6-Jun-2003 In preparation for next month's review, Richie Shoemaker talks to the developers of the latest space combat game vying for the Elite crown
Just as it is impossible to speculate on the latest first-person shooter without referring to the mighty Half-Life (or should that be Half-Life 2 now?), so too it would be a great injustice to comment on a game like Eve without mentioning the classic space game Elite.
Unlike the recent Freelancer and the looming X2: The Threat however (both featured in last month's magazine), there appears to be much more to Eve Online than the prospect of plundering a vast universe for riches. As was the case with the Braben/Bell classic, trade, mining asteroids, mugging convoys and mercenary work do form the basis of Eve's gameplay, but aside from 20 years of gaming history, there is much that separates it from the greatest space adventure of all time.
Most obvious is the unalterable fact that Eve can only be played with or against real people. Via the magical medium of the information superhighway, developer CCP claims it can accommodate in excess of 100,000 simultaneous users, a number that, if realised, would put the game in the same league as EverQuest. CCP's ambitions are, however, more realistic, with an early target being around 25,000 regulars. Which, when you consider there will only be one Eve reality to explore, as opposed to the many servers other online games operate, means friends and foes will still be in abundance.
"Our vision is to create an epic world where players are the movers and shakers in an elaborate social environment," says Hrafnkell Oskarsson, responsible for creating Eve's ever-deepening backstory. "The only way to fulfil that vision is in a huge world where thousands of players vie for economical, political and military power with each other. If we were to break the game across many 'shards' we would never be able to see the dynamic and vibrant online society that we want, plus it would divert the attention of the live team and make our support for each world less than we would like."
Never Stop Learning Although it is the many ships that are the focus of the graphics and gameplay in Eve, the aim isn't so much about bolting on expensive kit to your craft as expanding the skills of your character sitting inside. But rather than have you boring through lumps of rock for months on end to 'level up' your mining skill, abilities are bought for cash and effectively installed into the brain over a period of time, which means your character can be learning about some new gadget while you are offline. The emphasis evidently, unlike most RPGs, is on grabbing as much money as you can by whatever means you see fit, rather than wasting time doing tedious tasks to build skills.
"On the individual level, players can advance their character through buying skills and upgrading or buying new ships," says Oskarsson. "But there is a whole new social level to the game where players can create or join a corporation and aim to increase their status within it, and through this, their status within the entire game community"These player-run corporations are far more advanced than player-run factions in games like EverQuest and Ultima Online, as Oskarsson explains:
"Corporations are like guilds in other online games, which players can create or join and be assigned a certain role, from lowly positions such as accountant, right up to chief technological officer and CEO. The corporations can own and build space stations, planets, and even whole solar systems. They can then wage war on each other over coveted resources, with the winner being able to dictate the conditions of the surrender."
corporate LADDER "Corporations can also ally with each other to create larger political power blocs," he continues. "Finally, through the superior financial means of these larger organisations, they can engage in large-scale research and manufacture of new items that might be better or cheaper than those found among the NPC empires. Of course, the competition here is just as intense as the fight for resources."
Where Eve differs from virtually every other space combat game is in the design of the player interface. The traditional method of control using a joystick to pilot your ship is gone, replaced with a control system closer to that of a real-time strategy game. Your view at all times, whether you are flying or docked, is set so you can admire your ship from all angles, close up or from a distance. Double-click anywhere in space and you will head in that direction. Remarkably, considering interfaces in most 3D strategy games tend to be poor, Eve's is smooth, versatile and far from confusing. The trade off, if you can call it that, is that combat will be much closer to that seen in Star Trek rather than Star Wars, with battles often decided not just on manoeuvrability and firepower, but on power levels, electronic warfare, stealth and counter-measures too. So no seat-of-the-pants WWII-style dogfighting, it seems.
"Eve is not for everyone," admits Oskarsson, "in that it is maybe more competitive and ruthless than many other MMORPGs. But this was a conscious decision on our part, and for those that enjoy pitting their wits directly against other humans in a game that supports Player vs Player (PvP) at every level then Eve is the game of their dreams."
Though it may be too early to call Eve a dream game, having taken part in the recent beta test, I'm of the opinion that CCP has fashioned what could be one of the most important and unique online games since Ultima Online, and perhaps even one of the finest space adventures since Elite. The prospects look good, but with more mass-market online licenses like Star Wars Galaxies looming, the reality could be very different.
Combat in MMO games has increasingly become consensual, with players having to literally beg for a scrap unless they are in what might be termed an 'unsafe' or PvP area. Eve has no such hang-ups, to the point that anyone is fair game, whoever and wherever they are. You can even turn on your allies if you wish, and when you've blown them out of the sky, you can chase after the escape pod and kill them stone cold dead. Of course if you happen to be in a high security area, you will very likely be chased by the police and destroyed. And if you do 'pod' your victims, you can expect a very large bounty to be put on your head by the victim, who of course will have been genetically reformed at the nearest starbase thanks to the wonders of modern technology.
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