Random Thought: APB Clone

[Winter Shyvana 30]

With the game being basically on life support, can't someone with money make a game similar to APB? Without it being a turd like a certain similar online game made by a certain studio? (I don't want to mention names fearing to hurt the feelings of rockstar games :^) )

Rhetorical questions, yes. But we can all agree that APB has a huge potential to become THE best online pvp shooter. Yes, there are plenty of shooters out there but they have a specific niche (eg: Battle Royales, fantasy shooters, sci-fi), or don't come even close to what APB could be (similar third person shooter existed but were not open world and were limited to , small, instanced maps). 
 

It doesn't need to have the depth of customization that APB has on day one. That could come out later with proper funding. But an open world, Cops vs Criminals, third person shooter with customizable cars and characters AND a big enough playerbase is something that is lacking in the gaming scene. We only have APB, and after it got sold (or whatever) to a chinese cOmPaNy, the silver lining I've been holding on to is long gone.

So, basically I'm wishing for someone to make an "APB 2" of sorts. Something with:

• Open world, third person PvP shooter.
• Cops vs Criminals setting (Or something similar, heck I don't know. Corporations vs Militants/Resistance? Something grounded in reality, not deviating from a modern day setting).
• Somewhat customizable Characters, Cars and weapons. A mix of what we have now and Battlefield 3/4 weapon attachment style.
• A Combat system similar to APB. Why I mention this? As an example, some studios in their infinite wisdom fail to understand that a switch over-the-shoulder camera toggle is a MUST in third person shooters. APB's combat is very good imo, just needing some balance changes and good hitreg.

Thank you for reading, let me know what you think. In the meantime, I'll go back to sniffing that sweet Hopium.

Edit: Typo.

 

Merged.

 

Addendum: Also shouldn't have Pay 2 Win elements. A marketplace of reskins and cosmetics would be perfect to monetize the development. Maybe make it a $40-60 purchase too to deter some (a lot) of third world cheaters.

[NotTheEnforcer 208]

Hah. 

 

Good luck finding any company with the funds or will to do that. You basically kill 98% of all possibility just by saying "shouldnt have p2w elements" lmao. That's a requirement for all the big corporations these days, LO included because they're scum.

 

Its a nice thought, but thats about as far as it goes. To essentially remake APB from the ground up, even if you were to just directly copy the map layouts, character names, hell even copy the sounds just to save time and money; you'd still be spending probably upwards of 10-20 million USD just on developing the game for today's architectures. Don't get me wrong, an APB clone in UE4 or even UE5 would be stellar, but things like that cost money, and it definitely aint cheap.

 

Easiest way to get started would be by permanently shuttering LO and their claim over the APB intellectual property rights. That way you could at least grab some basic drawing-board stuff to go from. 90% of the work would just be developing the systems required for usage on modern engines, although honestly for a basic clone you could probably use pre-made systems designed by other people and work around them, but that brings in legal challenges.

 

In summary: Keep dreaming, that's about all you can do.

[PingOVER9000 179]

On 8/19/2023 at 12:37 PM, Winter Shyvana said:

With the game being basically on life support, can't someone with money make a game similar to APB? Without it being a turd like a certain similar online game made by a certain studio? (I don't want to mention names fearing to hurt the feelings of rockstar games :^) )

In very few words possible.. for making a game like APB nowadays but complete with physics, IA, multi-features... u need to hire and search for a very small group available of people with skills and experience with games open-world like this one in third person on the game industry market...

 

OFC count their paid check is something similar of some top manager of silicon valley.. and I am not joking about sadly, then we have to count the right for songs and symbols from artist which it may be also SKYROCKET and overcome the staff salaries cost VERY EASILY, the costs of the studio, media and commercial ads etc

 

For example GTA San Andreas was done with a budget of 10 million Dollars.. while GTA V relased 10 years late, it needed a budget of close to 300 million

DO you want to know the reason?

Yes, just Mainly for paying the technicians, engineer or devs staff , so ""labour cost"".. making a game like APB or GTA nowdays may be comparable to make a Hollywood 5 stars film.. and over  

[Winter Shyvana 30]

12 hours ago, PingOVER9000 said:

In very few words possible.. for making a game like APB nowadays but complete with physics, IA, multi-features... u need to hire and search for a very small group available of people with skills and experience with games open-world like this one in third person on the game industry market...

 

OFC count their paid check is something similar of some top manager of silicon valley.. and I am not joking about sadly, then we have to count the right for songs and symbols from artist which it may be also SKYROCKET and overcome the staff salaries cost VERY EASILY, the costs of the studio, media and commercial ads etc

 

For example GTA San Andreas was done with a budget of 10 million Dollars.. while GTA V relased 10 years late, it needed a budget of close to 300 million

DO you want to know the reason?

Yes, just Mainly for paying the technicians, engineer or devs staff , so ""labour cost"".. making a game like APB or GTA nowdays may be comparable to make a Hollywood 5 stars film.. and over  

Yes, I'm aware of the costs. APB did cost around 100 Millions to develop back in the 2000's it wouldn't be far fetched to assume that nowadays a 200 to 300 millions budget would be required.
There are companies able to stomach that cost. And the return of investment can be huge. The market for a game like APB is fairly untapped, and APB itself is a diamond in the rough. It doesn't have to be a 1 to 1 replica but something with similar core gameplay.

The closest game to APB would be GTAO. And that game itself, as far as I know, has a very polarized playerbase. Many love it, but many hate it. The fact that APB has the things that GTAO players hate about it speaks volumes. APB's PvP is far superior. APB's customization is still unbeaten, 13 years later. It has a functioning Crouch and Switch camera shoulder. And those are just things I can come up with from the top of my head

I'd like to mention again that it doesn't have to have APB's scale. Or to be a 1 to 1 replica. It just needs to have the core gameplay APB has. The other subsystems can come later