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HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO CCP AND EVE ONLINE

st0ne — Sun, 25 Dec 2016 07:40:03 +0000

What is that one thing, that when you possess, you have all other virtues? Compassion.

Definition of compassion – from “A fearless heart.”

Compassion is a sense of concern that arises when we are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to see that suffering relieved. Compassion is what connects the feeling of empathy to acts of kindness, generosity and other expressions of altruistic tendencies.

Eve Online is not known for its compassionate view. Eve Online is a game of blowing up ships, taking territory and has all of the aspects of “real life” that is lacking from most other online video games. A working economy, a “single shard” environment, a history that spans 15+ years, and more than anything… The ability to make an impact in the Eve universe through your actions and behavior.

Those outside the Eve Online game probably see it no differently than any other online MMO. Lots of people get together and play a game together, people spend hours and hours online in “camps”, “on roams” or “fitting my ship” and then that stuff gets blown up, or they get to blow someone else’s stuff up. Sometimes things even happen in Eve that jump from the Eve Online community into the “real world”. The big thefts, social engineering, and “take downs” that are sometimes worth tens of thousands of dollars and can spell the end of in-game and out-of-game organizations.

Those who play Eve see the gamut of humanity. All of it is there in all the different permutations. Eve attracts those players who are interested in a wide and varied type of gameplay AND social interaction. You see, while many video games attract a “certain type of person” (MOBA, FPS, Turn-based strategy, etc), Eve Online thrives because of the vast diversity of people and temperaments within its community. What other MMO do you know of that has a player-panel on scamming other players, alongside a panel on community support systems?

That brings me to the social aspect of Eve Online (and other MMOs as well). Eve Online is about connecting with other Eve Online players. Sometimes that connection is on the end of a gun, and sometimes it’s a snowball or a “space hug” but it’s about connecting with those people and experiencing as many aspects of the Eve Universe as you are interested in. Just think of how boring most online games would be without that connection with other people.

So this Holiday season please remember that as you are shooting at the newbros, as you spam the warp button in your capsule, as you corner the market, as you run that complex, as you mine that Veldspar, and even as you get your faction-fit T3 cruiser blown up, that it’s the players of Eve that make our community amazing. From those whom we love to hate, and those who we hate to love, it’s about the actual human beings that we are playing this wonderful game with.

We are all someone’s son or daughter. We are parents, spouses, geeks, nerds, gamers, and many other ways that we choose to define ourselves. We are all human beings who are suffering through this holiday season just like we have the previous years of our life. Some of us happy and surrounded by friends and family, and some of us are muddling through with far less than that. But all of are seeking a connection with another human being this holiday season. Some of us with space hugs, and some of us with lasers, artillery or missiles, but make no mistake about it, the connection that we have with our chosen tribe of Eve players is critically important to Eve, and to us as human beings.

I wish you the very best holiday season and hope that you find contentment and happiness in the things that you DO have, instead of yearning for what you don’t.

IMPERIUM NEWS: WRITERS, JOIN US!

st0ne — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 21:19:46 +0000

Imperium News is recruiting writers!

The Purpose of Imperium News

Imperium News intends to be the voice of the Imperium in the media, much like the Voice of America. We’re working to create a platform where our people can both read and write articles of interest to our community, both as staff writers and enabling ad-hoc blogging through the User Submission system. We publish writing on a broad array of topics of interest to our people – game news, science news, opinion pieces, book reviews, fiction, humor, as well as highlighting opposing voices from players outside our organization.

What Imperium News Offers Writers

Compensation: Write something related to Eve Online and receive 500m – 1b ISK. Bonus: we have a new system where your editor will pay you within 72 hours of publishing an article, no more waiting until the end of the month!
Your Own Editorial Team: Unlike other sites where there are a pool of editors and writers, Imperium News has introduced a team structure for editors and writers. Our writers each have an individual editor who mentors and provides feedback as part of a team of up to eight other authors. Each team has its own Discord channel, so you’ll never be lost in the crowd!
Better Platform: Imperium News is a WordPress site and the staff is coordinated on Imperium Discord – keeping in touch is a snap, and if you wrote for TMC on the old Drupal platform, you simply would not believe how much better WordPress is for writing.
Requirements: All you have to do to remain on staff is write one piece every thirty days, and be active in our staff chat channels on Discord; that’s it!
How to Join the Imperium News Writing Team

Easy! Send us a writing sample using the User Submissions system with “Application” somewhere in the title! The sample should be a minimum of 600 words and be worthy of publication if you’re accepted; this will be your first piece published on the site if you’re brought on the team! Write something you’re passionate about: opinion pieces, battle reports from recent conflicts, gameplay guides, lore articles, and book, movie or game reviews all make for fantastic writing samples.

Examples for Writing Samples and Submissions

Want to write, but unsure what type of articles we love to publish here? Here are examples of common types of articles we’ve published to give an example of style, format and flow.

https://imperium.news/imperium-news-writers-join-us/

Want to Write a One-off? Try the User Submissions System!

Not sure if you’d like to commit to joining the staff, but have something to say? Check out the coolest new feature on Imperium News – our User Submissions page! Now you can write articles for publication using the same writing interface as our staff writers, and what you submit will be proofed and published by our editorial team. We guarantee feedback: if you write a piece that is unusable, you’ll receive an email within 72 hours of the submission explaining why your piece was rejected. This is a great way to see if writing is for you, and to ensure your voice is heard.

Transitioning from TheMittani.com to Imperium News

Between now and the end of October you can expect to see a transition from TheMittani.com to Imperium News. For now, articles are being posted on both sites as our fantastic dev team collects feedback and squashes bugs. As we ensure the last whizgigs and beepboops on Imperium News are working to our satisfaction, we’ll begin redirecting articles from TheMittani.com to Imperium News, and eventually we’ll be shutting down TheMittani.com and its Drupal platform entirely once our community is satisfied with Imperium News. It’s an exciting time, with a unified Imperium News, Discord and Twitch presence – join our team today!

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: 5 GAMES UNDER $5.99

st0ne — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 21:17:24 +0000

https://imperium.news/home-holidays-5-games-5-99/

The holiday season is fast approaching, which means family, food, and maybe a little extra free time to do whatever you want to. If you’re anything like us, it’s very likely that you’ll fill this free time with video games, because that’s what free time is for, right?! You could sift through the ol’ collection and replay some classics, which is always fun… but with there being such a wide selection out there, why not try something new for a change? We’ve had a look at 5 games on Steam, picked completely at random, that will both fill your free time and maybe not be too heavy on the wallet. Who knows, maybe one of them will actually turn out to be a good game?

HOOK ($1.09)

hook1

Let’s start off with a puzzle, shall we? Hook has a bit of an eye-catching nature about it, being purely black and white, which is probably what drew me to it in the first place. Sometimes with games giving you so much sensory overload with crazy colours and sounds, it’s nice to dial it back a bit and have some fun with something a bit more plain. Hook combines a straightforward puzzle design with relaxing music and sounds to provide a slower paced, yet immersive experience. As with any puzzle game, it starts you off by familiarizing you with some of the more simple puzzles, and progressively becomes more difficult as new elements are introduced.

hook2

This game rewards the patient player with a discerning eye, as any wrong clicks will lead to resetting the puzzle and trying again. I made a goal of trying to finish each puzzle on the first run without making any mistakes, and was defeated in that goal pretty early on. The game is a bit on the short side, but for the money you pay for it I’d say it’s worth it. If you have some family over for the holidays that like puzzles you could challenge them to timed runs through the game, since it’s a decently intuitive affair for just about anyone.

hook3

As fun as this is though, let’s pick up the pace a little bit here.

OO ($1.09)

oo1

If Hook was the short, relaxing puzzle game, oO is its counterpoint, being a fast paced addictive arcade game that I may never beat no matter how hard I try. I picked this game simply because the title caught my eye, and it turned out to not be too bad of a choice! This game is another fairly minimalist game, similarly to Hook, there aren’t a whole lot of bells and whistles going on with this one though it has a bit more visual stimulation. The controls are simple: either press your spacebar or click your mouse. The goal is pretty simple as well, move your little dot from circle to circle using the space bar. Totally easy, right? The dot spins around the circles at a fairly quick rate of speed, so you have to have good reflexes to bounce the dot to the next circle right where the two circles join. Though it’s simple enough at first, it quickly starts to ramp up the difficulty, and before you know it you’re at face melting frustration difficulty. As it is, I had a few stumbles going through the first little introduction section of the game.

oo2

Even something as simple as making the graphics go all wavy completely changes the complexity of the game, making the simple introduction stage difficult enough for me to have to sit back and take a breath. As I was playing this game on my computer, the first thing I thought was, “I wish I could have this one my cell phone so I could never be bored in a long line up at the DMV ever again”, well it turns out that’s totally possible. oO is also available on both Android and iOS, so you can take the experience of complete and utter defeat with you everywhere.

oo3

Alright, we’ve got relaxation and devastating frustration out of the way, but maybe you’re looking for something with a bit more depth to it?

DARK ECHO ($3.29)

decho1

Dark Echo is a pretty unique concept. Imagine yourself in a pitch black room with nothing but the sounds that you make bouncing off the walls to guide your way. It’s a pretty eerie feeling, and this game definitely capitalizes on that feeling. You play a pair of little white footprints, and you use the arrow keys and the space bar to move and make sounds that produce visual sonic waves that you can then follow to the exit. Of course, if it were that simple the game would be over pretty quickly. As you progress through the levels, the game starts to introduce some new sounds and dangerous elements to enhance the sense of suspense that you already get from trying to move around in the darkness.

decho2

I never thought I could get chills from a bunch of red lines moving towards a pair of footprints, but it definitely happened. Not only are there static danger elements that you have to avoid, but there are also “monsters” that will move towards you once they hear you. The developer recommends that you use headphones to play this game with, and that definitely enhances the sense of immersion you get while playing. You’re able to hear all of the little nuances of sound that have been included. Though it may not be the most visually stimulating game on this list, it still has a cool visual element to it as well! I found myself making noise in some rooms just to watch the sound waves bounce off…that is, while I wasn’t being chased around by monsters.

decho3

So far this random list of games is shaping up pretty nicely, and I haven’t even spent $5.99 yet! Not bad at all!

DEAD PIXELS ($3.29)

dpixel1

Now for something completely different! I was a huge fan of River City Ransom as a young fella, and this game looked similar to that one in the screenshots, so I was immediately drawn to it. As nostalgic as this game looks with its 8-bit graphics, Dead Pixels is a gory, fresh trip down the well trodden path of side scrolling brawlers. If you’ve ever played River City Ransom, then you know what you’re in for: make your way from one side of the map to the other, fighting bosses and goons along the way, with a little bit of action RPG stat building thrown in the mix. Dead Pixels takes that another step, however, and introduces the element of zombie survival into the mix. Rather than punching and kicking your way to victory, you’re given a shotgun with limited ammo and grenades at the beginning. Looting buildings will net you ammo, more weapons, and items to sell to traders. You have to be careful though, because there’s a limit to how much weight you can carry, and going overweight will slow your character down to a crawl.

dpixel2

Though I haven’t played River City Ransom in a very long time, this game didn’t seem to be as gratifying an experience as I remember that game being. There was just something about running around and knocking out hoodlums with chains and garbage cans that really spoke to me as a youth, I guess. One thing that makes Dead Pixel a bit more fun is the ability to play with somebody else on the computer using a gamepad. Adding teamwork to the mix makes the game more interesting, and does certainly add to that nostalgic feel of playing 2-player games with siblings or your pals back in the day. I’m not so sure how much I would play this game solo, but the co-op makes it worth a look for sure!

dpixel3

Still looking pretty good on this list, one more for the road!

WHAT THE BOX ($5.99)

boxes1

Last but not least is What The Box. In this particular game, you play a cardboard box. Not just any cardboard box however, you are able to move, operate a box cutter, and shoot things (somehow). Those tools will come in handy because you’ll be playing online against other players also piloting cardboard boxes, and they’ll be trying to kill you. The game can be played in both third and first person, and has game modes ranging from standards like Deathmatch and Capture The Tape, to some different modes such as Juggerbox and One Bullet. The part that makes this game particularly interesting is that each of the maps is a warehouse full of cardboard boxes that all look identical to the players. This allows for an element of strategy, as a player then has the choice of either running around aggressively to try to destroy the opposition, or hiding amongst the inanimate boxes in an attempt to get some sneaky kills.

boxes2

Though this game may have a really interesting concept behind it, there’s one problem that sticks out with it: it’s kind of difficult to get into an online multiplayer game when there is next to nobody playing it. I managed to find a couple of games to jump in on, and it’s possible that there are more people playing at different times of the day during the week, but overall the various room lists were somewhat bare. I would recommend this one to a group of friends who are fans of FPS type games, but are looking for something that’s a bit of a change of pace. Maybe even if you have family over for the holidays that brought laptops? For the solo player who wants to bounce from server to server getting kills however, this may not be such a great pick.

boxes3

There we have it! If we’ve piqued your interest in any of these games at all, go have a look at Steam and give one a try! You only have a few bucks to lose!

(Note: All prices listed are in $CAD)

IMPERIUM NEWS: WRITERS, JOIN US!

st0ne — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 17:47:55 +0000

https://imperium.news/imperium-news-writers-join-us/

Imperium News is live – and we’re now recruiting writers!

Why Join the Imperium News Writing Staff?

Compensation: Write something related to Eve Online and receive 300m isk. Bonus: we have a new system where your editor will pay you within 72 hours of publishing an article, no more waiting until the end of the month!
Your Own Editorial Team: Unlike other sites where there are a pool of editors and writers, Imperium News has introduced a team structure for editors and writers. Our writers each have an individual editor who mentors and provides feedback as part of a team of up to eight other authors. Each team has its own Discord channel, so you’ll never be lost in the crowd!
Better Platform: Imperium News is a WordPress site and the staff is coordinated on Imperium Discord – keeping in touch is a snap, and if you wrote for TMC on the old Drupal platform, you simply would not believe how much better WordPress is for writing.
Requirements: All you have to do to remain on staff is write one piece every thirty days, and be active in our staff chat channels on Discord; that’s it!
I’m In! How Do I Join?

Easy! Send us a writing sample using the User Submissions system with “Application” somewhere in the title! The sample should be a minimum of 600 words and be worthy of publication if you’re accepted; this will be your first piece published on the site if you’re brought on the team! Write something you’re passionate about: opinion pieces, battle reports from recent conflicts, gameplay guides, lore articles, and book, movie or game reviews all make for fantastic writing samples.

Write Rarely? Try the User Submissions System!

Not sure if you’d like to commit to joining the staff, but have something to say about gaming topics of interest to our community? Check out the coolest new feature on Imperium News – our User Submissions page! Now you can write articles for publication using the same writing interface our staff writers enjoy, and will be proofed and published by our editorial team! We guarantee feedback: if you write a piece that is unusable, you’ll receive an email within 72 hours of the submission explaining why your piece was rejected. This is a great way to see if writing is up your alley, or to have your voice heard without a monthly commitment!

Transitioning from TheMittani.com to Imperium News

Between now and the end of October you can expect to see a transition from TheMittani.com to Imperium News. For now, articles are being posted on both sites as our fantastic dev team collects feedback and squashes bugs. As we ensure the last whizgigs and beepboops on Imperium News are working to our satisfaction, we’ll begin redirecting articles from TheMittani.com to Imperium News, and eventually we’ll be shutting down TheMittani.com and it’s Drupal platform entirely once our community is satisfied with Imperium News. It’s an exciting time, with a unified Imperium News, Discord and Twitch presence – give it a try, join the writing team today!

The Scope - Hostilities escalate in northern regions

Spanks — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 16:09:08 +0000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=xWxs8PLFrHY

ELITE DANGEROUS: HORIZONS SETS DOWN

st0ne — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 16:29:40 +0000

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/TheMittaniCom/discussions/0/494632506579970471/

Hurfpost: Why We Fight

st0ne — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 02:03:07 +0000

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/TheMittaniCom/discussions/0/494632338491732914/

NOW LIVE: FOUNTAIN WAR KICKSTARTER

st0ne — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 14:51:22 +0000

https://www.themittani.com/news/now-live-fountain-war-kickstarter

https://youtu.be/XFC0VJN_j7k

PREPARING FOR BATTLE

I didn’t know it until a few months ago, but I’ve been preparing to write The Fountain War novel for most of my life. My training began at the age of eight, when my mom brought home a science fiction book from the public library. The title was The Beyond, and the dust jacket caught my attention instantly: a tri-hulled spaceship tearing across a star-flecked sky above the twisted landscape of an alien planet. The background was dominated by an enormous red-orange moon, pocked with craters and poised like the hammer of God waiting to fall.

It was all I could do not to snatch that book out of my mother’s hands, and the story inside turned out to be even cooler than the cover. Starships, a galactic empire on the verge of civil war, and a secret sub-species of telepathic humans driven into exile on a barren world at the fringes of known space. It was all the action and adventure that any kid could ever ask for.

I burned through the book in about three days, and there was no turning back after that. I was hooked hard. I’ve spent the rest of my life reading sci-fi books, playing sci-fi games, watching sci-fi movies, and searching for ways to recreate that first heart-pounding experience.

By the time adulthood finally caught up with me, there didn’t seem to be a lot of job opportunities for swashbuckling space warriors, so I chose the closest career path I could find. If I couldn’t fly to distant planets, I would sail to faraway countries instead. If I couldn’t probe the vacuum of space for enemy starships, I would scan the depths of the oceans for hostile submarines. The stars might be beyond my grasp, but there was adventure to be had right here on good old Terra.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, I started to get serious about writing. I studied character, theme, plot, description, motivation, pacing, dialogue, narrative, and the other weapons that make up a writer’s arsenal. I began to mentally dissect the styles and techniques of my favorite authors. I wrote, I revised, I learned, and I wrote some more.

My first novel was science fiction. My second was a military techno-thriller, which is my other favorite genre. Since then, I’ve been back and forth between sci-fi and naval warfare thrillers, working on whatever project inspired me most at any particular time.

I’ve never once tried to bring the two genres together. That might seem strange, given that my shelves are loaded with books by David Webber, James Corey, David Drake, and Jack Campbell. I eat this stuff up. As I said on stage at EVE Vegas a few days ago, military sci-fi is the convergence of everything I’m passionate about and everything I’m good at.

All of which raises an obvious question… With my professional background, my knowledge of tactics and doctrine, and my lifelong love of this genre, why the hell has it taken me so long to tackle a space combat novel?

The short answer is that I’ve been getting ready. I’ve been learning, practicing, honing my skills, polishing my craft, and building my reputation as an author. And (most importantly) I’ve been waiting for the right idea.

I’ve always assumed that the idea—when it came—would spring from my own imagination. Turns out I was wrong about that. The idea didn’t come from me. It came from you. It was born from the collective dreams, efforts, and accomplishments of thousands of EVE players. This is your story, in all of its chaotic galaxy-spanning glory.

The Fountain War has got everything an author could possibly want. It’s loaded with action, espionage, greed, badass technology, betrayal, dirty politics, massive battles, acts of extraordinary heroism, and occasional moments of abject failure. It’s got drama, comedy, irony, and all the other ingredients of blockbuster fiction.

As I listen to your individual tales, work through the chat logs, read the killmails, and watch the fight videos, I become increasingly convinced that The Fountain War is the story I’ve been waiting to tell.

It’s a long-standing military axiom that winning a battle is as much about preparation as it is about fighting. I believe that the same holds true for writing a novel. I’ve been preparing for this one since I was eight years old.

The Kickstarter is live now. Join us in bringing this epic adventure to life. Submit your Fountain War stories to fountainwar@themittani.com, and support our Kickstarter campaign.

Let’s do this thing…

The gate is green.

TMC'S WEEK IN REVIEW

st0ne — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 03:41:10 +0000

https://www.themittani.com/columns/tmcs-week-review-0

This week, TMC was very pleased to welcome back Alizabeth, who immediately made a splash with her article on why EVE's story matters. The article recounts her experience of the assassination of Jamyl Sarum event, reflecting upon the unique experience an MMO with an evolving story offers and how it fits into our lives. Well-received by the community, if you haven't read this article already, you should.

Another big response from the community occurred, this time an incredibly negative uproar over a proposal from Team Size Matters over creating a more granular skill point market with skill point extraction and trading. Set's Chaos gave us an initial response to the proposal, while Arrendis, on behalf of the TMC editorial as a whole, staked our position that the community outcry is wrong and explored how this feature would be good for everyone involved. Discussion around this proposal has yet to abate and you would be right to expect further coverage on this controversial topic.

Not wanting to be outdone, CCP Fozzie announced more new ships ahead of EVE Vegas, where CCP is expected to premier visuals of said ships. A set of 4 faction EWAR frigates, with bonuses aimed at making them suitable for solo and small-gang play, and 4 T2 logi frigates join the already announced T2 micro-jump destroyers and the Discovery ORE frigate for a total of 13 new ships come December. A smorgasbord of balance changes are also slated to accompany these ships, with small touches to a number of frigates, buffs and nerfs to under-or-overperforming ships such as the Punisher, Worm, Gila, Barghest, and Orthus. Meanwhile, hot on the heels of ISD laying out clear guidelines on established exploits in EVE, CCP Falcon announced that a specific type of false-API scam has been outlawed, now one of only three specific scams prohibited by CCP.

This week was a week for big fights in New Eden, with supercapitals dying in a massive fight in Insomother, attended to both by local belligerents and distant third-parties as a battle of this scale warrants. With losses in excess of 500 billion ISK - $13,000 equivalent - this battle even made it to the pages of PC Gamer, shepherded by TMC writer Siaka Stevens. On EVE's second shard, Serenity, over 1.1 trillion ISK was lost as the two dominating factions came to blows in a struggle for dominance. Lord Maldoror took to reddit to report on this struggle, noting that this battle coincides with a recent adoption of the so-called 'FozzieSov' mechanics and how their meta has evolved in contrast to Tranquility's response.

In one last tidbit of EVE Universe news, Omanth Bathana reviewed EVE: Valkyrie Issue #1, the first of a comic series leading up to the release of Valkyrie with the Oculus Rift next year. Continuing the partnership with Dark Horse Comics, who brought us EVE: True Stories last year, those fond of physical media, comic-book artistry, or just a good story will be sure to enjoy this.

GENERAL GAMING

Free to Play Fridays took a brief hiatus this week as our editors were too busy playing and reviewing two new releases instead. Ryan Vincent evaluated CERES, from Icelandic studio Jötunn Games, finding both promise and misgivings for an eventual mixed opinion. Meanwhile, Arrendis reports that Rebel Galaxy, a single-player spaceship game from Double Damage Games, is a fairly solid title that will take the interest of those looking for a more offline spaceships experience.

H1Z1 endured a wipe on Wednesday, bringing with it a bunch of new content, including an ATV and female zombies. Lashawna has gone over what's good and what's broken in this latest patch, with fixes and changes improving the Survival mode experience.

In the Star Citizen domain, a huge amount of info landed from CitizenCon, including the announcement of Alpha 2.0, which will bring the first iteration of the full Star Citizen universe, demos of the ARK starmap and The Million Mile High Club, a preview of a branded Saitek HOTAS, and a star-studded cast announcement for Squadron 42. With Holywood giant Andy Sirkis involved, the featurette on Squadon 42's cinematic mocap is not to be missed. Meanwhile in the run up to Alpha 2.0, all flyable ships are currently free to try out on the Public Test Universe, which includes all the changes and improvements from the 1.3.0 Alpha update.

OTHER NEWS

This week in space, Feiryred discusses the tricky problem of not contaminating Mars and confusing our attempts to find life there, while also highlighting more Mars footage that corresponds with the thrilling journey experienced in The Martian. In additional Mars news, Curiosity has confirmed the ancient presence of water in the form of lakes on Mars, adding further mystery to Mars' past and suggesting a growing complexity to be explored. Finally, Cassini has a few flybys of Enceladus due in the near future; check out the schedule and don't miss the close flyby later this month!

TheMittaniTV ran a jam-packed streaming marathon from the San Diego patio last week, including notable guests from the likes of Daybreak Game Company, Rockstar Games, and NCSOFT. Turk Fezzik has a recap of the event and its highlights, while four lucky viewers went away with prizes. If you're big into streaming and fancy yourself in the hot seat, TheMittaniTV is hiring — just talk to Sion Kumitomo for more information.

EVE GRAPHICS UPDATE: NEW PROPULSION EFFECTS, VALKLEAR SKINS

st0ne — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 17:40:41 +0000

On Tuesday September 1, CCP released a short teaser revealing a previously unannounced update to the ship propulsion animation. The new animation features distinct changes including vibrant, shifting colors and shapes with differential engine plume profiles corresponding with the speed of the propulsion module. The view is entirely from the perspective of the rear right-side of the featured ship and does not show or rule out the presence of engine trails. The video provided by CCP_logibro is embedded below.

https://youtu.be/SLfcvcyeE70

The exact artist (or artists?) at CCP responsible for the new animation have not been revealed by CCP. However, a user by the name of Nagli has been speculated as the artist, now listed in the ccpdevs page of the eve/subreddit, after providing additional details on the animations. For instance, when Vycaris posted, “But... No engine trail?”, Nagli responded, “They are still in, I just turned them off when I was recording this. This is still very much wip and there are more effects in there that are turned off.” When Ashterothi posted, “I am not sure why people are down-voting because the "quality sucks". I am sure whoever made this video just did it quickly as part of his or her job and they thought it would be cool to share us the first peeks at something new. Please don't be that guy and crap on the quality :|”, Nagli replied, “Aye, I’m working on this effect and I just shot it on my mobile camera for fun. We kinda liked the video so we decided to share it on EVE NOW. Things don´t have to be so stupendously serious and official all the time =).”

The new ship propulsion animation now rests alongside the previously announced new ship explosion animations, both of which have no known release date.

For the vast majority, the new propulsion animation reveal was met with large praise with Rokos of Pandemic Legion posting, “Looks dope!” and SoundWolves of Goonswarm Federation posting, “YES ALL OF THIS IN MY FACE NOW DO IT.”

Some however, without naming names, may have the opinion that the animations, although a welcomed revision, are shying away from CCP’s efforts to bring new content and design elements to EVE. But does the development of art assets really interfere with the development of new, additional or revised game mechanics? The tasking of artists is obviously very different from the management and tasking of coding and overall game design staff. Those pipelines could be completely separate issues for CCP directors. Nevertheless, the vocal community has spoken, and is seemingly appreciative of CCP’s commitment to the constant improvements to the artistic design and feel of EVE.

For CCP artists the day was not entirely about unveiling the new propulsion animation. Additional EVE art assets were released today in the form of 40 new Valkear Glory ship skins, now available for purchase for all Minmatar ships with the exception of the Fleet Issue (Hurricane, Scythe, Stabber, Tempest, and Typhoon) hulls.