I was thinking about sending the wonderful developers at MWE a set of 10 questions the fans are burning to know. I've already made a list of some, but I'd like to get some input over what should be changed or added. During the production process of most games interviews between gaming magazines/websites and the developers are held both to inform the public about what is going on and to build hype. Since that right now seems unlikely for Nexus 2, I thought we the fans might come up with a consensus on 10 questions the fans would like answers to, and then get the "interview" posted up on the MWE main website.
1. How many copies of Nexus 1 sold? Will it be offered on other digital distribution services in the foreseeable future?
-This is important because according to bluenews the "high numbers sold" for Nexus 1 was the impetus for MWE to survive and get a chance to make Nexus 2. Making Nexus 1 available on more digital distribution services other than Steam could increase its popularity and get more press for Nexus 2.
2. Will Nexus 1 be released in a patched-up, more complete form, along with its source code?
-This is important given how buggy the original release of Nexus 1 was (including such glaringly obvious such as some planets in our own solar system in the Galaxy Viewer turning the wrong way). There are also a few features and unanswered plot points that the original game could be expanded upon--for example, why don't we perform a mission to disable an angry Vardrag's vessels who don't like the Angelwing's AI helper, or find out who the original users of the "White Ships" seen in the "Beachhead" mission were?
-The roleplaying stat upgrade system was largely for show too since you don't actually gain XP for killing enemy ships, and ships gain experience only at specific missions, not through killing enemies. Fully implementing that in Nexus 1 would be great. So would giving us the ability to do optional missions via choosing them in the galaxy viewer, which would give us more XP to use.
-The source code would obviously be a great boon to the modders of this game, so if enough people ask for it (and pledge money for the new game) we could really get our mods going.
3. Will we be able to control Angelwing straight away, and will it still have its assimilated Mechanoid body or not this time around?
-Not as important, but since it's our beloved "signature ship" (unless it was impounded by the Vardrags after Nexus 1 given their understandable fear of its capabilities) it'll be interesting to see whether we can use the Angelwing right away or if Marcus Cromwell has "upgraded" to a Noah Battleship (or even the Vardrag-Noah hybrid Super Dreadnought seen in the tech demo for Nexus 2 I posted) or the like in the meantime.
4. Is our favourite "Anal Retentive Ignoramus," Angel, going to be making an appearance this episode or not?
-Note: Angel the AI was called that by Commander Sweetwater in Nexus 1.
5. Will you be reusing the services of Outsource Media so the voice actors for reappearing characters can reprise their roles?
-Outsource Media did a great job with almost all the voice acting (with the notable exception of the Vardrag voices), though I wish they hadn't bungled the syllable count on Angel's haiku at the end of "The Mechanoid" level. A haiku has three lines, first with 5, then 7, and then 5 syllables--Angel's haiku at the end of that mission doesn't follow that formula. Marcus Cromwell's haiku at the beginning of "The Siege of Avalon" mission doesn't make much sense either. It'd be nice if MWE got the voice actors to return.
6. Will the new engine allow for features such as fixed-axis weaponry (other than Siege Lasers) for capital ships and fighters, and ramming by capital ships against other capital ships, which are features needed to create mods that emulate the space combat of certain sci-fi franchises? If not, will the capability to modify ships and the AI attack routines necessary to use these new features be present in Nexus 2's engine?
-This is obviously important to quite a few modders here.
7. Has the AI been made smarter this time around, rather than just given boosted stats or weapon spamming for higher difficulty levels?
-This was most obvious in the original game how you could order your own weaker ships to activate ECM, turn on Deflection Engines and increase Engine Power Allocation to let them dodge fire more efficiently when they were being focussed on, but the enemy destroyer-or-smaller class ships couldn't. The AI controlling your ships in the game sometimes wouldn't do what you told them to, and never gave you a reason either--fixing this would cut down on the frustration experienced by players who don't know why their ships aren't obeying their commands.
8. Will there be better tutorials this time around to help new players adjust better?
-The lack of easy and accessible tutorials was a real problem in the original game, especially given the transition to shielded capital ship combat in Act 2. Better tutorials (probably based around the premise of being a new captain in the Noah Defense Forces undergoing new training) covering every important aspect could go a long way towards fixing this problem. Certain small but crucial aspects such as how to recharge your support energy or how Defensive Stance means your ships won't leave the area covered by a friendly fortress shield were not mentioned in the game or manual, and should have been explained in an ingame tutorial.
9. Is the Nexus franchise still part of the Imperium Galactica series, or has that link been severed entirely?
-This would be something good to know for fans of Imperium Galactica who want to know whether Nexus 1 was still Imperium Galactica III: Genesis in terms of plot.
10. Will you be approaching the IP (intellectual property) holders of any sci-fi franchises involving space combat to make an official game based on their IP?
-As evidenced by the numerous mods for Nexus 1, the engine and setup allowing for full-3D combat, Newtonian physics, individually-configurable/independently-targetable devices, and an excellent blend of micromanagement and fleet control capabilities has made it very suitable for mods using ships from different sci-fi franchises (especially those that have combat based on Newtonian mechanics). I think there's a lot of money to be made if MWE got to develop an official game for Games Workshops' Battlefleet Gothic line--witness the great success Relic Entertainment has had with its Dawn of War RTS series. Babylon 5 hasn't had an official space combat game in a long time, nor has Andromeda or the like, and I'm sure MWE could do a better job with them or the Battlestar Galactica IP.
Does anyone have any questions that might displace those on this list? I thought I might ask something like "Is the gameplay simpler this time around?" but that would likely open a very large can of worms. If, for example, they removed full-3D combat in exchange for the "stack of vertical pancakes" (where every ship returns to the same vertical plane, just on different heights) seen in recent space combat games like Star Trek Online, or if they removed the distinction between Anti-Hull and Anti-Shield weapons (instead sticking with a class that did both functions effectively), then there would be an enormous backlash by the fans. Maybe right now we should trust them not to remove such core elements of gameplay.
