PS2 may feature space based combat- Massively

[Sovereign]

http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/15/planetside-2-may-feature-space-based-gameplay/

Oh (un)holy devs we beseech you please make it so! :D

[bjorntju1]

Really if they can make everything happen what they are saying, this is going to be the perfect FPS.

[vampyro]

What? No cave battles? Sounds like all fart and no poop so far. Show us more!

[Tatwi]

I never understood what was so hard about adding "space" combat.

1. Make a "skybox" that looks like stars.
2. Don't make any land.
3. "Cut out" an invisible cube that cannot be passed through.
4. Place some space stuff inside the cube.
5. Add vehcile spawners inside the cube.
6. Enjoy.

There you go, a "space sector". In terms of working with something like the Quake II map maker program, a "space sector" would be easiest thing to make! lol...

[Bags]

I thought Planetside was a shooter at heart? If you want space ships go play eve.

[Raymac]

I thought Planetside was a shooter at heart? If you want space ships go play eve.

Don't get snobby. Planetside 2 is going to be a much larger more comprehesive game than the original, especially as time goes on. There will always be games that are just a simple shooter, but it sounds like PS2 will be that and much more.

[Logit]

Personally I'd rather some sweet Naval combat over space combat.

[Bags]

Don't get snobby. Planetside 2 is going to be a much larger more comprehesive game than the original, especially as time goes on. There will always be games that are just a simple shooter, but it sounds like PS2 will be that and much more.

I don't want it to end up like wow where one part of the game gets more love (COUGH PVE COUGH).

[Tatwi]

I don't want it to end up like wow where one part of the game gets more love (COUGH PVE COUGH).

It could end up like Star Wars Galaxies, where the space combat/zones/vehicles/crafting/looting were "done right in the first place" to such an extent that by the time they got around to adding more content to it, none of the original devs who made it were still on the team! Space, being "twitch based" had some lag issues and it did get a couple numerical value adjustments here and there, but it's the one thing that virtually no-one complained about from its release until it's big content updates starting in 2008 (4 years after space was introduced). That's not to say that people complain about space now, because they don't really - which is amazing, considering how MMO players love to complain... I'd say that's not a waste of time, yet it was a heck of a lot more involved than any space content PS2 will ever see (due to crafting, looting, pob ships, and ship parts from SWG not being PS2).

Decent and Decent: Free Space are "shooter games" only they take place inside a vehicle rather than on foot. Shooter game is shooter game.

Besides, apart from making ship models and balancing some numbers, there is very, very little to space content, by the very nature that it is space! :)

[Zulthus]

I thought Planetside was a shooter at heart? If you want space ships go play eve.

If implemented properly, more content never hurt anybody. If you don't want space ships, don't fight in a space ship. It seems post after post you just want the game to be some boring gun game with nothing else to it. Do you even want vehicles? Doesn't seem like it.

[Lithious]

If implemented properly, more content never hurt anybody. If you don't want space ships, don't fight in a space ship. It seems post after post you just want the game to be some boring gun game with nothing else to it. Do you even want vehicles? Doesn't seem like it.

Sure that a game with alot of contrent is a good thing. But for me, flying around in a spaceship in PS2, so called an "MMOFPS" seems abit odd. Now, dont get me wrong, sure they might be able to make it "right". But for now it just seems a little distant. I just hope that they make everying else a 100% before they're starting to add in such big new feautres.
Hope they choose Quality over Quantity ;)

[Zulthus]

Sure that a game with alot of contrent is a good thing. But for me, flying around in a spaceship in PS2, so called an "MMOFPS" seems abit odd. Now, dont get me wrong, sure they might be able to make it "right". But for now it just seems a little distant. I just hope that they make everying else a 100% before they're starting to add in such big new feautres.
Hope they choose Quality over Quantity ;)

Quality over Quantity every time. But flying a Reaver is the same thing as flying a space ship. It's just in a different environment. I could also say driving a tank in a MMOFPS is odd.. but with PlanetSide, it works perfectly.

[CutterJohn]

I have no issues with new environments. Its an ideal method of adding content to the game without disrupting already established gameplay.

They already plan on adding new planets. How awesome would it be if these planets had different physical properties and offered different weapons, vehicles, and different gameplay dynamics because of the physical properties and equipment selections. A space based map in some asteroid belt would be amazing. Especially if the infantry combat was like Shattered Horizons

Shattered Horizon Zero Gravity Trailer [HD] - YouTube

[nathanebht]

Well with their multiple worlds idea. Guess that space combat follows.

Think I'd rather see more interesting land combat with sea combat too. Just have massive gates which teleport you to another world. Don't lose focus on the core gameplay.

The space combat talk must be just a blurb on their 3 year plan anyway.

[Talek Krell]

Yeah, I think they've been pretty clear that this is a very long term idea. Could be interesting.

[Lonehunter]

I have 5-10 friends that would play this just for good space combat. It's all ready the only MMOFPS. But Space Flight FPS is another not well done genre.

[TerminatorUK]

Could be fun but depends on the format (xwing vs tie fighter or fps in space only?).

My concern is that it may become an uneccessary time-sink for dev time like BFRs were in PS1 over more Auraxis-based content.

[CutterJohn]

My concern is that it may become an uneccessary time-sink for dev time like BFRs were in PS1 over more Auraxis-based content.

BFRs were auraxis based content.

[DviddLeff]

I would love for the game to have an X Wing style space combat element. With the ability to pilot, land in and capture capital ships and space stations to boot.

Controlling the space above a continent could determine if drop pod respawns and orbital strikes are available to players below...

[Malorn]

They could start simply with that mechanic - fighting over the orbital stations that enable drop-pods, OS, etc. Those might be the ships we saw in one of the pictures.

Though I hope they take caution adopting too much from EVE. It is a great game to tell stories about but incredibly boring to play unless you're really into the economics and don't care for action. Spend a lot of time in EVE building up for, waiting for, or avoiding a fight and very little time actually in them. I think most of my time in eve was spent coming up with ways to make money so I didn' thave to worry about it and could just pvp all day. But even then in 0.0 it wasn't very lucrative unless you were camping empire shipping lanes or war-deccing in empire (where most of the population was). As a FPS lover I need more instant gratification. I love strategy and stuff but something needs to happen a lot faster than it does in EVE. Of all the time-consuming MMOs I played my wife tells me that EVE was by-far the worst in terms of time-consumption. And I think through all that and didn't have a whole lot of entertainment out of it for all that time investment.

Too early to know for sure what all they're planning but I hope the space aspect involves infantry and vehicles (boarding parties, yeah!) and conflict is encouraged as opposed to avoided like in EVE. I look forward to seeing what they are thinking in this area. Could be promising, though I have concerns that it will end up too eve-like and make for boring gameplay.

The problem with introducing resources and such is that it introduces the idea of greater loss, and having more to lose means you take things more cautiously and are pickier with your fights. Too far into that extreme and conflict is discouraged. But too far the other way and conflict is meaningless. Its a tight balance they need to walk to give it meaning but not so much that people are discouraged from taking risks. One way to counteract it is to put limits on how much resource can be acquired, which encourages people to 'use it or lose it', but always want a source for more. Then resources pool becomes a buffer that you always want maxed instead of something you just keep hoarding. Resource caps are also something that can be monetized and a differentiator in paying vs free customers, sort of like bank slots in MMORPGs.

[TerminatorUK]

BFRs were auraxis based content.

Hehe, very good...punctuation failure :)

What I meant was "...too much of a dev time sink (e.g. Like PS1 BFRs were) over regular content"

The context was the dev time not that biffers were space content.

[MasterChief096]

I think if they actually do space combat in an FPS sense, all will be fine.
Boarding parties to capture orbital stations to use orbital strikes, resources on asteroids (in moderation, not more than is on Auraxis), etc would all make for some fun space fights.

Just have fighters, infantry suits that can maneuver in space, and possibly larger ships such as frigates and destroyers that take more than one man to operate. Keep it simple. Use flight mechanics from existing aircraft such as being able to barrel roll and flip, etc. Could be fun if the space aspect doesn't dwarf out the land aspect in terms of content.

There's always the possibility that the space combat will be part of an entirely different GAME altogether, as they have alluded to following Eve's outside-in approach, and Dust 514 is indeed a separate game.

[Death2All]

I always thought the space system in SWG was amazing. Although, I'm not sure if it's a complete copy off of EVE since I've never played it, but considering that most updates/patches to SWG were to mold it into other games, I wouldn't be surprised.

Even still, it was pretty awesome to fly around in these huge open areas, although there wasn't much to really do.

But I can see capturing territory in space (however that would work) could be pretty awesome in Planetside.

[Tatwi]

I always thought the space system in SWG was amazing. Although, I'm not sure if it's a complete copy off of EVE since I've never played it, but considering that most updates/patches to SWG were to mold it into other games, I wouldn't be surprised.

Space in SWG was based upon the X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter games from the 1990s. The JTL xpac was in production two years before EVE was released (2001) and it took SOE/LA until Oct 2004 to polish it, which was why it was held back from the June 2003 release of SWG. EVE hit the market in May 2003 and was a very niche market, "Homeworld" clone game with little following at the time. In effect, EVE did not factor into the SWG space design at all.

[Malorn]

Oh man I played TIE fighter for a long time. Was one of the few good PC games back ages ago. And now I'm aging myself. Great game for the time and technology.

[kubacheski]

Say for instance, some resources can't be collected on other planets and can't be sent via a gateway. You have to transport them via space travel. The suggestions of boarding parties, camping shipping lanes, and fighter support all lend themselves for resource transport between planets. Think of a resource reallocation system like this as an ANT on streoids. Gotta have the resources to expand bases on different planets. If the planet doesn't have it natively you've got to move it there. This really puts the space battles on the map as you'll have to transport it physically.

In order to make it a "secondary" option and not the primary on the planet shooter, envision space travel and battles as a resource sink. Space battle would cost a lot of resources that are readily available to transport rare resources. This way it really becomes important to plan your "off world" travel. Solid and liquid rocket fuel cost more than jet fuel which costs more than standard fuel which cost more than foot travel.

Resources really could change on-planet battles if the opposing side(s) cut off your resource supply lines. Or you use too many resources in making fighter support for your transports and you can't get all the way to your destination.

[exLupo]

I never understood what was so hard about adding "space" combat.

Mostly doing it right. Using a planetary flight model in space isn't space combat. You can fake it enough to make folks happy. I mean, I still love Tie Fighter, but that isn't space combat.

If you want space ships go play eve.

When CCP makes EVE a JGE style space shooter then that'll be a relevant suggestion.

[Talek Krell]

Have any of you played Eternal Silence? It's a source mod that I noted a while back. Not really sure what became of it, but the basic concepts are similar to what I'd expect in Planetside space combat.

(Sadly, this was the best video I could find :\ )

Eternal Silence Gameplay! The free space combat first person shooter game![HQ] - YouTube