Dual Universe

Dual Universe is a first person based space simulation sandbox massively multiplayer online role play game (MMORPG) video game in development by the Paris-based game development studio, Novaquark.

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]
EngineUnigine 2[3]
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows[4]
Release
Genre(s)MMORPG, Space trading and combat simulator, Sandbox
Mode(s)Multiplayer

It is reported to combine elements of Eve Online and Star Citizen, as well as Minecraft, No Man's Sky, and Space Engineers.[5] The game is set in a continuous single-shard universe, wherein players are able to fully edit the environment by building structures and altering terrain, as well as being given the ability to script the components within vehicles and other player-built objects. A heavy focus is also placed on allowing for collective social gameplay involving exploration, mining, crafting, trade, politics and warfare.

It relies on a server technology that Novaquark has termed a CSSC (Continuous Single-Shard Cluster), which allows all players to play the game simultaneously together in the same universe without the need for instancing of player zones or loading screens.[6]

Background

The backstory of the game begins in the year 2027, with the discovery of a neutron star on a collision course for Earth's Solar System.

Human civilization had 498 years to develop a plan to leave Earth and find new planets to inhabit, and after centuries of research and development, several Arkships (extremely large and resilient space-faring vehicles) were built to carry millions of passengers in cryosleep to the farthest reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy.

During the year 2510 the first Arkships began to flee the Earth heading towards different areas of the galaxy. As the Arkships traveled on their way to their final destinations, the neutron star discovered in the year 2027 destroyed Earth's solar system and all the planets within.

In the year 12477 one of the Arkships, the Novark, arrives on the earth-like planet Alioth, planting itself firmly into the ground.[7] It is from this Arkship that all players will enter the game for the first time.

Gameplay and features

The game takes place in a "single continuous, undivided universe" and is played in first person.[8] 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, loading screens or instances, such as with other MMOs. It utilizes 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.[9][10]

The game world has been described as being designed to be a "wide-open, fully-moddable experience" to be shared by all its players in a simultaneous manner.[11][12] There will reportedly be no NPC characters or AI creatures so it will be up to PVP to supply the action for players. As a sandbox game, 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 in a free-form manner. 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."[13]

Central to the game is the ability to remove (or add) matter to the landscape to harvest raw mineral resources, which in turn must be refined for use in various crafting recipes. The ability to modify the game world is built around the basis of 25 centimetres (0.82 ft) voxels, providing it its sandbox nature from a physical point of view. Players may also craft and manipulate anything in its world, from small objects such as weapons to cities and comparably large structures. Players may also construct space stations, which can extend as large as the expanse of an entire planet.

The game's autonomous systems (such as engines or computer consoles) rely on energy consumption and the interconnection among machinery,[14][15][16][17] and may be scripted by players using the Lua programming language. Players will also be able to manage the functions of their ships, such as navigation or weapon systems, and AI for use in constructions is expected to be developed by players using Lua.[8][14][18]

As the game is designed exclusively for multiplayer, players may take on and specialize in different tasks that may prove to be valuable, such as building, mining, piracy, construction, etc. Many more roles are expected to emerge mostly out of the players' mutual interactions. Novaquark has stated "ideologies, powers, ideas and gameplays" will all play a part in the final release.

The game economy is reported to be influenced by player interactions. The exchange of harvested goods is governed by a market economy. A player will be able to build a company and perform marketing and logistics, among other sandbox activities.[8][19]

Development

Novaquark formed in 2014 with Ubisoft, Sony, Apple and Aldebaran Robotics former employees.[8] Jean-Christophe Baillie, Novaquark's CEO, claims to have originated the idea for Dual Universe in 2011.[20]

The game was revealed in May 2016 in its pre-alpha state, with the subsequent release of a brief teaser trailer following E3. The game entered a closed alpha stage in September 2017,[21] with an updated development roadmap planned to be released in Summer of 2018.[22]

The community site for the game launched in July 2016, allowing players to form organizations.[23][24]

The funding of the game partly comes from a Kickstarter campaign, completed in October 2016, which secured €565,983 from over 8000 backers in addition to several early-stage investors.[15][23][25][26]

As of May 2018, the game has been in a feature freeze to focus on server and client stability, until later in the month when a new build is planned to be released that will introduce resource scanning and mining, trading, and a revamp of piloting mechanics.[27]

Community

Despite the game currently existing in Alpha since 2016, a large multi-organizational community has existed outside the game world, attracting members from other longstanding MMO games. The community currently contributes to the in-game lore through various off-site forums, Discord servers, and Reddit pages.

gollark: Slightly better compression ratios but horrible encoding time.
gollark: I have a few things in the osmarksgiantvideofolder™ in AV1 (YouTube sometimes serves it), which is quite cool.
gollark: mpv has some options where it can decode in advance and buffer the frames in RAM or something.
gollark: Wow, what old and/or bad computers.
gollark: I vaguely remember VP9 being slower to software encode than H.265, but I'm not sure if that's actually true.

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. Purslow, Matt. "Dual Universe is a daringly ambitious mash-up of Minecraft and Eve Online". Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  6. Baillie, Jean-Christophe. "A single-shard continuous universe: one world, no boundaries". Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  7. "Official Lore Bible". Novaquark. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  8. "FACT SHEET & INFORMATION". Dual Universe. Dual Universe. Archived from the original on 2017-02-08. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  9. Homola, Adam. "Onlinovka Dual Universe nabídne jeden sdílený vesmír a široké možnosti úpravy planet". GAMES.cz. GAMES.cz. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  10. Barrett, Ben. "Dual Universe's pre-alpha gameplay trailer proves it's a real game". PCGamesN. PCGamesN. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  11. Chalk, Andy. "Ten minutes of Dual Universe gameplay revealed in new video". PC Gamer. PC Gamer. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  12. Livingston, Christopher. "See the first footage of Dual Universe, the single-shard sci-fi MMO". PCGamer. PCGamer. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  13. Sarkar, Samit. "Dual Universe is a sci-fi space MMO in a universe that players control". Polygon. Polygon. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  14. Singletary, Charles. "Dual Universe Gameplay Debut & Q/A with Novaquark's Founder Jean-Christophe Baillie". Koalition. Koalition. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  15. Sims, Darius. "FIRST GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE OF THE SANDBOX MMO DUAL UNIVERSE". Gamespresso. Gamespresso. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  16. Allard, Camille. "10 minutes de gameplay pour le MMO Dual Universe". gameblog. gameblog. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  17. Smutný, Aleš. "Onlinovka Dual Universe v deseti minutách předvádí své nekonečné možnosti". GAMES.cz. GAMES.cz. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  18. Lemon, Marshall. "Dual Universe combines sci-fi star systems and Minecraft". VG247. VG247. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  19. Younger, Paul. "Dual Universe video shows 10 minutes of sci-fi MMO gameplay". PCINVASION. PCINVASION. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  20. Baillie, Jean-Christophe. "A dive into a fully editable continuous single-shard universe, and why it matters". Retrieved 2016-10-14.
  21. "Dual Universe DevDiary Updates – October 2017 Pre-Alpha Video". YouTube. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  22. "Trello Launch, DevDiaries & Communication changes". Dual Universe. Novaquark. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  23. "A summer full of surprises!". Novaquark. Novaquark. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  24. Galli, Diego. "DUAL UNIVERSE: NUOVO VIDEO, IN ARRIVO MOLTI DETTAGLI". mmo.it. mmo.it. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  25. ZWINGMANN, DOMINIK. "Dual Universe: Das Weltraum-MMO im Vorschau-Video". PCGames. PCGames. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  26. "Dual Universe Kickstarter". Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  27. "Dual Universe builds up development forward momentum". Massively OP. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
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