Dear fellows, after the campaign on Kickstarter is ended it is possible to back After Reset RPG by Direct Pledges via PayPal on our store http://www.afterreset.com/store
Thank you, guys, for making this game a reality!
Hey, guys! I bet many of you already know me. My name is Richard, and I’m the creator and game director of After Reset RPG.
Here I’d like to tell you a little about our game, which we have been working on for more than a year.
You know, we were all really upset by the cancellation of Fallout: Van Buren, the cancellation of Knights of the Old Republic III, cancellation of Neverwinter Nights III - while instead the video game industry has just - flooded us with "fast-food" MMOs, - trying to fake us, mere gamers, with their brands. So, being similar minded RPG players like you, we were tired of being disappointed, tired of waiting for miracles - so we decided to fill in the gap ourselves. We wanted to relive the emotions and epic stories from old school RPG’s and decided to make our own miracle. And I’m sure that together we CAN build that theme park! With blackjack, caravans, and hookers, of course! :)
With these things in mind, After Reset is based on three pillars of design from the good old days. You can expect:
• A POST-APOCALYPTIC ATMOSPHERE, developed with a focus on sci-fi realism and more locations to explore than Fallout 1 and 2 combined (for more info, check out our concept arts and screenshots, and watch for updates here on KickStarter).
• A NONLINEAR STORY, with the freedom to choose between a ton of branches and endings which influence the whole setting - even beyond the game you play.
• HARDCORE MECHANICS in the best traditions of D&D and SPECIAL, we have created our own system called SACPIC (for more info, check that section of the forum and coming updates), where you will be able to customize every aspect of your character. Of course, you’ll also be able to choose from a list of pre-made ones if you just want to jump in and play!
Drooling yet? :) Well… we’re just getting started.
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Since the first trial of KickStarter in November of 2013, when we got about $50,000 of a $900,000 budget, we have managed to collect more than $15,000 from PayPal donations to maintain development, we ran another successful KickStarter campaign for the graphic novel prequeling the game, as well as gathering a following of over 15,000 fans on Facebook and getting Greenlit on Steam in under five days. With that, we came to the decision to split the game into chapters with smaller goals to achieve, and aimed to release the Prologue by this Fall 2014! To make these plans a reality, we are launching this campaign with new content, an upgraded build of the game, daily updates and a smaller goal of $35,000.
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Be sure to check our Pre-Alpha gameplay videos:
• Main Menu check and creating the character
• Walking around the area at the borders of the Great Desert
• Walking around Gyes bunker under construction (stay tuned for updates)
• Exploring Great Desert encounter and dialogues (stay tuned for updates)
Find us on Steam Greenlight (we were greenlit in 5 days!) and stay up to date by following us on our official site, along with DAILY updates during our current campaign on Kickstarter or via our Facebook and IndieDB pages.
Also, you can check out the following interviews for more info:
• What will the After Reset RPG be like?
• After Reset RPG for Small Dev Talk.
• After Reset RPG for Voice of Wasteland Magazine.
• Mr.Nixon for MediaKilledReality.
You asked for it, and here it is! The link for my one-man-made game project Fallout D20 (non-profit, fan stuff), based on Obsidian's Aurora engine: http://afterreset.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1, and even more stuff on No Mutants Allowed: http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=57734.
It’s our future - the golden age of humanity, globalized under the banner of the United Governments. It’s a century of corporations, unbelievable scientific discoveries, and massive overpopulation. That was when we first discovered the strange extraterrestrial objects known as: Artifacts.
No one knows where they came from, or how they got there unnoticed - but none of that mattered after the 12th of May. Those that survived the nuclear fire were blanketed in radioactive ash, forever changing the surface of the Earth - and nearly extinguishing all life.
But… the biblical devastation wrought on that day - was not the end of us. Despite the scale of the tragedy, several million people found refuge in specially equipped underground bases - and over the next century they built an enormous underground metropolis. It is here that the United Government survived.
And so, after more than a hundred years of hiding under the scorched earth, the radioactive wasteland that the Earth had become was finally beginning to heal. It was time. Time to begin the reconstruction of our once great civilization.
Yet, it soon became clear… that the burden of this holy mission had already been taken up by another civilization - one that was born of the flames and chaos of the apocalypse.
Though they lacked the technological marvels that were preserved within the great underground cities of the United Governments, they possessed far greater numbers and better-developed survival instincts. The sudden appearance of the United Governments drove the isolated survivors to unite under the banner of the New Confederacy. Diplomatic efforts… failed. Lines were drawn in the bloodstained sands, each side vying for supremacy over the Yellow Zones.
For the Survivors, it’s a replay of the American Revolutionary War against the British Empire. For the United Governments it’s the Iraq War all over again, threatening to turn into a new Vietnam.
The game takes place 132 years after the apocalypse, which the survivors call the ‘Reset’. Two large areas of North America are still habitable: The Great Desert (Nevada) and The State of Eagle (California).
All the members of our team are loyal fans of the original Fallout games, which is why we feel very at home here, and we’d really like to show it to you this time not as a 1950’s retro apocalypse, but re-imagined as a sci-fi one. While we intend to preserve the mood and atmosphere from Fallout, there will be an emphasis on realism when it comes to the weapons and settings in the game.
The arid climate of the Great Desert still holds the remains of a fallen human civilization, which hides many secrets of the Past Era. For this reason many of you will be able to recognize the good old world of Fallout in After Reset, remade in 3D.
Despite the fact that, for us, graphics aren't a key factor in roleplaying games - we’ll try our best to carefully and lovingly bring all the details to life. As a matter of fact, you can already (from the video) see how far we’ve come, and what you can expect from us. :)
Beyond that, you can expect an old-school Global Map, in which your ability to explore is limited only by how much water you’ve got. You can expect real simulation of days while wandering between more than 50 unique locations (equivalent to both Fallouts combined), and with your help, we can bring that number up significantly.
In your adventures, you’ll come across wild tribes, groups of cannibals, bands of raiders, caravans of traders, slave camps, mercenary clans, groups of fanatics, and emerging islands of new order - ones that are isolated enough to remain neutral.
You’ll be immersed in an atmosphere of savage tribes (like in Mad Max), and a sci-fi Wild West, familiar to many of us from the Firefly TV-series. Of course, the lion’s share of the game will take place in a setting like the original Fallout: Van Buren, and movies like: The Book of Eli. You’ll also be able to travel into the Red Zone (near the Artifact left by the aliens during the Reset).
Music and sound design?
My father always said: if you’re going do something - do it right. And recreating a truly deep Wasteland atmosphere is impossible without high quality musical accompaniment.
What can you expect from the music of After Reset? You can expect more than 60 minutes of atmospheric tracks made in the style of composers such as Mark Morgan, Jesper Kyd, and Amon Tobin. Just so you don’t think I’m making unfounded statements - you can already hear a few tracks in the additional materials, which we recorded especially for you for our Kickstarter campaign.
These two tracks, by composer Mariusz Jasionowicz, provide a taste of After Reset's music.
After Reset OST - The Desolation
After Reset OST - The Awakening
After Reset OST - In Vitro
Setting, visual environment and audio environment are the three pillars on which the atmosphere of the game After Reset stands, a game that we can make together!
Plot and story in games have always been my favorite component as a gamer. As such, I’ve always put them at the forefront of any adventures the gamers go through, myself being a long time Dungeon Master in D&D. I honestly believe that we gamers are different from other people in that we’ve been blessed to live many lives vicariously through our beloved characters, receiving (in return) more real experience points. :)
In working on the plot of After Reset RPG, I’ve considered three main parts:
First is personal story, allowing us to create and live through an especially personal story in the world of the game. My main inspiration here is, of course, the first Baldur’s Gate.
Secondly, companions’ stories will also evolve with your character simultaneously, and our goal is to achieve the same depth and interest level of the companions’ stories of Planescape: Torment.
Finally, we get to nonlinear freedom of choice. Here, my obvious favorites are Fallout 1 and 2. I’d like to add to that, the emotion from games like: The Walking Dead, and Knights of the Old Republic.
So...
This is where your story begins. You find yourself on the floor of some kind of laboratory, completely naked and surrounded by shards of broken glass and a strange, oozing liquid pooling at your feet. You remember nothing, and apart from medical instruments and equipment - there’s no one around. The only thing you hear is a female voice, calling to you: “Wake up, Commander.” From that moment on - everything is in your hands.
Where you go, what you do, whether to listen to the voice or not - it’s all up to you. I don’t want to spoil too much of the game for you, so I’ll only add one more thing - no matter where you go, or who you decide to become in the expanses of the Great Desert, your personal story will find you. Like in Baldur’s Gate, you’re totally free to explore the world, but the story will follow you… like a shadow.
In terms of your companions, I also don’t want to give away too much, but I can guarantee that you’ll have four of them, and with your help we can double that number (of course, not all of your companions will be compatible with each other). To lift the curtain a little, I can give you one example companion, Ivy, who is your first fellow traveler. It’s she who says: “Wake up, Commander.” If your character has low intellect, Ivy merely seems a “spirit,” or a “voice in your head,” until the end of the game. If you’ve got enough intellect, then you’ll realize that Ivy is actually a virtual intelligence, the communicative operational system of your CORE-7 implant. I think that fans of Planescape: Torment will find a lot in common between Ivy and Morte, though we’ll still have plenty of surprises for you.
Speaking about nonlinear freedom of choice and the significance of your choices, the idea of: “Who will you become after the end of days?” It wasn’t for just any reason that we put this question on the promotional art for our game. Who will your character become in the world of After Reset? Sheppard or Lucifer, Heisenberg or Mr. White, Brody, Bohannon, a villain or a hero, sinner or saint, or will you avoid conflict all together? Whatever you choose, you’re in control.
In addition, in After Reset RPG, I’d like to raise the stakes in terms of the significance of the choices you make. Each time you play through the game, your choices will actively shape the world and setting - not just for yourself. To make this possible - you’ll obviously need an Internet connection, but we’ll make sure to include an offline mode as well.
Interacting with the choices of other players will create unique consequences for the world of After Reset, which even I can’t predict. I think you’ll agree that this sounds much more exciting than a DLC or a half-baked linear conclusion that doesn’t take your decisions into account.
So, personal story, companions’ stories and significance of choice are the three pillars on which the story of After Reset RPG stands – a game we can bring to reality together!
When making the game mechanics for After Reset RPG, I tried to bring together the very best from systems such as D&D and SPECIAL, using my five years of experience as a Dungeon Master, mod maker, and businessman. I can promise you that After Reset RPG will be optimized and balanced to accommodate any play style. If you’ve played Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights or Fallout 1&2, it’ll all be pretty intuitive for you - and even if you haven’t, we’ll make sure it’s easy to learn.
Like in the original Fallout, we named our mechanics SACPIC after the first letter of all the main stats of your character. And similarly to Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, I can promise you a long, thought-out character creation process with a true multitude of combinations - and yes, don’t forget that God made everyone different, but Colonel Colt evened the playing field. Good or bad, level three or seven, a lot of strength or a little - in the expanses of the wasteland, what matters is who holds the gun. :)
In our plan for the visual part of gameplay, we’re trying to make it all as close to the classics of the genre as possible, with improvements made only where technology is concerned. A never-ending space to explore, limited only by your water supplies, skills and some feats. In terms of combat, I’m often asked: will the game have a turn-based system or real-time one? I can safely say that the game will be rule-based real-time (like Neverwinter Nights, Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic).
Here you can check out the mechanics of character creation: http://www.afterreset.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49
And weapons mechanics: http://www.afterreset.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145
And, of course, I want to mention that the game will be playable on Windows/Linux/Mac.
In general, it won’t be a Diablo-esque slasher or another casual MMO - only hardcore, only old school :)
Are you with us?
So, that is our game so far.
We’ve given you a quick look into After Reset RPG and our design plans: ranging from the gameplay elements, concept art, and even screenshots from the game engine. But, in order for us to maintain that high quality standard that we have set, we need your help.
During the month of November of 2013, we ran our fist KickStarter for a budget of $900,000. Unfortunately, for that first trial, we were unable to gather our full goal of $900,000.
However, we were not deterred from our goal of making this game a reality.
Why?
Despite not reaching our goal of $900,000, we managed to gain $50,000 worth of pledges towards the initial goal as well as an additional $15,000 from separate PayPal donations. Those donations helped us see that there are indeed gamers who want to play After Reset RPG.
Of course, you may ask, “What if it was a fluke?” We took it upon ourselves to find the answer to that question. Following the initial KickStarter, we launched another KickStarter campaign for the graphic novel, “The Fall of Gyes” which acts as a prequel for After Reset RPG. In an amazing show of support, we gained a whopping 15,000 fans on Facebook as well as the game getting Greenlit on STEAM in under five days.
With that kind of support, we know that this game can be a success. In order to make it so, we’ve decided to split the game into chapters as well as reducing our initial budget goal.
Our “new” initial goal is now $35,000 with stretch goals that we intend to add as we further develop the game. By doing this, we hope to have the Prologue chapter for After Reset RPG out by this fall. Now, all we need is your continued help and support to make this epic dream become reality.
From the gameplay elements, concept art and screenshots from the game engine, you can already see the high standard we’ve set for ourselves. To hold true to that, and fully make our game a reality, we need your help.
A post-apocalyptic atmosphere, a story full of mysteries, and hardcore mechanics - this is the game we want to make. The game we’ve all been waiting for.
Come on, guys, let’s make this game happen already!
As you asked, guys, here are several branded icons for your profiles on Kickstarter (click on pictures to download):
Notes for pledges and rewards:
• After Reset RPG (the prologue episode as well as the whole game) will be
DRM-free and available for PC, Mac, and Linux.
• We are already Greenlit, so estimated date
of STEAM Early Access and Alpha Test is early fall 2014.
• Estimated date of Prologue episode release is October 2014.
• Estimated date of Beta Test is 2015 and full game release is planned at 2015-2016.
• All these low prices are only available
for those who help fund.
DIGITAL REWARDS:
PHYSICAL REWARDS:
"I'D LIKE TO HELP EVEN MORE" REWARDS:
Risks and challenges
There are two main risks in game development. The first is to make games without an understanding of business side - which is the problem most young indie developers have. The second is to make games just for money - that is the problem with large publishers and "famous persons from the industry".
As most of our followers and fans know, I have an MBA in Strategic Marketing (Durham University Business School and Synergy University Business School) as a proper educational background, and I built my own international furniture business (UK/Germany/Russia/China) from the ground up without any support from relatives, friends, etc. Though our game studio is fairly new, we’ve got a strong friendly team of workaholics. To meet the second challenge - that’s where our backers come in. Your funds will help us to remain independent of the large publishers, which is the only way a game like After Reset RPG will ever make it to you.
To be honest, even with your support - it’s impossible to predict everything, and many projects on Kickstarter are struggling to meet expectations - but we'll do our best to avoid any delays, and to keep you up to date on a week-to-week basis.
Guys, we are the same players as you are! And we are not going to release any crap or f#*& your brains with stupid, unreasonable delays or unreasonable high pricing on Steam or GOG.
Just look at what we've done already with only the $15k support from our loyal fans. And just imagine what we could do with much more support from you!
Learn about accountability on KickstarterFAQ
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The decisions that you make in-game will (of course!) affect the storyline of your own game, but they will also be synced with the AR Quanton servers. At the end of the game session (approximately one year after the release date), everyone's choices will be tallied, and a final 'global' ending will be released, along with the conclusion of your own personal story.
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Pledging to the DIGITAL LIEUTENANT (or higher) level will grant you this special feat, which allows your in-game actions and choices to affect global settings via Quanton Sync, as the equivalent of five ordinary players. Here is your chance to gain 5X the influence on the setting – so choose wisely!
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Yes! Like all good old-school RPGs, you will be able to customize your own character - from characteristics to appearance. You will also be free to choose from several presets, including some created by players who pledge at the ULTRA SUPPORT PACK level on Kickstarter. Click here to learn more about character creation: http://www.afterreset.com/forum/showthread.php…
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After Reset RPG will be DRM-free. We're determined to make it available via GOG as well.
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There will be an offline mode, and an Internet connection is required only for co-op play, global ending influence (read [Quanton Sync]), and to activate any exclusive bonus items that are included with your pledges. If you don't want to connect to the Internet you are free to activate the game with your CD-KEY just like in good old Fallout 1&2, but you won't be able to access these special features.
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Love, sex, and comedy are all integral parts of people's lives. I feel they have to be in the game if it is to be a true RPG.
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The whole game budget estimations keeps the same. But for Prologue part we needed $50k only. $15k we got from Direct Pledges earlier. That helped us to continue development. But we still need $35k for completion.
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As a matter of fact, for the full game we aim to create amount of location that is equal to Fallout 1 and 2 both. Thus, I guess, gameplay timing should be F1+F2 as well.
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The prologue should lasts as long as Mortuary from Planescape:Torment plus Temple of Trials from Fallout 2.
Rewards
Funding period
- (45 days)