The passing of the torch: The future of EVE

CCP Zulu:

The past 18 months have been quite the ride. Since taking on the position of Senior Producer in the summer of 2010, EVE has gone through a lot of change.

From the Incursion expansion adding rich, cooperative PVE and recreating and reinventing the avatars in EVE with the critically acclaimed new character creator; to Incarna and the extraordinary circumstances that lead to player protests. And now back to Crucible with it‘s almost impossible number of improvements, fixes and goodness.

This has been an incredibly intense time. The EVE team here at CCP has certainly been pushed to the limit and beyond and we as a company learnt quite a few harsh lessons. It‘s been a tough time but I know we will use this as an opportunity to improve, to grow and to mature.

To ensure and facilitate that happening properly I‘ve decided to step down as Senior Producer and Jon Lander, previously the head of our Carbon Technology group, will take the reins while we transition the EVE project into a better and more efficient organization. Jon has been a player since 2005 and instrumental in improving our internal tools, processes and shared technology from a global standpoint as the Director of Carbon technology since 2009.

CCP Unifex:

Hi all.

It's a pleasure being here and I wanted to say a big ‘Thank you’ to Zulu for helping me into the hot seat and showing me the ropes over the last weeks. This is a big job and there is a lot to do. But before I dive into that, a bit about myself. I have been playing EVE since 2005, mainly PvP-ing across the map in anything from large scale fleet fights to small gang roaming. Recently, I’ve been having a lot of fun in NPC 0.0 doing the small gang thing and yes, even getting the odd killmail. My background before CCP was as a technical architect and a project manager. The chance to come and work for the company which had taken so much of my spare time was too much for me to say ‘No’ and so I have been in Iceland now for a little over two years.  

As Zulu  has already mentioned, now is the time to improve the EVE. The task ahead of us in 2012 is not to be taken lightly. We are changing EVE’s internal project structure to bring it in line with a product that has nearly 200 people working on it and making sure that everyone is concentrating on delivering a game which has real value for our players. As well as changing the project organization, we will also be spending time on improving our internal tools, pipelines and processes to improve our efficiency and effectiveness for the future.

Finally, we will be concentrating on those features we already have in the game after 8 years of development. Yes, we will be iterating (it‘s not a dirty word) on those features which need some polish, balance, fixes and general love. The releases throughout 2012 will be an extension of the type of release we had with Crucible with the addition of a theme to help us scope and tie the work into a really compelling and coherent package. The first theme is going to be War and everyone is getting very excited about it.

I had some great meetings with the CSM when they were recently here in Iceland and hopefully you will see in the minutes, when they come out, that the future is looking pretty good for EVE, spaceships and you, our players. I will be trying to keep everyone updated on our progress as we go through 2012 and look forward to meeting many of you at Fanfest where, as well as all the great things you have come to expect, we will have something a little different and special for you.

In our hunger for exploration and love of space science, CCP will be launching each and every one of our subscribers who have a paying EVE account as of 23:59 GMT on December 31, 2011… into space itself. That’s right, the character names and images of every player character subscribed at the end of this year will be placed in an expertly crafted EVE Pod during Fanfest 2012. That pod will then be affixed to a high-altitude balloon during the event and released, reverse planetary bombardment style. Powered by the laws of physics and mysterious Terran technology, the spacefaring vessel will travel to altitudes exceeding 100,000 feet and into the realm of near space. A camera will record the voyage of all EVE capsuleers, united in one fleet for the first time, as they crest the curve of the planet. The gorgeous vistas should be a familiar sight for those who fly around in the EVE Universe on a regular basis.

Just a small token to say ‘thank you’ for being a part of our extended internet spaceship family as we stare down 2012 with a real sense of anticipation.”

I’m looking forward to the coming year, I hope you are too. It will be a tough time of change for us on the EVE project but we will be putting out some great releases in 2012, building on the really positive end of 2011.