The three remaining Captain’s Quarters have just arrived on Singularity and are almost ready for their final deployment to Tranquility in the upcoming October release. We released Captain’s Quarters in the EVE Online: Incarna expansion earlier this year. In its first incarnation, all stations throughout the EVE universe used the same Captain’s Quarters, namely the rusty and damp Minmatar ones. Some devout Amarrian role players were considerably angered, many chic Gallentean holoreel financiers felt those moldy and dark dwellings were beneath them, and Caldari outlaws were often astonished that their Minmatar brothers seemed to have forgotten to invent stainless steel despite being capable of manned space flight.

The new Captain’s Quarters have been designed to represent the style of each race. Rather than basing them off the style of the ships, our artists asked themselves, “If a race built ships in a particular manner, what cultural influences and style would we see in the surroundings they crafted for themselves?” It’s a different approach than just “inverting the normals of a starship and throwing a TV in there,” as someone said. It meant thinking about history and architecture, drawing examples from ancient, modern day and futuristic designs from a variety of sources. And yes, repeated viewings of Blade Runner are required to hold a position in the EVE art department.

The Caldari Captain’s Quarters are about glass and steel, as the Caldari are, of course, men and women of steel. Their mindset is Spartan and functional. Cold and calculated.

The Gallente quarters are slick and streamlined. Comfort through elegant design. The mirror is also prominent, since the Gallenteans are known to spend a lot of time in front of it.

The Amarr Captain’s Quarters were designed with dark religious undertones and a show of opulence, despite the relatively cramped living area. Religious icons tower at either side of the entrance, reminding you of your lowly place in the world.

While adding in the new Captain’s Quarters, we also updated the existing Minmatar ones. The shading and lighting has been improved, and importantly, the spawn point has been updated so that you don’t have to walk 10 centimeters before being able to interact with your ship. You will also be facing your ship when you spawn.

 

All of those rooms were built using modular assets, so that the investment made in building the Captain’s Quarters will be capitalized on further when more environments get built. They have given us the start of a library of modules, which can be used to flesh out racially themed interiors for all sorts of interesting gameplay.

Oh and we made sure they have lots of lens flares, because as you know, the future is full of lens flares.

Fly safe.

Torfi Frans