Thread: Developers Blog

The week of April 25 saw an unprecedented number of violent storms and tornadoes in the southern-midwestern and eastern United States. Over 330 people have reportedly died in the affected areas, with Alabama being the worst hit, with 249 fatalities being reported.

Beginning May 3, 2011 and ending at 23:59 UTC on May 16, 2011, CCP will be accepting PLEX donations for PLEX for Good: Storm Relief. Each donation will be converted into cash currency and donated to the Red Cross.

To make your PLEX donation:

• Contract your PLEX to the "CCP PLEX for Good" character, and please make sure the character is in the "C C P" corporation and that the name is spelled correctly to avoid scams.
• Contracts will be accepted within 24 hours of submission, though usually sooner than that.

CCP regards any scamming attempts surrounding this effort to be morally reprehensible and they will be met with swiftest action.

To learn more about how this program works, please check out this FAQ for more information.

PLEX for Good is an on-going charitable program initiated by the players of EVE Online. Past drives have assisted the victims of the Haiti earthquake and excessive flooding in Pakistan. Most recently, EVE Online players held a drive to assist those affected by the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan. To date, EVE Online players have donated over $107,000 USD (over 6100 PLEX) to those in need via this program, with almost $155,000 USD being donated by EVE Online players to charity since 2004.











More...

Hello Capsuleers!

As those of you who follow me on Twitter know, I’ve been working on a wee project: a new podcast. I’ve been fairly mum about the nature of this podcast, but I am prepared to tell you today exactly what that project is, and how you can help.


Have a listen…




| Time: 00:01:16 | Direct download

Now, I know some of you have a few questions, and I’d like to answer them in this blog:

• Yes, I am a female. It’s okay to be shocked. I usually am about it, too.
• Yes, this podcast is a recapitulation of amazing moments from amazing podcasts created by EVE Online players.
• Yes, I’d love to hear from podcasters and podcast listeners.
• Yes, I really would love to have 15 second-long recruitment audio clips.

If you are a podcaster, podcast listener, or are recruiting, send me an email at fallout@ccpgames.com. For those of you who are notifying me about podcasts, I’ll need the following information:

• The name and URL of the podcast.
• The specific time of the clip you would like me to review. If there are multiple segments, be sure to include that information as well.
• Any other information you’d like me to be aware of is welcomed as well.

If you would like to send a recruitment advertisement:

• Use the mp3 format only.
• You can email me the file, but be advised that it’s much, much better to have it hosted somewhere that I can download from.
• Please, no huge files. Bandwidth hogs are bandwidth hogs, and if I have to lessen the quality of your clip to make sure the podcast isn’t a behemoth, your clip might sound like tinny poo.

We aim to do the podcast once a month, so I will make periodic calls for content from podcasters, fans, and recruiters.

Some other random information of interest to you concerning the podcast:

• You will be able to subscribe from iTunes once the podcast has been released and after iTunes approves it for inclusion in its directory.
• An RSS feed will be made available for you to subscribe to once the first official podcast has been published.
• I’m using Audacity to record and edit the podcast, and a Samson C01U USB condenser mic.

I’m definitely looking forward to listening, and hope you are looking forward to the new podcast as well.


Fly safely, and keep your ears open!



More...

It's EVE's anniversary and we've got a gift for you. Details below...

There's nothing I enjoy more after a hard day's work than docking at the CCP station in Polaris, wiping off that goopy capsuleer fluid, and heading out to the Community Corner to hang out with my team mates. Sometimes we play some games, sometimes we gossip, but usually we just kick back and relax. I was in that "relax" frame of mind when I got to the door. It effortlessly slid open, and I was immediately greeted by a ginormous burp from Zymurgist.

"Dude!"

Zymurgist was sitting on the couch, his feet up on the table, eyeing the planetary interaction screen. He turned his head ever so slightly in response to my admonition.

"Oh, hey Fallout. Sorry about that. Zinfandel dropped by."

"So you burped in honor of him?"

Zymurgist let another one fly. "Oh, no, but he left us some presents!"

Zym held up a can. I moved closer to inspect it, and couldn't help but notice that there were five empties on the table surrounding his bootless feet. I grabbed the can out of his hand just as he was about to take another swig.

"Quafe Zero?"

Zym nodded, let another burp fly, and then explained the deal to me...

Eight years ago on May 6, a dream was born, a beautiful, violent, amazing dream called EVE Online, where you could do anything, be anything and, most importantly, fly Internet space ships, which is, as we all know, serious business.

As a thank you to all of you who actively play the game, we would like to give each of you a six-pack sample of the Quafe Company's newest product, Quafe Zero. Made from compounds found only in Sleeper vessels, each can of Quafe Zero promises to boost your Speed and Scan Resolution 5% for one hour, with zero booster side effects. Tastes great, won't fill you up, and makes you a better pilot? For free? What a deal!

How do you get your six pack? Easy! Starting May 6 at 00:00 UTC and ending May 31 at 00:00 UTC, you can get your six pack of Quafe Zero by following these simple steps:

• Log into the EVE Online client.
• At the character selection screen there will be a Redeem Items button in the lower right corner. Select the character you wish to receive the Quafe Zero and press the Redeem Items button.

• Check the box next to the Quafe Zeroin the confirmation window and press the Redeem Selected Items button.
• You will receive a confirmation window that informs you which character is receiving the Quafe Zero and in which station it will be deposited. They are always deposited at the character's current location.
• Click Yes to accept the confirmation window if you are happy with your decision.
• Log in and drink up!

Offer limited to one six-pack per account.

To use a Quafe Zero, simply right-click and select "consume."

We are truly honored that you have chosen to fly with us. Eight years! It seems like only yesterday when you blew up your first ship, podded your first pilot, mined your first mineral. From the bottom of our bottomless hearts, we cannot thank you enough for flying with us.

Fly safely!





More...

We’re going to delve back into 0.0 development in the near future and I’d like to keep you guys in the loop of what we’re doing. There are going to be a few immediate changes coming out very soon and some changes over the long run.



Short term:

We’ve been looking into players interacting and how that ties into movement and security. Jump bridges have become a bit too much of a crutch in terms of getting around, so we’re going to apply a three changes. Basically, it’s become a very easy, convenient and safe way to travel, with little or no downside. That’s not to say you’re invincible when using jumpbridges, but if you’re in an alliance with an intel channel and a semi-decent jumpbridge network, you have a pretty overwhelming degree of safety. That safety is detrimental to interaction, both in terms of meeting friendly and unfriendly players, which is the base of our change. If it’s difficult catching people moving around, roaming/open world pvp becomes more sidelined, which we’re against. On the other hand, we don't want to take jumpbridges out, since they provide a great way of reaching whatever content you’re using quickly. Anyway, this is what’s happening:



The first change is the removal of ships with jumpdrives from the jumpbridge eligibility list. This isn’t very dramatic and long overdue. Basically if your ship has a jumpdrive, it can’t use the jumpbridge (Black Ops ships are exempt from this rule). This change will go in on the 17th of this month.



The second and third changes will go in next month, with the main patch. We will be limiting the number of jumpbridges you can have in a system to one, while upping the fuelbay to 30.000 (3x) to avoid suicide among players who do logistics. We would suggest you start reconfiguring your jumpbridge network as soon as possible.



Hopefully, this will better balance the rewards of fast travel with the risk of getting caught on the way. So you’ll still be able to use jumpbridges, but every jumpbridge link adds a normal gate jump too. Anyway, that’s short term.



Long term:

We’re currently looking into a long term plan for 0.0. I say long term, not because it’s planned for 2014, but because the work will begin this winter and hopefully go on for a while. I think the community as well as CCP feels that 0.0 is in need of a bit of an overhaul, so that’s what we’ll do. The starting point for that is identifying 0.0s weaknesses, and developing guidelines for what 0.0 “should” be. Luckily, the CSM will be joining us this month so the players are adequately represented. We’ll have several sessions with them and hopefully they will be able to contribute to our goal. To give you a quick peek at the type of topics we’re looking at when doing this evaluation (in no particular order):

• Is 0.0 industry currently geared to support the population living there?
• Is the relationship between 0.0 and empire balanced well enough?
• Does the current sovereignty system meet our goals?
• Are there enough incentives for conflict/pvp outside sov?
• Are we happy with movement/player interaction?

We will then start implementing changes that will hopefully end up making 0.0 a better place to live than it is today. This particular area of space should offer a lot more opportunities than it does today, and that’s what we’ll put in. Good things will come. Anyway, that’ all for now. We’ll keep you updated after the CSM visit.









More...

It's important to you, so it's important to us.

The Buddy Program is one of the most popular ways that players bring new people into the EVE community. It has become so popular that currently a little over a quarter of all new EVE players come in through the program. For CCP and for the community, this is a win-win situation. Players bringing in players makes for a stronger, better EVE. It means a greater likelihood that the new player has someone to turn to, to fly with and to learn from.

The Buddy Program currently offers a reward of one month of game time when that new player subscribes, but that is more of a reward for some than it is for others. This blog is about one of several ways we will be testing to evolve the Buddy Program to make it more rewarding for those players who help to build and expand the EVE Online community.

On May 11th, we will be adding a new reward to the Buddy Program: PLEX. When inviting new players using the Buddy Invite page, you will have a choice of selecting either the standard 30 days of game time or a PLEX as the potential reward for that invitation.

Stand Back, I'm going to try Science.

We are interested in finding out if there is an unmet desire for PLEX instead of game time. We'd also like to see if this gets more players using the Buddy Program, thus increasing the numbers of new players that join already knowing someone in game. This is an experiment. We will be monitoring this change closely, and we are prepared to adjust or abort the program if we find it isn't yielding desirable results.

We've also added a few more features based on feedback from the program and its users.

· The cap on invites has been raised from three (3) per month to ten (10) per month.

· Buddy invitations will remain valid and will no longer expire after a set period of time.

When you're ready to send some invites or if you're interested in reading up on the program, click HERE to head over to the Buddy Program invitation page.



FAQ (Four Apropos Questions)



Aren't you worried about exploits?

A community of 360,000 players will always find interesting loopholes; however, since this involves PLEX, which has its own in-game market, any exploits will be dealt with harshly and rapidly.

This seems too good to be true, is it?

Not at all. This is about giving our players, the best players anywhere, a choice. Have game time? Get PLEX for your effort. Need game time? Do it the old way; it's easy with no redemption of PLEX in your hold. We'll be doing a revamp to the Buddy Program at the end of the year that will add more layers, leaderboards and larger rewards for corporate recruiting and induction. It only gets better.

How long will this last?

We're currently allowing a low number of PLEX to come into the system at one time. This test will be monitored closely to make sure it is working as intended and that it does not negatively impact the economy or balance of EVE Online.

What if I don't like the Buddy Program?

We're working on some more player-driven options like the Buddy Program that will allow passive rather than direct recruiting. Look for more information later this year on alternate ways we'll be rewarding our community for their countless acts of awesome.

We encourage you to ask any additional questions and provide your feedback in the comment thread linked to this blog.



- CCP Loktofeit









More...

We’re going to delve back into 0.0 development in the near future and I’d like to keep you guys in the loop of what we’re doing. There are going to be a few immediate changes coming out very soon and some changes over the long run.



Short term:

We’ve been looking into players interacting and how that ties into movement and security. Jump bridges have become a bit too much of a crutch in terms of getting around, so we’re going to apply a three changes. Basically, it’s become a very easy, convenient and safe way to travel, with little or no downside. That’s not to say you’re invincible when using jumpbridges, but if you’re in an alliance with an intel channel and a semi-decent jumpbridge network, you have a pretty overwhelming degree of safety. That safety is detrimental to interaction, both in terms of meeting friendly and unfriendly players, which is the base of our change. If it’s difficult catching people moving around, roaming/open world pvp becomes more sidelined, which we’re against. On the other hand, we don't want to take jumpbridges out, since they provide a great way of reaching whatever content you’re using quickly. Anyway, this is what’s happening:



The first change is the removal of ships with jumpdrives from the jumpbridge eligibility list. This isn’t very dramatic and long overdue. Basically if your ship has a jumpdrive, it can’t use the jumpbridge (Black Ops ships are exempt from this rule). This change will go in on the 17th of this month.



The second and third changes will go in next month, with the main patch. We will be limiting the number of jumpbridges you can have in a system to one, while upping the fuelbay to 30.000 (3x) to avoid suicide among players who do logistics. We would suggest you start reconfiguring your jumpbridge network as soon as possible.



Hopefully, this will better balance the rewards of fast travel with the risk of getting caught on the way. So you’ll still be able to use jumpbridges, but every jumpbridge link adds a normal gate jump too. Anyway, that’s short term.



Long term:

We’re currently looking into a long term plan for 0.0. I say long term, not because it’s planned for 2014, but because the work will begin this winter and hopefully go on for a while. I think the community as well as CCP feels that 0.0 is in need of a bit of an overhaul, so that’s what we’ll do. The starting point for that is identifying 0.0s weaknesses, and developing guidelines for what 0.0 “should” be. Luckily, the CSM will be joining us this month so the players are adequately represented. We’ll have several sessions with them and hopefully they will be able to contribute to our goal. To give you a quick peek at the type of topics we’re looking at when doing this evaluation (in no particular order):

• Is 0.0 industry currently geared to support the population living there?
• Is the relationship between 0.0 and empire balanced well enough?
• Does the current sovereignty system meet our goals?
• Are there enough incentives for conflict/pvp outside sov?
• Are we happy with movement/player interaction?

We will then start implementing changes that will hopefully end up making 0.0 a better place to live than it is today. This particular area of space should offer a lot more opportunities than it does today, and that’s what we’ll put in. Good things will come. Anyway, that’ all for now. We’ll keep you updated after the CSM visit.











More...

It's EVE's anniversary and we've got a gift for you. Details below...

There's nothing I enjoy more after a hard day's work than docking at the CCP station in Polaris, wiping off that goopy capsuleer fluid, and heading out to the Community Corner to hang out with my team mates. Sometimes we play some games, sometimes we gossip, but usually we just kick back and relax. I was in that "relax" frame of mind when I got to the door. It effortlessly slid open, and I was immediately greeted by a ginormous burp from Zymurgist.

"Dude!"

Zymurgist was sitting on the couch, his feet up on the table, eyeing the planetary interaction screen. He turned his head ever so slightly in response to my admonition.

"Oh, hey Fallout. Sorry about that. Zinfandel dropped by."

"So you burped in honor of him?"

Zymurgist let another one fly. "Oh, no, but he left us some presents!"

Zym held up a can. I moved closer to inspect it, and couldn't help but notice that there were five empties on the table surrounding his bootless feet. I grabbed the can out of his hand just as he was about to take another swig.

"Quafe Zero?"

Zym nodded, let another burp fly, and then explained the deal to me...

Eight years ago on May 6, a dream was born, a beautiful, violent, amazing dream called EVE Online, where you could do anything, be anything and, most importantly, fly Internet space ships, which is, as we all know, serious business.

As a thank you to all of you who actively play the game, we would like to give each of you a six-pack sample of the Quafe Company's newest product, Quafe Zero. Made from compounds found only in Sleeper vessels, each can of Quafe Zero promises to boost your Speed and Scan Resolution 5% for one hour, with zero booster side effects. Tastes great, won't fill you up, and makes you a better pilot? For free? What a deal!

How do you get your six pack? Easy! Starting May 6 at 00:00 UTC and ending May 31 at 00:00 UTC, you can get your six pack of Quafe Zero by following these simple steps:

• Log into the EVE Online client.
• At the character selection screen there will be a Redeem Items button in the lower right corner. Select the character you wish to receive the Quafe Zero and press the Redeem Items button.

• Check the box next to the Quafe Zeroin the confirmation window and press the Redeem Selected Items button.
• You will receive a confirmation window that informs you which character is receiving the Quafe Zero and in which station it will be deposited. They are always deposited at the character's current location.
• Click Yes to accept the confirmation window if you are happy with your decision.
• Log in and drink up!

Offer limited to one six-pack per account.

To use a Quafe Zero, simply right-click and select "consume."

We are truly honored that you have chosen to fly with us. Eight years! It seems like only yesterday when you blew up your first ship, podded your first pilot, mined your first mineral. From the bottom of our bottomless hearts, we cannot thank you enough for flying with us.

Fly safely!











More...

The week of April 25 saw an unprecedented number of violent storms and tornadoes in the southern-midwestern and eastern United States. Over 330 people have reportedly died in the affected areas, with Alabama being the worst hit, with 249 fatalities being reported.

Beginning May 3, 2011 and ending at 23:59 UTC on May 16, 2011, CCP will be accepting PLEX donations for PLEX for Good: Storm Relief. Each donation will be converted into cash currency and donated to the Red Cross.

To make your PLEX donation:

• Contract your PLEX to the "CCP PLEX for Good" character, and please make sure the character is in the "C C P" corporation and that the name is spelled correctly to avoid scams.
• Contracts will be accepted within 24 hours of submission, though usually sooner than that.

CCP regards any scamming attempts surrounding this effort to be morally reprehensible and they will be met with swiftest action.

To learn more about how this program works, please check out this FAQ for more information.

PLEX for Good is an on-going charitable program initiated by the players of EVE Online. Past drives have assisted the victims of the Haiti earthquake and excessive flooding in Pakistan. Most recently, EVE Online players held a drive to assist those affected by the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan. To date, EVE Online players have donated over $107,000 USD (over 6100 PLEX) to those in need via this program, with almost $155,000 USD being donated by EVE Online players to charity since 2004.















More...

We’re going to delve back into 0.0 development in the near future and I’d like to keep you guys in the loop of what we’re doing. There are going to be a few immediate changes coming out very soon and some changes over the long run.



Short term:

We’ve been looking into players interacting and how that ties into movement and security. Jump bridges have become a bit too much of a crutch in terms of getting around, so we’re going to apply a three changes. Basically, it’s become a very easy, convenient and safe way to travel, with little or no downside. That’s not to say you’re invincible when using jumpbridges, but if you’re in an alliance with an intel channel and a semi-decent jumpbridge network, you have a pretty overwhelming degree of safety. That safety is detrimental to interaction, both in terms of meeting friendly and unfriendly players, which is the base of our change. If it’s difficult catching people moving around, roaming/open world pvp becomes more sidelined, which we’re against. On the other hand, we don't want to take jumpbridges out, since they provide a great way of reaching whatever content you’re using quickly. Anyway, this is what’s happening:



The first change is the removal of ships with jumpdrives from the jumpbridge eligibility list. This isn’t very dramatic and long overdue. Basically if your ship has a jumpdrive, it can’t use the jumpbridge (Black Ops ships are exempt from this rule). This change will go in on the 17th of this month.



The second and third changes will go in next month, with the main patch. We will be limiting the number of jumpbridges you can have in a system to one, while upping the fuelbay to 30.000 (3x) to avoid suicide among players who do logistics. We would suggest you start reconfiguring your jumpbridge network as soon as possible.



Hopefully, this will better balance the rewards of fast travel with the risk of getting caught on the way. So you’ll still be able to use jumpbridges, but every jumpbridge link adds a normal gate jump too. Anyway, that’s short term.



Long term:

We’re currently looking into a long term plan for 0.0. I say long term, not because it’s planned for 2014, but because the work will begin this winter and hopefully go on for a while. I think the community as well as CCP feels that 0.0 is in need of a bit of an overhaul, so that’s what we’ll do. The starting point for that is identifying 0.0s weaknesses, and developing guidelines for what 0.0 “should” be. Luckily, the CSM will be joining us this month so the players are adequately represented. We’ll have several sessions with them and hopefully they will be able to contribute to our goal. To give you a quick peek at the type of topics we’re looking at when doing this evaluation (in no particular order):

• Is 0.0 industry currently geared to support the population living there?
• Is the relationship between 0.0 and empire balanced well enough?
• Does the current sovereignty system meet our goals?
• Are there enough incentives for conflict/pvp outside sov?
• Are we happy with movement/player interaction?

We will then start implementing changes that will hopefully end up making 0.0 a better place to live than it is today. This particular area of space should offer a lot more opportunities than it does today, and that’s what we’ll put in. Good things will come. Anyway, that’ all for now. We’ll keep you updated after the CSM visit.











More...

Some of you will have noticed that a change to agents went out recently on Singularity. We talked a bit about these upcoming changes during Fanfest, but it's high time we explained them in a bit more detail, now that they're just about ready to be deployed on Tranquility.

In fact, there are two separate changes we've made. The first is to agent divisions, the second to agent quality.

Agent Division Changes

Up till now, each corporation in the game had up to 21 divisions within it - Legal, Security, Distribution, etc. - each with its own agents. The missions given out by the various divisions were similar, coming from the same pool of missions available to that corporation; the difference between divisions was the relative amount of encounter, mining, trade, and courier missions given out. Yet the chance of getting one of those types of missions, by division, was quite arbitrary each time you visited an agent: For example, an Administration agent had a 75% chance of giving out encounter missions, while a Personnel agent had a 64% chance of doing the same. No rhyme, some reason.

In general, these divisions and values did little other than adding complexity to an already complex game.

So now, we've taken these divisions and amalgamated them into four simple divisions, each of which now gives out only one type of mission, meaning you won't have to decline that occasional mining or courier mission when all you want to do is blow up some Angels.

The four new divisions are as follows, along with the former divisions that have now been folded up within each:

New Division*

Old Divisions (Amalgamated)

Distribution (100% courier)

Accounting, Advisory, Archives, Distribution, Financial, Marketing, Personnel, Production, Public Relations, Storage

Mining (100% mining)

Astrosurveying, Manufacturing, Mining

Security (100% encounter)

Administration, Command, Intelligence, Internal Security, Legal, Security, Surveillance

Research (100% research)

R&D (no change)

* As a result of the division changes, a few newly made Distribution agents didn't have a destination station for courier missions within the range parameters authored for their missions, so we were forced to make those agents Security agents instead.

Connections Skills

We had to change a few other things to suit the division overhaul, all having to do with the seven "Connections" skills from the Social skill set (i.e., Financial Connections, Political Connections, etc.). These skills each granted a +5% yield per skill level to Loyalty Point payout for each of 5 or 6 divisions; in total, it was possible, with all seven skills maxed out, to gain a 10% LP boost for every division.

We have removed those seven skills from the game and will refund those skill points to you, just as we did with the old Learning skills a little while back.

So now we have three new skills in place of the former seven, these ones aptly named "Distribution Connections," "Mining Connections," and "Security Connections"; each grants a 10% bonus to LP gain per level for its namesake division. These new skills are all rank 2, as opposed to the old rank 1 skills (meaning these new ones take twice as long to train), since there are roughly half as many to train now.

Finally, if you had any of the old Connections skills or skillbooks, then they will be replaced with new skillbooks, as shown on the following table:

Old Connection Skills

Skillbook Given

Distribution Connections

Mining Connections

Security Connections

Bureaucratic Connections

X

Financial Connections

X

High Tech Connections

X

Labor Connections

X

Military Connections

X

Political Connections

X

Trade Connections

X

Agent Locations

Be warned that we'll be monitoring this change closely, along with the player activity it produces, and we will very likely move or retire a number of redundant agents as time goes on: There will now be many stations with multiple agents of the same level and division.



Agent Quality Changes

In addition to the division changes, we've also implemented a pretty huge change to how agent quality works. Previously, an agent's quality, ranging from -20 to +20, factored into both how difficult it was to gain access to that agent and how much that agent paid out for missions. Yet the system by which these values affected agent access and rewards was pretty opaque, even to most devs, and the effects were not particularly meaningful.

Now, all agents in the game will have an effective quality of both -20 and +20: That is, in terms of calculating access to an agent based on your standings with his or her corporation, the system will assume that all agents are quality -20, making them (in some cases, considerably) easier to access; and at the same time, every agent will pay out rewards as if he or she had a quality of +20, meaning all agents of the same level within the same system security level (e.g., 0.6) will pay out the same amount for similar missions - and in most cases, they will pay out somewhat more than they used to.



Just be aware that these two changes, to divisions and to quality, may have some unforeseeable ramifications, and we're going to be watching carefully to see how they impact the game. Expect further tweaking, and as always, please voice your concerns and observations on our forums so we can benefit from your opinions.

Cheers - fly smart,

CCP Molock and CCP Tallest



More...