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Reiza General Update - Fresh News All Around!

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Renato Simioni, Sep 11, 2018.

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  1. Renato Simioni

    Renato Simioni Administrator Staff Member

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    Hello everyone!

    We´re finally back to offer some fresh Reiza info for you.. I know some of you have been earning for it for a while now :)

    Firstly I´d like to assure that the relative lack of news do not mean things haven´t been going on in the background, but some news are indeed overdue and this feels like a good time to offer a round-up of where we stand on various topics - here goes!

    Reiza Next Title (aka Reiza 201X or the AMS Sequel)

    This is understandably the biggest source of antecipation so let´s start with that - I´ll try share as much as I can :)

    For those of you who may not be aware, some background info: we first announced plans to develop a fully new title after licensing the ISIMotor2 Engine back in 2015 as part of the SimRacing Bonanza crowdfunding campaign to fund further development to Stock Car Extreme (eventually turned into Automobilista), as a way to give backers some foresight of where we were going on the long term (also because this new title was offered as a perk on some investment levels). This new title was at various points refered to as Reiza2017, Reiza2018 or just simply the "AMS Sequel".

    As it turns out the announcement proved quite premature, and the estimate release schedule optimistic as the 3 years that have gone on since have brought up many changes - Automobilista proved both more demanding and more succesful than we expected, earning it an extended development timeline; some people have moved on while others have joined, lessons were learned, new partners and better possibilitiies have presented themselves and all the while we have been juggling these changes and evaluating the new options in order to work out the best path forward.

    While all that has inevitably pushed the schedule for the new release up further, we hope people can appreciate that this is a crucial step for the future and once development sets off on given a path it´s very difficult (and potentially lethal for a small studio such as ourselves) to try turn around. It obviously hasn´t happened in 2017 nor will it in 2018, but release is now set firmly to 2019.

    The original plan was to develop our own tangent to ISIMotor 2 (and we have done that to some extent with Automobilista), it eventually became clear that tackling the bigger structural changes required to fully update the engine was too risky and time consuming prospect, so we set of looking at alternatives that could deliver and engine to our requirements at a faster pace, and preferably not forcing us to discard the work poured into AMS. The good news is that there are no shortage of good options that will allow us to deliver on those targets.

    One of which is indeed rFactor 2 - after we announced the rFactor2 Bundle there was some natural speculation about us licensing the rFactor2 engine for the AMS Sequel - the opportunity to develop the Bundle has certainly been valuable for us to properly sink our teeth into that engine and learn more about it, at the same time allowing us to create something fresh and generate some welcome extra revenue with it. It was also a chance to rekindle our relationship with our friends from Studio 397, with whom we had already collaborated early on the development of Automobilista.

    While licensing the rF2 engine remains a very exciting option, for now development of the Bundle is an end on itself - we´re still evaluating other options including one that has just recently been presented, while remaining adamant a decision will have to be taken soon.

    In the meantime the project has been advancing in other fronts - we´ve recently secured a number of new exciting licensing deals to go along those we already had; we have also been working on developing new content and further upgrading the cars and tracks that will be ported over from AMS (most of them will).

    This is what I can share now - while I appreciate this is not as detailed as some might have been hoping for, hopefully when time comes for an official announcement (in a matter of weeks rather than months) the wait will have proven worthwhile :)

    Reiza rFactor2 Bundle

    The next step is on the road is the release of the Reiza rFactor 2 Bundle, an exciting prospect in its own right. Here are some more details we can now share about it.

    Firstly, the content - these are cars and tracks that will make up the Bundle:

    Cars
    Metalmoro AJR
    Metalmoro MR18
    MCR Sports 2000
    Formula Vee
    4.jpg

    Tracks

    Guaporé
    Ibarra
    12.jpg
    Our goal when assembling content for the Bundle was to put together a pack that was at once interesting, complementary and fit in well together along with exiting rF2 content. Obviously the fact this is a 3rd party for another sim means it has to inhabit the design of that product, for that reason you won´t be seeing any of our semi-fictional cars on the Bundle, as Studio397 has been focusing on delivering officially licensed content for rFactor 2.

    Since there are 50 venues and over 30 series to pick from in Automobilista it would not be surprising for some of you not to find your personal favorite in this package, moving forward though anything is possible - if the Bundle is well received it could be expanded or a new one put together, possibly even including bigger and / or brand new content.

    Pricing is not 100% finalized but you may expect it to be close to standards of other rFactor 2 DLCs with items being sold individually and the full bundle at a special discount. We are pushing to release all items together before the end of September.

    Last Automobilista DLC

    This is another front where we have been running late over the original prediction, so firstly let me assure everyone that it´s still coming :)

    Obviously much later than we´d antecipated - reason in part is that eyeballs have almost inevitably focused elsewhere lately, but the main challenge has been conciling the licensing demands of this DLC with the AMS Season Pass - as this pack wasn´t initially foreseen when we first offered the Season Pass it took some manouvering and a bit more time for us to absorb the costs and keep it free to Season Pass owners. We´re trying to work it out and should have more details about it in the coming weeks and release hopefully not long after.

    Further Automobilista news is that while core development wrapped early on the year with v1.5.1 release we´ve taken some time to put together one more hotfix to address a few issues presented to us since. It should also be rolling out towards the end of the month.

    Reiza Backers - what´s next

    We have an extra treat for both Reiza Campaign backers as well as Membership pack owners - thanks also to the kind support of Studio397, upon release of the rF2 Bundle those of you in either group will have the option to request the Reiza rF2 Bundle to be added free to your Steam account (naturally so long as you already own rFactor2). More details on how to proceed to request this will be offered upon release.

    As further clarification specially to backers who bought into investment levels that included the AMS Sequel and its eventual DLCs as potential perks, we´d like to assure you´ll still be due to receive those perks upon the release of the new title. The "extra" perks that have been offered since in the form of free additional AMS DLCs and now the rF2 Bundle do not subtract from your original perks.

    Sim Racing Expo

    The Sim Racing Expo will be taking place this weekend at the Nurburgring, and I will be attending along with some other Reiza devs. While we won´t be presenting anything this year, it should be a good opportunity to meet up and chat with those of you who may also be attending :) We´ll be roaming around on saturday afternoon with our Reiza / Extreme t-shirts, so feel free to come up and say hello!


    Hopefully this update covers your more immediate questions, but if not feel free to ask below and I´ll do my best to answer you :)
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2019
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  2. FeltHat

    FeltHat Active Member AMS2 Club Member

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    [​IMG]
    cant wait for more amsX news, dont forget about super trucks :D
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2018
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  3. Rob Nelson

    Rob Nelson Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Thanks for the update. Would be nice to get a hint about the final AMS dlc.
     
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  4. DaVeX

    DaVeX AMSUnofficial Staff AMS2 Club Member

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    So you basically found a way to move what you guys achieved with old engine to new one?
    I mean, we love AMS physics and ffb so how a different engine give us the same or improved feelings? Which tire model you will use?
    pMotor2 (the physics engine) will be there and do you refer to a new graphic engine only?

    @Renato Simioni sorry for the questions, you guys are really open toward us and I don't want to push you guys to tell us everything but I would like to know how the two statements above stands togheter, specially since we love AMS improved phisycs and ffb...
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2018
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  5. Schlitty

    Schlitty Active Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Looking forward to all of it.
     
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  6. Rob Thompson

    Rob Thompson Active Member

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    [​IMG]

    Thanks for the update lads.
     
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  7. Renato Simioni

    Renato Simioni Administrator Staff Member

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    Hey Dave, not at all that´s what this is for :)

    Generally I´d say we´re well aware of what we do well and what needs to be preserved moving forward, and that´s naturally a priority. Having an engine that shares a lot of the same DNA to ours helps but that doesn´t necessarily mean we can´t have a bigger change and make it work, only that it could take a bit more time. It´s a balancing act and also requires some hands-on experience which might not be accessible unless you also have something to offer... So if you´re trying to be thorough it can be a time consuming process.
     
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  8. Antaka

    Antaka New Member

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    I know how hard game development is, this are great news! Really hyped to see what's coming next!!!
     
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  9. hashegotabeard

    hashegotabeard Active Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Re: the last DLC

    low priority questions:

    Does this mean the content has been in a reasonably finished state for a while now?

    Will Reiza 51 members have the usual early access shortly before release (via the beta) or does the circumstances of the deal stop you from doing this in this instance?
     
  10. Renato Simioni

    Renato Simioni Administrator Staff Member

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    A lot of the modelling work has been done, it still needs exporting in-game, physics and audio development but those usually progress at a quicker rate.

    It should indeed follow the same development flow adopted in AMS so far, making to AMS Beta first before release proper.
     
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  11. traind

    traind Active Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Is the last dlc license race car, road car or both?
     
  12. Daniel Escudero

    Daniel Escudero Onlysimracing.com staff & microyoutuber.

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    We trust on REIZA ,

    thanks we will keep waiting for more!
     
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  13. SlowPoke80

    SlowPoke80 Active Member

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    Will the new game support modding?
     
  14. JES

    JES New Member

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    Well there wasn't any news really apart from the fact that Reiza is now developing DLC content for rF2. I hope this doesn't see Reiza turning into a house that just develops content and DLC packs.

    I understand it's a monumental task to update the whole game structure from ISIMotor 2 engine, but the picture I got from the post is that they still haven't decided which route to go and which engine to use for their next game, so I'm not too optimistic about anything getting released in near future. Anyway, I hope I'm being too pessimistic about this.
     
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  15. Dann Murillo

    Dann Murillo tinyurl.com/osrdiscord AMS2 Club Member

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    This sentence is really great to read and now I am more optimistic for the next title. :)
    :hurrayreiza:
     
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  16. Marc Collins

    Marc Collins Internal Tester AMS2 Club Member

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    Me, too. No option will be easy, but rF2 is not in a reasonably finished condition the way rFactor was when AMS started. At S397 development pace, there is still years worth of work to do to be at a place where AMS 2 could branch off from it. Also, there are important sim features that AMS already has that rF2 does.not, even though it should have had them years ago.

    Regardless of which path is chosen, the amount of work just to update all the existing cars and tracks to handle rain, better lighting and graphics, night racing, etc., is massive. A very difficult decision to keep the basics and add new graphics engine versus going with rF2 and doing new graphics enginei plus much more complex physics and dealing with unfinished Ui, weather, and half a dozen other key things.
     
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  17. JES

    JES New Member

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    Well I would assume that by going with rF2 engine, it is not necessary to use every part of it, such as the UI or other features that are already at same or better level in AMS. I think frankly the only things that are obviously better in rF2 engine are DX11 and VR, but those are big things that are almost a must in 2018, and AMS doesn't have them. rF2 (graphics) engine could tick these boxes and probably be implemented in relatively short time as all shaders etc. are shared. By not going rF2 engine, I think the wait for the next title will be much longer.
     
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  18. 2ndLastJedi

    2ndLastJedi Free speech matters AMS2 Club Member

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    Very nice !
    What does Membership pack owners mean ?
     
  19. FeltHat

    FeltHat Active Member AMS2 Club Member

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  20. alexSchmurtz

    alexSchmurtz Active Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Thanks a lot for these news Renato, very promising… as always! :p Tough to be patient but you guys always showed it was worth waiting for your outcome!

    Being Dx11 does not translate necessarily in awesome graphics; rF2 looks better since the change but I must admit I didn't find it was such a game breaker… On the other hand, RRE is still on Dx9 and their graphics are quite appealing to me. In the end, I find all 3 games graphics to be surprisingly close when you run them mid day with sunny sky… which is what we run quite often! ;)

    On the UI front, AMS seems heavily based on rF 1 UI; I like a lot the end result, but you can still see the base dna. It is aging and would need new feature: you can't really on static pages anymore today. When did s397 announce the new Ui for rF2? Around 20 months ago now? We can still count the screenshots we've seen with one hand, so it seems far from finished and quite complex to handle if you want to use it as a base… Same if starting from scratch: it might be a nice in-between but would take time. Old rF2 UI is just a mess and should be avoided imho: it would make any new game dated quite quickly, even with a nice graphics work.

    I'm not convinced it is that simple to work with the rF2 engine: s397 seems to work really hard but I find progresses quite slow. In the end, moving to a different engine (we will see an example tonight…:D) might be worth, and not a lot longer; like Renato is implying, it is down to finding the right people to work with in that case. Looking back at AMS 1: it will have a 3 year career at least, so the new game should aim to look good and modern in 2022 still… and probably well behind that!
     
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