More eagle-eyed readers may have noticed a series of job listings being posted by CCP. The company behind EVE Online is looking to expand it’s London-based teams in the buildup to begin working a new MMO, based on a new IP.
With the 15th anniversary of EVE Online coming up, and a big restructuring behind them, CCP looked poised to dive head first into the future with a brand new project.
CCP London is the company’s newest studio, only a year old. The studio has a broad slate of new positions available, including Art Director, Lead Designer, and half a dozen senior design and engineering roles. Some of those job postings include details that indicate the kind of game CCP wants to develop.
Lets take a look at some highlights from the job listings to see what we can figure out.
Lead Designer
- “…experience of RPG gameplay and systems design development.”
- “Fantastic games knowledge (both classic and contemporary), especially in MMORPGs.”
- “Experience with the UE4 engine and blueprints is a real plus.”
- “Ownership of the accuracy of both economy and balance modeling.”
UE4 (Unreal Engine 4) is a common, performance-optimized game engine. It’s the same engine used by EVE Valkyrie and the successor to the engine used by DUST 514. UE4 blueprints allow developers to prototype new games easily. UE4 can support a broad set of platforms, including PCs, consoles, VR, and mobile devices. Perhaps, fortunately, none of the postings allude to VR. It looks like CCP may intend to build a focused PC or cross-platform game – returning to a realm they know best, if you will.
Art Director
- “Hands-on experience driving the early concept development of a game’s art style, covering environments, characters, and UI.”
- “Good sense of storytelling and continuity.”
It looks like CCP is aiming for an entirely different scale from EVE with the new project, and that could be a good thing. If it’s true, this should allow them to create a much more focused and easier-to-understand gameplay experience compared to EVE.
Engineer
- “You will have experience in the implementation and maintenance of various game systems, including AI, navigation, combat and real-time networking…”
- “…experience developing or playing MMOs is definitely a bonus.”
Senior 3D Artist
- “They should also be confident working in a number of areas, creating environments, weapons, armor, and props.”
- “A passion for AAA video games, ideally MMOs, MOBAs and ARPGs.”
- “Keen understanding of current and new world-building techniques and technologies…”
Senior Animator
- “…help develop and deliver a strong animation style for a new IP.”
- “Experience with the creation of Rigs and Skinning of Characters.”
- “Experience with motion capture shoots, and the management of the returned capture data.”
The new IP, as well as the previous sale of White Wolf properties to Paradox, means that the project is probably something we haven’t seen from CCP before.
Senior Backend Engineer
- “…ideally for scalable, complex MMOs.”
Senior Character Artist
- “Strong understanding of the use of silhouette in the readability of characters.”
- “…demonstrated expert knowledge of organic and hard-surface modeling techniques…”
- “Good understanding of human anatomy and body mechanics.”
- “Knowledge of Marvelous Designer [a 3D tool for clothes and fabrics].”
UX [User Experience] Designer
- “The ideal candidate should demonstrate a passion for developing frictionless easy-to-use designs and systems that enhance the players’ game experience.”
- “Ensure players have the information they need at precisely the right time while not overwhelming them with unnecessary data.”
- “Propose a range of creative UX ideas that deliver an intuitive and enjoyable user flow experience.”
- Several other notes about intuition and ease of use.
So all in all, it’s hard to glean much about what we can expect with this new project. The major focus seems to be a much more streamlined and focus game build around a new IP. Whether it’s something they’re licensing from another company, we can’t say. Although we can expect a sleek and shiny presentation based on Unreal Engine 4 and other modern gamedev tools.
No matter what it turns out to be, lets hope that CCPs previous experience in building and maintaining EVE can help them avoid some common pitfalls.