Lord_Void

The DU gameplay at Gamescom was really amazing. I learned so many new things from talking to JC and actually playing the game that I would like to share them with you.
I’m very surprised no one else started a topic about the Gamescom jet, as there were people who spend much more time at the NQ booth then me…
 
Disclamer: None of this information is official! It’s just my interpretation of the conversation I had with JC. Also none of the features are final! I got the impression that a lot of details are not fully thought out and will be changed during development.

I hope we can freely discuss features “as seen in the Gamescom” without violating any pre-alpha NDA… I just think this will be interesting for those who were not there.
 
Orbital mechanics:
In space there are actual physics calculations like in Kerbal Space Program! I managed to catapult my ship into orbit with atmospheric engines, but it was pulled back in a parabolic curve by the gravity.
JC said that atmospheric engines are actually a bit overpowered, as you could reach escape velocity with them and fly straight into space… without any control… because the engines only work in atmosphere… xD
I have to say that I really liked the atmospheric flight mechanics; they felt very realistic just like a real airplane.
 
Damaging system:
Functional parts get damaged on impact and are supposed to lose their function until they get repaired by hand. (currently tweaked as it’s a little bugy)
 
Lua Scripting:
We already know about the minigames you can create in DU, but what about the multiplayer capabilities? Interestingly enough it’s already possible to connect multiple programming units together by just using global variables, which are shared inside one core unit.
Thereby multiple sup-components on a big ship can be interconnected and exchange information between each other.
In theory it could also be possible to communicate to another construct using the same mechanic, but with a growing distance the update rate of the data would be decrease…
They are thinking about creating a component that can be accessed “globally” by any programming unit in range… but the whole topic about distributed systems will be another milestone that has not been considered jet.
Another thing I asked was if we could use an external IDE for programming, as the ingame one was kind of limited… JC said in theory you could import an external library in the ingame interface, which should access the Lua scripts directly from your PCs hard drive.(not sure about the Lua limitations inside DU though)
Or you just copy the code over to the game for testing.
The Lua development is also tied to the ingame IDE as each connected component actually provides predefined event-function-blocks that are triggered by certain events (e.g. a switch has an on, and an off block) and you have to place Lua code in the corresponding function blocks.
I’m sure in the long run NQ will develop a fully fledged IDE for the game, so this will become no issue at all….
The breakout minigame was also simply some code executed in the “start” function that was able to receive keyboard inputs and generated svgs that were displayed on the screen-unit.
 
Rendering/Performance:
Ok, the game is not the prettiest rendering wise.
All vegetation and functional components get only rendered up to a certain distance (few 100 meters) than they get de-spawned. Also all lighting and shadows are only active up to this distance.
Further away voxels also get simplified a lot… I honestly don’t care about the visuals that much, but I’ll admit the space station looked kind of squashed from far away.  But JC said they are working hard on improving the rendering.
On the flip side flying around was very smooth! In god-mode I flew to the moon of Alioth in 2 seconds without any noticeable frame drops!
 
 
So, that’s all that was new/interesting about the game for me. Maybe most of this was already known, but it wouldn’t hurt to share it here…
I actually did not have enough time to cover all my questions. But others are probably able to share a lot more insights from Gamescom, so feel free to post them to the rest of the community!

TFW you realize you're backing the wrong game
 
 

 
(no offense meant to this guy, actually super jealous of him right now!)

Be who you want to be! You're a peacock, we've got to let you fly!! 

Do whatever you want. Not our place to judge those who NQ put in the ATV, so if you pledged or not I don't care, nor should anyone else. 

Hello, even if we did reach the bounty system because of the funding from private investors, I wanted to point out that I think we would've reached 725k anyway. We are now at €714,398 pledged so far and we have until the 7th of september to reach 725k. I simply wanted to say that it is incredible that we will reach (I hope so!) the last stretch goal, even without the funding of 3,7 million euros. At first, I did not think we could reach 725k but now it's quite possible and I think it's awesome. Leave your thoughts on this, do you think we will reach the goal ?

I think that's something that needs to be handled privately.  None of us know what the joke is, nor do I think that's something we should know.  If it is their discord channel, then that's that.  You're free to send them a PM or something.
 
No one has the right (or backing?) to call any type of lifestyle pathetic.  If someone loves to throw their heart and soul into their work, awesome.  If someone loves taking work off, awesome.  I personally take work off far more than I should when a good swell is pounding.

Oh get off your high horse. 
 
We all understand how important this moment is, and we are all excited. Just because not everyone is taking off of work doesn't mean we are "not true fans". No one, not you or anyone else has a right to try and tell people that they aren't good enough fans, or aren't "real" parts of the community. We are all working hard to build a better community. 
 
I am going to be participating as much as possible and no one will be able to accuse me of not being there, but unless NQ wants to pay my bills for me then I'm not taking work off for alphas and betas. Over the next year there are probably going to be 3 or more alphas and 1 to 3 betas, plus launch. Taking two weeks off for each means 7x2 = 14 weeks off. I wish I had that much vacation time, but I don't.
 
Dual Universe is a marathon, not a sprint and I'm here for the long haul. 

I'm planning on taking time off when the game actually launches, but not for the alpha. I'll certainly be playing as much as possible but I personally won't be clearing my whole schedule for something that isn't always on. 

What do we do again?

Yes, you can claim safe zone tiles but there is a tax on them that goes up the more tiles in the safe zone are claimed. There will also be well over 1000 tiles in the safezone. 
 
The main advantage of building in the safe zone is that your stuff is safe and it's a central location in the game world. 
 
It will likely be mostly parking lots, markets and warehouses 

I'm out of likes, but I agree with you Wilks.
 
It's fine to take time off, but shaming other people for not doing that is not okay.

Nice back pedal. I think it's quite clear to everyone what you meant with what you were saying

Oh get off your high horse. 
 
We all understand how important this moment is, and we are all excited. Just because not everyone is taking off of work doesn't mean we are "not true fans". No one, not you or anyone else has a right to try and tell people that they aren't good enough fans, or aren't "real" parts of the community. We are all working hard to build a better community. 
 
I am going to be participating as much as possible and no one will be able to accuse me of not being there, but unless NQ wants to pay my bills for me then I'm not taking work off for alphas and betas. Over the next year there are probably going to be 3 or more alphas and 1 to 3 betas, plus launch. Taking two weeks off for each means 7x2 = 14 weeks off. I wish I had that much vacation time, but I don't.
 
Dual Universe is a marathon, not a sprint and I'm here for the long haul. 

I'm out of likes, but I agree with you Wilks.
 
It's fine to take time off, but shaming other people for not doing that is not okay.

Nice back pedal. I think it's quite clear to everyone what you meant with what you were saying

Oh get off your high horse. 
 
We all understand how important this moment is, and we are all excited. Just because not everyone is taking off of work doesn't mean we are "not true fans". No one, not you or anyone else has a right to try and tell people that they aren't good enough fans, or aren't "real" parts of the community. We are all working hard to build a better community. 
 
I am going to be participating as much as possible and no one will be able to accuse me of not being there, but unless NQ wants to pay my bills for me then I'm not taking work off for alphas and betas. Over the next year there are probably going to be 3 or more alphas and 1 to 3 betas, plus launch. Taking two weeks off for each means 7x2 = 14 weeks off. I wish I had that much vacation time, but I don't.
 
Dual Universe is a marathon, not a sprint and I'm here for the long haul. 

I'm out of likes, but I agree with you Wilks.
 
It's fine to take time off, but shaming other people for not doing that is not okay.

I'm out of likes, but I agree with you Wilks.
 
It's fine to take time off, but shaming other people for not doing that is not okay.

Couldn't agree more here.  How much someone wants a game to be completed is not dictated by how much time they take off, how much time they dedicate to, or how much ramen they eat for the next few weeks ^^
 
I'm a hardcore fanatic for this game, but if there's a 15-20 second swell with a small offshore breeze...  there's no way I'm going to be behind a computer screen.  
 
Basically what I'm trying to say is that just because someone has higher priorities than DU does not mean they are any less of a fan than the next guy.
 
Similarly, I will not be taking time off for the alpha.  Mainly due to the fact that I know it's just that, an alpha for testing.  Whether I'm doing the testing or the next guy is fairly irrelevant.  I will test stuff when I can, others will test stuff when they can.  I imagine NQ will have a "reported and understood but not fixed" page that will minimize repeat reports.
 

Ouch ... yama has questioned my fanliness... How will I go on? Lol
 
Just because people don't set aside as much time for something as you think they should doesn't make them any less of a fan

I'm planning on taking time off when the game actually launches, but not for the alpha. I'll certainly be playing as much as possible but I personally won't be clearing my whole schedule for something that isn't always on. 

Then again, playing devil's advocate here, if we assume that footage will leak and people will rant about it, wouldn't it be better to let all the other people having wonderful, positive experiences speak too be a good thing? The best way to drown out 'bad speech' is with more good speech

Yup, call it whatever you want, I'll be happy to dig a hole and meet up with friends.