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Author Topic: Dual Universe Kickstarter  (Read 9124 times)

JohnDoe

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Dual Universe Kickstarter
« on: September 15, 2016, 07:39:14 AM »

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1949863330/dual-universe-civilization-building-sci-fi-mmorpg
https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/1949863330/dual-universe-civilization-building-sci-fi-mmorpg

TL;DR: Basically EVE in a single shard voxel world with same skill training scheme and monetization scheme (subscription+PLEX), player driven economy yada yada yada. Highlights include interactive mining activity (something EVE fails at), LUA scriptable ships (can also sell your scripts on in game market). Lifetime subscription available as high tier KS rewards. Est. delivery Dec 2018.
« Last Edit: September 15, 2016, 07:41:09 AM by JohnDoe »
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Gothars

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2016, 08:53:01 AM »

I'm kinda fed-up with "big" space games. I wish some more would focus on one tight set of well-designed, innovative mechanics. Instead of every game trying to do everything.
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

Arranging holidays in an embrace with the Starsector is priceless.

Tartiflette

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #2 on: September 15, 2016, 09:54:34 AM »

The last two I really enjoyed were House of the Dying Sun for the sim side, and Battlefleet Gothic Armada for the tactical side. And it is not a surprise if both are games limited in scope that focused on a single gameplay aspect and did it right.
« Last Edit: September 15, 2016, 10:18:56 AM by Tartiflette »
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Gothars

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2016, 10:14:40 AM »

Oh, I really want to get into House of the Dying Sun, I'm just not sure if I want to do so without a VR kit. I just seems such a perfect match to me, and I don't want to spoil the experience by getting to know the game in flat format first. Then again I don't see me buying VR before the second generation, and who knows how long that will be...
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

Arranging holidays in an embrace with the Starsector is priceless.

Tartiflette

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #4 on: September 15, 2016, 10:22:26 AM »

I played it flat (surprisingly it doesn't have any 3Dvision support) and I really really liked it. It is apparently one of the best VR games right now, but frankly is there isn't any better games before the second generation of headsets gets out, that means VR is dead and you would have waited two/three years for nothing before playing it flat anyway.
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Gothars

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #5 on: September 15, 2016, 12:59:12 PM »

Ah, maybe you're right. Im gonna wait for it to come out of early access and then see if I can still resist :)
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

Arranging holidays in an embrace with the Starsector is priceless.

MesoTroniK

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #6 on: September 15, 2016, 03:05:35 PM »

Dual Universe is an extremely overly ambitious pipe dream that I consider extremely unlikely to pan out in any manner resembling what they are actually pitching and want it to be.

IMO, scam alert!

Linnis

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #7 on: September 15, 2016, 07:43:20 PM »

Another mincraft space "mmo"

Wont be fun.
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David

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #8 on: September 15, 2016, 09:52:50 PM »

Come now, "scam" is too strong a word - that implies an intentional con. Such ploys exist, but this isn't that.

Looks like a fully legitimate effort - and fully possible with technology which exists, just the presentation is heavy on the concept art and marketing-effective phrasing and media-snippets that imply a lot more than will actually be; But with less bluster than another big space game that promised an awful lot. You can see a bit behind the curtain how each game-space is segmented from the others into their own little instances and the whole wrapped in an MMO chat/forum interface, so it's really quite doable, though a bit less of a holistic world than one might be led to believe.

I shudder to consider producing a game like this, but it's clear that they're aiming to hit buttons that resonate with a lot of people who are willing to drop a lot of money, so the market is there ... 
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Tartiflette

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #9 on: September 15, 2016, 10:58:03 PM »

Yeah, Overambitious is the right word here. They do have some really interesting tech demos on youtube, but I can't see the game they describe coming out from there with that little money.
And for me personally "Voxel based" is a major buzzkiller, followed by "player driven economy" and "emergent gameplay". Those words on a kickstarter page always sound like "We have a nifty engine tech but not much of a game to put in it".
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JohnDoe

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #10 on: September 15, 2016, 11:32:02 PM »

They said they're following EVE Online's market model (bid/ask orders, so the real money is in market making), so it's not exactly a new thing.

The pics and videos they've put out is concept art/tech demo heavy so I can't really comment on it. I'm also not comfortable that they put player-built spaceship combat as a stretch goal; sounds sketchy at best.
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Harmful Mechanic

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #11 on: September 15, 2016, 11:46:36 PM »

I wouldn't back something like this past the base $17 level, because I get the same sense that it's probably undercapitalized for the promises the Kickstarter page is making. Lots of stuff could go haywire on a project of that scope.
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Tartiflette

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #12 on: September 16, 2016, 12:58:17 AM »

Given they are in Paris I did a bit of math: a 25 people studio need about 2 millions euros a year to run (assuming slightly lower than average salaries for the team). Maybe a bit more depending of their server and hardware needs to develop a MMO. On the other hand you can get 20% of a game budget covered by national grants (and this project tick all the boxes to get that). There are other grants that can add to that up to 200K euros but they are more difficult to get. Finally there are 0% loans for R&D but it look like they are too far in the project to be eligible, or maybe already used that to create their prototype.

Overall, 500K is a minuscule budget for a game that large and doesn't even begin to cover the running cost of their studio for the length of the development. On the other hand on their website they do say "It operates on funds successfully raised from private investors" so they have more money than that.

So maybe it is just a hype kickstarter? Maybe they are just testing the market to estimate sales? I don't know what is going on but that Kickstarter doesn't seems to be the full funding of the game.

[edit] Their are associated with the CNC, that likely means they got the 20% grant, so there's that.
[edit2] Looking at their jobs offers, it really seems they have an engine but no game to put in; and their feature list is more a wishlist. On the other hand they do have a lot of investors! So running out of money shouldn't be that much of a concern.
« Last Edit: September 16, 2016, 01:12:26 AM by Tartiflette »
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JohnDoe

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #13 on: October 09, 2016, 11:52:59 PM »

Huh, they actually did it
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Deshara

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Re: Dual Universe Kickstarter
« Reply #14 on: October 10, 2016, 09:22:14 AM »

Estimated delivery for an eve clone, one year from now. LOL.
But, clever sods, all they needed to do was say "eve clone" and then "lifetime subscription" and the got the people's money. Man, kickstarter is a flawed model
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Quote from: Deshara
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