Orius

Arkship AZRA was an experimental arkship equipped for mass-scale "quantum breaching", a term used for grabbing an item from an alternative universe usually due to damage to something.
It gained energy by ramming itself into the neutron star, and would create an entire version of the ship to an alternative universe where humanity never evolved. It was nicknamed the "Suicide Capsule" due to everyone having to accept death, regardless if they were in cryosleep.
The quantum breaching had an extreme failure, leading to an almost immediate big-crunch event in [REDACTED] universes due to [REDACTED]. This number is surprisingly low if a new universe is made for each decision, but if partial pre-determinism theory were true this would be the largest known accident, several magnitude worse than the neutron star incident.
Arkship AZRA was a complete failure, but the whether AZRA was copied, implanted, and landed on the other Earth is a mystery.
 
Prediction by Neural-Net VINYA
---
Arkship AZRA has been confirmed a success. Humanity has been successfully saved and is now a TYPE-IV civilization. Universe's timescale is several hundred magnitudes faster. A dated message in English has been found by Monitor-Installation [REDACTED], a love letter with a signed date of over [REDACTED] millennium ago.
Known Potential of Universe-"AZRA" invading others: 0%, universe lacks Kyrium so breaking the [REDACTED]-Viorackian bubble is impossible with known techniques.
Speculative Potential of Universe-"AZRA" invading others: [REDACTED]%.

This is a continuation from my earlier post on tectonic plates. 
 
Ice moons. They could somehow have their own atmosphere, similar to Titan, and have massive subsurface oceans underneath. This subsurface ocean would be a great resource for travellers, as it could possibly be split and used for oxygen for air to breathe and hydrogen for fuel, respectively. It could also be used as a gateway for life. 
 
With ice moons and subsurface oceans comes the possibility for cryovolcanism. Similar to Enceladus, we could have massive geysers expelling water into space. 
 
That's all I have to say on the topic, because my brain is dead. I'm sure you can find something else that I just haven't yet put my finger on to put in this post. I'm brain dead right now. 

After just coming out of the shower, I have had an epiphany: Seismic and volcanic activity on planets. This feature would not be applied to all planets, as it may cause too much server stress. This engine would work similar to how tectonic plates work on earth, or the plates could be immobile and the only evidence that they exist is mountains and valleys.
 
All of the plates on Earth are driven by one thing: magma. This magma could present on planets, with unique subcrustal temperatures varying greatly. This magma does not have to be fluid, but textured to look fluid. This would ensure that server stress levels remain stable to handle this amount of liquid present without crashing. In order to compensate for this lack of fluidity, lava tubes could be implemented to present evidence of previous plate activities that could be used as a base hideout of some kind. 
 
This magma could be used as an energy source, with many pumps being used to extract it. These tubes would have to be able to handle the high temperatures of the magma in order for successful magma extraction to happen. If it is unsuccessful, the pipes could just melt or something. This would explode the market with different types of tubes with varying effectiveness. 
 
I will continue this post as a different idea titled "Ice Moons and Cryovolcanism" so you can respond to it separately. 

Hey there. One question: when the guidelines mention no alien creatures, did they mean non-sentient, plant, or microbial creatures? 

What about newspapers in game? Could be a lot less lag inducing, and you could make it a moneymaking thing to make people pay for each paper

(Posted Friday 23rd of April 2014 on the DevBlog)
 

 

 
 

Many people have been asking questions about how we plan to finance the development of Dual Universe, which is an ambitious project and would seem to require some heavy funding. Even though we are in many ways fairly different from them, as I will explain below, we have sometimes been compared to some of the current very big budget productions, and asked to explain how we could compete. I thought it would be nice today to share more about our plans and strategy, while stressing the peculiarities of our game, so that we can start giving you a clearer picture of the financing side.
 
How much does a game like Dual Universe cost to produce? The first thing to notice is that, unlike non-MMO games, there almost never is a definite final version of the game. It is constantly evolving and so if you look at the total budget to produce such a game over several years, the number can be quite high. What we are really interested in is rather, for a MMO, how much does it cost to get to the point where the game is playable with enough value and fun in order for it to move from an ?alpha/beta? to a ?release? stage.
 
The other thing to notice is that what factors in most of the cost of producing a traditional video game revolves around creating content: 3D models of the environment, story content (quests, backstory, etc), and testing the balancing of all this to make sure that the content is neither too easy, nor too hard to play. This is actually a huge part of the cost of any ambitious video game today.
 
Our core gameplay approach is emergent gameplay: we believe that it can be incredibly fun and rewarding to let the players build their own stories, their own buildings, their own ships. We will of course bootstrap the process with a few of our own productions, but the whole point of the game is to empower people with the freedom to create their own world in a way they see fit. We also use procedural generation to create the landscape and environment. And it turns out that, as a side effect, this has a profound impact on the cost of the game. Instead of spending money to create content, we spend money to create the tools, the ?laws of physics?, the community support.
 
So, where most other games, including those we are sometimes compared to, will need many millions of dollars to deliver, we believe we can make the game we dream of with less money, while still providing a great and convincing emergent experience. That being said, it is clear that we still need money to get this ball rolling: we still have to create 3D content (every active element in the game is a 3D mesh, like weapons, reactors, control units, etc), we obviously need to develop the innovative technology behind the planetary engine, the continuous single-shard cluster, the inner workings of the game design (how to create an organization, trade, fight, secure territory, etc). This is by no means cheap. But we believe it?s within the scope of an indie studio.
 
Currently, our funding is based on the money of private investors who support the concept of the game, including myself. We have enough cash to get the 20 people team to function properly until we reach the alpha stage, somewhere in 2016. The traditional way to move on from there is to go to a publisher with our alpha, who might be convinced to add a few more millions and ? get more or less full control of the game. The problem is that we have a very innovative and disruptive concept in hand, and publishers rather tend to push their licenses towards more conventional grounds. My fear is that this option, if we have to get to this, might affect the evolution of Dual Universe in directions that neither me, nor you, the community, would really like.
 
The other option that is now available for small companies like us is to go for crowdfunding. The same process goes: you show up with your alpha and ask for support. But here, instead of a publisher, you might get the chance to finance the next stage of development entirely with the support of your community. More than money, what you also get is feedback, which is all the more relevant since we focus our design on emergent gameplay. There is no magic however, we know that the alpha has to be incredibly convincing, and that we have to deliver something to the community that shows that we know what we are doing. All the team is working hard with this in mind, and we are going to do the impossible to try and not disappoint.
 
Even if the crowdfunding might not bring as much money as what a publisher might be able to provide, we are much more in favor of this option. If the amount of money raised is modest and we cannot reach all our stretch goals, we might face a possibly slow ramp up of the amount of game features, centered on a small but active community, that will gradually (maybe over several years) get closer and closer to the ideal final game we dream of. We are ok with that.
 
The really amazing possibility with crowdfunding however, is that we may get the community so excited, as we are, that suddenly everything becomes possible, right here and right now. We could accelerate the development of the game, add more interactive elements and create the most beautiful emergent video game world ever made! We love games, we love the concept of Dual Universe. Ultimately, it is you, our community, that will decide whether we can press the ?turbo? button, and remain free from publishing constraints at the same time. The sky?s the limit (or rather, interstellar space!).
 
JC Baillie,
Project Lead

I play No Man's Sky! 
 
 
...
 
 
 
I have no life. ;( 

This is a continuation from my earlier post on tectonic plates. 
 
Ice moons. They could somehow have their own atmosphere, similar to Titan, and have massive subsurface oceans underneath. This subsurface ocean would be a great resource for travellers, as it could possibly be split and used for oxygen for air to breathe and hydrogen for fuel, respectively. It could also be used as a gateway for life. 
 
With ice moons and subsurface oceans comes the possibility for cryovolcanism. Similar to Enceladus, we could have massive geysers expelling water into space. 
 
That's all I have to say on the topic, because my brain is dead. I'm sure you can find something else that I just haven't yet put my finger on to put in this post. I'm brain dead right now. 

Dual Universe should have the option to turn off player nametags. This should be implemented as purely a performance issue, but I could see it being used for cosmetics (screenshots, gameplay, etc). The reason this should be possible is because some players' computers will not be able to handle the high stress levels of the single shard universe, especially with floating nametags having to be rendered along with computing the server load. This could also serve some practical purposes as well, such as only showing the players' nametags that are only in your organization(s). This could ensure that you don't accidentally destroy your own organization's bases, kill your own organization members, etc. This would only be needed when an organization swells beyond member memorization, but would still be nice to have. 

After re-divulging into the game that destroyed the meaning of Early Access on Steam, I have realized something: Dual Universe has a possibility of becoming similar to ARK. Before you tear into me for this, hear me out. 
 
There is a distinct possibility that this game could become more of a chore for players, having to check on your construct constantly, 24/7 maybe, to make sure they aren't going to be destroyed when you are offline, similar to the way ARK has become. Instead of fixing the base game, the developers of ARK kept adding more content, further pushing the game's community further and further apart and breaking the game's performance even more than it already was. 
 
There is the possibility for this game to be dominated by massive organizations, similar to how the servers on ARK are currently being dominated by "alpha megatribes", tribes dominating the server that have essentially unlimited resources, overpowered gear, overpowered dinosaurs,  and a territory control over the island that essentially means that noobs who spawn have no chance of getting a good grip. With the completely unbalanced weapons, PVP has truly become a nightmare, and with unbalanced dinosaurs, the PvE has just become another No Man's Sky. 
 
In summary, Dual Universe has a long way to go in development, and can go either 2 ways: it can be a really great game, or it can be another ARK. Only time will tell what will happen, but I have a hope that this game will not be another ARK. 
 
Novaquark, you have been warned. 
 
 

Space telescopes. They could possibly be used in game to survey planets for a base. They could also be used to survey a planets atmospheric composition to determine if it is worth settling that particular planet or not. Space telescopes could be used to generate wonderful pictures of the cosmos and make star maps. They could also be used to gather information on stars, see their possibility for planetary bodies to exist there or not. Space telescopes. A wonderful device for a wonderful game. 

Space telescopes. They could possibly be used in game to survey planets for a base. They could also be used to survey a planets atmospheric composition to determine if it is worth settling that particular planet or not. Space telescopes could be used to generate wonderful pictures of the cosmos and make star maps. They could also be used to gather information on stars, see their possibility for planetary bodies to exist there or not. Space telescopes. A wonderful device for a wonderful game. 

Space telescopes. They could possibly be used in game to survey planets for a base. They could also be used to survey a planets atmospheric composition to determine if it is worth settling that particular planet or not. Space telescopes could be used to generate wonderful pictures of the cosmos and make star maps. They could also be used to gather information on stars, see their possibility for planetary bodies to exist there or not. Space telescopes. A wonderful device for a wonderful game. 

The Novean Almanac is a fan magazine about Dual Universe and the Dual Universe community.
There have been three issues in 2018 (as the Novean Dreamers Almanac) and then a long hiatus.
 
But finally...
 
Novean Almanac 4
Editorial: Making history in Dual Universe Dual Universe Development Timeline Community Media Overview Organization Updates Community Projects Overview and a shorty story by Kurock  
PDF, 168 pages, 4.4MB
 

 
Old stuff from 2018:
 
Hello there.
 
This is a magazine about the Dual Universe community.
You should read it, like all the cool kids.
 

(pdf, 2 mb)
 
Contents of issue 1: Cities, the Press and intergovernmental organizations
 

(pdf, 2 mb)
 
Contents of issue 2: War on the Battlefield & War in the Arena, Non-English-speaking communities
 

(pdf, 2 mb)
 
Contents of issue 3: Espionage and Counter-Intelligence, the Service Industry, and a stupid map
 
Website: Spaceship Drama
Discord (Agilolfing#8694)
Twitter

Nuclear physics. Such a broad category of science leading to the most remarkable discoveries... and the most destructive of weapons. It would be nice to see how this would play out in DU, since I have seen a bunch of people suggesting nukes (hehe). This could possibly lead to quantum mechanics in game, leading to quantum computing or some other crap like that. If it is too much stress on the server, fair enough. It's just a suggestion from the realm of madness inside of my brain. 

Hey there. I have had a continued presence on the forum for about 3 months, but I never properly introduced myself. 
 
I'm Dr_Rhino. I came up with my name because I couldn't think of anything else to change my Minecraft name to, so I stuck with if. Some of my friends called me Rhino too. I have had my eye on this game for about half a year, although I'm not exactly sure when I discovered this game. It was sometime near the end of the original Crowdfunding period. I'm pretty sure I was looking for alternatives to No Man's Sky, or just space games in general, but that's besides the point. When I first discovered this game, I immediately started having fantasies about it and what you could do in it. I even made up an epic battle in my head. However, being that I wasn't ready to invest, the Crowdfunding date came and went with me not spending a dime. A few months later, I discovered the community portal with the forum, and saw the idea box. I posted my first idea, titled "Rogue Planets, Black Holes, and Rogue Stars (along other things)". I was excited to see that I had received my first comment, and the rest is history. 
 
Wait a minute... who the hell is this guy? Well, I'll have you know I am a man of few words and also of many things. I play sports in my spare time like basketball and golf. I also am an aspiring musician. I also sometimes dabble in the science fiction world, and watch a lot of science crap from Youtube, like Isaac Author (he's really cool, you should go check him out) and other people like Ridddle. Ive also read and (attemped to) understand some of Stephen Hawking's work. I also have a passion for games that far exceeds anything else (I should probably go to therapy for that). To sum up, I love games as much as the other guy, and can't wait for Dual Universe to come out. 
 
P.s. I changed my name to Orius because I have a better profile picture to go along with it. 

Gas Giants planets. There you go. Instead of planet surfaces, they could have a lot of moons. 

When the Novark accelerates to past light speed, wouldn't it be constantly bombarded with particles from the space dust and gas? Can kyrium contain this much bombardment before disintigrating? The only warp drive that can travel faster than light is known as the Alcubierre warp drive, proposed by Miguel Alcubierre, which bends the fabric of space time to make distances contract closer together, resulting in a kind of bubble. There are many problems that could theoretically occur as a result of this drive. 1) Particles could be swept up along the path of this bubble, resulting in possible high energy release towards a particular planet, annihilating said planet, or doing extreme damage to this planet without destroying it. Another problem is the survivability of the inside of the bubble, which is completely cut because of too much Hawking radiation. Also, the ship's crew, or in this case A.I., would not be able to control the ship because it would be going too fast. So, in the game lore, could new physics possibly be discovered that could help the probability of this device bring practically used in this timeframe? Thanks,
 
-Rhino

Gas Giants planets. There you go. Instead of planet surfaces, they could have a lot of moons. 

Part I is complete. Feel free to leave your feedback. 

Hey there. I know I butchered the comments section, but this is my first fan fiction. Saying that, I still want your honest opinions on the story, no matter how harsh. I completed the prologue. I'm gonna seperate this story into 5 parts, these five parts being no longer than your average short story. These five parts will be uplladed as soon as I finish them. Here's the prologe: 
 
Prologue
Before the launch of the Arkship named Arkand, unbeknown to the Novark data files, a designated human captain was assigned out of paranoia that the A.I. onboard would steer the Arkship towards a collision with a black hole, star, or a planet, along with a system to decide the next captain after the first captain died. The way that the Captains were chosen throughout the course of the trip was by a process of elimination, weeding out the smartest and most capable people onboard, in the event that a planetary body was discovered that could have the potential to harbor human life. In the event that a habitable planet was discovered, the Captains were the first ones out of the Arkship to scout out the planets and the rest of the star system that the planets reside in. As a bonus, the Captain is able to name the planets in the surrounding system, since the Captain would be the first person to discover the planet. When the Captain has finished exploring the star system and surrounding planets, the Captain returns to the Arkship with the data gathered from the expedition, which allows the onboard A.I. to create the simulations for the Alpha Team. With the data gathered from the Alpha Team simulations, the A.I. then creates the simulations for the Beta Team. By the time that the Alpha Team simulations have been completed, which will most likely take a few years, the Captain, depending on their time of awakening and age upon departure, will be dead or close to dying. This process is exclusive to the Arkand, and there are many other methods used by other Arkships in the event that a planet is found that could sutain human life.
 
With the discovery of new planets, there also comes with it the danger of the native life. Predators roam the planet, searching for their next meal, and have not yet begun to fear humanity and place humans at the top of the food chain. Foreign microbes reside everywhere, and any one of these microbes can be dangerous. Some of these microbes can do horrible things to the human body, such as take control of the mind and induce an uncontrollable rage that can only be satisfied by taking other human life. The possibilities are endless. But, for now, there is no worry of these creatures, just the hope that humanity will have a new home. 
 
 
Part I: The Arkship Arkand - Google Docs.pdf

Sure why not

We should be able to customize voxel shapes to allow for player creativity more than the shapes already pre formed, making for some really interesting constructs. 

We should be able to customize voxel shapes to allow for player creativity more than the shapes already pre formed, making for some really interesting constructs.