Player Features and Ideas Discussion

In space... EVE is a bit dull.
Sure, the nebulas are pretty. And planets from up close are pretty. And perhaps in missions you see nice building complexes or natural rock formations and stuff like that.

But all in all... space environments in your day-to-day travelling are dull as heck.
EVE is a space game. And space speaks to all of our imagination, even if you're a really down-to-earth person IRL... space is beyond your comprehension... the immense size of it offers so much to the imagination... anything you can imagine is possible.

So why did CCP limit themselves, when so much is possible?
Would also be so much better for Dust 514, as then you create variation in the possible sky scenery for planets.


Stuff in EVE:
- Gas planets have rings. All the other planets are without rings.
- Moons are just dull, spherical rocks.
- Moons are so far away and so small that you can not see them visually from the planet.
- The lighting from stars are equally strong at all distances from the star.
- All systems have 1 star.
- A planet is always alone.
- The planets, moons, bases, do not move through space.
- Atmospheres have their color based on the star, not on the possible chemical compositions of the air on the planet.
- No variation in the textures and possible combinations.
- Nearly zero presence of other NPCs in space.


What I want to see:
- All planets have a chance to spawn rings. There will be several types of rings as well, and with various colors (as they are dependant on the rocks and density of said rings.)
- Moons have several colours, and can also show signs of life.
- Moons are ridiculously up close to the planet and/or to each other, thanks to the laws of gravity. Also make them bigger to they're easier visible. You can actually make twin moons orbit around a planet, while they orbit around their own barycenter.
- The light of the star becomes dimmer the farther away you are. Not 100% neccesary, but would be interesting for some perspective as to where you are in the system.
- Introduce binary stars and the appropiate light effects. (will we get planets that are fully lit?)
- Introduce double planets. (just imagine a station in between two big Temperate planets :o WANT. )
- Make the space entities move around in orbit. Not a realistic orbit, time goes much faster for pod pilots, so make them move actually fast around the star. Bookmarks are saved around the main grid of an object (which might expand for a couple million km), so the object can move through space, but your bookmark in regards to the object will not change.
- Play with textures and possible settings for planets... ie: if the planet is tidally locked to the star, one side is going to be completely made of ice, as it never sees the sun. And the sun side can look like a piece of Earth itself.
- Play with combinations of planets and moons. Make sure that from certain viewpoints and distances, you get an awesome scene, and make sure these scenes are visible from stargates or planets, or from POSes around moons.
- more randomized NPCs in space. Space battles between NPCs... the introduction of Dynamic World Events (link goes to another feature suggestion which I really support) could make this even more epic and "realistic".
- More special kind of objects, like Comets, Quasars, and Supernovae!


some additional abilities would be fun along with this as well:
- Orbit with your ship around a planet at ludicrous speeds. Obviously only possible when not engaged in combat... or if you are, then the other guy(s) automagically follow you in orbit. Epic fights with the planet scrolling beneath your battlefield? Yes please.
- Freewarp... obviously also only when not engaged in combat. Bring back the exploration spirit and allow us to travel in the systems without using standard routes between two points that everyone uses.


All in all... what people SEE is what is going to drive them into the game. Not gameplay, as a newbie you don't have much knowledge or appreciation of EVE gameplay. No, when I first came to EVE, I was awestruck by the visuals. Now... not so much anymore. I've seen everything already... each mission site, each nebula, each ship, each station... just give me something new and exciting to look at.
So please spend more effort on developing space scenes that are worth viewing. Create better and more unique visual keys.
You gave me the ability to orientate myself in which region I am thanks to your new nebulae. Now I want to be able to know in what system I am without actually looking at any system names. THAT is the ultimate challenge I give you... make space unpredictable and exciting.

Flying in Space must be one epic journey, not only in character development where you work up your way in alliances and factions, to become one of the most powerful pod pilots. But also an epic journey in visuals... and that's what is missing IMO.
Adding it will cost a lot of time and effort, but I think, for the status of EVE being the best space-themed game around, it's worth that time and effort to make space look awesome and unique, everywhere you go. :D