Dual Universe

Dual Universe
Developer(s) Novaquark
Publisher(s) TBD
Director(s) Jean-Christophe Baillie
Designer(s) Jean-Christophe Baillie
Writer(s) Alain Damasio[1]
Composer(s) Maxime Ferrieu[2]
Engine Unigine 2[3]
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows[4]
Release date(s)

Alpha release early 2017,

  • WW: 2018
Genre(s) MMORPG, Space trading and combat simulator
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Dual Universe is a space simulation sandbox massively multiplayer online video game under development by Novaquark. It is said to combine elements of Eve Online and Star Citizen, as well as Minecraft, No Man’s Sky, and Space Engineers. The game is set in a so-called continuous single-shard universe, wherein players are able to fully edit its gameworld by building structures and altering terrain, together with the ability to script ships and constructs, thus affecting how weapons, navigation and AI systems are controlled. It is played in first person and transpires in a universe containing potentially millions of planets. Dual Universe focuses on collective gameplay involving exploration, mining, crafting, trade, politics and warfare.

Dual Universe uses a server technology Novaquark has termed CSSC (Continuous Single-Shard Cluster), which allows players to use the game simultaneously without the need for a separate instancing (sharding) of player zones.[5]

Production

Jean-Christophe Baillie, Novaquark's director and project lead of Dual Universe, claims to have had the idea for this game in 2011.[6] Novaquark formed in 2014 with Ubisoft, Sony, Apple and Aldebaran Robotics former employees. It now counts with a staff of approximately 25.[7] While starting the game's development, the engine was changed.[8] The game was revealed on May 2016 in its pre-alpha state, with the subsequent release of a brief teaser trailer following E3.[9] The game will enter a closed alpha during 2017, with a full release expected in 2018.[10] The funding of the game partly comes from a Kickstarter campaign, in addition to several early-stage investors.[11][12][13] As of August 2016, the game counts with a voxel planetary engine with procedural generation, as well as server-synchronized building and mining. Server stress tests are being performed. The developers were as of that time focusing on the realisation of building and piloting mechanics.[7]

Gameplay and characteristics

The game takes place in a "single continuous, undivided universe" and is played in first person.[7] It is built on the so-called "CSSC" (Continuous Single-Shard Cluster) technology, through which all players interact in a single world. This entails no separate servers or instances such as with other MMOs. The game utilises the Unigine 2 64-bit rendering engine. Dual Universe offers the potential of virtually unlimited procedurally generated planets, provided by Novaquark's in-house engine.[14][15]

Players are able to alter the game world in physical, political and economical aspects. They are able to build ships, houses, space stations as well as cities which possess ground-harvestable minerals. At the same time, they can opt to cooperate in the development of political systems and economies, as well as wage war (e.g. to steal resources by force) and thus alter the balance of power. According to Jean-Christophe Baillie: "We don't create the content; players do."[10] The game world is meant to be a "wide-open, fully-moddable experience" to be shared by all its players in a simultaneous manner.[16][17]

The game is structured on the basis of 25 centimetres (0.82 ft) voxels, giving it its sandbox nature and allowing gamers to craft and manipulate anything in its world, from small objects such as weapons to cities and comparably big structures. Central to the game are the removal and addition of matter to the landscape, as well as the building of space stations, which can extend as large as the expanse of an entire planet. The game also counts with space exploration, mining, and combat. The game's autonomous systems (such as engines or resource gathering) in turn play with concepts like energy consumption or the interconnection among machinery.[8][9][13][18][19]

The game is played in multiplayer fashion. Players can take on and specialise in different tasks, being builders, miners, pirates, industrialists, etc.; roles such as these are expected to emerge mostly out of the players' mutual interactions. The game universe contains millions of planets, wherein changes performed by one player are continuous and seen by others. The developers have stated "ideologies, powers, ideas and gameplays" will all play a part in the final release. Notably, players can develop their own ship and manage its own functions, such as navigation or weapon systems. At the same time, players knowledgeable in the Lua scripting language will be able to change the interactions between the ship systems. The AI is also moddable.[7][8][20]

The game economy is reported to be influenced by human interactions. The exchange of harvested goods is governed by a market economy. A player can build a company and do marketing and logistics, among other activities.[7][21]

In its 10-minute gameplay video released at E3, Dual Universe is shown to commence on a planet's surface, wherein the intricacies of voxel manipulation are shown to the user. They are then launched to space where they land a ship and continue manipulating objects.[9][22] Users can, as of mid-2016, form gaming guilds on the game's community website; there are over 300 such guilds formed as of September 2016.[11][23]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Baillie, Jean-Christophe (October 30, 2014). "Alain Damasio will work with Novaquark on the backstory!" (Blog). dualthegame.com. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  2. ↑ Baillie, Jean-Christophe (December 18, 2014). "Alain Damasio will work with Novaquark on the backstory!" (Blog). dualthegame.com. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  3. ↑ Larabel, Michael (May 4, 2016). "An Interesting Game Is Coming Powered By Unigine 2, Switched From UE4". Phoronix. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  4. ↑ Younger, Paul (May 24, 2016). "Sandbox sci-fi MMO Dual Universe Announced – It's quite stunning" (Blog). pcinvasion.com. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  5. ↑ Baillie, Jean-Christophe. "A single-shard continuous universe: one world, no boundaries". Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  6. ↑ Baillie, Jean-Christophe. "A dive into a fully editable continuous "single-shard" universe, and why it matters". Retrieved 2016-10-14.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "FACT SHEET & INFORMATION". Dual Universe. Dual Universe. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 Singletary, Charles. "Dual Universe Gameplay Debut & Q/A with Novaquark's Founder Jean-Christophe Baillie". Koalition. Koalition. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Saed, Sherif. "Dual Universe first gameplay footage looks impressive". VG247. VG247. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  10. 1 2 Sarkar, Samit. "Dual Universe is a sci-fi space MMO in a universe that players control". Polygon. Polygon. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  11. 1 2 "A summer full of surprises!". Novaquark. Novaquark. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  12. ↑ ZWINGMANN, DOMINIK. "Dual Universe: Das Weltraum-MMO im Vorschau-Video". PCGames. PCGames. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  13. 1 2 Sims, Darius. "FIRST GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE OF THE SANDBOX MMO DUAL UNIVERSE". Gamespresso. Gamespresso. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  14. ↑ Homola, Adam. "Onlinovka Dual Universe nabídne jeden sdílený vesmír a široké možnosti úpravy planet". GAMES.cz. GAMES.cz. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  15. ↑ Barrett, Ben. "Dual Universe's pre-alpha gameplay trailer proves it's a real game". PCGamesN. PCGamesN. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  16. ↑ Chalk, Andy. "Ten minutes of Dual Universe gameplay revealed in new video". PC Gamer. PC Gamer. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  17. ↑ Livingston, Christopher. "See the first footage of Dual Universe, the single-shard sci-fi MMO". PCGamer. PCGamer. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  18. ↑ Allard, Camille. "10 minutes de gameplay pour le MMO Dual Universe". gameblog. gameblog. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  19. ↑ Smutný, Aleš. "Onlinovka Dual Universe v deseti minutách předvádí své nekonečné možnosti". GAMES.cz. GAMES.cz. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  20. ↑ Lemon, Marshall. "Dual Universe combines sci-fi star systems and Minecraft". VG247. VG247. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  21. ↑ Younger, Paul. "Dual Universe video shows 10 minutes of sci-fi MMO gameplay". PCINVASION. PCINVASION. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  22. ↑ Jakobs, Benjamin. "Gameplay-Video zu Dual Universe veröffentlicht". EUROGAMER. EUROGAMER. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  23. ↑ Galli, Diego. "DUAL UNIVERSE: NUOVO VIDEO, IN ARRIVO MOLTI DETTAGLI". mmo.it. mmo.it. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
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