Kovok is the latest Home developer to announce their intention to build a new virtual world. So I asked Joan Pons of Kovok if he would discuss it with me for our readers to see and he kindly obliged. Here's what he had to say....... YPSH : First of all Joan, thanks for taking the time to fill us in on your new project. What will it be called and what platforms will it run on? Joan : Hello Karen! It's a pleasure to stop by, we love the work that you have been doing for the community! Our creature will be called "Project Nebula" and it will run in PC and Mac only, can't wait to share all the details about it, exciting times! YPSH : Any plans to put it on the PS4 in the future? Joan : Not really, SONY had something unique and amazing called PS Home and even so decided to end it, we don't want Project Nebula to end the same way, and consoles have a very limited life spam. Also, we are aware that other Home developers have projects for PS4, the community has plenty to choose from. (Editor's Note : Since this interview took place, Kovok has changed its mind and says it will be on PS4. YPSH : Do I have to soup up my PC to really appreciate Project Nebula? Joan : Usually, the better is your PC the better you would appreciate the graphics and sounds. This is the advantage of it, when a console is 5 years old it's usually really far behind a brand new PC with normal specifications. We are going to have options to lower down the graphics for those that need it. YPSH : Will Project Nebula use a similar business model like Home used? Free to play and supported by the sale of virtual items? Joan : Very similar, is up to the player to spend some money in something a bit more special, all the games are going to be FREE2PLAY. We will also implement a XP points system to unlock items by only playing, it would be like earning the rewards that you want. YPSH : If a user wants more right away, can they buy an optional subscription? Joan : A 30 days subscription called "Blessing of Nebula" will be available in the store. Subscribed accounts will earn XP faster, items will cost less XP to unlock, have access to exclusive content and receive monthly rewards among other things. It will be worth it! YPSH : Will it have its own "in-world" currency and how will that work if it does? Joan : Yes, the currency would be called "Nebula Crystals" and it will be used to purchase content and subscriptions in the store. YPSH : Will Project Nebula be a mix of social (personal and public spaces) and games? Or will it be more heavily weighted towards games? Joan : Users will travel through the Nebula in order to reach different localizations, these localizations will host different games and social activities, and it will be a mix of both. We won't build a new localization without adding a bunch of cool stuff to do, after all it needs to be fun! YPSH : So users will eventually be able to buy their own personal spaces and other items? Joan : Yes, we will update the content regularly. Users will have a very wide set of items to choose from, personal spaces, pets, clothes, locomotion’s... YPSH : Second Life (PC based) has been around for a long time. One of the complaints I hear about it is it isn't user friendly. The interface is clunky. What will make Project Nebula different? Joan : We will design a very clear and easy to read interface, the UI (user interface) is as important as any other factor of the game, it needs to be right. We are already working on it. YPSH : PlayStation Home tried to draw gamers into it by adding games. Wardrobe Wars, Uproar, No Man’s Land, Mercia, and more. In the end, those games never really had any staying power. One of the reasons was Home was used more as a social platform and those games would never compete with a disc based game. How will Project Nebula merge the two together to make it successful? Joan : To find games in PS Home it's a very slow and tedious process, when you do find one... it crashes or... it doesn't work, it's just normal that people losses the interest in them. I always find a lot of people when I visit the Konami Penthouse or Sodium, this is because the games are fun and still working. Imagine how cool it would be to arrive to a public space and have a bunch of FUN games to play with your friends? It would be the most populated space of PS Home by far! We want the community input, we are going to have an in-game vote system for the new content, we will build the Nebula however people want it to be. YPSH : Project Nebula will have special events from time to time? Joan : Our aim is to constantly host events of all kind. We want the Nebula to be very lively and active, giving lots of options to the users. YPSH : Other developers are using the UNREAL engine for their projects. What will you be using for Project Nebula? Joan : We will be using Unity3D, it has a lot of tools that will help us to implement the new content to Nebula. One of the things that we want to run very smoothly is the transition between our 3D package and the game engine, Unity3D covers this perfectly. Also, we are going to use a server service with implementation tools for Unity3D. YPSH : Project Nebula will have an avatar editor? Joan : Yes, and you will only be one click away from your wardrobe, pets, animations and locomotion’s! All the options will be in the same screen with a very clear and neat interface! Also, users will be able to save the preset and use it whenever they want, it will not only save your current clothing but also the aesthetics changes that you have made to the character. YPSH : Any plans to add 3D support (like Oculus Rift) in the future? Joan : That would be awesome! We definitely want to implement Oculus Rift to Project Nebula! Due the cost of it we have to add this option as a stretch goal, if the stretch goal is achieved Project Nebula will have Oculus Rift support from the very beginning. YPSH : How about funding to get Project Nebula started? Joan : Project Nebula is been cooking for long time, there is already a lot of research and documentation done with many great ideas. We wanted to self-fund the project with the money we were receiving from the sales on PS Home, now that the income will stop we need to look into another ways to found the project. The Kickstarter campaign is done to attract the wider audience possible, failure would mean that we have done the campaign wrong or the project isn't interesting enough. YPSH : What is your target date to get the Kickstarter going? Any projected date to start Project Nebula? Will it have a beta first? Joan : If everything goes how it should we will launch the campaign next week, it will last for 30 days only. We are already working on Project Nebula! We are aiming to have it finished by the end of 2015, beta would last for 2 months and it will be only accessible for those that pledged £10 or more. YPSH : Will Kovok produce all the games in-house or will you partner with over developers like Home did? Joan : Any developer is welcome to produce content for Project Nebula, the more the merrier! Before anything we need to build the platform to host the content, once this is done developers can contact us to release their stuff on it. YPSH : I think that about covers it for now. I am sure readers will think of additional questions to ask and post here and I encourage them to do so. Thanks Joan for coming by and giving us the lowdown on Project Nebula and we hope you stop back from time to time to see what the readers are saying. Best of luck with Project Nebula. Joan : Thanks a lot for giving us the opportunity to share a piece of Project Nebula with all of you! Remember to visit our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter for more details and news about Project Nebula! Facebook Project Nebula | Facebook Twitter: Project Nebula (@PNebulaGame) | Twitter Please note this interview may NOT be copied in full and posted elsewhere without the express consent of the author.
Look's ok, but i don't have a PC and i would guess it's unlikely a Mac version would be made. Edit, just seen they said Mac also, but still i would like a PS4 version better.
I'm glad they are making it on PC, I'm not getting a PS4 anytime soon and theres not enough good reasons to get one for myself. So far this looks very interesting, I'm worried that the kickstar is going to last just 30 days, if developers use more time to pledge it would be easier to reach the goal.
Not sure I would play this one, even tho' I like the images they're showing and the info about it. I sit in front of my Mac all day for work, don't want to do more of that than I have to.
The interview has been updated to reflect Kovok's decision to possibly put it on PS4 if enough want it. 16:15 EDT, oct. 28th, 2014
simply put...why buy a PS4 if there will be no Home Network?....for game streaming?....I guess, for those that do that...what about the thousands of others who have enjoyed PS HOME all these years?...JUst say "Sorry it's finished"?..sounds like a hasty last minute end of conference thought-up debacle! Others who wax and wane about it not being real life?...no kiddin?... Real life is only Real life....You had something really good here all these years, and it can still be good with improvements and GOOD updates...not just say "Sorry it's over!".... lame...... Sorry Sony, my original question, why buy a PS4 ? It will die in a couple years of value loss revenue and non enterprising sales. On the other hand...Bringing out a new & better platform would truly be remarkable but without HOME ?...no thanks.
Kovok have a private investor for Nebula to come to ps4 they just need to reach the kickstart target to bring Nebula to pc/mac also Nebula will be cross platform, more can be found on facebook,twitter, also on
