplay is exceptionally fun!! If, not a little hectic and random... It's just the pay-to-win scheme, the weapon rental system, the utter complete lack of balance in the matchmaking and weapons systems, and the somewhat shady network optimization completely and wholeheartedly killed it. Another studio that knows what it's doing needs to handle this, otherwise, it's garbage, and will continue to be garbage. Such a shame, really.

Note: I haven't played in over a year. Have the weapons been properly balanced? Has the Sniper/Perc flaw been balanced?

 

[Me55enger]

Etc...

Listen to this guy, guys.

 

[Nurb]

They couldn't get the first one right.

Kickstarter is now a racket for many companies. Pay us money for our idea now, and you pay us even more with the F2P model!

 

[satsugaikaze]

They need to play to their strengths and shore up their weaknesses for this to have any chance of getting support.

From the last time I played, APB:R is an average third-person shooter with okay driving mechanics, and an unparallelled level of customisation and player individuality I have yet to see in any other game so far, let alone an MMO. From the ability to design your own decals using layers of presets and place them on an XYZ scale, color pick pretty much anything imaginable, implement a ridiculous huge amount of sliders and even design your own midi themes from in-game music samples, it's a real example of a sandbox multiplayer and has some great concepts.

Going from A to B on foot was hum-drum compared to vehicle driving and teamwork, so if they implement better movement, combat, netcode and matchmaking, it could be an incredibly competent game.

 

[LordMonty]

Played APB reloaded and its a bit rubbish even now. Have no intrest in a 100% pvp mmo(or nothing as if no players can be found you just suceed at doing whatever it is your doing no AI or anything in game). And this sequel sounds like COD or Battlefield rip with some wall running which has micro transactions too boot.

Play star trek online or the upcoming neverwinter for a good free to play game and don't moan about lock boxes at least the game has some content(really APB is so weak on this)which you can play without any charges, ergo free.

 

[sid]

APB's customization is so fun, the game is the perfect proof that charging a player to breathe makes anything utter shit. It's really a shame to see the direction in which the creators took the game, it could've made ripples bigger than Planetside 2

 

[Comando96]

I do not like this look of this at all to be honest... not one bit.

I'm going to share this with my friends... all 100 of them.
i wonder what their opinios will be...