HI Danny,
As I have said on Skype a few days ago I am happy to hear that you're redesigning DMNb 2 to be much more like Project Alpha, as opposed to a Star Trek inspired 2d version of Miriani or Prometheus. When I first started playing DMNB, I was rather disappointed coming from Project Alpha because of the amount of time players spend on board their vessels like a commercial pilot flying round the clock to accomplish various tasks. What was particularly unsettling was the limited amount of ground-based game play, which meant that all players would do is dock on a planet or space station, enter an area with a galactic network terminal, buy the equipment they needed, and board their vessels again.
In contrast, Project Alpha kept players busy throughout its entirety. From level one to level five, players had to navigate their environment, explore areas for objects, and buy equipment at galactic network terminals. Weapons also had to be upgraded to insure that monsters could be dealt with efficiently. This was all done while trying to put a derelict together just enough to be able to escape the asteroid belt and escape Red Warp as it exploded, leaving them stranded on Inderian Nine. The subsequent quest to search for all of the components for the gravity jammer to then destroy the project was also intense. Without getting to deep into the game play itself, the concepts you introduced were groundbreaking for an audio game.
Now, I totally understand why a redesign of DMNB is necessary. As you pointed out, the teleporters were implemented as a convenience for players, but they don't resemble the realistic experience of navigating the corridors of a vessel, or the surface of a planet. Red Warp was huge indeed, so was Glimmer of Hope, but I was able to learn the layouts of both ships and complete the game five times, enjoying it each time I did so. The cockpit-centered approach made the game rather boring for beginners to be honest, as there wasn't really much to do until enough credits were earned in order to upgrade to a much larger, more powerful vessel, which was capable of deep space exploration, combat, and planet cracking, among other things. So, providing players with a variety of activities, both in the pilot seat and on the ground will undoubtedly the replay value of this game. There were many times when I decided to take a break from DMNB because there weren't enough players to do missions with, since each player was focused on mining, planet cracking, or salvaging in order to earn the most amount of credits. That was one of the main problems, the idea that one player had to have more credits than every other player, which meant that the game looked more and more like a competition that decided whose ship was the best and most powerful. Instead, players should be able to explore derelicts together and not just to salvage artifacts, but to repair damaged components, as was the case in DM Pa. Along the way, they should face similar dangers, such as self-destruct sequences, monsters, and structural failures, which would require problem solving in order to avoid certain death. That was the appeal of Project Alpha and taking this game in a similar direction will be a welcomed sign of progress. Finally, the reasons which brought you here are largely based on the player base. You had to deal with Drama, both on this forum and on the server, which didn't contribute to the development of this great game. Players were asking for custom ships, credit hand-outs, and features that weren't necessary, couldn't be coded in a timely manner, and detracted from the main ideas of the DM universe. So, don't be bothered by players who cause drama, demand constant updates, or free credits and rewards to progress through the game. This game can be enjoyed by everyone, as long as no one ruins it for everyone else.
I attack with the savagery of a thousand piranhas.