Jumpgate Evolution - Preview @ Massively

In a play session at the Jumpgate Evolution booth the staff of Massively saw the game in action.

Combat in Jumpgate is designed to be both simple and immediate -- unlike EVE, which is the current dreadnaught of space MMOs, Jumpgate asks players to take direct control of their ships. Instead of just choosing a target and placing a command to fire, it plays more like an actual space shooter. Brown showed me how to use the right mouse button to set a target (which also showed up in the HUD, and tracked even when the actual ship flew out of view), and then hit the left mouse button to fire. Each ship you can buy, trade, and gain in the galaxy has a base set of stats for speed, defense, attack, and so on, and then you can add on improvements to that ship (guns, missile launchers, engine attachments) to make it faster or stronger. So what they're aiming to do is make skill a big factor -- how you fly is nearly as important as what you fly.

Which folds back into their philosophy of advancement as well -- Brown repeated the phrase "unlocking choices" quite a few times as we talked. While you will be able to gain XP and currency as you play through Jumpgate (whatever you choose to do, be that mining or PvE combat or PvP combat), those earned points will go not towards increasing your own skills as a pilot, but simply unlocking the types of ships and gear that you can use, as well as the missions you can take on and places you can go. So again, skill is a big factor -- "We want to give you unlocking choices," he told us, "rather than leveling through an artificial RPG structure."