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[Kaje]

Unifying them creates as more instability than keeping them separate for us, as a revolt is much more likely, as well as the increased chance for combat with Egypt and Libya who both are unhappy about the reunification.

The weapons are a lot of fun to add to the game. Gamers typically know about 80 of the most popular and about another 100 will be familiar in design or perhaps from memory/movies/tv/etc. Then I have almost 150 that should be new to most players and that kind of discovery can be really fun. Especially since we are making three tiers of weapons, common, rare and mythological. The last category includes some very limited production weapons or weapons that didn't really make it out of prototype stage. When weapons are in the prototype and testing phase they build a few hundred to a couple thousand, many with slight variations and improvements. For the sake of gameplay, we turn this into a couple of pallets of available weapons(10 in a crate, 10 crates in a pallet, 100 weapons in a pallet). There are a few countries/collectors that will pay a premium for these rare weapons should you gain access and your reputation will greatly improve with the alliance that you supply with special weapons. There are about 40 of those ultra rare weapons and we are changing the game to now be that if you make it to the #1 most wanted level, which is one stage before winning the game, you will gain access to one of the 40 mythological weapons. This is a reward since otherwise there is no guarantee that you will unlock one of these during a normal game. As I have mentioned before, your game profile has a weapon collection screen where every weapon you have found is displayed. Once on Steam I will make that an achievement.

I love the thought that has gone into this game, I knew it was in-depth but wow!

[ScriptWolf]

I'm a little out with the thread but has this been released yet ?

[Graknorke]

Well this sure blew up during the time I wasn't paying attention.

[hemmingjay]

Fikes, I passed your comments to the team to see if they have tried that yet. Thanks for the input!

ScriptWolf, Not out yet. We have been delayed until the end of this month or the first week of Sept. I am waiting on an impending change in the Steam store and also want to spend some decent time in testing.

Kaje, thanks. I am a gamer first and foremost and a lack of thought comes across to me clearly in many games. We have tried to think through every possible way people will approach the game(impossible) and also have tried to provide a rich background without making the game dry or full of text. It's a tough balance, but we are giving it our "All".

Graknorke, I haven't even covered roughly 1/2 of the game here. We are going to advertise that it is a strategy game with a simple system to learn but that has a lot of secret depth to discover. Word of mouth will be a key to selling a game like this that can't be conveyed in an advertisement or a video.

[The13thRonin]

Fikes, I passed your comments to the team to see if they have tried that yet. Thanks for the input!

ScriptWolf, Not out yet. We have been delayed until the end of this month or the first week of Sept. I am waiting on an impending change in the Steam store and also want to spend some decent time in testing.

Kaje, thanks. I am a gamer first and foremost and a lack of thought comes across to me clearly in many games. We have tried to think through every possible way people will approach the game(impossible) and also have tried to provide a rich background without making the game dry or full of text. It's a tough balance, but we are giving it our "All".

Graknorke, I haven't even covered roughly 1/2 of the game here. We are going to advertise that it is a strategy game with a simple system to learn but that has a lot of secret depth to discover. Word of mouth will be a key to selling a game like this that can't be conveyed in an advertisement or a video.

What will the price be?

[The13thRonin]

too poor to actually buy at present.

I wouldn't worry about it. I can't have my reputation changing just because I am making games now.

Also, I am shocked and humbled by the reaction the game is getting on FB in particular. 2500 likes in 10 days with a $10 a day budget. I had 5x that on most games that I worked on in the past 3 years and it took 2 months or much longer to get that. I just need to sell 40k copies at $12 to afford to finish the next game, which will be much bigger in scope although related. I am trying to curb my expectations but it's getting hard to. It will be effectively(although doubtfully titled) Arms Dealer Tycoon and is the game I have been waiting to make for years. Copyrights have been filed and pre-production has begun. That game will have the player running an arms manufacturing company. The player will R&D individual components as well as new types of weapon systems and then receive notices of government contracts. Different countries and large corporations will request certain types of weapons with minimum performance requirements and the player will then design a weapon of that class from researched parts and then send them into the contest along with their proposed price to be tested in and out of combat by the requesting entity. The player's weapon will be tested in a visual manner(possibly mini-games) and compared to other AI entries. It will be out by summer or fall of 2015.

... Please tell me you are still working on this... That sounds amazing.

[Kaje]

Are you still starting the testing this week, Hemmingjay?

[3man75]

Ptw and for updates.

This looks very interesting. Btw will there be rival arms dealers the player has to compete/exterminate?

[hemmingjay]

The13thRonin, first Arms Dealer will be $15 but will be on sale during launch week for $13.37(as suggested by a forum member) and will often be on sale after the first month. It is my intention to have a LOT of copies sold starting 60 days after launch. I will be discounting the game until I find the price point that people not interested in the game buy it. Since the game isn't early release, I expect anyone interested to buy the game in the first 30 days. What I won't do is put the game in a bundle for at least a year. I find it highly insulting when developers dump games in bundles a couple weeks after charging people full price. I have been burned a few times that way. Despite having strong feelings against it, I may have to open pre-orders in order to leverage my relationship with Steam. I won't do so unless I can offer a demo or a beta for people to try the game first. It's bad enough to take money for something that people can't own immediately, I won't take further advantage by asking you to do so blindly. I am also looking into a money back guarantee outside of Steam. It's hard to do so without opening up to abuse though.

As for working on Weapon Factory Tycoon(working title), yes, pre-production continues and I have EVERY intention of devoting a good sized team after Arms Dealer launches. I will keep an artist and a programmer on Arms Dealer for a few months to be sure that bugs are squashed and free content is added. If the game has a large following then I will devote more assets.

Kaje, Yes, we are still on track to try out an Alpha build around mid week. It's probably closer to a beta build but we are turning off a lot features to keep it simple and much artwork is not in the game yet. This first public testing build will focus on buying, selling, transport and warehouse functions. The next one will introduce the competing Arms Dealers and relationships with them. Focus on the ability to interfere with foreign relations(war/peace) and bribing nations to hide you from authorities. The last test build will introduce the RPG system(passive and active abilities), achievements and the collection system. That should bring us to the last week in August and the release of a limited Demo(i hope).
It's likely that we will soft launch on Desura and GoG, Itchi0, etc and then a Steam Launch on the second week of September. All previous purchases will get Steam keys.

EDIT: 3man75, yes there are 10 other arms dealers to compete with as well as 4 law enforcement agencies, each specializing in a different aspect of operations(anti-terror, restricted items, preventing sabotage and instigation of conflict, and finally an agency that focuses on the top 5 Arms Dealers with a lot of resources and aggression).

[hemmingjay]

Let's test your knowledge of Russian weapons

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/pj9gsjqozc1ud93/AADwLlEl8IA_-TaoqC2kTjHUa

Can you name them 1-8?

[Kaje]

Sounds good to me, dude! Looking forward to being involved!

Don't take my answers as any slight on the accuracy of the art, I am not a weapons specialist in the slightest!

3. SR3-M?
5. SVT-40?
6. THIS is an AK-47...surely?
8. Mosin Nagant

[hemmingjay]

I'm not going to verify any yet, I don't want to affect any answers. As for the art, it's not hi-def because it's only going to be a small image in the game. Once again, hi rez weapon art will be available as DLC after the launch. It will be cheap or FREE depending on sales. If I sell 30k copies it will be $1.99 for the 340 weapon models. If we sell 100k copies it will be free and possibly fully rotating 3D. I am looking for an artist who specializes in weapons now. I want to hire an intern or student artist to work on the weapons now, but I can't find a good candidate it seems. I have found a few pros who can do it, but it costs an astronomical amount. And because we are using so many and such rare weapons, there is no way to buy pre-made assets.

[Isdar]

Let's test your knowledge of Russian weapons

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/pj9gsjqozc1ud93/AADwLlEl8IA_-TaoqC2kTjHUa

Can you name them 1-8?

1. Looks like a modern version of a PTRD.
2. Nope, no idea.
3. Looks like a Skorpion 38, but that was made in Czechoslovakia
4. AK-74
5. A carbine version of a Mosin Nagant?
6. RPD.
7. AKS-74u.
8. Mosin Nagant.

Atleast I learned something from playing Stalker. 

[gigaraptor487]

1. Looks like a PTRD
2. Looks a bit like a PPS43 with some form of wood finish
3. Skorpian
4. AK 74
5. SKS
6. RPD or RPK
7. AKS 74
8. Mosin Nagant model 1893

[Kaje]

I'm not going to verify any yet, I don't want to affect any answers. As for the art, it's not hi-def because it's only going to be a small image in the game. Once again, hi rez weapon art will be available as DLC after the launch. It will be cheap or FREE depending on sales. If I sell 30k copies it will be $1.99 for the 340 weapon models. If we sell 100k copies it will be free and possibly fully rotating 3D. I am looking for an artist who specializes in weapons now. I want to hire an intern or student artist to work on the weapons now, but I can't find a good candidate it seems. I have found a few pros who can do it, but it costs an astronomical amount. And because we are using so many and such rare weapons, there is no way to buy pre-made assets.

Sounds like a more than sensible plan, to me. I can't see you NOT selling at least 30,000 copies and I think that $1.99 is a very modest amount for an add on pack of that...calibre (haha!)...