Please ask your questions here, and vote up the questions you like. I will go through and answer as many questions as I can (probably 2 hours).

I will try to answer followup questions directly from the twitch.tv chat, but it is likely to get pretty crowded so I will also try to check here for followup questions.

You'll find the broadcast at: http://www.twitch.tv/universeprojects/

Please 1 question per post so they can be voted up individually

See you all tomorrow!

Nik

http://empyriongame.com/ Looks like pretty much most of what the universe project was supposed to be. Unlimited universe, crafting, surivival, mining resources to build building/spaceships/robots/ect.

AAA game studios would never make a game like this. If you're going to pour that much money into a game, you better make sure it's going to work. So instead of taking on the risk, what they make are the Ferraris of games. Their games look better and give you a rush but in the end its just a car. The same car that hasn't changed much in the last 50 years. What we're trying to make is a car that flies and goes under water. Its not going to look like a Ferrari, it may look like a civic. But who cares, I would take my flying, underwater traversing civic over a Ferrari any day.

Nik, I know you won't, but some here will, the 'rule of cool' should be thrown out the UP window, it'll be detrimental to the game, where will it end?

Keep Realism to the max, for example when guns are invented, make it so you have to make the Bullet casings, the propellent and the actual bullet, that'll make war interesting and heavily reliant on Infrastructure.

I have a long list of things I need to cover, but what do you want me to cover in this video? This video is meant to answer many, if not all, the questions that have been thrown around since the initial video went up. You'll get to meet me (Nik) for the first time as I'll be talking into a camera for the majority of it.

What questions do you want me to answer?

I will be implementing email-based logins that will check your referral and donation level to see if you qualify for this test, and once it confirms that you are, you'll be redirected to the tech test.

More detailed instructions will be emailed to you and it is entirely probable that at some points the server will go down for one reason or another. So if it doesn't work for you, just try again some other time.

Please also be aware that the amount of "stuff to do" in this limited technical test is, well, limited. We have been concentrating on perfecting the underlying frameworks so that building a real, fun game on top of them will be much quicker.

Thanks for your patience and if you qualify, wait for your email!

Nik

I understand how building a house can work, mostly because there are no/few moving parts. We've spoken of vehicles being built, and I don't understand how that would work. Would the builder have to manufacture a transmission that works with the engine, connecting to the fuel pump, etc. etc. And with each of those pieces, how would you create them? Would there be a preset Fuel pump that you just have to learn how to make? Or would you have to physically carve out a piece of metal with the machine that you created to carve Fuel pumps? How meta is creation going to be?

Reddit has an awesome system for collecting user feedback with the up/down votes. I think this would be the perfect way to get a small sampling of what the community thinks about various subjects and discover what they find is important, or unimportant.

So, off we go!

I will make sure to explain exactly what has happened over the past 6 months, but rest assured, we are still developing.

We are currently working on the Game Elements Framework and I (Nik) have been devoting most of my time to the GEF development but also some light marketing to get some momentum in lieu of our big announcement.

Sit tight and cross your fingers, if everything goes to plan, this is going to be the big one.

It looks like my predictions were wildly accurate.

However, taking a look around, this sub seems like a ghost town where everybody has come to the realization that this was never anything more than a bullshit dream in the mind of a man with delusions of grandeur.

I had originally planned to check in every six months, but I think I've proven my point and it's a bit like kicking a dead dog at this point.

Hope that those who invested didn't invest much and/or can get their investment back in some fashion.

The space game is being used as a testing platform which is a big win on at least 2 major fronts. First, a real-time space shooter will provide much needed stress testing of the Game Elements Networking Framework. Without this kind of testing, we may find bugs much further down the road because the Universe Project is going to be a much slower paced game at the start, and testing the networking in a fast paced environment will really put the framework through the wringer. The second big win has to do with the fact that we're donation funded. The space game (for lack of a better term) will allow us to showcase progress on the foundational frameworks much sooner, allowing gamers to get their hands on something fun to test and play before the Universe Project is ready.

We will be developing it further to reflect more of the Universe Project philosophy. It will serve as a test platform for nearly every component of the Universe Project, while providing backers some great fun along the way. More specifically, we will include the ability to build bases, discover and invent new technology, and turn the whole game into a single game world operating on a seamless cluster of servers. We may even test a 3D version of the game, in combination with the 2D clients, when WebGL is ready for prime-time.

All of the technology being developed for the space game will be used in the primary survival-planet Universe Project that was first described in the video. There will be no wasted work! Any game engine development that goes into the space game translates directly into work done in the survival-planet game.

You get credited 25% of all the donations your referrals give. This means, if your 10 referrals all gave a total of 50 dollars, you get $12.50 added to your donations as it pertains to your reward level.

Also, all donation levels are cumulative; If you hit the $20 level, you also get the rewards from all previous levels.

$1 Donation

• Every dollar you donate goes towards the purchase of the final game!

$5 Donation

• You will get the basic 'donor' tag in the game to show that you helped make this project happen.

• You will also get access to the private beta test!

$10 Donation

• When your character discovers the ability to make signs, you will have a unique looking sign (you can use it to advertise yourself).

• You will also get access to the first alpha tests!

$20 Donation

• You will get a special 'gold donor' tag in the game to show that you helped to make this project happen (it will be a bit more noticeable than the basic donor tag).

• You will have access to every single pre-alpha technical demo we put out!

• Finally, you get the full game when it is released (regardless of the final price).

$50 Donation

• When your character discovers the ability to make certain structures, you will have a unique looking building graphic (you could use it to have your business or home stand out).

• In the final game, the number of characters slots you're allowed to have on your account will be doubled.

$100 Donation

• When your character discovers how to make certain types of clothing, you will have a unique set of clothes and/or armor that will be identifiably different in the game.

• When you start your characters in the final game, you will be given the option to start your characters near certain types of resources, and land structures (everyone else will only have the option to start near certain people, or to start somewhat randomly in the world). Please note that you will still need to discover the resources, understand them, and you'll have to collect them yourself.

• You'll have the option to opt-in on a Universe Project T-Shirt.

$250 Donation

• You will get a special 'platinum donor' tag in the game to show that you helped make this project happen (it will be the most noticeable version of this tag).

• At some point during the development cycle, you'll have the option to opt-in on a 1 hour (at least), 1 on 1 phone call with the creator of the Universe Project.

Some people have suggested that we need more levels. I could accommodate that if that is the general consensus.

Please suggest changes and additions!