The Indie Game Magazine February 2015 | Issue 46 | Page 16

J.C. Smith: Rogue Nations are a third faction
in the game. The two main factions of [One
World, One Nation] and [Free People’s Republic] are always going to have a preset level
of conflict. In contested (PvP) areas, they will
always be able to attack one another. Rogue
Nations are different. A nation in Repop is
like a guild. You can create a nation under
the wing of OWON or FPR, or you can elect
to form it as a Rogue Nation.

Skill Imprints were our solution to this problem.
Activities such as missions or Engagements
will reward you with SI (Skill Imprint) rewards.
These reflect your general knowledge of a
certain type of activity, such as Combat or
Trade Skills. You can then visit a Skill Imprinting Station, typically at a medical center, to
spend those points to improve any skill in
that category. So SI gives you an alternate
way to earn skill levels.

Rogue Nations are interesting in that they
are officially frowned upon by both major
factions. Rogue Nations are a neutral faction,
and as such they can be attacked by players
from other factions initially. What makes
Rogue Nations unique though, is that they
can set their relationship level to every other

IGM: The Repopulation features are rather
unique Pet System. Do you have any details
about the function of pets, and the three
different types of pets that can be found
in the game?

nation/guild in the game. This means that a
Rogue Nation could flag themselves as friendly
to an OWON or FPR player-created nation.
If the other nation accepts this upgrade of
relationship, then they will appear Friendly
to one another and safe from attack, even
in contested territory. As a result of that,
Rogue Nations provide the most room for
politicking between nations. Some may be
hostile to the entire server, and others could
feasibly ally with most of the server.
IGM: What is the Skill Imprinting feature,
and how does it work?
J.C. Smith: One of the problems in a pure
skills-based system is that the fastest route
to anything is through grinding. Players will
sometimes just go grind on mobs or activities, rather than doing missions, because the
running around in missions or Engagements
slows down their skill speed.

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tamers or robotic engineers can control up to
three of their pet types, you must skill up for a
while to earn a second genetically engineered
pet, and it caps at two. Engineered pets are
also perma-death/single use, to make up for
the fact that they are so easy to produce.
IGM: What are the specific differences between the Action and RPG modes when it
comes to combat?
J.C. Smith: RPG Mode is your basic, common
MMORPG controls, where Action Mode plays
more like a shooter. The game itself is always
in RPG Mode. The server doesn’t differentiate between Action Mode or RPG Mode,
everything reaches the server in RPG Mode.

J.C. Smith: There are currently three types
Control-wise though, Action Mode makes the
of pets in The Repopulation: Genetically
game more enjoyable for shooter or action
Engineered, Robot, and Tamed. Each has its
fans who may be turned away by ability bars
own specific role and purpose.
and the like. When in Action Mode. your
Tamed pets are obtained through using the mouse controls the way you are facing, like
Tame ability from animal handlers. Generally in a shooter. The left mouse button performs
on baby animals, but some species allow a normal action or an attack, while the right
adults to be tamed. Tamed pets start very mouse button sends a Momentum based
weak, but with proper care and feeding, they action or attack. You can also hold down the
will mature to become quite strong. Tamed CTRL key to change your left or mouse action
pets can be permanently killed, however into a defensive one for miscellaneous things.
you or another player skilled in Veterinary
If you open a window or interact with someMedicine can tend to their wounds and
thing that opens one, it will temporarily put
prevent that from happening. You typically
you back into RPG controls until that window
have 4 defeats or starvation events before
is closed.
a pet permanently dies, but those can be
IGM: Can you tell me about how things
restored by a vet.
like Momentum and Posture affect combat
Robot pets are permanent, but do need to
proficiency?
be repaired from time to time. They don’t
start particularly strong, but have their own J.C. Smith: Momentum is an alternate
socket system, which is like fittings for robots. stat pool in Repop which reflects how well
This allows you to customize your robots and things are going for your character. It goes
up automatically as good events happen,
make them significantly stronger.
and goes down when bad things happen.
Genetically Engineered pets are the most
Momentum actions are more powerful but
common types, and do not have skill requirenot always available, due to needing to build
ments like the other pets. This means they
momentum. Abilities consume a varying
are the easiest pets to obtain for a casual pet
level of momentum, which allows for some
user. They are also the easiest to produce.
strategic decisions in combat. You can either
Genetic Engineers can take DNA and tissue,
use it quickly for less powerful abilities, or
which are common harvests from living spestore it up for a stronger ability which can
cies, and then splice those together to create
be used less often.
hybrid species. Genetically Engineered pets
offer a lot of variety as a result, but they do There are three postures in the game: Standcome with a downside. Where grandmaster ing, Kneeling and Prone. Standing is your

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