All Posts by Drafell

I make it up as I go along - has worked for me so far...

A certain amount is down to 'feel', the rest is all statistics.

Sadly, 4x games (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate) in an MMO format still has not been done successfully. The only game that comes to mind is Face of Mankind, although I think that may be due to be shut down.

Good luck in your search.

Based on what is printed directly on the box not matching up to the product itself, then it is always possible.

False advertising.

It should certainly be possible in the UK due to our trading standards policies.

EvE does what it does well and caters for it's own style and niche, but it is certainly not for everyone.

Does it matter?

Just chill, sit back, and forget about the game until something concrete actually shows up, like the open beta.

Until then it is hardly worth speculating.

It looks like you are ready to move on to a new challenge.

Is there a particular 'theme' towards which you are looking? IE sci-fi, historical, fantasy?

The problem is that there are not many MMO's that focus on strategy, at least not as a core part of the game. Most strategic systems are tacked on as some part of RvR or PvP game play; as such combat will always be a major contributing factor

Try not to restrict players to a single profession or tree unless it happens to be part of a racial trait. You can govern a players current individual abilities by the skin they happen to be wearing, and what variations you allow on that skin, be it a combat suit or a space ship.

As for the three factions, I would advise cutting it down to just two. Three way warfare sounds good on paper, but creating balance while retaining racial flavour is a very difficult task. Players will naturally gravitate towards the easiest and most powerful faction to play, and there will always be one faction that is better than the others in such a model.

The key about design is to simplify things as much as possible - if you cannot explain a concept in one paragraph or less then you will want to take another look and reconsider.

I played Dizzy on the CPC 464. Awesome series of games.

I know how to use some of the basic features, but I don't really do much modeling.

I try to use open source or free tools these days, anyway.

Bad idea. There is no way to reliably enforce this if you have a game designed to be played in multiple countries.

You would be restricting your client base, and the administration overhead would also be quite prohibitive.

Isopropyl alcohol applied to a lint-free cloth (otherwise known as rubbing alcohol or tape head cleaner).

Seems like another wait an see project.

Holding out more hope for Infinity at this point.

In DarkSpace v1.500, we are removing credits(gold) from the game.

Resources, which are necessary for player upgrades and ship customization, are provided by planets. These auto generate a number of resources each game cycle, depending on how players have developed the planets facilities.

In turn this central resource is used to pay for all planetary construction, all player ships, and all upgrade costs. The player themselves are effectively employed by the military body of the faction (or race) that they choose to play as, so this is how we justify the 'free' upgrades. If resources are running low in a given area, then players can help transport resources to where they are needed.

We do not have a conventional crafting system. Players are able to build and develop planets, which is a form of crafting, and they also have the option to build various types of deep space platforms. What you 'craft' helps to benefit your faction overall.

The direct benefit to the player is prestige (experience), which enables them to unlock access to higher tier ships.

The game is heavily PvP oriented. so the focus for us is not on player gear, but instead on player skill.

How would such a system translate into a more conventional MMO?

Imagine belonging to a guild, the guild provides your equipment and tools of the trade (depending on experience), in turn for your assistance in helping to keep the guild supplied with essential resources. Providing the guild has adequate resources stockpiled, the item you need can be 'crated' and supplied to you free of charge.

If your guild is running low on wool for bandages, then you go out and shear some sheep, or set up a sheep farm. Part of the challenge could be in defending such a farm from invading trolls or something.

Be creative and think out of the box.

Oh yes, another member of the development team:

Doran - Community Administrator / Content Developer

I hate joo voltron! :-P

With regards to the [apparent lack of] development, I advise you to take a look at the [url=http://beta.darkspace.net/index.htm?lang=en&sid=&module=files.php]Beta client[url].

There is only one member of the Development team who hasn't contributed something within the last month, although that's due to issues not related to DarkSpace itself.

There have been a large number of changes and improvements, and we are really close to being able to roll out version 1.500. In the last month there have been in excess of 149 individual bug fixes and balance tweaks, and 36 new builds for players to test.

Version 1.500 is already a vast improvement over the release version of the game, however we are not yet satisfied. There are a few critical issues that still need to be addressed, although we cannot give an eta on how long this will take. It is entirely possible that the new version could be rolled out within a week. But then again, another issue may crop up that we have to resolve, and that could delay us for another couple of weeks or so.

If we could give an accurate TTL for 1.500 we would.

I have been playing this for a couple of weeks, and it's kind of fun. Although given that it is more-or-less aimed at the 8-14 year old market, maybe that is saying more about my mental state than I really want it to.

Wizard 101...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfwnm4D7Alc

Maybe that's a good thing? :-P

Everquest helped to pioneer a whole new era in online gaming.

I remember playing when it first came out. Sure, there were some annoying issues, and features that may be considered primitive by today's standards, yet it was still the first popular 3D MMO out there, and king of the hill until WoW came along.

Sadly I just can't reconcile myself with EvE's skill system. It annoys me and pretty much removes my enjoyment of the game.