Star Citizen - Chris Roberts' new game

[Timby]

bullethead wrote:

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Why are the storyline things being included in the stretch goals? You should plan to have that anyway unless you're doing what XCOM is doing and letting the player create the story.

Keep in mind that all we've seen is a pre-rendered sizzle reel, and we have no idea whatsoever what development has taken place already, outside of the announcement that it's running CryEngine 3 and that Roberts has a very rough prototype. The three elements of any project that need to be in sync at all times are timeline, budget and scope, and while they're very clear about the timeline, they can't really establish the scope of work without a better understanding of the budget. My guess is that the amount of branching built into the campaign is what's dependent upon the money.

I pitched in $30, but I'm doing my best to keep my expectations in check. Roberts has never produced a bad game, but it's been ~10 years since he's worked in the industry and I have a very, very big worry that the reason he's taken the crowd-funding route is because he thinks he's big enough that he doesn't have to say "No, fuck you, Dad" to a project manager at EA or wherever.

[Jono]

Timby wrote:

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RSI has added stretch goals to the pledge site. It would appear that we don't get the MMO component unless they hit $5 million in funding, which is a pretty aggressive mark.

Ben Lesnick has addressed this quickly over on the RSI forums:

Ben Lesnick wrote:

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We’re getting ready to address the stretch goals question in a Comm-Link post. I agree that it seems deceptive… but it wasn’t meant to be! The game announced at GDC is the one Chris Roberts intends to build, no matter what… not making the $4 million just means it’s going to take a little more time to get there instead of launching all at once.

So not making the $5 million mark would in theory mean that we'd be looking at a possible +3 yr wait rather than 30 months.

[FPAlpha]

It depends on how big the name Roberts really is and if there's enough 30+ year olds who remember Wing Commandor and Freelancer (games i adored as a teenager).

5 million is a very tall order and yet a drop in the bucket for a major game.. top of the line games nowadays cost tens of millions and only a select few franchises exist that make a return on this investment.

I honestly doubt Robert's has remained a big name.. outside of people in their 30s and gaming nuts i don't believe the majority of today's Xbox and PS3 crowd know who he is much less that he's getting a game together.

I hope it happens.. Space Combat is a dead genre and could use a boost. If this becomes a success i'm hoping others will reconsider and launch their own games.. i could use a state of the art X-Wing game.

[Timby]

Jon-o'-lantern wrote:

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Ben Lesnick has addressed this quickly over on the RSI forums:

So not making the $5 million mark would in theory mean that we'd be looking at a possible +3 yr wait rather than 30 months.

To be fair, though, Cloud Imperium's community manager is naturally going to put the most positive spin on things as possible. Remember, this is the guy who still insists that Wing Commander: Arena is a great game.

That being said, LOAF getting an actual job with Roberts as the community manager is pretty awesome for him, since he's been running the Wing Commander CIC since forever and a day ago (1999, if memory serves). My account on that site goes back even further than this one.

[Jono]

Which is why I added "in theory" and "possible" into the sentence. Even reaching the $5 million mark doesn't 100% guarantee that the game (SQ42 or the MMO) will ever be completed. Robert is definitely aiming big, in his funding goal and what he wants for the game. There is a lot that can go wrong, which means there is also a lot of room to disappoint.

I've also seen today that Valve might (someone heard from a friend who has a friend who knows someone at Valve type whispers) be working on a privateer like open world space sim. If true and Star Citizen gets off the ground, it would make this niche's landscape quite interesting for the next two years.

[Timby]

Jon-o'-lantern wrote:

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I've also seen today that Valve might be working on a privateer like open world space sim. If true and Star Citizen gets off the ground, it would make this niche's landscape quite interesting for the next two years.

If that's true, Roberts should just go to Valve and beg for the money. They'd give him the creative freedom he so clearly wants.

Honestly, though, I have a feeling that he's still hoping to get the Wing Commander license from EA, which is why the storyline is under the stretch goals -- he needs some extra cash to get it out of EA's hands. That trailer was Wing Commander, even down to the uniforms (which were straight out of WC3), and everything about this project is screaming that it's intended to be a Wing Commander game, but they're developing the new universe / fiction as a fallback in case they can't acquire or license the rights.

[Robert Maxwell]

I would love a new WC game, assuming it was good quality and brought back the Kilrathi. Although the post-Kilrathi War games were decent (especially The Price of Freedom, which was brilliant), it would be awesome to have a true open universe WC game at the height of the Kilrathi War implemented modern gaming technology.

Even if he doesn't get the license, I would be interested to see what he comes up with.

[Timby]

Ghostavo Fring wrote:

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I would love a new WC game, assuming it was good quality and brought back the Kilrathi.

Roberts has been saying that EA approached him about doing a new Wing Commander game, but the talks fell apart after he insisted that it be PC-only. I honestly can't say I fault EA on that one, considering the budgets of space sims -- Wing Commander IV cost something like $12 million back in 1996, though admittedly a large chunk of that was the FMV, and Freespace 2, which killed the market, had a hojillion-dollar budget behind it.

[Robert Maxwell]

Timby wrote:

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Roberts has been saying that EA approached him about doing a new Wing Commander game, but the talks fell apart after he insisted that it be PC-only. I honestly can't say I fault EA on that one, considering the budgets of space sims -- Wing Commander IV cost something like $12 million back in 1996, though admittedly a large chunk of that was the FMV, and Freespace 2, which killed the market, had a hojillion-dollar budget behind it.

Yeah, I remember when Freespace 2 killed the space sim genre. Sad days.

[superdeluxe]

bullethead wrote:

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Why are the storyline things being included in the stretch goals? You should plan to have that anyway unless you're doing what XCOM is doing and letting the player create the story.

More $$$$ means you are able to create more storylines. Not seeing the issue here.

[superdeluxe]

FPAlpha wrote:

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It depends on how big the name Roberts really is and if there's enough 30+ year olds who remember Wing Commandor and Freelancer (games i adored as a teenager).

5 million is a very tall order and yet a drop in the bucket for a major game.. top of the line games nowadays cost tens of millions and only a select few franchises exist that make a return on this investment.

I honestly doubt Robert's has remained a big name.. outside of people in their 30s and gaming nuts i don't believe the majority of today's Xbox and PS3 crowd know who he is much less that he's getting a game together.
.

All those teens/folks in their 20's are now making decent salary and love to live in nostaligia of things in the Past. We've seen how well project eternity, Wasteland and Shadowrun have done.

[smiki]

FPAlpha wrote:

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Space Combat is a dead genre and could use a boost.

You guys do know that Diaspora: Shattered Armistice, a Battlestar Galactica themed freeware standalone space combat game made with the so-called FreeSpace Open engine (significantly upgraded FreeSpace 2 engine) got released this September? Just saying, because you guys seem like you might enjoy it.

[Robert Maxwell]

smiki wrote:

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You guys do know that Diaspora: Shattered Armistice, a Battlestar Galactica themed freeware standalone space combat game made with the so-called FreeSpace Open engine (significantly upgraded FreeSpace 2 engine) got released this September? Just saying, because you guys seem like you might enjoy it.

By the way, I wouldn't be quick to say the genre is "dead." It's just not as high-profile as it once was. Freespace 2 certainly killed the genre (for a while), but now it's back. You have the X series, which remains modestly popular. Looking through my Steam account, I've got these various and sundry space combat sims (in the Freespace/Wing Commander mold):

* DarkStar One (2006)
* SpaceForce: Rogue Universe (2007)
* Evochron Mercenary (2012)
* SOL: Exodus (2012)

Granted, there aren't that many of these, but what's available is pretty good.

[JGordon]

Timby wrote:

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Keep in mind that all we've seen is a pre-rendered sizzle reel, and we have no idea whatsoever what development has taken place already, outside of the announcement that it's running CryEngine 3 and that Roberts has a very rough prototype.

At the GDC online announcement, Roberts played the mission seen in the trailer in real time. He started off in 1st/3rd person walking around the interior of the carrier, climbed into the cockpit of his fighter, took off, and fought with the raider ships. All without any loading screens or major hiccups (though there were a few minor clipping issues).

So the basics of the game engine are set, and it was surprisingly polished for a pre-pre-alpha build. From his comments it sounded like the only assets they really had completed were the carrier and the 2 fighter classes, but it's pretty impressive that they managed to turn CryEngine 3 into a functional flight sim by the time of the announcement. They had a lot more done than most projects that are at the crowdfunding phase. So there's definitely been a fair amount of development done already.

The combined totals for the RSI site are just over $1.8 million as I type this, and should surpass the $2million minimum goal very shortly. That's after just 13 days of fundraising on the RSI site and only 4 days on Kickstarter, so they are likely on their way to a $3 - $4 million total.

I'm very, very excited about this game. Dusted off my joystick last night and downloaded Diaspora: Shattered Armistice for some practice. I pledged $60 to Star Citizen, and might do more if I can convince the wife that it's necessary for my well-being.

Edit - Roberts has also stated that the $2million goal will kick in additional private funding from investors, who wanted Roberts to prove their was a market for this type of game before they committed the money. So the crowdfunding isn't the only funding stream for this game's development.

[Jono]

The game hit its $2 million goal today, so that's one big box ticked in terms of the game heading towards getting made. I'm glad to see that the game looks like it won't stumble on its first hurdle.

Some basic prelim info on the pledge ships, has also been released. They are also going to be expanding on the details for the stretch goals in the next day, which will be interesting.