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Vifrevaert

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  1. Like
    Vifrevaert got a reaction from iNFiDeL in DU crashes on Shadow PC since 0.24   
    DU tweet from April 12th "It's important to note that we did never officially announce our game's compatibility with ShadowPC. Therefore bugs are subject to occur."
     
    Link - 
     
    I'm confident it will get fixed, after all its a 100% reproducible issue, all we can do is wait patiently - I do feel for those who have no alternative PC.
  2. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to blazemonger in Why PVP is important to the game.   
    Care to share say 12 of them? I doubt you can give me that many successful open world persistent single shard MMO titles that do not have PVP or where PVP plays a minor part.
     
    PVP is the game loop closer, it brings everything back to the beginning. That doe snot mean it is the central mechanic around which everything does or should revolve but it play as much of a part in most MMO games as any other mechanic. It is also probably the hardest one to balance. I would never say or suggest there should not be combat PVP in DU. I do feel it is a mechanic that needs to come in last and be the mechanic that is balanced to impact but not disrupt other mechanics.
     
    I also think that the current combat PVP contingent in DU player wise for a good portion has expectations and wants that can never be met by the game for the very reason that in DU combat serves a purpose and as I see it actually serves other mechanics and game balance. It brings balance but it's not _the_ balance.
     
    In the end and IMO, NQ is trying to create EVE with a mine craft twist. And that will be extremely hard to get right. CCP managed to find a pretty good balance between PVP and PVE but it's a constant tight rope requiring a lot of work and adjustment on a consistent basis.
  3. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to XKentX in DEVBLOG: THE FUTURE OF DU - Part 3 - Discussion Thread   
    If you make at least 50% what's written there in coming months, you saved your game.
  4. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to iNFiDeL in DEVBLOG: THE FUTURE OF DU - Part 3 - Discussion Thread   
    Call me impressed, if you guys can pull this off I'll be staying for sure. Proof is in the pudding though. I'm rooting for you NQ!
  5. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to NQ-Naerais in DEVBLOG: THE FUTURE OF DU - Part 3: Finding the Fun   
    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! 
     
  6. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to sysadrift in DEVBLOG: THE FUTURE OF DU PART ONE: REFINING OUR PROCESSES - Feedback Thread   
    The effort to communicate more and involve the community in the development process is refreshing.  One thing that I think may help is if the snapshot used in the PTS was refreshed more frequently.  Myself and probably others want to test if the stuff they are currently working on will still work with the new changes.  Also despite what you may hear from the vocal minority, we don't need a wipe.  That would do far more harm than good. 
  7. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to TonyTones in DEVBLOG: THE FUTURE OF DU PART ONE: REFINING OUR PROCESSES - Feedback Thread   
    Will we see a return of NQ employee interviews and AMA stuff?
  8. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to NQ-Deckard in Changes to Lua screen units   
    Hello again Noveans!
    We have heard your initial feedback on the screens and we want to elaborate on some of your major concerns.
     
    Will this affect both screens and content written to the players screen (HUDs)?
    No, this technological change will affect only screen units at this time.

    Will all player created work on screens suddenly become non-functional?
    No, this technology will be available side-by-side with the current technology, both first on the PTS in a prototype state, and eventually also on the Live server.
    We strongly recommend everyone does test and experiment the new tech on the PTS, as your feedback and testing will help shape this feature.

    How will this make a difference on performance?
    The main reason being that the current implementation does not allow for much control over the performance impact of screen renderings. Complex 3D transformations using a combination of HTML, SVG and CSS has a significant impact on render times in the client. Adding to the fact that screens are often condensed with multiples of them in close proximity to each other, there is an increasing drop in performance on the client with more screens using the current technology. The new system allows for more precise control over rendering time allowed across screens and allows us to safeguard the level of performance impact the screens have on the client.

    So you will be removing HTML support entirely?
    Not necessarily, the two techs will run side by side for an as of yet undefined period of time. Eventually we may introduce a phase where we make the rendering of HTML on screens an option for players along with a warning that it can significantly degrade client performance. Players with that option disabled will simply not see any HTML content and not suffer performance degradation because of it.

    Why not improve the current HTML implementation instead of the new technology?
    This is a complex topic, HTML/CSS/Javascript is a group that forms a UI technology. For reasons beyond the scope of this topic we do not allow the use of Javascript inside the screen units. When you remove Javascript, the group effectively becomes a not so efficient vector image drawing technology which we have very little control over in terms of rendering. We have previously implemented a lot of small limitations here and there to reduce the impact of the screens, but there are (and likely always will be) edge cases which will eventually crop up using that technology. As such, the new technology has built-in limitations on how taxing a screen unit can be, and if a screen unit goes over the limit it will simply stop drawing. This is why we ask you all to go and test this, and help us find caveats and where you run into things you can and can’t do.

    What about bandwidth? Are you doing this to reduce data transfer for screens?
    The current implementation does not address this, the current implementation is a way for us to collect your feedback on this concept. Eventually we may change the way data transfer for screens is handled, where we may increase the size of the defined “template” inside a screen unit itself. Followed by a lower limit on the amount of data transferred to the screen from external sources. Allowing the screen element to do the rendering and drawing work, using parameters fed to it by a control unit.
    For example: You would draw the design of a fancy instrument panel using the screen element, and a programming board or control unit just sends the values for all the instruments to the screen. This is currently not in the current implementation however, but may give you a better idea of why this technology has a lot of potential for more intricate and powerful designs.

    What about artists who draw using external programs and import their SVG’s into the game?
    One of our hopes is to provide a good enough set of commands in the screens API so that our system can express most SVG graphics converted to these commands through for example a small conversion tool. It is unlikely that we will develop and maintain a conversion tool for this, but this is also why we want your feedback on this new API for you to let us know what commands you really want to see included to make this process easier.

    We sincerely hope that this answers many of your initial questions and concerns.
    I personally can’t wait to see what you will all come up with in your designs!
     
  9. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to NQ-Naerais in A letter to our players   
    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
  10. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to Shockr in 0.24 Phase One - Discussion Thread   
    The new ambient light is a terrible idea. We've lost any ability to create 'dark' areas. The 'dark seedy understation' on Utopia is now just an overexposed nightmare. It looks like Todd Howard showed up, told everyone that the dark is scary and now we've just got this permanent dusk at night.
     
    Areas that are completely hidden from the sun are no longer dark. No doubt this has ruined countless builds.
     
    If you're having trouble with light on planets or underground, fine.. but why bork up the shadows on constructs? Quite honestly, the lighting on the constructs was the best in the game, and now it's just Fortnite. Space is dark.. that's the thing about the absence of light.... it's dark.
  11. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to AlexRingess in 0.24 Phase One - Discussion Thread   
    So, voxels doesn't cas shadows anymore, the voxels textures are just a crap (bye bye matte copper, glossy carbon, galvanised aluminium, etc) lua parameters aren't availables, primary container link is lost everytime, the refresh on the wallet windows make it litteraly unusable until you're a keyboard bot and type at speed of light. Not to talk about the tutorials and the chalenges that aren't work at all. And I probably forget a lot of other things.
     
    The 0.24 was expected to be more polished than that, since players had tested it in PTS stage. I though NQ was learn something valuable with 0.23 when they offer the Public Test Server before pushing a release live. Is the PST usefull if NQ doesn't use as it must be used : a test stage where all the things are tested, polished, to push a relatively stable and playable update live. 
    Only NQ considere there was an urge to release 0.24. Player base didn't. We don't give a fuck with your agenda and plans, NQ. All we want is a playable game where each release is the garantee that all the players has done will not be ruined.

    Next time, NQ, take your time, but really, and listen your player base when they ask you to wait to push a release live or when they tell you there is a bug here and there (I sent multiple bug reports and only one has recieved a positive and effective response, all the other was ellusives).
  12. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to Kaimorta in 0.24 Phase One - Discussion Thread   
    Another vote on this from me. Please make the darkness dark again.
     
    Also, can we have the old texture back for matte carbon fiber? It was gorgeous. Now it's basically polka dots, and has tiling artifacts.
  13. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to jericho1060 in 0.24 Phase One - Discussion Thread   
    The 0.24 broke the game for many users.

    I already reported the crash that was hapenning on the PTS but nothing has been done to solve this.

    after speaking with other users in the same case it seems Shadow PC (https://shadow.tech) are now blocked and cannot access the game anymore.
    Any reason to that ?

    Can we please have a rapid fix for that ?
  14. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to blazemonger in So, when is the game getting rolled back?   
    If you want to classify the cash shop where you buy skins, DAC and STU as MTX then that has always been planned. In fact, I feel that NQ is missing out on a major revenue stream by not having the cash shop in place already. If they would offer nice skins for elements which allow players to more diversify their build I am pretty sure they'd make a good bit of money from that and that to me would seem absolutely fine as it add nothing with regards to ability or performance but will greatly enhance the way the game looks. 

    NQ would need to actually design real unique skins through and not just recolor the existing ones. I could also see them offer a "High quality skin pack" with high detail versions of the current skins for existing elements. As I'd expect these may impact performance they could offer it as an extra for those with hardware able to handle it. Again, no impact on how ships handle, just looks.
     
    I really do not understand why NQ has not opened up this revenue stream yet..
  15. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to BiGEdge in [Discussion] DevBlog: Rebalancing the Universe   
    Basic Balancing is the most important right now...
    More and more people are leaving the game, because they have everything with little effort within a month.
    Thats exactly what i expected with the last Alpha patch when the beta started.
    And the whining from many people when making everything harder or nerfing some systems afterwards was another thing that i expected.

    What i have learned after all the years, that NQ always tryes to do anything to make DU an emergent system.
    A second Life, a virtual identity, where you have to work befor you get something.
    Not like in other games where you play for couple weks and you have everything you need.

    This is exactly what was needed to make the community bring more people to the game, because you need them to archive something big.
    But i agree... not listening and start easy and not sticking to the initial plan would disappoint people.
    The initial plan was, that it would take weeks or even month to have a ship and reach other planets.
    Now with some issues and even some people who will stop playing because everything will be too hard for them was expected
     
  16. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to DarkHorizon in “Marketplace Heist” Response   
    I've read this thread from top to bottom now (ending at this point, whose to say what's happened in the time I've taken to write this), while my take is nothing special and has been said several times already, I'll offer it anyways:
     
    I'm inclined to agree with this statement particularly.
     
    Was it in bad taste, I agree, it was. I don't think anyone would disagree with you on that point.
     
    The decision to leap straight to a permanent ban has me taken aback. I haven't seen anything personally, but I've heard plenty of reports about people's entire bases being stolen out from under them, even live right in front of them.
     
    This blight went on for nary a time before NovaQuark finally gave us some guidance on the subject. People stealing your construct due to misconfigured RDMS is on the construct owner, and that such theft would not result in any action on behalf of NovaQuark.
     
    Okay, I can understand pinning the blame on the player tester for misunderstanding the system or handing out permission willy nilly, or even setting perms to 'all', which now has a window advising players testers of the potential hazard. This, to me, is reasonable. The player tester needs to clean up their act and take it as a learning moment no matter how bitter the pill is to swallow.
     
    I can even understand NovaQuarks position relating to interference with the game test. One of the marketplaces on Alioth was destroyed, and some player's testers orders were interrupted.
     
    What I fail to understand here, is how NovaQuark can tell players testers who had their constructs "stolen" from them on account of faulty RDMS be given no action, only to turn around and permanently ban players testers for taking advantage of faulty RDMS on NovaQuarks own constructs.
     
    It was also laid out a few days ago to that theft as a result of bad RDMS will not be actioned on by NovaQuark.
     
    Did people's orders at the marketplace get interrupted, yes. 
    Did a marketplace get destroyed by some players testers, yes. 
    Did stuff get stolen and sold for profit, yes. 
    Did some people get inconvenienced, yes.
     
    Guess what:
    Come atmospheric PVP and player-run markets, this kind of activity will be a daily fact of life which we'd all best get used to it.
     
    Maybe for laughs, they even wrote out "Plz don't ban" in voxels when the crime was finally done. All right, perhaps it wasn't a new person that stumbled upon this but someone with experience that knew what they were doing, and the profit-seeking crime is premeditated. Instead of a seven-day ban, make it a thirty day one.
     
    Sure, the beta experience got sullied, I agree. And while it was an NQ marketplace that got the wipe, it's not like it's the only marketplace on Alioth.
     
    While I do agree the destruction was overboard, I think the response to this from NovaQuark was equally so. I believe NQ should take this as a learning experience, the players testers too, but more so NovaQuark. The players testers learned that no one is immune from bad RDMS, and NovaQuark probably learned a thing or two about marketplaces that should come in handy for the future feature of player-run marketplaces.
     
    Dare I say we should celebrate this moment in Beta as "Hey remember that one time in Beta where a bunch of people tore apart a marketplace?" and we can all laugh around our campfire years after release...
     
    Instead, what are we watching? A two-tiered justice system; rules for thee but not for me. I don't like it, not one bit.
     
    Don't get me wrong, I still think something should be done in the end, but I think the justice served here outweighs the crime. Meanwhile, the justice other testers are seeking for the constructs that got stolen from them is being delayed if not denied entirely. If that was the case, we'd have a month-long backlog by now (to clarify, on that issue alone on top of everything we already have) sadly, NovaQuark is in no way treating equal actions with equal outcomes and consequences as far as this particular topic of theft goes. If we're being honest with ourselves, then scoopers, dupers, and exploiters would have already gotten the boot before this event even happened. No great Quanta reset, no publicly nerfing the ice cream scoops, just bans.
     
    The fact that this scenario played out the way it did, it makes me question what is safe. If I'm questioning what is safe, that doesn't exactly make me want to test anything out of fear that I might end up in the same fate. Maybe the only winning move is not to play test?
     
    In most circumstances, I can see and understand in NQ's favor on crime and punishment, but this is not one of those times. Sorry to say, but you do not have my support in this, and I've also been given some things to think about as a result of this. I don't think this topic has met its end, which is what I'm waiting for before I come to my definite conclusion. Know that I'm still just a user like anyone else commenting on this thread. I can't sway NQ's opinion in any manner, and that is not my intent with this post.
     
    You have my thoughts and I'm curious to see what the future holds.
     
    Oh, and I'm not joining anyone's protest or movement on any communication medium. I'm simply offering my opinion on the matter which is what these forums have allowed me to do.
  17. Like
    Vifrevaert reacted to Fra119 in Ship building guidelines   
    Best tip I had (from youtube, cant remember the guy's name) was to start your build by placing a container and filling it with material, let's say you want a ship that carries 100t, you load that container with 100t worth of stuff, then start adding elements (engines, wings etc) until the flight assist tells you that that's enough to fly properly. At this point you have a good estimate of how many elements you'll need for your ship, and you can start the real build. It is actually easier to build knowing that you need, for instance, 6 L atmo instead of building around 4 and realizing you need 2 more but your ship is designer for 4.
  18. Like
    Vifrevaert got a reaction from Emptiness in Org theft carried out today - 22,500 KL , 70 Ktons - nearly 200 Large containers worth   
    No RDMS exploit used I had full rights to containers and industry machines - they just hadnt set it up!
     
    I'm unsure what you mean by linked container exploit? I have 2km link container range, I spent a couple of days gathering up 100 odd L containers and burying them underground within link range of the factory on a tile I had claimed in my own name.
     
    After a couple of days of observing login and log out times of the org, alarms were set to get us all up at 7am BST.
     
    I was linked to one container hub of 10 L, as I filled up the hub, org mates moved the contents out into the other stacks of 10 containers and deployed more containers as needed.
     
    I dont understand what about using your link range is an exploit?
  19. Like
    Vifrevaert got a reaction from Mordgier in Org theft carried out today - 22,500 KL , 70 Ktons - nearly 200 Large containers worth   
    No RDMS exploit used I had full rights to containers and industry machines - they just hadnt set it up!
     
    I'm unsure what you mean by linked container exploit? I have 2km link container range, I spent a couple of days gathering up 100 odd L containers and burying them underground within link range of the factory on a tile I had claimed in my own name.
     
    After a couple of days of observing login and log out times of the org, alarms were set to get us all up at 7am BST.
     
    I was linked to one container hub of 10 L, as I filled up the hub, org mates moved the contents out into the other stacks of 10 containers and deployed more containers as needed.
     
    I dont understand what about using your link range is an exploit?
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