The MMORPG The Repopulation is on hold. Disputes between the game’s developers and the developers of the Hero Engine have led to some changes in the plans.
Above and Beyond Technologies, the developers of The Repopulation, have turned their back on the Hero Engine and will now develop the MMORPG based on Unreal Engine 4. This means that a lot of programming has to be redone. This delays the release of the MMO until at least the end of the year. To secure funding for development and to offer players something earlier, they are currently developing the survival game Fragmented.
A Rapid Development
Fragmented is based on The Repopulation but does not possess the deep game elements of an MMORPG. JC Smith, who works at Above and Beyond Technologies, answered some questions in an interview with MassivelyOP. The switch of the engine has, of course, upset the entire schedule. However, since funding is necessary and they did not want to use Kickstarter again, they decided to develop Fragmented.
The Unreal Engine 4 would have allowed for the creation of a nearly feature-complete game within three months. All backers of The Repopulation will receive Fragmented for free. It will also be offered for regular sale.
The Repopulation will be a true MMORPG
Fragmented will be a sandbox survival game that also offers crafting, harvesting, and building of fortifications – although on a smaller scale than The Repopulation will offer. In addition, there are no NPCs, no NPC cities, and no quests, so development can progress faster. The team will support both games, which is probably not too labor-intensive since both games share systems and technologies.
JC Smith explains that they will definitely publish The Repopulation and that they do not want to cut any features. During development, they will, of course, evaluate one or the other element to see if it still makes sense, but the MMORPG is expected to offer everything one expects from an MMO.
They are very happy with the switch to Unreal Engine 4, even if they miss some of the comfort of the Hero Engine, which already brought several MMO features and also made world creation easier. However, they can now pursue a modular development approach. They will start with the survival game Fragmented and based on that, they will add further features for The Repopulation until they have the MMORPG they envisioned.
