Jumpgate Evolution :: Spaceships Types Revealed! (Now with more screen shots)

[Zzulo]

Calling primaries will be a lot harder and a lot less efficient in a game where you can freely control a ship, and also have to aim your pew pew to hit the target. In EvE, you target someone and click a button and then watch the game play the rest out for you. In Jumpgate I assume a player can just start zigzagging and rolling around to avoid the bulk of an enemy focus fire, and depending on how fast you die in this game, it could simply be more efficient to just dogfight eachother.

It'll be interesting to see how it works

[Venkman]

This happens all the time in FPS games. The question will more be about who gets attracted to JG:E. Is this for space combat sim seekers who haven't had a good game along these lines since Freelancer? Or is this an MMO with twitchy-like gametic elements in a truly 3D environment? The execution will attract the audience. I just hope they guess right.

[Ghambit]

This happens all the time in FPS games. The question will more be about who gets attracted to JG:E. Is this for space combat sim seekers who haven't had a good game along these lines since Freelancer? Or is this an MMO with twitchy-like gametic elements in a truly 3D environment? The execution will attract the audience. I just hope they guess right.

And we all know the right guess is Freelancer, or even better, Independence War (set on Realism). 
I mean, can we honestly even call a game like Ace Online "twitch?"  Fact is, it's not.  It's simplicity incarnate (slide the mouse around until the pipper is on the target and fire; throttle up/down).  Space's version of farming Boars in Goldshire.  In the end, you get more twitch value out of making the game more sim-oriented... even when flying fleet level ships.  I fear people's heads will explode if they're forced to manage Newtonian physics in a small fighter though.  They should be able to only have to worry about 2 to 3 axes if they so choose, but be gimped in doing so.

[Mrbloodworth]

I fear people's heads will explode if they're forced to manage Newtonian physics in a small fighter though.  They should be able to only have to worry about 2 to 3 axes if they so choose, but be gimped in doing so.

They have Newtonian and Atmospheric VIA the use of "flight assist thrusters". Its both, and it is toggled with one key.

[bhodi]

Did I mention that this game is going to suck, yet? I think I did.

They still aren't releasing any concrete information about anything and are just talking about the vaguest ideas they are working on. They are still in 'release screenshot' and 'hey these guys over here talked about us!' mode. Closed beta is at LEAST 4 months away, though people are signing up to get in line over it.

Hell, they couldn't even do a beta signup without fucking it up, tons of people are having problems. People who received the beta e-mail, after clicking the link to get registered, and getting a "this e-mail address is already registered" error.

[Draegan]

They had videos.  And didn't they have playable forms at some of the shows?

[Mrbloodworth]

They had videos.  And didn't they have playable forms at some of the shows?

This is correct.

[Amarr HM]

Just to bitch about Codemasters a little more, I was on their site the week this thread was posted up as I had heard they had just released an online version of SWOS (sensible world of soccer) only after clicking on the purchase game link I was brought to the game-site were I was asked to express an interest or something along those lines. Anyway after much faffing about and getting nowhere nearer to a checkout, I read in some random related forum that it was never released though it had been previewed on ign and gamespot and set for release the month before, they could have informed us of this in the first place felt a bit deceived.

[Mrbloodworth]

[SnakeCharmer]

Looks like concept art, which I always hate seeing...

[Mrbloodworth]

Looks like concept art, which I always hate seeing...

Its not.


Also:

What will the minimum system requirements for Jumpgate be?
OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
CPU: Intel Pentium® III 800 MHz or AMD Athlon 800 MHz
RAM: 512 MB+
Network: 56k modem or better Internet connection
Video: 32 MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting
DirectX™ 9.0c (included) and latest video drivers

Please note these are subject to any changes.



And a hands on:

[SnakeCharmer]

Its not.

Wow.

[Ratman_tf]

I can't wait to slam my spaceship into the hypergate pylons and then log off in disgust and never play again! 

[Mrbloodworth]

I can't wait to slam my spaceship into the hypergate pylons and then log off in disgust and never play again! 

Honestly, with out knowing that that really is. For one, that's not just a jumpgate. The mass around it, and the other screen shots look like some form of gate "capping" by surrounding it with that thing...and then all the floating gun pods around it.

I found out what it is:

I love what the Octavians have done with their Jumpgates.. heavy armor plating.. high density minefields... nice and friendly!

That and:

They have Newtonian and Atmospheric VIA the use of "flight assist thrusters". Its both, and it is toggled with one key.

I know what you were saying, because in the original, i could never land my ship.

Also, hull skidding 

[Mrbloodworth]

Also, a really nice interview (Video).  Games On Net - NetDevil's Hermann Peterscheck Interview

Note on when he mentions PvP, beacons are world PvP.

[Venkman]

What will the minimum system requirements for Jumpgate be?
OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
CPU: Intel Pentium® III 800 MHz or AMD Athlon 800 MHz
RAM: 512 MB+
Network: 56k modem or better Internet connection
Video: 32 MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting
DirectX™ 9.0c (included) and latest video drivers

  Not for those screenshots of course...

[Ratman_tf]

What will the minimum system requirements for Jumpgate be?
OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
CPU: Intel Pentium® III 800 MHz or AMD Athlon 800 MHz
RAM: 512 MB+
Network: 56k modem or better Internet connection
Video: 32 MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting
DirectX™ 9.0c (included) and latest video drivers

  Not for those screenshots of course...

Depends. I thought (for it's time) Guild Wars looked really good, and ran good even while looking good.

I'm no serious coder, but there's some optimization to be had there.

[Venkman]

There I agree, but that's more a question of scaling between platform than anything else.

LoTRO is another good example. I bought my C2D to replace my P4 1.73ghz box while I was playing, and while I thought the game looked damned good on the old one, it only looked slightly more awesome on the new one. Same thing with Eve and CoX.
 
This is wholly unlike EQ2, which even putting aside my dislike for the overall style, just didn't look good at all on my lower-end box. Then when I went back to it on the (then) newer one, it finally started to look good. I know SOE thought that was a good idea at the time, and the lack of backwards support wasn't really the prime reason EQ2 didn't sell well (more like the new elephant entering the room). But they did help others learn that this genre is not about graphics quality measured against techy nonsense FPS games revel in.

I never played AoC on an old computer, but I imagine it too doesn't scale well.

You are right about JG:E though, I may be too preemptively skeptical. They could have an Eve-like thing going, but I wonder about some of the special effects, like those gates.

Besides that though I still feel like the space ships and other objects are still almost where they should be. But then, measuring sci-fi styling against Eve in this genre is setting a pretty damned high bar.

[Goreschach]

And a hands on:

"You don’t wash your dishes with a lawnmower. Even if they’re encrusted with a week’s worth of shameful burrito negligence, you do it the right way: let them soak and steep, hoping that the grime frees itself overtime. It’s an inelegant metaphor, but one that applies to the ambitious design MMO house NetDevil has planned. They’ve merged two seemingly dissimilar, dirty things together (an MMO experience and real-time space combat gameplay), and now it’s a matter of immersing them in enough development to produce a clean product."

Maybe I'm too cynical, but it sounds to me like they're basically out and saying 'Yeah, the game currently sucks and the concept we have is inherently broken, but if we keep trying to polish it for way longer than we should have to, it might end up working out.'

[UnSub]

And a hands on:

"You don’t wash your dishes with a lawnmower. Even if they’re encrusted with a week’s worth of shameful burrito negligence, you do it the right way: let them soak and steep, hoping that the grime frees itself overtime. It’s an inelegant metaphor, but one that applies to the ambitious design MMO house NetDevil has planned. They’ve merged two seemingly dissimilar, dirty things together (an MMO experience and real-time space combat gameplay), and now it’s a matter of immersing them in enough development to produce a clean product."

Maybe I'm too cynical, but it sounds to me like they're basically out and saying 'Yeah, the game currently sucks and the concept we have is inherently broken, but if we keep trying to polish it for way longer than we should have to, it might end up working out.'

It's just a really bad analogy. Do we really want to compare developing a MMO to cleaning caked on grime? Especially an analogy that tells more about the life of the author than they might want? 

[Ratman_tf]

And a hands on:

"You don’t wash your dishes with a lawnmower. Even if they’re encrusted with a week’s worth of shameful burrito negligence, you do it the right way: let them soak and steep, hoping that the grime frees itself overtime. It’s an inelegant metaphor, but one that applies to the ambitious design MMO house NetDevil has planned. They’ve merged two seemingly dissimilar, dirty things together (an MMO experience and real-time space combat gameplay), and now it’s a matter of immersing them in enough development to produce a clean product."

Maybe I'm too cynical, but it sounds to me like they're basically out and saying 'Yeah, the game currently sucks and the concept we have is inherently broken, but if we keep trying to polish it for way longer than we should have to, it might end up working out.'

It's just a really bad analogy. Do we really want to compare developing a MMO to cleaning caked on grime? Especially an analogy that tells more about the life of the author than they might want? 

"MMOS are like a drunken night with a hooker. You think you're having fun, but when you wake up in the morning...  "

[Murgos]

The video from the interview (above) looked better than I expected.  Still not entirely sold on if it will be fun but we won't have to worry about that for a while yet.

[NiX]

And the video explains why they're taking so long with the beta.

[Murgos]

And the video explains why they're taking so long with the beta.

Well, all I got out of that was that most things don't work all that well and since they don't have to rush to beta they weren't going to.  Which is admirable to state but 10 seconds of thought would pretty much give anyone in the world the same answer.  Of course, most fanbois wouldn't think that hard about it, they'd just spaz out (see Darkfall thread) so I guess it needed to be stated somewhere by someone in authority.

[NiX]

Well, it's good to hear someone say "If we know it doesn't work, why would we make you test it? We know it doesn't work."

[SnakeCharmer]

I do think that if I play this game, I'm going to need a barf bucket nearby.

[Big Gulp]

If they do this right, and throw in enough EVE elements (economy, ship building, etc) but without the obvious dev corruption and point and click gameplay I'll be on it like stink on a monkey.  For all intents and purposes, this could finally be Wing Commander Online.

[Mrbloodworth]

Wing Commander Online

They have said many many times over that Wing Commander, Privateer/Freelancer and X-wing VS. Tie are direct inspirations.

[Ghambit]

I prefer Independence War over all of those.

Of all the single-player space shooters EVER made, it's the only one imo that should've/could've been an MMO.

[Venkman]

Freespace 2.

Because I haven't said it this month yet 

[Nija]

I've been playing X3: Terran Conflict the past couple of days. I don't have much faith in the Jumpgate guys. Maybe they'll surprise me.

[UnSub]

I prefer Independence War over all of those.

Of all the single-player space shooters EVER made, it's the only one imo that should've/could've been an MMO.

Elite.

[eldaec]

I prefer Independence War over all of those.

Of all the single-player space shooters EVER made, it's the only one imo that should've/could've been an MMO.

Elite.

Elite was made into a MMOG

Freespace 2.

This.

Fuck, they could jst make Freespace 3 and not make it a MMOG, that would be fine.

[Mrbloodworth]

[SnakeCharmer]

Less screenshots more infoz plz.  And a beta invite.  Kthxbai.