History
According to the developers Eve Online evolved from a classic computer game called Elite combined with the multi player chat and player versus player aspects of Ultima Online. Elite had four single player aspects of missions, mining, trade routes and combat with random hostile NPC's all which are aspects of the first incarnations of Eve Online. One of the original developers of Elite, David Braben, believes Eve Online is a reimplementation of the 1980s game, not its true successor.
Compatibility
On March 14, 2006, the Eve Online development team announced that they would be upgrading the graphics engine of Eve Online to a DirectX 10 / Windows Vista graphics platform. Revelations patch 1.4 had patch notes quoted as saying that the current Eve client should work in Vista "as well as it does in XP."
On September 10, 2007 CCP Games Announced that the new 'Trinity 2' graphics engine will be using DirectX 9.0. This was released on December 5, 2007.
Official support for Linux and Mac platforms, using Transgaming Technologies Cedega and Cider for Linux and Mac compatibility respectively, was introduced with the Revelations 2.3 patch released on November 6, 2007.
Third-party applications and the Eve API Project
A large number of third-party applications have arisen to supplement a player's Eve Online experience. Some of these, such as automated applications designed to claim publicly-available contracts accidentally put up without an associated cost, will result in a ban if discovered, but many others are endorsed, tacitly or explicitly, by CCP. EVEMon - a .NET application that monitors and forecasts skill training times¡ªis one example of an explicitly authorized external application.
In May, 2005, CCP announced the Eve API Project; third-party utilities such as EveMon now interface with character data, market, and other data through an API.
Major content patches
Main article: Expansions of Eve Online
From the release of Eve Online until today CCP has added nine expansions to the game. The ninth expansion, Empyrean Age, was released on June 10, 2008. CCP provides expansions free of charge to its subscribers. Over time expansions have added features such as conquerable stations, ship classes like Freighter and Dreadnought capital ships and advanced missions for players to master.
Planned future developments
CCP have recently begun work on implementing a game feature that will allow players to exit pods and interact with other player avatars in the communal setting of the interior of a station. CCP have not yet formally speculated on a release date for this feature. In March 2007 tentonhammer.com released in-development game footage of this feature, videotaped at GDC 2007 with the approval of CCP's CMO, Magnus Bergsson.
The ability to enter a planet's atmosphere (planetary flight) and to interact with the surface is also mentioned as one of the future development plans. In Eve Fanfest 2005, a working prototype was demonstrated in which a Caldari "Crow" interceptor could be seen flying around over a planet surface. However CCP stated that full-scale integration of such features to the game requires an enormous effort and is only planned for post-Revelations production phases.