Lance Robertson breaks cover - some news!

IT'S ABOUT BLOODY TIME!

Some real info is starting to leak out of NetDevil on the current state/direction of the game we have been waiting for .. and it sounds like they have 'gone back to basics' as the politicians like to say.  I'll shut-up and let the producer, Lance Robertson speak for himself;

Long before I joined the company, when NetDevil set out to build Jumpgate Evolution in 2007, they started with what was considered to be a relatively simple goal: to update the original Jumpgate for a modern audience. They wanted to retain the game’s core - a player-driven space MMO with realistic physics and combat - while expanding the scope to incorporate many of the aspects of modern MMOs.

Back then, many original Jumpgate players probably felt the same way that NetDevil did; that while updating the original game would be a difficult task, it wouldn’t be an impossible one. It was your support that kept the development team going, and the team tried to repay that support by bringing some of those early fans into Jumpgate Evolution’s first round of Friends & Family testing.

As we all now know, that initial round of testing exposed a hard truth about the ‘relatively simple goal’ of updating Jumpgate to become Jumpgate Evolution. While the core game experience of intense space-based combat was still solid, the reality was that as the team scaled up to let in more testers, things started to go wrong. Jumpgate Evolution’s modern ambitions exceeded Jumpgate’s old-school capabilities, and we knew we were not as close to launch as we needed to be.

That is when the team made the crucial decision to completely overhaul JGE’s game systems, while also refocusing specifically on the game play experience we wanted to make: space warfare on a massive scale.

It was a difficult choice to throw away what didn’t work and only keep and improve what did. One of the hardest things for a team to do is to throw away work, because it’s wasted time and effort, but in order for us to make this game the amazing experience we knew it could be, we had to let go of some things and push forward.

In order to achieve all of this, NetDevil made the decision to invest more in the game. We brought on additional staff members to ensure that Jumpgate Evolution’s vision remained strong and that the team could focus and gain momentum. They started with me, and since then I’ve been very fortunate to add a number of other key team members who you’ll get to meet (several in person, if you’re coming to E3) in the months ahead.

At the same time, we ‘went dark’ and stopped our regular flow of information. Why? Because there simply wasn’t anything we could talk about with absolute confidence.

We couldn’t discuss game features, because we were no longer sure what would make it into the game and what wouldn’t. We couldn’t talk about story, because it was being completely rewritten. There was so much that we wanted to share, but things were just at too early of a stage to discuss without the risk of disappointing you, our community. When we announce something, we ought to be as confident as possible that it will stay in the game – although in game development, there are no guarantees.

When we went back to the drawing board we needed the freedom to discard anything that was getting in the way of our vision for the game, so we gave ourselves that freedom by choosing not to discuss things before we were ready. We've also learned our lesson about announcing timelines too early. We’ve burned you before with that, and don’t want to burn you again.

I’m going to be honest with you and tell you something that may be difficult to hear: what you saw and heard of Jumpgate Evolution before now may have little bearing on the actual game we're going to deliver. When we went into that dark period to redesign much of the game, much was thrown away and new needs came to light, but we ultimately ended up with a much clearer vision of what we want Jumpgate Evolution to be, as well as the path to get there.

Now we’re finally ready to begin showing you what we’ve been working on. What you’ll see may look and feel similar on the surface, but it's what’s inside that counts. We’ve reached a level of confidence in our game that we didn’t have the first time around, and we’re much stronger for it.

Some of you are going to ask the obvious question: why should we believe you? Well, the proof is now in the game itself. You can experience it in the hands-on demo we’ll be bringing around the convention circuit this year. The stuff you’ll see in the demo is actual working tech from our current build. It’s real and shows off working features that will be in the game at launch. While most of you won’t be able to try the game out at E3, we are planning on being at other conventions this year. Hopefully many of you will get the chance to play it and see for yourselves that we’re on the right track.

Consider this to be a new beginning to our information flow. Anything you’ve seen up to this point may or may not still exist in the game, and all those details will come out in time. Right now we’re restarting with the story of the three warring nations, the very reason why you’ll be fighting in Jumpgate Evolution. After that we’ll be revealing more game information, and eventually, of course, we’ll get into Beta. Before that, however, we’ll return to the people who put us on this path in the first place, as we re-deploy our Friends & Family testing.

We can’t express how grateful we are for the community that we have. You guys have stuck with us through trying times, and we’re very excited to be able to start re-engaging with you and providing fresh game info, screenshots, videos, etc. We still have a long road ahead of us, but we know we couldn't have gotten this far without you. So thank you…

… and we’ll see you in space!

Lance Robertson
Executive Producer, Jumpgate Evolution

krispy on June 08 2010 17:44:46 · 1 Comment · 72 Reads ·

BIG NEWS: Shift in game design

Well today there's big news in the Jumpgate Evolution world - and a lot of people (including myself) are very happy, as it sounds like the developers listened to feedback and have shifted the focus of the gameplay... a lot.

It's all subject to change, but here's an outline of the 'new' game design;

-"Battlespace" returning to more of its simulator roots from Classic, really a place to practice not advance. I know this will make some of you happy in that advancing will only happen in "real" space not instant action type playing. I still hope to have some achievements/leader board materials form here but not likely to have any equipment or pilot advancing type effects.

- Lots of work on missions. With the new design team map layouts, mission stories, the types of things you do in missions, etc is all MUCH more interesting and varied than ever before. The kinds of things we can now do is very advanced.

- Better faction definition. The stories in the game really tell all about your faction and why you are at war with the others. The story is also darker than before with many of the missions you fly feeling more gray than the typical black and white always doing the good thing type story.

- PvP. Lots and lots of work on systems for PvP, new maps, new game play, new forms of advancement, player built battle stations, capturing sectors, etc. The scope and feel of the massive space battles you will be taking part in against other players will be, IMHO, what really sets us apart.

- AI functionality. Tons of work on making the AI both the right difficulty (it was way to easy before) and also varied in behavior.

Codemaster's DNOTE has also added;

Battlestations are part of the NvNvN combat, a squad can claim a sector on behalf of a nation and build a battlestation within it to defend it and provide other benefits (if the particular sector allows it). This isn't a build one where ever you want type of thing, its an intricate part of the Nation PvP system.

krispy on March 11 2010 07:24:15 · 0 Comments · 186 Reads ·

Still waiting for news

Well we are still waiting for any firm news on when the game will be ready, or at least ready enough to open beta.

All we know is that more people have been pulled onto the project, so they're obviously busy re-coding and tweaking the gameplay away.  It sounds like there may also be some changes to the flight physics, to make for a more realistic/hard core experience if you don't use the 'dampeners' to help you fly.  That's not officially confirmed or tested by myself, but it sounds quite likely.

Keep your eyes out pilots, 2010 must be our year! :)

krispy on February 07 2010 10:56:22 · 0 Comments · 230 Reads ·

Change at the top - Hermann to Leave NetDevil

News today is that the long time ND Producer of Jumpgate Evolution, Hermann Peterscheck, will be leaving the project, which is quite a shock to many in the JGE community.

Here are his words to the community on him leaving NetDevil;

After three years of working with the Jumpgate Evolution team, sadly my time with NetDevil has come to an end. It’s been an incredibly difficult decision to leave.

During my time at NetDevil I was privileged to work with a great team and I’m leaving with some fantastic memories of working with them. I’m confident that Lance and Scott have the expertise to drive Jumpgate Evolution to become a huge success. I cannot think of a better team to take the game forward to launch, and I know the game is in good hands.

Finally I’d like to say thank you to everyone in the community! You have stuck with Jumpgate Evolution through thick and thin, and I know your patience is going to be rewarded when you play the final game.

Hermann

krispy on November 30 2009 22:56:25 · 0 Comments · 369 Reads ·

JGE Release... aiming for 2010

Well it's been some time since I created this site after finding out about JGE (late 2006).. but it's still going to be some time until release date.

After initial 'friends and family' testing by a select group, the feedback was digested by NetDevil, and it appears that release is still some time off, as they try and nail the product how they want it (and hopefuly the fans want it!).

So at the moment there is no official date or even quarter - the best I can get is 'aiming for 2010 for release' - but mainly it is, and always has been (except one aborted June 09 promise), "ready when it's ready"

krispy on September 10 2009 20:03:33 · 2 Comments · 579 Reads ·

PvP Clarification

Now this as everything JGE is subject to change - but someone asked some simple yes/no answerable questions to clear up how PvP will work in JGE.  Here it is for you to digest;

Clarification on the pve/pvp ruleset given it is focus of so much discussion:

Q

1) Can a member of Faction A be attacked by members of Faction B or C in Faction A's regulated space?
2) Can a member of Faction A be attacked by members of Faction B or C in unregulated space?
3) Can a member of Faction A be attacked by members of Faction B or C in Faction B's or C's regulated space?
4) Can a member of Faction A attack another member of Faction A in Faction A's regulated space?
5) Can a member of Faction A attack another member of Faction A in unregulated space?
6) Can a member of Faction A attack another member of Faction A in Faction B's or C's regulated space?

Simple "Yes/No" responses to the above questions would put an end to a lot of discussion on this forum

A

By Faction I assume you mean nation (Sol, Quant, Oct).
1) Yes if the PvP flag for both is set to on.
2) Yes.
3) Yes if the PvP flag for both is set to on.
4) No.
5) No. (although we are debating this exact scenario)
6) No.

Basically right now Solrain can never attack Solrain. Unregulated space is completely open for Nation vs. Nation, Regulated space has premission based PvP. Same nation combat is something we are actively discussing/debating.

krispy on August 12 2009 19:10:10 · 1 Comment · 641 Reads ·