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EVE Evolved: The EVE Online that could be
Each of us has a different idea of the perfect game, whether it's an existing game with a few tweaks or something completely new. Game designers work tirelessly to make their own vision of the perfect game a reality, but there's no telling what players will think of a feature until it's finished. In the process of transforming a feature from a gleam in the game designer's eye to a finished product, something is unfortunately often lost in translation. Limitations in the technology being used or the manpower available can render the ideal implementation infeasible. As players, we don't really see that full development process. That doesn't stop us from painting our perfect vision of an upcoming or potential feature and how awesome it could be. In the coming years, the EVE Online developers will be going through the process of making some of their most incredible visions a reality. Ideas like walking in stations and integrating the upcoming MMOFPS Dust 514 with EVE's planetary interaction feature will be put through a potentially brutal development process. We can only hope that as little as possible of those visions we've heard from EVE's developers gets lost in translation. In this speculative opinion piece, I look at a few areas in which EVE is sure to be expanded in the coming years and discuss what I'd consider to be the ideal way they could be implemented or handled.
Massively's Community Detective, Issue #2: Darkfall and EVE Online
"We hope you understand that there's nothing we can do at the moment," says the support email we just received from Aventurine, developers of Darkfall. Not exactly what you want to hear from customer service, is it? Welcome to another issue of Massively's Community Detective, where we're primed and ready to take you into the trenches of MMORPG community and customer service. This week we've got full-blown battlefields complete with land mines, dismemberment, e-peen waving, and all the other things you've come to know and love about PvP. Yes, we're delving into the world of Darkfall, and if that's not enough for you, we'll also be heading for the heavens in a very different (but equally cutthroat) PvP sandbox called EVE Online. Join us after the cut to see how these two titles fared in terms of community and customer service support.
EVE CSM delegates voice disapproval of CCP's attitude to council summit
In recent years, CCP Games have made significant efforts to get players involved in EVE Online's game design efforts. In addition to pre-releasing features on a test server to collect feedback, CCP have involved players more effectively in the development process through their innovative Council of Stellar Management. The council members are voted for by players, with the highest-voted member securing the chair position for the year. Players bring important EVE-related issues to their council representatives, who meet with CCP developers in Iceland twice per year for a week-long council summit. During the summit, all the most important issues backed by the council are posed to developers and discussed. Previous council sessions have made a significant impact on the game, getting features like the skill queue implemented and providing key feedback on expansions. This year's council had a record voter turnout, with confidence in the team at an all-time high. At the conclusion of their first council summit meeting with CCP, however, two key delegates have begun to voice concerns at the dismissive attitude with which they were met. Skip past the cut to find out why two council members are annoyed with CCP's approach to this year's summit, and why it's not all bad news and negativity.
Captain's Log: Should Star Trek Online fans fear the competition?
Good afternoon, cadets and admirals. Welcome to this week's edition of Captain's Log, your ever-expanding guide to Star Trek Online. Last time, we discussed some basics of ground combat, and I promised more to come. But I've decided to change course a bit, so we'll cover those next week. Instead, I thought it might be fun to discuss what's on every Earth nerd's mind right now: E3! The Electronic Entertainment Expo has engines on full impulse this week in Los Angeles, and amid all the grand news we don't care about -- I was counting on the 3DS to not be totally awesome so I wouldn't have to replace my DSiXL! Curses! -- the MMO news is flying fast and furious. With all the news and shiny images of forthcoming space-based MMOs, should fans worry that STO's days are numbered?
EVE fanfest pushed back due to work on Incarna
The EVE Online fanfest is the biggest annual gathering for EVE players from around the world. Each year EVE fans pour into Iceland and take over the seaside town of Reykjavik, home of the game's developers CCP Games. In addition to enjoying the usual Reykjavik night life, attendees can watch a whole host of events and talks from CCP's development teams and notable players. The fanfest often gives players a sneak peak at what's to come in EVE, with expansion announcements and trailers often screened for the first time. For many players, it's also a chance to meet the members of their corporation or alliance in a neutral setting and make new friends that play EVE. CCP have even organised bands, orchestras and other entertainment in previous years. If there's one thing the developers over at CCP know how to do, it's throw a party. The fanfest normally occurs late in the year, around September. This has presented CCP with problems in the past and limits the number of players that can spare the time to attend. Last Thursday, CCP announced that this year's fanfest is to be pushed back to March 2011, which seems set to become the new month for the annual event. In addition to being easier on CCP, the cost of flights and hotels should be lower around this time. CCP will also have more information on what they're currently working on to share and more sneak peaks at future expansions to release. Most importantly, pushing the fanfest back this year gives them some added time to work on Incarna, the absolutely goliath expansion that will introduce full body avatars and in-station environments. This hints that Incarna could be slated for a Summer 2011 release.
Video shows CCP's incredible cloth and hair simulation
We've known for some time that CCP planned to use physics simulation to make the clothes in EVE Online's Incarna expansion and their upcoming World of Darkness MMO more realistic. They even gave a talk on using NVidia's APEX cloth simulation at the 2010 Game Developer's Conference. Until now, all we've seen are technical details and the occasional screenshot, which makes it hard to work out how the end product will look. NVidia have released a new video this week of CCP's cloth simulation in action, giving those of us that are interested a sneak peak at the incredibly impressive results. Although APEX cloth simulation will be introduced to EVE when Incarna is released, the video looks much more like something out of World of Darkness. As an added bonus, the system seems to simulate realistic hair and not just clothes. Hair in most MMOs has always been limited to shorter styles which would look alright without animation. The ability to simulate complex clothes and long hair styles make character customisation in World of Darkness and EVE's Incarna expansion look very promising. Skip past the cut to watch the video in HD. [Thanks for the tip, Patrick!]
GDC10: Torfi Frans Olafsson gives details on Tyrannis, Incarna and more
For the last few weeks, EVE Online players have been getting excited about the up-coming Tyrannis expansion with its Planetary Interaction feature. We received our first taste of what Tyrannis will hold last month when the expansion was announced and since then we've speculated on how its planetary interaction feature might work. Although CCP haven't answered our interview questions on Tyrannis yet, we caught up with EVE Senior Producer Torfi Frans Olafsson at GDC 2010 to get the inside scoop. Torfi was keen to point out that a lot of what CCP are doing in Tyrannis is laying the foundation for future updates and expansions. He calls Tyrannis "a stepping stone toward something even bigger." In addition to providing some inside info on the upcoming Tyrannis and Incarna expansions, Torfi revealed that there are more people working on EVE today than ever before. In contrast to MMOs that cut down their development team sizes once the game is out, CCP's ranks have been increasing at a huge rate in recent years. The ever-increasing revenue generated by EVE subscribers allows them to fund a large development team dedicated to making the game better for EVE players. "We've never had as many subscribers as we have today", says Torfi, "330,000 subscribers, like actual paying subscribers, not counting trials." It's thanks to all those subscribers that CCP are beginning to realise dreams they were never able to achieve when the game was less popular. Skip past the cut to see what Torfi Frans Olafsson had to say about Tyrannis, Incarna and more.
EVE Evolved: The development of Incarna
One of the biggest differences between EVE Online and most other MMOs is the lack of a humanoid avatar. Even when you're docked up in a station, you can't leave your ship and walk around. The detailed avatars we create on starting the game are not so much avatars as passport photos; seen only as little square mug shots in chat channels and the official forums. In their never-ending quest to make EVE the definitive Sci-Fi simulation, this is something the game's developers CCP have always endeavoured to change. The introduction of a full body avatar feature, code-named "Walking in Stations", "Ambulation" and now known as "Incarna", has been undeniably the most anticipated feature since EVE went live. It's been in development since 2006 but has proven a much larger task than CCP originally anticipated. With the expansion tentatively slated for winter this year, new information on it is still harder to find than a sober Icelandic game developer. In this week's EVE Evolved, I take a look at Incarna's development so far and why it hasn't been released yet.
Video conveys scale of EVE Online ships
One of the common gripes we seem to hear about EVE Online is that some gamers can't get used to the idea of a ship being their avatar. In truth, whatever ship you're flying isn't really intended to be your avatar. You're the pilot floating in a fluid-filled capsule within, your mind interfaced with the vessel you're flying and supported by a (generally doomed) crew. The whole capsuleer thing is a major aspect of the game's lore; when you pilot your ship, it's supposed to be an extension of your body and senses in many respects. Maybe that's a bit of a roleplay leap of faith but it seems to work for most players. Still, the fact remains that any time you're seeing a ship in the game you're not seeing an actual human avatar anywhere in or around it. (At least not until Incarna brings avatars into EVE Online.) This means that a sense of the enormity of these ships is, unfortunately, lost. That is, until now. Our friend hi7ch from the Biomassed blog pointed us in the direction of some video footage captured in Garry's Mod, showing the scale of various EVE ships in relation to the sizes of people and high rises. Even the tiniest frigates in the game are actually quite large, as YouTube user TakeBackTheWorld shows us. If you'd like to check this out we've got a video embed for you after the jump.
One Shots: Pleasure seeker
While some may be heading for the final frontier in Star Trek Online today, many others are immersed in the space of EVE Online. However, it's not only fighting, mining, or bargaining in New Eden as one might think. Today's One Shots gives us an idea of what one might do for a little rest and relaxation. It was sent in to us by a pilot who only identified themself as "Jambo" and was received along with the following note: After a long day of running missions even the most moral pilots have to unwind. This raises an interesting question of what these places will be like when the Incarna expansion goes live.MMOs from large to small, we love to hear about them all! All you need to do to have your adventures featured here one Massively is to send us a screenshot to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post it out here and give you the thanks for sending it in!%Gallery-9798%
GameX 2009: Video interview with Nathan Richardsson and "Alli" Óttarsson
After their panel at GameX 2009 (and some free lunch) we got to sit down with "Alli" Ottarsson and Nathan Richardsson from EVE Online and talk shop about the future of the game. Where are we going directly after the Dominion expansion releases this year? What other product tie-ins can we expect from the White Wolf end of the company? And what's Neocom all about anyway? Nathan and Alli were happy to take our questions and give some direct responses on what they hope to tackle in Neocom, how EVE's model is multiple game models, and what we might see take place in the highly-anticipated Incarna in regards to gambling and missions. To check our exclusive video interview, jump after the break with the "continue reading" button below!
