CCP Games’ EVE Fanfest is almost over for another year. The annual celebration of everything relating to the EVE Universe, including MMORPG EVE Online and virtual reality (VR) videogame titles EVE: Gunjack, its sequel Gunjack 2 – End Of Shift and EVE: Valkyrie has given us a number of updates over the last few days. Particularly in relation to EVE: Valkyrie and its forthcoming updates Groundrush, which will for the first time take users out of space and into the skies above the planet’s surface thanks to brand new map Solitude.
For pilots this gives not only a new map but a vastly different one, one that VRFocus has already tried its hand at (which you can read about in our hands-on) – but the announcement did leave an interesting question about Solitude. There’s a difference between flying in space and flying above the ground, so is that replicated in the game? And would regular Valkyrie players find any differences in how their craft played now they’re having to fly in atmosphere? We hunted back down EVE: Valkyrie‘s Lead Designer Andrew Willans to explain if there was any difference.
The short answer was no there was no difference in play between space-based maps and the new map of Solitude. That doesn’t necessarily mean though that such a move wasn’t considered.
“Deliberately so, the flight model stays the same.” Willans confirmed. “Whether you’re in space or on the ground the fun is the most important thing. If we introduce gravity in anyway that would be a bit of a curve ball. We consciously decided not to do that.”
VRFocus will have more from this year’s EVE Fanfest over the days and weeks to come so be sure to check back regularly for this and your regular updates of the latest in VR games and technology.