PC Gamer Interviews Eve Project Legion

The concept of CCP Games F2P Dust514 shooter and how it interacts with Eve Online is just cool and probably given time could be cooler. But the PS3 exclusive was ignored and rejected by most PC Gamers and Capsuleers while still developing a niche set of PS3 dedicated players much like when Eve Online started. The game has it flaws but nothing that can't be fixed, revamped, or redesigned based on Community Feedback and the PC, this has been demonstrated with Eve Online over it's entire existence and arguably addressed with updates in Dust514. 

I saw Dust514 as an experiment for the Eve Universe and a testing ground that fell short admittedly by CCP Games. Such things happen and yes it does suck mire. To me Dust514 demonstrated that there are new possibilities for the New Eden Universe and that CCP games can take a risk, fail, and admit when they are wrong, and that is the main factor why Project Legion has the chance to surpass what the development has encompassed with Dust514 due to demonstrated tech gains per game engine from the recent  Eve Fest keynote. The over all generous consensus within my circle of PC gamer friends in the Eve Online community is "it should have happened this way at first on the PC". For me, I am glad it didn't because we will get the better half on a PC. Just the fact that this FPS is going to be released on the PC results in a high five from me to CCP Games but I will remain critical of the past. I believe CCP Games will too. 

With this years announcement that Dust514 will come to the PC as Project Legion, many fellow community members in the Eve Online Community have agreed that this should have been done from the start and are interested to see where this takes us. Clearly going from the PS3 to the PC will enable better lighting, physics, and graphical quality for the game which was already demonstrated from the recent Eve Fan Fest. The team  is sticking with the Unreal engine version 3 due to how it is highly modified. Adaptation of new tech for the games engine has been stated to be possible. But the game is far to early in it's development stage with no set release date as the game has not been green lit officially from CCP Games upper management of crusties. 

We might be waiting for a couple or three years of development time minus the occasional demos at a CCP Games event prior to a beta, lets get the transparency going once the design is approved. Hopefully they don't take too long since a lot of art assets are from Dust514. But game development does take a long time and CCP games seem to want to move in the direction we have been asking for. So far the direction is a new vibe just based on the PC announcement, so fingers crossed. The discussion with the players and the team for Project Legion is currently going on in the Dust 514 forums and has started with "what annoyed you the most about "Dust514". [Source] Some may agree while others may not agree that CCP Games is taking a new approach with Project Legion as revealed at Fan Fest this year and recently discussed on PCGamer. After I watched the video which is listed below, I became personally very frakking excited to play this FPS game. The world design already seems larger. It felt like this was New Eden on the ground proper. Take a moment to check it out. 

.:Check out the lava:.

PCGamer published an article that goes into this iteration of Project Legion that is currently in development with hopes to be green lit by the upper crustiness at CCP games. The article gives a brief overview from Legions Developers. [Source] Jean- Charles Gaudechon, executive producer says “It’s all about loot, we’re going to have these sandbox areas – planets that you’ll drop into – where you’ll see other players and an ambient threat. In high security systems, where CONCORD (EVE Online’s space-cops) are present to protect you, it’s more of a social place. Here you’ll go looting, with AI-controlled drones trying to stop you.” The story behind Legion is that the big factions are dispatching item gathering reclaimer drones, but you, playing as a mercenary, wish to obtain the spoils for yourself. “You’ll find stuff on the ground and killing drones to make them drop what they've reclaimed,” Gaudechon adds, “then when you get back to the hub you can use the market to make some ISK or use it yourself in the next battle.”

Dulioust who is the Monetization Director at CCP explains  “As you go into lower security systems, CONCORD can’t protect you and friendly fire is enabled. You’ll have to watch out, even for your own friends. In highsec we tell you when people enter the zone, but in lowsec we won’t say a word. We want to create that sense of being scared.” Get your loot and get out before someone shoots you, then. “This design allows emergent game play and emergent behaviors”. “The day a corporation drops into a world and does some kind of flash mob, that’s the day we win, because we gave them the tools and the open world to go off-script. We want to create stories like the ones that come out of EVE Online.”  

Project Legion 

Probably one of the most interesting aspects is their take on PvE which doesn't exist in Dust514. “We don’t think of PvE as a game mode,” Gaudechon tells me. “It’s not about waves of enemies, or survival, or anything like that. It’s about ambient threat, much more like an MMO. But the main experience is still the deep PvP. We have game modes like domination, but the idea of PvE is to have a counterbalance to this. Something less intense. You’ll be able to team up with friends to tackle tougher enemies, which will in turn get you better gear. In lowsec systems we’ll mix PvP and PvE. This will create some of the most interesting PvP in the game, I think, especially with these huge maps. I can see players cloaking and waiting for you to run by, ambushing you and stealing your loot.” 

From what we can tell as community members right now the development is in the early stages , per article Gauhechon went on to say “We’re coming in pretty humble,” says Gaudechon. “We’re really excited to be coming to PC. I’m a big PC player myself, so it’s a dream project for me. If we do our job right, I think people who play Legion will find themselves eventually crossing over to EVE Online". 

We have heard this talk before with other games. But this time it is going to be where it belonged on the PC. I foresee that we will have an audience who knows the Unreal Engine and can speak up quite loudly. I am looking forward to a new experience in New Eden with a FPS so bring it.  Check out the article here. All pictures and video are from Project Legion on the PC using a modified version of Unreal Engine 3. Fly safe o/ Shoot for the head ~o.