Transparency and Communication frequency

[MattScott 15245]

As mentioned at the start, it would be nice to ramp this up again, reflect on why communication on many of the topics mentioned above has died down and try to do better in the future. We care about the game, we want to hear about it whether it's good or bad news. My personal suggestion would be to do blog posts a few weeks ahead of a seasonal event not only announcing said event but also talking about things that LO wants to do and where they want the game to head. The sooner you mention ideas, the sooner we can give feedback. Many of us love to read about the things you have planned and hope for a bright future for APB so please don’t make us go out of our way to beg on the forums or LO discord about any updates in regards to seasonal events or the general state of the game. You can use the broadcast feature to keep players informed and simply be transparent.

 

Also honestly, once work on APB ramps up again, please create a Trello page and keep things updated, it's such a great way to keep players informed about what projects are in the works and which are actively being worked on and where progress has been made. Here’s an example of a Trello page by PixelTail Games who work on Tower Unite.

 

Another thing you could do in order to strengthen the trust between the systems in place and the community would be to do monthly update posts talking about how many cheaters the Anti-cheat has banned this month, how many player mutes have happened, how many account restrictions happened for toxicity, griefing etc. No one is asking for name and shame – APB has already seen its fair share of it and it’s not something we should be going back to – but it would be encouraging for the playerbase to know and see that action is being taken to keep the game clean.

 

“We need more communication between the devs and the everyday players regarding what's happening with the game and with Little Orbit as a whole.”

 

“I think the players that still game this on a daily basis deserve to know what's the real state of APB and where it is heading.”  -Community Members

[R3ACT3M 489]

On 12/5/2022 at 7:23 PM, MattScott said:

Another thing you could do in order to strengthen the trust between the systems in place and the community would be to do monthly update posts talking about how many cheaters the Anti-cheat has banned this month, how many player mutes have happened, how many account restrictions happened for toxicity, griefing etc. No one is asking for name and shame – APB has already seen its fair share of it and it’s not something we should be going back to – but it would be encouraging for the playerbase to know and see that action is being taken to keep the game clean.

Yea the name and shaming thing is not okay to do. But there does need to be some sort of proof that these systems are working otherwise players will continue to say that the anticheat does not work even if it is.
I only remember once LO saying that I think it was Battleeye banning a bunch of what were assumed to be new accounts testing cheats.

[MrLek 35]

On 12/6/2022 at 12:23 AM, MattScott said:

As mentioned at the start, it would be nice to ramp this up again, reflect on why communication on many of the topics mentioned above has died down and try to do better in the future. We care about the game, we want to hear about it whether it's good or bad news. My personal suggestion would be to do blog posts a few weeks ahead of a seasonal event not only announcing said event but also talking about things that LO wants to do and where they want the game to head. The sooner you mention ideas, the sooner we can give feedback. Many of us love to read about the things you have planned and hope for a bright future for APB so please don’t make us go out of our way to beg on the forums or LO discord about any updates in regards to seasonal events or the general state of the game. You can use the broadcast feature to keep players informed and simply be transparent.

 

Also honestly, once work on APB ramps up again, please create a Trello page and keep things updated, it's such a great way to keep players informed about what projects are in the works and which are actively being worked on and where progress has been made. Here’s an example of a Trello page by PixelTail Games who work on Tower Unite.

 

Another thing you could do in order to strengthen the trust between the systems in place and the community would be to do monthly update posts talking about how many cheaters the Anti-cheat has banned this month, how many player mutes have happened, how many account restrictions happened for toxicity, griefing etc. No one is asking for name and shame – APB has already seen its fair share of it and it’s not something we should be going back to – but it would be encouraging for the playerbase to know and see that action is being taken to keep the game clean.

 

“We need more communication between the devs and the everyday players regarding what's happening with the game and with Little Orbit as a whole.”

 

“I think the players that still game this on a daily basis deserve to know what's the real state of APB and where it is heading.”  -Community Members

To start with transparency, all it takes is a simple act, each person who holds a position in the company put their own photo on their profile here on the forum, just like Matt Scott.

[Darkzero3802 614]

@MattScott You say transparancy but since this letter came out there has been 0 transparancy on the game, especially when it comes to the anti cheat system and LOs policy towards them. We receive 0 info as to if the anti cheat system is actually working. How many people are banned each month for using bots? How many are suspended for griefing or accessing areas they shouldnt be in? What is the LO staff doing to further enhance security and show they have 0 tolerance for cheaters? What is LO doing about cheaters openly streaming the game while using cheats?

All we as a community see is constant cheating going on and the same accounts continuing to cheat even after multiple reports. This shows us that the cheaters bypass the anit cheat and LO doesnt do anything to fix this. When we try to bring this up we are either ignored or told to be quiet about it. This is not transparant in the slightest bit and we the community demand more.

[Ardita 89]

They don't know what to do, how to do or when ever to do what's necessary.

 

It's like driving a train with a blind driver

[MsWolfy 3]

I was planning on ignoring this topic, but as someone who has been part of the APB Reloaded community since the very beginning, I feel it’s only right to share my perspective. While I understand everyone's views on the idea of "transparency" from Little Orbit—especially regarding the APB Engine Upgrade, the SARD Anti-Cheat, and overall game development. I agree with much of what’s been said both on and off the forums, especially the sentiment that “there has been 0 transparency on the game” (Darkzero3802). And while I believe that’s mostly true, there’s more to this situation than just silence and broken promises. 

 

Little Orbit’s biggest issue isn’t just a lack of communication—it’s a pattern of overpromising and underdelivering. They’ve set expectations, missed deadlines, and given little to no follow-up on crucial aspects of development. The APB Engine Upgrade was one of the many questions to the development and meant to be the game-changer, the revival for APB Reloaded that just about every player wanted, but it kept getting delayed, then delayed again, until it became clear that it was never truly going to happen. That lack of clarity, of honesty about what was feasible, led to distrust. I feel that. Then there’s the SARD Anti-Cheat, which—let’s be real—feels more like a placeholder than an actual solution. Hackers still run rampant, and while it’s technically "still in development," you’d expect something functional at this point. Instead, it’s just another promise hanging in the air.

 

Now, while I agree that there are issues of transparency, I don’t fully agree with the idea that Little Orbit has given ZERO transparency. Have they communicated enough? No, they haven't. But have they been completely silent? Also no. Since about 2018-19, they’ve at least attempted to engage the community through social media, blog updates, roadmaps, and Twitch streams. They’ve acknowledged their mistakes. Matt Scott, their CEO, has been more open than the previous management teams ever were—especially when discussing the serious technical issues with APB’s ancient Unreal Engine 3 build. And that brings me to something I know firsthand...

 

As someone who works with Unreal Engine daily as part of my freelance job, I can say this with confidence: APB Reloaded isn’t running on a standard UE3 build. Realtime Worlds customized the engine so much that it barely resembles UE3 anymore. That alone makes upgrading the game nearly impossible. The code is tangled, outdated, and patched together in ways that make modernizing it a coder and game developers nightmare. This isn’t necessarily Little Orbit’s fault—it’s a mess they inherited from previous game developers and poor designers. Now, as much as I would love to have the game being transferred or made Unreal 4 or 5... the answer is simple; it wouldn’t work. The game’s entire networking system would need to be rewritten from scratch and that requires more time, more bodies, and more money. The custom UE3 code was made exclusively for APB UE3—it can’t just be copied over. The customization system, one of APB’s most unique features, would break entirely in a new engine. Attempting to migrate the game would cause so many crashes and compatibility issues that they might as well start from scratch and spend more millions of dollars.

 

And that’s the truth Matt Scott eventually admitted briefly on Twitch. Do I think he should have said all of this sooner? Absolutely. But do I blame him for trying to hold it together? Not entirely.

Little Orbit needs to communicate more—that’s non-negotiable. They need to be upfront about the reality of APB Reloaded and where it’s heading. The constant guessing game, the uncertainty, the waiting—it’s exhausting and frustrating. They don’t have to tell us everything, but they need to tell us something on a regular basis. By no means am I defending every mistake they’ve made. Because, in reality, they don’t communicate enough. But they do try, and that effort needs to be more consistent. The road ahead for APB Reloaded isn’t clear, but one thing is: Little Orbit needs to stop making promises and start having honest conversations with the player base and sit down and actually have a game-plan, then and only then, when things are made clear and a solution is there and a proper outline then I think making promises should be made again. 

 

[iRawwwN 287]

"you're going to get sick of us communicating"

 

aged like milk.

[Ardita 89]

I agree with you in the most of your post, it's a good knowledge around the unreal 3 engine setup for a not-technical person like me. However, I most say that Little Orbit didn't get APB:Reloaded 1 or 2 years ago. They have had this game and work with the game for quite many years now, and I believe they should know better by now and have made the statement very, very clear way before than they're doing right now. This unannounced migration I have hard to believe they're not informed about, if so their "server provider" is such a douchebag that I can't describe it. Their constant thin-air promises haven't build up enough trust for me to say; "ah sure np guys - see you soon"...

  

14 hours ago, MsWolfy said:

They need to be upfront about the reality of APB Reloaded and where it’s heading. The constant guessing game, the uncertainty, the waiting—it’s exhausting and frustrating. They don’t have to tell us everything, but they need to tell us something on a regular basis.

When you got nothing to share its hard to ask them to share it. But I do agree with you entirely. This management need to get their fingers out of the bottom and start share some information on regular basis. It doesn't need to be much, but when you don't get anything and when it's so critical like yesterday server migration-thingy and there's simply nothing they know, share or can do, I have hard believe in this. I am skeptical based on years of broken promises.