I thought I would stat working on compiling all the official answers in one post, will organize later etc... if your interested in helping just reply with some info, please keep the format the same with a link to the official answer.
New o e got started and stuck to the top, so no need for this one anymore....
Q: If everything is editable at a resolution of 1 meter. Then a 100km planet would represent roughly 100000*100000 * 4 * 3.14 =~ 100 billion square meters of surface. If you edit this on a 100meter shell then it represents 10 trilion voxels. If you can store a voxel on 100 octet (and it might be a lot more), then it represents 1000To of data. How will you handle that much?
A: The trick is we don't store each voxel on the servers. Each planet is generated procedurally in real time by an algorythm when needed (when a player is approaching or on the planet). So a planet doesn't weight anything in terms of storage. This is exactly how it works in a game like No Man's Sky, the "magic" enabling devs to generate millions of planets without storing anything. Now, as we have editable planets, we go one step further: when a player edit something, we store just the modification(s) applied on the procedurally generated planet. That way, we optimize the space to store all the modifications made by players.
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/544-announcement-dual-universe-at-e3-pc-gaming-show/page-4#entry6843
Q: Will there be a version of this for Steam?
A: Releasing Dual Universe on Steam is being considered (but no promise at the moment).
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/820-if-i-may-ask/#entry6825
Q: What is the difference between Crowd Funding and Early Access?
A: From our point of view:
- Early Access should be equal to selling a game, not completely finished but already fun to play and fairly stable. In other words, at least a game that has reached Beta. Those who buy a game in Early Access are consumers who buy a product to play a bit in advance prior to the official release.
- Crowdfunding is meant for people who want to help the project and support, people to have suggestions to make to improve the game, etc. They can access the game right from early stages, in order to provide feedbacks that could be taken into account into the dev roadmap. But there are here more as supporters willing to help improving the game than consumers in the first place (but they deserve, of course, the same respect as other consumers!): they understand they are going to enter a game that isn't a nearly finished product or that the fun is not completely there yet.
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/820-if-i-may-ask/#entry6825
Q: When will the Crowd Funding Start?
A: Crowdfunding campaign: it will be launched before end of 2016.
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/812-crowd-funding-soon/#entry6818
Q: When will Alpha launch?
A: Alpha Launch: early 2017.
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/812-crowd-funding-soon/#entry6818
Q: Will this be a first person shooter or target lock style game?
A: We totally understand that First Person Shooter gameplay would be more immersive.
However, we have to take everything in account. And when we do, then we have to make some compromise.
We want combat, but combat is not the main feature of the game. Only one of the main features, equally important with building, real massively multiplayer system in a single-shard universe, exploration, trading, etc. Once this was sorted out, it was logic that we wouldn't sacrifice things like the massively multiplayer aspect just to have the best First Person Shooter possible. In that case, even if it's not the best combat mechanics (we totally agree on that), target locking combat gameplay is the answer for the best compromise. So it's not a decision led by personal taste, but really the most relevant decision on the technical aspect in our case.
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/779-suggestion-please-do-not-use-a-eve-lock-on-weapon-system/page-2#entry6816
Q: Are there safe zones, and are you going to force PvP on players?
A: There will be safe zones for those who don't wan't to have PvP activities. We won't force PvP on players, we want to avoid that at all costs.
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/725-is-it-just-me-that-kinda-fears-it-will-become-a-sci-fi-ark/page-2#entry6239
Q: Can I build a planet killing weapon?
A: The clear answer is no, there won't be weapons powerful enough to destroy planets.
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/534-whats-about-fully-destructible-planetsstars/#entry3577
Q: Will Dual Universe will have the ability to cloak. And if so, I pray they have a mechanic that will not allow a player to abuse cloaking by sitting in a system for days on end, even weeks in some cases. It is nothing short of being a griefer and ruins game play for the vast majority of players.
A: We plan stealth technology in Dual Universe (even if it's not planned soon). Afk cloaking is indeed a problem in EVE. Psychological warfare is interesting, as long as it involves activity from the player wanting to do it. From what we have analyzed, afk cloaking has been possible because of a few things:
- the fact that all players in the solar system are displayed on the local chat. If you see someone you don't know, it migh be a spy, or someone planning an ambush.
- the fact that a player can leave from a safe area (space stations) from a unique point (easy to ambush).
- the fact that a player wanting to leave the solar system generally needs to use a stargate (also an easy place to ambush).
As Dual Universe won't work "solar system by solar system" and there won't be only one point of entry/exit for a safe area, this kind of abuse should have a lot less impact in Dual Universe. And if it still does... well, we keep your suggestions in our papers as possible ways to handle it
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/490-beware-of-the-afk-cloaker/#entry3428
Q: I suck at building, will there be generic blueprints?
A: We are perfectly aware that not every player that will be interested in Dual Universe will be a naturally talented voxel-based spaceship designer. or even interested to be one. That's why, right from the beginning, we plan to have generic blueprints available, to avoid that - even it's a very improbable scenario - some organizations recruit all the builders to build only for them.
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/521-programming-gameplay-and-continuity/page-2#entry3424
Q: I suck at coding, will there be Generic LUA scripts for me to use?
A: We are planning to do the exact same thing for the LUA scripts: having some decent generic ones available to all players right from the beginning, to avoid any monopolistic situation, because not every player is a natural born developer.
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/521-programming-gameplay-and-continuity/page-2#entry3424
Q: Will there be resource respawning?
A: At the moment, it is not planned to have resource respawning. If for some reason, there are a real necessity to add some resources on a planet, meteorite rains could be an interesting alternative.
Unless we encounter some unsolvable scenario where it could stuck players, we will avoid the "artificial resource respawn" at all cost.
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/481-resource-respawning/#entry3420
Q: Can I desigin my own personal weapons?
A: There's currently no plan to create a voxel editor to develop character weapons. At the moment, character weapons are planned to be mesh-based, and defined by developers. The Dev team has already a lot on her plate with our current goals. Maybe far in the future, but we can't promise anything for now.
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/473-personal-weapons/#entry3183
Q: Will DU add in a feature that would allow us to turn on various axes of symmetry while designing ships, either in virtual space or in the living game world?
A: This is something that some devs are already discussing: Having the ability to "mirror" a pattern (a saved voxel shape) is something that is definitely worth considering.
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/508-axes-of-symmetry/#entry3177
So it seems that BlueDrake42 has a vendetta against our game for no apparent reason (if there is one, we will be interested to know it).
As we can't remain silent against such diffamatory talk, here is our answer:
In this video, you can see that our battlecruisers are made with voxels, and arent' meshes as supposed in BlueDrake42 last video on Dual Universe.
@Pittouniata:
Your signature and your posts will be edited as they are definitely inappropriate and diffamatory.
If you persist in this behaviour, you'll be banned. This is the first and last warning.
The information about ore deposits seems like something I'd like to keep confidential. I know that if I travelled for several hours out into deep space to find a rare mineral, I wouldn't want other people coming directly to where I am because of the news feed.
On the other hand, I would like the opportunity to broadcast my own news feed. Perhaps even a way to customize which news feeds you receive, kind of like an RSS feed.
Perhaps this does better fit into the "Internet in-game" thread that nora mentioned.
Count me in the statistics of those who agree with subscription.
Better yet, the model they have already informed about, using some kind of pilot license (the EVE PLEX) adds flexibility.
Models like Elite, where you have to almost 'rebuy' the game after each expansion, may be the same amount in a year (I haven´t made the numbers), but doesn't feel great to invest that much money to continue playing the latest version. On the contrary, a lower monthly fee is easier to pay, and EVE has come with expansions regularly.
Simokon got a reaction from BillyRex in Is it just me that KINDA fears it will become a SCI-FI ark?
Simokon got a reaction from Code24 in Is it just me that KINDA fears it will become a SCI-FI ark?
Simokon got a reaction from xlDvSlx in Is it just me that KINDA fears it will become a SCI-FI ark?