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Gbanga Famiglia Rise and Fall is a mafia-themed open world game that
is based on the real world through open data. It turns traditional game
concepts such as racing, heists and strategic organization into an immersive
mobile massive multiplayer online (MMO) outdoor game that you will play everywhere and at all times.
We at game studio Gbanga have worked on this type of games since 2007
(see links further down), in 2010 we launched the 2D-mafia game Famiglia I and
this year we want to bring the genre to the next level. On this page we explain
you how.
"A mafia-based MMO that's about the size of Earth"
PocketGamer
The Rise Of A New
Mafioso
You take the role of an up and coming mafioso who starts in his own
neighborhood. To earn your initial capital, you have to take control of
surrounding bars, restaurants and banks. The raised funds can be invested in
pimping your owned establishments and in travel to remote places
effortlessly.
In the meanwhile, the police detects you and starts monitoring your
operations. That means, sometimes, you have to escape from the police
helicopter in a spectacular car chase and you must hide from a satellite by
avoiding public squares.
On your way to success, other players and non-player characters (NPCs) can support you, but also
regularly will ask you to return a favor. Like that, you will find yourself
soon as a car driver in a bank hold-up, under DEA observation or patrolling and
defending another ally player’s territory while he is on vacation.
What Is Rise And Fall?
Game experts would call Rise and Fall an expressive next-generation
cross-platform open-world open-data real-time mixed-reality location-based MMO
game with first-person and third-person gameplay that you will play
everywhere.
The game world is designed to resemble the real world to
provide as much open world space as possible with the familiarity that one
needs to carry out geo-based quests. You will be able to do
long-distance car races from New York to San Francisco or from
Paris to Dakar. In real time, and yes, it will take you hours! But you can take
breaks ;)
Players compete over territory in the persistent MMO world
by playing mini-games and accomplishing quests. They can expand their area of influence by walking for real in the real world which -through GPS- triggers the virtual avatar to move along with your current location.
The Mafioso players earn a virtual fortune that they can invest to reinforce
their hoods by hiring automated bouncers that patrol the neighborhood and to solidify
their influence by improving the establishment that they own.
Are you ready to explore one of the largest open worlds?
Will you become a notorious gangster or an business-minded and
reliable ally? How are you going to maintain your territory in
a world of scarcity?
Rise and Fall will be released on mobile devices running iOS and
Android.
Game World
The world is more and more controlled by up and coming
Mafiosos. It still is not sorted out who is in charge, which areas
belong to whom. This is your opportunity to establish a reign of power, a
mafia legacy. But watch out: all other players try as hard as
you do. And space and influence is exclusive…
Reality-Inspired World
Generation
The world of Rise and Fall is based on real maps with real
buildings, streets, rivers and lakes. This makes it spacious, extremely
diversified and – of course – realistic. If you know your
neighborhood from everyday life, you also know the game world and you
can align your strategy accordingly.
It is filled with real-world establishments such as bars,
restaurants and banks. All of them are incorporated in the daily quests that
you have to achieve.
Player Choice
The vast infinity of the game world opens infinite possibilities for the
player. You can engage in mini-game fights, simply explore the world or
strategically gain influence in several cities around the globe.
You are able to accomplish quests such as escape from the police helicopter
or helping as a driver in a bank hold-up.
Thriving Community
In our previous mixed-reality games, we have seen engaged players teaming up
in global groups, meeting at local meet-ups to discuss strategies and to
exchange tricks on how to handle gameplay situations in the physical world.
For Rise and Fall, we want to embrace the same social behaviour. It is why
we will provide a handy feed system with powerful location-based filters,
aggregation of content from public sources like tweets with certain hashtags
and play-style depending news like available nearby quests and resources
occurrences. It will be easy for all players to post content to that stream
from communication tools of their choice, through Twitter hashtags, registered
Facebook groups and in-game chat.
Challenging Mini-Games
Each establishment has its assigned mini-game. For example, you have to
score high in a game with pizza in a pizzeria. In a bank, you have to open the
safe. At a police station, you have to hide from the CCTV surveillance
camera.
The scores of the mini-games determine the current owner of
the place. If you score best at Piranha Bar, you are the proud owner of that
establishment and will receive protection money until an
opponent player beats your hi-score.
Like your influence decreases over time, your scores “wear out” over
time to make it easier for opponents to beat you and to encourage you
to revisit places that you own.
Updated: An early-stage pre-alpha tutorial quest where the player hijacks a car and rides to a specific nearby place.
Geo-Based Quests
Mini-games are only part of where the action takes place. Quests are
breathtaking episodes of criminal daily life. It is a very
divers game element where you interact with the environment, are faced with the
police, assist other players or fight against them.
You have to deliver mysterious parcels from your real-world office location to a public square, investigate in-door places, escape
from the police helicopter, pick up thieves at crime scenes, and fly
helicopters to offshore islands.
Successfully accomplished quests are rewarded with
alliances, increased influence and piles of virtual cash.
Game API
One of Rise and Fall‘s main principles is to empower the player in all ways
possible. It is why we want to provide a powerful application programmining interface (API) that enables players to
add content and additional gameplay mechanics that they like.
The API will have basic functions like authentication, access to stats and
inventory, but also interfaces to directly control your player identity and
non-player characters (NPCs) and to create and to manipulate world objects!
The idea behind the API is to provide as much freedom as possible. And we
hope that players will come up with indeed fun and helpful tools that we didn’t
believe in in the first place, but are happy to allow within the explorative
and fun world of Rise and Fall.
Technology
We use a collection of tools that we have used in the past, including:
· Unity engine (for the iOS & Android
clients)
· OpenStreetMap.org
· Geonames.org
· SmartFoxServer (for the MMO server part)
We are an experienced team of software developers. If there is not a tool or
library available online, we develop our own plugin or framework that we’ll
want to share on GitHub.
Team
Gbanga is an independent developer. We are a group of four
passionate and engaged game developers with interdisciplinary backgrounds. We
have been working on mixed-reality games (similar to Rise and Fall) for
almost 7 years resulting in highly optimized agile iterations of game
development where we use bi-weekly development cycles that result in daily intermediate versions of apps that are ready to use for our testers.
Our past games include Gbanga Famiglia (iOS, experimental AR version for Android), Pilotifant and After Party.
Why Indiegogo?
Indiegogo is a well for creative endeavors that go beyond the current state
of the industries they operate in. We feel that Indiegogo can support our
vision of a genre-defining game without limiting our ideas by
a publisher.
Since the gameplay and genre of Rise and Fall is that new, we also count on
you as a smart backer with your valuable feedback that
influences how we implement the game.
Stretch Goals
We have decided to split our development
into different phases to make sure the game project comes to life for sure.
With the initial goal, we can fund the development of the basic game with an
open world and mini-games. With additional funds, we will be able to focus on
deeper game mechanics, a more sophisticated environment and an infinite rich
treasure of quests through the Game API.
Different than in other crowd-funding
campaigns, we are very transparent and open with our additional stretch goals
from the beginning. We believe that our backers should know from the beginning
which features might be added to the game in a later funding stage. We hope you
also prefer this approach.
$20k A Game engine with two mini-games
$40k B World-wide real-world
map
$60k C Collect items and build stuff
$80k D Five more mini-games (pizza game
for pizzerias, etc.)
$100k E Power-ups and defence items (place a
bouncer at the entrance of your club)
$140k F Transportation and real-world
racing (take the bus, the train or the plane)
$180k G Quest system (receive fancy requests by
the game system and other players)
$220k H Multi-layered strategy (collect resources,
become region boss, ...)
$260k I Cross-platform (a companion app for one
platform, eg. desktop computers)
$300k J Offline mode (you can play without a permanent
internet connection)
$400k K Game API (you can freely create new quests and program NPCs with
a web-based API)
Rewards
Rewards are added and removed constantly during the campaign. So make sure
you book your favourite today and come back regularly.
$10 Very Early Backer
You are mentioned in the credits, get access to the backer's forum and you
can download the official wallpapers.
$36 Beta tester (Early Bird)
Additional to the credits mention, forum access and official wallpapers, you
will get access to the beta version of Gbanga Famiglia Rise and Fall. The beta
phase is expected to run between between June and September 2014.
$56 The Artist
You are a collector and additional to be mentioned in the credits, the
access to the forum and the official wallpaper, you will enjoy both, access to
the beta version and a downloadable version of all sketches and arts material
of the whole Rise and Fall production.
$60 T-Shirt Only (Limited Edition)
You are focused in fashion and your goal is to get one of those fancy shirts quickly.
You also get the mention, forum access, digital wallpaper, but no other specials!
Please add $10 for shipping if you are outside US and outside Switzerland!
$65 Phone Case Only (Limited Edition)
You care about your phone while playing outside and on the go? Then this perk is perfect for you: a protective accessory that keeps your phone fine.
The cases fit iPhone 4/4S, iPhone 5/5S and Samsung Galaxy S3.
Please add $10 if you are outside US and outside Switzerland.
Latest addition!
$81 Poster Collector
Besides all the benefits from the lower perk levels (mention in credits,
forum access, wallpaper, beta version and sketch book), you will receive a
copy of Rise and Fall. Preliminary poster designs are listed below.
Please add an additional 10 Dollars for shipping outside the US.
Updated poster motives! Stay tuned for more to come! Early backers have priority in choosing the motives.
$106 Free Rider
You can immediately try the game in alpha stage. Once the game is polished,
you will profit from 12 months premium game service.
Additionally, you will be mentioned in the credits, have access to the
forum, the wallpapers and the alpha and beta version.
$156 Fashionista
You will get the exclusive Rise and Fall shirt to play the alpha version and
then 12 months of premium game service. You can also hang up the
exclusive poster in your room.
We will also send you the postcard/sticker set of Rise and Fall.
Additionally, you will be mentioned in the credits, have access to the
forum, the wallpapers and the alpha and beta version.
Updated! Limited first edition and the fancy character body themed shirts.
$234 Individualist
We will design an in-game character face and flag with you. You will also
have immediate access to the alpha version of the game.
We will also send you the postcard/sticker set of Rise and Fall.
Please add an additional 10 Dollars for shippings outside the US and outside Switzerland.
Additionally, you will be mentioned in the credits, have access to the
forum, the wallpapers and the alpha and beta version.
$600 Small country hero
You will become the hero of a small country, be able to draw the country
flag and will receive protection money for the country territory as long as you
are active in the game.
You will have to indicate the country you want to buy. We will give away
countries first come first service. Taken countries are going to be listed
here.
As a special thank you, you will receive a unique postcard sized limited,
original and unique sketch of a game asset.
Additionally, you will be mentioned in the credits, have access to the
forum, the wallpapers and the alpha and beta version.
The available countries are listed here.
$1'000 Big country hero
You will become the hero of a large country, be able to draw the country
flag and will receive protection money for the country territory as long as you
are active in the game.
You will have to indicate the country you want to buy. We will give away
countries first come first service. Taken countries are going to be listed
here.
As a special thank you, you will receive a unique postcard sized limited,
original and unique sketch of a game asset.
Additionally, you will be mentioned in the credits, have access to the
forum, the wallpapers, the alpha and beta version. We will also send you the
poster and postcard set.
The available countries are listed here.
$2'500 Quest Fame Gainer
We will design a quest for you exclusively that all players will have to go
through, at least in their tutorial phase (or later if you are a good designer
;) ).
As a special thank you, you will receive a unique postcard sized limited,
original and unique sketch of a game asset.
Additionally, you will be mentioned in the credits, have access to the
forum, the wallpapers, the alpha and beta version. We will also send you the
poster and postcard set.
$4'000 Al Capone
You will be featured in the game with your very own personalised NPC that
will be visible to all players of the game.
As a special thank you, you will receive a unique postcard sized limited,
original and unique sketch of a game asset.
Additionally, you will be mentioned in the credits, have access to the
forum, the wallpapers, the alpha and beta version. We will also send you the
poster and postcard set.
$7'500 The Don
You are going to meet and greet the makers of the game in an early
development stage where you can influence game design decisions in a full-day
workshop. After that, we will have dinner. All is summarised in a blog and
forum post with photos.
Additionally, you will be mentioned in the credits, have access to the
forum, the wallpapers, the alpha and beta version. We will also send you the
poster, postcard set and the unique postcard sized limited, original and
unique sketch of a game asset.
Reward Chart
Use Of Funds
We are planning to use the funds for the following:
- Basic salaries for our team of four
- Purchase of required software plugins and licenses to speed up
development
- Work for hire for sounds, soundtrack, art assets and models
- Rental of required game server infrastructure
-
Office rent and power
bills
- Manufacturing and shipping of
T-shirts, stickers and postcards
- Indiegogo, Paypal and transaction
fees
Schedule
The following is a rough schedule of the game. Possibly, the development
progress is faster. However, we wanted to outline a defensive plan that we can
honestly guarantee:
- April 2014: Milestone A, game engine with two
mini-games; alpha phase starts...
- May 2014: B+C, world-wide real-world map, collect
items and build stuff
- June 2014: D+E, more mini-games, power-ups and defence
items; beta phase starts...
- August 2014: F+G, transportation, racing and quest
system
- September 2014: H, multi-layer strategy; public
launch...
- November 2014: I, cross-platform
- January 2015: J, offline mode
- March 2015: K, game API
Based on tools and added staff, we can improve speed significantly.
Business Model
Gbanga Famiglia Rise and Fall is a sophisticated game- and service. We
therefore need money to update the game regularly and to maintain the server
infrastructure that runs the game.
- We plan to offer the game app for free to invite as many players to
participate in the game world as possible
- As part of the Freemium model, we want to offer in-game
purchases for the customization of the character and unlocking extended
features. However, purchasable items should never be helping to win more
easily.
- Further, we want to offer a subscription service that unlocks extended
features on an ongoing basis. Every month, subscribed players will
automatically unlock all extended features from in-app purchases and some
extras only available to subscribers. Subscribed players will never be
offered or prompted to buy other in-app purchases during natural
gameplay.
Gameplay comes first! We are aware that free-to-play games are not the first
choice of experienced players (core & hardcore gamers). It is why we want
to put the emphasis on the subscription model with classic uninterrupted
gameplay experience that, at the same time, supports our ongoing server costs
and content updates. On the other hand side, the free-to-play option with in
app purchases will open up the game to newbies and occasional players that want
to have a look at the game or which might be just used to the Freemium
model.
Risks & Challenges
Gbanga is a small independent game studio and Rise and Fall is an
extraordinary visionary project. However, we are an experienced team that is
used to work on tight budgets and ambitious deadlines.
We are very experienced in creating mixed-reality games like Rise
and Fall that use open data and GPS location. However, we want to
address your concerns and potential threads and how we mitigate risks:
Project duration: To make sure that the game, we will work
in an iterative, agile method, prioritizing features on a daily basis. We have
worked with agile methods for several years. We're currently in our 100th
sprint.
Feature complexity: Most of the features that we envision
in this game are novel, but we already worked on those exact problems in other
games in the past. Already in 2009, we have processed huge amount of map
data from OpenStreetMap. Our precursor game Gbanga Famiglia
1 used GPS as a core gameplay element and was real-time MMO
multiplayer on iPhone and Android. We introduced the Puppetmaster
API in 2011.
Difficult usability: The game concept is based on an open
world and we plan to have as little as possible overlay user interfaces. Most
interactions are very natural, like taking a cab to the airport or entering a
restaurant. Also the mini-games are simple to use and are designed to be easily
and quickly comprehensible.
Feature overdose: There is a natural filter in the game.
It's location. You cannot make everything at the same place, but you have to
walk around to find new features.
Vandalism through Game API: User contribution and
programmatic control is vulnerable to vandalism and unfriendly activity. We
have learned the lesson with our first Game API in 2011. Everything will be
controlled through user authentication, user management and reporting. It is
why all activity through the API is logged and is marked in-game accordingly.
Players can also opt out all together to see such content. And we can “roll
back” potential vandalism.
FAQs - frequently answered questions
Are you experienced at all?
- Yes, we are. After 7 years of
developing mixed-reality games together as a team, we feel very confident
to deliver a fun and working game.
Flexible Funding? What if you don't reach your funding goal?
- We are aware of the biggest risk in crowd-funding: not reaching the funding goal. We have set up the flexible funding mode because we are already developing the game. Crowd-funds will allow us to develop the game quicker, release it sooner and with more artistic freedom than with other sources of funding.
- We will deliver all perks to the backers, no matter if we reach our full funding goal or not.
What distribution platform will Rise and Fall be released on?
- Based on the stretch goal reached, we will publish the game on
different platforms. Initially, it will be available on iOS and Android. If
we reach stretch goal I, we will port the game to a console like OUYA or
create a PC/Mac version.
Is Rise and Fall a multiplayer game?
- Gbanga Famiglia Rise and Fall is a multiplayer game where all
players share the same persistent game world. This means the game requires
connectivity to a game server.
Does Rise and Fall require a permanent internet connection?
- Yes, and no. For the real-time gameplay mechanics such as
player-vs-player activities and discovering new areas, an internet
connection is required to transmit player actions and downloading new map
data. However, we are considering implementing an offline mode (see stretch
goal J) where a lot of data is pre-fetched and player activity then synched
back to the server once there is connection again.
What is the power consumption of Rise and Fall while using GPS and
3G/4G?
- We are aware of this drawback of a real-time MMO mobile game. We
will implement the location-aware part in a way that is friendly to the
battery. For instance with a "travel" mode that is constantly polling the
location and a "relax" mode that assumes you are stationary until you press
a "travel" button.
Is Rise and Fall working in my town or neighbourhood?
-
Most probably yes. We use
data from the open source project OpenStreetMap for the generation of our
game world. Since it is contributed by volunteers, it means both, that on
one side, it is never complete and on the other hand side, you can add
missing towns, streets and buildings easily by contributing some mapping
work on OpenStreetMap's website. We provide a coverage map that we have created for Rise and Fall. Red areas
and grey-black lines indicate that there are buildings and streets, white
means there is possibly nothing. Make sure you zoom in
closely:
How can you have such a small budget for a complex game like Rise and
Fall?
- We already have started working on the project and have a playable
alpha version with a lot of work in it. To make it a full game that is fun
to play, some more work is needed, for which we are looking for funding.
However, the complete scope of the project can only be realised as part of
our stretch goals (see section above).
Is Rise and Fall a sequel?
- Yes, in April 2010 we developed Gbanga Famiglia, our first
mafia-themed MMO game. The game was an early attempt to the mixed-reality
genre, still in 2D at the time. In a few month, we built everything, the
concept, the graphics, the programming of client and server. The game was
quite a success among hardcore players that enjoyed using their GPS-powered
iPhones in a different way for the first time.
Can I pledge to your campaign via PayPal?
- Probably yes. We have set up a PayPal account which currently
works. If you have trouble paying through PayPal, please let us know
at indiegogo@gbanga.com.
Mixed-Reality Gaming
Mixed-reality games incorporate real-world elements in virtual games. This
can be visual, audible or tangible.
We take map material and other sources of data to create a virtual world
that looks pretty much like the real world. It is very likely that even your
neighbourhood or home street is featured in the game world. As a Rise and Fall
player, you will play a mafioso and will visit as many real-world places that
can then try to take over. Possessed establishments will then give you
protection money in return.
(Image source: Wikipedia, Reality-Virtuality
Continuum)
Mixed-reality is a term we borrowed from Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino,
both scientists that have worked on Augmented Reality, something what we have
seen in movies like Terminator and Minority Report. However, we believe that
the immersion of gameplay should be more similar to the movie The Game (1997,
featuring Michael Douglas) where your life is in the first place, and the game
tries to adapt to your lifestyle to entertain you more smoothly.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you like our project and game ideas, but you cannot contribute, please
help us by spreading the word about this campaign and share it on social
media!
If you are a supporter, then your feedback in the alpha and beta phase are
crucial. Test the game under heavy conditions. Try to break things. Try to
cheat to make us aware of loop holes.
Thanks
We would like to thank our friends that supported us in the setup of this
campaign, including the guys at Hofrat Suess, namely Tommy, the video producer, and Schnitzel, Werner, Viva, Moritz, R0wb0t, Luzius, Claudia, Dominique, Nadine und Grooly.