GameStreet – Jumpgate Evolution News

Blog: Combating Combat

In his most recent official MMORPG.com blog update, Jumpgate Evolution Producer Hermann Peterscheck discusses combat in the upcoming game.

Most MMOs have some kind of combat system as a major basis for character advancement and progression. Jumpgate is similar in some ways, however as an action MMO, combat tactics are quite different than in other familiar and more RPG like MMOs.

When we approach combat we consider that at the core we must have various roles with both strengths and weaknesses. A dangerous temptation in design is to pick a favorite and overpower it. Avoiding super weapons is a critical part of balance and so the first rule is to design for weakness. As an example, our first two classes of ships were light and heavy fighters. The benefits are reasonably obvious. Light fighters are quick and nimble and heavy fighters are well armored and more heavily armed. The weaknesses are a bit trickier. Should light fighters have less weaponry or less armor or both? Should they have access to less powerful shields and if so, how is this accomplished? Most importantly is how this is communicated to the player and is it actually fun?

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Codemasters Producer Interview

MMORPG.com Jumpgate Evolution Correspondent Sean Bamberger had the chance recently to speak with Mike Rowland, Codemasters Producer for the upcoming space MMO.

MMORPG.com:

Having your IP set in space, you are naturally more limited in quest variation than, say, a traditional orcs and goblins fantasy MMO. How will interest be maintained in what is essentially an experience/license based grinding system?

Mike Rowland:

The setting in space opens Jumpgate Evolution up to a much wider variety of scenarios and missions that you wouldn’t normally see in other MMOs and we’re working extensively to make the mission system as compelling and free-flowing as possible. With a sci-fi universe, anything is possible and as we develop more new technology new ideas come into the fold allowing us to make the player’s journey as fun-filled and exciting as possible. As you can see in the screenshots and movies released to date, we have made space vibrant and different to people’s perception of a black and empty universe. Couple that with intense battle scenes against capital ships, alien hives and enemy stations, there’s a whole lot of variety put into the mix that will keep interest high.

Read the Codemasters Producer Interview

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General PvP Interview

Recently, MMORPG.com had the opportunity to talk to Hermann Peterscheck of NetDevil about PvP in Jumpgate Evolution and how it will be implemented.

MMORPG.com:

What kinds of PvP will make an appearance in Jumpgate Evolution? One on one, 100 vs 100, etc.?

Hermann Peterscheck:

We have determined that large numbers of ships is certainly more fun than one on one battles in big, open space – though that is possible. Once you support huge scale battles, smaller battles are simply an issue of player preference. I suspect we will have many different sizes to the battles, but we are assuming that massive space combat will be the most compelling.

Here again, each nation’s personality is represented. In the large scale battlespace, for example, each group has their own distinct capital ship which they need to protect, while attempting to destroy the other group’s ship. The look and feel of these ships is very distinctive and helps players identify with their nation.

Read General PvP Interview

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Info, New Shots on the Quantar Nation

The official Jumpgate: Evolution website has been updated with information on the mystical Quantar nation. The site update details the culture, society, and background of the Quantar. Coming in alongside this update we have six new screenshots of the Quantar for you to check out.

For information on the Quantar, go here

Also, be sure to check out our new screenshots of the Quantar.

For even more screenshots, check out our full Jumpgate: Evolution gallery

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Video Interview with Scott Brown

NetDevil President Scott Brown talks to MMORPG.com at E3 about the space flight MMO remake. This MMO provides players with realistic space sim flight and shooter, skill based mechanics as they fight real and NPC enemies.

And then let us know what you think on the forums!

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Fourteen New Screenshots

Our Jumpgate: Evolution gallery has been updated with fourteen new screenshots. The new shots give us a look at some Solrain and Quantar ships.

Check out the new shots here

To see our entire Jumpgate: Evolution gallery, go here

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JGE Delayed Past June

NetDevil has posted an update on the status of Jumpgate Evolution, saying that while the game is nearly feature complete, it still needs a lot of work and they will miss their target for a June release.

It’s been about three years since we originally started thinking about making Jumpgate Evolution and in those three years many of you have been following the game’s progress quite closely. You’ve watched the project grow and gain momentum as it has become what it is today. Getting the game complete and into your hands is the point we’re really eager to get to and we strive each week to get to where we can share our adventures in space together.

One of the things we’ve always promised is that we would not release an unfinished product, nor would we subject players to a sub-par experience. The worst situation for a developer is that our game does not meet the expectations of our fans. This is constantly weighed against the need and desire to release the game and let our dedicated community play the game as soon as possible. I know that many of you have seen the targeted June release date and that has generated significant excitement. As with all game development projects, we constantly have to evaluate the quality of the product against anticipation. The question always asked among ourselves, does what we have meet the expectations of the players? Is what we have a good game?

Read more here

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System Talk With Scott Brown

MMORPG.com’s Carolyn Koh sat down with NetDevil’s Scott Brown from Jumpgate Evolution to talk about the game’s progress and some of its more interesting systems.

When I last saw Jumpgate: Evolution (JGE), it was at Penny Arcade Expo in August of 08. Then, attendees were treated to a slice of the game; hands-on play of a newbie mission. I was impressed then, although I had never played a space combat game at any length, not because I didn’t want to, I could not because the games gave me vertigo. Wing Commander, X-Wing, Freelancer, Privateer… you name it. They all gave me vertigo, so I’ve been following JGE closely. I want to pilot a space craft! Since then, our correspondent Sean "Pasanda" Cullinan has had the chance to write a hands-on Preview of the game, and Scott Brown, President of Netdevil was in attendance at the 2009 LOGIN Conference with Game Manager Grace Wong, but without his trusty side-kick Hermann Peterscheck, Producer of JGE. So amid jokes of not letting Hermann out until the game is ready, Scott gave me a status update on where they were on development.

Read System Talk With Scott Brown

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Exclusive Screenshots

NetDevil has provided us with four new, exclusive screenshots fromt heir upcoming space flight MMO, Jumpgate Evolution.

Check out all four exclusive screenshots

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Official Blog Kickoff – Ship Design

Hermann Peterscheck kicks of the first entry in the official Jumpgate Evolution blog by discussing ship design.

In Jumpgate Evolution, ship design is one of the most critical components in the game. When we first started working on it, we spent a lot of time with just one ship, in one sector, fighting a handful of enemies. At first we just wanted to make a ship that was both fun and intuitive to fly. This involved changing camera controls, controller input and lots and lots of unit tests. In the end it took about sixty to seventy iterations to get a flight model and control scheme that felt right.

The next thing we did is come up with what kinds of roles we wanted people to have. This was fairly simple in that the kinds of ships that people want are reasonably well defined. You want to have a quick and nimble fighter, a heavier combat ship, perhaps a missile boat of some kind. On the commercial side you need mining and transport ships. For the high end we considered things like “spy” class ships or heavy gunboats, support class ships that can repair armor or refuel ammunition and just about anything in between. It’s a really fun process to just throw ideas out and see what seems cool and fun to try.

Read the new entry

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Dev Answers From the Forums

MMORPG.com Jumpgate Evolution Correspondent Sean Bamberger has scoured the Jumpgate Evolution forums for developer responses to player questions. In this article, he presents some of those answers.

Tired of trawling through multiple posts, polls, trolls and goons looking for titbits of new information? Well let us here at MMORPG.com be the solution to your problem, condensing all the latest diatribes, answers and knowledge from the UK and European community officers at Codemasters and the development team at NetDevil.

Of course, if you are a fan of forum hunting, I’m sure the ND and Codies guys would love to see your input on the forums, so join up quick sharp! Since the last article here on MMORPG, there has been a sudden influx of dev and community team input, so qualms and queries alike are flying out thick and fast at the moment.

Read Dev Answers From the Forums

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First Look Preview

Sean Cullinan has had a chance to play in NetDevil’s Jumpgate Evolution and today he shares his impressions of the upcoming space flight MMORPG.

Jumpgate Evolution is a space flight combat game with elements of commerce, crafting, and mining. The primary focus of JGE is combat, and it is here where the game is slickest and really comes to life. The universe, as far as JGE is concerned, is made up of several Non-Player Controlled (NPC) enemy races and three playable Nations: Quantar, Solrain, and Octavian. I won’t go into too much detail here, as most of this can be found on Wikipedia here. Each of these three playable Nations has their own conflict and strife with one another, similar to the tripartite realm relationship found in Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC) by Mythic Entertainment. For me, this feature has the biggest potential to make this game a real winner; playing three sides off against one another, if balanced correctly, can lead to superb Player versus Player (PvP) and Realm versus Realm (RvR) or, in the case of Jumpgate Evolution, Nation versus Nation.

Read the First Look Preview

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Dev Chat Today

The folks at NetDevil will be on hand today at 2pm Pacific time to take part in a Jumpgate Evolution dev chat on IGN using Vivox’s Voon voice chat.

Tune into IGN Vault for a Dev Chat on April 21, 2009!
Chat with the Jumpgate Evolution Developers at 2.00PM Pacific time

Jumpgate Evolution developers will be on hand for a voice chat hosted at IGN’s Vault Network on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 2:00 PM Pacific time.

The voice chat will use the Vivox Voon program. Fans will send their written questions to be chosen by the Vault team and, if selected, fans may ask the devs themselves or, if they do not have a microphone, a Vault team member will ask for them.

Read more here

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Conflux Base and Boss Fight

Net Devil CEO Scott Brown guides us through a Jumpgate Evolution gameplay session at GDC, going deep into the heart of a Conflux base and fighting the boss within.

Watch the Conflux Base and Boss Fight

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Battle Space Tour

Net Devil CEO Scott Brown takes us through Battle Space, an area in Jumpgate Evolution where players can train against other players outside of the regular game.

Watch the Battle Space Tour

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