EVE VR is now EVE Valkyrie and is now on it’s way to being a fully-fledged commercial title rather than merely an incredibly successful tech demo. Jon Lander, Executive Producer at CCP Games, sat down to describe the journey this immensely promising multi-player Space Shooter.

Vindication

At last, the inevitable has happened and CCP Games has announced that EVE Valkyrie will hit a full release at some point in 2014. Jon Lander, who joined CCP from IBM after becoming a significant player in the EVE Online game scene, is jubilant that the work his team in Reykjavik knocked out in their spare time has been deemed worthy of release. This interview offers Lander’s recollections of the journey so far and his thoughts on VR gaming today and in the future.

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Paul James
Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.
  • Andreas Aronsson

    This is very interesting. I loved the trailer, looked awesome, I wonder how the final game will play. So far space demos have left me wanting, as empty space is… well, empty. And at least in the devkit with its’ limited resolution it is far more interesting to have things up close than far in the distance, i.e. that battle cruiser over there. Also very nice to hear developer challenges and solutions, I am very keen to here more stories like that :D

    • Mageoftheyear

      I strongly urge you to take a look at Star Citizen if you haven’t already.
      http://www.twitch.tv/roberts_space_ind_ch_1/b/450808296
      It’s about so much more than combat (not trying to discredit EVE as it’s early days for it and the trailer did leave me a little slack-jawed.)

      I loved the point in the interview where he talks about a hologram for spatially mapping projectiles. Very clever.

      • Andreas Aronsson

        I actually saw that Twitch broadcast :D same thoughts about the hologram :) I’ve casually been following Star Citizen since before the Kickstarter, but the whole in game credits system has me skeptical. In all honesty I have not read up on it entirely, but erhm… space shooters have not been my favorite genre before, and it just seems a bit too hard core for me :P I have enjoyed close quarter flyers though, like Descent and Forsaken.

        • Mageoftheyear

          I understand your scepticism. When I saw the kickstarter I remember thinking “yeah, that’s great but this is pure fantasy. There is no way they’ll get anywhere near 6 million, never mind 20 million,” and largely forgot about this pipe-dream.
          Then on the eighth of July I visited their website for the first time and I saw they were nearing 16M.
          o.O

          I couldn’t really believe it. Within the next three days I had three ships and an aching wallet but not for the reasons that most might expect.
          Let me first say that every in game item sold now can be bought/earned in the final game. Chris Roberts has approached the “pay-to-win” question like this; if you have the time (+/- 60hrs for a $225 ship as an example) to invest in earning the ingame credits needed to acquire ships then you can do that and never spend a penny over what you paid for the game. If you don’t have the time to go for one of the larger ships then you can simply buy one. You earn credits by completing missions where they are offered, through tournaments, owning production nodes or even good old fashioned piracy.

          There effectively is no pay-to-win, because what is winning? It’s a persistent universe, there are no experience points to earn, no ultimate bosses and no magical buffs.
          You can buy a ship for a few hundred dollars – and be torn to shreds by an experienced pilot in a $30 ship. There is no resting on your laurels in this universe.
          It is in effect geared to be impossible as a pay-to-win model. It’s 100% skill based and that is the appeal.

          CR hates steep learning curves and grind, which is the same reason I’ve never been attracted to space sims. What Star Citizen does offer though is depth for those who are interested in exploiting all they can. It really can be hard to follow the sheer wealth of info on SC, the best way I’ve managed to keep track is through the Jump Point monthly magazines that they offer to subscribers (without the donations of subscribers they wouldn’t have had the money to hire staff to create it and the weekly Wingman’s Hangar show.)

          These interviews are the best I’ve seen so far that sum up the vision for the game:
          http://youtu.be/n_LGAbKItRA
          http://youtu.be/wbI-tT0Zs-U

          Why am I backing the game? It’s really fun to see a studio engage with their community’s feedback, and it’s also a little cool that my 2c is helping to make it a reality :)

          And the writing is pretty damn entertaining too:
          https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/13137-A-SEPARATE-LAW-PART-ONE

      • Paul James

        Believe you me, Star Citizen is more than on our radar:

        https://www.roadtovr.com/2012/10/20/star-citizen-squadron-42-oculus-rift-virtual-reality-1633

        ..try as I might though I was unable to get an audience with anyone from RSI / Cloud Imperium.

        However, we did have a man on the ground at that party / presentation so we hope to have a report for you soon on that.

        • Mageoftheyear

          Lol, I believe you – that place was PACKED!
          Looking forward to the coverage.

  • Ryan

    Great interview! Good deep questions and thanks for allowing him to speak at his own pace. So much better than the interviews from more mainstream sites.