Can you talk about how you will structure the single player elements of story in the game? Where are you drawing inspiration? What is your plan to balance individual achievements against accessibility for everyone?asked by FatSoDa

Hmm, so that's a pretty open-ended question because are we talking about single player elements of story in Squadron 42 (which is our sort of single player narrative that's very much like Wing Commander in terms of it's straight-ahead narrative, and then we'll drop you out in the Persistent Universe), or are you talking about single player elements that would exist potentially in the Persistent Universe where you come across someone and they say "oh, I've heard about this legendary artifact off in 'so-and-so' but you'll have to fly over and talk to 'so-and-so' and he'll tell you a bit more about it" ?So, in terms of the single player elements of Squadron 42, we're very much going with the Wing Commander narrative. Sort of almost like a war film... war picture setup. We've got a pretty cool story. I don't really want to share too much of it, because unlike Star Citizen in the Persistent Universe, part of the fun is sort of taking the journey. But it definitely will involve a mission that goes deep into Vanduul space, and things get weirder and weirder. So if I was gonna pitch it to you, I would say it would be... take the opening of Gladiator, mix it with the Ninth Legion, and Heart of Darkness Apocalypse Now... all set in space. I think it's gonna be pretty cool and you guys are going to quite like it.On the Persistent Universe side, we are going to have small story mission pieces of characters that you can meet. And we're sort of setting it up in the Persistent Universe where obviously there's going to be stuff that we base with other players and organizations, and general stuff that you can do, and then some of the story stuff will allow you to go and do missions that would feel more specific to you. So there are parts of the game where if you're off and you're doing a specific kind of mission, or you're going down a back alley to talk to someone in a sort of disreputable speakeasy, once you enter that speakeasy you're in your own private instance and the NPCs and everything there are all sort of there, so you're not going to have 30 other people all stream into your private conversation with someone that's going to give you a tidbit of information or a mission. So it's not going to feel like some theme park that there's all of these people streaming around you, which is one of the things I sort of hate with a traditional MMO. So we're mixing, in the Persistent Universe, areas where you'll interact with other players and talk to them where it makes sense, and then other areas where it'll be much more about your personal situation. So, you know, going down a dark alley, maybe you'll get some criminals that will try and mug you. Now that won't necessarily be players, but it will be some NPCs because you're on a shady out-world and basically that's where you go to do black market buying and selling, and therefore it's pretty dangerous, so take your sidearm pistol!So those are kinda the elements we want to do down in the Persistent Universe and the planets, to make them feel alive just like it feels alive in space. I think Tony Zurovec who's leading the Persistent Universe side has got some really great and fun stuff there. But we definitely want to make you feel like it's not generic templated missions in some places. Some stuff is obviously going to have to be templated, but some stuff will be specifically built and scripted for us, and we'll sort of have a nice combination. And that combined with what the players are also doing out there hopefully will create enough challenge and variation for people for quite a while.