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EVE Evolved: Growing the EVE Universe
For much of EVE Online's early history, the playerbase saw consistent organic growth with no end in sight and developer CCP Games was able to stay laser-focused on its single game. The EVE universe has even had to grow several times to accomodate the increase in players, most notably with the opening of the drone nullsec regions and Apocrypha's addition of 2,499 hidden wormhole systems. EVE has survived the launch of countless high-profile MMOs in its lifetime and even weathered the monumental industry shift toward free-to-play business models, but it hasn't been plain sailing. While subscriptions have reportedly grown year-on-year, EVE's average concurrent player numbers haven't really increased since 2009. The active EVE playerbase isn't really growing, so it should come as no surprise that CCP has been trying to expand the EVE universe on other fronts. Though the first attempt with console FPS DUST 514 was an unmitigated disaster, EVE players still seem quietly optimistic about its PC reboot as EVE: Legion. Dogfighter EVE: Valkyrie has also piqued the interest of the emerging virtual reality community and has the potential to introduce EVE to thousands of fresh faces. EVE's Creative Director Torfi Frans Olafsson even hinted during Fanfest 2014 that EVE Online, Valkyrie and Legion might all share a single login and that characters may eventually be able to switch between games at will. In this edition of EVE Evolved, I look at why I think a shared login could be a stroke a genius, and interview EVE's Creative Director and Valkyrie's Executive Producer to find out what the future holds for the EVE universe.
CCP launches True Stories, eyes possible EVE film or TV series
CCP has announced a new EVE Online initiative called True Stories that aims to collect and preserve noteworthy New Eden events in an archive powered by the game's players. Creative director Torfi Frans Olafsson explains, via a new dev blog, that CCP has set up a submission system for paying players that includes the ability to upvote, downvote, and debate. The submission phase ends on May 1st, with a voting period to follow that concludes on May 15th. There are prizes including a trip to CCP headquarters in Iceland as well as 10-year subscriptions to EVE. Olafsson also mentions that CCP is looking to expand EVE with additional books, comics, and a possible film or TV series. "Our prospective media partners have shown great interest in adapting or using as inspiration actual events from the game itself," Olafsson says.
E3 2012: CCP says it wants 'EVE to be around in 10, 20, 30 years'
CCP's E3 2012 setup was dark, infused with Jon Hallur's soothing sci-fi synth tones, and entirely appropriate for huddling conspiratorially in a corner booth with producer Jon Lander and creative director Torfi Frans Olafsson. The three of us chatted for about 30 minutes, covering a wide range of topics including EVE Online and its new Inferno expansion, DUST 514, and game money for real goods. In a nutshell, Inferno has been more of what the doctor ordered for the MMO genre's elder sandbox statesman. "We are on the cusp of breaking our all-time subscriber record right now," Olafsson told me, and that's no small feat for a polarizing title in a genre over which burnout and next-new-thing syndrome reign supreme.
CCP reiterates anti-pay-to-win stance for EVE microtransactions
CCP has been pretty quiet on the subject of microtransactions since last summer's monoclegate and the ensuing Jita protests. EVE Online creative director Torfi Frans Olafsson recently spoke up about the trendy new business model, and while he acknowledged that it is popular, he also said that CCP is "very reluctant to do that in EVE because it's so established. It's like changing the DNA of a living organism after it's born. That didn't work in Blade Runner," he tells PC Gamer. Olafsson also repeats the anti-pay-to-win mantra that comes standard in just about every developer interview these days. He says that CCP will sell cosmetic items in EVE, including makeovers for your avatar, ship, and starbase. Given the fact that players will be purchasing weapons and gear in DUST 514 (which will interface directly with EVE's pre-existing economy), we've no doubt it will be interesting to see how CCP maintains that delicate balance. "I think we have to be very careful in introducing such mechanics into EVE. And I personally think that we shouldn't be doing it in the near future," Olafsson says, "because it's such a vulnerable little flower in a vulnerable little ecosystem. You make minor changes to an ecosystem and you can introduce hostile things and the whole system breaks down." Check out the video interview after the cut.
EVE Evolved: New info from Fanfest 2012
The annual EVE Online Fanfest is starting to become a major event in the gaming calendar, thanks to CCP's partnership with Sony and the addition of DUST 514 and World of Darkness talks to the event schedule. This year, CCP flew gaming journalists to the event to give the press hands-on time with DUST and demonstrate the game's impressive realtime integration with EVE Online. Massively, unfortunately, is not permitted to accept such travel stipends, which meant that we couldn't produce in-depth coverage and interviews as we did last year, so instead we've pieced together information from the talks that were streamed to viewers at home. The theme of this year's Fanfest was unmistakably DUST 514 and its integration with EVE Online. Attendees got first-hand experience with DUST 514 and a free pass to enter the beta in April. There was even a live demonstration of the EVE-DUST link during which a battleship delivered an air strike directly into a DUST match in realtime. There were several talks on EVE's upcoming Inferno expansion and its PvP revamp, with details of new modules and gameplay designed to shake up the PvP landscape for the first time in several years. Players report leaving Fanfest this year with a very real sense that CCP is back on track and recovering from the aftermath of Monoclegate. In this week's colossal EVE Evolved, I piece together some of the information from EVE Fanfest 2012 and consider what it means for EVE players.
CCP working on EVE ship spinning patch
Incarna haters rejoice! OK, maybe rejoice is too strong a word, but surely the return of ship spinning is worth a smile or two, amirite? Today's second piece of EVE Online news comes courtesy of Torfi Frans Olafsson's latest blog post. In it, he mentions how CCP is rethinking its captain's quarters design and working toward reimplementing the ability for bored pod pilots to rotate their cameras around their active ship while docked. The ability disappeared with the introduction of full-body avatars in last summer's Incarna expansion, and Olafsson says that soon "you will simply be able to board and unboard your ship, toggling between captain's quarters and ship spinning mode." Incarna's hefty graphical requirements have also inconvenienced players logging in via "craptop" portable computers that lack gaming-quality hardware, and the post says that fixes for this are on the way as well. Finally, there are a few blurbs about improvements to captain's quarters shaders and new turret graphics. Read all about it at the official EVE website.
The MMO Report: Nerd-flu edition
In this week's MMO Report, Casey comes to us directly from E3 2011, where he verbally spars with a variety of game developers while battling off hunger, fatigue, and nerd-flu. Watch Casey's stats slowly dwindle as he confronts the many dangers of E3, such as overstimulation and the dreaded natural light. The first stop on Casey's E3 journey is an interview with Square Enix's Frank Fonseca, with whom he discusses the upcoming tactical MMORPG Wakfu. He gets a few details on the political system and discovers how tactical combat plays out in an MMO space. Next, he gets some face-time in with Producer Thomas Farrer and Creative Director Torfi Frans Olafsson from CCP, who tell Casey all about how the interplay between EVE Online and upcoming DUST 514 will work and why DUST 514 is different from other console shooters. From there he scurries off to En Masse's booth to have a chat with TERA's North American Producer Chris Hager, who discusses TERA's big political system reveal as well as the name of his potential political party. Last stop on the Casey-train is BioWare's booth, where Casey parleys with Star Wars: The Old Republic's Senior Live Producer Blaine Christine. Blaine gives Casey the low-down on Tatooine, the newly introduced player vehicles, and what players can expect in regard to The Old Republic's much-hyped story. For the full video, sadly lacking in the Uncle Casey's mailbag department, jump on past the cut.
CCP video blog talks EVE immersion, Incarna deployment
As the clocks ticks down on EVE Online's long-awaited Incarna update, CCP is starting to roll out more PR to get fans in the mood (and to catch the eye of casual observers). The eight-year old title has long been considered one of the massive genre's premier sandboxes, but Incarna's deployment is adding a radical new dimension to the game that is taking time to both design and deploy. A new video blog featuring EVE creative director Torfi Frans Olafsson and senior designer Craig Scott looks to fill fans in on what Incarna has to offer. It's all about immersion, according to Olafsson, who says that the new avatar-based sections of the game will give players a stronger sense of self and a deeper awareness of the game environment and the scale of New Eden. Olafsson also explains why CCP is taking its sweet time with Incarna's rollout and why it's chosen to do it in stages (the first of which is the captain's quarters update on June 21st). In a nutshell, the staggered deployment is due to the update's complexity as well as to the fact that it's being grafted onto a live service that cannot be taken down for extensive tweaks. "To be honest, it's like changing the engine on a race car while it's doing 200 mph on a race track," he explains. Check out the full clip after the cut.
E3 2011: DUST 514's realtime integration with EVE Online
During Monday's Sony conference, EVE Online developer CCP Games made an appearance to announce that the company's upcoming MMOFPS DUST 514 will be exclusive to the PlayStation 3. The ambitious title aims to link the world of ground troops fighting over planets to EVE Online's universe of spaceborne conflict. EVE players will be able to hire DUST mercenaries as part of an ongoing territorial war, the concept for which we got a glimpse of in both the E3 DUST 514 trailer and the previous A Future Vision trailer in March. When DUST 514 is released in spring 2012, PC-based ship pilots will be fighting for control of industrial infrastructure, planets, star systems, and whole regions of space alongside console-based ground troops. CCP's future vision for the virtual universe of New Eden is slowly starting to become a reality, and we can only hope that both games live up to their sizable potential. We caught up with CCP at E3 to find out the details on DUST 514's gameplay and how the DUST-EVE link will work. Skip past the cut for the incredibly juicy details on DUST 514's gameplay and how DUST mercenaries will interact with the EVE universe. Before reading on, be warned that a change of underwear may be required!
An inside look at EVE Online's CSM: From June to December
Keith Neilson is a Massively guest-writer who's here to recount his experiences at the recent Council of Stellar Management summit in Reykjavik. He writes regularly about EVE Online and has been playing the game since early 2004. Tweet It is undeniable that EVE Online is unique among MMORPGs in many ways. One of these is its Council of Stellar Management, an elected committee of nine players who play an active role in the development of the game, bringing player concerns and proposals for the future direction of the game directly to CCP at biannual summits in Iceland. Until this year, the perception of the CSM among players was that the Council is a marketing tool that does not fulfill its stated role of representing the playerbase. But in June, all of that changed. This term of the CSM brought in some major changes to the way the Council is organised, specifically with the removal of term limits (previously delegates could only serve two terms on the CSM) and the extension of terms from six months to a year. In addition to this, the CSM has been given "stakeholder" status within CCP. This means that the Council members have an equal say in the planning of future development along with the internal teams at CCP. This has allowed the fifth CSM to have a significant influence on the future development of EVE.
EVE Online developers discuss the depths of character design
"So our key theme for the new character creator is that the player was to feel that he personally, single-handedly, through his decisions and skill created a hyper-realistic human representation of his character in-game," Torfi Frans Ólafsson, creative director of EVE Online, explained to Gamasutra in a developer diary describing the intent of the new character creator in the Incursion expansion. EVE Online is breaking new ground by giving players the ability to create "hyper-realistic and yet slightly exaggerated and cinematic" characters, as Art Director Ásgeir Jon Ásgeirsson says. As fans of the industry, we are excited by the insight into what exactly goes on behind the scenes of our favorite games. This developer diary gave the artists of CCP a chance to let us know what they thought of the process and the outcome of the latest innovation to EVE. Art Manager Benjamin Bohn says they were looking for an "all-or-nothing quality level" and, it "was obvious that this was going to involve sweat and blood." However, the end results would leave both the players and CCP employees in awe. To get more insight into the vision and actual work involved in rebuilding the character creation system from the ground up, be sure to catch the whole developer diary. And for those already playing, the next part of Incursion hits December 14th!
New EVE avatars coming soon to Singularity
Those of you excited by the prospect of EVE Online's impending Incarna expansion might want to check out the latest dev blog from CCP senior producer Torfi Frans Olafsson. Heck, even if you hate the idea of Incarna, you'll probably want to check it out since it heralds the first of some rather significant changes in the offing for the sci-fi MMORPG. The change in question is the upcoming test-server release of the new character generator, and in addition to a couple of nifty screenshots, the blog features a hypothetical question-and-answer session that details several aspects of the new system. For starters, Olafsson reiterates the fact that Incarna is coming in 2011, and these character changes are merely the first step. He also notes that the changes are not optional and that the player portraits are some of the last remaining original art assets from the game's launch in 2003. "The assets we are replacing are some of the oldest in the game. Most of our avatars were built in 2001-2003. That's a very long time ago. Nokia banana phones were still considered cool and futuristic," he writes. Olafsson also notes that CCP is sympathetic to those veteran players who may balk at the changes to their traditional portaits. That said, progress waits for no avatar, and it's clear that this is merely the first salvo in an upcoming onslaught of improvements and additions to the universe of New Eden.
CCP announces Tyrannis delay
CCP has just announced a delay of EVE Online's forthcoming Tyrannis expansion. Originally scheduled for May 18th, the new content will now debut one week later on May 26th, and market seeding of Planetary Command Centers will be pushed back to June 8th. Senior Producer Torfi Frans Olafsson, writing on the official EVE Dev Blog, briefly outlines the reasoning behind the delays. "In our regression testing, we have identified scalability issues with the Planetary Interaction feature, which led to code refactoring that then needed further testing before being launched to Tranquility. Planetary Interaction is a unique feature in the sense that it is available to almost all players in the game providing opportunity for manufacturing for the masses, so ensuring that it runs smoothly on our cluster is of great importance to all," he says. You can read the full press release here, and don't forget to check out Massively's extensive Tyrannis coverage. [Thanks Darkdust!]
Prognosticating the future of MMOs
Barring Ouija boards, magical leprechauns and time-traveling DeLoreans, it's pretty much impossible to predict the future -- but that doesn't stop people from trying, no sir. In a recent "The State of the MMO in 2010" over at Eurogamer, Jim Rossignol chats with Paul Barnett (EA Mythic), Colin Dwan (Fallen Earth) and Torfi Frans Olafsson (EVE Online) in an attempt to pin down where MMOs stand as of now, and where they're likely to go. The article begins by stating that the defining line surrounding what is and is not a MMO has become blurred, and will only become more so in the future. Whether we like it or not, different payment models, server types and even genres (such as sports MMOs) have broadened the definition of the genre. Many folks are worried that F2P titles and "quasi-MMOs" like FarmVille may trigger the end of traditional subscription-based MMOs.
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 Online sets new peak concurrent user record
The sci-fi MMO EVE Online set a new record this past weekend for users logged in at a given time: 54,181 pilots, up from the previous record of 53,850 set in March of this year. This new peak concurrent user (PCU) count is a significant milestone for the single shard setting of New Eden, where all of those players can (potentially) interact with one another. New Eden is a big place though, a galaxy with thousands of charted solar systems and thousands more uncharted, accessible through wormholes. Given the size of New Eden, those 54,181 pilots may not interact directly but their actions can impact everyone else in the game, regardless of whether it's through trading, establishing or toppling industrial empires, or alliance warfare on a massive scale. The new PCU record comes in the wake of EVE Online's Dominion expansion launch on December 1 which focuses on revamping the game mechanics of territorial control, or sovereignty, in New Eden's lawless tracts of 0.0 security (nullsec) space. CCP Games Senior Producer Torfi Frans Ólafsson told Massively: "With Dominion, we've made zero security gameplay so much more engaging. We're seeing a lot of people are taking the leap, updating their clones and jumping into the deep end of the pool. They are realizing that taking risks can bring big rewards, and lots of adrenaline pumped moments as well. Co-operation and having good allies is the key to success in the dark and brutal world of zero point zero space. We're seeing players communicate more, team up more and generally have more fun. Each day since release has been exciting for the developers as they watch this expansion unfold and take on a life of its own, in the hands of our ever-creative playerbase." [Thanks StMistaken!]
EVE Fanfest 2009 highlights
The biggest player gathering of the year for EVE Online fans is EVE Fanfest, held annually in the CCP Games hometown of Reykjavik. Some interesting announcements of what's to come have been made over the past few days, as well as more details or clarification on previously announced aspects of both EVE Online and DUST 514. Read on for a few highlights of the info revealed at EVE Fanfest 2009 for the game and the IP beyond the Dominion expansion (slated for a December 1st launch):
EVE Fanfest streaming in live video Saturday, Oct 3
Are you disappointed you couldn't attend EVE Fanfest 2009 in Reykjavik this week? If so, there's some good news. CCP Games announced today that they're going to stream live video of the Fanfest presentations on Saturday, October 3rd, from 12:00 - 17:00 GMT. The live video stream can be viewed at the EVE Fanfest 2009 site and will feature keynotes on the future of CCP Games and EVE Online -- namely DUST 514 -- and Senior Producer Torfi Frans Ólafsson's keynote on the Dominion expansion (recorded Friday evening). CCP Games will also stream video of the finals from this year's Fanfest PvP tournament with its free-for-all and Tech III matches. If you're unable to view the video stream, you can also listen in on the keynotes through the EVE Online Facebook page thanks to Vivox. Information will be made available on the EVE Facebook page tomorrow, and this audio will stream from 15:00 - 17:00 GMT.
CCP Games reveals next major Apocrypha update for EVE Online
EVE Online senior producer CCP t0rfifrans just published a dev blog about the next major update to the game, Apocrypha 1.5. This is not a completely new expansion, just a significant update they will release in August before EVE's (as-yet-unnamed) winter expansion. While CCP hasn't released the complete rundown of Apocrypha 1.5's features and changes, they have announced a few highlights: Perhaps the biggest changes in 1.5 will be factional warfare improvements. Beyond responding to the lag issues many players have been reporting with factional warfare, CCP is going to introduce Loyalty Points (LP) for kills and captures, and each militia will have its own LP store where militia players can cash in for items unique to that faction. Several Level 4 epic mission arcs will be introduced, tied to specific races in New Eden. CCP t0rfifrans writes: "These captivating stories deal with moral ambiguity, intrigue, honor, and some people's lack of it. This should come as no surprise to those who know EVE and what we are about. As before with the epic arc that was released with Apocrypha, they provide a deep, interesting story, where your choices influence the outcome." One of the long awaited buffs for Black Ops battleships will arrive: specialized cargo holds. The first use of this system will be to give Black Ops ships fuel bays, but this feature paves the way for similar additions to other ship classes in the future. For instance, some ships may one day be given ammo bays, freeing up valuable cargo space. Rigs will be offered in different sizes, with frigate and cruiser sized rigs introduced to the game. These new small and medium rigs will be cheaper to buy or manufacture, and thus provide a lower cost way for players to trick out their ships. CCP t0rfifrans also dropped a few hints about the forthcoming winter expansion, which will *not* be Walking in Stations. He writes: "All I can say, is that it is focused on sovereignty and you will not be able to walk in it." We'll keep our eyes open for more about Apocrypha 1.5 as information becomes available.
EVE Online launches Apocrypha expansion site
EVE Online developers CCP Games have launched a new site for the sci-fi game's Apocrypha expansion, slated for a March 10th launch. The site has a teaser trailer, screenshots, wallpapers, and concept art related to Apocrypha. In addition, there are brief video presentations from three key developers involved with the expansion: Lead Game Designer Noah Ward (CCP Hammerhead), Associate Producer Arend Stührmann (CCP Whisper), and Senior Producer Torfi Frans Olaffson (CCP Torfifrans). Their presentations range from discussion of Tech III to how wormhole exploration and the New Player Experience will add something fresh to the game:
