Remember back when DayZ creator Dean Hall was building ambitious sci-fi full-scale sandbox MMO Ion, inspired by EVE Online and Space Station 13? Remember a few weeks ago when it came out that it’s probably a dead game since, y’know, no one is actually working on it and everyone involved is giving weirdly vague statements about its status?
OK. Now fast-forward a couple of weeks to EGX Rezzed in London, where Hall is apparently in the midst of demoing yet another new space game inspired by Space Station 13. It’s called Stationeers, and Hall really doesn’t want people to think it’s Ion, even though it plainly has quite a bit of Ion in it.
“Inspired by the beloved Space Station 13, Stationeers puts you in control of the construction and management of a space station either by yourself in single-player, or online with your friends. Complex systems around atmospherics, power generation, medical, agriculture, food, and gravity require your thought and management at all times.”
The weird bit is that although Hall seemed to imply Ion was dead in the water a few weeks ago, in this Eurogamer interview he seems to be saying just the opposite, or at least that some portion of his big-vision games continues on.
“We don’t want people to turn up and think [Stationeers is] a first-person, hardcore shooter, 3000 player game because that’s not what it is. It’s a hardcore, niche game in an area I’ve been interested in for a decade. We’re working on big, crazy stuff at the studio as well – this is not it.”
The only thing I know for sure anymore is that Dean Hall really likes Space Station 13.
