Developer’s blog (Dec'15)

Hello space pilots!

I hope you enjoy the winter holiday season in DarkOrbit. However we, in DarkOrbit HQ, are as busy as ever and today I want to talk to you about our newest feature, which was recently rolled out on the test server – Equipment in Client.

I would like to thank everyone who took part in the open beta tests so far; it really helped us to identify the critical technical issues. Although the feature is still in development, we really wanted to show it before the end of the year. As always, we received a lot of valuable feedback from participants and are really happy that many of you found the new feature convenient to use. One of the main focuses we still have, is to make the main game features accessible without having to switch tabs or endure some synchronization mistakes, which pop up every now and then. With our new 3D update and more cool things to come we would really like players to enjoy the DarkOrbit experience in full screen. Also as we constantly adding special quests and other new rewards, it would be a lot more convenient to explore everything right there on the spot, and handle the entire inventory in one window, including the upgrades.

On top of that we are now looking into a few changes, which, I hope, would address the most pressing concerns.

Firstly, we are aware, that most of you are used to log out of the game to deal with your equipment, without having to rush to the HQ every time. The idea of the new Equipment is to bring the inventory and hangar management a lot close to the players. The current system allows players to equip inactive ships at any time, even when you are not near your HQ. However, following your feedback, we are intending to allow equipment of any ships(including active ones), if the player is not in combat, not in the UBA queue or in an UBA match. What do you think about this? Let me know in the comments below!

Secondly, as we have mentioned earlier, we are planning to increase the run time of all the boosters by 20%, without any price change. We feel that this is the cleanest solution, giving everyone additional time to work with the inventory. We also have other ideas on how we potentially could stop booster time in the HQ area, but for now we feel that these may lead to a lot of unexpected problems which would make the overall experience a lot messier. Again, I would really like to know your opinion on this one.

Thirdly, we’ve seen a number of concerns on the new Upgrade system. We think that new upgrading rules are a lot more transparent, make system clean, simple and predictable. And while it is true that some players can be lucky, and make one particular upgrade a lot cheaper, the others could be very unlucky. Our statistics show that over 90% of upgrades are done using the 100% chance, so in most cases no one even tries the luck. Based on this data we feel that upgrades should be simple and straightforward.

Lastly, I wanted to mention another concern some players expressed about player being able to manage their inventory without logging in the game. I would really like to hear your thoughts on this. We consider inventory and hangars one of the core game systems, which we would really like to be close to the actual game and to the players in game and this is especially important for our new players. Having the inventory in a separate tab really breaks the game flow; we believe that players should be able to equip some cool items right after they have acquired them. Ideally we want to make sure all the core features are within easy reach in the game.

As you can see, I’m looking forward to this discussion. Tell me what you think about Equipment in client? What other features do you think should be available right in game? What other convenient functions you’re missing?

In conclusion I want to thank all our players for their loyal support and constant feedback you’re giving. We are really feeling your passion and that’s what keeps us going and striving for more. I wish you all happy holidays! See you in the Orbit in 2016.

Yours truly,
KrisKelvin
Lead Designer, DarkOrbit


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