Nostogue

Ok, I've seen some people creating posts about Sketchup or even Blender. Don't get me wrong, they are great tools, but totally hardcore and not easy to understand by significant part of player base. I did some research few days ago and was looking not for perfect results (I will look for those later in game), but for tool that will allow me easy and fast prototyping.
 
And I found this...
 
MagicaVoxel (https://voxel.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=MagicaVoxel%20Editor&referringTitle=Home)
- quickly prototype anything you want with cubes and save it as .vox (no slopes, but for prototypes it doesn't matter and there is way to auto-add them in the renderer)
 
MagicaVoxel Renderer (https://voxel.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=MagicaVoxel%20Renderer&referringTitle=Home)
- load your .vox and render cool pictures out of them to show your friends (allows multiple settings as shadows, background, grid visibility, etc.)
 
Some may say they want perfection. Ok, go use Blender. But those looking for prototyping can create really huge things much faster. I'm going to make tutorial soon and if you are interested in it, you are free to join the Alpha Academy. It's open community for everyone interested in the technical side of game and it's no problem if you are already in organization. See more in the org description or on our discord.
 
Alpha Academy (community): https://community.dualthegame.com/organization/alpha-academy
Discord: https://discord.gg/MdmyZJZ
 
Here is small example of what I did roughly in 20 minutes after starting the app for first time ever:

Servers cost money, People need hiring, the game has to be funded, yet people complain about a sub.
 
$15 is like 1 hours work at work. Nothing.

Exactly. WoW is a Theme Park MMO, everything in it are predefined and in dungeons you play that crank-catcher machine to catch pretty new toys to fiddle with until you get a new series of toys to work your crank-catching machine skills in getting. A sandbox doesn't need "variety" of cockpits. Varieties of cockpits defeat the point of the game entirely which is varieties of arranging the cockpit in a different place as you build your spiffy jet. In fact, large ships won't even HAVE a cockpit, they have a bridge you gotta build from scratch and assign monitoring stations for the bridge staff.
 
 
It's just that people don't even bother reading the FAQs and turn the whole forum into a depressing, repetitive dystopia.
 
 
 
And to the OP themself, Space Engineers suffers from the fact they didn't build a stable netcode for their game, because they started from a simple Minecraft clone in space and ended up wanting to build an MMO without having invested in the server tech itself. The DUAL devs have instested in the tech itself, a revolutionary system of cloud-processing which CAN in fact allow for variety of cockpits. But hey, you seem to think games in pre-Alpha got all the features set to go. Pffft, what? Game Designers are actually designing a game and have to take some step-by-step approach in developing the game? Nah, just ask for cockpits in Alpha.
 
 
 
This is why I'm afraid of Alpha Access in Steam. First month in Alpha Test uninitiated people will ask for cockpit varieties, instead of helping the devs with any bugs or issues.

Here are a couple of pictures taken from the event.
 
Even if we all agreed that our faces might come online at some point, if any of the people who attended want one of these photos to be removed, feel free to MP me.
 
Much higher quality pics will surely come with an offical NQ post 
 

 

 

 

 

 

I just got back from the event held in Paris at Novaquark offices. I had to leave a little early, but still, this was quite an awesome evening.
 
I'd like to thank all the team members at novaquark for hosting this event, you guys rock ! 
Quick run down of events for those who didn't attend:
 
- Introduction to the dev build we would lay our hands upon a few minutes later by the man himself: JC Baillie
- Fool around with the dev build previously showcased in NQ videos with some members of the dev team to help us out when needed 
- QA session with JC again
- Little drink with the rest of the team and attendees
 
Where do I start ? 
 
First, we met very dedicated and enthusiastic people at NQ. At no point did I feel I've been fed some PR bull*hit, or that the enthusiasm or willingness from dev to talk about their game was faked.
These guys really want to push themselves to deliver the best possible experience with this project, that's for sure.
 
I viewed JC as a strong leader, with a clear vision for the game, an acute knowledge of the challenges ahead and how to overcome them. From what we've seen from the team, my guess is that this project is in pretty good hands.
 
As expected from a dev build, the control scheme and performance were not ideal, but it ran perfectly. The nice thing is that the game ran on a server, meaning that we had 5 computers running at the same time with people fooling around.
I gotta say, seeing people zooming by in a newly built ship (the first one was built within a couple of minutes), or vandalizing editing those already placed by the devs was really cool.
 
There was a lot to cover during the QA session and little time to answer all the questions, but the community managers who waited for us with the drinks were kind enough to answer all of the remaining questions. Thanks for your golden patience and, again, enthusiasm guys !
 
I'm glad I was able to attend and meet the people behind the project, it really gives another meaning to my backing on KS.
 
Anyways, thanks again guys, and all the best for the things to come !

Embracing a monthly subscription eliminates the pay to win micro transaction model, and will allow equal footing between organizations. It would simply be dreadful to see whole systems consumed by an organization simply because it's leaders have deep pockets.

Just consider the consequences of day 1, when 20% of the player base starts with 6-20 months worth of DAC's that they cannot protect. The most involved members of the community, who's kickstarter usernames are public and probably their ingame usernames, can be targeted harassed and hunted down for a chunk of their kickstarter pledges. That seems ridiculous right? Hence the distinction.
 
I just don't understand why being able to steal DAC's is so important. A player can inject DAC's into the economy for goods and services, and you can undo their work and steal their goods. Isn't that equivalent? Is that not good enough? If the answer is no, wouldn't it just boil down to wanting to be able to digitally steal someone's wallet? (kek that's too bad not going to happen).
 
Lets imagine a world where you can't steal DAC's (you know, the world as it's currently going to be)
Lets say at month 6, Territory Units are in high demand and are very resource intensive to build (TU's). These are physical elements that can be built, bought, sold, transported, stolen, destroyed etc. We reach a point that there are enough DAC's in the market that people are willing to trade DAC's for TU's. They are each worth roughly the same spacebux, another currency that can be stolen, destroyed, etc, and they have been equivalent for about a month and are likely to stay equivalent for a while.
 
Why isn't stealing a TU enough? You can turn around and trade it for a DAC. The guy you stole it from traded a DAC for it in the first place. Sure, the demand for TU's could go down, or the supply could increase and hurt it's price, but its the same for DACs. The only real division between stealing DAC's vs TU's in this scenario is that one has an IRL dollar value.
 
So is this boiling down to you guys wanting to be able to really mug people in a video game? That's how it seems

Welcome to the boards DaphneJones...Haven't we met somewhere before?....ok, ok...kinda lame I know but, I just couldn't resist...
 
I jumped into KS without really looking
and now I'm stuck without money for cooking.
Maybe someday my DAC's will pay
for something other than DU play.
I guess for now I'll admire my Saphire Pledge
while starving to death on my patio ledge...!

I'm still not sure I understand how DACs being lootable turn DACs into less of a pay-to-win mechanic than when they are purely digital.
 
Even more importantly, after three pages of discussion, actually I still don't see how DACs are pay-to-win either way. If I butcher my piggy bank to buy lots of game money I still can't just conjure up an uber weapon of mass destruction.
 
If I want to buy the biggest and baddest battlecruiser ever to gank noobz with my rich parents' money, someone still has to construct that battlecruiser first. Presumably someone who already is at least as powerful as I am as a newcomer with a golden goose next to my computer.
 
And the money I spend isn't just disappearing either. If I pay a million spacebucks to the ship vendor, now the vendor has a million spacebucks. On top of how he probably was already pretty well-off in the first place if he is in the place to sell expensive spaceships.
 
 
I guess my point is, so many people here are acting as if the devs allowed rich people to produce uber weapons out of thin air. But I have a hard time seeing how a newcomer with too much money to spare could just usurp the powers to be and become the next kingpin. Every time they spend money, people around them will profit. And you can still loot, capture or destroy whatever they bought if they don't know what they're doing with it. If they bought expensive materials, you can attack them and snatch all of it. If they buy a big battleship, you can gather your boys to zerg them and show everyone what you think of rich people privilege. And so on.
 
 
It's getting late here in Yurop, sorry if my ramblings are becoming a little incoherent.

I believe the Kickstarter DAC protection suggestion + The mechanics of PLEX from Eve Online for DAC's purchased after launch == A Good Compromise

This is one of the big dangers of a game that has not been made yet. People will imagine things to function in a way that was never intended to be in the game in the first place. JC is being very transparent on his vision for the game and communicating clearly when what will be in the game and how certain aspects will work. Yes, the community can influence these decisions to an extent but not to as great a degree as some might believe.
 
DU is not a Pirate sim to cater only for pirates. Does this decision suck for pirates? Hell yeah. But with many other lucrative pirate targets, it would be a shame to lose players to something like this, even if they are pirates .

Pretty sure the main supporters od stealable DAC's are the kind of greifer scumbags who make any gaming community a more toxic environment, motivated by making the game more miserable for other players, and aren't satesfied with just blowing up their stuff and killing them, but by pushing them out od the take entirely.
 
Hate to be the one making a strawman argument here, but I don't think we want that kind of player. Rust is a (hilarious) hellhole, and I'd rather not have that kind of experience here too.

Two examples of when DACs should not be able to be stolen:
1) A casual gamer with a bit of time but no spare money has gathered enough resources to purchase next months subscription in the form of a DAC. Then it is stolen, potentially losing DU a player forever.
2) Kickstarter DACs. They are a major component in nearly all the backing options. Losing the lot on the first day is sure to also lose players.
 
Call it their own stupidity, losing players due to a game "feature" is not desirable.
 
Why should DACs be able to be stolen?
1) Curbing the super rich player from dumping thousands of DACs to effectively purchase entire orgs.
2) Encouraging piracy and in turn security forces. This is emergent gameplay.
 
Converting DACs to physical items at your spawn point would put the risk on the seller and the buyer could immediately digitize it again. It could work.
 
But wait. The DAC dealer can dump a thousand DACs anyway. Being able to steal DACs won't actually change this. And are there not other resources, elements, blueprints, entire ships that can be pirated?
 
My 2c

Yes, I support their decision against lootable DACs for a variety of reasons:
I can't imagine the grief of spending money on DACs and losing all of it shortly after in-game. That's the stuff that can quickly turn players away, presumably those that are especially willing to spend a lot of money on the game. Safe zones, like around the arkship, are apparently planned to be rare and far between. Trade with DACs would almost certainly only be happening in those safe zones if DACs were lootable, possibly giving safe zones an enormous economic edge beyond what they already inherently are going to have anyway. I'd rather there be several big markets with player-enforced security outside the safe bubble, the prospect of all trading hubs being located in safe zones feels pretty bleh. Unlootable money and DACs make active trading hubs outside safe zones much more feasible. DACs are a form of currency, and RP-wise it only makes sense to me that currency would be all digital so far in the future. The counter-argument concerning emergent gameplay feels weak to me, personally. Presumably you can still steal pretty much anything else, and there should be plenty of trade ships whizzing about moving all kinds of goods and resources, some of them bound to be very valuable, too. Looting crates of titanium and a cache of missiles makes for a better story than nicking someone's chequebook anyway.

if DAC are stealable then it will become a physical curency, so much more than just a pass to the game, generating lust and abuses in all the bad ways
 
For example new players aware of nothing, carying on a freshly aquiered from a Steam promotion package, 20 Dacs without really knowing what it is, but for them just a 2 monthes subscribtion to the game, and loosing them on the first day?
 
What would long time players say to this new player?
- Its your fault, you should have read the 20 topics about on the forum and devblog before playing?
- You must join us on the behalf of our hole mighty organisation we will secure your future 15€ spent?
 
This topic is a joke right? 
 
How would NQ reach 100 thousands players if the 5000 first players from alpha already planning to literrally scare the shit out their pants the  995 000 that will join at realease
 
Be realistic and stop thinking you are already the Emperor of the Universe, but do compromises for this game to be THE game that will fit a majority not a minority

The starship Heart of Gold
Which was the first spacecraft to make use of the Infinite Improbability Drive. The craft was stolen by the President Zaphod Beeblebrox at the official launch of the ship, as he was supposed to be officiating the launch.

Money doesn't make up for markets keeping up with demand. A battleship may take up to a week for a factory to manufacture, possibly longer. How many people will have factories to do that? Not many that is.
 
 
And no amount of money will speed up production lines, or imbue someone with skill to win a fight.
 
Not to mention, if a guy drops 1000 USD worth of DAC in the market, will make the cost of a DAC in in-game cash go WAY WAY down.
 
It's called supply and demand. 1000 USD worth of DAC will be worth less the next time, since the demand for it won't be that great and until the markets catch up and the prices start going up again, the guy with the 1000 USD will actually make much lesss money in the process.
 
 
Also, piracy. You know, good ol' pirates will keep an eye out for them high-tech ships going to the Arkship to retrieve them DACs.
 
 
I guess you'll get to read articles on the internet with titles like " DUAL Universe player loses 1000 USD worth of DAC to a pirate ambush". It happens a lot in EVE with their version of DAC (PLEX).
 
Bottomline : Say THANK YOU to Cybrex and his Band of Outlaws for being the scurvy pirates that the game may not actually deserve, but the one it trully needs. :V 
 
 
 

Hi ChipPatton and welcome to our forum.   There has been indeed a few people on the Kickstarter saying DAC was a "Pay to Win" feature. We also replied to why it wasn't and why we went for this feature.  We also agreed that it probably wasn't a perfect model, but it was the best we found until now.    This was our official reply:    
The DAC/PLEX/CREDD system isn't at fault there. The problem is elsewhere because without this system, the problem remains: it's just hidden. And it's not because something is hidden that it doesn't exist.   The people we got in contact with (probably your officers) turn a complete blind eye on our point of view. They didn't try to understand our position or even suggest an alternative. It's always easy to blame or criticize something without trying to come with a better option.   In this situation, how could the discussion go anywhere? Threatening to cancel the pledges (and doing so) won't change the situation either if there no dialog and just threats. We want to listen to feedbacks from all people interested in our game and take them into account, but without constructive feedback helping to find a good compromise for both sides, it's not possible. Also, while we want to satisfy as much players as possible, We are also aware that we can't satisfy everybody.    In any case, we remain open to discussion if you have more to say on this topic.   Best regards, Nyzaltar.

Paying €10-13 a month is like, skipping two beers every month at the pub (or one, or three, depending on where you live), and I surely will have more fun playing this game every month that i can have with one, or two or even three beers in a month.
 
It's amazing how much beer the dev team can buy every month with thousands of players.

This is Dual Universe, so we will have to see what the devs actually do.
Even if the devs would like for us to use our blueprints from Alpha after launch that doesn't mean they wouldn't discover that they're forced to wipe them due to changes in the code. We have a lot of that language being used already - "we would like to do this, but we don't know yet if that will be possible."
 
I've followed the ambitious game EQNext: it's vaporware.
I've followed the ambitious game Revival: it's vaporware.
So, where people say things like, "I just want everyone to be sure about what they are signing up for before they join alpha and start to give the game and start to give the game a bad name when it's not what they expected."
Yes, my response is that I'm highly skeptical that this ambitious game will even make it to Alpha, let alone be released.
That Dual Universe will be vaporware is among my expectations - even though I will very likely back the Kickstarter anyway.
 
I'm currently playing (and loving) No Man's Sky. No Man's Sky does not come with all of the features promised even a month before launch - like multiplayer.
I've worked on games where the producer has continued to promise all kinds of features or even release right up until the week that the team is told the game is cancelled.
So, I am very, very skeptical that the NovaQuark devs can deliver what they hope to deliver.
 
But, I'm backing Dual Universe rather than Star Citizen or Crowfall because DU has a game design that I would like to play.
My desire to play that design is not contingent upon Alpha Team players having access to their Alpha blueprints.
 
I've worked as a game dev for over 10 years. You've probably played some of the franchises I've worked on.
There should be nothing offensive about the general potential for a game to become vaporware - that's the intrinsic nature of the business.
But, specifically, if the devs can't get making blueprints to work for Alpha when they already have building constructs that can fly in pre-alpha, then these devs don't have the chops to finish this game in a state that anyone would want to play.
What I'm really saying there is that these dev are not going to give access to an Alpha where players can't make blueprints. The chances of that happening is less than 0%. Not impossible, but less than 0%.
And if tit's not possible to create blueprints by Alpha, you should be deeply, deeply concerned about the devs' ability to release this game in a state that is better than Landmark or No Man's Sky.
 
 
Dual Universe is not Landmark and it is not Minecraft.
But the types of players who play voxel games do not necesarily have the same motivations and mindsets as competitive gamers who play non-voxel games. Lots of builders don't care about who "owns" blueprints or how "owning" blueprints will affect the economy. Lots of builders in voxel games are willing to share their blueprints for free - even when it's possible for them to make real life money from their blueprints.
Just because that was true in Landmark doesn't mean that will be true in Dual Universe because the DU community may have considerably more hardcore, competitive gamers than casual, cooperative builders. But we have quite a decent representation of Landmark Founders/players on the Alpha Team for Dual Universe, so there is a pretty good chance that we'll see that swap meets and sharing blueprints for free will be more common than gamers holding on to blueprints in order to have an advantage over other players.
 
No Man's Sky has 4 primary pillars: Explore; Trade; Fight; Survive
Dual Universe is not No Man's Sky.
But, it's pretty clear that the players who love No Man's Sky are Explorers.
Gamers hoping for robust trade, combat or survival mechanics are going to be disappointed in No Man's Sky.
Gamers who just want to beat the game as quickly and efficiently as possible are going to be disappointed in No Man's Sky.
Explorers who want to run around looking at the variety of scenery the game procedurally generates and catalog the various types of lifeforms and who wish to decipher the alien languages and uncover the mystery of how to activate the Portals will have blast.
 
We're not 20 years in the past, where the vast majority of people who play video games were hardcore, competitive gamers.
What we learn from the Bartle test is that not all players have the same motivations - there's a variety of player types:
Killer/Achiever/Socializer/Explorer
Achiever/Explorer/Killer/Socializer
Socializer/Killer/Explorer/Achiever
Explorer/Socializer/Achiever/Killer
 
The Bartle test was primarily designed for RPGs and includes MMORPGs.
With voxel games, we can add Builder as a player type.
Builders do not necessarily relate to voxel games in the same manner that players who love games like EvE or ArchAge or Star Citizen do. They don't necessarily have the same motivations or goals or interests or priorities.
What we learn from games like Landmark and Minecraft is that lots of builders just want to be able to build constructs and show off those constructs. Lots of builders are willing to share their blueprints for free and don't care about how that effects "the economy".
Lots of builders have no desire to have an advantage over other players - because they are casual, cooperative players rather than hardcore, competitive gamers.
 
So, while Dual Universe is not Landmark and it is not Minecraft - it is a voxel game rather than an FPS or even a non-voxel MMORPG, like WoW or EQ.
Yes, if the majority of the DU Alpha Team is comprised of gamers who are primarily Killer/Achievers or Achiever/Killers who will strive to maximize advantages over other players, who owns pre-Launch blueprints will be enough of a concern that pre-Launch blueprints will probably be wiped - due to the unfair advantages the Alpha Team would have on those whose first opportunity to play is Launch.
Regardless of whether the code is in good enough shape that the devs aren't forced to wipe Alpha blueprints due to tech constraints.
 
But, if the majority of the DU Alpha Team are Builder/Socializers or Socializer/Builders, the devs may indeed strive to allow us to keep Alpha blueprints if it's possible.
 
Dual Universe is Dual Universe.
Dual Universe is not Landmark.
Even if the devs philosophically want to keep Alpha blueprints available for the Alpha Team after launch, that doesn't mean tech constraints won't prevent them allowing that. Nor does it mean that the behavior of the Alpha Team won't cause them to decide the actual playerbase is so competitive that allowing the Alpha Team access to their blueprints after launch will be too much of a detriment to the economy.
The devs might start by saying, "We hope that the Alpha Team will be able to use their Alpha blueprints after Launch," and then discover that for various reasons they do actually have to wipe all pre-Launch blueprints.
It may be that instead of allowing players to keep their Alpha blueprints the devs turn some of the Alpha blueprints into starter Elements that are free for all players to use - like the starter templates in Landmark.
 
We don't know what will happen. And really we can't know, unless the dev philosophy is already absolutely against retaining Alpha blueprints. IIRC, they aren't absolutely against it, rather they are still evaluating the potential impact.
 
I'm an Explorer/Socializer. On the Bartle score, my Killer rating is 0%.
Despite being a founding member of the Coalition of Pirates and Smugglers, I'm a cooperative carebear who gives stuff away for free.
I am not a good enough voxelmancer to be a Builder. But, I want the members of the Alpha Team to be able to share their pre-Launch blueprints with all players for free because that helps build community - as seen by the swap meets in Landmark. And because it means that new players at Launch will instantly be able to see the phenomenal constructs non-professional players can craft as sooon as they walk off the Arkship.
That's not about ownership or advantage. I am not competitive. I couldn't care less about ownership, advantage or the economy.
I care most about having immersive environments as the foundation for great storytelling and having mechanics that profoundly support robust roles for players to play.
 
When players step of the Arkship, I want them to think, "Wow - those buildings were created by players?? Not the devs??!! I could potentially create something like that?? I gotta explore that building and learn how to create something similar."
 
My hope is that we have enough Explorers, Socializers and Builders playing DU such that the general case when people walk off the Arkship is not, "Wow - those buildings are owned by players?? Not the devs?? I could potentially own something like that? I gotta learn how to exploit the features in this game so I can gain advantage over other players."
 
I hope the Alpha Team is "better" than that.

1: Some of us were conscripted onto the Alpha Team. Most likely because the devs feel we are already dedicated to helping them improve the game, rather than solely being interested in gaining unfair advantage over subsequent players or merely having fun playing early. 
 
2: Many of us on the Alpha Team have prior experience with this kind of development from Landmark. And we're probably more skeptical than most about what we're getting ourselves into - especially when contemplating spending money for "early access" or Kickstarter.
 
3: You state how much of the game is even going to be ready at launch is unknown. That's not quite true. We've seen that designing and building constructs is already possible now, during pre-Alpha. The voxel manipulation we've seen means that players can design and construct buildings even without the addition of Elements. If turning those constructs into blueprints won't be possible by Alpha, this game is doomed to be vaporware.
 
4: A lot of the difficult stuff -like vast numbers of players in one location on a single shard- has already been tested, but could stand to use more rigorous testing. Turning constructs into blueprints is pretty simple - it's not particularly innovative. That tech has already been around for several years now.
Will the devs provide us with newbie Constructs, like a basic hut/shelter, for Alpha? Perhaps not. But, there's really no way the devs are going to open Alpha without the ability to turn constructs into blueprints.
 
5: All of the above really has nothing to do with your actually concerns about carrying blueprints from Alpha through Launch, though.
 
a: It seems unlikely that we will be allowed to keep blueprints for ships that would take us off-planet. The devs seem to want us to be planet-bound for at least a couple of weeks after launch.
 
b: I expect that the devs will be interested in helping players maintain the blueprints for the buildings they construct. And I would not be surprised to see encouragement from the devs and community managers for voxel engineers to push their creative visions by showcasing the best constructs and maintaining those blueprints.
 
c: It may be that the devs conclude they will have to wipe blueprints during alpha and/or beta. There was always that possibility in Landmark, too. We'll have to see what the specific challenges are for Dual Universe, but...
 
d: In Landmark, we were able to keep Alpha blueprints through Launch. I expect the NovaQuark devs will endeavor for the same to be possible for Dual Universe. Apparently, they've stated they are contemplating supporting that.
 
e: We will just have to wait to see what actually happens. Just as we will have to wait to see if DU is anything more than vaporware.

Hi everyone! 

Considering todays post about BOO and the numbers of players in the top ten Orgs, 
I have decided to post my charts on here as well as Twitter. 

I forgot to place my name on them and now have, but figured seeing as it is fit, I would post them directly here as well, it's just been a little supervising side project of mine to see how the orgs and forums handled in posts, members, etc when the kickstarter came around as well as me just having a general interest in the numbers. 

So, I update the charts daily - with member orgs who have fallen off the top ten staying on there for up to seven days just in case they come back to the top.

Anyway, without rambling on too much longer. 
Have my charts. 
But stop asking for access, please, you won't get it, I'm just trying to provide consolidated data in a point for my own and others interest. 
 

 
The iframe isn't working currently, though I will post updates daily with images till I work it out, it may just be incompatible, I'm unsure.

Live chart can be found here
 
Edit**: Fixed some colouring issues.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/15515-Note-From-The-Chairman

This is my first post of many to come and I wanted to be the first? Maybe to congratulate for hitting the half way mark on the kickstarter!
 
I took this picture the second it happen though jump around a bit after.
 

 
I also made a small video for my community though feel free to check it out. I'm still new but plan on making more videos in the future.