CCP Games technical producer Torfi Frans Olafsson has revealed details of the next major expansion pack in development for EVE Online, the massively multiplayer online role playing game. Entitled Tyrannis, it’s expected to be released before the summer arrives in the northern hemisphere.
EVE Online is an MMO set in the deep reaches of outer space, far in the future. The setting is a galaxy on the other side of the universe called New Eden, populated by humans who have been cut off from their homeworld. EVE, available for Mac and Windows, has differentiated itself from other MMOs by having a single, unified server that hosts tens of thousands of players at once, enabling the game to host massive fleet battles.
CCP aggressively updates the world of EVE Online with new expansion packs which are free for users to download. The current expansion, Dominion, has added many new features, including dramatically improved graphics for the many planets and moons that populate the EVE universe. Olafsson explained that Dominion’s updated graphics have laid the groundwork for what’s to come in Tyrannis.
“All these worlds are yours,” said Olafsson. Since its inception, EVE Online has required users to harvest natural resources needed for manufacturing from asteroid belts, nebulae and other interstellar phenomena. Tyrannis will, for the first time, enable EVE Online gamers to exploit natural resources on the planets themselves. Up to now, planets in EVE have been pretty backdrops for orbiting space stations, but little more.
“That‘s right, you will finally be able to survey for juicy deposits of minerals and other goodies, build infrastructure to harvest them, store them, process them and launch them into space,” Olafsson explained.
Players will be able to exploit resources on Earth-like planets, gas giants, lava planets, ice worlds and other types of planets, according to Olafsson.
Actual planetside combat and strategy isn’t expected for Tyrannis – instead, that will be the focus of an upcoming console game in development at CCP’s Shanghai studios called Dust 514.
“In future expansions you will be able to project military force for attack and defense of planetary installations. That will be where DUST 514 will connect with EVE. But DUST 514 will not be coming out at the same time as Tyrannis, so that is at a later date,” said Olafsson.
Other changes expected for Tyrannis include the implementation of a new communications architecture called EVE Gate that will let you access mail, an in-game calendar and other content through a Web interface. Other optimizations and improvements are also in the works, according to Olafsson.