[Ideas] PR Future Engine Ideas and Suggestions

[McBumLuv]

Originally Posted by Jonny

So long as any subscription based thing is on a per-hour-played basis, not a per-month or per-year basis. I dont much like the idea of paying a flat rate for it no matter how much I actually use it, but paying for what I use seems fair enough.

Welshboy would never be able to afford it

I think payment methods should be the smallest of priorities, though you should listen to the community about it. A small base payment and smaller monthly / yearly options would be good, of course allowing for weekly demos or w/e.

[MrSh@vid]

Simple answer would then be to do both.

1) For those that do not play as much , they can pay per hours, during holidays it may be a disadvantage for them, but during the average working week, they will find it cheaper as their hours are low.

2) For those that are regulars, allow them to play a flat charge every month, giving them unlimited access.

[eggman]

There will not be an hourly subscription service heh.

[waldo_ii]

Oh man. I will not, over my cold, rotting, deceased body, buy a subscription-paid game.

[CodeRedFox]

Everyone is so worried about how much it will cost? You cheap Fraks

[Rudd]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]CodeRedFox

Everyone is so worried about how much it will cost? You cheap Fraks

You DEVs are like Drug Dealers....you get us hooked then jack up the price!!!

Hehehe :P

[Kenny]

1. Will we have new customisation abilities, With our weapons and equipment? (I mean will it be looked at)

2. I wanted to know are you guys starting completly form scrach or will we be able to see some of our favorit modles in the new PR (all the stuff that has been made by our Devs not borrowed for the other mods)

[[R-DEV]Masaq]

Let's be clear guys - PR2 is very (highly) unlikely to be a game that is ever released on a single release date with all the intended content and features that those working on it wish to put into it included; in the way that most FPS games are released.

Far more likely is that a limited-scope game would come out, with additional content coming at a later date. That's what a subscription-style payment system would allow for; ongoing continuous development, a lá PR1.

[Skodz]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]eggman

Because that way we don't make any sort of "official" statements which may be construed as promoting what could end up being vaporware. I hate it when folks do that... I've been a gamer for 35 years.. seen a lot of that...always hated it. I'd really prefer to keep it informal, but at the same time building interest helps with morale and momentum.

PR2 is a stupidly ambitious undertaking, only feasible because of the passion a bunch of us have to make a game that doesn't yet exist and no one else has the blind faith to jump into the abyss a few of us have flailed ourselves into.

Here's a quick FAQ:
1. Is the PR team working on a complete stand alone game?
Yes, although as of June 6, 2009 we are in Pre Production mode.

2. What engine is the team using?
The C4 engine.

2B. Is this the engine that the team won with MOTY?
No. We evaluated the Torque engine(s) and found that the C4 engine would be a better fit for our long term goals.

2C. Why not Unreal? Or id? Or "engine x"?
We have no budget. We need to work with an indie priced engine. We don't want to get bogged down in legal contracts and business entities. Nor do we want to strike some kind of "deal" with a publisher who forces us to make a game *they* want to sell as opposed to the one *we* want to make (as improbable as a publishing deal would be). Additionally we want to support the Indie gaming community and the C4 engine and it's author Eric Lengyel are stellar examples of how indie gaming is progressing.

3. What will the game be like?
Like PR1 mixed with Infiltration, ArmA and CoD4. So in other words.. ideally it will look like CoD4, play like Infiltration, have the scale of ArmA, the accessibility, team structures and innovations of PR1 & some new PR2 innovations to tie it all together.

4. Where will it be set?
Classified as of June 6, 2009.

5. What factions will be represented?
Classified as of June 6, 2009.

6. How many players will be supported?
We are hoping to support a minimum of 33 players per team (4 x 8 man squads + 1 Commander) for a total of 66 players. Ideally we'll support 98 players total preferably up to 130 (8 x 8 man squads + 1 Commander per team).

7. How big will the maps be?
Maps will be scaled based on the type of engagement; infantry maps will be smaller, combined arms maps will be larger. The C4 engine theoretically will support unlimited terrain sizes.

8. How much will it cost?
Right now we don't know. It will likely be sold via subscription, hopefully through Steam. Yes, Steam can suck, but it has a lot of great infrastructure for PC sales and distribution. It'll be something like $3 per month or $30 for a year subscription in advance. Again not definite, we'll figure that out over the coming months.

9. Will there be a free alpha / beta?
Yes, we'll be releasing several playable builds of the years of development incrementally moving towards a "one point oh" release that will be commercially available.

10. Will there be vehicles?
Duh.

11. Will everyone be able to play 5P35HU1 F0RC3Z?
No, PR2 will be a class based game much like PR1 (only with a much better UI for the class and squad systems).

12. When will it be released?
Dunno. As of June 6, 2009 I'd guess 2011 at the earliest as a commercial product.

13. When will there be a playable alpha?
Depends on playable hehe. But hopefully in 2009 we'll be able to distribute an early build to the community that shows off some of the basics.

14. Will there be a physics system?
Yes. If the C4 engine's physics system proves inadequate, we'll integrate a 3rd party physics engine. As of June 6, 2009 the C4 engine v1.5.9 does not include a physics system (although shipping titles on C4 have integrated 3rd party physics engines). The C4 roadmap includes a physics engine in C4 v1.6. The physics system in C4 is designed to be a "network aware" physics engine. Networked physics is extremely difficult to pull off, particularly in lare scale multiplayer environments (physics uses up network traffic). But we all dislike the idea of elm trees that can stop a tank.

15. Will PR2 be released on consoles?
Heh.. if I say "yes" people will say "pmg, the f00k3d pr for consoles". But the reality is that if a publisher came to us and said "we'll fund you to port the PC version of PR2 to 360 and/or PS3" .. we'd consider it (yes mostly for a sell out whoring of money). The C4 engine works on PS3 today and will, probably by 2010, work on XBox 360. Basically we're going to try and avoid any decisions that would make a console "port" be unnecessarily difficult. But the tactical gamer on the PC platform is our primary audience.

16. What else can you tell us?
I dunno, that's prolly already too much given we're still in pre production mode and are not even sure if we can pull this off.

Awesome news

[eggman]

btw regards subscription.. think of it like this...

The whole notion of a subscription and an "annual bundle" price point is that if you don't like subscription services, just buy a year at a time. In fact, we might even just look at a 12 month and a 6 month subscription fee. Something like $18 for 6 months, or $30 for 12 months.

We'd sell the initial game +1 year for $30 total (as an example). After a year you will need to re-subscribe. Let's say it's $18 for 6 months, or you can buy another full year for $30. If through that first year we have "earned" your respect as a consumer and you decide to subscribe for another year at the "bundle" price of $30.. you can play for another year. Or you can buy a 6 month sub.

It gives us an opportunity to continue to develop the game. And we'd ideally be looking at nearly double the content over a 2 year period. I know the economics being this stuff.. and we'd need upwards of 100k subscribers to get even remotely close to breaking even.

egg