Dual Universe Announced, Alpha in Early 2017
Novaquark, an indie studio based out of Paris, France has announced that development of their sandbox Sci-Fi MMORPG, Dual Universe is in full swing. The studio, made up of industry vets from Ubisoft, Sony, Apple and even Aldebaran Robotics are aiming to bring their vast knowledge of science to an amazing video game setting. Dual Universe is set within a continuous single-shard universe where players can freely edit the world and build any construction they like with no size restrictions, from space ships to cities to giant space stations. Played in first person view, Dual Universe takes place in a vast realistic universe made of millions of planets, and focuses on emergent collective gameplay based around exploration, mining, crafting, trade, politics and warfare.
Studio founder, J.C. Baillie makes no qualms about his inspiration for Dual Universe stating, “I am a huge fan of games like Eve Online and Space Engineers. I took inspiration from such games to imagine what could be the future of the MMO experience: a continuous world with planets, huge building possibilities, social and political aspects, but without the boundaries that so often restrict the gameplay. This idea needs a lot of tech and emergent game design that is not so far from AI and other fields I’m familiar with. So, I got a first prototype working back in 2014, and Novaquark was born soon after.”
An alpha version demonstrating the unique single hard cluster (CSSC) and planetary engine with a preliminary set of gameplay features is planned to become available at the beginning of 2017. Beyond its initial release, Dual Universe is set to be a long term continuous development project and will grow with regular updates.
Gameplay Features
- Boundless Massively Multiplayer Game: potentially millions of players can share the same universe at the same time. One world, no boundaries, no zones, no instances.
- Rich emergent gameplay mechanisms enable players to create their own societies.
- Fully editable world: dig, deploy, craft, create and shape almost everything.
- Giant player-made ships and constructions can be inhabited and host large crews.
- Immersive first person view in a futuristic sci-fi universe.
- Realistic in-game economy (based on market orders and financial tools).
- Scriptable constructions (ships, buildings, etc) using LUA: players can build their own piloting, AI or factory automation.
