Source: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/871/feature/8079/A-Seamless-AAA-MMORTS.html
Novus Aeterno Interviews: Novus Aeterno - A Seamless AAA MMORTS
Novus Aeterno is described by its team as a "seamless AAA MMORTS" that is aimed squarely at fans of both MMO and RTS genres. We caught up with Taitale Studios CEO Nick Nieuwoudt to talk about Novus Aeterno. See what he's got to say before leaving your impressions in the comments.
By Suzie Ford on December 27, 2013
INTRODUCTION: I am Nick Nieuwoudt, CEO and founder of Taitale Studios, which is currently building a seamless persistent AAA MMORTS called Novus AEterno. We are on Kickstarter for the final funding [which we achieved in 100 hours] and we are now heading towards our stretch goals. We plan to be on Steam in 4 months from completion of Kickstarter.
The following quotes have been used to describe Novus AEterno: “brings new meaning to the word massive”; ”so big, in fact, that it almost defies description” and simply “largest strategy game ever built.”
MMORPG.com: Novus AEterno has been described as an “EVE Online / StarCraft love child”. Do you think this is accurate? How so?
Nick Nieuwoudt: Eve Online captured the essence of the true ‘vastness’ of space. StarCraft as an multiplayer RTS game, achieved an intellectually challenging strategy game which endured for years.
Novus expands the RTS genre to achieve both the vastness of space, as in Eve Online, with the strategy and competitive gameplay of StarCraft.
Novus AEterno has built a HUGE space go-anywhere-do-anything ‘sandbox’ on what is likely the largest strategy scale to date; and at the same time, offers the micro-management elements you have come to expect in an intellectually challenging RTS game such as StarCraft, Sins of a Solar Empire, Dawn of War, Homeworld, etc.
MMORPG.com: Give us the thumbnail sketch of what Novus AEterno is and how it fits into the MMO landscape.
Nick Nieuwoudt: RTS games have never truly made it into the AAA MMO scale -- not like we have seen other genres accomplish. As RTS gamers ourselves, we want to create the largest, persistent RTS game ever imagined and share it with as many other RTS fans as possible. We want to pay homage to some of the first groundbreakers like Mankind and DarkSpace, as they were the first to evolve the genre to the MMO. After this group, however, the genre did not progress.
The AAA MMORTS is truly a new genre of game. RPGs and FPSs have both progressed from single player to multiplayer to MMOs. To make the MMO leap, we had to re-think the RTS genre from the ground up to be a true MMO.
The challenge is that MMO and RTS, in their natural forms, do not match up nicely in contrast to the way the MMO and RPG genres work together. Therefore, a developer has two approaches in his development philosophy to create an MMORTS. With the first approach, you can shave off elements to make the two genres work together and in the end sacrifice parts of MMO or parts of RTS or both which brought about the MOBA revolution. Or in the second approach, you can expand both the MMO and RTS genres so that they join nicely which brings to gamers a true MMORTS.
Novus AEterno is the first AAA game to use the second approach, which is why we are so unique.Novus AEterno is a ‘persistent sandbox’, which is how Taitale expanded the MMO and RTS genre to join nicely.
MMORPG.com: The game is being described as giving players an option to play completely the way they wish by utilizing Diplomatic, Economic, Military or Intelligence channels. Please explain how players can function in the world without using all channels.
Nick Nieuwoudt: The simple answer is Alliances.
To more fully explain it, the four elements of Novus AEterno work best when used together. Players who wish to play the game solely focusing on one element of the D.I.M.E philosophy will have to find way to make up for the lack of effectiveness within the other three elements.
For example, a player who solely expands economically will be an easy target for players who have an effective and powerful military. This player could always offer to supply another player with components and resources in exchange for protection.
This promotes alliances in which roles are delegated to each member. An alliance which has specific roles assigned to each player will be extremely efficient compared to an alliance in which all players do their own thing.
MMORPG.com: NA is described as not having any pre-set quests or linear plot lines for players to work through and that future lore will occur galaxy wide. Please explain progression and how lore functions as a galaxy-wide feature.
Nick Nieuwoudt: The lore for Novus AEterno, which we have already written, will only act as a backstory for the release of the game. Any and all lore after release will revolve around the interactions between players and NPC factions. These NPC factions are remnants and splinter factions of the five once great empires that ruled the universe.
These NPC factions are just like player-controlled empires. They have their own economic, diplomatic and military infrastructures. The interactions players have with these factions will be the driving element of the lore within Novus AEterno.
Players will be able to befriend NPC factions, which then will ask you for favors or “quests”. These favors will change the relationships many players have with not just other players, but also other NPC factions. Players can even band together and completely destroy a NPC faction.
These interactions between players and NPCs will be what drives the lore into different directions. Should a faction be completely destroyed, then their story will come to an end. Should a faction’s influence grow within the universe, it will be portrayed within the lore and future content.
MMORPG.com: Guilds and/or alliances are important to players, to be able to band together with others. How will this look in Novus Aeterno?
Nick Nieuwoudt: Novus AEterno features two types of player groups: Alliances and Coalitions.
Alliances are the only player group that is enforced within the game. They consist of up to 15 close-knit players who function as one single empire. Players who are part of the same alliance cannot take aggressive action against another member without first leaving the alliance.
Coalitions are made up of different alliances working together towards the same goal or objective. However, Coalitions are not moderated by the game, and are made through a verbal agreement between the different alliances. A member alliance of a coalition can take aggressive action against another alliance without prior warning.
The reason we decided to implement player groups in this form was mainly due to the fact that in many MMO games you always find one or two large “Guilds” or “Cabals” which dominate the game.
The way we have designed the player groups system within Novus AEterno allows players to still be in large player groups, but gives other players the ability to turn different alliances against each other within a coalition; which can eventually lead to the coalition imploding in on itself.
MMORPG.com: What about PvP? How will it function? Is it open-galaxy? How much can be lost by players participating in PvP?
Nick Nieuwoudt: Everything in Novus AEterno takes place within one universe. There are no separate maps or instances. Should a player wish to engage in combat with another player, they can do so whenever they wish.
The choices of PVP comes down to the players within the universe. Find a diplomatic solution to a conflict or simply use military strength to further your goals. It is all up to the players.
Everything a player creates within the universe can be lost to another player. However, we do offer each player the ability to construct two fortress shields. Each player starts with one fortress shield surrounding their home planet, as well as its immediate surrounding space. Anything within the fortress shield cannot be captured nor destroyed by another player or NPC faction.
There is a reason each player receives two fortress shields instead of just one. Should you be completely pushed back to your home planet, you can simply FTL(Faster Than Light travel) to a safe solar system elsewhere in the universe, capture a new planet and construct a second fortress shield around it. Then you can deactivate the fortress shield around the first planet, which is now within enemy territory. This is to prevent a player from being completely knocked out of Novus AEterno.
MMORPG.com: Will combat take place only ship-to-ship or will there be more traditional MMO combat in the form of player avatars duking it out?
Nick Nieuwoudt: RTS games such as Command & Conquer and StarCraft are about players throwing as many units as possible at each other, in a tactical manner, during each match. Novus AEterno does exactly the same thing, but within a massive persistent seamless universe.
Novus AEterno is all about the massive fleet battles; without any matchmaking. All combat takes place between the fleets of the players within the universe; and the scale of these battles are only limited by how many players are within that sector of space where the battle is taking place. Should a battle be nearing its end and another player wants to swoop in and finish off what is left, they can do so. A player can join a battle whenever they wish, they just have to get to where the battle is happening.
The more traditional MMO combat style seen in RPG games will mainly happen between the capital ships of each player. Capital ships are fully-customizable ‘Hero’ type vessels which give many powerful buffs to your fleet. They also have various activatable abilities, depending on how the player has chosen to construct the ship.
MMORPG.com: Will players have individual avatars as well as ships that can be customized?
Nick Nieuwoudt: At the moment, the player avatars are individual in the sense of the portrait you choose to represent them. We have plans to implement full 3D interiors for the capital ships in the future. Once that happens, players will be able to customize their avatars in great detail, as they will be within or ‘part’ of the capital ships.
All ships in Novus AEterno are fully customizable. There are no predesigned units. We simply give the player different hull designs and the components which can be added into said hulls. This give the player full control over how their ships will react. Want your ship to go faster? Simply design it with faster engines.
We will also have an in-game cosmetics store filled with skins for planets, markets, ships and more.
MMORPG.com: You recently began a KickStarter campaign. How goes it?
Nick Nieuwoudt: In 102 hours, we made 102%, so we have achieved the first goal; we are funded! NOW we are going for stretch goals so we can implement some of the expansion features more quickly and we are very excited to already be at that point. Our first stretch goal is $100,000. Another important goal is to get our first 1,000 people in Kickstarter and we hope to have reached that milestone by the time the interview is printed.
Kickstarter has been a wonderful experience. The reception we have gotten from the community has been overwhelming, and we are thankful to each and every single person who has shown interest in Novus AEterno.
MMORPG.com: What else would you like our readers to know about Novus Aeterno and how can they get involved in its development?
Nick Nieuwoudt: Our community is what drives Novus AEterno. The constant stream of ideas and suggestions we have received from the community have a large impact on the game. We have already implemented an idea one of our Kickstarter backers gave us.
His idea was to implement ‘Arena’-style hardcore servers where players can come together each month and completely annihilate each other to see who exactly is the leader amongst leaders; to essentially create hunger games type tournaments. This ‘hardcore’ server feature will have no effect on the persistent Novus AEterno universe, and will just be something fun on the side.
Other suggestions made by the community have lead to changes in the way ships fire their weapons, as well as ship formations in space.
Novus AEterno is the game that we RTS and strategy fans want to play.
Novus Aeterno Interviews: Novus Aeterno - A Seamless AAA MMORTS
Novus Aeterno is described by its team as a "seamless AAA MMORTS" that is aimed squarely at fans of both MMO and RTS genres. We caught up with Taitale Studios CEO Nick Nieuwoudt to talk about Novus Aeterno. See what he's got to say before leaving your impressions in the comments.
By Suzie Ford on December 27, 2013
INTRODUCTION: I am Nick Nieuwoudt, CEO and founder of Taitale Studios, which is currently building a seamless persistent AAA MMORTS called Novus AEterno. We are on Kickstarter for the final funding [which we achieved in 100 hours] and we are now heading towards our stretch goals. We plan to be on Steam in 4 months from completion of Kickstarter.
The following quotes have been used to describe Novus AEterno: “brings new meaning to the word massive”; ”so big, in fact, that it almost defies description” and simply “largest strategy game ever built.”
MMORPG.com: Novus AEterno has been described as an “EVE Online / StarCraft love child”. Do you think this is accurate? How so?
Nick Nieuwoudt: Eve Online captured the essence of the true ‘vastness’ of space. StarCraft as an multiplayer RTS game, achieved an intellectually challenging strategy game which endured for years.
Novus expands the RTS genre to achieve both the vastness of space, as in Eve Online, with the strategy and competitive gameplay of StarCraft.
Novus AEterno has built a HUGE space go-anywhere-do-anything ‘sandbox’ on what is likely the largest strategy scale to date; and at the same time, offers the micro-management elements you have come to expect in an intellectually challenging RTS game such as StarCraft, Sins of a Solar Empire, Dawn of War, Homeworld, etc.
)
MMORPG.com: Give us the thumbnail sketch of what Novus AEterno is and how it fits into the MMO landscape.
Nick Nieuwoudt: RTS games have never truly made it into the AAA MMO scale -- not like we have seen other genres accomplish. As RTS gamers ourselves, we want to create the largest, persistent RTS game ever imagined and share it with as many other RTS fans as possible. We want to pay homage to some of the first groundbreakers like Mankind and DarkSpace, as they were the first to evolve the genre to the MMO. After this group, however, the genre did not progress.
The AAA MMORTS is truly a new genre of game. RPGs and FPSs have both progressed from single player to multiplayer to MMOs. To make the MMO leap, we had to re-think the RTS genre from the ground up to be a true MMO.
The challenge is that MMO and RTS, in their natural forms, do not match up nicely in contrast to the way the MMO and RPG genres work together. Therefore, a developer has two approaches in his development philosophy to create an MMORTS. With the first approach, you can shave off elements to make the two genres work together and in the end sacrifice parts of MMO or parts of RTS or both which brought about the MOBA revolution. Or in the second approach, you can expand both the MMO and RTS genres so that they join nicely which brings to gamers a true MMORTS.
Novus AEterno is the first AAA game to use the second approach, which is why we are so unique.Novus AEterno is a ‘persistent sandbox’, which is how Taitale expanded the MMO and RTS genre to join nicely.
)
MMORPG.com: The game is being described as giving players an option to play completely the way they wish by utilizing Diplomatic, Economic, Military or Intelligence channels. Please explain how players can function in the world without using all channels.
Nick Nieuwoudt: The simple answer is Alliances.
To more fully explain it, the four elements of Novus AEterno work best when used together. Players who wish to play the game solely focusing on one element of the D.I.M.E philosophy will have to find way to make up for the lack of effectiveness within the other three elements.
For example, a player who solely expands economically will be an easy target for players who have an effective and powerful military. This player could always offer to supply another player with components and resources in exchange for protection.
This promotes alliances in which roles are delegated to each member. An alliance which has specific roles assigned to each player will be extremely efficient compared to an alliance in which all players do their own thing.
MMORPG.com: NA is described as not having any pre-set quests or linear plot lines for players to work through and that future lore will occur galaxy wide. Please explain progression and how lore functions as a galaxy-wide feature.
Nick Nieuwoudt: The lore for Novus AEterno, which we have already written, will only act as a backstory for the release of the game. Any and all lore after release will revolve around the interactions between players and NPC factions. These NPC factions are remnants and splinter factions of the five once great empires that ruled the universe.
These NPC factions are just like player-controlled empires. They have their own economic, diplomatic and military infrastructures. The interactions players have with these factions will be the driving element of the lore within Novus AEterno.
)
Players will be able to befriend NPC factions, which then will ask you for favors or “quests”. These favors will change the relationships many players have with not just other players, but also other NPC factions. Players can even band together and completely destroy a NPC faction.
These interactions between players and NPCs will be what drives the lore into different directions. Should a faction be completely destroyed, then their story will come to an end. Should a faction’s influence grow within the universe, it will be portrayed within the lore and future content.
MMORPG.com: Guilds and/or alliances are important to players, to be able to band together with others. How will this look in Novus Aeterno?
Nick Nieuwoudt: Novus AEterno features two types of player groups: Alliances and Coalitions.
Alliances are the only player group that is enforced within the game. They consist of up to 15 close-knit players who function as one single empire. Players who are part of the same alliance cannot take aggressive action against another member without first leaving the alliance.
Coalitions are made up of different alliances working together towards the same goal or objective. However, Coalitions are not moderated by the game, and are made through a verbal agreement between the different alliances. A member alliance of a coalition can take aggressive action against another alliance without prior warning.
The reason we decided to implement player groups in this form was mainly due to the fact that in many MMO games you always find one or two large “Guilds” or “Cabals” which dominate the game.
The way we have designed the player groups system within Novus AEterno allows players to still be in large player groups, but gives other players the ability to turn different alliances against each other within a coalition; which can eventually lead to the coalition imploding in on itself.
MMORPG.com: What about PvP? How will it function? Is it open-galaxy? How much can be lost by players participating in PvP?
Nick Nieuwoudt: Everything in Novus AEterno takes place within one universe. There are no separate maps or instances. Should a player wish to engage in combat with another player, they can do so whenever they wish.
The choices of PVP comes down to the players within the universe. Find a diplomatic solution to a conflict or simply use military strength to further your goals. It is all up to the players.
Everything a player creates within the universe can be lost to another player. However, we do offer each player the ability to construct two fortress shields. Each player starts with one fortress shield surrounding their home planet, as well as its immediate surrounding space. Anything within the fortress shield cannot be captured nor destroyed by another player or NPC faction.
)
There is a reason each player receives two fortress shields instead of just one. Should you be completely pushed back to your home planet, you can simply FTL(Faster Than Light travel) to a safe solar system elsewhere in the universe, capture a new planet and construct a second fortress shield around it. Then you can deactivate the fortress shield around the first planet, which is now within enemy territory. This is to prevent a player from being completely knocked out of Novus AEterno.
MMORPG.com: Will combat take place only ship-to-ship or will there be more traditional MMO combat in the form of player avatars duking it out?
Nick Nieuwoudt: RTS games such as Command & Conquer and StarCraft are about players throwing as many units as possible at each other, in a tactical manner, during each match. Novus AEterno does exactly the same thing, but within a massive persistent seamless universe.
Novus AEterno is all about the massive fleet battles; without any matchmaking. All combat takes place between the fleets of the players within the universe; and the scale of these battles are only limited by how many players are within that sector of space where the battle is taking place. Should a battle be nearing its end and another player wants to swoop in and finish off what is left, they can do so. A player can join a battle whenever they wish, they just have to get to where the battle is happening.
The more traditional MMO combat style seen in RPG games will mainly happen between the capital ships of each player. Capital ships are fully-customizable ‘Hero’ type vessels which give many powerful buffs to your fleet. They also have various activatable abilities, depending on how the player has chosen to construct the ship.
MMORPG.com: Will players have individual avatars as well as ships that can be customized?
Nick Nieuwoudt: At the moment, the player avatars are individual in the sense of the portrait you choose to represent them. We have plans to implement full 3D interiors for the capital ships in the future. Once that happens, players will be able to customize their avatars in great detail, as they will be within or ‘part’ of the capital ships.
All ships in Novus AEterno are fully customizable. There are no predesigned units. We simply give the player different hull designs and the components which can be added into said hulls. This give the player full control over how their ships will react. Want your ship to go faster? Simply design it with faster engines.
)
We will also have an in-game cosmetics store filled with skins for planets, markets, ships and more.
MMORPG.com: You recently began a KickStarter campaign. How goes it?
Nick Nieuwoudt: In 102 hours, we made 102%, so we have achieved the first goal; we are funded! NOW we are going for stretch goals so we can implement some of the expansion features more quickly and we are very excited to already be at that point. Our first stretch goal is $100,000. Another important goal is to get our first 1,000 people in Kickstarter and we hope to have reached that milestone by the time the interview is printed.
Kickstarter has been a wonderful experience. The reception we have gotten from the community has been overwhelming, and we are thankful to each and every single person who has shown interest in Novus AEterno.
MMORPG.com: What else would you like our readers to know about Novus Aeterno and how can they get involved in its development?
Nick Nieuwoudt: Our community is what drives Novus AEterno. The constant stream of ideas and suggestions we have received from the community have a large impact on the game. We have already implemented an idea one of our Kickstarter backers gave us.
His idea was to implement ‘Arena’-style hardcore servers where players can come together each month and completely annihilate each other to see who exactly is the leader amongst leaders; to essentially create hunger games type tournaments. This ‘hardcore’ server feature will have no effect on the persistent Novus AEterno universe, and will just be something fun on the side.
Other suggestions made by the community have lead to changes in the way ships fire their weapons, as well as ship formations in space.
Novus AEterno is the game that we RTS and strategy fans want to play.
