[Karash]

Ok, here is my whining post. I will try to get it out of my system, and continue to fight for what I feel is the soul of Jumpgate. Simply stated, I strongly urge ND not to remake Earth and Beyond, and give it a neutonian physics flight model. After reading all the the dev chat and interviews available...I understand where this project is going, and I do not like what I am seeing.

I understand what a Game Design Document is. It is clear from the comments by ND what direction this project is going (very carebear-ish in the slang). I also understand that radically changing your design can create months (if not years) of project delays. You guys want to get this done, and changing the game from a themepark project to a sandbox project is not really in the cards for you guys. Hell, you actually have a writer doing backstory instead of letting the players write the story of the game.

Having more players experience jumpgate is a noble goal. However, not playing to the niche that jumpgate truely is might be a tragic mistake. You have a very small team making Jumpgate: Evolution so huge changes might not even be possible.

Let me rip something from wikipedia (quite long, but please read):

Combat
Combat experience comes from killing mobs and combat jobs. Being incapacitated results in "EXP Debt," where the character only receives half of the normal experience, until the debt is repaid. Logging off for a period of a couple hours usually cleared up any minor debt.

[edit] Trade

Trade experience comes from selling loot dropped by mobs, by building stuff, by taking trade jobs at job terminals or just buying low and selling high (trade runs). The most effective trade runs became famous, acquiring nicknames like:

• The "newspaper run" (delivering Net-7 news between Net-7 Sol and Frienship 7 stations, which were only one hop apart). This was the canonical low-level trade route. When the trade experience starts to diminish, one graduates to
• The "spice run" (so called because the most effective item on one leg was "Spices"). It's four hops long.
• The "Fenris run" (delivering antenna parts to Fenris observatory). This is a very long run (12 hops).

[edit] Exploration

Exploration experience comes from visiting navigation points and exploration jobs. In general each system has a number of "nav points," usually between 20 and 50. Visiting a nav point for the first time gives a certain amount of exploration experience (the amount diminishes when exploration experience increases). After a nav point is visited, it appears on the "radar" when the player is in the system.

Certain nav points are hidden, which means that even after visiting them they don't appear on the radar. Experienced players would offer to "tour" less experienced ones (usually for a fee) by forming a group and visiting these hidden nav points.

The number of nav points in the game is limited; after a player has visited all nav points they could gain exploration experience by visiting them again grouped with players who visit the nav point for the first place. This is called "assisting," but the rewards are much lower.

Characters playing an Explorer class, such as the Jenquai Explorer and Progen Sentinel can mine asteroids for Exploration experience, and in turn sell materials for Trade Experience.
Certain NPCs give mission with rewards in exploration experience.

[edit] Spaceships

All ships consist of three essential pieces of equipment. Your ship will not be allowed to leave from spacedock if one of these items is not installed when you decide to disembark.

• Reactor - Provides power to your ship
• Shield - Protects your ship from weapons fire and environmental damage
• Engines - Propel your ship and enable warp travel

Secondary Equipment consists of

• Weaponry - Beams, Projectile Weapons, and Missile Launchers
• Devices - Equipment used to Buff or Debuff friendlies or Enemies

[edit] Customization

Since nearly all equipment ingame could be reverse engineered, rebuilt, and enhanced, a large trade market was planted on the dismantling, analyzing, and construction of equipment for sale to other players. Player made weapons boasted a higher quality percentage, (200% maximum), and allowed for a moderate degree of ship customization. Player made weapons boasted faster reload times, shorter cooldown, and faster firing rates which made them essential for combat. Player made shields gave greater recharge speeds in combat, and offered higher capacities. Modified reactors were a must for characters using beam weapons due to the huge energy demand. Player made engines allowed for faster than average warp travel, higher thrusting speeds, a tighter turning radius, and shorter spin-up and spin-down times for warp jumps. Ammunition for projectile and missile weapons could also be player made, producing higher damage ammunition.

[edit] Weapon classes

• Beams - close range - hardwired Energy, EMP, or Plasma damage - moderate firing rates, moderate to high energy usage, moderate to high damage. Favored by the Jenquai.
• Projectiles - medium range - Damage varies by ammunition type - fast firing rate, low energy usage, low damage per round, but usually many rounds were fired at once. Small ammunition size. Favored by the Progen.
• Missiles - long range - Damage varies by ammunition type - slow firing rate, low energy usage, high damage. Large ammunition size. Favored by the Terrans.

Beams and projectiles can be fired only if the player was facing the target. Missiles can be fired at any target, even when facing away from it, though doing this would typically lower accuracy.

You can read the whole article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_and_Beyond

For those that played EnB, I am sure you know where I am going. We all do not want EnB re-created into something with the Jumpgate name on it.

Well thats my rant and whine. I strongly urge ND to reconsider their design document...regardless of delays it will cause.

Thanks for reading.

[Jump]

EnB, the only game I ever quit in beta. lol

[ELPIRATA]

Im a tad confused by the CCP term here which I guess is probably just a way to make a point, which I get halfways but that's me. I know that if you're suggesting this is for some folks to learn and not repeat mistakes, and I can only hope that the suggestion will be not only heard, but taken deep into thought.

I guess I typed too much bla bla blah, so whatever Karash wanted to say... +1

ELP

[Lordopic]

ccp = Eve

[Karash]

Originally Posted by Lordopic

ccp = Eve

Thanks Lordopic, fixed now. I type it to much on another board

[ELPIRATA]

LOL why you thanks Lordo... its clear that it was me who was confused with the CCP term although I was thinking you were making fun of the thing by not putting the right 2 letters

Anyways...

ELP

[Jump]

Well I know Karash spends a lot of time on an EVE board so I just read through it expecting that he meant NetDevil. It's tough hanging out in so many forums.

[Istanbul]

Hey... I liked Earth and Beyond... and if I hadn't played it, then I probably wouldn't have gone looking for another game similar to it and therefore wouldn't have found Jumpgate. Jumpgate is of course better.

[daslog]

I think the truly ironic part is that Earth and Beyond was way more of a success than Jumpgate ever was. EA simply pulled the plug because a game with less than 100,000 players (at the time) wasn't worth their time to maintain.

[Excelsior]

EnB = NO Z Axis = NOT a SPACE SIM

[Wild_Bill]

The description sounded pretty good to me, but then I never played or even heard of EnB until I got on this forum. Same for several other MMO including EVE.

What was WRONG with it Karsh? Excelesior, I don't understand the "EnB = NO Z Axis = NOT a SPACE SIM". Can you explain more please?

[Excelsior]

Originally Posted by Wild_Bill

I don't understand the "EnB = NO Z Axis = NOT a SPACE SIM". Can you explain more please?

Earth & Beyond = you can go left, you can go right, but you cannot go up or down in a circle, it was very limited. This to me is no