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Forum Index ť ť * Development Blog * ť ť DarkSpace Developer Q&A February Answers

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DarkSpace Developer Q&A February Answers

Pantheon
Marshal
Palestar

Joined: May 14, 2002
Posts: 1284

Posted: 2012-02-20 11:05

Answers from February Q&A session:

Can you make a comparison between default and alternative gadgets? And can you create that page in DS Wiki for quick reference?

We can, but it's a very time consuming process adding all that data. We've recently decided that it's ok for players to know numbers, so it's definitely something we can do.

Will there ever be new ship "models" maybe some player submitted ones ? would be nice to see a new "type of ship" maybe a state of the art new out the factory Dread for icc and ugto and for luth a newly grown space crustacean dread ?

We have some very nicely done models by an ex-player Light of Aurora, the only issue is some texture management in the tools we use needs to be sorted out due to some import issues. This is currently low priority, but we do know we have some talented players who are willing to help, so at some point I'll ask Faustus to give a description of how it works for those who want to help.

Will there be opportunities to play on a server sans AI?

No. AI are here to stay, but we'll definitely be revamping how they work and the effect they have.

What happened with DS Assault? I know the website and everything for it is gone now so I pretty much figure it's been dropped, but was it because of lack of time/manpower to develop it, issues with finding an engine, or something else?

We have the Medusa engine, which is beyond capable of something like that. However, the man hours needed to build an FPS from scratch aren't in the single digits, and DarkSpace is very much a focus right now.

Will we see any updates to the scenario server to reflect the map changes in MV?

This is not my area, but if you're talking about the new maps, I'm sure one of the content developers who deals with the maps will get around to it at some point.

In the next r33 memorial, can one of the moderators or developers log and possibly take screenshots of the memorial? (although screenshots were taken last time) In fact, when will that be this year? I think I remember hearing that its always on the second Sunday of march, is it or is it on a Saturday?

I will log all the chat for this years R33 memorial.

Q: Can it be made so that changing a players name cost credits like MS do with xbox names and can joining/leaving a fleet cost credits, also can changing factions be locked to a certain amount of time like the current way switching a fleets faction is? (good way of DS making some money as LOTS of players regularly change there player name and also a good way of stopping people being sly) (one week ill insult you, the next week i change my name and pretend to be your best buddy)

This is a tough one, mainly because the option to always change your name has been there. We've liked the idea of faction lockouts for periods of time for all players, and credits to bypass that timer, but the whole system needs to be worked out and costs and times set. It's something we want to do, but there are more important things that need to be done first (like balancing the game, and getting it into a more enjoyable state).

When a ship gets "changed" for better or for worse can the gear on that ship be given back with out a penalty so the player can make a "Fair" choice as to if we wants to use it on that "new version" of the ship or not?

Whenever we change a ship, we do it in fairness to balance. The enhancements you put on a ship will still affect it in the same way, and we have no plans to radically alter the role of any ship currently. If we do change the role of a ship in the future, there may be possibilities for refunds based on the extent of the change.

Can scenario servers be played randomly rather than at a set map for a set time?

The map rotation on scenario isn't set for a set time. It's a progression based map rotation. This means the next map depends entirely on who wins or loses.

will the Platinum Star achievement be properly awarded to players who have the 6 required platinum badges?

This requires art for the badge to be there, which is not currently, and is one of those very low priority things due to the fact that nothing uses the Plat Star badge.

can players know about the progress of ships being built in a shipyard planet? also can players be given option to cancel the construction of their own ships being built?

This is something Faustus wanted to add, but again, time constraints are more important things come first.

what function is the EW fighter (EWAS, SRR) meant to do? also will kluth receive a similar fighter in future?

They increase/decrease signature. I believe they need their EW touching, but I can't say when this will happen. K'Luth will not be receiving similar fighter, as they have no real need for them.

should flux cannons, HCLs and assault disruptors be allowed to function as PD beams? if no then when may they be removed from the group of PD-capable beams?

Due to their increased energy usage over smaller weapons, yes.

is there a significant or noticeable difference between the 3 variants (raptor-ion tracker-phoenix) of missiles in each tier (small-medium-heavy), aside from damage and ammo? if no, then can they be made more "different" from each other?

Yes, their turn rate, speed and range are also different.

What are the current plans set forth with the new AI set up?

We want them to be less annoying, less player controlled, and much more useful in aiding combat, rather than controlling it.

Would it be possible to go to a bit more open moding of ships (IE a combat dessie has 96 points to spend on gadgets ect)

No. We've been done this road before, and it nearly destroyed DarkSpace. Everyone creates cookie cutter ships that do the most damage or tank the most, and ignore all the variety in between. We'd much rather have a tighter control over it and have the entire game remain balanced, as an open system requires infinitely more work for it to do so.

Is it possible to allow enhancements to be purchased through a factory on a planet or at least allow players to pick through their collection from ingame.

Due to issues with players being destroyed whilst they may be buying an enhancement, and sync issues with it, we'd much rather keep it in-garage at the moment. Although there may be the possibility for a black market of sorts in the future.

also is there any plans to deploy new weapon types for the factions as well as updated ship models.

We'd love to add more weapons. There are currently plans to add more variety of torps, but due to time constraints, they may not make it in to the next patch. Updated models I touched on above, so won't go into that further.

lastly is there plans to merge weapon and beam enhancements cause last time i checked a beam weapon is still a weapon so why can't we have one enhancement that applies to all weapon types. also can there be a enhancement that can maybe increase torp travel speed and range.

Weapon enhancements affect all projectile weapons, whereas beam enhancements only affect beams, so no, there won't be any merging of the two. As far as projectile speed, it might be possible, but I'll have to check how it'd effect the function of how range and speed are done (speed * life = range).

will bombing planets get harder? is so how? right now it is way to easy.

Short answer? Yes. Long answer? We have plans to add levels to planets based on how long you own them. They will receive bonuses based on their levels, and become harder to capture. I won't go too much into it as it is still on the table, but there are definitely plans to add spice to planets and make them more robust.

will there be any future map updates? i mean like new systems, gates or planets.

We'd rather not make the MV too large, and considering more than half are real systems, it's very difficult to magically make a planet appear. I mean, we still haven't nerfed Pluto to non-planet status!

how will the fleet levels and module work when there done?

Fleet levels will only affect fleet-based systems. Currently there are only plans for the Command Auras to utilise this system, meaning that players in a high level fleet will have access to a more broad selection of auras, rather than a select few. This is to encourage fleeting, and teamwork.

could there be a way you can distinguish the fleet members from the regular players on the nav map. I.E make fleet members icons blue and the players some other color. the ai green. enemy red admins white.

We can certainly look into it.

this is a stupid question but, will darkspace be strictly a pc game or could it come to other devices, like xbox 360, ps3, or some rediculous device i've never heard of?

...

It's PC only.

Some questions asked in Ventrilo:

What other pay to use services are being implemented? and why? we had the initial subscription, now we have the donate/pay for credits, is this a required thing for the future of DS? or something to tide the financial books over?

We've got plans to add more for subscribers (since they're considered a more reliable source of monies) and the purchase system in general. For subscribers, we're looking at adding extra garage slots for ships and items, as well as special enhancements like extra colour options for trails, and other visual-only stuff.

In terms of credits, we'd also like to add garage slots (at a slight premium), as well as fancier enhancements and out of game functionality (like forums being paid for, instead of automatic). There's a lot that can be done, but it requires work, and I think a more enjoyable game comes first, personally.

People often moan about downloads speeds, and I'm sure we've all been through the hassle of waiting for a while for updates which run >100kb/s, is there a possibility of a distributed download service? I know many people host updated game installs, so could it just pick up the closest, or one with the most bandwidth available and all you to download from there?

Faustus was looking into adding bit-torrent capability to the lobby, so that lobby campers could have the option to help speed up downloads for those who are downloading the game. Obviously this would be shut off when joining the game.

Is there anyone looking into the kluth elite 'KAZ' with it having 3 ahr's and how often it spawns

Kaz will be looked at, although personally I don't find him too difficult to fight (other than his annoying regen, he doesn't do much damage).

What efforts are being made to branch out to other developers, educational centre, programmers, artists, etc to help the game, (other than these dev updates etc)

There are certain international laws that would prevent us from offering this to educational centres, but we're always on the look out for programmers and artists. I'll add a page to the website detailing what we're looking for soon.

i justt to know what can or wil be done about payers swaping factions to help ouyt thier fation

As always, we want to rid the game of this behaviour, and the /report tool is there to be used if you believe a planet has been sabotaged or otherwise (we log all activation and deactivation of structures, as well as scrapping, so we know who did it). That said, I believe a swap timer would go some way to help this. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the game and how the real world works, some people will always find a way. But we're hoping you'll help us find them by using /report, so we can get rid of them.

Can we do something about Doran lobby camping all the time?

You'd probably need to add an engineer with a single repair bay for that.

And thats it. I've left out some of the Ventrilo questions, as I believe it should be an incentive to join the next one (don't worry, it was mostly little details and arguing).

Hope you enjoyed Februarys Q&A, and I'll try to do this more often.
[ This Message was edited by: Pantheon on 2012-03-09 21:23 ]
_________________

DiepLuc
Chief Marshal

Joined: March 23, 2010
Posts: 913

Posted: 2012-02-20 14:19

Quote:

On 2012-02-20 11:05, Pantheon wrote:
Can we do something about Doran lobby camping all the time?
You'd probably need to add an engineer with a single repair bay for that.

Really? Please have one. We can adjust the ultimate ICC engineer for Doran.

I appreciate your effort to answers all question. Thanks a lot, Jack. Looking forwards to the March Q&A.
_________________

Brutality *TO*
Marshal
Faster than Light

Joined: May 25, 2009
Posts: 618
From: Alaska, USA

Posted: 2012-02-20 18:20

thanks for answering those questions. It lets us players know what you guys are working on and looking to improve. Also Thanks again to the dev team for all the work they put into this game. One of the best MMO's I've ever played and will continue to do so for some time.

[ This Message was edited by: Corrupting Brutality on 2012-02-20 18:21 ]
_________________

NoBoDx
Grand Admiral

Joined: October 14, 2003
Posts: 783
From: Germany / NRW

Posted: 2012-02-20 20:47

Quote:

On 2012-02-20 11:05, Pantheon wrote:
What other pay to use services are being implemented? and why? we had the initial subscription, now we have the donate/pay for credits, is this a required thing for the future of DS? or something to tide the financial books over?

We've got plans to add more for subscribers (since they're considered a more reliable source of monies) and the purchase system in general. For subscribers, we're looking at adding extra garage slots for ships and items, as well as special enhancements like extra colour options for trails, and other visual-only stuff.

colored lasers ?
and hats ?

_________________
The only good 'ooman is a dead 'ooman. An' da only fing better than a dead 'ooman'z a dyin' 'ooman who tell you where ter find 'is mates.

Bardiche
Chief Marshal

Joined: November 16, 2006
Posts: 1176

Posted: 2012-02-20 21:07

Quote:

i justt to know what can or wil be done about payers swaping factions to help ouyt thier fation

...

In any case, I echo that it's nice to see questions being answered. I admit I haven't been to DarkSpace in a while, but since I've looked back at it I see the development team taking steps to join with the players and provide a more open environment. Being a staunch supporter of open development, I want to commend you on taking this step.

Idly, I am psyched to hear planets will still get reworked. My ideal dream is spending a day in DarkSpace just building, and being able to justify it as fun to those people who now make fun of me for enjoying so futile a pastime.
_________________

CM7
Midshipman
Faster than Light

Joined: October 15, 2009
Posts: 1809

Posted: 2012-02-21 05:36

know ive been a stick in the mud as of late. Im just sceptic of icc getting such a huge boost. Its never happen since ive been here and stood.

I do however, thank the dev team for reaching out and re-establishing open relations with the playerbase after we nearly lost that in v670. i think you will find, i hope you will find, that this outreach will better both players and staff and pave the way for a new age of darkspace.

Many thanks for all th hard work you guys do. I know i dont always seem greatful to the ds staff, but believe me when i say i know better than most what you guys go through. And i have the upmost respect (the best i can manage anyway) for the time and dedication you guys put into this game.

Looking forward to next q and a session
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Defiance and Opposition, a tribute to teamwork. I will remember always
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