CCP art team surprises me again

I’m sure most players have seen the Space Stonehenge floating in the blue gas cloud with lights swirling around it, especially since it’s been in the game for a long time.

It’s definitely a cool backdrop to see when entering various mission / exploration sites. Years ago when I was running Cosmos missions I took a screenshot of it and afterwards never really gave it a second look.

Well today I was in a site with Space Stonehenge and after clearing out the NPC’s, I started looting and salvaging wrecks when a flicker of light from the center of the site caught my eye.

Next thing I know Lighting Bolts shoot out of the center rock and connected with some of the pillars around it which became electrified for a bit, then everything went back to normal, just lights in the blue gas cloud swirling around the site.

Needless to say I was both surprised and amazed. I’ve been in lot’s of Space Stonehenge sites and have never seen that before. I kept watching it and found out it happens every few minutes, it’s a very cool graphics animation that adds more lifelike realism to the site.

Yeah, some may think it’s no big deal but every little bit of extra graphics animation the art team adds to the game helps create better immersion into the actual game setting.

This thread is to show appreciation to CCP’s art team for all the extra little things they do to make this game seem more lifelike.

Thank you CCP.

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That’s interesting, have they always done that I wonder - or perhaps only recently?

If the latter, maybe it has something to do with the impending Triglavian invasion based off the recent hoboleaks?

These sites are also found in wormholes and may have a connection to drifters/triglavians (https://eve-files.com/media/1508/IKAME-Drifter-Hive-System-Anomalies.pdf).

They could be reactivating gateways to allow the triglavians to access K-space/W-space and combat their ancient enemy the drifters once again?

puts tinfoil hat down

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Well, ‘Site 4: Violent Wormhole Rock Circle’ in that report is definitely similar to the Space Stonehenge sites in New Eden.

Maybe it’s a prelude to invasion?

Anyway, I’ve been in a lot of Stonehenge sites before and have never noticed the Lighting strikes until now.

Only at the time of the Equinox maybe?

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That same effect on the floating stonehenge can be seen in Forlorn Hubs in K-Space, too. I sometimes fly these Hubs just to see the flash. It’s very visually appealing. I wish I could place my structure in such an environment or decorate my structure surroundings with these things.

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Sounds cool, can you post a screenshot of it?

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Y U surprised :sob:

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I imagine it’s frustrating for the art team, when players grumble about isk/hr and blitzing and playing fully zoomed out: “BUT MY ART!!”

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I think you all on the art team did an amazing job… Ever since I started EVE back in 2011, i’ve been impressed with everything from the backgrounds to the ships to the small details.

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Surprised when I first saw this happening and pleasantly surprised that the art team is allowed to do something else than skins.

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What does the art team have to do with the making an MMO?? Considering the game is over 15 years old, I think CCP’s done a good job keeping the game going.

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Hi CCP BlueScreen,

After visiting that site multiple times in the past, I was surprised and amazed to see it because I wasn’t expecting it. It’s the little things you guys do like that which actually makes this game much more enjoyable.

We may not always show our appreciation for all your hard work but we do notice little extra effects like that. Once again thank you and I look forward to seeing more extra special effects in other backgrounds.

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This effect was a personal investment, and made during a lunchbreak.
No skin time was allocated to the making of this effect! :no_mouth:

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Hi DeMichael, and thank you very much :slightly_smiling_face:

And we do receive your full appreciation, just about every time we get to hang with you amazing people at any given occasion.

Next time you see CCP Saviour, you can give him a pad on the back, for this beautiful effects work!
I believe this might even be the very first effect, he authored and published for EVE.

Fly safe pilot, and don’t get struck by Stonehenge lightning o7

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Stuff like this makes me wanna start exploration again, so I guess I’ll have to fit an explo frig today… :smiley:

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Firstly, and most importantly: Thank you.
People find it easy to grumble, but difficult to appreciate.

There are times playing Eve when I just want to stop and look at something; The translucent domes and structures of the space stations. The details on ships as they reconfigure for Warp, The ripple of light and distortion associated with the Jump Gates. The shadows on the dust in a heavily mined belt, the rings around the planet by the station you’ve undocked from. The strange, incomprehensible relics of other civilisations.
I’m sure there are things I’ve never seen, details that the artists at CCP are rightly proud of that are “things they know of”. Spotting one is a joy.
(There’s a Eve Fest presentation in there somewhere - make it at London and I’ll be there!)

Over fifteen years games, the performance of rendering hardware, and players expectations, have evolved - Eve now is better than when I started playing five years ago, both in terms of the way New Eden works and how it looks. To have kept renewing things for a decade and a half - when other games and technologies have faded and died is an amazing achievement. Eve started in the candy bar phone age, four years before the first iPhone, it’s a game from the PS2 era of consoles.

It’s a harsh cluster but contains so much beauty.
Thank-you.

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It’s cool, is it tied to the equinox or was it just coincidence?

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You can see that in some high-grade Relic/Data Sites and in Wildfire Epic Arc mission sites. I don’t remember exactly, but you can spectate similar Space Stonehenge in The Passage Chapter at mission A Demonstration or The Cost of Preservation.

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This thread made me feel like EVE players are actually decent human beings after all. And unlike previous times, the feeling has lasted more than a few seconds. :wink:
But anyway, o7 to the art department. You guys have always been great.

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