The prologue for After Reset is going into the pre-release phase. In a backer only update the following was shared:

I can’t even believe I’m saying that but… it looks like we’re ready for your evaluation! Yippie-ki-yay :) The prologue is on Steam and we’ve fixed most of the bugs reports from the relevant bug reports discussion.

Now you can play it completely from the beginning, through various plot branches and some sandbox to final rescue from the Gyes bunker. Please, check the build during the next 2 weeks and pin the bugs you might find.

After fixing them I am going to:

• enable one decent cool twist/quest (hidden for the beta-test to surprise you later);
• add sound effect for the cave blast;
• enable gratz-message when player successfully gets out to the Great Desert;
• switch on the new background scene for the main menu when player competes the prologue (going to make it dependable on player’s progress like it was in KOTOR).

Guys, I need you votes for the following decision after you complete the prologue: are we ready for the official release? That implies we will fix the bugs you report and I’ll enable those minor adding and contact journalists, youtubers, etc.

I would strongly prefer to release it asap but I need your feedback and approval before that important move.

Meanwhile, our lead programmer asks to give him a month to upgrade our engine and rework our GUI from scratch on it as well as interaction code. His offer is to make that work free if he doesn’t meet the month deadline. Though, I wound not rather take his offer because those upgrades are not evident for players and I am afraid it might lead to endless development and his lost of enthusiasm.

So I would prefer the following path:

• 2 weeks of beta test by you, guys;
• 1 week of fixing and tidbits enabling;
• 2 weeks release;
• 1 month of updates/fixes/engine upgrade/gui rework/further content adding;

Guys, please, share your thoughts and vote the next step: are we ready for the release or should we wait?

Next to a new patch and artificial intelligence lore, this development update for After Reset also mentions the estimated date for the prologue release.

One of the most inspiring part of today's news is that, based on our current stage and pace of development, as well as on our current human and financial resources, I recon to complete and delivery the prologue by the end of this summer. I know this is just an estimation, but it is a realistic one.

The game core become more and more sophisticated with every monthly update. It happens very often when amending one bug that we reveal a couple of new ones. The major threat to this plan of release is the human factor (frankly, as it's been the case during the whole development). I'm doing my best to attach a new spare programmer to the development (at least for bug fixing) but if we lose our current programmers that might slow us down again. I'm praying with you that won't happen and we'll go through this coming three months smoothly and release a great product.

Beyond that, if it goes according the plan, we need to look in the future. In the next update, I feel like to share the plans with Co-Founders, coordinate it with them, then (in August) share updated plan with Kisckstarter backers to ask their thought on it. If it run fine again, we'll share the plan with everybody else after release of the prologue by this Fall.

In this month's development update for After Reset, information about the latest patch is provided, info on The Fall of Geyes app (which is now on Steam)and some statistics and some notes.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

1. As it was planned, we’ve embedded another part of cool randomness of PnP RPG to our game’s mechanics.

First, all containers and locks (electronic and mechanical) you meet in the updated build and onward will have random Difficulty Class for Repairing, Lockpicking, Hacking actions set in range relevant to the area type those containers and locks located.

Second feature represents the sandbox randomness of the loot and containers’ content. Enhancing our engine with game designer module for work with items and containers, I’ve been able to add more than 100 items from the database on our forum to the proper random lists for each container of the Special Facility and Science facility levels. Feel free to test how it works.

Finally, the third is a shard of randomness in NPC behavior, dialogues and quests. The idea is to set random behavior and dialogues to various NPCs. All that implies nobody knows for sure if an NPC would be in a mood to talk with you, trade with you or give you a quest. Nobody even knows if the NPC would be in right place and time to meet you. That mechanics should work before any classic checks like: your alignment, your reputation, your achievements, your STATS, etc. A half part of the game should be defined by your destiny only.

2. I double-checked the graphic settings in our build and figured our that our visual capabilities is used less than at 25% (like maximum textures content and resolution, filtration, details, 3d postprocessing, lightning, materials, etc). Analyzing PC/MAC data of our fans who activated the game on Steam now I’ve just slightly move the visual quality indicator 5% up. Your machines should cope with that.

I’m still sure that the decision to create all assets of AAA quality (4k resolution full set of textures with high details geometry) was the right decision. Thus, we won’t have to redo all stuff with every chapter till the final game release, but just switch the level of quality allowed higher and higher. So that even by the final release our quality will be dignified.

A new patch for After Reset has been made available of which the change log can be found in this Kickstarter update. The following shows some notes to go with this patch:

1. One of the most important features/changes we did for the patch was the unification/standardization of the game fonts and an interface revision for the non-scalable variant. Now GUI (main menu, char creation, in-game GUI, etc.) looks the same way on any resolution. Fonts and GUI styles and sizes are the same and are a bit larger than Fallout Tactics HD now. I also filled the gap in GUI design by creating and embedding missing icons for all paces of character creation.

Feel free to check character creation process in the current build and share your feedback. What you can see now there matches 90% of the prologue’s final release.

2. As you can see now we also fixed the amount of skills activation so that it matches the SACPIC mechanics The basic number of manual activation per day for skills is equal to 3 at 1st level and it raises +1 each 4 levels (4, 8, 12, 16, 20). So despite almost any of your successful in-game actions brings your character some XP, you should be prudent about using your skills. Some areas (like the Gyes bunker) do not allow you to rest and replenish your skills the classic way. However, there are drugs (Vixin) and other consumables (such as coffee) that can replenish this resource.

3. Carrying Capacity and Encumbrance mechanics we added determines how many weight and space character has for armor, weapons, equipment and other stuff to carry. Encumbrance indicates the effect that the weight of gear that a character is carrying has on his movement rate.

There are 4 levels of encumbrance:
- None - The character can run and walk at full speed.
- Light - The character cannot run, but can walk at full speed.
- Heavy - The character cannot run, the character walks at 50% normal speed.
- Overloaded - The character cannot move.

The amount of weight corresponding to threshold between levels of encumbrance is dependent on strength. The table is repeated on our Advanced Player’s Guide relevant page.

4. We’ve also made some important strides in container mechanics. That mechanics should include lootable containers system, dropping system and quantity selection system. Though, as it happens, we encountered a bunch of decent bugs today (right after the update release). Thus I had to edit the news and exclude “container mechanics added” from today’s report as well as to switch off ability to loot containers for tests. With that, you can still check dropping loot from your inventory and creation of loot piles under your character’s feet. As far as I can see quantity UI works as well.

You can check these parts of related mechanics embedded by throwing items from your inventory. When you conduct throwing items, it should check if there is a “trash pile” container around you. If there is no such PC drop container, than it should create one. If the container already exists near to you, that it should work with it. All items you drop should move into a “trash pile” container.

Based on that the rodmap for the next update is updated: - it will take about a week to revise all containers-inventory mechanics (just from coding/architecture point of view) to mark everything related with inventory/apparel/loot/containers as “completed”; - than it will take 3 days for the Quest system; - and the rest time we’ll devote to Dialogues mechanics embedding.

There is also some information about their side project, the graphic novel The Fall of Gyes and what they mean with sci-fi settings for grown ups (including an explanation of how the brain changes over time)

Mr. Nixon has announced After Reset's latest patch, and his announcement discusses a significant number of fixes and tweaks.

Morning, guys!

This Christmas update is devoted to our new patch that includes numerous tweaks and bug fixes. As well as the news about our TFoG graphic novel release, several personal thanks and cool article about armors design in video games.

FIXES:

Graphics:
• Character's emotions/alignment amended for showing on the custom-made characters.

Interface:
• Background scene for Charlist/Inventory changed.
• Stealth Mode effect now doesn’t apply on character model in Charlist.

Mechanics:
• Current weight rounding in Charlist/Inventory amended.
• Stacked usable items activation from hands fixed.

FEATURES & CHANGES:

Audio:

• Unique sounds for putting on each type of apparel added.
• Unique sounds for eating/drinking/inhaling added to relevant usable items.

Gameplay:
• Journal Records to PCs at Special Facility level added.
• Journal Records to PCs at Science Facility level added.

Interface:
• Status bar for indication of using items added.
• Character Stats List revised.
• Fonts styles for in-game UI revised and unified.
• UI for Journal Records section of the Charlist added.

Mechanics:
• Stack system for items in the Inventory added.
• Stacked items used through the hand slots embedded.
• Ability to use relevant items in Inventory added.
• Journal mechanics added.

Other:
• Various usable items added into the char's Inventory.
• Various equipable apparel items added into the char's Inventory.

More information.

In two post-Kickstarter updates for After Reset, we learn that money is an issue in a backer only update, which shows that with the 95K$ that was raised in the Kickstarter the cost has risen to $122K. The difference is paid by the owner of Black Cloud Studios and from the income of their After Reset novel The Fall of Geyes, which is almost ready to be released and the adaptation into an app.

The update also lists the issues they faced:

1. Personal tragedy with a key team member

2. Personel issues, with programmers leaving

3. Money

4. legal issues

And delays.

And there is another update on the latest patch #112515 with the following changes:

Audio:

• Added sounds to pick/drop/equip inventory actions.

Gameplay:
• Added descriptions for all highlighted items/objects/creatures/containers on Special Facility & Science Facility level(s).

Graphics:
• Created a laser pistol for the UG MP.

Mechanics:
• Added description system for highlighted items/objects/creatures/containers.
• Added item & creature identification mechanics.
• Added an XP gain for the successful use any character skill.
• Added mechanics for broken items.

And there is a lot more info as well when following the link.

Patch #102115 for After Reset is out and the Early Access game gets an extra programmer to speed up development:

PATCH #102115 RELEASED

Hi, guys!

As I promised previously, we’re going back to monthly updates (SCRUM with 4 weeks sprint). You may have noticed that most tasks ("issues") left all concern programming. So, I'm hiring a couple extra programmers to speed up the development. I found them about 3 weeks ago, our lead programmer interviewed them, and each was given an assignment so we could test their skills.

Well, one of them impressed us and has now joined our team. His task was one of the major GUI tasks involving Tag Panel programming (something you will see under any highlighted objects/creature/items). You can see his work in the new patch.

PATCH NOTES #102115

FIXES:

Gameplay:
• Preset skills and feats added to default male and female characters.

Graphics:
• Full screen resolution bug for Mac fixed.

Mechanics:
• Ability to put non-usable items in the hands slots blocked.
• Camera distance now saves and keeps when loading new areas.

FEATURES & CHANGES:

Gameplay:
• Tags added for all highlighted items/objects/creatures/containers on Special Facility level.
• Tags added for all highlighted items/objects/creatures/containers on Science Facility level.

Graphics:
• 3D pile model for loot created.
• Scrap item for broken parts (if your character wears out armor or weapon) added.

Mechanics:
• Tag system for highlighted items/objects/creatures/containers embedded.

...

IMPORTANT NOTES

1. Guys, I know that using default male/female characters to unlock containers, hack devices, and use the First Aid skill was a real pain in the previous update. Now, we’ve preset skills for those default characters. Therefore, you have decent chances for using First Aid, Science, and Lockpick skills.

2. If you’re a regular tester I’d appreciate it if you checked out our Tag Panels for properly highlighted objects/creatures/containers/items over the next few weeks.

[...]

Format92 noticed that we missed the patch update for After Reset from last month, so here it is:

It's been rat-racing for months and we haven't a day off since our last update. There are dozens of challenges and emergencies that we faced, and they’ve all been sorted out. I’ll share them with you as I did in our closed (backers only) report for our successfully completed project "The Fall of Gyes." Yet, even now I can say that we faced the theme’s core challenges: the human factor, and of course money (in keeping the quality of our indie development on AAA level).

Similarly to our TFoG project, I more than doubled our collected funds from personal investments so we can keep the RPG dream alive and at the high level of quality we want. Likewise, as it was for the first project, it‘s the fans who encouraged me to make such a dedicated decision. The support you’ve shown us on Steam Early Access even in our current stage of development made this an easy choice. We can’t believe in the project less than our fans, right?

Right before the release of this patch I found our archives of various builds of the game showing how the game would look like without your support. We'll share them in the next update.

AiCola asked the relevant question on our Steam forum: "How much % of the prologue work is done?"

I bet, everybody is concerned about it too. Well, about 87% of the prologue is done. We’re at 95% completion for the programming side of things, and we have all models, dialogues, most of the voicing, audio, items, full gameplay, and full mechanics completed. We're back to assembling all that through programming right after posting this update.

For a complete overview hit the link above.

Black Cloud Studios released a new patch for After Reset, and the games developer Mr. Nixon released a new update with more information about the patch.

As many of you know, a couple of weeks ago we released the current version of After Reset RPG on Steam Early Access (SEA). As I promised, from this moment on each of our updates will coincide with the release of a new patch. These patches need to show serious additions or corrections that were completed (by the team) between updates.

Today's update is dedicated to addressing the game's first week on SEA, other game development news, and a small contest that was created for our Kickstarter backers and Co-Founders only, which we'll talk about towards the end.

IncGamers has a new preview of Richard Nixon’s After Reset, and like the preview from yesterday calls it a tech demo instead of an Alpha. So nothing new really.

The game might, eventually, turn out to be … something you can actually play. I don’t know, I can’t predict the future. But there’s also a significant chance that an RPG project as broad in scope as this one will not be completed. The Kickstarter (by its own admission) only raised funds for a prologue chapter, so who knows where the rest of the money will come from. Hopefully the studio aren’t banking on Early Access to pay their way through the rest. That way lies madness, probable failure and direct contravention of another Early Access guideline: “Don’t launch in Early Access if you can’t afford to develop with very few or no sales.”

Jim Sterling released a new video preview of After Reset. Now the video does contain some foul language so if your at work dont watch it. You have been warned.

When games are accused of being "not a game," I got to bat for them, as I think "games" should cover more than just failure states and combat. Enter After Reset RPG... something I am, ostensibly, forced to agree is not a game. 

It is GOING to be a game, allegedly, one day. Right now though? Well... just watch how this $50 Unity tech demo operates.

Here are the five winnners of our After Reset Beta Key Giveaway Contest.

1. daveyd
2. Wenzil
3. rune_74
4. ikbenrichard
5. arthureloi

So congratulations to the winners, and enjoy reading the add-on Graphic Novel. I will be sending the keys by PM to all of you right after I post this news-bit.

Welcome back  for a new contest on RPGWatch. We were given a few Steam keys from developer Black Cloud Studios Mr. Nixon for his new RPG game After Reset.

All you have to do is tell me why you love Post Apocalyptic RPGs. I will pick the five winners who impress me on Monday, March 16th. So good luck everyone.

As a bonus you will also receive his new graphic novel The Fall of Gyes.

After Reset is now available for purchase on Steam Early Access for $40. A few reviews and comments on Steam has information the alpha has very little content.

We received final approval from Valve/Steam out of the blue and found our game on Steam Early Access (SEA) :).

So, if you have a copy of After Reset RPG or/and The Fall of Gyes add-on, please take a minute and write an honest review there, if you can. We need that.

ABOUT PRICING

Guys, this pricing you see is quite reasonable, and it was a complex decision approved by Steam. The main reason we wanted to use SEA is for the swift updating ability and a united channel for incoming pledges.

You can always decrease the price after full game release but you can't raise it after that, and we only receive a bit of the final cash from it. Most of early backers had the best price and I'd like to keep it that way. Wasteland 2 was okay with that as well. Now, after passing through all the stages of approval, I can say there is a strong and reasonable financial/marketing base for the game.

On the topic of finances, and thanks to your help dear backers, between my personal investments and other funds we have had no issues with financing the Prologue development even without SEA. So, by purchasing either product through SEA, all of our new followers are directly supporting the development of our game and its quality.

ABOUT ADD-ONS

As you can see on store page, we’ve opened only one add-on (The Fall of Gyes) for sale. I decided to hold the reuse of others until more content for each one is added.

If you’re already our backer and have keys which include other add-ons, don’t worry about whether they appear in Steam right now. You still have those add-ons, they are just concealed for other people until the release, or until we send them beta keys for those add-ons as gifts.

A year ago I put the After Reset idea on Greenlight for fun and got your votes and positive feedback. You encouraged me to get into development of the game seriously. When you supported us via PayPal you helped me make up mind and to dig into it utterly :). When you supported us on Kickstarter, two other guys joined the crew and burnt their bridges to the other jobs so they could focus on this.

Now we are at the important mark because we don’t have to mess with PayPal and distribution. Now we can concentrate on development only.

We’ll guys… As always, I’m going to keep you updated about everything.
Thanks for your support; and let’s see what is waiting for us ahead!

Mr. Nixon also released a new post-funding kickstarter update this week.

Mr.Nixon posted another post-funding update for After Reset this week. This time we get more information about the games development, and overall progress.

STAYING FOCUSED

As is our tradition, in this weekly update I’d like to share the current state of affairs for our various productions. Beginning with the next update, most will also include a fresh build/patch.

STEAM KEYS

After announcing the completion of key distribution (in the previous update) we had several waves of backers who didn’t receive the keys for various reasons. It was quite large percentage, about 30% overall. By now all of those issues have been resolved and the missing keys have been sent to their legal owners.

Don’t worry; if you’re a backer who hasn’t been following our updates and is still missing the key, it’s not too late. Feel free to PM me via Kickstarter or by e-mail (mrnixon@afterreset.com), and we will expedite the delivery of your key.

UPCOMING PATCH PREVIEW

I’d like to thank all backers who reported various bugs and typos on our forum: http://www.afterreset.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269&page=4

Thanks to your feedback, we managed to fix most of the reported problems while resolving issues with key submission. We’re going to do more this weekend and throughout the rest of the week so we can publish this upcoming patch by next weekend.

Mr.Nixon posted another post-funding update for After Reset last week. This time we get more information about  the Steam Keys, and the games User Interfaces.

User Interfaces

We’re still hard at work on the preparations for the upcoming Steam release this March. Today’s news is devoted to interface schemes I’ve been working on for the last few weeks.

FIRST AND FOREMOST: SENDING STEAM KEYS

We’ve sent another big chunk of keys out, and there are 500 of the 7200 keys still left to be delivered.

THE INTERFACE

While my guys are sending out the keys I’ve prepared the major interface schemes for the game. Please, keep in mind that ‘Interface Scheme’ is the basic structure of what should be displayed (and where) on in-game screen for the player. It’s similar to the graphical interface elements (like Fallout’s Pip-Boy, or AR’s Theseus), and will be painted/rendered over that scheme.

Also, I want to ask everyone to keep in mind that our interfaces (like the whole SEA build, frankly) looks best in HD resolution (1920x1080). We got our first round of feedback regarding the size of the text and interface, and we rewrote the current build so that we’ll be able to add simple scaling elements in time. For now we try to focus on the larger resolutions because we need to complete the interface (rather than redo it later) before scaling will function. (I bet, you remember Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth had many issues and gamers were not able to play on 1920x1080 resolution, only on low quality resolutions)

My main inspirations for the interface scheme were classics like Fallout 1&2, Fallout Tactics, Deus Ex Human Revolution, and EVE Online. Below you can download and check the interface scheme of After Reset RPG.

Mr.Nixon posted a new post-funding update for After Reset with another huge wall of text about the games development. I found the information important.

FIRST AND FOREMOST: SENDING STEAM KEYS

I know a lot of backers are still waiting on keys, so I’m going to include a status update in every news post until it’s done. By the time of writing this article, 900 of 7200 keys still need to be sent. By the end of this month we should have sent all of them.

We will use the keys for media portals, gamer’s sites, journalists, and You-tube reviewers that should be available 5-7 days before we go to the SEA release.

OPEN SEA RELEASE

We still need to program the inner interface so we can take fair screenshots before the final approval by Steam. If everything goes fine, you’ll be able to proudly link After Reset RPG on Steam to your friends and colleagues in early March of 2015.

THE STORY OVERVIEW

To prepare the game for SEA I needed to finalize the whole game story concept, and taking into account whether or not we reach our funding goals, or exceed them. Here is brief (but spoiler free) overview of the full game story.

Every chapter of the game represents each stage of the big story and it is connected to the sets of regions that are relevant to that chapter. That doesn’t mean every chapter will have and equal amount of game playtime.

In example: the final version of the Prologue should have about two hours of gameplay. It is quite close to the idea that was initially put into Fallout 1, but financial restrictions ending up cutting most of it out, and limited it to just walking through a cave and killing several rats. At the beginning of Fallout 1’s birthday, the creators wanted to give the player the ability to play around in the Vault 13 itself. Therefore the After Reset RPG's Prologue represents only small piece of main story game play time.

If things don’t work out for our funding goals, I’ll rely on my savings and concentrate on the main story. However, there will be many opportunities for random encounters and side quests that can easily be added once we have the game mechanics and gameplay finished. How much or how little gets added will depend on our funding.

In final version the life and event sequences of the chapters should go even without player interaction. That implies you can be caught by story in the Great Desert with a new sequence in it even if you dropped the main storyline earlier.

Well its time for another update for After Reset from developer Black Cloud Studios. This time we get information on laser weapons, and Steam Early Access keys.

LASER WEAPONS

It’s been almost two weeks since our last update. The time has come to share the next portion of completed work.

SENDING STEAM KEYS

A few new gray hairs notwithstanding, at the time of writing this article, 1400 of 7200 keys still need to be sent. By the end of this month we should have sent them.

LIST OF ITEMS

For those who are constantly following the development of our game on our forum, this topic will also be interesting http://www.afterreset.com/forum/showthread.php?t=286. In it we go through the items that have already been added to the game build. It doesn’t mean that they will be available right away to players, but it means that they are already in the game itself and can be obtained in game (loot, found items, quests etc.).

In addition we are also publishing links to detailed item descriptions, which makes this topic something of a wiki for items in the After Reset world.

Mr.Nixon posted a new post-funding update for After Reset with a huge wall of text about the games development. So if your a backer the information is important.

GENERAL PROGRESS

First, I realize that the delay for our “estimated delivery date” is unacceptable. There is no excuse that either party would find believable when we’re five months behind, but here are the facts. As an indie developer I depend on the freelancers I work with, and when they miss deadlines it inevitably affects the whole release. I understand that you've trusted me personally with your money, so as the game director I take the whole responsibility for any delay.

But right now you don’t want to hear excuses, you need deeds. Thus, how do I compensate for the delay?

1. Quality. You can see through updates and new builds (with your approval I rejected the strategy to release them too early just to meet the EDD) in favor of releasing small but cool and completed steps. We do something until I, from my picky point of view, can say something about it is really cool. Sometimes this means starting over from scrap if it’s just not working, and when you see our page previews (shown below) I think you’ll agree that it’s paid off.

2. Money. It’s inevitable that delays, even if accounted for in a product’s budget, put a lot of stress on the team’s finances. I’ve therefore put more of my own money into the development to be sure that we’ll not compromise on our quality standards and deliver trash content just to stay under budget. The novel, for example, will end up containing 37 pages instead of the initially planned 32, and at no extra cost to you even though is increased our budget requirements.

3. Time. I toil away on After Reset 8-12 hours a day and rarely take a weekend or holiday off (except for Christmas). I sold my other business some time ago and have been completely focused on this task ever since. Frankly, I’m quite happy with our progress and the support from our backers.

Therefore, after TFoG is done it’ll be judgment day from our fans. However, I think you’ll be satisfied in the end and support our next novel. Until then I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’ll be happy with the result.

In a backer only update, the developers of After Reset tell us that a new release is eminent, explain on how the modeling process works and offer details on Early Access for those who have not backed the game.

In this news I’d like to share with you several important decisions about the upcoming SEA.

First, we’re releasing this closed beta (only for backers), and we’re doing this in stages (each of them have decent amount of content):
- Character creation
- Special Facility level
- Science Facility level
- Main Level
- Cave level
- Cave Entrance level

Second, we’re going to open SEA for public sales after the Special Facility level is completely done, but no earlier than January 2015.

Third, as planned we’re going to revise the values of the pledges according to the Steam channel distribution. This will stress the benefits of the early supporters from Kickstarter and Direct Pledges.

Forth, right before SEA opens up to the public we’re removing the digital version of the game from our website’s store page and linking directly to the Steam store. We will still be offering physical preorder versions of the game, including several features and the graphic novels.

Fives, right before SEA opens up to the public we’re removing Co-Founder status reward from any pledge, but we’re still going to supply our current Co-Founders with the extra stuff as we’ve always done. As I promised, I’d like to grow the value of this proud title but not “selling it.” After open SEA launch, I reckon the only opportunity to get this status will be special events or exclusive rewards.

In the latest Kickstarter post-funding update for After Reset, an update is given on the status of Early Access, interior objects and clothes modelling, The Fall of Gyes and in-game displays.

Mr.Nixon posted the third post-funding update for After Reset with information on the games development, and shared a few links to various items of interest.

FRIDAY'S UPDATE

It's been two weeks since our last update. During that time we’ve been working tirelessly on new game content. And in this update, as is tradition, I’d like to share the next portion of our results.

CO-FOUNDERS

First of all, we’ve done a survey and in 3 days we’ve already received answers from 99% of you. A big thanks, guys, for getting back to us so quickly. It’s allowed us to be quick in getting to giving out Co-Founder statuses to your accounts on our forum. At the time of publication, almost all statuses have been attached to backers from $129 DIGITAL LIEUTENANT and higher.

We’re still giving out statuses and combining all three backer databases ("Direct Pledges" from the Store, "The Fall of Gyes" Kickstarter, and "After Reset RPG" Kickstarter) together. I expect that we’ll have given out Co-Founder statuses to everyone by the next update.

As I promised, we’ll stop giving out that status as part of game pledges roughly before the release of Steam Early Access, having continued to deliver additional content on the forum for Co-Founders. Actually, I’d like to increase the abilities and usefulness of this status during development of the After Reset universe as a special thanks to you, dear Followers.

THELOBBI.COM INTERVIEW

A few days ago, I was briefly interviewed by Jeremy Wilfinger for the site www.thelobbi.com, which you can read here: http://thelobbi.com/articles/2014-09-26-indie-speak-1-with-after-reset-s-richard-nixon

A big thanks to him and the site editor for putting our interview on the main page!

Mr.Nixon posted the second post-funding update for Aftetr Reset with information on the games development, and shared a few details about lost pledges.

It’s been a hard week but we have managed to get a lot done. This news is completely about our progress that I’d like to share with you.

KICKSTATARTER/AMAZON

The first good news is that Amazon and Kickstarter finally processed most of the payments last week. Only about $10k of them were broken but I hope the guys who received a warning about broken payments from Kickstarter will back us again via PayPal on our STORE page: http://www.afterreset.com/store.

In two days we’re going to send you the survey through Kickstarter to collect your data for rewards. After receiving the data, we’ll be approving Co-Founder status for your accounts on our official forum.

PROGRAMMING

We’ve reviewed the GUI for the main menu so that all of the interfaces will be able to scale as well as the text. And we reworked the architecture of character creation so that it includes 1/4 of SACPIC game mechanics. Nothing “wow” for players – but for programming that means a lot (the specification alone took about 25+ pages and 30+ GUI designs). Now Ivan (he is back from his vacation), Arthur and Evan are working hard on realization.

THE FALL OF GYES

Another piece of good news is about our graphic novel: with Adam we’ve done more pages and now we’re ready to lift the curtain from the first 3 pages (without lettering yet). If you’re not afraid of spoilers you can check the first previews on our forum (available for Co-Founders only): http://www.afterreset.com/forum/showthread.php?t=239 or in closed update for our first TFOG backers here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blackcloudstudios/after-reset-the-fall-of-gyes/posts/996504.

INTERVIEWS

I’ve also found some time to do two interviews with guys from two of the largest true RPG portals:

- with Kevin from RPG WATCH: http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=256

- with Vladimir from CORE RPG: http://core-rpg.ru/publ/after_reset_intervju_s_richardom_niksonom/19-1-0-113

Once again, I’d like to thank them for their sincere interest, patience and friendly attitude :)

Last week I had the chance to interview Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios. I asked the community to send questions, and some of you responded. So lets get started.

CouchPotato: Thanks for agreeing to do the interview Mr. Nixon, and congratulations on getting funded. To start can you give us some information about yourself, and your company Black Cloud Studios?

Mr. Nixon: Thank you, Kevin, and thank RPGWatch for being interested and for giving us an opportunity to talk about our game. 

Mostly I’m a common RPG gamer like many others who are reading our interview right now. 3 years ago, as a former Dungeon Master, I began to work on the After Reset setting as a hobby, spending my own savings on elaborating it as a realistic post-apocalyptic word. When the core of the setting was complete with hard sci-fi details, I began to hire free-lance artists and musicians so that they could begin animating my vision. Then there were modelers, programmers, video editors etc. By the time of Fall of 2013, when I decided to put After Reset RPG on Steam Greenlight just for fun, I had a permanent group of free-lancers who I had been working with for a long time. After the surprising success on Steam Greenlight, they formed the core of Black Cloud Studios.

Mr.Nixon has posted the first post-funding update for After Reset with information on the games development. I also have a new interview with him next week.

The first post-Kickstarter update

So this is our first update after completing the campaign. As you may remember from our previous update, I planned to take 5 days off - but our team was so energized by your support that we haven’t stopped working on the game. And while Amazon and Kickstarter are still processing your pledges (it should take one more week), we’d like to share our progress and ask for your thoughts about one issue. This update is quite large but, I believe, substantial and interesting :)

The  Kickstarter campaign for After Reset ended today, and was funded, The games developer Mr.Nixon posted a new update with more information on the project.

Also don't forget to give your questions for a new interview.

The Kickstarter campaign is completed

Today I am proud to announce that together, we did it. Yes, any mere gamer, like myself, can take it upon themselves to stop moaning on forums and establish their own serious development team to build the game of their dreams. Proven by gamers, for gamers!

Beyond us, we must bow to all communities, all journalists, all medias, streamers, brother indie developers, cool guys from Steam and GOG, our families and friends who bore with us, who trusted us, and believed in the After Reset RPG.

Guys, since I revealed and shared the After Reset world with you, you’ve been supporting, encouraging, and inspiring it. You’ve shown great belief and trust in a mere gamer just like you, with no industry background, with only his works, devotion and perseverance. I’ve tried to do my best to meet your expectations. It looks like we’re a good team :)

Due to your attitude, empathy, and belief you demonstrated during this campaign, I made up my mind to sell my small business and put all my time and resources into After Reset IP. Thus: yes, we’re going into full-time development. Thank you for your encouragement.

Everyone from the team is epically excited as well and hard at work on the prologue to release it in time. We’ve already set a schedule for programming, modeling, animation, and sound design. And we didn’t forget about TFoG graphic novel or our awesome cinematic intro ;)

SO, WHAT’S THE NEXT STEP?

For Backers: for the coming 14 days, Kickstarter and Amazon will be proceeding operations with your pledges. After that period we’ll send you a survey to collect required data to start delivering your rewards. Starting from Co-Founder status on forum (you might be interested in creating an account there in advance).

For Black Cloud Studios: first, I need 5 days off. :) Right after that we’ll dig in completing development in time. We had a big meeting yesterday with the team: everything is planned, every issue is solved, everything is going all according to plan. I’ll be keeping you transparently updated about our progress in person. I’m sure you will like and be proud of it as founding fathers.

HOW TO BACK US NOW OR UPGRADE THE PLEDGE LATER?

After the campaign on Kickstarter is ended, it is still possible to back After Reset RPG by Direct Pledges via PayPal on our store page: http://www.afterreset.com/store. We should bring back the Store by the weekend.

You’ll be able to upgrade your pledges there as well. Just keep in mind that any digital pledges will be available through there before we launch Steam EA or GOG EA. Physical tiers will be available through our web site only.

Alright everyone Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios has agreed to do a new interview on our site. So once again I need your help with any questions you guys want answered.

As for me I'm going to talk more about the kickstarter side with him, so questions about the game would be appreciated. The ETA for the interview is two weeks from now.

The last day of the Kickstarter campaign for After Reset is here, with them closing in on the $100K stretch goal. Here is a bit on the fall release of the prologue:

’ve also had a meeting with the programmers yesterday. We discussed a lot of things, a lot of details. And we once again made up our mind that it is ok, and we’re on track to release the prologue this Fall. Next week, as we’ve planned, we’re going to complete a character creation build so that you can test that part of the game mechanics for yourself.

The latest update for After Reset from Black Cloud Studios goes into detail why the developer is Sticking to Hard Sci-Fi. and not fantasy.

As you remember, we announced that After Reset RPG going to be the first hard science fiction video game in history due to our relentlessly scientific approach that we have been building into every nook and cranny of our setting. Because of that, I have received several inquiries from our followers to give them an idea how Biomass and Incorporeals (which have not been seen on Earth in the last 100 years by the game’s timeline) could ever been treated seriously from scientific point of view.

Several updates for After Reset saw the light of day these last few days. There is an update on some of the U.G. Army mottos and Creeds and an update on the Black Sands Mottos and Creeds. Besides these there is a Backer only update on how After Reset could have become a card game on Facebook and an update on them backing Hard West.

Here are some mottos and creeds from the U.G. army:

- If you don't want a war, there is always someone else who does.

- The heroism of soldiers is a consequence a General's mistake.

- If we send our men on a mission unprepared, then we betray them.

- If you want peace, prepare for war.

- You can’t spend too much on information and ammunition.

- The size of your biceps doesn't affect the speed of a bullet.

In their 34th post-funding update for After Reset the devs talk about the character skills, which can be grouped together in the acronym SACPIC.

A skill is a character's talent that he or she acquires and improves through training. Each skill represents a different field of expertise. As a character advances in level, he or she gets better at using some or all of the skills.

An amount of skill points are gained at 1st level depends on the Species of the character. Skills can be improved by reading specific books, completing quests within the game, or equipping special objects with relevant skill bonuses. But in general, skill levels can be increased by allocating skill points earned from gaining levels. These points can be used to increase the rank of any skill.

However, tagged skills are more easily understood if they were. Those tagged skills are selected during character creation process and their amount is determined by character race. While tagged skills provide 1 skill rank for each skill point invested, normal skills are more expensive to represent the difficulty of learning requiring 2 skill points invested per 1 skill rank.

SACPIC stats (Strength, Agility, etc.) modify skills with a considerable bonus. The game keeps track of this bonus throughout the game, in real-time. Any changes to stats during the game add to or subtract from this modifier.

USING SKILLS:

A skill check is a check relating to use of a skill. The basic skill check = d20 + current skill rank. Additional skill modifiers may be applicable (i.e. current skill rank = base skill rank + stat modifier + special feats modifiers + special items modifiers + etc.)

The check works just like an attack roll or a saving throw - the higher the roll, the better. Either you're trying to match or exceed a certain difficulty class (DC), or you’re trying to beat another character's check result, i.e., an opposed skill check.

For example: to sneak quietly past a raider, a scavenger needs to beat the raider's Listen and Search (if active) checks results with her own Hide check.

Most of skill checks are made on the background but several active skills that provide abilities have limited amount of use per day. To restore those manually activated abilities character must rest. The basic number of manual activation per day for tagged skills is equal to 3 at 1st level and it raises +1 each 4 levels (4, 8, 12, 16, 20).

Here are two Kickstarter updates for After Reset from Black Cloud Studios this week. Both new update cover a differant area of Character Feats you will ise in the game.

Character's Feats: Part I. General Outline.

I'd like to dedicate this update to one of the most important parts of SACPIC game mechanics and the next step in character creation – the feats.

In the SACPIC System, a feat is one type of ability a character may gain through level or class progression. Feats are different from skills in that characters can vary in competency with skills, while feats typically provide static bonuses to or offer new ways to use existing abilities.

There are different types of feats in the game, so in order to outline them clearly for players, we have divided them into 10 categories.

Character's Feats: Part II. Background Feats

As I promised yesterday, in today's news we’re going to shed some light on one of the groups of feats, quite unique because they can only be taken at the 1st level during your character creation. These are: Background Feats. Some represent an ability that can only be gained by birth. Others represent the characters upbringing and backstory. Usually, background feats provide some unique advantages but they are offset by relevant negative effects.

There are two more  Kickstarter updates for After Reset from Black Cloud Studios this week. The first update is about the North American indian influenced Toltecs.

For many centuries before the Past Age, the territories formerly called "North and Central America," were dominated by the Toltec tribe. Historians and anthropologists of the Past Age were inclined to believe that there was once a group of indigenous people, made up of the patriarchs and elite of the tribe, who had contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. It was precisely to this race that the scientists of the former Earth attributed the majority of achievements and artifacts discovered in the region. However, for some reason, contact with the extraterrestrials was interrupted. The tribe's development returned to its natural course, and the Toltec race was assimilated into other tribes like Olmec, Aztec, etc.

The second update has information on the next race called the Touched.

There is almost no information about Touched on the wastes of former North America, except for several legends told by elders and shamans within the communities of the Indian Alliance.

According to them, Touched are very rare - special Toltecs chosen by the gods and touched by them directly. Since then, these demigods walk among the Toltecs, teach them, guide them and serve as intermediaries between the Toltecs and the gods.

By 132 A.R., for the people of former North America, Touched remain even more of a mystery than Stalkers.

In their series of human races in After Reset, the team now brings you The Natives.

Centuries before the Past Age, during the European colonization of the Americas, the majority of the indigenous population was wiped out, and the survivors were forced to live on reservations by technically superior invaders. This country of colonist descendants was named, in the Past Age, the USA – and it became the most powerful nation on the world stage, which is why it was represented to a higher degree in the UG. By the time of the blossoming of the Past Age, when democracy and humanism were developed, the indigenous Native Americans had been almost completely wiped off the face of the Earth, and their traces remained only as history.

This resurrection of an almost vanished race was quite a surprise for the historians and anthropologists of the United Governments. It seemed unbelievable, but representatives of the Native American population had managed not only to survive the Reset, but decades later grouped together to form the prosperous highly-civilized society in the former North America (now East America) - the Indian Alliance. By 132 A.R. their descendants, the "Natives", dominate over the massive, relatively prosperous territories from the East coast to the borders of the Great Desert area.

In three more Kickstarter updates for After Reset information is shared on the next three human races: Survivors, Deviants and Stalkers. You can only select the Pastager human race to play as, but you will meet these other races in the game.

Here is a bit on the Survivors:

During the Reset most of humanity of the Past Age died out, but small numbers managed to hang on by turning to the basest of all the human instincts - the instinct of survival. This instinct inevitably leads to the manifestation of other animal qualities of people: anarchy and struggling for the few remaining resources, bloodlust and fighting for power, carnality, cannibalism and depravity. For the handful of those who survived the Reset and were left alone on the dying planet, primitive instincts became the only way to survive. These people began calling themselves the Survivors.

Despite their low average lifespan (35-45 years), by the end of 132 A.R. Survivors are the most widespread human race in the regions of the Great Desert and the State of Eagle. The New Confederacy, the Indian Alliance and Black Sand mostly consist of survivors, as well as the majority of other smaller societies, anarchist groups, gangs and raiders above the ground.

Thanks Kristoph.

Mr. Nixon from Black Cloud Studios have updated the Kickstarter page for this game.
This time he's  telling us about what human races will be in this game. The first human
race he presents is the: Pastagers.

Pastagers or Iron Worms (sometimes called 'Junkees' by people of the New Confederacy, contemptuously, or 'Underneath Demons' by the tribes of the Indian Alliance) are citizens of the United Governments that have been seen on the surface by descendants of survivors over the 100+ years after the Reset. During the Reset several millions from a population of over 17 billion were able to find refuge in specially equipped underground bases and over hundreds of years to expand them into fully fledged underground cities. By the 132 A.R. the citizens of United Governments could be rarely met on the surface. The majority of them inhabit under the Earth within highly advanced underground megapolises. Despite their small numbers they still keep the technologies of the Past Age and its way of living.

Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios continues his daily updates for After Reset by bringing us more information on UG Assistant Drones this time.

UG Assistant Drones

In this news I'd like to share some info and concept arts of small assistant drones of the United Governments' Corps you will meet in the game.

Assistant drones are relatively small, mechanical agents, usually electro-mechanical machines that are operated by a computer program or electronic circuitry. Drones can be autonomous or semi-autonomous and range from small, pet-sized drones to massive industrial drones, or even swarms of collectively programmed drones. By mimicking a lifelike appearance or automating movements, assistant drones may convey a sense of intelligence or thoughts of their own.

Most varieties of the United Governments' drones are fueled by common variants of Fusion Cells or Microfusion Cells. Several advanced commercial models as well as military assistant drones have universal power adapters installed which grants them the ability to be powered by Plasma Cells and Microplasma Cells.

Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios has posted a few more updates for After Reset in the last few days. The first update is about The "Gyes" Bunker with new screenshots.

The "Gyes" Bunker: First Screenshots

In today's update, as I promised, we'd like to reveal you several in-game screenshots from the "Gyes" bunker. Below, there is one of its levels, where your journey will start.

Please, keep in mind:
- that this is our rough version "in progress";
- it is filled only with 40% of required objects;
- the lightning is not set yet;
- the preferences are set at low quality level (when we make a video they will be at maximum);
- despite that we use 4k textures (and we still test Physically Based Rendered textures).

So, lets pick an eye on what's going on there:

This is the whole level from above with ISO (isometric) view switched on. It looks like a map from Fallout: Tactics, isn't it.

The second update has a few misic and audio tracks to listen to.

Rock, Stone & Sandyard

To make you happy, Mariusz Jasionowicz and I have decided to put a brief but tasty atmosphere update which includes a new atmospheric audio track from the After Reset RPG OST.

The freshly created audio track is named “Rock, Stone & Sandyard” and is supposed to be played as the audio theme for areas of the Great Desert at night. Frankly, we have three variants, and we need your help to choose (I myself bend to B).

Here is the next update from Black Cloud Studios on the next species you will find in After Reset. This time the topic is about Incorporeals.

INCORPOREALS:

Humanity first met the Incorporeals in the hours immediately after the Reset. Minutes before the nuclear chain reaction resonated, humanity saw the owners of enormous Artifacts that appeared on Earth 2 years before the apocalypse. Even the most advanced weapon and defense technologies of the United Governments of the Past Age were no match for the beings created (or so it appeared at the time) from pure energy.

The last data on Incorporeals received by the United Governments in real-time is dated 3 month after the Reset. The other data was collected after more than a hundred years, by the recovering drone operations in the Yellow Zones. According to that data, there has been no evidence of the presence of Incorporeals since 1 A.R. - except for Artifacts left by them. The Dallas Incident in 129 A.R. proved the ability of the modern United Government to eliminate alien Artifacts and theoretically even Incorporeals themselves. However the practical testing of that theory has not been possible because of their apparent absence.

Unexpectedly for the United Governments, the societies of survivors above the surface do not share fear, hatred or a "righteous feeling of resistance" against the alien invaders. In the new world which appeared from the ashes, blood, and struggle, Incorporeals took their place in the survivors' tales – as mythological characters, legends, and even as gods. Their heritage of forgotten Artifacts, Red Zones, and terramorphing became a natural part of the new civilization of survivors on the new Earth.

Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios continues his updates on what on what species you can find in After Reset. The time we get more information about Biomass.

BIOMASS:

Even to the scientists of the United Governments, there is not much known about Biomass by 132 A.R. According to Scientific Corps, there was no evidence of Biomass species in the Past Age. The only examples of the species were found by drones rarely returned from the Red Zones. Upon being taken out of a Red Zone, a Biomass species loses its state of separate species, hibernating or decomposing into other species or just consuming itself.

However, there are some legends among Indians who live close to the borders of Red Zones ("Bad Lands", as they called it) about the demons devouring flesh and souls of those who encroach upon their territory. Similar folk tales are common among several groups of the survivor societies.

One way or another, due to extremely hazardous environments in the Red Zones, the study of Biomass keeps being complicated - leaving its true nature and origin unidentified.

Well you guys should know the drill by now so here we go. Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios posted the next update on what species you can find in After Reset.

Species in After Reset RPG: Part V. Synthetics

SYNTHETICS:

The Synthetics are species of artificially constructed machines, robots, virtual and artificial intelligences - as well as any other synthetic components, creatures and beings.

By 132 A.R. the largest Synthetic of the United Governments is the Quanton - a unified quantum computer network of the United Governments. It is a disorganized network from local quantum subnetworks called Quanton Hubs, which are often given the personalized names of bunkers, cities or other places where they exist.

Despite its cutting-edge technologies, the Quanton is not a fully-fledged AI. The initial prototype Quanton was developed back in the Past Age within the walls of the Science Corps of the UG. However, even in the design stage it fell under the oversight of the HRW Department (abbreviation of Human Rights Watch) of the Social Corps of the UG. The purpose of this oversight was to enforce the proactive and comprehensive ban on the creation, or accidental appearance of AI during work on the project. After the Reset, for a variety of social and technical reasons, Quanton grew into the universal information infrastructure of the whole UG.

Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios posted the next update on his kickstarter page about what species you can find in After Reset. This time the topic is plants.

Species in After Reset RPG: Part IV. Plants

In this news we proceed sharing game lore about the species of the After Reset world. This news is dedicated to Plants.

Beyond that, if you've just joined to our daily news stream, you can find previous data about other species at these links:
Species in After Reset RPG: Part I. Humans.
Species in After Reset RPG: Part II. Animals.
Species in After Reset RPG: Part III. Insects.

A species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.

IMPORTANT NOTES: Due to storyline limitations, you can choose only Human species for your character in After Reset RPG's single-player mode. Despite that, you will meet a variety of other species during your adventure in the world of the game.

PLANTS:

Plants are the most widespread living multicellular organisms in the world after the Reset. They form a clade that includes the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, club mosses, hornworts, liverworts and mosses - as well as, depending on definition, the algae, etc.

Before the Reset green plants were the dominant part of the flora. Such type of plants has cell walls with cellulose and characteristically obtains most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis using chlorophyll contained in chloroplasts, which gives it its green color. Some plants were parasitic and have lost the ability to produce normal amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize.

During the first decades after the apocalypse, when the green plants were dying off in huge numbers, that last group of flora took advantage of the opportunity to spread among the subterranean regions - developing its ability to gain required energy and substances from sources other than sunlight and water. The largest accumulations of these plants are usually spotted close to Red Zones - which keeps the question of alien terramorphing's effects on Earth open.

The next update about the species in After Reset has been posted by Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios. This time we get information on the games insects.

Species in After Reset RPG: Part III Insects

In this news we proceed sharing game lore about the species of the After Reset world. This news is dedicated to Insects.

Beyond that, if you've just joined to our daily news stream, you can find previous data about other species at these links:
Species in After Reset RPG: Part I. Humans.
Species in After Reset RPG: Part II. Animals.

A species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.

IMPORTANT NOTES: Due to storyline limitations, you can choose only Human species for your character in After Reset RPG's single-player mode. Despite that, you will meet a variety of other species during your adventure in the world of the game.

INSECTS:

Insects are invertebrate eukaryotic organisms having an external skeleton, a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Insects as a species are general representation of Arthropoda, i.e. "foot" or "leg", which together mean "jointed leg", and include the insects (wasps, grasshoppers, flies, cockroaches, beetles, isopods, etc.), arachnids (scorpions, spiders, mites, etc.), crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, shrimps) and trilobites (almost extinguished by the Past Age, that name is now used by scientists of SOC for all type of insects with non-earth DNA).

Even before the Reset, the number of insects is estimated at between six and ten million, and potentially represented over 90% of the different animal life forms on Earth. Insects could be found in nearly all environments, and were one of the largest groups in the food chain on Earth. Their real challenge is the cold - insects are unable to produce heat metabolically. Most of their survival techniques involve skirting around freezing weather – migration, freeze tolerance (waiting for the sun), or freeze avoidance (habitat and supercooling).

Because of their prevalence, vitality, unpretentiousness, high radiation resistance and reproduction rate, the insects became the largest and the most widespread organisms within the warm regions of Earth after apocalypse. By 132 A.R. its representatives could be easily found even in Red Zones. With that, as the most prevalent source of proteins, insects became the major brick in the biological food chain on the surface.

The next update from Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios for After Reset brings us part two of the species found in the game, and this time it's about animals.

Species in After Reset RPG: Part II. Animals

In this news we proceed sharing game lore about the species of the After Reset world. This news is dedicated to Animals.

Beyond that, if you've just joined to our daily news stream, you can find previous data about other species at these links: Species in After Reset RPG: Part I. Humans.

A species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.

IMPORTANT NOTES: Due to storyline limitations, you can choose only Human species for your character in After Reset RPG's single-player mode. Despite that, you will meet a variety of other species during your adventure in the world of the game.

ANIMALS:

Animals are multicellular organisms of the kingdom Animalia (also called Metazoa) whose cells contain a nucleus and other structures (organelles) enclosed within membranes. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their lives. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently. All animals must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance.

During the Reset, the majority of animals were wiped from the Earth's surface. Locked in the cities, most of the domestic animals also died - either instantly, or from lack of food that they were not skilled enough to get by themselves. More than 90% of the rest were extinguished during the first decades after reset, due to enormous ecological damage inflicted to the lowest levels of the Earth's food chain.

Despite all of that, it turned out that humanity was much more of a threat to fauna then even the Reset itself. After the first decades of apocalypse, the radiation level decreased and Yellow Zones began to emerge. Without human interaction, the flora overtook those new regions and the animals soon followed.

By 132 A.R. animals, plants and insects are the dominant species on the Earth. Many of the animals of the Past Age were extinguished forever, but their place is being intensively taken over by new ones - adapted, evolved, or even brought from another world during the alien terramorphing.

The next kickstarter update from Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios for After Reset introduces us to what species you meet in the game. Here is the first part.

Species in After Reset RPG: Part I. Humans

In this news we'd like to share game lore about the species of the After Reset world. This news is dedicated to Humans.

A species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.

IMPORTANT NOTES: Due to storyline limitations, you can choose only Human species for your character in After Reset RPG's single-player mode. Despite that, you will meet a variety of other species during your adventure in the world of the game.

HUMANS:

Humans are the most diverse and contradictory species in the world of After Reset. Being one of the most adaptable, flexible, fierce predators on the planet, humans easily gnawed their way to the top of the food chain in the Past Age. Along with that, humans kept and developed exalted, soulful life drivers like love, compassion, faithfulness and self-sacrifice; as well as passion, violence, betrayal and madness.

The average human height varies from 5 to 6 feet tall, with an average weight of 125 to 250 pounds. Men are normally heavier and taller than the typical woman. Human skin color varies from almost black to pale white, and the typical hair color is from black to blonde. Human hairstyles show much variety - long or short; curly, kinky or straight. Male humans can grow facial hair that varies from sparse to thick.

During the Past Age, humans overpopulated the Earth. By the count of the United Governments, human population exceeds 17 billion people by the end of 2 B.R. During the Reset, more than 99% of them perished. The human civilization as we know it was destroyed during that apocalypse or the years that followed.

SPECIES TRAITS:
Base HP: 10.
HP per level: 8.
Base Field of Sight: 180-degree.
Base Range of Sight: 300ft (60 squares).
Base Attack Quantity: 2 per round (6 sec).
Base Speed: 30ft (6 squares) per round (6 sec).
Skill Points per level: 4 + INT Modifier.
Skill Points at 1st level: (4 + INT Modifier) × 4.

* * *

That is all for today, I hope you've enjoyed reading that lore.

Coming parts of the lore about species are coming (Animals, Insects, Plants, Synthetics, Biomass, Incoeporeals). And according to our tradition, after the end of that small series we'll put those pretty concept arts in HD available to our backers exclusively.

Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios is happy to announce his kickstarter RPG game After Reset is now funded. He managed to earn $36,626 of $35,000 goal with 34 left.

Congratulations Mr. Nixon.

Good news, everyone!

My dear friends,

Today we’ve crossed the Rubicon in the history of After Reset. We’ve funded and it took us only 10 days to achieve it. And when I say ‘we’ I imply every one of YOU even more than myself, or anyone else Black Cloud Studios. Rephrasing my namesake: “We must always remember that modern gamers represent a great nation today not because of what developers did for gamers but because of what gamers did for themselves and for one another.”

I truly regard After Reset as a proof that any… really any mere gamer, like myself, can take it upon themselves to stop moaning on forums and establish your own serious development team to build the game of their dreams. It won’t be easy. It will probably be much harder than your pervious life. But if you follow your heart, you will find a way.

Once again, congratulations my friends!

He also inclued a short Q&A so be sure to read that also.

Q: Why did you drop our goal from $900k to $35k?

A: We still plan to create the same big and sophisticated RPG as we originally planed, but to make this game real we had to split it up into smaller chapters. With your help we can complete the Prologue and put it into Steam EA, and possibly GOG EA as well. According the statistics, SEA brings 10 times more donations than Kickstarter does. That is the good motivator for us to go for a critical hit in maximizing our efforts now for extra stretch goals and achievements.

Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios continues to release updates for After Reset. This time he shares a short tech demo for everyone to try from the first kickstarter.

After Reset RPG first tech ex-build Open Access

Dear backers,

In this bit of news, we’d like to share Open Access for our first Atmospheric Pre-Alpha build which is now available for everyone in Windows/Linux/Mac supported versions!

Download Links:
WINDOWS 64:
http://www.dropbox.com/s/0r70351nub6wu8y/AfterResetRPG-ksbuild.zip
WINDOWS 32:
http://www.dropbox.com/s/ziyyijvqvjtjts0/AfterResetRPG-ksbuild86.zip
MAC:
http://www.dropbox.com/s/ehoiyizv4oceh9k/ARRPG-KS-MAC.app.zip
LINUX:
http://www.dropbox.com/s/tmjh9k2sidmknix/ARRPG-KS-LIN.zip

Installation: Not required. Just run “After Reset RPG - kickstarter build.exe”.

Controls (mouse+keyboard):
Walk – LMB or WSAD
Toggle run/walk – TAB
Change appearance: 1,2,3,4
Put in/out headgear: [,]
Play Hail animation: `
Camera Zoom: Mouse Roll
Camera Turn: Edges Turn or fixed RMB.
Dev options panel: o.

Please use the following thread to describe any tech issues with the current Tech Build that you play: http://www.afterreset.com/forum/showthread.php?p=143

And feel free to share your impressions here: http://www.afterreset.com/forum/showthread.php?p=207

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Please keep in mind, this is an OLD version that we prepared for our first trial on KickStarter. Additionally, please know that this build is just a demonstration of the graphics level, camera view and general atmosphere of the game.

Video graphics are not yet optimized but they looks nice and go more than 80fps on GeForce GTX 780 for sure. So if this build runs smoothly on your machine – you can count the same (frankly, even better) performance while playing the Prologue or final complete game.

The new Pre-Alpha build, which you can see in our freshly made videos (with character creation, bunker’s interior with interactions, and an exterior level with dialogues) will be available for our BACKERS only, as a part of their Instant Access reward right after this KickStarter campaign.

Thank you for your support and have fun!

Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios released the next kickstarter update for After Reset with a new video that shows the games main menu, and character creation.

Main Menu and Character Creation Overwiew

Here's short but informative video capture from the main menu and character creation overview in After Reset RPG in full HD1080:

Just keep in mind that the work is still in progress and that the background scenes will change according your story/place progression (like it was in KOTOR).

Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios talks about a past project called Fallout D20 in the latest kickstarter update. The game was the inspiration for After Reset

My old fan-project: Fallout D20

Hi guys,

As some of you knows 3 years ago, before giving birth to After Reset, I already worked on Fallout Van Buren Persistent World as fan-made noncommercial RPG server. That game I developed was technically based on Electron Engine (one of the Obsidian’s engines) and used mechanics of DnD 3,5 adopted to Fallout setting at my taste. All that I did alone at my free-time just for fun (with a little help of freelancers I hired by my own money).

Guys from KickStarter encouraged me by saying that showing my previous work is a great idea, whether it was professionally done or not. So in this news, I’d like to share some info about that Fallout D20 Persistent Word I made 3 years ago just for fun.

That was our Intro (video): http://vimeo.com/22214170

Some Gameplay 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS3LVPtf9i0
Some Gameplay 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU-AjULhBH8

Mr. Nixon of Black Cloud Studios is back with the final update for his Post-Apocalyptic Myths Busted segment on the kickstarter for After Reset. I haven't forgotten the funding news as the game has managed to earn $20,404 of the $35,000.

MYTH #12: PERSONAL HAREMS

Myth: Being physically stronger, and having a lot of endurance and bravery, surviving men will become objects of desire for all women they come across. Men who have survived the apocalypse will dominate, form their own personal harems, fuck whoever they want and those who don't submit will be taken by force and kept in chains. Gender relations will revert to their primitive form.

Reality: In sociology and ethnography it is well known that gender roles even in primitive societies are not the same from group to group, and they depend on each group’s level of economic development as well as their societal norms. During the apocalypse and in the first few years after it, a large part of the population will really die, and women are just as likely to die as men. Even slightly more likely due to their position serving men in modern society prior to the cataclysm. If anarchy comes, the first few years create the real possibility of a patriarchal alpha mindset, all the same in the time to come they will be restricted to non-natural selection. There are noteworthy social experiments in history about this issue. For example, during the Second World War, a group of women and one man were cut off from the mainland on an island in the Pacific. The man quickly oriented himself, hoarded all the food supplies, armed himself and declared all women his property. He set up a harem and an order for seeing his concubines. During the first "wedding night" the first girl simply slit his throat and the women began living together in peace, waiting to be rescued by friendly forces.

In After Reset RPG: In the new world After the Reset that came to be on the ruins of the Past Civilization, male and female roles (and with them ideas about what someone in each of those roles should do and be) vary considerably from one community to another. So, among a small population in the former North America, there is really a weak form of patriarchy, however at the same time, any woman with skills deemed useful for the survival of the community is generally seen as a member of that community rather than as an object. In the newly formed New Confederacy, people traditionally treat women with respect, and women have equal voting rights. But that only extends to female citizens, and not to female slaves (enslaved women are not citizens of the NC). Among the multitude of tribes of the Indian Alliance there is a highly developed system of female and male roles, and also rites and traditions for determining masculine and feminine genders. All the same, de facto, hidden matriarchies can freely flourish in these tribes. And only in the cities of the United Governments and among their social groups will you encounter an earnestly equal relation to women, under which gender discrimination is punishable by law.

MYTH #13: THE REBIRTH OF SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE

Myth: In a post-apocalyptic world, might makes right so you can easily take other people as slaves, becoming their unquestioned master. At the very least you can live without a care in the world, forcing others to do your work for you. At most you can even make a handy living trading in human cargo. And with your newly obtained, trouble-free sex slaves this radiation soaked world starts to take on a certain charm.

Reality: This may sound cynical, but in the first few decades after the apocalypse, even if people return to a primitive state, slavery is not a livable or economically effective solution. To achieve effective production, a division of labor is necessary for life. When organizing this division, hard labor (above all physical) is the least attractive. If we look at the history of humanity, we see that only after achieving a certain level of development (when technological developments can provide a laborer with a larger amount of products than he needs to support his own life) can a society take those captured in war, who would once have been killed, deprive them of their freedom, and force them to do hard labor for a master. According to modern concepts, in the epoch of primitive society, slave ownership was initially completely absent; after that it did appear, but it was not on a massive scale. In that period, naturally there weren't slaves as such, but captives taken in war. In intertribal warfare, the captives were men, or as a rule they either weren't taken at all, were accepted into the victorious tribe, or were simply killed. Sexual slavery is another kind of slavery all together, but I already wrote about that in the section on personal harems.

In After Reset RPG: The year is 132 After Reset. It is the time of opportunists and big possibilities for the descendants of those who survived the apocalypse on the surface. A time in which the first seeds of the new future empires are sown. It is a historical period for the new world, in which small settlements are starting to farm once again. The period when the New Confederacy is born. It is the period when slavery becomes economically efficient and is only beginning to become popular. In addition, it takes considerably different forms from community to community. So, for example, some communities reject it out of principle. Others, like the New Confederacy use it and integrate it into their culture in a way not dissimilar to the Greco-Roman model (a citizen of the NC cannot be made a slave, and any slave after 10 years of service, or earlier if the master, which could be the NC itself, decides can become a "proper citizen"). Among the united tribes of the Indian Alliance slavery is not very popular. They generally hold "white savages" in contempt, and avoid contacting them. At the same time, many whites have tried every possible way to assimilate into the Indian tribes due to the relatively happy and dignified existence of these descendants of the native population of the former America.

Black Cloud Studios has posted the third part of the Post-Apocalyptic Myths Busted on the games kickstarter page. Now for a funding update the game has managed to earn $18,319 of the $35,000 goal, and has 41 days left to get funded.

MYTH #9: MUTANTS, SUPERMUTANS, ULTRAMUTANTS

Myth: After a nuclear apocalypse many people will have turned into hideous mutants, and some will even have attained superpowers from the radiation.

Reality: Studies on the consequences of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and also the Chernobyl disaster have shown that people exposed to the effects of ionized radiation simply die. There is simply no biological basis for adaptive mutation, like those seen in Drosophila flies, for the human body. The problem here is hidden in humankind's insufficient birth rate and extremely long lifespan. As it relates to the effects of radiation on the next generation – that is just a sad story.

In After Reset RPG: 123 years after the Reset, most of the descendants of those who lived through the nuclear apocalypse on the surface of the Earth look and genetically are the same Homo sapiens. Of course, with the passage of time there are some adaptive changes such as increased liver size (for better filtration of harmful substances) or in the retina of the eye (for more protection from UV radiation), but in most cases this is practically unidentifiable without serious medical study. From time to time in the settlements of the survivors, children with visibly noticeable mutations are born, but they rarely survive birth and natural selection in general. And if they survive, they suffer persecution worse than Tyrion in Game of Thrones. As a rule these mutants are called Deviants. They lead unsociable or reclusive lives. Despite the fact that most of them are infertile, if they can have children, they are born completely normal.

MYTH #10: CANNIBALISM AS A FOOD SOURCE

Myth: Whether suffering from a lack of food or just to have a little extra, people started to eat each other. These cannibals started to pop up in groups and hunt other survivors in order to eat the slowest of them. These monsters, having tasted human flesh, are easy to pick out from a crowd due to their characteristic tremble.

Reality: We won't be discussing modern instances of cannibalism here, borne out of fairly rare psychological deviations. It's better to consider cannibalism as a result of hunger, which is truly unavoidable in the case of a nuclear cataclysm. A great number of instances of cannibalism out of need are known, when people faced with death from hunger had to eat the flesh of those who had already died of natural causes, or even more rarely were killed by the cannibals. But we shouldn't forget that these people became social outcasts, and the psychological trauma and feeling of guilt of those forced into cannibalism remained with them until the end of their lives, even leading some to suicide. What then are the "characteristic physiological signs" by which we can distinguish a cannibal from a normal person? Well in popular media, movies and video games they show the consequences of very real prion diseases, which are spread by eating an infected subject. But these diseases are very rare and as a rule wipe out populations on their own before they can spread.

In After Reset RPG: Everywhere in the new Eastern America, where the game takes place cannibalism is judged and acknowledged as a taboo. In the cities of the New Confederacy a proven act of cannibalism can easily lead to a hanging. For the small contingent of the United Governments in the region, cannibalism is so barbaric that they would never consider it. Some tribes of the Indian Union have resorted to ritual cannibalism from time to time, but with the development of agriculture and livestock farming even these rituals have been replaced with symbolic ones. But this relates to the major factions of the region as a whole. If we consider the question on a smaller scale, abnormal people can be found everywhere, and of course "what happens in the Wasteland stays in the Wasteland." But, of course you cannot tell a normal person from a cannibal by purely physiological attributes.

Black Cloud Studios After Reset has managed to earn $15,790 of the $35,000 goal. The developer also posted the second part of the Post-Apocalyptic Myths.

MYTH #6: SPORTS EQUIPMENT AS ARMOR

Myth: You often come across gangs, raiders and just armed groups of people in general dressed in massive pieces of defensive material originally made as padding for American football with cool trapezoidal shapes, stylish shoulder pads, knee pads, helmets, masks and other impressive "found armor."

Reality: Football pads? Lineman shoulder pads? Hockey helmets? Iron masks? Guys, are you serious? Even if we overlook their unwieldiness and the discomfort of constantly wearing sham props from classic post-apocalyptic films, the fact is this sport equipment's real protective ability is laughable. Your appearance will be fear-inducing, but you'll die from one bullet, knife jab or even just a simple hammer strike. There is one small exception related to improving the wearer's mobility – cleats. Every one from Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan to professional mercenaries in Iraq would often carry cleats, and change into them, preferring them to standard issue military boots.

In After Reset RPG: You'll hardly be likely to run into people in sports pads and idiotic unwieldy masks carrying hockey sticks and the like. Most things from the Past Era not made of synthetic materials have turned to dust or rags. The new civilization that lived through the Reset on the surface has already been making its own clothes, armor and weaponry for decades. However, as was already noted above, most things from the Past Era, even those without a functional application, are perceived as rare artifacts in societies capable of satisfying basic human needs. There are even whole groups completely devoted to seeking out, identifying, selling and reselling such artifacts.

MYTH #7: RELIGIOUS CULTS FLOURISH

Myth: Those who lived through the End of the World, as predicted by all major world religions, have been plunged back into the Dark Ages, full of strange cults and witch-hunts. There are cargo cults and other fanatics everywhere.

Reality: Sociological studies of the change in level of religious adherence among the populations of European countries before and after the First and Second World Wars have shown the opposite reaction. Rejecting the possibility that the Creator could allow such cataclysms, the number of atheists among survivors of those wars and among the following generations leapt from 1-3% before to 20-50% after. Of course there are always the crazies, but there's no reason to expect any kind of religious domination of society.

In After Reset RPG: Among the survivors of the Reset on the surface, there are many atheists. However you can find the echoes of the major world religions everywhere. Travelling through the Great Desert and the State of Eagle you can come across some cults and acquaint yourself with the huge, stable religious society The Indian Alliance, and small churches in the New Confederacy.

Black Cloud Studios new kickstarter for After Reset is off to a good start, and managed to earn $13,904 of it's $35,000 goal. The developer also has a new update.

Post-Apocalyptic Myths Busted Part I

Hi guys,

I thought to publish new video from the game in this update/news. But I feel to share that short series of articles first :)

Recently, in my work designing and analyzing concepts for another weapon from our game, I heard that there hasn't yet been a hard science fiction video game. In complete disbelief, I checked the Internet and Wikipedia. It's hard to imagine my surprise when I came up empty handed.

Yes, the international gaming community has industry standard space operas (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, etc.); space westerns (are you waiting for Firefly too?); purely apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic games (Fallout, Metro, etc.); cyberpunk (Deus Ex, Syndicate, etc.); steampunk (Arcanum, Dishonored etc.); alternate history games (Command and Conquer) and more.

But it turns out that no one has yet made a completely hard science fiction game, despite the fact that since the time of H. G. Wells, it has been considered the original science fiction genre. The difference lies in its strict adherence to scientific laws firmly established at the time of writing. What really made these books stand out was their detailed scientific and technical basis and their realistic extrapolation from that.

It turns out that the relentlessly scientific approach that we've been building into every nook and cranny of our setting since the beginning has the potential to make After Reset RPG the first hard science fiction video game in history.

After discussing this discovery with our team and gaming journalists, I decided to summarize and share some of the most enduring classic myths about life after the apocalypse that we intend to do away with in our game. I remind you that this is intended for an adult audience, and in order to convince that audience of the reality and authenticity of our game, and by the same token to allow the game to really let the players immerse themselves in their characters – it needs to be truly scientifically convincing as well as being based on facts and real world experience.

Well, what are we waiting for? Pour yourself a glass of something cold, lean back in your chair and enjoy…

Black Cloud Studios Richard Nixon sent me news he has relaunched his kickstarter for After Reset with a new modest goal of $35,000. He also has a new update he posted.

First here is a recap of the game for new backers.

Hey, guys! I bet many of you already know me. My name is Richard, and I’m the creator and game director of After Reset RPG.

Here I’d like to tell you a little about our game, which we have been working on for more than a year.

You know, we were all really upset by the cancellation of Fallout: Van Buren, the cancellation of Knights of the Old Republic III, cancellation of Neverwinter Nights III - while instead the video game industry has just - flooded us with "fast-food" MMOs, - trying to fake us, mere gamers, with their brands. So, being similar minded RPG players like you, we were tired of being disappointed, tired of waiting for miracles - so we decided to fill in the gap ourselves. We wanted to relive the emotions and epic stories from old school RPG’s and decided to make our own miracle. And I’m sure that together we CAN build that theme park! With blackjack, caravans, and hookers, of course! :)

With these things in mind, After Reset is based on three pillars of design from the good old days. You can expect:

• A POST-APOCALYPTIC ATMOSPHERE, developed with a focus on sci-fi realism and more locations to explore than Fallout 1 and 2 combined (for more info, check out our concept arts and screenshots, and watch for updates here on KickStarter).

• A NONLINEAR STORY, with the freedom to choose between a ton of branches and endings which influence the whole setting - even beyond the game you play.

• HARDCORE MECHANICS in the best traditions of D&D and SPECIAL, we have created our own system called SACPIC (for more info, check that section of the forum and coming updates), where you will be able to customize every aspect of your character. Of course, you’ll also be able to choose from a list of pre-made ones if you just want to jump in and play!

Drooling yet? :) Well… we’re just getting started.

Black Cloud Studios shared information in a new kickstarter update last week that I missed about the relaunch of their Fallout inspired RPG After Reset.

KS Reboot Preparations

We've reached 5000+ followers through Steam Early Access (SEA), and the amount of people who are waiting for our game really inspires us. Hurrah!

We made a big step forward toward the SEA release during May, and now we have almost all models for interior of the Gyes bunker for the prologue. We've also completed the character creation interface, we'll publish soon at Co-Founders section on our official forum. The latter of which inspired more lore about other species of the After Reset world that you will meet in the game: About the Species.

Beyond that we're also going to reboot our Kickstarter project for After Reset RPG prologue part on Kickstarter this July. As we sad earlier, we need $50k in total to make SEA release possible for early fall of 2014. Through direct pledges we've raised about $15k and thus we're going to set $35k as our initial goal, but we'll also have a few separate stretch goals.

If everything goes according to plan the SEA release of the After Reset RPG prologue will be available this September (before post-apoc strategy Wasteland 2 and epic RPG Dragon Age 3). For our Kickstarter and Direct backers this date will come earlier, of course.

As a part of our preparation for this reboot, we're going to be holding back on June developer updates so we can ramp things up during the campaign. This time we'll be prepared with updates to be revealed every day or day in a day. And, by tradition, our Co-Founders will still be able to see these updates on the VIP sub forum much earlier: Co-Founders' Lounge.

By the time you read this, I'm glad to report that we finished the script of the Fall of Gyes graphic novel and sent it to our volunteer testers. We're looking forward to hearing their impressions soon.

Another small pleasant news: as requested, at last we've created an off-topic sub-forum on our official forums. That can be found here: The Lobby (Off Topic)

And by the end of current news I must say due to increase of lore data we are desperately need extra editor/proofreader, US native, to help in polishing our texts for: news/updates, KS project rebooted, in-game lore, dialogs and storyline. If you feel fitted, please, write at my e-mail: mrnixon@afterreset.com

Thank for your support, friends, and stay tuned!

Black Cloud Studios has a new monthly money report, and talks about the Alpha.

Monthly Money Report

Hey guys,

We've got brief report about our funding status. In April we collected $825 from 20 backers. That makes our total budget $14,896 from 358 backers.

Thanks so much for your support! Despite the challenges, we're working hard to meet your expectations and reward your faith in us, and in our game.

THE FALL OF GYES: SCRIPT TESTERS

We've almost completed work on the script for the graphic novel and I'd like 20 volunteers from our TFOG Kick-starter backers to help us out by reading the script and providing feedback (that implies, of course, an NDA). And do not worry about spoilers. Even after reading the graphic novel, the game's story will have aces in the sleeve to surprise you.

If interested, please e-mail me Richard at (mrnixon@afterreset.com) with the following information:

- Your name as it appears on Kickstarter (if you backed TFOG there).
- Your e-mail (if you backed TFOG via a direct pledge).
- Your account on After Reset official forum.
- Your age.
- Your country.

If you're selected, we'll grant you access to a private forum where you can discuss the script and provide feedback, and that's the only place you'll be able to discuss it until the graphic novel is released. Let's not spoil the fun and surprises for our fellows! ;)

THE ALPHA IS COMING…

Every week this goal draws closer, and our build progress has been pretty amazing. Now we're working hard on the levels' design and character customization. Stay tuned for further news, as we'll be giving you a first-look in the near future, as well as updates about the coming alpha tests!

In a recent post more information is provided with respect to to game mechanics, which in this case is about the weapons in After Reset. Besides showing lists of weapons and some images there is also information on things like critical hit:

A critical hit is a devastating attack that generates more damage than normal. Non-Player Characters are always subject to critical hits (unless immune), but player characters are only subject to critical hits in the Hardcore game mode.

Every weapon has a critical rating (e.g. "19-20/x2") consisting of a threat range and a critical multiplier. When an attack roll is successful and within the critical hits range, a critical hit confirm roll is made. If the critical hit confirm roll succeeds, then the hit is critical and damage is rolled once for each level of the multiplier. All bonuses to damage not specifically excluded from critical hits are added once per damage roll. Examples of sources of damage excluded from critical hits are on-hit properties.

Some creatures have immunity to critical hits, and against these creatures damage is rolled only once, regardless of the critical hit confirm roll (if the critical hit confirm roll was successful against such a creature, a message indicating the immunity will appear in the attacker's combat log).

Several feats, skills and item properties could modify critical hits.

Black Cloud Studios talks about The Fall of Gyes for their RPG After Reset.

Welcome to Gyes

Today's update is all about the UG Bunker N3-H1: 'Gyes' where the events of the graphic novel and the begging of the game both take place.

Gyes is a pretty new underground outpost (of the United Governments), built by Ishima Engineering (one of the UG's largest corporate contractors) to control operations via The Great Desert (ex Nevada State) and The State of Eagle (ex California State).

We've already finished pre-modeling three large areas where the story will take place. We're very close to finishing the concept design for the interior objects, and here are a few shots to show you what kind of quality we're talking about.

Black Cloud Studios has launched another kickstarter for the games graphic novel called The Fall of Gyes. Here is a video and some details on the project.

Hey, guys! My name is Richard and I’m the creator and game director of After Reset, a post-apocalyptic RPG, and I’m excited to tell you about our latest project: The Fall of Gyes. This 32-page graphic novel will shed light on the backstory of the game’s starting location, as well as one of the game’s companions, while delivering a compelling sci-fi narrative in its own right..

Black Cloud Studios talks about how alignment works for their RPG After Reset.

The Alignment

First and foremost, while most apocalyptic games are primarily adult fiction/entertainment, we are aiming for a very mature setting that doesn't hold back purely for the sake of a weaker ESRB rating. While we intend to reserve a sense of tastefulness (no pun intended) when dealing with sensitive subjects like rape, cannibalism, etc., we won't exclude them or downplay their severity, but rather provide a realistic cause and effect system that simulates reality.

Second, real characters that have their own belief systems, wants, desires, and experiences, are best represented in shades of grey. Real people are not black-and-white. The same sheriff that exists to enforce the law might be tempted to break it in the service a truer or purer justice, but he also might be tempted to take a bribe with a baby on the way and a past-due mortgage. Our goal is not to indoctrinate, but to provide a flexible and realistic system that punishes and rewards players in a way that is logical, one that certainly reflects on the same social systems that we live in, but in an apocalyptic setting.

Third, a character’s alignment is not meant to be static. A good story will always challenge your beliefs, which in turn requires you to demonstrate wisdom in a specific context, and your character (as well as NPCs, companions, etc.) will evolve with you.

Finally, we want all of our players to judge for themselves, and it's hard to do that if your actions are being abstractly labeled by the game as good or evil. Instead, your companions will respond negatively to actions and decisions you make that simply disagree with their own perspectives, and positively if they do agree. There are very few, if any, moral absolutes in the real world, and all of them have to be considered in context. In most cases, acceptable behavior in a society is based off a collaborative agreement rather than logic, the rule of law, or religion.

Black Cloud Studios has a new post-funding update for After Reset with new information on a game compaion called Derrick Hawk.

Derrick Hawk

As previously mentioned, we're going to spend a lot of time on the thorough development of companions, each with their own unique personality, goals, moral principles, background, and plot twists. Our goal is to make them as real as possible, and in this update we're going to introduce you one of them: Derrick Hawk.

We're also going to give each companion a unique AI, and while you'll still be able to 'control' them (meaning you can click on them and give them an order, such as move here, shoot this target, etc.), whether they choose to follow your orders is another matter entirely.

Each companion will decide their actions based on a number of factors, such as trust, loyalty, fear, etc., and make a decision as to whether or not they want to cover you, heal you, die for you or betray you. The player's stats are also taken into account here, where certain skills and special abilities can allow you to influence the way your companions think both in dialogue and in combat, and all these elements will be taken into account.

Derrick Hawk, age 42, is a solitary man who lives on a secluded ranch with his daughter and father-in-law. He always wears a hand-made bracelet, engraved with the name 'April,' and occasionally knows how to wear a strange exoskeleton armored suits from the Past Age. A master of blending in, his past is a mystery to the locals of Deadstone, and most steer clear of him.

So, you've seen our concepts and you've heard a little bit about him, but in spite of further spoiling the story we'd like to give you a freedom of guesses. What's strange and interesting about him to you? How do you think he wound up in Deadstone? What is his story? His motives and his alignment? Feel free to post your thoughts and guesses here on the After Reset RPG forum: http://www.afterreset.com/forum/showthread.php?p=255#post255.

Thanks for backing, and stay tuned!

Black Cloud Studios has a new post-funding update for After Reset with a look at how yhe game handles your character appearance.

Greetings, our dear followers!

The team's working hard and we're making good progress on the prologue for Steam Early Access (SEA). Here's the latest news!

1. The community continues to show us their support via direct backing, and we've raised $10,045 to date from 250 people.

2. We've also made significant progress on final stage of the character creation process (Appearance), and we can confirm that you'll be able to choose between male and female playable characters in the STEAM Early Access version.

3. During the Appearance stage you'll be able to adjust a select number of cosmetic personal options, such as the name, height, girth, and an optional background (up to 1024 characters). By the game's release you'll also be able to customize the head (by more than 20 variants), body type (by 3 variant), ethnicity, and eye color of your characters, but the STEAM Early Access version will be limited to normal (mesomorph) body type, blue-eyes, and Caucasian skin tone.

Please note that all of these options are purely cosmetic, and they do not affect your character's stats or perks.

Thanks to those who pledged for the Personal Character Appearance option, you will also be able to choose personal named head preset of those backers.

Black Cloud Studios has a new post-funding update for After Reset with information about the release of the games prologue.

Still In Business

Hi, everyone.

We’ve got some exciting news for our backers in this update! The team really appreciates your support, both financial and moral. We are making progress on the game, and the prologue should be available on Steam Early Access by summer or fall in 2014.

So, here’s what we’ve been doing with After Reset’s development:

1. As you can see we’ve made some decent changes of the game’s logotype so that it looks more professional, and better describes our unique sci-fi setting. We sincerely hope you like it.

2. As requested, we added open info about our direct pledges status to our Store page. For now, we’ve collected over $7k from more than 200 people. We are going to refresh that status at least once a month.

3. There are only a few slots left for the limited ‘Waling Wall’ feature, and we’ve decided to raise the feature’s price for the remaining slots to $100. This doesn’t affect anyone who has already purchased this feature, and please keep in mind that all money we raise is used only for game development.

4. We added the Game Development Plan for the Prologue on our forum, for registered co-founders (who backed us $35 and more).

Black Cloud Studios has a new post-funding update for After Reset that goes into detail on the games skill system.

SKILLS

A skill is a character's talent that he or she acquires and improves through training. Each skill represents a different field of expertise. As a character advances in level, he or she gets better at using some or all of her skills.

An amount of skill points are gained at 1st level depends on the Species of the character. Skills can be improved by reading specific books, completing quests within the game, or equipping special objects with relevant skill bonuses. But in general, skill levels can be increased by allocating skill points earned from gaining levels. These points can be used to increase the rank of any skill.

However, tagged skills are more easily understood if they were. Those tagged skills are selected during character creation process and their amount is determined by character race. While tagged skills provide 1 skill rank for each skill point invested, normal skills are more expensive to represent the difficulty of learning requiring 2 skill points invested per 1 skill rank.

SACPIC stats (Strength, Agility, etc.) modify skills with a considerable bonus. The game keeps track of this bonus throughout the game, in real-time. Any changes to stats during the game add to or subtract from this modifier.

USING SKILLS:

A skill check is a check relating to use of a skill. The basic skill check = d20 + current skill rank. Additional skill modifiers may be applicable (i.e. current skill rank = base skill rank + stat modifier + special feats modifiers + special items modifiers + etc.)

The check works just like an attack roll or a saving throw - the higher the roll, the better. Either you're trying to match or exceed a certain difficulty class (DC), or you’re trying to beat another character's check result, i.e., an opposed skill check.

For example: to sneak quietly past a raider, a scavenger needs to beat the raider's Listen and Search (if active) checks results with her own Hide check.

Most of skill checks are made on the background but several active skills that provide abilities have limited amount of use per day. To restore those manually activated abilities character must rest. The basic number of manual activation per day for tagged skills is equal to 4 at 1st level and it raises +1 each 3 levels (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18). For normal skills it is 2 at 1st level and it raises +1 each 4 levels (4, 8, 12, 16, 20).  

Black Cloud Studios has a new post-funding update for After Reset with news on the direct pledges, and the The Fall of Gyes novel.

Hi guys! Today’s update is devoted to Atmosphere of the After Reset setting.

But at first let me share fresh good news by tradition:

• Since we announced direct pledges people have been backing directly $1,5k per day. So we are in business. We are going to have some rest and continue our work on prologue. Thus, I assume it will take 4-6 month to complete the prologue part and put it on Steam EA.

• We have finally complete STORE page on our website, where you can make your direct pledges and get your Instant Access to the current tech build of the game.

• We successfully got into the top 100 of the Indie of the Year Awards by IndieDB. So now we need you to click on "Vote for that game of the top 100" to make us win the award. Please, do it :)

• 'The Fall of Gyes' will become a separate realistic art novel as a collaborative project with Adam Burn by initiating a separate Kickstarter art project in February 2014.

The kickstarter for After Reset has failed to get funded. The developer Black Cloud Studios has a new update with more information.

Our Kickstarter is almost done, and rather than waste your time merely discussing how thankful we are for your support, I’ll simply say that all of us at Black Cloud Studios have been inspired by your love and support throughout the campaign.

Some might view this campaign as a failure, but even though we didn’t collect the $900k needed to complete the development of our game - we did attract more than 1300 classic RPG fans to our cause, and we received two proposals from serious international studios. Sure, one door has closed - but others have opened up to replace it. The game will still be made, but (sadly) it will take much longer this way. We’ll still continue to forward our major website updates, and press releases, to Kickstarter even after the campaign finishes.

So, what comes next? And what does it mean to you, the backer?

Simply put, our plan B at this point is to offer direct backing on our website, adding a few unique features for those who supported us this way (mostly based on community feedback). Backers who pledge over $20 will receive access to our current tech build (available for download by the end of the week), and backers over $35 will also receive exclusive access to a private forum only for 'co-founders,’ where you’ll have the opportunity to participate in polls, developer discussions, and more.

We’re also giving away a few planned ADD-ONs to everyone who directly backs (e.g. feat to learn like Field Weapons Feat which will give you ability to use such rare weapons like the YK42B Pulse Rifle from Fallout 2). Additionally, we’re offering a special thank you for everyone who backed us on Kickstarter for $100 or more, for when you make a direct pledge (and include your KS account name for verification with our analytics):

• Every KS backer of $100 and more will receive the "WAILING WALL" FEATURE for free.
• $275 or more will receive "NAME A WEAPON" FEATURE for free.
• And $525 or more will receive "PERSONAL CHARACTER APPEARANCE" FEATURE for free as well.

You can find out more about these rewards under the ‘Digital Add-ons’ section, below. Naturally, we hope you’ll be generous when it comes to direct backing, but every penny counts - and we know that it’s asking a lot to switch to direct backing, but if we can raise $40-50k and complete the prologue, we’ll be able to show it off on Steam Early Access by Summer of 2014 (since we’re already green lit), and we’re confident that this will give us the momentum we need to secure additional funding. The prologue will include character creation, general game mechanics and stats, and 4-5 areas to explore. This should equate to roughly 1 - 2 hours of actual gameplay, and will require 6-8 months of development to complete (with funding).

In the next kickstarter update for After Reset we get a look how the game handles stats, and alignments of your player character.

Today we have very big, tasty and juicy Update devoted to Game Mechanics of After Reset RPG. So lean back in in your armchairs and get ready to know more about Character Creation Process: let's talk about Alignment and Stats stages...

GAME MECHANICS: ALIGNMENT CHOICE

In the role-playing systems with rolls and dices, the Alignment parameter reflects the ethical and moral values of the character. Alignment is defined by the player when creating a character and affects role-play, and some abilities and limitations for the player.

In accordance with the rules of SACPIC, there are nine possible character alignments (three for each axis of a grid). The alignment for a neutral-neutral character, is usually called true neutral, or simply neutral.

Alignment can change throughout the game: a series of actions committed by a character that do not match their current Alignment will cause that character's Alignment to change in the long run. For example, an unprincipled thief and marauder (chaotic-neutral), seen sharing stolen stuff with the poor, will eventually become chaotic good.

Alignment strongly affects choice of character fractions to join and even professions. For example, a lawful-good (principled) character cannot join raiders or most of tribes; a mercenary of Black Sand faction should be neutral, and Corps Eater profession could be taken only by chaotic-evil characters.

Black Cloud Studios has posted a new kickstarter update for After Reset talking about The Dallas Incident.

Hey, fellow RPG fans! Mr. Nixon here. As I mentioned earlier, I’d like to devote every update to one of After Reset RPG’s three main features (atmosphere, story, or mechanics). Today’s Update is dedicated to STORY.

But before sharing this new lore with you, I’d like to share our plans for the Kickstarter campaign. A lot of people asked me: what will we do after if we don’t reach our goal of $900k? Don’t panic! We have plan B, C, and even D. :)

Our plan B is to offer direct backing on our website, adding unique features for those who supported us here. We will also put all backers into an exclusive group of 'co-founders' on our forum, so that we can keep you updated on our progress, and also give you the ability to participate in the development process together with us - primarily through polls and other interactive formats. Our goal here is to collect $50k in direct donations, as this will be enough to finish the prologue with a high level of quality. We can then proudly put it on Steam Early Access, and gain the momentum we need to complete the game.

Plan C is to merge our team with another developer that has like-minded goals, and I've got two decent proposals from respectful studios. We will reach out to them after the campaign. So the more backs we collect here on Kickstarter, the easier for us will be negotiating process.

We’ll post more info about this as we get closer to the end of the campaign, but regardless of what happens - we’re committed to making this game a reality. Now, back to the Lore…

A site by the name of CalmDownTom takes a look at the After Reset kickstarter RPG, and asks should we be excited. Here is the link.

After Reset is in very early stages of development. The groundwork is halfway there, so it really isn’t much to look at. It’s ambitious, too. Based on what I have seen, I’d say it will be very good when it is finished. However, that might take a long time and a lot of things can go wrong. The lack of combat, inventory and dialogue systems makes me pretty nervous. They are arguably the pillars of the genre, and yet, they are not there – or at least we haven’t gotten a chance to see them. This is what is throwing off alarms in my head, but I have some confidence in saying that After Reset has very good potential. Even if it does not achieve it’s lofty goal of being a tribute to the great old titles, it could still be a cult gem.

Black Cloud Studios talks about the atmosphere of After Reset., and talks about the Fallout we never got in the latest kickstarter update.

Good evening, people, Mr. Nixon here. As I mentioned earlier, I’d like to devote every update to one of After Reset RPG’s three main features (atmosphere, story, or mechanics). Today’s Update is dedicated to ATMOSPHERE.

I know many skeptics are appealing to our lack of game development fame, but the people who are working shoulder to shoulder with me on After Reset RPG have many years of industry experience. I believe (and I hope that more than 1k of our backers will agree) that the core of all good games lies in the soul and dedication of its staff - not in money, salaries, or famous names. So in this update, and future ones, I’d like to give the team a chance to speak out about their vision, experience, and thoughts, directly to our backers.

Since this Update is devoted to the ATMOSPHERE of After Reset RPG, I’d like to give the floor to Andrew Lyapichev, aka Weilard, the concept artist who created our posters, and with whom I hope to continue working with on the game.

But before we get to that - I want to announce that we’ve added several new backer tiers to our KS campaign, based on your feedback:
• We added a limited "2X PRIVATE" $45 tier for 2 digital copies of the game.
• We added a "SERGEANT [+]" $65 tier for a boxed copy of the game.
• In our next update we will publish a series of full-HD posters with the theme: "Who will you become after the end of days?" We hope you’ll enjoy them.

That‘s all for now. Thank you for your ideas and support in making our game a reality!

Black Cloud Studios posted the second update for After Reset with infomation on the games character creation.

Hey fellows,

Once again, thank you for your support! I see pretty many of you adjusted their pledges to higher ranks, that is nice :) As I mentioned through previous Update, I’d like to devote every update to one of the three main features of After Reset RPG (atmosphere, story or mechanics). And in this Update I’d like to lift a curtain a little and reveal several pieces of game MECHANICS. The pieces of character creation process. But before that, fresh field news.

I browse through the Internet every day and see a lot of responses about the game. Gaming media it is: "After Reset may be the Fallout 3 we never got…" Majority of the people like the idea, but are disappointed about the $900k goal we've settled. In this update I’d like to quote my reply on that on RPGWatch:

"As a mature person I've got sufficient money from my business so I don't want to be preying on gamers like myself. As a creator and a gamer I don't want to create and/or play one more unfinished trash… So $900k is not about "how much do I want" but about "how much does such a game cost.

Why did we launch that project? Because nobody else did. We're too tired of waiting. 

We waited for KOTOR 3 and got SWTOR :(

We waited for Balder's Gate 3 and got "Enhanced Edition" :(

We waited for Diablo 3 and got… *facepalm*

When another game was announced I put the question "will it be like unreleased original Fallout 3 (Van Buren)?" and received "no". That was the last drop. I do not want to play damn Commandos. I want to play R-P-G. So that game is for people who feel the same…"

Black Cloud Studios has posted the first update for After Reset with more details about the games DRM , and talks about the lore of The New Confederacy.

LORE: THE NEW CONFEDERACY

The Confederate Cities of America (CCA) commonly referred to as the Confederate Cities (CC) or the New Confederacy, was set up on February 4, 130AR (130 years After the Reset) by several cities within the region formerly known as North America. Those cities included in the New Confederacy were all survivors of the Reset and the nuclear holocaust that came with it, with populations directly descended from the survivors of the Reset. The creation of the CCA was heavily influenced by the Dallas Incident that occurred less than a year before its founding. It was also thanks to the personal charisma and experience of Bill Thomas, who united 5 of the survivor cities in Former North America and became the first President of The Confederate Cities of America after its formation.

FAQ UPDATE:

Your "Global influence of choice and consequences". Can you explain that?

RE: After your first play through, all your choices could be sent to our server. After the game session (1-2 years after release) our PC will calculate global ending of the session for After Reset setting. All people’s choices will be taken into account. Than me myself (as the author of the setting) with our story masters will polish it. By all of that we will get one unite global ending for the setting plus to your own one. And they combine well within the story (I mean personal ending and global one). 

Does the Internet required to activate or play the game? Am I forced to use the internet for that? 

RE: You are completely free to use it or not. Internet connection is required only for co-op, global ending influence and several small bonus ‘cookies’ from our exclusive pledges (to activate them). If you don’t want to connect to Internet you are free to play it with your CD-KEY like in good old Fallout 1&2… or just play cracked version from the Pirate Bay. But you will not be able to affect the setting, play co-op and use other small testy ‘cookies’ of Quantum Sync feature. 

Speaking of DRM, will there be a DRM free version?

RE: After Reset RPG will be DRM-free.

What is the difference between NORMAL and DIRECTORS'S CUT version? It says (no violence/morale/language restrictions switcher). What does it mean, exactly?

RE: Director’s Cut is for hardcore sociopaths :) But to be serious, those editions will have different ERSB ratings. Maximize violence is in Director’s Cut. As well as no language or actions restrictions. If you remember that devs had to cut off possibility of killing children in Fallout, then you know what I mean. I am also going to try to avoid any restrictions for real receipts of and made arms, explosive, stims and drugs. As well we are going to make much more violent animations. That cost more in production (e.g. recreating 1/3 of only character animations from Fallout 2 by motion capture technology we use for our game costs more than $12k). 

What about a dialogue system to interact with NPCs? Is it going to be a full dialogue or a keyword system?

RE: There will be an old school full dialogue system. Remember the one in Fallout 1&2? Then just add reaction timer from Walking Dead: The Game and you will know exactly what to expect.

The kickstarter for After Reset is now live and asking for $900,000. I wish them luck and will continue to cover the game. Anyway here is gameplay video and game details.

Hey guys, my name is Richard. I’m the creator and game director of After Reset RPG an old-school sci-fi apocalyptic roleplaying game inspired by such video games as Fallout 1/2, Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment.

Through this description I’d like to tell you about the game my team and I have been working on for more than a year.  Since the announcement of Fallout: Van Buren has such a game taken center stage.  Of course that game was never released, so we decided to fill in the gap.  You see, After Reset was developed after a long line of gaming disappointments.  Like you, we too experienced one dashed hope after another as we waited for the perfect Fallout: Van Buren substitute.  We wanted to relive the emotions provided by adventuring in old-school RPG’s. I’m sure that together we CAN build that theme park! With blackjack, caravans and hookers, of course! :)

And with these things in mind, After Reset is based on three pillars of the good old days of RPG – you can expect:

• A POST-APOCALYPTIC ATMOSPHERE, developed with scientific realism and with more places to explore than Fallout 1 and 2 together had;

• A NONLINEAR STORY with freedom of choice and a ton of branches and endings, which influence the whole setting even beyond the game you play;

• HARDCORE MECHANICS in the best traditions of DnD and SPECIAL, in which even the process of character creation stretches out into prolonged enjoyment.

After Reset is a new classic roleplaying open world game inspired by Fallout.

DESCRIPTION:

After Reset™ - a classic roleplaying open world game with old school top view, which action takes place in the future on Earth dying slowly after nuclear cataclysm that buried nearly all life on the planet.

PLOT:

Planet Earth. 132 years after the "Reset," the thermonuclear apocalypse which ended human civilization. Around one third of the globe is covered by "Yellow Zones," where the ruins of cities are covered with radioactive dust. In these areas, anarchist "Survivor" groups have taken control, and uncontaminated food and drinking water are valued at parity with human life. Another third of the Earth is in the agony of the "Red Zones," the epicenters of the deadly anomalies which arose as a result of a nuclear chain reaction in the atmosphere, and the morphing of the planet. The majority of terrestrial organisms are not capable of surviving in the "Red Zones," which makes it a perfect home for mutants and "guests" from deep space. The planet is unrecognizable and empty…

The developer announces the game has been Greenlit and that a kickstarter will go live to fund the development.

My Fellow Supporters,

I come before you tonight with the great news: today we've been greenlit. It took us 5 days to get selected by Steam. As you can see from our statistics we showed the best dynamics ever.

I believe we set Greenlight record because of your interest, your support and your votes. Thank you!

See you on Kickstarter soon. And regardless of what happens, I am going to continue this fight. Let’s make this game happen already

In the meantime you can watch a few videos and look at some screenshots also.