The Squadron 42 mining update was one of our biggest things on the show ever. Can you give us an update? What's going on with the mining colony?

So the big thing about the mining colony has always been that we're obviously building it in Squadron 42, but also we know we have to make it for the Persistent Universe as well. So the idea behind that was actually that you will be able to use these items in the Persistent Universe when it comes out. In terms of an update, right now we are on the Shubin mining base, which is a big mining base, which is like six kilometers long. It can park staff areas and it can do whatever. If you've ever seen an Idris next to it, the Idris looks positively small. Even the big new one. But anyway, we are in the middle of actually white boxing that all out. So what happens is we've got the 3D concept of it, and now the design goes through and actually builds out the whole interior, because it's not just going to be something you can look at, it's something you can be able to land on, you can be able to go in, you can be able to use and operate in at times, and also it's a big part of the beginning of Squadron 42. So we're in the middle now of just creating all the different areas of it, the landing areas and so forth, and so that's kind of what we're focusing on. Once we have the white boxing done, which will be finished in the next few weeks, then we go to the art blockout phase, and then we actually create the whole look and feel of the interiors, which is blocked out in terms of the way it will look, but it won't be in mass detail or texture, but the corridors will look the way they do and so forth. And when we have that, then we actually start putting gameplay in it. Because although the final build-out of the whole thing will take months and months and months, what we try and do in all the Squadron 42 stuff, the way we're operating, is we're going to build everything in concept, block form, where basically everything is going to be in the form it will be in the final game, and then we basically put in all the gameplay and the missions and get it all working within that. And then as the content gets finished, from the outsourcers, whether it's CG parts or internal guys, we then just keep on building that stuff out and just replace the base models with the final models and so forth. It allows us to get on with actually getting the missions done at the same time.

So you start scripting the missions, and then slowly but surely the rest of it comes in.

At the end of the day, you just replace that file with the finished file. It's all in the form it should be. That's the hope. Obviously, there'll probably be one or two little changes. We'll have to go make some tweaks. But that's what allows us to work with the fact we've got a huge amount of content to put in, but at the same time, get on with making the game.