Star Citizen

[Kemaiku]

Is anyone really dying to play a cinematic-heavy space combat game in 2017?

Given that Call of Duty can print money at the worst of times, and managed to alienate it's entire fanbase with exactly that premise alone last year....no.

If AAA games run at a "loss" (money most developers would kill for) for even trying to do it, guess how an indie title with an iffy reputation will perform.

I found No Man's Sky in stores last year, charging £44 *used* and over £50 new on release, they must have shipped all of oh...a dozen copies at that price. If SC tries that on consoles or Steam this year, next year, whenever they slap mission accomplished on it, they'll never match even MNS's sales.

 

[Blamo]

Star citizen, prior to the move, was using 3.7 last I heard.

At best, I anticipate something that's more or less a retread of EVE and Elite: Dangerous with perhaps more in the way of social elements--in other words, nothing groundbreaking or especially novel, no matter how much Roberts tries to convince people otherwise.

I wouldn't say that. EVE has virtually nothing in common with either SC or ED in terms of gameplay. They're all space focused games, but EVE has it's roots firmly in MMORPGs, while ED is the original Elite turned up to 11 and Star Citizen is a space-sim and FPS.

There's also that Squadron 42 game or whatever it's called. I imagine that will end up landing with a thud--is anyone really dying to play a cinematic-heavy space combat game in 2017?

Not really, I backed for the MMO part. That said, Squadron 42 is probably the easiest part of Star Citizen to implement, so I'll be playing it as I wait for the MMO part.

The money they raised sadly isn't all that much. Games doing less had a similar development budget (just development, not including marketing) and didn't have a moron who keeps adding things that don't need to be added (some of which takes up a lot of development time, adds little to the game and causes game breaking bugs, like the the ragdoll physics) and squandering it on getting high-profile expensive non-voice actors.

Edit 2: If this was such good news, why did CIG hide it for a year?

Well that's an easy one to answer, Gamers don't like doing their research and it's a very toxic and rabid community. They just read a headline and have a knee jerk reaction. Even though the move has already been completed, there are still people out there who think that the game is in the process of moving to an entirely different engine.

Given that Call of Duty can print money at the worst of times, and managed to alienate it's entire fanbase with exactly that premise alone last year....no.

It's fanbase wants the same game with better graphics. They don't even want a story mode and probably have an allergic reaction to a line of text.

 

[Amaris]

The money they raised sadly isn't all that much. Games doing less had a similar development budget (just development, not including marketing) and didn't have a moron who keeps adding things that don't need to be added (some of which takes up a lot of development time, adds little to the game and causes game breaking bugs, like the the ragdoll physics) and squandering it on getting high-profile expensive non-voice actors.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Right now, Star Citizen has raised $141 million, and climbing. That's as much as, or even twice as much as, the average AAA title budget.

http://kotaku.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-make-a-big-video-game-1501413649

 

[FPAlpha]

It's fanbase wants the same game with better graphics. They don't even want a story mode and probably have an allergic reaction to a line of text.

Last CoD i played in earnest was Modern Warfare 2 i think and i loved the storymode.. it was engaging, thrilling and fellt like a Michael Bay movie. Of course 95% play it for the Multiplayer but you can invest a weekend to play through (pro's probably only need an afternoon )

 

[Timby]

New word is that the best CIG can do in 2017 is get the first two Squadron 42 missions out the door. More layoffs are happening in LA and Foundry 42's morale is miserable because the direction from Chris Roberts changes every few hours.

Six years of development. lawl

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I checked out their staff listings and uh... they don't have a VP of Product Development? Nor anything similar. Just Roberts as "Chief Creative Officer" and "Co-CEO." They have a Project Manager in Germany but that's it. I see no other VP-level management folks other than the VP of Marketing.

This is utterly bonkers for a game costing this much money. Gee, it's like there's nobody whose job it is to make sure products are developed under time and money constraints to meet specific milestones!

 

[Timby]

I see no other VP-level management folks other than the VP of Marketing.

Who happens to be Chris Roberts' wife.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Who happens to be Chris Roberts' wife.

SHIT, I FORGOT ABOUT THAT.

 

[Timby]

SHIT, I FORGOT ABOUT THAT.

Don't forget that both Roberts and Gardiner spent literally two years denying that they were married, with Roberts saying it would be "improper" for him to be in a relationship with someone else in the company during that time ... and then Derek Smart, lord of absurdity, found it out and essentially forced them to make it public.

 

[Amaris]

New word is that the best CIG can do in 2017 is get the first two Squadron 42 missions out the door. More layoffs are happening in LA and Foundry 42's morale is miserable because the direction from Chris Roberts changes every few hours.

Six years of development. lawl

6 years development, and they're still in Alpha. Wow. Hell, their monthly studio report is 11 months behind: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link?series=monthly-report

Still, 6 years. Jesus. One of my favorite games of all time, L.A. Noire, took 7 years, and that's because they designed their own engine, and was on the bleeding edge of facial motion capture technology. The budget for that game was $50 million. I mean it when I say I want this game to succeed, but I feel that Star Citizen is going to really have to deliver a hell of a fantastic game for the other 90% of gamers who aren't repeatedly writing three and four figure contributions to Chris Roberts.

 

[Kane2026]

I don't think too much should be read into the news/rumors on lay offs etc. Star Citizen may have had a troubled production, but Chris Roberts did just start out with a very small team. A lot of time has been spent just figuring out the mechanics of the game. While production has still got a long way to go I am happy with the pace development. Just to be sure you guys understand what I mean. I am happy with the development of Star Citizen 2.x throughout 2016 and I am hopeful 2017 will also be a great year. That said. Squadron 42 will need to start its release soon.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

It doesn't take years and years to design game mechanics. Especially not in a genre as well-trod as this one. Even if one wants to consider it a crossover title--part space combat sim, part FPS, part virtual hangout, part interactive movie--none of those are groundbreaking ideas and they have tons of solid, prior examples to look at.

It has taken six years and an obscene amount of money to reach a generously defined "alpha" state because Chris Roberts thinks he is a good manager, when he is a terrible one.

 

[FPAlpha]

New word is that the best CIG can do in 2017 is get the first two Squadron 42 missions out the door. More layoffs are happening in LA and Foundry 42's morale is miserable because the direction from Chris Roberts changes every few hours.

Six years of development. lawl

Soooo.. what you're saying is that the Beta will be out soon?

 

[Blamo]

Even if one wants to consider it a crossover title--part space combat sim, part FPS, part virtual hangout, part interactive movie--none of those are groundbreaking ideas and they have tons of solid, prior examples to look at.

What's groundbreaking is the scale of it, the level of simulation and that it's supposed to be seamless. No one is saying the space combat or its FPS combat is groundbreaking, it's how everything works together in an online game.

One of my annoyances was that they go a step too far when it comes to simulating things, like with the ragdoll physics. I swear that set development back by months as they tried to get it to work with their local physics grid (though I think part of that was because they were still 32bit and the server had a hard time being precise about where exactly you are given the sheer size and complexity of the star system). Even now, it can be a bit finicky as you move between the maps physics and the ships local physics grid.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

What's groundbreaking is the scale of it, the level of simulation and that it's supposed to be seamless. No one is saying the space combat or its FPS combat is groundbreaking, it's how everything works together in an online game.

One of my annoyances was that they go a step too far when it comes to simulating things, like with the ragdoll physics. I swear that set development back by months as they tried to get it to work with their local physics grid (though I think part of that was because they were still 32bit and the server had a hard time being precise about where exactly you are given the sheer size and complexity of the star system). Even now, it can be a bit finicky as you move between the maps physics and the ships local physics grid.

Rodina implements a similar physics grid concept... and is developed by one guy.

If the physics grid is the most unique thing about Star Citizen, it's in serious trouble.

 

[Kane2026]

Rodina implements a similar physics grid concept... and is developed by one guy.

If the physics grid is the most unique thing about Star Citizen, it's in serious trouble.

Implementing the game on the scale of Star Citizen is not easy. The various game modules need to work together seamlessly (as an MMO I might add).On the face of it I cannot really compare Star Citizen with anything else. Other games such as Elite are great but lack the depth. Maybe SC went overboard with its physics, but they are working on it. There is a weekly series on YouTube called Bug Smashers that deals a lot with the development issues that are typical for this project.

 

[Timby]

Star Citizen: WE HAVE SUCH SIGHTS TO SHOW YOU

 

[Amaris]

Star Citizen: WE HAVE SUCH SIGHTS TO SHOW YOU

At least he seems to be venting properly.

 

[Kemaiku]

Still has a long way to go to beat Dice's ragdoll nightmares from the Battlefield series, but that's definitely a new one.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I've always wondered what the "rolling head" thing is about. Bethesda (and I think BioWare) games have exhibited similar bugs. Might be a PhysX thing.