I'm going to be wildly optimistic here and engage in shameful fantasizing in full public view. What could go wrong?

It takes a long time to tune fps core mechanics for a shooter, especially for a first-time developer. Sure you can rely on lots of UR4 tools, but if you want smooth gameplay under a the broad range of conditions we could eventually, potentially have in Nova, there's prolly some fundamental design/prototyping/coding that has to go into the process.

Netcode has evolved significantly in recent years, with lots of real-world case studies and analysis out there now, and i'm thinking Shanghai would have spent some serious time looking at that.

What we really want from the past year is a core engine & backend that is modular, extensible, flexible and fully capable of integration with EVE on all levels, or perhaps more realistically a framework and design standard that can take us to that place without drama for future devs.

Remember how f'ed up the tacnet code was, the kludges and workarounds that were required damn near every time the devs attempted to improve or extend gameplay. I will guarantee you Rouge & Rattati still have nightmares about it. That code may be embedded in their psyches forever.


Just a guess but i'm betting our dudes at the top made some kind of unholy viking/gaul blood vow that such a thing would. Never. Happen. Again.

That, in the best of all possible worlds, is what the past year was about, at least in my sad little fantasy life.