Introduction
Five years is a long time. Nothing can ever stay perfectly solid for five years without changing somewhat and this even truer for video games and video game development. In September 2023, at EVE Fanfest just over one year ago, we announced EVE Vanguard to the world. Alongside some live game play, we talked about what EVE Vanguard was right there and then, what we wanted it to be, and what we wanted it to grow into in the future. There is still a lot in what we talked about then that is still true now in what we want EVE Vanguard to become, but even in this short year between then and now, where we are about to release only our second ever major feature update to EVE Vanguard, we have learned so much, grown as a team, and gained confidence in what we want EVE Vanguard to become. So… with all that was demonstrated in 2023 and what we’ve learned along the way since – what does EVE Vanguard look like five years from now?
What is EVE Vanguard
EVE Vanguard is an MMO FPS. It is an FPS (first person shooter) through how the players interact with the world, through a more human lens, and with a gun in their hands. It is an FPS for players who want a more complex, deeper, and connected experience. It is an FPS that caters to many different play styles that rewards players for preparation, decision making, and systems mastery. It is an MMO for players who want to have a lasting impact on the game play environment, across an expansive universe, a connected universe of over a million players already playing, warring, and collaborating within it. It is an MMO for players who don’t just play one way, who don’t just want one single experience repeatedly with just new content added. This is a game for players who want lasting impact, a player-driven ecosystem, and a progression and economy that doesn’t reset so your identity and actions live on! EVE Vanguard is an MMO FPS that has the playgrounds, tools, and experiences for players to create their own stories, have that impact in a single, vast, shared universe, and one day be part of the record-breaking tales that got them excited to be a part of this universe in the first place.
The EVE Connection
That ‘universe’ that EVE Vanguard inhabits is clearly EVE Online’s New Eden and the players that exist within it that you will connect with. This is what truly makes EVE Vanguard an MMO FPS and can even help set a new standard as to what that really means in a game. EVE Vanguard will be another avenue to experience that single universe -its economy, its social structures, the politics, and all the glory and loss of the battles that take place there. Vast corporations, new and old, will span across both EVE Vanguard and EVE Online as one. Wars fought, lines redrawn, territory lost and gained - will be fought across both experiences. Our existing expansion right now into how the Vanguard will fight in insurgencies is a testament to the direction and depth of connection that we want to build out here. EVE Online is at its core a resource game and its legendary economy is housed on those solid foundations. EVE Vanguard will be no different in how it’s fuelled – people fighting for power, influence, and the resources that are required for that, late into an elder game. How those resources flow between EVE Online and EVE Vanguard is very important. It cannot be total, as the scale of these two experiences are just far too different. The Vanguard on the ground aren’t thinking or trading in the scale of capital ships (...or are you?) – they’re thinking about guns, and suit modules, weapon chipsets, and whatever amount of contraband they might be able to shift around themselves. But that doesn’t mean the weight has to be so desperate; something found on world, however small, can have a massive impact in the right hands of a Capsuleer. Something sent down from space, however small to a Capsuleer, could be huge in turning the tide of a skirmish on the ground. Whether it is resources, equipment, influence, or even intel – we want to create tools in EVE Vanguard to allow players to manage the flow of these useful components and the economy that surrounds it, to have an impact upwards into EVE Online and feel its effects on the surface back from it. EVE Online is often player-driven chaos, and with EVE Vanguard; as above, so below.
A great bit of competitive analysis we received on EVE Vanguard said something very key – if you want to bring New Eden to EVE Vanguard, you have to bring the players. And that insight is correct, EVE Online is what it is because of its players – how they connect, the social structures they have built, the operations they run, and the feuds they live by. That will be embodied in EVE Vanguard, with more systemic integration as to how players connect across both games through corporations, alliances, and faction allegiances. In the business of video games, you look for a USP – a ‘unique selling point’. For EVE Vanguard, its EVE Online and EVE Vanguard’s predecessor Dust 514 - not the setting (it’s space), not the actors (it’s capital ships), but it’s players and the systems they have built.
What will actual play look like?
At the core of what we want EVE Vanguard to play like is an open FPS with many different experiences and playgrounds to allow players to play to the ways in which they want to, much like a traditional MMO. If you like to play competitive PvP, fighting for a new frontline, there should be a place and experiences for you in EVE Vanguard. Similarly, if you just want to mine and gather resources for your friends or corporation. If you want to field test a new loadout and take on a horde of NPC drones. Or if you just want to deploy down to the surface of a planet with friends and not know what you want to do, or what you’ll find. All of these play styles, all of these experiences are part of a central economy, a central progression flow, and about the pushing and pulling of impact across the same, shared universe. We’ve said we don’t want to just make a single mode, a single experience that players repeat over and over. We want to keep making new experiences, adding to the many play styles that define Sandbox MMO games, and keep building towards the lofty goals of a CCP game – a forever game. At the centre of these EVE Vanguard experiences however is the loop that we are building – players deploying down to surface of planets; killing, looting scavenging, turning in contracts, competing in activities, to earn, find, and steal resources. Resources that feed into what players can manufacture, sell, or trade to grow – grow as a Vanguard in power, influence, and infamy. These currencies are how players move through the universe, grow more important in it, and interact with everyone else that inhabits it.
Primary to this is players deploying down into more sandbox-like environments, like we have at the moment and will only continue to expand on and flesh out. But around the edges of these are other secondary experiences, that to you, or to the elder game may start to become more primary. These are the likes of more PvP leaning experiences like fighting in Insurgencies or even fighting over front-lines that take part in more ‘separate’ skirmishes that players deploy down to, and in future possibly the more economically run experiences, the more industrial, the more social, even purely PvE in nature. We’re not restricting ourselves in how the game as a whole NEEDS to be played – we just want to provide you the tools, build the playgrounds, that can cater to how anyone might want to play and contribute to the universe so each and every one of our players can feel a sense of belonging in New Eden.
In your hands though will be guns – and lots of them. Whilst we have been fleshing out our weapon systems around a single weapon, showcasing how much agency and customisation we really want to put into the hands of players, there will still be lots of different guns, of many many different types, that you can rip, tear, and rend with chipsets into the perfect weapon for how you like to play. The same extends to your suit as a Vanguard, upgrading various subsystems and components to fit you out for the type of experiences you might be deploying down to – a fight, a resource run, or if you just want to show off…or, you know, laser your comrades with the cutting tool.
Closing Thoughts
It has only been a year since we announced EVE Vanguard – and it has already been quite the journey. We are a small team with big ambitions, and we are resolute in building towards a shared vision for EVE Vanguard – but we know what we’ve prioritised and chosen to build out for you so far in our major feature releases has showcased the game that we are trying to build, the universe we want to impact, and the types of experiences we want players to have with a gun in their hand. We get there with your help as we have only gotten to where we are now with it – building this alongside the community as we set out when we first announced EVE Vanguard. I’ll repeat what I wrote up above about ‘what EVE Vanguard is’ because it’s how we ‘win’, and part of the challenge as to how we make EVE Vanguard a success – we’re not building a single experience, a single mode of play, we’re building a playground. We’re building the tools to allow you all to create your own goals, write your own stories, have that impact on New Eden, and one day be part of the record-breaking stories that got us all so excited to be a part of this universe in the first place. What will EVE Vanguard look like in five years? Well, that’s up to you! o7
