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EVE Online's Hyperion update adds PvE missions, tweaks wormholes
CCP pushed EVE Online's latest update to the game's live server this morning. Hyperion features "the biggest wormhole changes since they were first discovered" as well as new PvE missions. CCP Guard also notes the patch's "ton of quality-of-life features" during the latest In-Development video dev diary, which you can view by clicking past the cut.
EVE Valkyrie Oculus Rift demos available in London this Friday
A gaggle of CCP devs will be hanging out at Goodman's Field pub near the Tower of London this Friday, March 7th. CCP Guard, CCP Xhagen, CCP Duchess, and CCP Masheen are bringing their Rifts, too, and starting at 6:00 p.m. the quartet will be demoing EVE Valkyrie on the new Oculus virtual reality device. The announcement post says that the number of sessions will be limited due to time constraints, so get there early!
Here's an EVE dev diary video on Rubicon 1.1
CCP released a dev diary video focused on EVE Online's Rubicon 1.1 patch today. CCP Guard is your host for a sneak peek of the content drop that will include renovated station exteriors, the Nestor class battleship, new mobile structures, capital ship wrecks, a redesigned Amarr Crucifier, and Encounter Surveillance Systems. See for yourself after the cut.
EVE Online video and dev blog detail improvements coming with Retribution
In a new video released today by CCP, we're treated to a guided tour of the teams responsible for EVE Online's winter expansion: Retribution. CCP Ripley, the senior producer for release development, introduces us to each team responsible for the upcoming features, including improved visuals, five new ships, UI tweaks, and of course, the new bounty hunter system. In addition, CCP has released a new dev blog by CCP karkur from Team Pony Express detailing a few of the upcoming user experience improvements coming with Retribution. One of these is a clearer indicator of who's dealing the most damage to your ship. CCP karkur points out that this is still in very early development, so things may change slightly between now and launch on December 4th. Check out the complete dev blog for more information; the full video with CCP Ripley is after the jump
Go behind the scenes with EVE's art department in new video diary
CCP's latest dev blog spills the beans on EVE Online's upcoming rookie ship revamp. CCP Guard reports that the redesign is "part of our ongoing effort to continuously update the art assets in EVE Online and [make] sure it remains the most beautiful MMO out there." The blog entry features a video clip that takes us behind the scenes at CCP's art department, and there are plenty of talking-head interviews as well as a few glimpses of sexy internet spaceship concept art. The five-minute clip is basically a crash course in the lengthy process of adding new art assets to EVE, and you'll find it after the jump.
EVE Online website revamp detailed in new video devblog
EVE Online has undergone countless changes and iterations since its first release in 2003, with major graphics overhauls and new gameplay systems arriving every year. In contrast, the official EVE website hasn't changed much over the years. With background information, screenshots, video, forums and knowledgebase articles, the EVE website now juggles content designed for prospective players and existing community members alike. CCP aims to change all that with a complete overhaul that will split community tools like the forums, knowledgebase, and account management from marketing designed to attract players. In a new video devblog, web-developer CCP Alice shows off some of the features of EVE's brand new website. Built using HTML 5, the new page will feature a full built-in renderer able to show prospective players the EVE Online universe map and interactive renderings of every ship in the game. "Now that we have a better eveonline.com, the focus after this one is to focus on the community," says CCP Alice, hinting that new community tools will soon be on the way. In a follow-up devblog today, Community Manager CCP Guard confirmed that players will soon be able to start their own corporation forums hosted on CCP's servers. Check out the full video after the cut.
EVE dev video talks customer relations and server nodes
As part of a refocusing on developing EVE Online, CCP Games has recently taken us on a video tour of its art, features and core technology departments. This week it's the turn of the customer relations and Virtual Worlds departments as CCP Guard finds out what makes EVE tick. In his visit to the den of GMs, he finds that important stuck queue petitions are answered on average in 15 minutes, a response time much improved compared to a few years ago. Guard chats to several people from CCP's Virtual Worlds department, which is responsible for keeping all the EVE server clusters online and improving performance. CCP Hunter discusses what goes on during EVE's daily downtime and reveals that the once hour-long period has been reduced to only nine minutes per day. We also find out about recent hardware upgrades and the infamous "supernode" deployed for large-scale nullsec wars. Skip past the cut to watch the full video in HD.
EVE dev video shows work on engine trails, custom ship skins and more
If you're a fan of EVE Online, I apologise in advance for the funny looks you get when you jump out of your seat yelling "HELL YES!" while watching the latest In Development video. In this second part of CCP Games' new video devblog series, CCP Guard takes a live hand grenade into EVE Online's art department to show us just what's going on behind the scenes. We've already seen the impressive nebula effects and new Raven model due for release in the winter expansion, and today CCP showed off some massive shadow improvements, but those upcoming additions pale in comparison to what's planned for after the winter period. The latest In Development video shows that CCP is currently working on engine trails, custom ship skins, a new cyno effect, a new warp tunnel, and graphical upgrades for every single ship in the game. It's a tall order, one that's unlikely to be fulfilled in the winter expansion despite developers' recent laser focus on delivering new features. The video gives a sneak peek at the models for the Amarr and Caldari tier 3 battlecruisers, which were selected from fan-submitted entries to last year's design contest in a similar manner to the already revealed Minmatar Tornado and Gallente Talos. Read on to find out why custom ship skins are more work to implement than most of us realise and to watch the new video in HD.
EVE dev blog talks new Minmatar battlecruiser
More good news for EVE Online fans just showed up on the sci-fi sandbox game's official website. It turns out that CCP wasn't kidding when it said it has shifted its focus back to internet spaceships. The latest EVE dev blog features a couple of images of the new Minmatar Tornado battlecruiser as well as a bit of verbiage confirming that CCP will be announcing the ship's factional counterparts in the coming weeks. And yes, we did say battlecruiser, since CCP has thought better of its original plan to release the Tornado as a battleship. "When reviewing the armadas of existing ships we came to the conclusion that it would make much more sense to add another tier of battlecruisers instead of a fourth battleship tier, and that the accessibility of BC skills would mean more of these ships might be in the hands of younger, brasher pilots. That means more pew pew pew overall," CCP Guard writes.
'We hear you loud and clear': CCP clarifies third-party application licensing fees
What should be a week of rejoicing following EVE Online's Incarna expansion going live has been soured by controversy over seemingly high-priced microtransactions and debate over fees associated with third-party application licensing. Today, CCP has come out to address the second point and clarify its position. CCP Guard admits that the company didn't do the best job in explaining how third parties can charge a real-world money fee for their services apart from in-game currency, and he reposts an illuminating transcript of an interview with CCP Zulu regarding the licensing. The problem came in the form of $99 licensing fees to use this new service, a charge that EVE players felt was extremely high. Apparently CCP agrees and will be looking into changing it to a "token charge" that will make the contract between CCP and the third party binding without it being a financial obstacle. You can read the full explanation over at EVE Online, and while you're at it, you can snag yourself the expansion on Steam for $10.
Ask the EVE developers any question you want
Back in 2008, EVE Online developer Arnar "CCP Zulu" Gylfason started a forum thread in which players could ask him literally any question about EVE and development at CCP Games. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with Zulu answering over a hundred questions on topics ranging from nullsec warfare to ship balance. As part of an ongoing effort to communicate more with the EVE playerbase, the devs at CCP have decided to revive this old habit with a brand new Q&A thread. If you have a burning question on anything related to EVE Online, you can post it in the question forum thread or on the official EVE facebook page. Questions will be posed to a think-tank of developers consisting of senior producer CCP Zulu, lead game designer CCP Hammerhead, producer CCP TomB, senior programmer CCP Tuxford, community developer CCP Guard and senior game masters GM Spiral and GM Lelouch.
EVE Spotlight: An interview with GM Guard
EVE Spotlight is a new bi-weekly feature in which we interview prominent members of EVE Online's player community or development team. Twice each month, we'll be shining the spotlight on a player or developer who has a significant impact on EVE to highlight the efforts of EVE's most influential people. It's an inherent part of MMO development that certain employees must take on a very visible role in the game's online community. This is especially true in EVE Online as developers are encouraged to communicate with players through the forum and write detailed devblogs on what they're working on. In that sense, GM Guard needs very little introduction. Along with GM Grimmi and others, Guard has been a very public face for GMs in the community for as long as I can remember. While Guard has made huge contributions to EVE behind the scenes as a lead GM, he's probably most well-known for his role in CCP's internal band Permaband. He has now moved on from the GM team to become EVE's new Community Developer. The role of GMs in any MMO is pivotal, and yet they so often come under fire from players who don't get the response they're hoping for or who have to wait too long for an answer. Many EVE players are also unaware of the procedures for escalating petitions, reporting exploits, contacting internal affairs or other important activities. In this EVE Spotlight, we got together with former Lead GM Guard to pick his brains on these topics, find out a little about CCP's support division, and ask about Permaband's next song.
CCP announces EVE create-a-ship contest winners
The results are in from CCP's create-a-ship contest for EVE Online, and CCP Guard has posted the official results on the game's forum. A player by the name of Alexey M takes home the top prize for his Mentor Battlecruiser, as well as $900 and a gaggle of EVE-related swag (including a one-year sub to the game and one of CCP's swanky ship models). Four runners-up didn't do too badly either. Each of them walked away with a cool $600 and an EVE prize pack. In addition to the winning Mentor, which you can ogle in the image above (and which will be making its way into the live game in short order), CCP has published all of the finalists' handiwork on its website.
