Muhadmananda

The schematic rewards from the Pioneer Packs refer to the new schematic copy system that was implemented in July 2022. They are single run schematics that can be used to fabricate dynamic core units if you have the required materials and industry unit. Thus players who receive these packs will be able to more easily produce the associated dynamic core units by not needing to pay the schematic copy fee or wait for the schematics to be created. Alternatively these schematic copies can be sold on the market or traded with other players in exchange for quanta.

The blueprint system is divided into two parts.  When you save a copy of your construct it generates a Core BP to store the data.  You cannot place a construct directly from a Core BP, instead you make a usable copy just called a blueprint.  A Core BP has unlimited use (as many copies as you can afford) but a blueprint is a single use item used to place the construct.

need a 3rd option...taxes are fine but 1st tile on a planet should be excluded and cost should scale with how many tiles you own.

need a 3rd option...taxes are fine but 1st tile on a planet should be excluded and cost should scale with how many tiles you own.

need a 3rd option...taxes are fine but 1st tile on a planet should be excluded and cost should scale with how many tiles you own.

Earlier this year, we presented our plans for the future of Dual Universe, following player feedback from the beta. Along with these plans, we had an internal roadmap, which we thought needed further refinement before being able to share it publicly, as we want to be able to give our community a reliable view of our plans. We now feel that this time has come, so here is the roadmap for the remainder of 2021. 
 
A few important things to note: 
This is a work in progress.  Dates may shift.  Features may be added or removed.  
Please also note that there is more further down the line, past 2021. We just want to be realistic about content and timings and start with delivering what we think is important for 2021. We hope to be working with you, our community, to deliver fun and interesting new features and improvements, thanks to our “new” release process, which includes the PTS, and to your ongoing feedback.
 
Which features on the roadmap are you most excited about? 
 

Hi Noveans, 
 
Today, we release the 0.25.8 version of Dual Universe. We named it the "Hermes Update" (which is codenamed after the Deity, messenger of the Greek gods). You'll see why with the changelog below: 
 
New Features
 
Mission System: Thanks to community feedback, we know that players have been looking for more ways to make money. The Mission System will provide those opportunities in a number of ways that suit a wide swath of playstyles and experience. Intent: Offer new ways for players, especially new players, to make money. Allow merchants to focus on creating goods rather than spending time traveling to markets to sell their wares. Give those who enjoy traveling a lucrative reason to take to those beautiful, wide-open skies. Create more traffic in space, hence more opportunities for pirates. Help organizations coordinate internal work. The long-term goal is to enrich the Mission System with more mission types, starting with “taxi” missions, SOS, and later adding PvP and various other “formalizable” activities. For now, we’re introducing the Mission System with transport-type hauling missions.
 
It all starts with the Mission Panel, a dedicated dashboard tab for job and hauling missions. It is equivalent to other dashboard tabs such as the Organization dashboard tab. Within the Mission Panel, you’ll find the "Job Forum" section and the "Hauling" section. Each of these contains a similar page: a home page, a search page, a creation modal, etc. More details about this new feature are available in this devblog: https://www.dualuniverse.game/news/devblog-missionsystem 
 
Hauling Missions: These are repeatable hauling activities that allow players to earn some quanta. To access these missions, you will need to find the Aphelia Mission Hub on every planet. From there, you’ll be able to access missions from an NPC (Alphelia) or other players via  the Mission System UI.  These missions adhere to a particular list of parameters that includes specific locations, time limits, and collateral.Some will be easy, requiring you to simply carry light and small packages across a planet, while others will be more difficult, asking you to transport heavier and larger packages across the darkness of space.  Challenges: In the VR surrogate station, the “Challenges'' tab now has the Air Delivery Challenge. Players can earn quanta by using the provided vehicles to complete a series of deliveries from ground constructs to a floating airbase.  
New ART assets and VFXs: Tool modes VFX New FX for the tool. Every specific tool mode now has unique FX on the tool itself and on the object targeted. Uses for tools in-hand will be more intuitive.  In addition to all of the new  FX, we upgraded some textures and recalibrated some global colors in order to closely follow the global AD to make it more immersive and fun. Industry VFX Added new 3D creation FX for our Industry family. These visualizations for printers, assembly lines, and metalwork units will bring some life into the crafting process. We also took the opportunity to upgrade the previous state FX with some subtle adjustments. Element VFX New FX on Bac Deco plants, with a new light system and subtle fogger activated in order to maintain their green value. New FX on the famous bonsai with some magnetic greenfield to make it levitate. New subtle engine/beam FX on the little Arkship model. New FX for all in-game hologram projections with some top notch, high-quality improvements such as signal interferences and air dust, boosted by a bigger and more accurate light projector. New FX for the resurrection node. New FX when the hatch is opened. New FX when the industrial door is opened. New FX when the interior door is opened. New FX for the elevator. New FX for the VR station with the text rotating around the pod when connected. New engine variation texture skins (military/safe/freight/maneuver). Fixed a bug where the landing gears icons were the wrong size.  Fixed a bug where the material on plantdeco 01 was incorrect. Fixed a bug where the airbrakes textures weren't displaying correctly. Fixed a bug on the bonsai where the LODs weren’t displaying correctly. Fixed a bug on canopies, especially glasses, where the opacity was too low and VFX couldn’t pass through. Fixed a bug on canopies & metal canopies triangles where the contact surfaces weren’t placed correctly. Fixed and updated the elevator glass & emissive settings to better opacity and VFX visibility. Fixed a bug that was affecting the collision for space radar/gunner seat/transponder unit/canon laser L&S /cannon railgun L&S.
  Improvements
 
Reduced bandwidth usage in PvP. This should improve performance while pewpewing. Improved digging in multiplayer scenario. Added a new setting to activate more voxel logs to help us debug invalid version issues. It can be found in the game settings, in the ‘general’ tab and its ‘support’ section This setting should only be enabled in the event of voxel issues such as ‘Invalid Cell Versions’ and ‘Unknown Server Errors’ while working with voxels following a request to enable and reproduce from our Customer Support Team.
  Gameplay Balancing/Changes
 
[IMPORTANT] Organization votes will now pass if 2/3 of expressed votes are yes. This will allow deadlocked orgs to be unstuck due to absent legates. Updated the roadmap on the login screen.
  Bug Fixes
 
Fixed light unit shadow artifacts. Fixed a performance regression in HUD rendering. [Industry] Fixed the metalwork industry unit lights staying white.
  Known Issues
 
[VFX] VFX can reappear on destroyed elements after a reconnection or after moving out of render distance. [VFX] Assembly line VFX may not be synchronized with model animations. [VFX] Assembly line VFX can sometimes remain active when the assembly line runs out of material. [VFX] The projected light of small holograms can become larger after repairing the destroyed hologram element. Since the 0.24.4 release, you may notice that there are materials (textures) that have a different look or they might appear less shiny (or shinier). This is due to changes that were made to standardize the materials to bring more consistency for those material types. Metals should look and behave like metals. We’ve also dialed down the glossiness so that it’s not as aggressive. Due to these adjustments, some players may find that textures they’ve used may appear ‘broken’ (though technically they aren’t) or that they are no longer aesthetically pleasing. You may want to spend some time reworking areas of your constructs where this is an issue. Some improvements have already been made and we’re still working on fixing this. Numerous French and German localization issues have already been spotted. A random rendering crash may occur under some conditions due to low GPU/driver resources. Setting shadows to ‘Low’ and disabling Volumetric Clouds in Graphic settings may help. Voxel crashes may occur due to low disk/memory. [Industries] The collision model of the recycling industry is incorrect [Industries] Talents that impact ingredients of schematic products are not displayed client-side, but the schematic updates with the server schematic when starting. [Industries] Some inconsistencies in schematics and tiered elements. [Screens] Transparent screens display as solid white when loading in close proximity. [Screens] High-frequency text updates on screens cause text to not display or flash. [Elements] In certain situations, elements unload at high speeds. [Crash] Triggering a detection zone after maneuvering the construct it is attached to leads to a crash. Various lighting, shadow, and reflection issues might be seen due to ongoing rendering rework. A large amount of industries may cause the sound subsystem to run into a sound emitter limit, causing major performance issues. Logging off or Exiting to Desktop uncommonly triggers the crash reporter.
  We know you've been numerous to anticipate that update and we're eager to have your feedback about it.
 
Cheers, 
Nomad

Despite our recent efforts to expand and clear out Market 6, we are still getting reports about performance and clutter. We want to assure our players that we understand your frustration and are still working to find better permanent solutions. 
 
Meanwhile, we will be addressing clutter across Alioth this weekend. Our plan is as follows:
Dynamic constructs that have not had direct interaction with their owner over a set duration (currently 30 days*) will be hidden.  Constructs at the market that violate our rules,  Code of Conduct and EULA will be removed.
If your construct is hidden, you can unhide (recover) it by using the Fetch tool. To do this, right-click on it in the Construct list on your Map screen. Any constructs that you own, whether visible or hidden, will appear on this list.
 
Fetch functionality now works for organization-owned constructs as well. For hidden constructs that belong to your organization, your legates can retrieve them via that same functionality. 
 
Our customer support team is at the ready if you still need assistance recovering your constructs. Simply ping our Live Support staff in the in-game help chat with “@GM” or file a ticket on our support page and we will dispatch help right away!
 
Please note that this is intended only as a temporary measure to aid performance and improve your experience when visiting these areas. 
 
We look forward to seeing the results from these changes over the weekend.
 
May your frames be plenty.
 
 
*Duration may change based on our findings 

THE FUTURE OF DU
We’ve seen a lot of positive feedback following the release of our devblog series on the future of DU. We’re  thankful to our community for the great feedback and encouragement. We’ve collected what seem to be the most burning questions following the publication of the blogs and wanted to do a follow-up to address them the best we can. Not all questions have an answer at this point, and we’ll try to fill in the gaps as we’re able in future communications. 
 
Are you going to launch the game in 2021? 
Realistically speaking, we have too much to do with the time that’s left  this year to get to a state where we feel the game is ready for launch. Our current plan is “at some point in 2022”, and we’re targeting mid-year. That projection is tentative, depending largely on our progress and  the feedback we get from our community, so please don’t hold this as a commitment. It could be sooner, it could be a bit later. The state of the game will dictate the date.
 
Why is the game not working on Shadow (cloud gaming platform) and do you plan to support it?
We believe cloud gaming platforms are a great way to enjoy DU if you want to play the game but don’t meet the proper PC specs or want to benefit from the latest hardware improvements without investing in upgrades for your gaming rig; however, we need to clarify that we are not yet officially supporting cloud gaming platforms, including Shadow. Our releases are not tested on these platforms or Windows emulations on Mac and Linux, and we can’t guarantee compatibility at this point. The game is still in beta, and we are focusing our efforts on native Windows PC support.
 
We plan to officially support these platforms at some point, and would like to ensure that when we do we are able to offer ongoing compatibility with adequate testing and collaboration with the platform holders to make a long-term commitment. 
 
We recently started working with a cloud gaming platform in an official manner, and we are hopeful to announce our official support of that platform soon. In the meantime, compatibility with cloud gaming platforms can’t be guaranteed. We log bugs and look at potential quick wins, but we can’t commit to a timeframe for fixing them. Please also note that there is a waiting list of one year to have access to one of the machines of Shadow, which makes debugging all the more difficult.
 
Will there be an updated roadmap?
At the moment, there is no plan to release an official roadmap with dates. We tried to explain why in the three devblogs. We’re changing many things in the way we develop DU, and it’s hard right now to have a clear idea of our future velocity. We don’t want to give you dates that we might not hold. We think it’s more important to have the freedom to adapt to your feedback rather than trying to hit the dates on a public roadmap. We hope you will see this as a sign that things are changing for the better and that we’re being more realistic in our approach.
 
Why don’t we have more frequent releases?
Dual Universe is an extremely complex game to develop. Many of the systems we have already in place are interdependent, and changing or adding a feature has ripple effects on other features and systems both in terms of code and in terms of feature design. For example, RDMS has to be carefully considered in many things we do, as does  the role of organizations in the introduction of new features, etc. Most of the tech we use is custom and not off-the-shelf. It’s one of the secret sauces of the game, and it also makes features much more difficult to work on because we develop the tech AND the features at the same time.
 
Now, with the introduction of the PTS, we hope to make more frequent releases, including releases of prototypes, such as the Lua technology for screen units. How frequently will depend on what goes in these releases and how much work needs to be done after we receive feedback from the PTS. We estimate that you can expect three to four additional major releases in 2021, and smaller releases in-between, but that’s only a ballpark estimate for now.
 
What’s going on with long-standing beta bugs? Are you going to fix them?
Yes we will fix them as quickly as possible although we aren’t able to pinpoint an exact date. Some bugs are easier to squash than others, and some even require a rework of an entire complete backend system to resolve. These processes need to be scheduled accordingly, also taking into account that we want to avoid reworking the same thing multiple times if we suspect that the development of an upcoming feature will force us to rework the same system again. The more critical the bug, the higher the priority. When we’re focused on fixing bugs,  that means we’re not working on the plan we presented to you, so it’s a balancing act. We wish we could give you a list of bugs and a timeframe for each one, but that would be highly unrealistic. These bugs are not being forgotten, that’s the best we can tell you right now.
 
Can we expect a more frequent communication from Novaquark?
We’d love to, just understand that the frequency of our communications really depends on the cadence of the game releases. The way it works is that as soon as the content of a new release is established (at least a content draft), we sit down and make a plan for how and when we’re going to talk about these features/this content. Often we have to wait until a feature is stable enough in terms of game design and/or coding to be able to talk about it or show it, as a feature can evolve a lot along the development process and the unfolding of our sprints. We simply want to ensure that the information we give you isn't misleading, as early communication means the end result may differ significantly once development is complete and the feature is released.
So between releases, there is indeed a communication gap. 
 
There are different general topics we could discuss between releases, but they wouldn’t really bring anything concrete to the table and that communication could be seen as shallow and vague. It’s actually an interesting topic we’d like to explore with you: what is it exactly that you expect in terms of communication? How can we balance having meaningful content to present with what seems to be the need of our players to see ongoing communication? Based on reactions we’ve seen in the past, we  believe that communicating simply for the sake of it when we have nothing really new to talk about is never well-received.
 
What about PvE? Are you planning to add PvE features to make the game more varied?
Our current focus is on enabling emergent content between players. PvE is not one of our priorities at the moment. This doesn’t mean that it won’t ever come to the game, but it is not going to be added before the official release of the game. That said, one could potentially consider the challenges that we’re currently working on as some form of PvE, though not in the sense that you’ll be shooting NPCs or wildlife.
 
Will we see a return of NQ employee Interviews and AMAs?
We would love to do things like livestreams and AMAs again when the time is right. We feel like these formats are better suited when there is a clearly defined topic to focus the discussion, such as a major release for instance. It is duly noted that these interactions with the community are appreciated, and we will include them whenever possible.
 
You mentioned the changes in the industry gameplay, but it wasn’t clear if schematics will stay or go?
The honest answer is that we don’t know yet. When we introduced schematics, it was a major disturbance in the forc… in the economy of the game.  We don’t want to rush into more changes after that, especially given that players invested a lot of hard-earned quanta in buying them. Removing schematics is ONE of the options we’re looking at, as well as changing their prices or adding more recipes. Reverting to the way it was before the introduction of schematics is also on the table. We know we want to do something with the current state of the industry to add back some of the fun that was taken away with 0.23, but how exactly we’ll do it is yet to be decided.  
 
Is there going to be a wipe?
We see that the debate on the topic has been pretty hot in the community for a while, and it’s about the same at Novaquark. We’re uncertain if the changes we are planning to introduce will require a wipe or not, and we’ve started (intense) internal discussions on the topic. Our priority is to try to preserve the time and effort that our players have put in the game since the beta started. Once we’ve got a better idea of how much the changes we discussed in the third  “Future of DU” devblog will impact the game’s economy, we’ll make a decision. If there is a wipe (and it’s a big IF), it may be a partial one only affecting certain aspects of the universe. Our  priority will be to mitigate the impact for long-time players.

Join us in our feedback thread here!
 

PART THREE: FINDING THE FUN 
 
In this third and final segment of this series, we’ll take a look at Dual Universe gameplay and how we’re aiming to improve it. There’s a delicate balance to strike between staying as true as we can to the original vision, making smart design and production choices, taking players’ feedback into consideration, and creating more opportunities for community engagement. The game needs to be challenging but, most of all, fun. It can be a tall order sometimes, but not an impossible goal. 
 
This is far from being a comprehensive list of everything we’re working on, but we think it’s a good starting point for sparking conversation with the community. You’ll also notice that we have intentionally stayed away from precise timeframes. We would rather stay flexible and give ourselves the opportunity to revise our plans based on the feedback of players. 
 
Now, let’s get to the good stuff!
 

BREAKING THE MONOTONY 

Even if the main pillars of the game aren’t quite finished yet, the launch of the beta allowed us to see how the various systems work together, how fun they are, and what actually works or sometimes doesn’t.
 
Analyzing data on player behavior and reading the copious amount of feedback we receive (thanks for that!) have pointed to two main objectives we’ll be addressing in the coming months (in addition to continuing to fix bugs and balancing issues). These are: 
 
First, emend gameplay loops that are tedious for some players. We call it “fixing the player routine”, so that playing DU doesn’t feel like “going to work”. Up the stakes, adding meaningful opportunities for conflict so that the in-game economy, social components, and building aspects come together. 
  Some elements of gameplay are more fun than others in Dual Universe. Mining can often be seen as a must-do for many new players, and because it is perceived as mandatory it can rapidly feel tedious. Earning quanta is fundamental. When we launched beta, it seemed like mining was almost the only way to get money, especially for new players who didn’t have much in the way of resources or allies. 
 
To make it more interesting with a real sense of progression over time, here is the high-level plan:
 
Make it easier for newcomers to gather resources from the surface of planets without the need to dig; Then, transition players to deploying mining units once they’ve claimed a territory. Mining units will supply a steady stream of ore, depending on the specifics of the tiles the player has claimed. These mining units come in tiers and should add a sense of progression even to early mining. There will also be a production optimization gameplay if you want to use several mining units. For players who want to specialize in mining, we will introduce asteroid mining. Think of asteroids as epic mining with high reward potential. Asteroids will be spawned in the universe. Players will be able to scan clues in space to discover where they’re located. Some asteroids will contain not just regular ores, but also rare and valuable ones. Once discovered, there will be a delay before their location is broadcast to all players. This is an opportunity for explorers who find these asteroids to reap their resources first or monetize their location. The control of valuable asteroids will also create opportunities for combat, information trading, and collaboration between players. Please also note there will be asteroids in safe zones with lower-value ores.
  THE QUEST FOR QUANTA   
Another way for players to earn quanta is the previously-announced Mission System, coming in version 0.25. It will include two components: a job board to facilitate interactions between players (for example, “I need gold delivered to this location”), as well as a secure framework for player- and NQ-created hauling missions. We hope that this will kindle the game’s economy with increased specialization and proper tools for exchanges between players. The upcoming introduction of in-game challenges will also add fun ways for players to earn cash. 
 
On that note, we plan to revise the way the markets work, considering different ways to improve connections and making it less painful to trade for goods. This should make markets more accessible and fluidify trade.
 
We are looking into how we can rebalance the industry. The reaction to changes introduced in 0.23 told us that there is more work needed here. The role of schematics is definitely one of the areas we’re looking at; whatever we do with schematics, we are particularly sensitive to making a fair move for players who have invested in buying them. 
 
Builders haven’t been forgotten. We just delivered new tools for them in 0.24, and we are already working on new ones that should let builders enhance their artistic arsenal to create more amazing constructs. We’re pretty excited about them, but should forewarn you that it may be some time before they appear as higher priority changes will take precedence. 
 
The first-time player experience will get a full overhaul to facilitate the onboarding of new players. We’re doing away with the long monologues from Aphelia and the length of time it took to get into the action. The tutorials will be more contextual, and the experience of new players should get them into the core gameplay faster. As it is now, new players sometimes need to travel long distances to find a tile free of neighbors and suitable for future expansion. The redesign will allow these new pioneers to start with their friends in a location of their choosing in a more streamlined fashion. They will also be able to select an outpost design and receive startup resources. 

STOKING THE PVP FIRES 
We know a lot of players want to hear about PvP. Once we’ve fixed the main gameplay loops, this will be the next thing we’ll tackle. Our goal is for space warfare to be one of the driving forces of the emergent gameplay, fueling the economy of the game, including for players who don’t want to directly partake in combat but might want to provide ships, ammunition, and services for those who do. 
 
While there are PVPers who are in it for the thrill of the pirate’s life, there are others who aren’t pirates so much as protectors who enjoy defender-type PVP scenarios. In its current state, PVP can be seen as gratuitous, devoid of reasons to fight beyond pillaging a bested ship’s cargo. The current PvP mechanics will be modified with the addition of construct shields and a rebalancing of weapons, among other things, as well as introducing territory control in space and, later, on planets. Controlling space territories will give players benefits such as the ability to acquire highly-lucrative space resources (i.e. rare gas, singularities) and a worthwhile reason for organizations and solo players to fight. Not only that, but you’ll be waging war in style with an array of new, unique cannons and skins. 
 
GLITZIER GRAPHICS
Admittedly, graphics improvements have been on the back burner for a while in favor of building the main gameplay systems. Upgrading the visual immersion has now taken a more prominent position in our priorities, the goal being to give more “life” to Dual Universe. 
 
This ongoing process began in 0.24 when we overhauled many of the assets used in world generation (i.e. trees, rocks, ground textures, etc.) We’ve also undertaken a big push on visual effects, with a slew of new and improved visual effects planned for gradual release in the near future. Continuing our efforts with the recent addition of new voxel textures for builders, we will freshen up many older elements in the game to bring coherence between older and newer assets, as well as between voxels and assets.
 
We are also investigating longer-term visual improvements. For some time, we’ve been working on prototypes for a new planet generation technology to make sure that our planets are interesting to explore. Before we can roll this out, we will be doing an overall pass on the existing planets, like Jago, with improved terrain and more varied environment assets. There is also a project to improve lighting with the inclusion of global illumination.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
Again, please remember that all these changes will be tested first on the public test server. The final versions of these features may vary depending on your feedback and our own thought  processes. In terms of timing, most of the “player routine” fixes are planned to be gradually introduced before the end of the summer while the space warfare and PvP revamp should begin rolling out sometime after.
 
As you hopefully see, a lot of these changes are based on your feedback and a more grounded, pragmatic approach to game design. We realize that many of these topics require additional explanations and that they will probably trigger more questions. We will answer them in due time, as we’re able, in future devblogs. Until then, we look forward to hearing your thoughts in this discussion thread. See you there! 
 

before i started playing i was hoping for a game i can build a base and a ship and go explore a galaxy with empires expanding and building up  i didn't know it was 1 solar system at start and all that i kept in my memory was stargates you have to build and civilizations expanding into the universe. so i was expecting something like elite/no mans sky with a somewhat generated universe.
 
but after all i am still pleased with what DU is atm and it's the perfect game for me and my little son due to the no combat nature atm  so well exploring fell a little short in terms of what i thought it would be (maybe will be? :)) but we made it our goal to visit all planets and i build up a little base with a production. when something is missing we visit the planet that has the ressources we need, build a base and a few ships there and expand in the solar system we have. also always fun to watch what kinda of stuff my little one builds
 
oh and the try and error for a ship to land safely with a full load is fun too. in the end i am looking forward to what DU will become and tho it is not perfect nor what i first expected it to be it is the most fun sci fi sandbox i happened to play and mine a lot in so far
 
 

PART ONE: REFINING OUR PROCESSES 
As promised last week, we would like to give you a glimpse at the changes, improvements, and additions we have in store for Dual Universe. 
We’ve learned many lessons since our beta began seven months ago.  Going from a backer-focused game in alpha, under NDA, to a public, wide-open beta with many new players gave us a lot of insight in several areas: processes, economics, and gameplay. In this blog, we’ll focus on processes with the latter two being the topics of subsequent blogs. 

THE LONG HARD LOOK
At Novaquark, we’re still a fairly small team. Given the ambition and complexity of this game, it can be quite a challenge to make the right decisions on how to make the most of our resources. To date, we’ve been focused on bug fixing, stabilization, balancing, scaling, and improving our server and database infrastructure - plus firefighting when necessary - to make the game work better. 
 
Not to say that this is all behind us; it never will be (such is the way of MMOs), and we know some bugs and exploits still need to be addressed - this is a beta after all. Still, we paused earlier this year to ponder what the next phase of development of DU should be, to stay the course of the original plan or adapt to how things have evolved since beta began. After taking a  long hard look at everything we’ve learned from the beta, we decided where we need to focus next, based on what we think will be best for Dual Universe and its community. 

“IF IT’S BROKE, FIX IT”
Maintaining a live game while we continue to develop it ended up being quite the leap from our tightly-controlled alpha environment. As much as we prepared for it, actually doing it was a whole different beast. That’s probably one of the areas where the reality check was the most brutal for us. The world of Dual Universe is a persistent one, and every time we introduce something, it impacts the player and the delicate balance of its economy. There’s no safety net, and player feedback often came once bugs or balancing issues had already impacted the game’s common universe. 

Let’s start with how we plan to improve our processes and quality control, because this is an area where doing something wrong can have a major impact on players. We have three goals in this area: 
 
 
Gather feedback from players earlier in the process, so that when new features and changes are introduced in the game, their impact on the persistent universe is properly measured.  Have a more flexible and collaborative development approach that will allow us  to take player feedback into consideration, modifying plans when we’re able.   Overall, improve the quality of our releases, which means fewer bugs and exploits, and less hot-fixing.
  When it comes to gathering feedback from players earlier, we are evaluating some options on how we might get feedback on game design ideas from players at an earlier stage before they have actually entered the production pipeline. We are already seeing significant improvements in this area since the launch of the public test server (PTS), which lets us test prospective new features, improvements and bug fixes in a non-persistent environment where it won’t impact players’ progress on the Live server. If enough players test features on the PTS, we’ll be able to prevent bugs and balancing problems from making their way to the persistent universe. 
 
When we deployed 0.24 on the PTS first, players gave us invaluable feedback, helping us to identify several issues that we were able to address before they reached the production server. Although  our PTS-to-production process isn’t perfect yet, we are still working to improve it and think it’s getting significantly better with each iteration.  In the future, we will expand the use of the PTS to testing prototypes of features, outside of regular releases, so that all players can give their feedback as early in the development process as possible. 
 
Another major improvement to our processes that we are addressing is flexibility. On our way to beta, we had a fairly rigid roadmap that was dictated by the necessity to lay the foundations for all of the gameplay pillars for beta as well as fulfilling our promises to our backers. While the overall plan and long-term goals for DU haven’t changed, we need to be able to adapt to the feedback of players along the way whenever it’s feasible. For example, if we decide to make a major overhaul of our mining mechanics, we need the flexibility to iterate as much as necessary until we find the right formula before we move on to something else. 
 
Although they may not be visible to players, there are many other things happening internally  that have already proven to improve our releases. First and foremost, our internal release process is undergoing a revamp, based on the learnings from our past launches. We’ve allotted more time for QA than we used to, and we will postpone a release if we think it’s not ready (as we did  with the 0.24 update.) These new processes are still being refined, but we’re seeing improvements already.
 
We remain steadfast in our promise to deliver the best game possible. We feel confident that the changes we’re making now to our processes are a big step toward making that an attainable goal. 

Ready to discuss part 1? Click here.
 

Dear Noveans,
 
We would like to address the recent speculations that have arisen in our community, and openly disclose some changes that are happening at Novaquark.
 
First and foremost, Novaquark continues to be supported by its long term investors to allow it to launch Dual Universe in line with its original vision. It also puts us in a position to attract experienced talent to complement the team that’s already in place so that we can continue to improve the game.
 
Next week, we will share with you what we think our priorities should be for Dual Universe and how we hope to approach the development of the game with improved processes going forward.
 
An important change to note is that Jean-Christophe, the founder of Novaquark, has transitioned from the day-to-day management of the team to better focus on his position as a board member. Over the years since the creation of Novaquark, JC designed and set the standards for the structural and conceptual foundation of the game, and he feels now that a solid base is there for him to move forward as a strategic advisor. The recent changes in the administrative presidency of the company only reflect the transition of JC to his new role. We’re excited to have the team he has built deliver on his vision for the game.
 
Rest assured that Novaquark’s future is in good hands, and there is a strong partnership between our long-term investors and our team. We believe that the future is bright for the game and for the company, and we cannot wait to tell you where we want to take Dual Universe.
 
With our warmest regards,
The Novaquark team

Hello Noveans,

The upcoming 0.24 Update includes a plethora of enhancements to elevate the look and playability of Dual Universe. Today, we’re going to take a closer look at two of these: biomes improvements and new voxel features.
 
BIOMES IMPROVEMENTS

In this first phase of a significant, ongoing graphics update, we are improving the biomes of our planets to make them more visually diversified. Combining Speedtree, a procedural generation software, with the Quixel Megascans assets library for the textures and meshes, we now have many new tree models!
 
The Quixel Megascans library also provided many new rock models, which our artist team has then reworked.
 
Moreover, to achieve maximum realism, our ground textures now utilize scans of authentic terrestrial soils. In addition, we have improved the rendering to increase the textures’ visual quality and performances even further.
 

 

Rendered models from our Engine Editor.


These new rock assets will replace all the previous ones and add variety to the environments.
 

 

We have a new night lighting! To offer a better visual by nighttime, the tree models have been calibrated in order to fit the new night lighting.
 

 

All tree and rock assets are placed in the game world using procedural generation spawning.
 

These scans ground textures are the materials from Quixel Megascans used to replace previous ground textures.
 
NEW VOXEL FEATURES

One of the most compelling aspects of Dual Universe is its fully editable world. Through the art of manipulating voxel structures known as voxelmancy, the possibilities for channeling your creativity are endless. Our goal is to provide the players with as many tools as possible to edit voxel shapes, and we want these tools to be user-friendly and efficient.
 
 
The suite of voxel tool shapes is now even sweeter with the addition of the cone shape. Using it is similar to making cylinders. Use the mousewheel to increase the size of the base, and drag up or down to increase or decrease the height.
 
 
The new line tool allows you to select an area using any of the available voxel shapes and then hit the Alt key to delete them. Hopefully, you will now find it less tedious to remove voxels than with the previous system!
 
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Are you looking forward to being surrounded by the luscious new sights and textures of the graphics update? How will the new voxel tools compliment your constructs? Let us know in this discussion thread. ?
 
 

Read the article here: https://www.dualuniverse.game/news/devblog-jetpack-improvements

 
Jetpacks are handy devices that give you a boost when you need it. Although they are not intended as a mode of long distance travel, they can be used to jump over obstacles, leap across gaps, or to reach new heights while building your latest masterpiece.
 
MAKING IT BETTER
The upcoming 0.24 update includes improvements to jetpacks that provide better functionality. Whereas previously the jetpack was always active in deep space, this will no longer be the case. Now you will be able to toggle between having the jetpack activated or not with the X key.
 
You can see the jetpack state in the top right corner of your screen :

 
Jetpack activation feedback
 
In deep space, you’ll usually want your jetpack to be activated. The new ability to toggle it off will come in handy for other reasons.
 
ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY DEACTIVATION
You can use your jetpack to navigate your construct in deep space. When activating your jetpack, you won’t be affected by the artificial gravity of the construct anymore. Feel free to glide in the corridors of your space station.
 
But maybe you don’t want anybody to be able to enjoy a smooth glide around your construct. Maybe you built a space Ninja Warrior parkour course and jetpacking through it would be cheating. We’re adding the “Right to use jetpack” to the Right and Duty Management System (RDMS). Only people with this right can use the jetpack and break free from the artificial gravity field of your construct. We recommend casually drifting in front of those who don’t have it to mock them … But that’s up to you!
 

Everybody can gliiide
 
Set your sights even further: hit X and launch yourself off your construct and into space, gently floating to nearby ships, bases and even planets.
 
SHARE YOUR STORY
Are you an experienced jetpack creator or pilot? What advice would you give to Noveans who are new to  using a jetpack? Zoom over to the forum thread to share your tips, tricks, and tales of jetpacking glory. 
 
In case you missed it: The 0.24 update also includes an exciting new Mission System. Check out this Devblog to read about it. 

for the stuff with trees and graphics i was in the same boat when i started and therefor only logged in a little in my first 2 weeks or so and was quite dissappointed at first...performance was meh and speeding around felt like as you said...a game from the 1980's  
 
well still started building a little and said to myself...well at least build a house and see how it goes....well got more and more hooked to be honst over time  as i didn't leave the grid so often with the speeder anymore it also looked ok and what really got me was building the first ship and be able to travel to other moons/planets...the building and testing if it works felt really satisfying.
dunno from there on you land and trees/rocks and stuff still take a while to load but it doesn't feel so bad graphically anymore as the planet when you approach it looks quite nice and overall there is some nice planets to explore.
besides that all the stuff i can build wherever i feel like really got me hooked..so i guess there is no why should i do this or that but you can and for me that's more then enough for now and i am enjoying the freedom a lot and it's fun to play with a few others where you also build stuff together.
 
maybe that helps?

for the stuff with trees and graphics i was in the same boat when i started and therefor only logged in a little in my first 2 weeks or so and was quite dissappointed at first...performance was meh and speeding around felt like as you said...a game from the 1980's  
 
well still started building a little and said to myself...well at least build a house and see how it goes....well got more and more hooked to be honst over time  as i didn't leave the grid so often with the speeder anymore it also looked ok and what really got me was building the first ship and be able to travel to other moons/planets...the building and testing if it works felt really satisfying.
dunno from there on you land and trees/rocks and stuff still take a while to load but it doesn't feel so bad graphically anymore as the planet when you approach it looks quite nice and overall there is some nice planets to explore.
besides that all the stuff i can build wherever i feel like really got me hooked..so i guess there is no why should i do this or that but you can and for me that's more then enough for now and i am enjoying the freedom a lot and it's fun to play with a few others where you also build stuff together.
 
maybe that helps?

i think it's a good idea that they keep this kind of safe zone because in the end pvp will only be good and will only happen long term if there is a reason for it, you have an option to not have to pvp 99% and it is no reason that a pve player has no where to go but into a pvp zone...
 
let's face it - tho i personally still think darkfall, for those that know this (no safe zone, full loot pvp), was one of the best games i ever played but this no safe zone design will just never work as the big missunderstanding is: let's remove the safe zone so there is more pvp - this is just wrong, as most pve players will just leave and not stay for the ganking. darkfall would have survived if they would have created something like eve with empire, low sec, 0.0 space so players could choose their threat level - it's all about options and reasons after all.
 
you need a place for pve players where they don't need to worry about pvp but still be part of the eco system and you need reasons for conflict you can fight for so that enough interested players will join and this has nothing to do with a safe zone, this will just keep more players that otherwise would just leave and pure pvpers is a minorty in mmo's by far on top that mostly leaves as soon there is not enough sheep for the wolf ^^ 
 

why do call this topic saying there is going to be a wipe at the end of beta. There wont be a wipe. Stop giving out false information.