Dual Universe details spaceship building mechanics

Sci-fi MMO Dual Universe teased its first footage at the PC Gaming Show at this year’s E3, and has since showcased more detailed glimpses of its exploration, crafting systems and ambitious single-shard lineage. It’s far from a functioning game at this stage, however its latest video demonstrates how its pretty sophisticated building suite works in practice.

Beginning with the Core Unit—a local matrix which grants players access to different sized building zones—the video above talks through the construction process from start to finish. At around the 3.30 mark, it explains that “control units”, such as the cockpit, can be augmented with LUA script allowing for further modification, however script-related knowledge isn’t a requirement.

“The cockpit, that you can see I can rotate, position how I want, remove it, is a more general class of element called control units,” says developer Novaquark. “They are used to pilot your construct but they can also host LUA scripts to orchestrate the other elements.

“The cockpit is a bit special because it has an auto-configure function that will be able to analyse your ship, locate the engines and all necessary elements and create the flight control LUA script for you—so don’t worry if you don’t know how to script, you can still build and fly your ship.”

Again, it’s very much one step at a time for Dual Universe at this stage. Whether it lives up to its ambition—it’s still in pre-alpha however promises a “fully editable world” with a “realistic in-game economy” come full release—remains to be seen, however it continues to impress with each passing slice of footage.

We also get another glance at its seamless ground-to-air-to-space flight towards the trailer’s end there, which is always a joy to watch.

Dual Universe is due to launch at some point in 2017.