Do you have hope for APB?

[Rehtaelle 18]

I do have (albeit potentially misplaced) hope that APB can see a resurgence. Not to the point of being a smash hit, but to the point of having a stable population count. Just, not with its current level of attention from higher ups.

 

It goes beyond engine updates, specifically toward monetization and progression. Even with an existing deficit of fresh content, the issues are that the monetization scheme is dated and scares people off. By using mechanics designed to keep people returning, it has the opposite effect of keeping people from coming back. The most game-altering unlocks take vastly too long to obtain, and the game does currently favor a vague sense of pay 2 win in the sense that the most tide-turning weapons and equipment are locked off to grind most people these days consider unreasonable in a mobile game or a price tag that doesn't suit what you're getting in return.

 

I feel like in the right hands, APB could get a fresh population that actually really cares and wants to keep playing, but that's not where it's at right now. Am I the only one who thinks that this game could become profitable for the devs and publisher again if they'd just show it the care it needs? Game design itself would need some restructures too, though many of those are opinion based. (I think launchers should be mission-provided, not player-owned. That would make vehicle defense missions possible for those without launchers and heavy nades.)

 

But what about everyone else here? Are you just enjoying the ride on this game's way to the grave, or do you think it actually could be redeemed in the right hands?

Edited June 4, 2022 by Rehtaelle

[RCooper 182]

31 minutes ago, Rehtaelle said:

 but to the point of having a stable population count.

Slowly but steady we are reaching the stable population of 0

[vsb 6174]

no matter how overhyped the engine upgrade may have been as a fix-all for apb, that hype is what's kept a lot of people at least partially invested in the game

 

i think many of those people saw "the engine upgrade is cancelled" and gave up for good on apb, ruining any possibility of a population jumpstart

 

i have very little hope for apb without a big attention grabber like the engine upgrade, and its not helped when orbit either can't or won't work on simple things like weapon balance while the big background updates happen

 

on the bright(ish) side apb probably won't shut down until there's 0 players because orbit might lose the license once the game is unplugged, and maybe someday someone will build a spiritual successor on modern code

[Rehtaelle 18]

I do indeed pray for a spiritual successor, especially if it's one that doesn't do one-hit kills. A sniper being a support role is such a fun take on things. Maybe do a sci-fi version with energy shields to explain why headshots don't work. And you'd get to use some weird tech gizmos or whatever.

[Temporal 21]

A very very very very very very very very very very very very little hope.

Each year adds one more "very".

[AlienTM 138]

this week we didnt even had maintenance announcement so i guess the little people left got released..i personally expect soon news that they close it or they sold it(if even possible)

Edited June 4, 2022 by AlienTM

[xHenryman90x 129]

3 hours ago, glaciers said:

i think many of those people saw "the engine upgrade is cancelled" and gave up for good on apb, ruining any possibility of a population jumpstart

The game will be updated to 64-bit regardless of the cancellation of EU, that's a significant improvement. I don't care about better graphics right now.

[yourrandomnobody74 108]

9 hours ago, xHenryman90x said:

The game will be updated to 64-bit regardless of the cancellation of EU, that's a significant improvement. I don't care about better graphics right now.

This does not fix the fundamental issues the current engine code has, you do realise this?

It does not fix the mixed UI we have (Kismet + Scaleform), thus it will not fix the inability to feature all 3 fight club maps, thus meaning it won't allow for vehicle speed increases, thus meaning it will run on archaic code unable to get good performance.

Not only that, the main reason the engine upgrade was promised was to deliver content easier and faster, due to new code. What will happen of that now?

It is quite clear the game has unofficially died with that announcement and will not get any surge of population unless they do DRASTIC changes in gameplay and add some band-aid new content to get people back and hooked perhaps. 

64-bit APB won't allow for coat physics, for map changes, for new maps, for new cars, it'll still limited. Not only that, it'll be limited to old code that was written without any documentation left, so good luck in deciphering that in any way possible (even the devs which worked since RTW cannot accomplish this, so glhf)

 

  

12 hours ago, glaciers said:

no matter how overhyped the engine upgrade may have been as a fix-all for apb, that hype is what's kept a lot of people at least partially invested in the game

 

i think many of those people saw "the engine upgrade is cancelled" and gave up for good on apb, ruining any possibility of a population jumpstart

 

i have very little hope for apb without a big attention grabber like the engine upgrade, and its not helped when orbit either can't or won't work on simple things like weapon balance while the big background updates happen

 

on the bright(ish) side apb probably won't shut down until there's 0 players because orbit might lose the license once the game is unplugged, and maybe someday someone will build a spiritual successor on modern code

 

^ this man said everything that should be said in regards to this topic, only thing I'd add to it is a bit of pessimism in form of "engine upgrade cancelled? gg apb dead"

Edited June 4, 2022 by yourrandomnobody74

[xHenryman90x 129]

19 minutes ago, yourrandomnobody74 said:

This does not fix the fundamental issues the current engine code has, you do realise this?

It does not fix the mixed UI we have (Kismet + Scaleform), thus it will not fix the inability to feature all 3 fight club maps, thus meaning it won't allow for vehicle speed increases, thus meaning it will run on archaic code unable to get good performance.

Sure it doesn't fix everything, you're right. My basic understanding is that 64-bit client will let the game utilize more RAM, instead of writing to HDD/SSD.

[vsb 6174]

10 hours ago, xHenryman90x said:

The game will be updated to 64-bit regardless of the cancellation of EU, that's a significant improvement. I don't care about better graphics right now.

the engine upgrade has never been about graphics anyway, so i'm not sure what your point is

 

64bit will hopefully fix the rtx crashes and have minor performance improvements but at the end of the day its still "current apb"

 

the engine upgrade was the best pr/marketing play the game had, apb 2.0 hype is what kept people hooked even after they quit - 1.30 doesn't bring those people back, 1.30 doesn't get summit to do free advertising, 1.30 doesn't allow for the faster updates and expanded content possibilities needed to keep new and returning players engaged

 

 

[Rehtaelle 18]

In total truth, I'd love a spiritual successor, but you'd have to divorce its IP from APB if you wanted to step away from any potential associations to any of APB's problems, or at least officially declare it to be "inspired by APB". The formula works, the tech is there. It just needs to be given proper support, regular content updates, and be built from the ground-up with better monetization in mind. It needs to be more fair toward new players, and have a less crippling progression system. (And not have its fucking lighting tied to bloom)

 

An APB successor is bound to succeed if you just *try*, and make sure that your development team is the right bunch, specifically leadership roles.

Edited June 4, 2022 by Rehtaelle

[FartyBumBumGuff 107]

The customisation and design elements of this game are something future game developers should take into consideration. Your game could be bag of wank, but if you give players the freedom to create a hideous freak to navigate that bag of wank, in a car that's covered in decals the player has designed themselves, the fact it's a bag of wank becomes irrelevant. People like to be creative and show their designs. I like the fact drawing anything is almost like solving a puzzle, which shape goes where, layering stuff. There were times I made hardly any progress drawing stuff then found a way to use a certain shape.  Butterfly was used for the cats mouth.

 

Merged.

 

Just to clarify, I don't think APB is a bag of wank, it's fun when the Internet isn't going at 1mb/s

[cowhorseman 441]

yes

i hope it gets shutdown

[BlatMan 717]

Are there any other games that have the same level of customization? At this point the next best thing is minecraft with high res textures.

[Rehtaelle 18]

Nothing that I can say I'm aware of, sadly.

[OmikronOverload 22]

4 hours ago, BlatMan said:

Are there any other games that have the same level of customization? At this point the next best thing is minecraft with high res textures.

I played one recently but its only cars and a little character.

https://www.ea.com/de-de/games/need-for-speed/need-for-speed-heat

 

Basically all modern car games where they let you bake your own cake (Texture baking for 3d models).

[xHenryman90x 129]

13 hours ago, glaciers said:

the engine upgrade has never been about graphics anyway, so i'm not sure what your point is

It has better graphics, but that has nothing to do with better performance, the graphics improvements are irrelevant,

13 hours ago, glaciers said:

64bit will hopefully fix the rtx crashes and have minor performance improvements but at the end of the day its still "current apb"

Minor performance improvements at least. I don't have to worry about the RTX issue, I'm still using the GTX series.

13 hours ago, glaciers said:

the engine upgrade was the best pr/marketing play the game had, apb 2.0 hype is what kept people hooked even after they quit - 1.30 doesn't bring those people back,

I agree. 1.30 will keep the current hardcore playerbase at least, hopefully.

13 hours ago, glaciers said:

1.30 doesn't get summit to do free advertising, 1.30 doesn't allow for the faster updates and expanded content possibilities needed to keep new and returning players engaged

 

I agree. I guess this game finally dies within this decade. Population goes down and no more new content can be added with the current game engine.

[BringBackTomorrow 43]

On 6/4/2022 at 7:33 AM, Rehtaelle said:

I do have (albeit potentially misplaced) hope that APB can see a resurgence. Not to the point of being a smash hit, but to the point of having a stable population count. Just, not with its current level of attention from higher ups.

 

It goes beyond engine updates, specifically toward monetization and progression. Even with an existing deficit of fresh content, the issues are that the monetization scheme is dated and scares people off. By using mechanics designed to keep people returning, it has the opposite effect of keeping people from coming back. The most game-altering unlocks take vastly too long to obtain, and the game does currently favor a vague sense of pay 2 win in the sense that the most tide-turning weapons and equipment are locked off to grind most people these days consider unreasonable in a mobile game or a price tag that doesn't suit what you're getting in return.

 

I feel like in the right hands, APB could get a fresh population that actually really cares and wants to keep playing, but that's not where it's at right now. Am I the only one who thinks that this game could become profitable for the devs and publisher again if they'd just show it the care it needs? Game design itself would need some restructures too, though many of those are opinion based. (I think launchers should be mission-provided, not player-owned. That would make vehicle defense missions possible for those without launchers and heavy nades.)

 

But what about everyone else here? Are you just enjoying the ride on this game's way to the grave, or do you think it actually could be redeemed in the right hands?

It's like hope you'll get two Fridays in one week.

~nohope

[MACKxBOLAN 434]

 

Kinda Like U guys are 'Wishing in One Hand n Franking in the other"   <<< my lil pun'

 Only the Hands are GONE!

There're No Hands on Deck

No Hands below Deck.

 I think what staff they had jumped ship, No posts from any staff.

So its just us floating without rudder or sail

[BringBackTomorrow 43]

3 hours ago, MacF0oK said:

 

Kinda Like U guys are 'Wishing in One Hand n Franking in the other"   <<< my lil pun'

 Only the Hands are GONE!

There're No Hands on Deck

No Hands below Deck.

 I think what staff they had jumped ship, No posts from any staff.

So its just us floating without rudder or sail

Well said.

[ZoriaDunne 327]

Hope is long gone. Longer than Matt has been.

Edited June 5, 2022 by ZoriaDunne

[Sw33tTooth 3]

I come back to these forums every so often to have a look around and see where the fabled engine upgrade is at. I'm sure many others like myself do the same.

[FartyBumBumGuff 107]

1 hour ago, Sw33tTooth said:

I come back to these forums every so often to have a look around and see where the fabled engine upgrade is at. I'm sure many others like myself do the same.

Hello dragon man, I am part dragon myself

[Weaboos 89]

Had

[MonteJr 4]

Haven't been around in ages, but I think they'd have to do a really big marketing push to breath new life. Right now it makes sense that there isn't much, as they want to get the game fixed up first before trying to get new people in, which is a smart move, at last imo.

If they can get the engine out, then that's good, but there also needs to be a lot of changes to the missions, as at least we we saw it ages ago, many of the changes were to the backend, onto of some visual updates. (I think I still have an old old build somewhere too?)