The Repopulation PvE Content Explained

A new post is up on The Repopulation’s website, aiming to explain the PvE content of Above & Beyond Technologies’ Kickstarter-funded sci-fi MMO.

Here’s a snippet:

Missions Explained

Missions in The Repopulation are similar to quests in most other MMORPGs. They focus on story driven content that can be targeted at solo players, or groups of players. Where most other titles focus on static linear quests though, The Repopulation focuses instead of generated content that is custom tailored to your character and offered in a non-linear fashion. That’s not to say that The Repopulation does not have static missions or lengthy storylines, it does. But even in those cases, we generally focus on branching storylines and factor in your style of play into the outcome.

You will never need to do missions to progress. Missions are a purely optional feature, but a feature that most players will participate in.

Tailor Made Missions

In your typical theme park MMO, progression is pretty linear, and driven primarily by questing. You know that from level 1-5 you need to be in certain areas in order to level up on these quests, and the desire for appropriate leveled quests drives your path through the game. Because each player from your starting area is on the same path as you, you each have a very similar experience and order in which new content is introduced.

This is not the case in The Repopulation. After you complete the initial tutorial you’re transported to the appropriate capital city and there is very little linearity from that point onwards. Although there are also some static missions, the bulk of our missions are generated and tailor made for your character. They’ll take your skill levels, factions, previously completed missions, engagements or achievements, location, and personality traits into account to find a mission suitable for your character.

That mission will then be mailed to you in-game. You can access your mail at any time, from anyplace in the game world using a PDA. Missions come in as job offers. You will be given an overview of the mission, who you’ll be working for, and any expected difficulties. You will then be given an opportunity to Accept or Deny the mission.

Missions come in all shapes and sizes in The Repopulation. From simple delivery or kill missions to complex crafting or harvestings missions, to raid situations and epic quests. You can filter through different mission types through your settings tab in the mission windows if you would only like to receive a certain type of mission. There are some combination filters to allow players to for example receive all non-combat missions, or instead to filter so they only receive harvesting and crafting ones.

Due to the way we filter missions for players, you should receive offers based on past events, and based on ways you responded to NPCs in previous missions. More advanced mission types can have a large number of prerequisites, and players will often not know when they are unlocking them.

Players who show no desire to break the law may never be able to experience the same missions as underworld types, but they may gain access to another segment of missions that underworld types would not have at their disposal. If you walk around insulting every NPC and generally acting like a jerk, the NPCs will take notice, just as they notice and remember people who help them. The bottom line here is that your decisions and your choices do matter, so you should pay attention.

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Branching Dialogs and Outcomes

NPC Chatter will automatically appear in chat bubbles beside the NPC who is speaking. Sometimes players will be given response bubbles. Players response to an NPC by selecting the appropriate response bubble. Your choices can cause missions to go into alternate branches, and the choices you make will be used to form your personality traits, and how NPCs respond to you.

Your choices do matter in The Repopulation. We use a number of hidden trackers on your character which monitor when you treat NPCs rudely, are helpful, tried to be a joker, made decisions based on greed, etc. NPCs form their opinions of players based on these traits and by using a hidden faction and achievement system. They can offer different storylines or branches based on how you have previously responded to different situations.

Missions can branch in many ways though, speech options are just one of them. We can also perform a skill check against any of your skills to see if you succeeded or failed the check and then branch the mission accordingly. For example if you were hired to hack into a security system and failed, you might fail the mission or be given a reprimand (or bounty on your head), but if you succeeded you would be able to continue the mission, or reap the reward. We can also perform random dice rolls to branch a mission, or base them on hidden goals you have completed such as visiting a certain place or speaking to a certain NPC before another.

The branches taken can also have an affect on the loot rewarded. Sometimes the more difficult paths will reward you with better loot.