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Jumpgate Evolution Dev Interview, Dogfighting Video
Massively recently interviewed Hermann Peterscheck, a producer for NetDevil's upcoming space-fighter MMO Jumpgate Evolution. He talks about the UI and the huge level of customization, as well as basic flight and zone design. Also available is a video showcasing space combat inside an asteroid belt.
"We're still sort of working on [ship progression], but the idea is that you pick your first ship at level five, which is about an hour or so of gameplay. Basically there's sort of forks, so you start out in kind of a beginner ship and then there's like fighting types of ships, mining types of ships, cargo haulers and within that there's sort of sub-classes. So like, there's light fighters, medium fighters, heavy fighters, bombers. There's haulers that carry a lot of stuff, but move kind of slowly and there's haulers that carry lost stuff, short little courier shuttles that move really quickly."
When I hear of space fighter dogfighting I'm expecting to see something I can pull out my old underused Logitech Attack 3 to play, something with a damn cockpit view. That trailer does NOT deliver the goods I'm looking for in a space shooter. Boo.
No inertia?
Sound traveling through vacuum?
Over-the-shoulder view?
Count me out on this one.
This is negated somewhat by the poor audience targeting. /. would rather play something like this http://www.vendetta-online.com/
I think most people on
Seriously, games are meant to be fun. That is their primary reason to exist. Thus that needs to take precedence over all other concerns. A highly realastic space combat game isn't likely to be any fun. I don't want a game that is concerned with having 100% accurate modeling of motion, I want one that's fun to fly.
All the space shooters that I remember the most fondly are quite unrealistic in many ways. Tie Fighter would be a great example. Love that game, probably the best space shooter of all time. However, nobody is going to call it realistic. The flying mechanics are something akin to being neutrally buoyant in water. There is no gravity, but there is friction that opposes your motion. Also, sound travels quite well, you hear enemy ships zoom by, hear explosions and that sort of thing. You can also change your view around to any number of external camera angles.
So it isn't realistic. Well, nothing about Star Wars is. However it is fun, and that's the reason I'll buy a game.
So if you are not going to buy a MMO because you don't feel it is real enough, well, good luck to you, I suspect you'll never play one then. The companies out there aren't in it to try and simulate reality, they are in it to entertain. Thus reality is going to take a back seat when it interferes with fun.
To me this is like whining that Introversion's Uplink isn't a realistic simulation of computer hacking. Well duh. Real hacking is fairly boring when you get down to it, not the sort of thing that'd make a good game. They made their game to be entertaining, not realistic (for example IPs aren't real in their game, with a select few exceptions).
If you want a realistic space sim, go play Orbiter. However don't bitch if it isn't exciting. Real space navigation isn't. If you want a fun space fantasy game, maybe Jumpgate is for you. However don't bitch when they put fun before reality. Orbiter is trying to make a rather accurate simulation, so accuracy comes before fun. Jumpgate is trying to make a successful MMO, so fun comes before everything else.
Looking at that video, this doesn't seem to have advanced much beyond the sort of game-play we got with Freespace.
For comparison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6VhyMzu12c
Sigh, they really should have gotten this better. Come on. This gameplay style might have been fun a long time ago, for about 5-10 minutes. Today, MMO, hours... Nope. The I-War people got it right several years ago. Damn good game(s). In the early days even the Warhead (old amiga) got this right. Today, I would expect something a lot better.
Except Vendetta sucks =/
Realistic collisions? Don't be silly, if you add realism to the game you'll also have to add real distances/velocities and at those ramming is EXTREMELY unlikely.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
As a suggestion for a game where ramming matters (and which in some ways is similar to how Jumpgate looks, but with real cockpit view) try Allegiance. It was a commercial game out of MS Research that didn't really go anywhere, so they open sourced it (no joke) and it is now community supported. Great joystick support, fun gameplay, an interesting mix of dogfighting and strategic play. 2000-era graphics will run fine on any system, though they look a little boxy.
http://freeallegiance.org/
Also, ramming is a big part of EVE. It doesn't do damage but it sure knocks stuff around...
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
Reading their Features page, this game seems just a clone of vendetta online. Twitch-based combat ? Three nations to pick from ? Bots-shooting grind ? Pirate minor factions ? Epic battles with capital ships ? Player-driven economy where you deliver needed goods to space stations ? The only feature missing is the asteroid mining.
"there's like fighting types of ships, mining types of ships, cargo haulers and within that there's sort of sub-classes. So like, there's light fighters, medium fighters, heavy fighters, bombers. There's haulers that carry a lot of stuff, but move kind of slowly and there's haulers that carry lost stuff, short little courier shuttles that move really quickly"
Ah, yes, kinda like the Centurion, Behemoth, Raptor, etc...
Maybe we deserve this world ?
The parent is not 'Informative' The parrent is 'Wrong'. There IS joystick support. Do your research.