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Revision as of 23:43, 29 January 2013

Dust 514
Official cover
Developer(s)CCP Games
Publisher(s)CCP Games
EngineUnreal Engine 3
Platform(s)PlayStation 3[2] PlayStation Vita[3]
Release2013[1]
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Dust 514 (stylized as EVE: DUST 514) is an upcoming free-to-play first-person shooter developed by CCP Games for the PlayStation 3. Dust 514 takes place in and is directly connected to CCP's first game, Eve Online. There is direct interaction between the two; player actions in one game affect the political and economic status of the other. The two games were officially connected on January 10, 2013, following an extended downtime for server maintenance. The game has officially gone into open beta as of January 22, 2013.[4]

It was announced on August 18, 2009 at the Game Developers Conference in Cologne, Germany and was introduced with a short trailer featuring realtime footage of the game.[5][6]

Setting

See also: Eve Online

Dust 514 takes place in the same fictional universe as Eve Online, a science-fiction massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set 21,000 years in the future. The Eve Online backstory explains that humanity, after using up the Earth's resources, began to colonize the rest of the Milky Way. The development of faster-than-light travel allowed mankind to expand at an extremely fast pace, leading to violent competition between space-faring corporations. A natural wormhole was discovered, and humanity entered through it to find an empty new galaxy which they began colonizing. However, the wormhole connecting the two galaxies collapsed, leaving the young colonies cut off from the worlds that had supplied them. Without support, many of the colonies in the new galaxy died off, and over time the few that remained lost their knowledge of both their technology and of their origins from Earth. Eventually, a new era began when civilization was rebuilt and faster-than-light travel was rediscovered. Five unique space-faring cultures emerged from the colonies to become the only interstellar powers in the new galaxy.[7]

Eve Online players take the role of capsuleers, who are elite starship pilots made immortal using cloning technology and consciousness transfers. For much of Eve history, only capsuleers were immortal because the technology required to download consciousness was linked to a capsule that encloses them and leaves them in suspended animation. The capsule was designed specifically as an interface for pilots to control the ship that they were placed within. However, the discovery of a special implant made it possible to achieve a transfer of consciousness without the use of a capsule, so it became possible to make immortals that were not pilots. Dust 514 players take the role of immortal ground-based soldiers which were created by the military shortly after the implant was discovered.[8]

Gameplay

Dust 514 allows players to customize infantry and vehicles with a modular fitting system similar to the ship fitting system in Eve Online.

Dust 514 is a first-person shooter with elements of massively multiplayer online games. Combat takes place on the various planets found in Eve Online, each of which offers a unique map. Planets are divided into several large districts, which hold resources and installations that dust players must fight for control over. Only the natural landscape of each planet remains constant; the placement of buildings and surface structures is controlled by the player corporations.[9][10]

Infantry in Dust 514 are equipped with "dropsuits" which function similarly to the ship hulls in Eve Online. Dropsuits have various module slots which players can utilize to fit different weapons and equipment. This gives players a broad range of customization choices and the ability to create specialized fits to perform specific roles and tactics on the battlefield.[11][12] Skill training, in a manner similar to Eve Online, is also available. CCP has stated that it would take seven years to train all skills, and that it was not intended for any player to learn all of the skills. Instead, CCP believes that players will naturally become specialized by selecting a certain set of skills and becoming "really, really good at them."[13] Player-driven vehicles will also be available in the game; these can be transported to anywhere within the battlefield using "rapid deployment vehicles" at the request of players. Vehicles will share the modular fitting system that infantry dropsuits have.[14]

Both teams have a "commander" who can oversee the planetary combat and make tactical decisions from a real-time strategy-style perspective.[15] The commanders reside within a massive aerial fortress known as the "mobile command center". According to CCP, mobile command centers require fuel to run systems such as turrets and energy shields, and it is up to commanders to extract fuel from sources within the battlefield. The goal of each team is to destroy the opposing mobile command center.[16]

Although the Dust players are mercenaries, they can also seize territory from planets within the Eve universe for their own alliance and corporation, which takes place in the form of Corporation vs. Corporation matches. This allows Dust corporations to build infrastructure on captured territory, but it is unclear what manufacturing power Dust corps will hold.[17] Currently the only planets that battles take place on in which both eve players and dust players can work together reside entirely in faction warfare space. Control of a district on the planets currently directly affects the difficulty of system capture through the use of the new Dust 514 district capture status modifier.

Although Dust 514 does not have a single-player campaign, CCP has confirmed that there will be a survival game mode which pits players against A.I. controlled rogue drones.[18]

Connection to Eve Online

See also: Eve Online
In a demonstration by CCP Games, an Eve Online Abaddon-class battleship (left) fires on a ground target designated by a Dust 514 soldier (right).

All combat within Dust 514 takes place, in real-time, on planets found in the Eve Online universe. The player alliances and corporations of Eve Online can hire Dust 514 players as mercenaries to fight for control over planets; the outcome of such battles will affect the sovereignty of player-run political powers in Eve Online.[17][19][20] A direct form of interaction comes in the form of "orbital bombardments". Orbital bombardments allow a player in Eve Online to provide direct assistance to friendly forces in a battle in Dust 514. If a player in Eve Online is in position within 100km of a district satelite above a planet with a ship loaded with weapons and ammo capable of firing at planets, the player can support his or her side of the Dust 514 battle if there is a battle currently taking place and a Dust 514 player has designated a target for the ship to fire upon. This was first shown to the public as an actual ingame mechanic during EVE Fanfest 2012,[21] although it had been previously featured during the 2011 fanfest in a cinematic trailer titled A Future Vision.

Both games share the same namespace, so a player in Dust 514 cannot choose a username that already exists in Eve Online or vice-versa. This allows players from both games to join the same corporation or alliance, as well as communicate between the two games in real-time.[17] Currently Dust 514 corporation and alliance members only show up in corporation chat and do not spike the eve online local chat when a battle begins. This makes it important for dust players to coordinate with eve pilots prior to a battle as it is not feasible for eve online pilots to visit all the districts.

In an interview conducted by Simon Carless of Gamasutra, Hilmar said that he hopes "these [Eve Online and Dust 514] communities will meld over time", bridging the two environments. He described the relationship between the flying-oriented nature of Eve Online and the infantry-oriented nature of Dust 514, saying "while the fleet does the flying, the infantry does the dying".[19] The massive Eve universe will be the platform for all planetary combat. Brandon Laurino, executive producer of Dust 514, has confirmed that there will not be a set number of maps at launch, saying "We are covering literally a universe of planets, so there's thousands of different maps and they're all available to everyone who's playing."[22]

Development

In 2010, CCP updated Eve Online with the Tyrannis expansion. Tyrannis introduced planetary interaction, allowing players to harvest resources from planets using ground installations. A developer blog by CCP mentioned that, while the expansion alone would not include planetary combat, the upcoming Dust 514 game would deal with the combat aspect by allowing players to "project military force for attack and defense of planetary installations."[23] Planets in Eve Online previously held no value; the Tyrannis expansion was intended to tie into Dust 514 by giving players "a reason to want to fight over [the planets]."[24]

The original logo for Dust 514, used from its announcement up to E3 2011.

Dust 514 uses Unreal Engine 3 after CCP Games reached an agreement with Epic Games China to license the engine in 2010.[25]

During E3 2011, it was confirmed that Dust 514 is to be released exclusively on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.[2][26] A beta would be held before the end of 2011 followed by a release in the summer of 2012. However since then CCP has opted to put more work into the game to improve it further and have a release date in 2013, which again has yet to be announced, rather than a 2012 release date. Dust 514 was initially slated to be the first cross platform game, pitting Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 players with each other but CCP has since dropped the Xbox 360 as a potential platform; the choice of PlayStation 3 exclusive was determined by Sony's more open platform allowing Dust 514 to connect to the Eve Online server Tranquility, whereas Microsoft's Xbox Live did not.[27][28] It was also confirmed after E3 2011 that Dust 514 utilizes Havok middleware technology.[29]

Dust 514 will be connected to Eve Online's single-shard server. The complexity of running two games on one server proved to be a unique challenge for the developers. To mitigate any performance issues that this might have on either of the two games, CCP has designed a server architecture such that the majority of Dust 514 gameplay will be run on various "battle clusters" across the world. These server clusters will handle all the latency sensitive first-person shooter aspects of Dust 514. The main Eve cluster, located in London, will only communicate with Dust 514 for information such as character names.[30]

DUST 514 was connected to Tranquility, the live production server of Eve Online, on January 10th, 2013.[31]

Future developments

In the Eve fanfest of 2012, even before the release of Dust 514, CCP has already revealed ideas for expansions in 2013. Possible future features include the ability to traverse on planets with "hostile" environments (such as lava planets) and the addition of mechanized exoskeletons that players can use, called MTACs.[18]

PlayStation Home

In the PlayStation's online social gaming platform PlayStation Home, a game space for Dust 514 was released on June 13, 2012. The game space provides information about mercenaries and the Eve Universe, as well as a mini-game known as Slay, a tabletop strategy game. Users can also earn special rewards such as a Merc Dropsuit and a Companion Drone.[32]

Business model

Unlike Eve Online, Dust 514 will not require a monthly subscription. It will instead use a micro-transaction model, making the game free to play. The game will have two currencies, Aurum, which can only be bought with real money, and ISK, the currency in Eve Online which can be earned in both games. CCP's Chief marketing officer, David Reid, has compared this model to that of League of Legends. Reid has added that Dust 514 will not be a "pay-to-win" game; Aurum can only be used to buy cosmetic items or items similar to what can be earned ingame without paying real money.[33][34]

Reception

Pre-release

Even before release, Dust 514 has been recognized as ground-breaking and innovative for its connection to another game. IGN said that the game was highly ambitious[35] and called it the future of gaming,[36] while PC Gamer praised the orbital bombardment mechanic and the unprecedented amount of customization available.[37]

References

  1. ^ "Dust 514". 2012-05-22. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
  2. ^ a b Dust 514 trailered; to use Move, support PS Vita | VG247
  3. ^ "Dust 514 Neocom Vita App Promises "MMO on the go" - PlayStation Blog". Fred Dutton (SCEE Blog Manager). 2012-08-20. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
  4. ^ "Get ready for the DUST 514 open beta". CCP Games. January 14, 2013. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  5. ^ Sliwinski, Alexander (2009-08-18). "FYI: CCP announces 'Dust 514,' FPS RTS MMO in Eve universe". Joystiq. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  6. ^ Cocker, Guy (2009-08-18). "CCP announces console-based Eve game". GameSpot. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  7. ^ Eve Online: Old Storyline Intro (YouTube video). CCP Games. Mar 6, 2009.
  8. ^ EVE Fanfest Cinematic Trailer 2012 (YouTube video). CCP Games. Mar 24, 2012.
  9. ^ "Dynamic Battlefields". CCP Games. April 26, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  10. ^ DUST 514: Seeding The Universe (YouTube video). CCP Games. March 28, 2012.
  11. ^ "Dropsuits in DUST 514". CCP Games. December 20, 2011. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  12. ^ "DUST 514 - Welcome to New Eden, part 2: When the boots hit the battlefield". CCP Games. November 11, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
  13. ^ "CCP shows off seven years of DUST 514 skill training". Joystiq. April 19, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  14. ^ "Vehicular Dynamics and Mayhem!". CCP Games. November 28, 2011. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  15. ^ "DUST 514 Preview". Retrieved 2009-09-04. {{cite web}}: Text "Eurogame" ignored (help); Text "Eurogame" ignored (help); Text "MMO" ignored (help); Text "MMO" ignored (help)
  16. ^ "The Future of War: DUST 514's Mobile Command Center (MCC)". CCP Games. November 6, 2011. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  17. ^ a b c Dust 514 Interview - VideoGameGeek @ E3 2011 (Youtube video). June 13, 2011.
  18. ^ a b EVE Fanfest 2012: CCP Presents! (YouTube video). CCP Games. March 27, 2012.
  19. ^ a b Carless, Simon (2009-08-18). "GDC Europe: CCP Announces DUST 514 Console MMO". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  20. ^ MacDonald, Keve (2009-08-18). "EVE Online Dev Unveils Console MMO DUST 514". Edge. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  21. ^ EVE Fanfest 2012: Dust Keynote (YouTube video). CCP Games. March 28, 2012. Event occurs at 22:20.
  22. ^ EuroGamer.net (2012-03-05). "EuroGamer: PS3 MMO Dust 514 will now be free to download and play". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
  23. ^ "Introducing Tyrannis". CCP Games. February 19, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  24. ^ "EVE: Tyrannis Explored". IGN Entertainment. April 22, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  25. ^ Marketwire Staff (2010-03-10). "CCP Licenses Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 to Power Dust 514". Marketwire. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
  26. ^ Dust 514 Exclusive to PS3 and Vita Next Summer | The Gaming Liberty.com
  27. ^ "Interview: CCP On DUST 514 And EVE". Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  28. ^ "Interview: Will PS3 exclusive Dust 514 head to Xbox?". Retrieved 2012-06-03.
  29. ^ Havok™ Commends Award-Winning Partners on Recent Awards Sweep at E3 2011
  30. ^ EVE Fanfest 2012: Growing EVEs infrastructure (YouTube video). CCP Games. March 29, 2012.
  31. ^ Phillips, Tom. "EVE Online, Dust 514 servers will merge tomorrow". Eurogamer. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  32. ^ Peterson, Cade (2012-06-13). "More DUST 514 Beta Codes Available in PlayStation Home". SCEA. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  33. ^ "CCP Presents - Fanfest 2009 Keynote :: ZAM News". Retrieved 2009-09-04.
  34. ^ "DUST 514′s microtransactions inspired by League of Legends". April 18, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  35. ^ Moriarty, Colin (June 06, 2012). "E3 2012: Dust 514, the Deepest FPS You've Ever Played". IGN. Retrieved November 06, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  36. ^ MacDonald, Keza (March 26, 2012). "Dust 514 is a Glimpse of the Future". IGN. Retrieved November 06, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  37. ^ Hill, Owen (March 23, 2012). "Dust 514 preview". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 06, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
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