PetdCat

Came across this: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/1414/feature/10930/Dual-Universe-How-the-Games-Single-Shard-Server-Works.html

<Daddio just wants to blow up people in game that have given him grief on other forums.....LOL>

I think it would be difficult in importing into a voxel bases world. My assumption would be that the import file would be a mesh. That would mean there would need to be some software tool that converts the mesh into a voxel based world (since everything is destructible). My expectation is that where the game might provide modules that you can use--instead of making them voxel by voxel--importing your battlecruiser of doom may be beyond what can be done. I would be happy if we could just import some of our own created textures to wrap exiting game pieces, or be able to create custom textures for people that can be sold via some in game mechanism. Expectation being that all textures would need to be approved by Novaquark, and since that would have costs involved, they would take a cut of sales. Similar in what SOE/Daybreak did with their Player Studio mechanism. I would think that Novaquark is going to want some say in what can and can't come into their world (either for IP or cosmetic issues). The "Mr. Sausage Dreadnought" would be right out

All money should be sent to Pet d'Cat's Home for Unwed Mothers......thank you for your support

you are right. I am just really bringing it up now to start the conversation from the beginning. People do not realize it but there is a whole sub-genre in games of the RP communities. I have known people in The Secret World that haven't left London in years because they are just meeting friends, dancing, taking, whatever. They use it like a virtual world social media. I do not know if Dual is even interested in providing things that would foster that kind of community, but it is something that I believe is worth discussion. It appears to me to be a segment of the gaming community that never receives any attention, but always seems to be prevalent.

<Waves at Dygz>

So, there has been a great deal of discussion concerning building and mechanics. What I am wondering is if Dual is planning on have any robust social mechanics in the game. Emotes, movement, chat, etc.... Where I am not a big RP kinda person, I know that there is a large RP community out there that has found many games wanting for their RP needs, but they make due with what they have available. I do not know if there are any RP people already involved here, but it seems to me that Dual could be an RP community paradise. Yes, there are times that RPers can take themselves a little seriously in games, but they do add a certain depth and flavor to a world that you do not get from just fighters, crafters, etc.... Is Dual planning on focusing on the social aspects of the game as well, or will the focus mainly be on combat and building?

I will need to check that out. I have not tried Space Engineers. Most of my time has been building for people in Second Life, the Utherverse worlds, and Landmark. Well, that and DJing in virtual worlds for parties and such. I will have to see what it is like.

I think that the ability to "mirror" a selected group of voxels would help tremendously in not only being able to build, but also improve the aesthetics of the build. Unless you are truly looking for an asymmetrical look (which is a definite sci-fi style, especially for alienistic constructs), the majority of sci-fi styles are symmetrical along any number of axis's. The ability to create "half" of an object, mirror it, and then apply it to the original to create a whole not only saves time, but also ensures symmetry. If you have every attempted to make two sides of a creation look exactly alike with many voxel tools, it adds a new definition to patience. Basically the ability I would look for is to be able to select a group of voxels and copy and paste them creating a new group that is the same as the original. Then select a key combination that takes that select group and mirrors it. I can then move that mirrored group and attach it to the original, or copy/paste it to the original to create a symmetrical whole. I would also have the ability to create templates of each side for future use. The ability to manipulate groups of voxels is very important to builders. If I have my wish, the ability to not only mirror--but extrude a group, or compress a group would also be a great help. I just do not know if that is even a consideration of the voxel engine being used.

The workaround I see to that is if the blueprint is not tradeable, I would still be able to go over to your property and build using it. It would be a similar situation as to builders in Second Life or other virtual worlds where people hire builders to actually build on their property. Where making it untradeable would keep them off the market, you could still pay the builder to just come over an build it on your property using the blueprint.

For carried over blueprints.......<insert large pleading kitty eyes from the Puss n Boots movie here>

Will grovelling be involved? LOL I'm an old married man, so I am already use to it! <grin>

Starting out, my understanding is that you will not be thrown into the wastes with an obsidian knife and a thong. You will have tools that will allow you the ability to forage, mine, whatever. Plus, you will be in a protected layer around the ship. My guess is that the beginning will be an exercise in social engineering. People will do their own thing exploring, returning back to the ship, building with the resources collected in their forays. At some point someone will decide to strike out on their own, or a group of like minded individuals will do the same--using the resources they have collected and things they have built to start their own place. Not long after that another individual, or group of individuals, will decide to follow them to rob them of everything they own. After that, people will decide that having people rob other people is a bad thing and will start a makeshift government of some sort with some type of constabulary. In time, different groups will have their own places, constabularies, which turn in to larger groups, and armies, with all the ensuing fun and games that follows from human nature

<grin> You realize that by creating an Alliance you will almost automatically generate an outcast/pirate group that lives on the fringes and feeds off of it This could be way too much fun.

My feeling exactly.....if you suck a place dry and then don't have materials to live, so you have to build ships and move on, well--maybe you will have learned something. Or, they may be groups that are like the antagonists in Independence Day--just moving from planet to planet like locusts.

Not really an issue really for me. If I have built it once, and I know how to build it, you are just adding my having to make it again which delays me by, what? an hour? The ability to save templates just allows me to save the time of having to remake something that I already know how to make. I already have the knowledge and skill to remake it, so what does that really solve except delaying someone for a couple of hours. Obviously if someone is not in Alpha/Beta they are going to have to learn the skillsets in order to be productive. You cannot remove the knowledge of how to do something. So in the end, all you are doing is providing a slight hurdle for someone to overcome before they build something that a non-Alpha/Beta tester will be able to. It is just a arbitrary bit to slow someone down, not level the playing field. Even with that being the case, I enjoy building--so building it again, and then saving it to make copies, would not be a big issue for me.

I would really prefer that resources that are below ground actually mirror RL veins and lodes of ore as opposed to the little earth pimples that stick up and you wack on for 30 seconds. Landmark had a very cool process of having to dig and follow ore veins, but they were limited to a couple of yards in any direction. I would not mind seeing that kind of functionality on a grander scale. I also would prefer that trees don't appear completely mature out of the ground after 15 minutes of being cut. I realize it would probably be difficult to program, but I would prefer that trees grow. The reason being 1) if you clear cut.....don't expect trees to come back unless to plant 2) If you harvest your trees while young, you will not get large pieces of lumber. 3) If you let the trees mature, you can get larger pieces of lumber--but you have to wait a much longer time to harvest--so actual management of the harvesting would be required so you always have trees to cut. If you find an archaeological site where someone found the Singularity Reactor of Doom , then someone else coming along 15 minutes later should not find the same thing in the same place. When a site is played out--it doesn't automagically repop--unless someone finds a hidden room or corridor or something. I mean if you want for Dual to be "real", then make it real with consequences for you actions (of using resources) and not having people just camping a spot forever to get what they want.

I'm all in for Converse Hightops with jump jets on the bottom.

From the standpoint of a builder, it would not make any difference to me. My expectation is that we would have the ability to save our "templates" for things we have built (probably modular pieces would be best). If that is the case, after a wipe you would just need the correct materials in order to build since you would already have the blueprints to what you would make. For non-builders looking for every advantage to carving out their own personal Empire, probably not so much But you know, if you are in on Alpha or Beta, you should expect wipes (either planned for or not). It is the nature of the beast.

Two questions: Are these screen captures from within the actual generated world and created ships, cities, etc, artist renderings over the procedurally generated world, or artist renderings taken from basic concepts in a test world? Second, my assumption is that you will be running Dual on a server cluster similar to the technology used by Eve Online. Do you have any ideas on how you expect to handle the lag of so much flying around at a single time within a single shard? Even with all the the technology, EVE can be one huge lagfest in the middle of the largest battles. Granted, your internet speed, graphics quality, and computer speed will impact that, but the server's ability to handle the load is also a large determining factor. Starting out, I do not anticipate that we will encounter such issues as we will probably be planetary bound starting out, however, there will be a point where you will hopefully have large space battles with hundreds (if not thousands if Dual's life is measured in years greater than a decade) or thousands of ships flying around with their miscellaneous, rockets, missiles, beams, beer cans, flying all about at the same time. Is this something that you have considered for the future, are are you still just at the "lets get the planet built and the underlying foundation" level

I see some familiar names here that have been involved in a number of pre-alpha, alpha, beta, game cycles. Some of those, have involved various incentives to support the projects--ships in Star Citizen, the various housing in Revival, and Landmark to name a few. What I think might be a good discussion--before all of this really gets going--is what as players we would like to see for pre-release involvement. Where I have been involved in Landmark (and paid a good deal of cash in that game), I have also been involved with Revival and my rather significant investment in that game has gone by the wayside. So that begs the question, "What course would you like to see Dual take in their pre-release cycle"? For that matter, what model is Dual planning on taking? I think given possibilities that all of us recognize by being here, it would probably be a good discussion to waste some time on

you have no idea how happy I am that there is no chainmaille option for the female spacesuit....

Nyzalter is such a tease

Waves at Daddio

<grin> How about a quick rendering of basic PvP. They can call the YouTube video.....wait for it.......Dual, the Duel.