After Reset RPG Interview for Small DevTalk news

An interview with me was published on Small Dev Talk. The full version of it is in this news.

Small Dev Talk: What is After Reset RPG?

Mr.Nixon: After Reset RPG is a classic open world roleplaying game with an old school top-down view, in which the action takes place in the future on a slowly dying Earth after a nuclear cataclysm that destroyed nearly all life on the planet.

Small Dev Talk: What is the story in After Reset RPG?

Mr.Nixon: Planet Earth. 132 years after the "Reset," the thermonuclear apocalypse that 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 looks empty…

An unfamiliar woman’s voice wakes you up with phrases like “Wake up, Commander!” You come to naked on the floor of some kind of laboratory surrounded by shards of glass and some kind of liquid. You can’t figure out who you are, where you are, what you are doing there, and what kind of voice you’re hearing.

Small Dev Talk: Can you go in detail with us about the branching character development system in After Reset RPG? What type of perks and skills will the player be able to choose from in After Reset RPG?

Mr.Nixon: I'm still working on our game mechanic, SACPIC, so any details aren’t for sure, and could change. In general terms, it takes the best (from my point of view as a player and Game/Dungeon Master) features from DnD (specifically edition 3.5) and SPECIAL (the development of which should have been integrated into Fallout Van Buren).

At the moment of our release on Kickstarter, I’d like to be able to show a clip about character creation for future bakers. And in general for those who are already looking forward to our game and believe in us.
But I can already say that the level of the player will top out at level 20, but it won’t necessarily be a vertical progression. First of all, if you’re unarmed in the desert, 20 feet away from an attacker with a firearm, your chances of surviving the attack are nearly zero. And that’s regardless of your level. We try to aim for “real science fiction” in the same way A Song of Fire and Ice tries to be “real fantasy.” Our target gamers are fairly grown up and well versed in games, which is why, in order to guarantee the maximum immersion in the severe world of After Reset, we have to be able to guarantee a certain level of reality. In everything, including the branching character development system.

Small Dev Talk: Being an open world game, what will the player be able to do in the open world environment of After Reset RPG?

Mr.Nixon: There are at least two regions available to the player: The Great Desert (mostly ex-Nevada) and The State of Eagle (mostly ex-California). You can travel and do whatever you want within those regions and do whatever you want. This is the open-world part of the game. The range of your movement across the Global Map is limited by your water reserve and is affected by stats/skills/perks.

Small Dev Talk: How is the co-op going to work in After Reset RPG?

Mr.Nixon: For now, let’s let that stay a secret. We don’t want to tie that down for marketing reasons. The game will not have to be connected to the internet, there will not be DRM-protection , nor an in-game store, auctions or other heresies. All the same there will be plenty of good reasons, in my opinion, for you to WANT to play the game with the internet on.

Small Dev Talk: What type of weapons will the player come across and get to use in After Reset RPG?

Mr.Nixon: As in the setting of DnD (edition 3.5), the world will have a lot of types of weapons. Most of them are home made, but some rare specimens are hold-overs from the Past Era. Private weapon ownership is fairly widespread in the US, and the climate of Nevada helps preserve things. Many types of weapon could fully survive the Reset. It is also impossible to write off some kind of metallurgy being practiced in the growing New Confederation.

If your question is what are feats, which you have to accomplish to have this or that type of weapon, the answer is: Weapon Proficiency: Unarmed, Weapon Proficiency: Cold Steel, Weapon Proficiency: Firearms, Weapon Proficiency: Energy Weapons, and others.

Small Dev Talk: What type of enemies will the player come across in After Reset RPG?

Mr.Nixon: Mankind's biggest enemy is people themselves. But other than other people, you could come across such beings as Animals, Synthetics, Biomass, Aliens, Aberrations and some others. Each species could have several subspecies.

Small Dev Talk: What will the environment be like in After Reset RPG? How will it be lifelike and serious?

Mr.Nixon: As you remember, Fallout 1/2 was always satirical and phantasmagoric. And we loved it for that. The retro-future world of Fallout 1/2, drenched with romanticism, and having already rebuilt after the catastrophe, found it’s path to the development of a new world.

The setting of the game After Reset RPG is drenched with the atmosphere of a dying desert on the planet. Human civilization lost the battle for the Earth by hiding. The earth itself in large areas is reminiscent of Mars. It’s a miracle that a handful of people are still clinging to life. All the same, for those who were born on the earth’s surface among the survivors of the Reset, that world is taken for granted – they simply don’t know any other one.

Over the 100 years without humans, lots of traces of the civilization of the Past Era have been erased. That’s one of the reasons we chose an arid region as a scene – the desert climate guarantees the highest amount of traces of past civilizations possible will be preserved.

What are the morals, norms of behavior, values and psychology of the descendants of people who survived the Reset on the surface – then it’s different from ours no less than our modern habits and dogmas differ from those that were prominent two centuries ago.

I’ve developed the setting based on real scientific studies and original documents remaining from our reality. Thus for example, according to present USA military doctrine, atomic attacks will be made on their own densely populated cities, on their own inhabitants in certain circumstances. And they do that only if necessary, but that doesn’t mean that decision will be made in cold blood. A similar decision will change the USA forever.

What are the Survivors? They are people for whom murder, might makes right, thievery, drugs, power, short lifespans, and treason are as natural as a cup of coffee in the morning for most of us. On the surface, there is no more Government capable of protecting and guaranteeing something – nothing remains to hold back Human Nature. And no one’s around to make TV shows about that nature – it’s like TOR brought to life (note: Tor is a fully anonymous internet network, not controlled by any governments or corporations). But beyond that, among all that horror, we can see sparks of real valor, honesty, morals, self-sacrificing, and empathy as other spark sides of human nature. They’re called “sparks” because they quickly fade in the darkness, because a person with these qualities on the Earth’s surface in After Reset world wouldn’t live long.

Well, if you’re totally disillusioned with humanity, or generally find your self experience social phobia, you can always throw your backpack over your shoulder, rifle on the other, a flask on your hip and set off to wander in the Great Desert. To study the remains of a human civilization that never quite reached the stars, or simply to live the life of a wanderer, searching for yourself, and your path.

Small Dev Talk: What inspired you to create After Reset RPG?

Mr.Nixon: I was sick of waiting for a decent Fallout 3 :) But to be serious, yes I was really sick of waiting for an interesting RPG to come out. Over the last 4 years I made Fallout D20, the fan-made PW NWN2 and got it to a playable server. But due to legal issues, I had to stop development. And then, from my 20 years of experience as a gamer, 6 years of experience as a Dungeon Master, and 5-year experience as a businessman, the setting of After Reset was born.

Intenseness of development of the game sharply grew after I found out about Kickstarter, and the game Avernum: Escape From the Pit. Successful gaming startups on Kickstarter have shown that it’s completely possible to attract the necessary funds to develop a worthy old-school RPG (from a minimum $900 thousand collection + $100,000 of my own personal savings). Avernum: Escape From the Pit with its huge world, hundreds of hours travelling, and created by just one person really convinced me that even independent of the results of co-founding, I could really create After Reset RPG, even at the level of a hobby.

Small Dev Talk: What is your favorite aspect of After Reset RPG?

Mr.Nixon: Atmosphere, Story, Roleplaying, and Freedom of Actions.

Small Dev Talk: What challenges did you and your team come across in the development of After Reset RPG?

Mr.Nixon: Just as in anything, the basic problem, and simultaneously secret to success is people. It’s really hard to find high quality experts in their business with an adequate self-assessment.

Small Dev Talk: Do you have any advice for upcoming developers?

Mr.Nixon: Ups and downs are unavoidable on the path to your goal. Try to stay calm during the ups, and have unshakeable confidence during the downs, and monotonously, and inevitably walk toward your goal. If you can’t take a step, crawl inch by inch. If you cant crawl, at least lie down in the direction of your goal. And then everything becomes possible.

Small Dev Talk: What is the expected release date for After Reset RPG and how much will it cost or will it be Free-To-Play?

Mr.Nixon: If we get support on Kickstarter, I think we can expect this game to come out in around 1-2 years. If no, then we’re talking about 5 years. Here’s the simple math:
Game = Time * Money * Perseverance.
Money = Time * Perseverance.
Thus, Game = Time² * Perseverance or Game = Money² * Perseverance
I've got a lot of Perseverance, so the release date will be totally dependent on the wishes of the gamers.

Small Dev Talk: Do you have anything to say towards our readers?

Mr.Nixon: Clearly define your goals and never give up. And of course follow After Reset RPG and read/watch Small Dev Talk.

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