[2022] Building the foundations for an evolved EVE experience

As part of setting EVE up forever, we remain committed to delivering continual improvements that make EVE the most beautiful and immersive sci-fi game. Some of those changes are now available on the Singularity test server, while others will be added over the next few weeks.

Get lost in the sensory experience

Several visual and audio updates are available to experience on Sisi, including high-resolution nebulas, improvements to cloud visuals and audio in certain areas of space. Engine sounds are also getting an update and rebalance, in particular for other ships than your own. Additionally, an update to texture compression and packing will enable you to experience every asset in the game - including these updated elements - with higher visual fidelity than ever before, and with minimal impact on client performance.

Before

After

Laying the technical foundations

Furthermore, in preparation for enabling DirectX12 we are planning mass test next week. DirectX 12 is key to modernizing EVE and laying the foundations for the third decade and is a crucial part of the narrative journey that lies ahead in New Eden.

A fresh new look for Career Agents

After their first introduction to New Eden, many Capsuleers engage with Career Agents to help get their bearings. The first phase of the Career Agent update is still underway but will introduce a visual overhaul of all dungeons and environments to make them more visually stimulating and modern. In addition, the Enforcer Career Agent will introduce guidance highlights and tooltips to aid new players, as well as a whole new and modern look for the agent conversation window when using Photon UI. Furthermore you will see the local text messages and other pop-ups move to the transmission window.

We are taking the Nodegraph editor, originally built for the AIR NPE, and co-opting this technology for missions and dungeons, beginning with Career Agent missions. This will enable more interactive experiences and build up a library of actions and events which will ultimately lead to faster development of new content and experiences. A bright future of scripted and flexible experiences awaits!

Learnings from this first phase will inform the next steps in the modernization of EVE’s agents.

Great things sometimes come in small packages

On our path to modernize the EVE experience, the new Photon UI focuses on improving and modernizing the UI so that it is easy to grasp, even if it remains hard to master. Taking player feedback into account, you can now test out Compact Mode for select windows on Singularity. We prioritized those windows where information density is important, such as the overview, D-Scan, Chat and Fleet windows, People & Places, and more.

To enable Compact Mode, click on the "More" button adjacent to the “Close” button in the upper right-hand corner of the active window. From here, select the Compact Mode option from the drop-down menu that appears.

Make sure to enable Photon UI in the feature preview system on Singularity and provide your feedback on Compact Mode.