ZAM spoke with Jon Lander and Halldor Fannar about CCP's future

It’s too easy to forget just how audacious CCP is as a company and just how successful it has been in pushing the envelope.

EVE Online has had continued growth across its 10 year history (as of May 6^th) and now boasts over 500,000 subscribers. Those who are quick to detract (because, let’s face it, some people just do) would say there are bigger games; which is true. However, no other MMO has seen such consistent advancement in its player base across such an extended period.

Joining EVE in the New Eden universe is DUST 514, now in open beta on the PlayStation Network for the PS3. DUST, and its unique existence as a game within itself and as a living companion to EVE, exemplifies how CCP doesn’t just walk off the beaten track, it blasts away from it.

I joined Jon Lander, executive producer of EVE Online and Halldor Fannar, Chief technical officer for CCP Games to look back on the past 10 years and discern what is next as CCP enters its second decade of exploration.

The next big change coming to EVE Online itself is Odyssey (launching June 4), the game’s 19^th expansion. Of course, as always, it will not cost players a penny beyond the monthly subscription and it promises new content to flesh out the vast and beautiful universe of New Eden. Everything from improved starbases to graphical improvements to new ways that players can find EVE’s wealth of content will be getting a fresh take.

As is the way with EVE, expect things to be shaken up whenever deemed necessary. As Jon Lander said, regarding the economy and how resources are viewed, the norm isn’t always the state you wish to aim for as a game developer:

“We want to make it so people are less balanced, if you like. I don’t actually like balance in games, people aim for the perfect balance but it’s actually very boring when you do that. We want to throw a pebble in the resource pond and see where things go. We don’t want to make waves, but we want ripples.”

As in any economy, players in EVE Online know what sells and have settled into patterns of industry. This isn’t just in regard to what to mine and fabricate, it’s where that is occurring.  Lander used an example from EVE’s history to show how small changes can have huge effects:

“We changed the ratios of certain materials needed in Tech II blueprints and what was once the rarest most desired commodity in EVE suddenly became the sixth rarest. You immediately saw movement, you saw things happen. It led to a huge amount of activity. We’ve got a lot of tools where we can do that kind of thing.”

Lander explained that he believes, though he expected many to disagree, that the root cause of the destruction of the Northern Coalition was a change in the value of Technetium, meaning that the resources in the Coalition’s domain were so good, it began an inexorable conflict.

Odyssey will also see the continuation of ship rebalancing; a move which Lander says has certainly had the desired effect since it began in Crucible:

“The sheer breadth of ships that are being used is so much more than it was a year ago. Big alliances ran between four or five flavor of the month setups, single players only used three or four ships. There has been a significant uptake in the broadness of ships and variety always makes things more interesting.”

As one would expect, graphical improvements are ongoing, including shaders for ships and visual upgrades for player hangers; which should continue to keep EVE’s overall aesthetic both unique and compelling.

Perhaps the feature that will make the most difference for each gaming session that doesn’t include DUST 514 is the Discovery Scanner. Lander explained that, with the amount of content that has been iterated upon across 10 years, there is an abundance of content that the players are not aware of.

By utilizing the new Discover Scanner, the plan is to better breadcrumb content for players so they can see that there is actually plenty to do where they are, rather than feeling they have to travel great distances to do something cool.

The storyline of EVE is also returning to the fore, particularly in the aftermath of the recent Battle for Caldari Prime. Although the stories that the players create will always be the heart of the game, Jon outlined his aim for more flavor to be added:

“We’ve started getting people painting that backdrop, so that the players have a sandbox that isn’t just boring beige walls so it gives what they do some context but doesn’t overshadow their stories. We’re not saying “We will create quests and you will do things for us,” it’s about making a living, breathing universe. And now that DUST mercs have come into things we don’t want to just say “Ta-daaa!” and these things are running around. We actually want to make sensible reasons for why things are happening. So our storyline will introduce the DUST mercenaries as we go through this year.

Even for players who don’t get actively involved in these things, they hear about it, they see it and it makes the world much more alive and that’s a good thing for us.”

Halldor Fannar began the presentation for DUST 514 emphasizing the importance of the story of DUST in the shared universe, stating that it encompasses a “thematic rollout” for the game, centered on DUST’s soon to arrive expansion.

“It’s about the intrigue between the factions and the cloning technology, which is being used for capsuleers. They figure out a way to use that technology on mercenaries as well and it becomes a coveted piece of tech that eventually leaks out.

The factions use the cloning technology to build up their armies but at some point the mercenaries rise up and there is a revolt. The event known as Uprising is the mercenaries coming into their own and deciding to sometimes fight for the corporations, sometimes for whoever is paying them the most. That’s why the expansion we’re releasing on May 6is called Uprising.”