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Dust 514 [PS3/PSVita] (EVE Online FPS/MMO) - Update #2: Art, Info, E3 Trailer, F2P

GeoramA

Member
Momo said:
Wait there is an expiry date on when I can activate my free plus?
July 3rd, all the welcome back freebies come down.

Still waiting for the stupid JP store to go back up. Wish I never deleted my HK account.
 

Momo

Banned
raphier said:
Can't see shit in there. Environments are boring.
Yeah the vids are dark as hell.

I read somewhere on dust514.org that a dev stated that whomever owns a planet can create a "map" of it to be as they want it (tl;dr you own a planet, your created map is that planet) so if the right amount of building blocks are in there, i see no reason for boring environs.
 

patsu

Member
Momo said:
Yeah the vids are dark as hell.

I read somewhere on dust514.org that a dev stated that whomever owns a planet can create a "map" of it to be as they want it (tl;dr you own a planet, your created map is that planet) so if the right amount of building blocks are in there, i see no reason for boring environs.

That's interesting. Got a link ?
 

Man

Member
I'm guessing the PSVita part of Dust 514 is general skill training and barrack/dockingstation management. Really hoping there will be a PS4 version of this game ready to go once that comes around.
 

StuBurns

Banned
There's no AI fights. Very surprising. I imagined instances against AI bots.

If I end up sinking much time into this game or not, I really hope it pays off for the guys, it seems like a pretty costly development.
 

Man

Member
Dust 514 uses the security level of EVE (1.0 are secure zones while you are on your own in 0.0 zones).
 

Momo

Banned
Tools of the Trade

What is the greatest resource in a universe of 5,431 systems and in excess of 65,000 planets? It’s people. The players that populate New Eden are far and away the single most important resource it contains. They are as durable as Morphite, as beautiful as Zydrine, and as volatile as Isogen-5. Without them, New Eden would be a poorer place. Which is why socialization is so important to us as both developers and players. We want players to be able to communicate in-battle and out; to be able to easily find and play with friends; to have the tools to meet and make new friends (and enemies) while they’re sitting in front of their PS3 and even when they’re not. Games are fun, but life is meaningful. And you can’t live without interacting with other people.

Of course, the fact that we’re trying to get two completely different demographics across two completely different platforms to not only communicate, but to compete, cooperate and, ultimately, generate conflict makes all of this that much harder. But we have faith that with the right tools, the players themselves will figure it all out. Here’s a brief introduction to some of the features and tools you’ll have at your disposal.

EVE Gate

Starting out, EVE Gate will be the communal hub for EVE pilots and DUST soldiers. This is where players from both games can manage their contacts, check in-game mail (when not actually in-game), post on forums, check their calendar for upcoming events or post new events of their own to the calendar. We’ll be adding functionality to EVE Gate over time. Some of it will be DUST-specific, like battle heatmaps, but most of it will be shared across EVE Online and DUST 514. EVE Gate is, after all, for all of the EVE setting.

Corporations

In EVE, the cornerstone of all serious space operations is the corporation. It allows players to manage funds, organize long-term activities and have a persistent venue to communicate with your fellow members. We are working hard on making EVE corporations completely seamless between EVE and DUST 514. This means that from the point of view of all corporation functionality, it shouldn’t matter whether a corporation member is a DUST player or an EVE player. There are of course certain functions that only make sense for EVE players and others that only make sense for DUST players, but for everything else there should be no difference. The idea is that a corporation staffed with members from both EVE and DUST 514 should be able to access all available functions. Common functionality includes creating corporations, managing membership, managing finances, and joining alliances. For some of these functionalities, we will be providing a native UI on the console client, while others that are deemed to be less immediately critical will be available on EVE Gate to start with. Currently, the biggest limitation will be inventories, as EVE items don’t really have any functions on the DUST client and reciprocally, but this is something that might change in the future when we will observe even more convergence between EVE and DUST.

Voice / Text Chat

Using voice chat, DUST and EVE players will be able to communicate with one another in realtime.

Text chat is of course supported too. The PS3 supports standard USB and Bluetooth keyboards right out of the box and so we don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that players will grab their PC’s keyboard for use in DUST 514. Believe me, it’s far easier than trying to use a software keyboard to keep up in a chat channel. The keyboard will be usable for chatting only. There will be no in-battle mouse + keyboard support.

Socialization is more than just tools. It’s about bringing people together. The nature of any FPS means the mechanics of socialization are a little different than your typical MMO. In an FPS, squads are the atomic building blocks of socialization. You jump into a quick battle, are randomly assigned to a squad, you fight with a bunch of strangers and maybe, somewhere amidst the mayhem and the carnage you decide, “Hey, that guy shotgunning people in the back, I like the cut of his jib!” Voice chat makes it easy enough to speak to him, but the ability to stick with him at the end of a battle and then jump together into subsequent battles is vital. Because at the end of the day, that’s how long-lasting relationships are formed. Of course, if you already have a group of friends (lucky you!) you can easily invite them into a battle or stick with them as you move between battles. After all, the family that slays together, stays together.

The War Room

The life of a mercenary is about fighting, but taking over a planet is no small task, so players will find themselves spending a lot of time in the War Room – a 3D lobby where players can go over their vehicle and character fittings; stock up on items from the corp inventory or the marketplace; chat with fellow corp members or once-off hires; scrutinize potential strategies and just generally get ready for the battles to come. Each War Room supports a maximum of 32 players at once. Players navigate the social spaces in DUST (of which the War Room is the first) in third-person.


The merging of EVE and DUST provides opportunities for socialization far beyond what most MMOs are able to offer simply by virtue of the fact that New Eden will soon be populated by players with vastly different roles, but similar agendas. And, we believe, the universe will be better for it. Because, for better or worse, every minute spent in the EVE setting should mean something.

TheWarRoom.jpg


CCP LeKjart, Principal Game Designer

CCP Remnant, Game Designer

http://www.dust514.com/en/news/article/2041/tools-of-the-trade

Not a lot of news coming through, some interesting points I read yesterday.
 
I'm really excited about this game but the main issue her seems to be as they pointed out, people. On the PC, EVE could exist for a very long time into the future. A ps3 game coming out next year feels like it has a limited life. 514 could be great, but there are many issues that keep me from being convinced (yet).
 

Momo

Banned
BobTheFork said:
I'm really excited about this game but the main issue her seems to be as they pointed out, people. On the PC, EVE could exist for a very long time into the future. A ps3 game coming out next year feels like it has a limited life. 514 could be great, but there are many issues that keep me from being convinced (yet).
I'm interested in what they have planned for Vita, the platform should be viable for ages still. Also I can see them shifting Dust to PC if the users start drying up.
 

Man

Member
BobTheFork said:
I'm really excited about this game but the main issue her seems to be as they pointed out, people. On the PC, EVE could exist for a very long time into the future. A ps3 game coming out next year feels like it has a limited life. 514 could be great, but there are many issues that keep me from being convinced (yet).
I see no reason why they couldn't migrate it to PS4 when the time comes.
 

Aselith

Member
Man said:
I see no reason why they couldn't migrate it to PS4 when the time comes.

If they could get the game on PS4 in the launch window that would be amazing for them I think, a good (?) shooter with an already built in community with (hopefully) up-to-date graphics and good social hooks would hit in a big way if they did it right. PS3, Vita and PS4 would give them a pretty large pool of people to draw consumers from not to mention their dedicated fanbase from EVE.

Relaunch it with the release of PS4 and I think they could do very well with this game. Launch window drought is always an issue and this would be just the thing to get a lot of people to jump in on Dust-514.
 

Momo

Banned
Some Dust articles I found (old but not disused here yet)

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/118/1189206p1.html

August 19th

Through Dust 514's multiplayer skirmishes you can take control of entire planets in EVE: Online. Yes, you can own an entire planet. But the fight isn't over once it's yours -- you then have to defend it. EVE is a persistent world, and another player could come along at any time and try to take or even completely destroy your world. Economic repercussions from these planetary wars can be felt galaxies away in other areas of EVE: Online. The developer, CCP, says it wants Dust 514 to be about "more than just shooting another guy in the face."

You don't need to have any experience with EVE in order to jump into Dust 514, although, right from the start, there is plenty of mingling with the EVE community. Before launching a planetside operation you'll have time to hang out in the command center of your ship and chat with both Dust 514 and EVE players. This way you can find people to play with and, perhaps, form a corporation (EVE's version of a guild). Hooking up with PC gamers playing EVE is a very good idea, as they can provide air support from orbit while you're down in the dirt.

But this is how high-concept Dust 514 is: those EVE players aren't participating in a vacuum. Their MMO game continues and if someone attacks their ship or they become distracted by any number of diversions, you may be left on your own when you call in that orbital strike.

First thing you'll do when jumping into Dust 514 is customize your soldier. Expect the download to cost around $20 (it won't require a subscription, as EVE does), which is converted to in-game currency to get you started with weapons, armor, and vehicles. The more you play, the more money you'll earn, and the more toys you'll be able to buy. Customizing your soldier is called "fitting."

Don't get too attached to that stuff, though. The soldier you send down to a planet to fight is actually a clone, and if he doesn't make it back you're out all of his equipment.

Once you're fitted to your liking you're off to do battle on the surface below. One example I saw was a seven-on-seven Skirmish mode (that supports up to 32 players). Our team was out to drop the shields on an enemy spaceship that was docked on the planet so it could be destroyed. We started some distance from the facility, so the first half of the mission was spent in a tank making our way there. Once we arrived at our destination we made our way to the terminal controlling the shields on foot, taking out enemies along the way. A few orbital strikes were called in from a buddy playing on PC and proved quite effective.

Nothing particularly new, and videos at the link.
 

Momo

Banned
August 20th

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/20/dust-514-preview-contractual-murder/

Ready for things to get more bananas? Let's say you're on a planet, shooting dudes with your space gun, and you need some assistance. Say, a series of high-powered laser beams from an orbital ship, just for example's sake. You could always ask your buddy who's sitting at his PC playing EVE Online to do just that by sending him the coordinates. And just like that, lasers rain from the sky, destroying that pesky tank that simply refused to stop firing missiles in your direction. That also happens in real-time via cross-platform chat.

Again, if I weren't watching the developers actually do this in front of me, I'd be reticent to point out how insanely impressive it was. But as the dev leading the demo progressed through the map, eventually taking the enemy ship and completing the contract, I found myself more and more shocked. The combat itself looked a bit rough, but the game is still a ways out and, for a game in pre-Alpha, it appeared more than competent, mechanically speaking. And though I wasn't shown in the demo, things will apparently get even more insane with a commander (another actual human being) taking control of the enormous command ship.

If it weren't already clear, I think you should be paying attention to Dust 514 over the next year. Beyond the compelling game, its base-level ties to all things EVE Online are a first in the console market. And with such a low price barrier to entry planned, I have high hopes that it'll bring a sea change in the way gamers see microtransaction-based games.
Images and more commentary at the link.
 

Iknos

Junior Member
Been waiting for a game like this for years. Eve sounds interesting but I don't have time to play that. This is a good mix of a game that can be played in short spurts but leaves a mark on a persistent world.
 

Inanna

Not pure anymore!
The player's armour looks like a cross between MAG Raven and Helghast elite shock troopers. I like it!
Ah 2012 summer? That's too far away.. :(
 

Momo

Banned
Inanna said:
The player's armour looks like a cross between MAG Raven and Helghast elite shock troopers. I like it!
Ah 2012 summer? That's too far away.. :(
At least we get a beta this year :(
 

Aselith

Member
Iknos said:
Been waiting for a game like this for years. Eve sounds interesting but I don't have time to play that. This is a good mix of a game that can be played in short spurts but leaves a mark on a persistent world.

EVE is actually interesting in that if you have the money you don't actually need to play to progress. You can change your skills out and they train real time so they actually train while you're offline. The only thing is that you need the money to buy skillbooks so you do need the time to do that but you can usually do that without much playing time at all for earlier skillbooks. Some of the later ones cost a pretty penny though.

I'd give the free trial a go and you might actually find that it would work for you timewise. Missions tend to be fairly brief (maybe 30 minutes or an hour or so at most) so you could definitely do mission running in short bursts.
 
I haven't been updating the thread, because I think a majority of things being said in devblogs and interviews aren't exactly new.

There's a somewhat recent devblog titled Tools of the Trade that briefly shows off the hangar/captain's quarters equivalent for Dust. The "War Room".

Here's a screenshot.

XIEed.jpg


Information on this game is on a very slow trickle at the moment. I'm not even sure how ready the beta is. Hopefully we'll get something soon.
 
Scaling the Universe of Dust 514

Lin Luo // Server Architect said:
I am a Server Architect on DUST 514 and, in this devblog, I would like to cover at a high level some of the online technical aspects of DUST 514, including the challenges we have met and the approaches we have taken in handling them.

As a server architect on the project, I am responsible for integrating the DUST FPS multiplayer battles into the EVE universe, as well as optimizing the DUST battle servers to perform even better. Unlike normal FPS multiplayer games, DUST 514 has heavy MMO elements. And unlike normal MMO FPS games, DUST has heavy interaction with one of the most successful MMO space games – EVE Online! This imposes challenges on what technologies we should use in order to have this level of interaction with EVE, while keeping FPS gameplay as smooth as possible.

While continuing to rely on the Unreal 3 engine for the FPS multiplayer gameplay for DUST, the interaction with the rest of the EVE universe should naturally take advantage of utilizing some existing EVE online technologies. Think about a simplified flow of how a DUST battle might begin:

An EVE corporation issues a battle contract to seize a territory on a given planet that is currently owned by another corporation; a group of DUST mercenaries comes to accept the contract as the attacker for the bounty the contract offers; another group of DUST mercenaries comes to accept the contract as the defender, so they also get a reward if the territory is protected. When the number of each team has reached a pre-determined minimum, the EVE server logic would instruct an appropriate DUST battle cluster to spawn a battle in it. This provides the battle server with all the necessary information regarding the prospective battle upon launching, and the DUST mercenary clients will then be forwarded to join the battle accordingly. After the battle is finished with everyone getting (or losing) their share of the benefits, the battle server process will then be terminated by the EVE universe.

So the EVE universe needs to manage the lifetime of DUST battle servers as well as communicating with them when needed, while we also need to make sure that the latency sensitive FPS multiplayer gameplay goes fairly for the participating DUST players. I won’t go into a deep technical discussion about how we solve the challenges involved here, as we are still exploring all the possibilities to find out the best balance point to map physical DUST battles nicely into the EVE universe!

Unlike traditional FPS multiplayer servers, we will host DUST battle servers around the globe. Since the centralized server hardware resources are pretty limited in number, we have to find ways to utilize existing server resources as much as possible. Instead of having a dedicated server machine to host one battle, we aim to have a dedicated multi-core server machine to host as many DUST battle servers as possible!

We have done a bunch of significant performance optimizations to the FPS engine we are using both on the server side and the client side, so each DUST battle server is now happily hosting a satisfying number of concurrent DUST players. Again, I will not go too much detail on how we achieved that, but rest assured that the DUST battles will be very scalable.

As always, we are continuously making improvements to every aspect of DUST 514, to make DUST an enjoyable experience for all of our future players!
It's a shame he doesn't go into the technical aspects of how the server side stuff is run. I love reading that stuff.

Two new screenshots (click for full size):





Some new artwork (click for full size):

Gallente Outpost


Caldari Outpost


Amarr Pistol


Gallente LAV


Gallente HAV


The beta (Private Trials), as far as I know, is still set for this year. I'll update the thread as information is released.
 

satori

Member
hmmm this game sounds more intriguing the more I learn about it. I really hope they can pull it off. Thanks for the updates!
 

darkwing

Member
old? or is it in a new thread

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/11/28/vehicle-dynamics-in-dust-514/

Vehicle Dynamics in DUST 514

Vehicle classes in DUST 514 resemble modern day battlefield armored vehicles but are more menacing…and multitudes more lethal. You can also customize the vehicles with weapons and modules to ensure highly dynamic and constantly evolving gameplay where no single vehicle can impose absolute supremacy. The ultimate goal is to create an experience where players make meaningful choices based on their surroundings and situations when deploying vehicles.

6418374563_f0c5a77a83_z.jpg


lots of interesting info in the link
 

KKRT00

Member
Its so awful that any media dont pick info about this game, its like Dust is invisible even though is so revolutionary.

Seriously map pack for COD would get 1000x more news that full info about this game ;\
 
wow, this is much more ambitious than I imagine. at first I thought it's just a standard multiplayer shooter. I know the big deal is that it linked to EVE online universe, but I imagine that those will be rather invisible to the Dust player so as long as they concened, they're playing a standard deathmatch/objective multiplayer shooter.

I never imagine that it even have vehicles and even vehicle customization (on the fly?) they also have dropship, chances are, they probably also have planes or offensive flying vehicle making it more like battlefield or starhawk.

do we know how many player the game support?
 
Thanks for posting that, darkwing. I was so busy yesterday that I never got the chance. I think, from now on, it would be better if we made new threads for new information. I'll collect the articles and link them in the beta OT for those who want to know more about the game. In the meantime, just make new threads.

Its so awful that any media dont pick info about this game, its like Dust is invisible even though is so revolutionary.

Seriously map pack for COD would get 1000x more news that full info about this game ;\

It kind of is a shame, but Dust is pretty far off. I think things will pick up once the beta releases.

I'll make an OT for the beta
 

Jhriad

Member

That's it? Well, that's just plain disappointing. Probably won't even bother if it's just going to be a medium sized Battlefield.

wait, what do you mean by PS2 several thousand player limit?

Planetside 2. When Dust first came on the scene a lot of old Planetside players, like myself, were excited because it seemed like that's where this was going. With that maximum player count though it becomes just another FPS. At least it has a different setting than the normal modern conflict games.
 

TTP

Have a fun! Enjoy!
∀ Narayan;33044862 said:
It kind of is a shame, but Dust is pretty far off. I think things will pick up once the beta releases.

It's a shame but also obvious. After the initial trailer they haven't shown a single gameplay footage. All they are doing is talking "interesting" stuff without actually showing it in action. Hard to get excited.

Look at Starhawk/Battlefield 3 instead for examples of how it should be done. Every update about those games came with an explainatory/hype-inducing trailer.

I'm actually quite concerned about how DUST 514 will run. We are talking a PC developer with no experience in console development working on the least PC developer friendly console on the market. And they are not doing a puzzle game either, but rather a revolutionary MMO FPS. I need reassurance they game is running fine before I can start getting excited.
 
It's a shame but also obvious. After the initial trailer they haven't shown a single gameplay footage. All they are doing is talking "interesting" stuff without actually showing it in action. Hard to get excited.

Look at Starhawk/Battlefield 3 instead for examples of how it should be done. Every update about those games came with an explainatory/hype-inducing trailer.

I'm actually quite concerned about how DUST 514 will run. We are talking a PC developer with no experience in console development working on the least PC developer friendly console on the market. And they are not doing a puzzle game either, but rather a revolutionary MMO FPS. I need reassurance they game is running fine before I can start getting excited.

I agree. The E3 trailer was very underwhelming and definitely creates concern for how well CCP is able to get this game running.

CCP just needs to release this for PC. Eventually they'll realize that their real audience is going to be the EVE community.
 

SparkTR

Member
∀ Narayan;33045441 said:
I agree. The E3 trailer was very underwhelming and definitely creates concern for how well CCP is able to get this game running.

CCP just needs to release this for PC. Eventually they'll realize that their real audience is going to be the EVE community.

PS3 seems like a 'safe' option at the moment. On PC they'll be competing with exclusive games like Planetside 2 and Firefall, and being multiplatform they're more or less bound to the limitations of the PS3 leaving them at a severe disadvantage, they would no doubt lose players to their competition. On PS3 they have free reign over their niche, no pressure to match the opposition and a new audience to reach out to. Personally I don't know if PSN will be enough to successfully carry a game such as this, but I guess they'll have PC to fall back on if it doesn't pan out.
 

KKRT00

Member
PS3 seems like a 'safe' option at the moment. On PC they'll be competing with exclusive games like Planetside 2 and Firefall, and being multiplatform they're more or less bound to the limitations of the PS3 leaving them at a severe disadvantage, they would no doubt lose players to their competition. On PS3 they have free reign over their niche, no pressure to match the opposition and a new audience to reach out to. Personally I don't know if PSN will be enough to successfully carry a game such as this, but I guess they'll have PC to fall back on if it doesn't pan out.

Its not about being 'safe', its about getting attention in console crowd.
You can get better recognition if You make exclusive title for console, instead of a port of PC game. Thats why they dont want to announce Dust for PC and we know that it will happen.

CCP doesnt need to compete with Planetside or Firefall, because they have EVE integration, even if their battlegrounds will be smaller, their world will be bigger and has bigger impact.
Those are also different games, Planetside is a war between 3 alliances on one big battleground and Firefall is TDM PVP + full worlds PVE, where Dust is about Corporations fighting over planets.
 
Its so awful that any media dont pick info about this game, its like Dust is invisible even though is so revolutionary.

How is this game revolutionary?

I would honestly prefer CCP do something with the World of Darkness IP they have.

PS3 seems like a 'safe' option at the moment. On PC they'll be competing with exclusive games like Planetside 2 and Firefall, and being multiplatform they're more or less bound to the limitations of the PS3 leaving them at a severe disadvantage, they would no doubt lose players to their competition. On PS3 they have free reign over their niche, no pressure to match the opposition and a new audience to reach out to. Personally I don't know if PSN will be enough to successfully carry a game such as this, but I guess they'll have PC to fall back on if it doesn't pan out.

I don't think Planetside 2 will be exclusive to PC, but we'll see.
 
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