walking-in-stations posts

GDC10: Torfi Frans Olafsson gives details on Tyrannis, Incarna and more

by Brendan Drain Mar 14th 2010 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, Professions, PvE

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.

Tags: ambulation, ccp, ccp-eve, ccp-games, developer, developers, eve, eve-ccp, eve-gate, eve-mmorpg, eve-online, expansion, Expansions, exploration, featured, gdc-2010, incarna, industry, manufacturing, mining, mmo-industry, new-eden, planet, planets, social, social-network, social-networking, torfi-frans-olafsson, tyrannis, walking-in-stations, wormholes

EVE Evolved: The development of Incarna

by Brendan Drain Feb 7th 2010 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Expansions, MMO industry, Virtual worlds, EVE Evolved

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.

Tags: 2010, ambulation, avatars, ccp, ccp-eve, ccp-games, devblog, developers, eve, eve-ccp, eve-evolved, eve-mmorpg, eve-online, expansion, featured, incarna, interview, oveur, walking-in-stations

GameX 2009: Video interview with Nathan Richardsson and "Alli" Óttarsson

by Seraphina Brennan Oct 27th 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Massively Interviews, Massively Event Coverage

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!

Tags: alli-ottarsson, ambulation, ccp, eve, eve-online, gamex, gamex-2009, incarna, interview, mobile-app, nathan-richardsson, neocom, video, video-interview, walking-in-stations, white-wolf

EVE Online announces Dominion expansion, 'Walking in Stations' renamed Incarna

by James Egan Aug 31st 2009 at 4:45PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Guilds, MMO industry, News items

CCP Games has announced their 11th free expansion for EVE Online, called "Dominion." As the name suggests, the winter expansion focuses on territories and player control over them. We're told that the Dominion expansion focuses on conquering and holding space, and will feature a reworking of the sovereignty system of territorial control for player alliances. We don't have any further details on the sovereignty revamp yet, but according to CCP the changes have been made with subscriber feedback in mind, particularly through the player-elected Council of Stellar Management.

Given that CCP Games is tying more of EVE Online's gameplay into the planets of the New Eden galaxy, the next step they're taking with the Trinity graphics engine is to add more detail to these planets (and presumably moons).

Tags: alliances, ambulation, breaking, ccp-games, cosmos, council-of-stellar-management, csm, dominion, dust-514, epic-mission-arcs, eve-fanfest-2009, eve-online, expansions, game-mechanics, guilds, new-eden, novel, piracy, pirates, planets, sci-fi, sovereignty, the-burning-life, trinity, walking-in-stations

Fan-run EVE contest will let winner interview CCP dev on podcast

by James Egan Aug 15th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Contests, Game mechanics

EVE Online is a space-based MMO through and through. In the six years since the game went live, EVE's galactic setting of New Eden has expanded to encompass thousands of solar systems, both charted space and far-flung unexplored systems, as the game's subscriber numbers have slowly but steadily grown. The IP is expanding in new directions as well. Novels now add more depth to the game's lore. CCP Games plans to let players step out of their ships and interact as avatars with Walking in Stations, and the devs have stated that they'd like to bring atmospheric flight to the game at some (undetermined) point in the future. And of course they also have a ground pounder FPS set in the EVE universe in the works.

It was some of these things on the horizon that got our friend CrazyKinux thinking about the possibilities that may open up for this sci-fi MMO if planetary colonization or terrestrial gameplay are introduced. In fact, he decided to make this the basis of his next EVE Online contest. It's one we think might interest some of Massively's readers, particularly as the contest winner will get to ~~grill~~ interview an EVE developer on the MicroWarpCast podcast.

Tags: ambulation, atmospheric-flight, ccp-games, contests, crazykinux, crazykinuxs-musing, dust, dust-514, eve, eve-online, game-mechanics, ground-combat, new-eden, sci-fi, walking-in-stations

Video interview focuses on emergent gameplay in EVE Online

by James Egan Aug 13th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, Events, real-world, Interviews

Part of what's so interesting about video games, and MMOs specifically, is that players often do things the game designers never envisioned. This is especially the case with a sandbox MMO like EVE Online where the developers provide a setting and the players establish their own virtual society of sorts. The topic of emergent gameplay in EVE came up in a recent video interview from the Nordic Game Conference, where our friend Petter Mårtensson from Gamereactor spoke with CCP Games Executive Producer Nathan "Oveur" Richardsson.

Their conversation touches upon what the players are doing with wormhole exploration (with around 2500 uncharted solar systems) and CCP's excitement when player alliances clash and create their own stories of conflict. The interview also covers Walking in Stations (avatars), the COSMOS social network that will tie in with EVE, and the company's intent to alter 0.0 space with more tools to build empires and more incentives to get people out there into these lawless regions. Stick with us for a video embed of the Gamereactor interview with CCP's Nathan Richardsson.

Tags: ccp-games, cosmos, dust, dust-514, eve, eve-online, gamereactor, gdc-europe, interviews, nathan-richardsson, nordic-game-conference, oveur, petter-martensson, sci-fi, senior-producer, social-network, social-networking, video, walking-in-stations, world-of-darkness

EVE Online social network 'COSMOS' coming with Winter expansion

by James Egan Jul 21st 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Forums

The EVE Online developers have released the first solid bit of info regarding the game's Winter expansion, which will include a social network called COSMOS. Unfortunately, the as-yet-unnamed Winter expansion won't bring Walking in Stations (3D avatars), to the best of our knowledge. Any announcement of the next expansion's features is still a long way off, but a dev blog from EVE developer CCP Caedmon focuses on COSMOS and what it will bring to the game.

COSMOS will debut with a limited feature set, with more added to the platform over time. However, if CCP Games can deliver on what Caedmon mentions, it should go down well with the playerbase since these features will be tied in with the game.

Tags: api, ccp-caedmon, ccp-games, cosmos, dev-blog, dev-blogs, eve-online, forums, sci-fi, social-network, social-networking, walking-in-stations, winter-expansion

CCP Games reveals next major Apocrypha update for EVE Online

by James Egan Jun 30th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, Patches, PvP, News items

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.

Tags: apocrypha, apocrypha-1.5, black-ops, breaking, ccp-games, ccp-t0rfifrans, dev-blog, dev-blogs, empyrean-age, epic-mission-arcs, eve, eve-online, factional-warfare, fuel-bay, fuel-bays, game-mechanics, loyalty-points, lp, missions, patches, pvp, rigs, sci-fi, senior-producer, sovereignty, specialized-cargo-holds, torfi-frans-olafsson, walking-in-stations

CCP Games CEO to announce new project in GDC Europe keynote

by James Egan Jun 11th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items

Hilmar Pétursson, the CEO of CCP Games, will keynote Game Developers Conference Europe 2009 in Cologne, Germany. The event runs from August 17 through the 19th at the Cologne Congress Center East. Hilmar's keynote will focus on how CCP Games rose from being a small Reykjavik-based studio with an obscure niche title to becoming a success story in the MMO industry with the growing popularity of EVE Online, now running studios in Atlanta and Shanghai, as well as their hometown of Reykjavik.

Perhaps the biggest news here is the reveal hinted at in the CCP Games press release: "As a testament to the industry's potential for growth despite widespread economic turmoil and as an inspiration for up-and-coming independent studios, Pétursson will give an exclusive first look at the company's latest project, which is currently in pre-production." We can only assume this is the World of Darkness MMO, but it could very well be a closer look at Walking in Stations or any of the other projects CCP announced at last year's Fanfest. Regardless of what this new project is, we won't know for sure until August.

Tags: atlanta, ccp-games, china, eve, eve-online, fps, game-developers-conference-europe, gdc, gdc-europe, gdc-europe-2009, hilmar-petursson, hilmar-v-petursson, iceland, keynote, mmo-industry, reykjavik, shanghai, walking-in-stations, world-of-darkness

EVE Online coding honcho profiled in 'Master of the Universe'

by James Egan Feb 3rd 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, MMO industry

Most gamers probably aren't familiar with IEEE Spectrum, but it's a publication of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world's largest professional technology association. Fans of EVE Online who are curious about the people behind the sci-fi title might be interested in checking out IEEE Spectrum's piece on CCP Games and the man who directs the EVE Online Software Group: Erlendur Thorsteinsson, also known to players as CCP Explorer.

The profile is written by Erico Guizzo, titled "Erlendur Thorsteinsson: Master of the Universe." Guizzo's piece sheds some light on what brought the Computer Science Ph.D. to CCP Games in order to tackle the myriad challenges of improving EVE's single world environment. The article also gives mention to the work done behind the scenes on the title's more ambitious projects, including adding wormhole exploration to the game with the Apocrypha expansion, and the forthcoming Walking in Stations where player avatars will step out of their ships for the first time.

[Via CrazyKinux]

Tags: apocrypha, ccp, ccp-explorer, ccp-games, computer-science, erico-guizzo, erlendur-s-thorsteinsson, erlendur-thorsteinsson, eve, eve-online, eve-online-software-group, expansions, game-mechanics, ieee, ieee-spectrum, mmo-industry, reykjavik, sci-fi, walking-in-stations

Players skeptical about EVE Online's introduction of Tech III

by James Egan Jan 9th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Crafting, Opinion, Races

Everyone loves Lego, right? That childhood pastime of snapping together pieces to create new and often bizarre creations is coming to the spaceships of EVE Online, but not all players are happy to hear about this.

The next EVE Online expansion, Apocrypha, is going to introduce some new aspects to gameplay. Some of these new features, like wormhole exploration, seem to be received positively by the player base. But others -- like the modular "Tech III" ship designs -- have drawn no small amount of criticism from EVE's subscribers. Tech III is an aspect of the game that has players pretty well divided, much like the upcoming Walking in Stations (aka Ambulation) expansion. The sentiment a number of players have been vocal about is 'Do we really need this?' Whines and tears are a daily occurrence on the game's official forums and perhaps the opinions voiced there aren't necessarily indicative of the sentiments of the larger player base. But concerns about Tech III are also beginning to show up on player blogs, far from the bandwagoning of the EVE Online forums, and in some cases from players who know the game very well.

Tags: a-misguided-adventurer, apocrypha, ccp-games, complexity, controversy, cruisers, e-on, eve-online, eves-weekend-warrior, expansions, exploration, game-mechanics, lego, modular-ship-design, new-eden, opinion, sandbox, sci-fi, tech-3, tech-iii, tonglil, walking-in-stations, wormhole-exploration, xiphos

EVE Evolved: Why EVE Online will be around for a long time.

by Brendan Drain Dec 14th 2008 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Business models, Culture, Expansions, MMO industry, Patches, Professions, Opinion, Tabula Rasa, EVE Evolved

A little under five years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to a new online game he was playing called EVE Online. A key part of his pitch was that the game was less than a year old and I should get in on the ground floor. My friend correctly anticipated the massive success that EVE would be and that it would be good to get involved as early as possible. Over the years, that decision to start playing EVE in early 2004 has afforded me a lot of opportunities, not least of all being able to contribute to EON magazine and finally become a columnist here at Massively.

Getting in on the ground floor:
Five years down the line from EVE day one, it's easy for new players or those that want to sign up to feel like they've missed the boat and can't achieve what the older players have. In the same way that my friend introduced me to EVE, it's my turn to try and convince people that they can still get in on the ground floor of something new and immense. With two major expansions coming soon, including the revolutionary "Walking in Stations" expansion, I firmly believe that right now could be the best time in five years to get in on the ground floor of the incredible on-going journey that is EVE Online.

In this article, I discuss the reasons why EVE will continue to endure for the foreseeable future and how getting involved now could be just as good as getting involved from day one.

Tags: ccp, eve, eve-evolved, eve-online, expansion, featured, joystiqfeatures, opinion, patch, sci-fi, subscriptions, tabula rasa, TabulaRasa, tech3, trial, walking-in-stations, world-of-warcraft, wormhole, wormholes

EVE Evolved: Is EVE Online's death penalty really that harsh?

by Brendan Drain Dec 7th 2008 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, Tips and tricks, Opinion, EVE Evolved

Everyone knows that the death penalty in EVE Online is harsh but is it really as bad as we make it out to be? Is losing a ship really a devastating blow or does the emotional factor of losing something we've put care and attention into make us exaggerate the loss? Since EVE's gameplay is focused entirely on piloting ships rather than walking around with your character, we can get very attached to our ships and feel a great sense of loss at their destruction. It can be hard to keep in mind that our ships in EVE are just tools, which can make their loss feel a lot harsher than it should be. Is this the fault of the player for getting attached to their ship or of the game design for not encouraging us to form attachments with our characters instead?

In this brief article, I discuss some of the golden rules of EVE used to minimise the death penalty and ask whether our perceptions of EVE Online's death penalty are really that accurate.

Tags: ambulation, ccp, ccp-games, clone, death, death penalty, DeathPenalty, eve, eve-evolved, eve-online, featured, joystiqfeatures, pod, tips, walking-in-stations

CCP Games releases more EVE Fanfest 2008 video footage

by James Egan Nov 29th 2008 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Events, real-world, Expansions, Game mechanics, Guilds, MMO industry, PvP

For most of us who weren't able to attend EVE Fanfest 2008 earlier this month in Reykjavik, at least there have been videos of the various presentations and panels. CCP Games released quite a number of these just over a week ago, but they recently went ahead and added more.

The new footage, which can be seen in higher resolution on the EVE Online Videos page or on the CCP Games YouTube page, gives viewers a look at:

Designing the Walking in Stations expansion

The Fanfest 2008 PvP Tournament

Roxor

QA! Are we ready to ship?

TQ Servers: Making mountains out of molehills

All footage on the EVE Online Videos page is available in two resolutions, viewable as embedded video or downloadable.

Tags: ccp, ccp-games, eve, eve-fanfest-2008, eve-online, expansions, game-mechanics, guilds, iceland, mmo-industry, panels, presentations, pvp, pvp-tournament, reykjavik, sci-fi, walking-in-stations, youtube

EVE Online's Senior Producer on expansion plans

by James Egan Nov 21st 2008 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Interviews, PvP

Some new directions for EVE Online were announced at Fanfest 2008 earlier this month. Torfi Frans Olafsson is the Senior Producer for EVE Online, who presented many of these new features. Eurogamer's Oli Welsh recently spoke with Torfi Frans about the Fanfest announcements and how they'll impact the game as it moves forward.

The interview focuses heavily on the Walking in Stations expansion, which -- despite no small amount of negative sentiment from some of the playerbase -- has the potential to expand the limits of gameplay in New Eden. "The expansion is about growing EVE Online as the general-purpose science fiction simulator out there... the whole idea is just to deepen the experience," Torfi Frans tells Welsh.

Tags: avatar, ccp, ccp-games, ccp-t0rfifrans, customization, eurogamer, eve, eve-fanfest-2008, eve-online, expansions, interviews, mmo-industry, oli-welsh, pvp, walking-in-stations, world-of-darkness, world-of-darkness-online

Massively Features

Events Calendar

Name	Date
GenCon Indy	Aug 5-8, 2010
SOE Fan Faire	Aug 5-8, 2010
Xsyon Prelude Launch	Aug 15, 2010
GamesCom Expo	Aug 18-22, 2010
Earthrise Launch	Q3 2010
Dragon*Con	Sep 3-6, 2010
PAX Prime	Sep 3-5, 2010
Final Fantasy XIV Launch	Sep 30, 2010
GDC Online	Oct 5-8, 2010
LEGO Universe Launch	Oct 26, 2010
DCUO Launch	Nov 2, 2010

Massively Staff

Name	Title
Shawn Schuster	Editor-in-Chief
Seraphina Brennan	Senior Editor
Brianna Royce	West Coast Editor
Dan O'Halloran	Features Coordinator
Brendan Drain	Contributing Editor
Eliot Lefebvre	Contributing Editor
Jef Reahard	Contributing Editor
Justin Olivetti	Contributing Editor
Krystalle Voecks	Contributing Editor
Rubi Bayer	Contributing Editor
Tateru Nino	Contributing Editor
Beau Hindman	Columnist
Edward Marshall	Columnist
Greg Waller	Columnist
Jeremy Stratton	Columnist
Larry Everett	Columnist
MJ Guthrie	Columnist
Patrick Mackey	Columnist
Ryan Greene	Columnist
Lisa Poisso	Columnist