Ambitious science fiction MMO Dual Universe will enter its alpha testing stage in November. The game was originally crowdfunded via Kickstarter back in October 2016, where it met its 500,000 euro goal.
Developer Novaquark revealed the launch window via press release earlier today, accompanied by a detailed roadmap which shows where development on Dual Universe is headed. The roadmap sees the game enter its beta testing phase in the first half of 2020, followed by a full release in the second half of the same year.
Novaquark also released a new announcement trailer to mark the unveiling of the alpha stage window. You can check out the announcement trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ7YeGX7B9U
In the video, Novaquark's Jean-Christophe Baillie confirms the alpha window and describes the roadmap, as well as showing off some early footage of the game. Novaquark says that they've managed to raise over 11 million dollars' worth of funding for the project, which will go towards hiring new staff, accelerating the pace of development and maintaining the roadmap's goals.
Dual Universe is billed by its creators as "the first fully editable universe made for players by players". Players can build their own cities, ships and space stations, and will manage the game's economy, military and political aspects entirely by themselves. The full release will contain several tools to assist players in building a world themselves, including defense systems, economic frameworks, and alliance creation. The game was the 3rd biggest video game on Kickstarter worldwide in 2016, and has attracted interest from industry luminary Brian Fargo, who described its technology as "pretty spectacular" and the game itself as "worth looking into".
Here's the Dual Universe roadmap in full:
The roadmap shows when certain features will be implemented in Dual Universe. Character customization is being saved for the full release, it seems, while mission-critical features like markets, warfare, and social features will be added during the game's alpha stage. Features lining up for beta include a quest creation system, an expanded galaxy and the ability to create player-led nations.
Dual Universe will enter alpha testing in November this year, where Kickstarter backers will be able to experience it and provide feedback to Novaquark. The full game is expected to release for PC in the 2nd half of 2020. You can check out more info on Dual Universe over on the game's official website.
Are you excited to take part in this sci-fi experiment? Were you one of Dual Universe's Kickstarter backers? Let us know in the comments below!
