Novus Aeterno Promises Big Things From a Small Company

Scott Bullock

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Nov 11, 2010
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Novus Aeterno Promises Big Things From a Small Company



Don't let the small size of the dev company fool you; Novus Aeterno wants to be a big, big game.

Secreted away in between the massive corporate booths at the Penny Arcade Expo sits a small area with a couple of demo kiosks and some art. But the size of the booth belays the aspirations of the game being demoed; a massively multiplayer sci-fi RTS with a persistent world by the name of Novus Aeterno.

The game seeks to be one of the first MMORTSs to feature a truly persistent world that continues on even when you're logged off. Forgoing the traditional mission-and-objective gameplay that most RTSs use, Novus Aeterno is a bit more freeform, dropping you off somewhere in the galaxy with a core planet and a couple of neighbors. You may make your goal whatever you like; without objectives or a level system, you can focus on building and selling weapons, playing politics, or just taking the good ol' fashioned conquer the galaxy route.

The game also features a strong RPG element. The player themselves takes the role of a commander, creating a custom avatar and existing aboard the player's capital ship. As the player progresses, they may upgrade their commander and his officers to provide bonuses to other ships, build better weapons, or boost the abilities of the capital ship itself. The game also allows you to design and build your own ships, deciding what weapons, armor, and abilities your ships possess and where on the ship they are placed. The placement of upgrades matters quite a bit; the backs of ships are armorless and vulnerable, so strafing and maneuvering for better position becomes an important aspect of the game.

Because of the vast numbers of options available in the game, the team has given up attempting to balance the game in a traditional way, instead opting for what they call "dynamic balance." A good example of this is the weapons upgrade system: while higher-level weapons might do more damage, they will often be more finicky and difficult to use. And because all players, no matter how long they've been playing the game, have the same ship value cap, more experienced players won't be able to simply overwhelm new players with thousands of ships and will be forced to carefully choose which weapons best suit a particular situation and hope they have the skill to use them.

Perhaps the most interesting use of dynamic balance is the bounty system implemented in the game. The better a player does, the higher the bounty on their ships gets; this has the dual effect of making new players nearly worthless to attack and incentivising players to team up and take out the best players, making things more difficult for the pros and easier for the noobs.

The development team of Taitale games is a varied and far-flung group; each of the ten members of the company lives in completely different parts of the world including Costa Rica, Germany, Egypt, the UK, and Canada. Each member of the team has so far worked remotely from the other members, many of whom are first meeting each other in person at PAX. With such illustrious members as the lead artist on Sins of a Solar Empire and a two-star Major General, the team is bringing some high-caliber talent to creating their magnum opus.

The team hopes to have a beta ready by November and a full release sometime next year, and I for one am very much looking forward to it. If everything ends up working as advertised, Novus Aeterno could turn out to be a truly great game.

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AndyRock

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Dec 22, 2009
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was this the mmorts extra credits mentioned? i can't remember, and i'm hopeful for this game, i love rts's, and would be interested in seeing an mmorts done well
 

Ulquiorra4sama

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Feb 2, 2010
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Since i'm norwegian and since they chose to write it as they did i'm gonna call this game Novus Æterno

OT: Sounds interesting. Haven't heard of this game before now. I'm looking forward to seeing more as the work progresses(Like maybe a trailer)
 

Fensfield

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Nov 4, 2009
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Hum.. I wonder how it'll do for player character interaction. If players are given actual characters.. it'd be nice if they could actually meet one another.

Still, it does sound rather cool.
 

Soviet Heavy

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that sounds exactly like the kind of MMORTS I always wanted. Choosing between superior numbers, or superior firepower.
 

GeorgW

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Aug 27, 2010
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Sounds really cool, love the dynamic difficulty even though it's failed before.
 

AndyRock

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FelixG said:
AndyRock said:
was this the mmorts extra credits mentioned? i can't remember, and i'm hopeful for this game, i love rts's, and would be interested in seeing an mmorts done well
The one they mentioned was End of Nations, which is a post economic collapse RTS, which, was recently announced is going to be free to play! Huzzah!
thanks for clearing that up, cheers.
 

Reveras

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Nov 9, 2009
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Time of defiance was the first rts of this kind I think, and I mean exactly this kind. Sci-fi mmorts really well made but dropped dead because it was subscription based. Hopefully Novus Aeterno will be f2p so it doesn't suffer the same fate.
 

LorienvArden

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Feb 28, 2011
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From their FAQ:
Q: Will Downloadable Content be an additional charge?
A: The subscription fee will cover all additional content including all future expansions.

Interesting concept, but I'll skip this as it will have a subscription.
 

Shadow-Phoenix

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AndyRock said:
was this the mmorts extra credits mentioned? i can't remember, and i'm hopeful for this game, i love rts's, and would be interested in seeing an mmorts done well
Quite possibly but has no one heard of the upcoming MMORTS End of Nations that's pretty much what this is like only it's announced free to play and is being made by Petroglyph half of the company that was once Westwood studios with music being composed by the great Frank Klepacki.

I like the idea that we are getting some more from the RTS genre and i like how it's coming back in a new fashion.

Plus the game is still open Beta for those willing to give it a try.

Edit: i see you've already been told beforehand so just a little more info.