style="width: 620px; height: 388px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/254065">

DUST
514 was originally a pitch (that started in a bar -
of course, hehe). While the game was always going to be an FPS, it was
originally going to be a single player FPS that started a female
Gallente
bounty hunter. This was thought of and conceptualized for approximately
6
months before an official pitch was made to create an FPS MMO. The
project was
green lit and the team was off. Or rather, they would have been, if it
weren't
for the fact that space was at a premium. At one point, they literally
ran out
of space and as luck would have it, Epic Games was kind enough to allow
a few
developers use some space in one of their buildings.

 

It
is stories like these that remind us of the amazing
lengths artists and developers will go through to ensure their vision
is
created. Checking out the past is fun, but I know what you really want
to hear
about is the future. To do that, there’s one important factor
to think about
first and it was a challenge the development team had to figure out
– How do
you ease a game into an already existing game without compromising the
details
that makes each enjoyable?

 

That
question is still unanswered and perhaps will never
see a complete answer. For now, the team has been doing it slowly
(perhaps too
slowly for some DUST 514 fans), but they’re continuing to
merge the two games.
The first area players saw this happen was with factional warfare
– ground
battles could affect the territories of empires in space. While
it’s been implemented,
there are still a number of improvements to this system the team hopes
to make.

class="MsoNoSpacing">

  style="width: 620px; height: 388px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/254066">

For
one, there has been a real lack of immersion for the
DUST 514 players. Even though the battles they were having would
sometimes
assist those in space, there has been no indication of this for DUST
players.
It also hasn’t been easy for those EVE Online players to tell
there was a
ground battle taking place. This may be alleviated by plans to
introduce a
faction loyalty system into the game. Players will be able to choose a
faction
to play for. The more they play for that faction, the higher their
standing
with it gets. The higher their respective standings are for a faction,
the more
loyalty points they can while fighting for that faction in matches.
Hopefully,
this will see the rivalries on the ground equal the epic space wars
we’ve seen
take place over the years.

 

The
loyalty point system will also mark the removal of
ISK (in-game currency) from the current contracts players can take. The
idea
behind this is to create a market more similar to that of EVE Online
where
players can buy and sell items they’ve earned with faction
loyalty points.
Giving players ISK for completing contracts is not really the way of
things in
the EVE universe. This will create a supply/demand market that players
will not
only be able to use for practical combat use, but also allow the
introduction
of a missing meta-game from DUST 514 – playing the market.

 

Another
item of interest being added to the game is
friendly fire. The developers have always favored giving players
limited means
to grief their fellow players. Not so much to ruin someone's game but
enough to
instigate some intense battles. Normally, I’m 100% against
any type of
griefing, but considering the EVE universe as a whole, I agree
it’s something
that makes sense for the game.

 

The
biggest upcoming changes that interested me were the
modifications being made to the way orbital strikes are handled. In the
future,
orbital strikes will be 100% controlled by EVE Online players. This
means that
players will be able to request orbital strikes, but unless there are
ships in
the area that choose to respond, there will be no strike forthcoming.
It sounds
crazy, but before you jump to conclusions about the development team
having
lost their minds, it’s important to note that this change is
being made
specifically due to player requests. Remember, this is EVE Online
we’re talking
about and the harsh realities of an uncaring universe are par for the
course
here. In fact, it’s those times in the past when the
development team has
appeared to stray from such harshness that the player reaction has been
most
negative.

class="MsoNoSpacing">

  style="width: 620px; height: 388px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/254067">

Keeping
in line with the thread of push and pull in the
EVE universe, EVE Online players will also have the ability to disrupt
the strikes
of opposing factions. Whenever a strike is requested, if there is a
ship of the
appropriate faction in the requested portion of space, and if that ship
chooses
to initiate a strike, a countdown timer will being. If style="">any
ship of an opposing faction enters a certain radius of the
strike zone, that countdown timer will be put on hold until there is
only one
remaining faction in control. It’s sounds intriguing and
I’ll be interested to
see how it pans out in practical application.

 

Planetary
conquest is another system that is currently
being reworked by the DUST 514 team. They’re working very
closely with the EVE
Online development team on this one, as EVE players will be much more
involved
in this type of warfare moving forward. Not a lot of details are
available yet,
but it was confirmed that a new ship called a War Barge will be
entering the
list of ships players can pilot. This ship will play an integral role
in the
conquest of planets moving forward.

 

It’s
always cool to have a chance to listen to a
developer talk about a project their passionate about and the DUST 514
presentation at EVE Vegas was no exception. As always, everything
listed in
this article should be considered carved in Jell-O since anything can
happen in
the world of video game development. Fingers crossed everything goes
according
to plan.

 


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our DUST 514 Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

Comments