Massively multiplayer space combat is a big thing these days, with Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen making bucketloads of cash and titles like No Man’s Sky on the horizon.
Here’s another one to keep an eye on; Piranha Games has announced a crowdfunded science fiction MMO called Transverse, which aims to get rid of NPCs and have players take up non-combat roles from politicians to traders to explorers to barkeeps.
”What if an MMO had no NPCs?” asks Piranha creative director and co-founder Bryan Ekman. ”Crazy, right? If there were no NPCs to interact with, what would a player do? I can see the thoughts and ideas racing around your head right now! The players! The players would have to be the shopkeepers, the quest givers, the trainers. The players would build the cities, the ships, and the stations. And boom – the whole notion of what is an MMO, has a new vision.”
Transverse takes place in the year 2315, when humanity has moved beyond our solar system and begun to colonise an area of barely explored space called The Fringe. The good news is that as a species we’ve transcended our mortal lifespan, and we’re able to resurrect in a new body upon death. The bad news is that when we do so, we leave fragments of our consciousness behind, and these ‘remnants’ are ”fractured, broken and incomplete, and they are dangerous.”
As you’d expect there’s going to be a bunch of options for pilots, whether you want to be a hotshot combat pilot, a trader or a scout exploring the deepest reaches of the sector. ”We want to empower you with tools and systems that allow you to create and manage planetary colonies, build space stations, be the merchants and traders, and maybe even build your own seedy bar on some dusty backwater planet,” explains Ekman. Players will also form their own factions fighting for control of The Fringe, so expect EVE Online-style political and military conflict.
Piranha is breaking the game down into separate modules, with an initial Spaceflight module containing the core spaceflight mechanics set for release to backers in late 2015. Exploration and Expansion modules will follow on, fleshing out the core game with additional modes and options.
There’s more information and a range of initial backer packages, ranging from $30.00 to $250.00, over on the official Transverse website.
