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EVE Online Interviews: Senior Producer Interview
MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller recently spoke with EVE Online Senior Producer Torfi Olafsson about all things CCP including the new EVE expansion, Ambulation and Dust 514.
By Garrett Fuller on September 29, 2009
| MMORPG.com: | Tell us about the Dominion Expansion. |
| Torfi Olafsson: | Our next expansion for EVE Online which will be our twelfth free expansion to our subscribers is called Dominion and it is coming out this winter and we're pretty excited about it. It is already on our test server Singularity. In Dominion our focus was providing tools and mechanisms for stories to emerge themselves. What that means is? As you are familiar with EVE is a sandbox heavy game. Our most cherished feature is the fact that our most interesting story is; our most compelling interactions come from alliances and players interacting with each other. So years ago we built a sovereignty system which allowed you to lay claim to solar systems, constellations, and regions. This system has been used a lot and has been the setting for many exciting battles and adventures in the game, but it was sorely needed an iteration. We knew and our players knew that it could be better, more cerebral, and more tactical. It needed a good polish. So we put our best people on collecting ideas and feedback from our community and our Council of Stellar Management and mixing those with ideas that had been brewing within the company for years. This manifested into a system that we feel is a highly engaging and an interesting system for claiming sovereignty, owning it, maintaining it, developing them and building infrastructure. |
| MMORPG.com: | Tell us about the upcoming Fanfest you have planned in Iceland. What can fans expect? |
| Torfi Olafsson: | At Fan Fest we'll definitely be talking about Dominion. We'll have really interesting round tables and talks from developers about the thinking that went on into making the new expansion. We also want to collect feedback from people who will be there. There is a lot of excitement about CCP's upcoming console title DUST 514. There will be some big announcements on DUST 514 and some very cool stuff to see. That is pretty much all I can say. We are keeping a tight lid on it until Fan Fest. |
| MMORPG.com: | Can you talk about Ambulation; it has been a while since it was announced. |
| Torfi Olafsson: | Building an MMO is a highly complicated task. The interactions, the systems, and the interaction between the systems are far more challenging than a single player game that will be finished in thirty hours of game play. The initial plans for Ambulation did not lean very high on the game design part of it. It was more a venue for socializing and player interactions. As we went deeper into it our ambitions grew and we realized that since we were providing this extra dimension to game play we really wanted to make it as engaging as possible. So we are victims of our own ambition in that sense. We feel that we're going to release it when it is ready. We have people working on it. We are working on both the technology and the game design. I can tell you a little about it. Our approach to it to date is that you are a pod pilot in EVE. You spend most of your time locked in your pod, floating in goo. You are jacked into your ship. You can launch a volley of missile with a single thought. You can destroy industrial ships with a blink of an eye. You are almost god-like in how your ship is an extension of your mind and your will. That is the back ground. That is who you are. So for you to leave that ship and be thrown on the floor of a smelly, stinky, space station being nothing more than a weak human frail piece of flesh is both revolting to you and humiliating. So what is driving you to go into the stations is you go in there to do stuff which cannot register on any network, on any electronic communication network at all. So your reason for going into the space station is to go offline basically. So that is going to be the interaction with people in the dark smelly stations. |
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| MMORPG.com: | I know a lot of game companies have been talking about playing offline. Or staying connected to the game offline. EVE has been a leader in keeping players connected to the game when not logged in. Can you talk about some of your plans to continue this format? |
| Torfi Olafsson: | Sure, we are developing a feature that we refer to internally as Cosmos, which is a web portal into the game. Which will give you access to your in game email, your corporation profile, your character profile, your contacts list etc. We're building the architecture in such a way that it directly talks to a server and on a road map we are looking at deep interactions with the game system, even going as far as changing skills, doing industry, working the market, interacting with everything that is not about blowing shit up. I travel a lot and I live on my Blackberry, I get frustrated, I want to go in there, I want to do stuff when I am sitting in an airport. It is annoying. So it is the way things are moving right now. We have always felt that the game is bigger than the client. Being able to interact with the game outside that regular client, it makes perfect sense to us. |
| MMORPG.com: | Give us a little taste of DUST 514. How is it going on the project? |
| Torfi Olafsson: | The DUST team is doing incredible work. From the demos, videos, the artwork that is coming out of that team, it is just amazing. They have managed to capture the essence of EVE and translate it into the console space and deepen it further, more than I ever expected. It is amazing seeing that previously unknown part of the EVE universe being born. So it is incredibly exciting for people like us, like me who has been on the team with the EVE world for a very long time. I've been here for years. I have been working on it for ten years and it is really exciting for me. |
;)
Personally, I liked the initial comments on the changes where a constant presence in the system and continued building there determined sov rather than what I am hearing now. Will have to wait on further details are announced, but I don't think what CCP is proposing is going to change much.
Ambulation will be offline?
offline in the fact that your character won't be jacked into the net. Equivalent to meeting in a bar to discuss hiring to kill somebody over discussing it on the community activity board. As a player you will be logged on, but your character is trying to do things a bit more off the record.
that said I can't wait till fanfest!!!!!!!!
Wished I was going to fanfest but looks like next year according to the misses for me. This interview interests me in that I dont think CCP sees things like most companies. Most companies plan out this timeline for their games and when they may or may not end. When I see interviews with CCP its almost like they dont see a end to EVE and just keep trying to innovate for it and improve it as they go. Amazing really considering where it was even 3 yrs ago.
If the developers of EVE accomplish having both podders and dusters in the same universe and able to interact with each other (ie bar fight) then they have done something nobody else has. If they treat them as 100% seperate games, with only "words" saying its the same universe, they fail hard.
I've been dreading walking in stations ever since I heard about it. My fear is that CCP will slap some Second Life clone onto EVE and that will become a bigger focus of the game. Although, I must say, I usually stare at my ship floating in a POS/station while doing my corp work in-game. It might be nice to sit at an office or something now.
Eve Pilots are like demigods I wouldn't be caught dead with a lower life form like a Dust Merc.
The fact that I will even consider letting you fight for me on some little planet should be enough for you.
"Bar Fights" freaking mortals. Just be happy we let you live... well until we figure out how to Doomsday a planet :)
I'm disappointed information was so light on the abulation system. Is there going to be missions using the system? What kind of stuff are we looking at? What does it mean that it's going to be even deeper?
Ambulation (station walk) is still in its early stages, its still a concept with little effort invested on it. As it seems and was said in the interview, CCP is working on the "day 1" features of the game improving them with each expansion, dont expect ambulation to come out anytime soon.
I'm very interested to see the newest elements Eve will be building. They are truly pioneers in psychological gaming. Can't wait to see this new stuff.
Its far more along then that. Its at the We have the programming, You can get out and walk around... Now why are you here again? They are just giving reasons to get off the ship and use Incarna more then just a pure social aspect.
Eve is going to be on consoles now, did I get that right?
No. Dust-514 is a upcoming FPS that is set in the EVE universe. THAT is coming out for the consoles.
I am infuriated that their lack on confirmation or denial of weather dust will be on pc and console or just console only.
I will be even more infuriated (to the point of somehow tanking and winning concord in the middle of jita) if dust aint on PC.
I have cancelled my eve subscription, after the next 2 months or so im off till dust comes to PC.
Can I have your stuff till you come back? :D
No. Dust-514 is a upcoming FPS that is set in the EVE universe. THAT is coming out for the consoles.
Did they confirm whether the actions done in Dust-514 will have any effect on the current EVE universe? I thought that the games were supposed to be intertwined someway. The thought makes me excited as it will create a whole new set of politics in the EVE game world: the ability to own and control planets on the ground, not just the space.
Did they confirm whether the actions done in Dust-514 will have any effect on the current EVE universe? I thought that the games were supposed to be intertwined someway. The thought makes me excited as it will create a whole new set of politics in the EVE game world: the ability to own and control planets on the ground, not just the space.
They've hinted that it will, but nothing specific yet. A friend of mine was at PAX and met the CCP devs and they refused to answer any questions about Dust until the EVE Fanfest with starts tomorrow, so we should learn more about it then. Like I said in my piece about the sov changes, I think it will tie in 0.0 space, considering all the other changes CCP has made/announced to null sec recently (sov mechanics, capital ship nerf/boosts)
Edit: *points to below post*
Did they confirm whether the actions done in Dust-514 will have any effect on the current EVE universe? I thought that the games were supposed to be intertwined someway. The thought makes me excited as it will create a whole new set of politics in the EVE game world: the ability to own and control planets on the ground, not just the space.
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/14/view/news/page/1/read/14742/EVE-Online-CrossPlatform-Play-in-DUST-514.html
CCP has been long on promises and short on delivery. While I enjoyed my time in EVE, I was disappointed in the the "promises" made by CCP and the "delays" in bringing things to life. To those that are still there, stay. It was, and still is, not for me.
What promises?
I know Ambulation was never given an official release date so what else are you talking about?
That Atmospheric flight demo? that wasn't given a release date either?
Seriously you guys see a tech demo and then imagine a date in your heads and get pissed when CCP doesn't release on this imaginary day.
I think what they are saying is that WIS will offer a certain level of privacy to it’s players and open the doors to the blackmarket. There is already a blackmarket on EVE and with WIS, you’ll have that “off the record” feel roaming around the stations.
Sounds brilliant!
Also, CCP has never made any promised dates on Ambulation or other features. People imagine things...
Hell I think that in comparison to other developers, like SOE NCSoft and Funcom that CCP is better at keeping the hype machine down a notch, they and Turbine are probably my favorite developers as far as PR goes.
What I love about EVE is that it is what you make of it.
I don't know, sounds like CCP is actually backing away from WIS. Did they not hype the sh*t out of it last year? Maybe I missed it but I didn't find anything in this years brochure, no panels no nothing. Interesting they also gave this interview before FanFest, every media interview I have seen asks about Ambulation's status, maybe they are preparing us for the eventual project cancellation. I hope I am wrong.
Now, I know NO release date was ever given but don't give me this BS that people are imagining dates in their heads. This has been, until this interview, a project THEY have hyped to both the fans and media outlets for years. It isn't about dates, it's about over marketing something you don't have, sending into a black hole for a while then emerging out the other end with squat. It's about credibility, their ability to give us a glimpse at the future and deliver on it in some form or another and not sweep it under the carpet and hope it will go away and move on to the next shiny.
I guess we will just need to wait for FanFest's conclusion, hopefully we will get some additional insight into this project.
YEah im waiting till fanfest is over then decide if I want to quit or not...
If you are that ambivalent about EVE you should quit. EVE is the PhD of PC Gaming and is not really for everyone. It is hardcore and ruthless, 0.0 and WH space are the most dangerous places in PC Gaming.
So we can understand if you can not handle it.
Enjoy whatever game you end up playing instead.
Yours in 0.0 Plasma,
Star*Dagger