Star Citizen

[Destraex]

Still really enjoying Star Citizen, bugs and all. Mainly because I have friends that play it regularly now. A couple get frustrated every now and then and give it a break but always seem to come back. For others it seems to have been a dream come true and they are fairly dedicated. I think the other reason we are playing is because after waiting 8yrs, our patience has run out and we just want to get some value out of it. It really is great fun.

A glory shot of the Vanguard Harbinger


The Harbinger again


The Gladius. A nod to the wing commander gladius I would say. So many of the fighters have the exact same names as WC.


The Caterpillar cargo hauler. This thing is probably the best cargo ship in the game for volume at the moment. That is until they get the container transport ships in game.


A Cutlass. This VTOL ship is a fantastic multirole ship. It can be used as cargo, fighter and for various other roles. As you can see, somebody has jammed a buggy in the rear. I just took a photo of this because I thought it was funny. This gent just hovered their the whole time I was there at this outpost. Not sure what he was doing.


A bit of FPS. Game has lean and lay down. Everything you would expect of a normal modern FPS.


Leaving a "truck stop" with a Caterpillar hauler. Probably after selling my last haul here.


One of my mates EVA'ed without his helmet on. He did not last long.


Bodycount during mission. We actually dragged all the bodies here because we could not find the last enemy. Sometimes the game bugs out like this. I imagine the last guy fell down a hole or something.


I got out of my ship a little off the ground. Seems the weather or a little forward momentum has taken it off the hill I was on and over the flats. I won't get back into that in atmosphere. Not like I can float up. Luckily my other friends were already coming in their ships.


Looking at cargo we just loaded into a Caterpillar. The cargo is actually a physical thing in star citizen.


After landing at a truck stop and getting out of my ship, I mosey on over to the lifts to get into the station. Food, Drink and shopping await. Not to mention being able to fuel and repair my ship.


One of my friends got killed while trying to hack a security terminal at Kareah outpost. Others came in after us because as soon as you start hacking the whole server gets a mission to hunt you down. So we ended up fighting out way out. That's my friends hornet on the pad. Checking to see if anybody is around it.

[Skoop]

My thoughts exactly Des.  Bunch of the guys I play naval action with do star citizen.  We've been hitting it pretty hard this week and it's a blast with a group of bros.  This game is so close to hitting the mark in a half finished state.  I wish they'd just focus on gameplay and stability over the next year, and add the extreme detail later.

[Destraex]

Yeah. Unfortunately until the get icache and server meshing in, the nuts and bolts won't be finished enough to really finish the stability and gameplay.

Been enjoying the xenothreat missions. They are a tonne of fun.

Less of this: Although I am sure it is contributing to something they are testing


More of this... which seems to be here in spades anyways now.

[Skoop]

Xeno threat mission was a lot of fun.

[Destraex]

What did you fly during xeno threat?

P.s seems to be a free fly event on now.

[Skoop]

I flew a Vanguard Warden in phase 2 and killed all the fighter size ships, other players killed the idris and got all the supplies.  For phase 3, I flew an eclipse, 2 of me 3 torps hit but it took 20 players chipping away at the idris to kill it.  More tallys came in with torps for the kill.

[Destraex]

The Vanguard Warden is my favourite ship in game. It's a great all rounder.

[Pete Dero]

https://www.bluesnews.com/s/220104/star-citizen-passes-usd-350m-in-crowdfunding

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/funding-goals

The Stretch Goals Page on the Roberts Space Industries Website reveals that development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42 has now raked in more than $350 million through the pledges of over three million star citizens, an average of over $115 per backer (thanks Neowin). The project hit the $300 million milestone last June, so it's pulled in $50 million in nine months. $5.5 million a month is pretty good income, so one has to wonder if releasing the game could ever possibly be a good business decision.


On an unrelated note : I'm starting a crowd funding project : Space Citizen.
Details follow ;).

[steve58]

...and still waiting for Squadron 42 

[Skoop]

https://www.bluesnews.com/s/220104/star-citizen-passes-usd-350m-in-crowdfunding

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/funding-goals

The Stretch Goals Page on the Roberts Space Industries Website reveals that development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42 has now raked in more than $350 million through the pledges of over three million star citizens, an average of over $115 per backer (thanks Neowin). The project hit the $300 million milestone last June, so it's pulled in $50 million in nine months. $5.5 million a month is pretty good income, so one has to wonder if releasing the game could ever possibly be a good business decision.





On an unrelated note : I'm starting a crowd funding project : Space Citizen.
Details follow ;).

Most people who haven't played it really get hung up on the amount of funds tallied for some reason.  They have pretty much redrawn the map on funding an ambitious project.  You criticize from the side lines or try it out on free weekends, then criticize from experience at least. I still say there's more in star citizen as a buggy alpha than most of it's competitors that are complete and adding stuff after the fact.

This game will never really be complete by what is considered a complete game in todays standards.  They will still be adding stuff and redesigning the core engine in 2026 when they finally hit beta and have reached 1billion in funds, and people will still be playing it.  They blazed their own path, and with that comes the critics who can't wrap their head around it.

[Jarhead0331]

^Well said, Skoop.

[Father Ted]

Most people who haven't played it really get hung up on the amount of funds tallied for some reason.  They have pretty much redrawn the map on funding an ambitious project.  You criticize from the side lines or try it out on free weekends, then criticize from experience at least. I still say there's more in star citizen as a buggy alpha than most of it's competitors that are complete and adding stuff after the fact.

This game will never really be complete by what is considered a complete game in todays standards.  They will still be adding stuff and redesigning the core engine in 2026 when they finally hit beta and have reached 1billion in funds, and people will still be playing it.  They blazed their own path, and with that comes the critics who can't wrap their head around it.

Once it's released proper and it becomes just another videogame rather than a potential be-all-and-end-all, people won't want to chuck so much money at it, so it behoves the devs to just keep developing and raking in the credulous crowd-funding

[Pete Dero]

But why not finish a base (near bug free) version of the game and then add features (like Elite Dangerous with the Odissey release almost ready https://www.elitedangerous.com/odyssey/).

I posted the quote above '$5.5 million a month is pretty good income, so one has to wonder if releasing the game could ever possibly be a good business decision' and, like Father Ted also said, I really wonder why they would ever stop.
It is not about how much money they received but about what another developer could have done with that amount of money.  Maybe in the hands of someone else you would be playing a more finished game.

True : I don't play it but with more than 50 games on my HD that I still haven't started I'm not ready to spend more time on what you call a buggy alpha.


Today I found this about another thing they want to add :

https://www.bluesnews.com/s/220244/star-citizen-multiplayer-collaboration-announced

Cloud Imperium Games announces a partnership with Firesprite to development the multiplayer mode for Star Citizen, the upcoming persistent world half of the crowdfunded Star Citizen/Squadron 42 project. The two companies will work together on a mode codenamed Theaters of War, which will enter closed testing soon. Here's more on the plan:

    Star Citizen's Theaters of War mode is a PvP multiplayer experience first unveiled at CitizenCon 2019. Gameplay features intense, large-scale, team-based skirmishes between attackers and defenders across multiple phases of combat on planetary surfaces, in upper atmosphere, and a final orbital assault on a space station.

    Firesprite's collaboration with CIG on Theaters of War began in early 2019, when CIG outlined the vision for a multiplayer combined-arms experience taking place within the Star Citizen universe. Since then, Firesprite and CIG have collaborated to design and build this experience utilizing Star Citizen's proprietary technology, tools, and game assets. The combined learnings and advancements made for the combined-arms game mode have benefited and continue to benefit the core gameplay of both Star Citizen and Squadron 42.

[Destraex]

Pete. The problem with doing things in an ad hoc manner is that you end up re-inventing the wheel every time you add a core component, needing to rebuild the foundations again and again for the building. Elite Dangerous will be limited by this approach I would think. But well done to them if they managed to anticipate all of their addon modules before their base game was released or if their engine is simply that flexible and powerful. I am betting the star citizen dev videos are helping a bunch with elites developers.

Star Citizen would take 30 years developed adhoc rather than the 10-15 it's looking to take at the moment (almost all the core components are in currently). If it does take 10-15 years for a revolutionary game to be released when you take off a few years for the genuinely new features, that will be better than the development time for some AAA games that have no revolutionary features..  also consider Star Citizen built an engine and many studios on the fly. All of it takes time. Also consider that this project is spurring a lot of the competition along I am sure. Motivating companies to kick the bean counters and bring the engineers back in to compete with the new standards star citizen is setting. I guess I am saying that I'd rather have star citizen than a world where it was never even tried. What would we have? A base elite game and that's it of competent titles in the genre?

Here are a few examples

These games were made by AAA studios with millions of dollars in budget. Quoted from another site,

"Shenmue: 1994-2000 (6 years) StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty: 2003-2010 (7 years) Galleon: 1997-2004 (7 years) L.A. Noire: 2004-2011 (7 years) Spore: 2000-2008 (8 years) Too Human : 1999-2008 (9 years) Team Fortress 2: 1998-2007 (9 years) Prey: 1995-2006 (11 years) Diablo III: 2001-2012 (11 years) Duke Nukem Forever: 1996-2011 (15 years) PC version of GTA 5 which was 8 years in development (and GTA 6 has already at the 8 year mark, and dont say it's not because its been in concept since 2012 when GTA 5 released)."

[Jarhead0331]

But why not finish a base (near bug free) version of the game and then add features (like Elite Dangerous with the Odissey release almost ready https://www.elitedangerous.com/odyssey/).

I posted the quote above '$5.5 million a month is pretty good income, so one has to wonder if releasing the game could ever possibly be a good business decision' and, like Father Ted also said, I really wonder why they would ever stop.
It is not about how much money they received but about what another developer could have done with that amount of money.  Maybe in the hands of someone else you would be playing a more finished game.

True : I don't play it but with more than 50 games on my HD that I still haven't started I'm not ready to spend more time on what you call a buggy alpha.


Today I found this about another thing they want to add :

https://www.bluesnews.com/s/220244/star-citizen-multiplayer-collaboration-announced

Cloud Imperium Games announces a partnership with Firesprite to development the multiplayer mode for Star Citizen, the upcoming persistent world half of the crowdfunded Star Citizen/Squadron 42 project. The two companies will work together on a mode codenamed Theaters of War, which will enter closed testing soon. Here's more on the plan:

    Star Citizen's Theaters of War mode is a PvP multiplayer experience first unveiled at CitizenCon 2019. Gameplay features intense, large-scale, team-based skirmishes between attackers and defenders across multiple phases of combat on planetary surfaces, in upper atmosphere, and a final orbital assault on a space station.

    Firesprite's collaboration with CIG on Theaters of War began in early 2019, when CIG outlined the vision for a multiplayer combined-arms experience taking place within the Star Citizen universe. Since then, Firesprite and CIG have collaborated to design and build this experience utilizing Star Citizen's proprietary technology, tools, and game assets. The combined learnings and advancements made for the combined-arms game mode have benefited and continue to benefit the core gameplay of both Star Citizen and Squadron 42.

I think it totally depends on how you define "release". Clearly, the line of what traditionally constituted a PC game release has been blurred over the last couple of decades. Expectations of quality and content have evolved over time. I've been playing Star Citizen since VERY early alpha, and I'm still here. I'd say I'm in it for the long haul. My dedication is not only based on the future potential, but what is already available and there for players to enjoy now, in the present. In my opinion, Cloud Imperium has released a game, but it is one with a vision so vast, that it will always continue to grow. If on-going growth now counts as "in development" and "not released", then I think that is an unfair assessment and one that sets up for failure any developer who wants to create a living universe. With Star Citizen, players get to experience the evolution and growth of a living game as it gets enhanced by the developers. Players grow and develop with the game and are integral part of the process.

I don't think the discussion should focus on how much money they have raised, how it has been used or what someone else might have been able to accomplish with it. That is all speculation. At the end of the day, Cloud Imperium had the vision and they are making it a reality. People who focus on the money tend to not play the game and want to throw stones be it out of a lack of understanding or interest, or just plain jealousy..."Damn it. Why didn't I think of this and make it a reality?"

Theater of War has been in development for a few years. It is hardly anything new. I think it is a good idea for the PU since it will create opportunities for more cohesive action based play. Supposedly it is not far off from being open to a wider testing group.