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New EVE Expansion Nears, Possible Mobile Plans
As the EVE Online creators ramp things up for the free Apocrypha expansion due out next week, lead designer Noah Ward sat down with MTV's Multiplayer blog to discuss the future of the game and what characteristics continue to keep players interested. Ward says they've considered branching out to consoles, but ended up deciding that the game doesn't really lend itself to console play. He left the door open to using smartphones for "augmenting" gameplay. Ward also mentioned that upcoming space MMOs Jumpgate: Evolution and Star Trek Online are so different from EVE that they're not really worried about direct competition; EVE thrives in part because of the player-generated drama and scandals, which few games pull off as well. Massively has gathered a variety of details about the Apocrypha expansion, which includes the game's first epic mission arc, and they've also posted some screenshots. CCP Games launched a website for the expansion containing concept art and interviews with some of the developers.
Yes, they decided that there will be no more Eve Online for Linux and despite that they are expanding their market. I suppose that the the Linux devs are being moved to other platforms. What does that say about Linux marketshare? If we _really_ want to see games on Linux we need to start buying them, not buying the Windows version and running it in Wine (even if it runs better). If we don't encourage the software houses to write the games (encourage==buy) then they won't write them.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
I suspect it would be something like outofeve where you can view your orders, research jobs, build jobs, pos status and assets from a phone and maybe allow you to adjust orders and what not rather than a full blown client.
Uh, perhaps you can help me? I'm looking for a love-potion aerosol, that I can spray on a certain Penthouse Pet, to obta
There never was a real linux client and CCP had no dedicated linux developers as far as I know. It was always the Windows client wrapped in Cedega maintained by TransGaming. I believe most linux users were aware that plain Wine with the regular Windows client performed better in most cases, thus the official linux package was hardly used. Why maintain something that noone uses, right?
They still have a Mac version, but that is also the Windows client, wrapped in Cider.
The Eve Online client is free. You have to pay to play, regardless of client used.
There was no 'linux team', it was outsourced to Transgaming and just branded as official. But the reality was Transgaming did a crap job of it.
When the last expansion was released it introduced a brand new graphics engine. The Transgaming client (Cedega) didn't support it and neither did Wine at first. However within a few weeks Wine got it running whereas Transgaming dragged their heels.
For anyone who hasn't followed the Transgaming story, they forked Wine a long time ago and then went closed source. They developed quite a lot of good directx (shader 1.x/2.x/3.x) code but they have never submitted it back to the Wine project. Wine basically restrict them from using any of their code since Transgaming decided to screw them. The end result is Transgaming's Cedega code base is horrifically out of date in places compared to the Wine code base.
In my opinion they should try and fix those bridges and merge the code. Transgaming still has a decent corporate structure to approach companies like CCP, as well as their successful MacOS range. The Wine developers aren't interested in that, only further improving Wine. Transgaming simply haven't got the balance right.
That's why the linux version was made in the first place.. but it was just a cedega wrapper and everyone continued to use wine. Eventually CCP dropped the "official linux client" since wine was better anyways.
Eve is a sandbox. When you go play in a sand box you're the one that has to make it fun by using your imagination and finding something that you consider fun. You can do an almost limitless number of things in the game and there are very few rules. I usually recommend that new people join one of the training corps that exist, Eve University being one of the larger ones. That's the fastest way to get a handle on the game and find the things that are fun for you. People who do this are usually highly regarded and from there it's easy to be recruited into any of a number of large alliances.
Alternatively, use an OS that runs the apps you need. If that is not a solution, then write to the devs!
Writing devs doesn't do a darned bit of good. You need to demonstrate that there are enough paying customers on a given platform to defray the costs of developing for and supporting that platform. They tried Linux, and they couldn't make money doing it. The WINE solution is perfectly usable and was superior to the Linux client in performance anyway.
Folks need to understand that supporting a platform is a decision based on economics, not religion, geek street cred, or write-in campaigns. Put your dollars (or euros, or whatever) on the line and you'll get the support you want. If not, don't blame the devs.
In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky