Last night, the team from Net Devil was answering your questions in our IRC dev chat. Today, we present the transcript of that chat where the devs answer questions on everything from the possibility of exiting your ship to crafting in their upcoming game, Jumpgate Evolution.

Community Question: slix asks, "Will Jumpgate be as "do-anything-you-want" as some other space mmorpgs, like EVE?"

ND_Hermann: Well. That's a very broad statement :). For example, if you want to drive pink elephant cars, that might be tough to do :P. Seriously though, Jumpgate is an open game in the sense that you are not forced to follow a linear path by some fixed set of limitations. If you want to mine or fight or craft, PvP, PvE, follow mission or just kind of explore around. All of that is possible and there is no required order per se.

More from the Jumpgate Evolution Team.

 The second reply from ND_Hermann was cut off. 

/em very sad

 Another post that got cut off:

 "that if people want to play Jumpgate and not be killed, that is a va"

(tho he completed it in the next paragraph)

Will there be a f2p area?

ND_ something: It's called "beta."

ND_ something: hahahahahahaha

ND_ something: hehehehe

That just bugged the hell out of me.

The alarm bells went off at the part they admitted they're listen to the “Death must be as big a penalty as possible“ crowd. If they listen to this very small, but vocal minority that mix up challenging with frustration they'll end up with a death system that will annoy people enough not to get that involved with the PVP side of the game, and could affect subscriptions over all. They really shouldn't be listening to these people and keep to use their own ideas kept in house. Listening to players will only lead to trouble, because at the end of the day gamers really don't know what they won't, they just think they do. What happend to dev that had imagination of their own to create a game?

Originally posted by IAmMMO

The alarm bells went off at the part they admitted they're listen to the “Death must be as big a penalty as possible“ crowd. If they listen to this very small, but vocal minority that mix up challenging with frustration they'll end up with a death system that will annoy people enough not to get that involved with the PVP side of the game, and could affect subscriptions over all. They really shouldn't be listening to these people and keep to use their own ideas kept in house. Listening to players will only lead to trouble, because at the end of the day gamers really don't know what they won't, they just think they do. What happend to dev that had imagination of their own to create a game?

Uh, did you read the whole thing?

i was skeptical about crafting when the initial question was asked about item loss but as the answers kept coming i became much more interested in this game

i seem to prefer crafting over any other activity in MMOs and it sounds like most items are crafted by players - good - but, no item loss so will have to see how this pans out

It looks very interesting.  Usually I shy away from games where your avatar is a vehicle, but depending on the reviews I might give it a shot.  Sounds kinda fun, and something different might be refreshing.

Originally posted by IAmMMO

The alarm bells went off at the part they admitted they're listen to the “Death must be as big a penalty as possible“ crowd. If they listen to this very small, but vocal minority that mix up challenging with frustration they'll end up with a death system that will annoy people enough not to get that involved with the PVP side of the game, and could affect subscriptions over all. They really shouldn't be listening to these people and keep to use their own ideas kept in house. Listening to players will only lead to trouble, because at the end of the day gamers really don't know what they won't, they just think they do. What happend to dev that had imagination of their own to create a game?

I was thinking the same as I watched the Dev Chat. Problem is without lose of equipment on death how do you make a viable crafting economy? Difficult decisions ahead!

Pirates of the Burning Sea's death penalty was the main reason I left that game, I just don't want to be spending all sorts of time grinding money.

Originally posted by Renko

Originally posted by IAmMMO

The alarm bells went off at the part they admitted they're listen to the “Death must be as big a penalty as possible“ crowd. If they listen to this very small, but vocal minority that mix up challenging with frustration they'll end up with a death system that will annoy people enough not to get that involved with the PVP side of the game, and could affect subscriptions over all. They really shouldn't be listening to these people and keep to use their own ideas kept in house. Listening to players will only lead to trouble, because at the end of the day gamers really don't know what they won't, they just think they do. What happend to dev that had imagination of their own to create a game?

 

I was thinking the same as I watched the Dev Chat. Problem is without lose of equipment on death how do you make a viable crafting economy? Difficult decisions ahead!

Pirates of the Burning Sea's death penalty was the main reason I left that game, I just don't want to be spending all sorts of time grinding money.

Most MMORPGs (emphasis on the RPG part) don't have item loss. They have durability, and sometimes not even that. And yet they still manage to have thriving economies. How? Everyone wants bigger and better stuff. I highly doubt that once you buy a weapon in JGE, you're never gonna need another again. Because there will always be something bigger and/or better to get. And even if people reach 'endgame' and cant get any better equipment, you've still got new players coming in, and old ones creating new characters... And eventually new content released.

Granted, EVE has item loss and it's economy is the best out there, hands down. But apart from being space sci-fis, EVE and JGE dont have much in common. Certainly not the gameplay. And... I have completely forgotten the point of this paragraph. Uhhh... I guess what i'm saying is you shouldn't size JGE up against EVE. For one, as mentioned in the dev chat, battles are fast. And that's to be expected, because this is dogfighting. Death in JGE is probably going to be much more common than EVE, meaning item loss on death would be much more painful.

So, to summarize: Not item loss doesn't necessarily mean bad economy.

Originally posted by IAmMMO

They really shouldn't be listening to these people and keep to use their own ideas kept in house. Listening to players will only lead to trouble, because at the end of the day gamers really don't know what they won't, they just think they do. What happend to dev that had imagination of their own to create a game?

While it might be true that developers should not listen to the WoW playing 7-13 year olds whose instant gratification mentality all to often dominates the MMO community, old JGC players are actually mature enough to make very good observations and suggest good changes.

Frankly, this whining about the death penality being potentially too hard says it all. In JGC, death meant that you lost your ship and all your equipment. It made you actually be careful and rewarded skill.

No matter what the developers decide, JGE will reward pilot skill more than level. Meaning you don't get to be uber l33t at max level with "blue" or "purple" gear. JGE is the last best hope for an open MMO world that rewards long term planning and goals.

Disappointed...no real PVP, no area control, no politics. Separate PVE/PVP? What kind of adrenaline you're talking about...

If it had good graphics for fancy NPC pew-pew,  but it's no good either.

Looks like it's gonna be another casual game for kiddies that want to kill "red markers". I just don't get it why ppl need MMO to play solo the game that is much inferior to offline space simultors.

I guess there's still no alternative to EVE yet.

I just hope that all the casual games that comes out will collect majority of casual players making hardcore niche more interesting for developers.

 Imo from what ive seen and heard/read soo far Freelancer is better in all regards to this game except graphic wise... they realy need to give me some incentive to pay monthly.