Star Citizen - Chris Roberts' new game

[Jono]

Roberts released an interest article on how dead will work in the game: Death of a Spaceman

I never put any thought into how death would be handled. I just thought you'd lose cargo and just come back alive somewhere and be immortal as you are in most MMOs, so it is interesting to see they're planning something a bit different. I like the sound of the system and the fact your character can actually really die.

 

[FPAlpha]

Actually it sounds quite cool how they envision it and it makes me even more interested.

Roberts has a point by claimg that current re-spawn games take the urgency and tension out of games.. as much fun as it is to charge a room full of enemies you do it because you know that the autosave function will take you back to a near point and you only lose some moments of gaming.

With this system players will actually be forced to run occasionally if opposition is just too strong or the enemy pilot too good.. withdraw to fight another day. I also like the visual cues to characters that show wear and tear over time so you could instantly spot the vets from the noobs in a bar (and make a wide circle around the vets if you don't want trouble).

Small nitpick though.. i agree that killing big bossess in MMO's is kinda tedious when it's the same one that's been killed by thousands before but simply renaming a known NPC so others can kill him and feel unique is just painting over the whole thing.. people still get to kill the same guy, just with a different name.

Anyway.. Roberts sure has an ambitious game planned.. i hope everything pans out like he wants it too and it's as cool as it sounds.

Might even be time to get a new gaming PC when it comes out.. i miss the 90s when Roberts' games were the indicators it was time to buy the next PC generation

 

[Jono]

The first of the pre-Alpha testing modules came out this week: the Hanger module. Basically it is what it sounds like, a place where you can look at and interact (without flying) with your vessels.

I only have one ship, the Hornet (a fighter), and I got to have my first proper look at it. After a few issues (one with the installer and the other with their server) I finally got in and had a look. It is nice to get a true sense of the scale of the vessel, usually with fighter/small ships you don't really get that. It is very pretty and detailed. Got into the cockpit and it was what you think it should be for a fighter. Very nice.

They have also opened the initial parts shop (not working when I tried my hanger). They have given people free credits to play with and they have monetised it so you can buy more, though you'd have to be pretty silly to do so at this stage. It's pretty much another money grab, which seems a bit much at this stage. However, people are throwing money at it so why would they stop?

Their crowd sourcing is continuing to be unstoppable. When I started this thread they are $500 away from $17 million and now they are $300 past it. During their live web cast for the launch of their new website they raised $250,000 in around 15 minutes through selling a limited edition vessel (US$1,000/vessel). I still can't believe how much people are throwing into this game so far out of release.

 

[FPAlpha]

Three things.. there are still many fans of the space combat sim genere and there has not been a decent one for a few years now.

Second, it's Chris Roberts and many people who were kids and teenagers back when Wing Commander and Privateer was huge fondly remember those games but are now firmly established in their work lives and some may be very successful easily shelling out 1.000$ or more to get this going.

Third (and this is an even bigger assumption on my part).. Kickstarter and crowdfunding in general is also mainly successful because people can directly support small companies about products they really want to see instead of waiting for the xth game from a big studio franchise. It's everlasting David vs. Goliath battle and people feel good supporting David.

 

[superdeluxe]

Today is the one year anniversary for Star Citizen launch. I wonder what special surprises will be on store on the live stream.

 

[Jono]

Hopefully some new in-game footage where we see some more craft in action. Wouldn't be surprised if a couple of limited edition vessels became available again in limited numbers/for a limited time. Unfortunately I'm going to miss it and will have to catch the recorded version later in the day.

 

[superdeluxe]

Yeah I'm hoping for the dog fighter demo module.

 

[Jono]

I actually managed to catch the livestream, it was a bit of a mess. It was quite late and when it started it was very laggy (either from their end or Youtubes, but annoying either way) and add insult to injury it cut off at the 42nd min. Seems what happened is Youtube kicked the stream because they sang "Happy Birthday", which all trivia people know is copyrighted. Thankfully a nice full version came up later on.

We did get to see more ships, the last of the pledge ships finally have images with both the Gladiator and Retaliator bombers being revealed. They were also the limited edition sale ships. Only other sale thing is the polo shirt, which is probably the only thing I'll get. I've really liked their shirts, plus I do prefer polo over T.

No news on the dogfighter, which I wasn't surprised by given it is mean to come out in December. Two months early is a bit much to hope for. Though the Hanger Module gets a big update. Also got to see the Avenger in game, I really like the look of it and it is one of the ships I'm thinking about adding pre-release.

Other news was the release of the Hornet commercial and that the brochure comes out tomorrow and with it, like the 300i, variants of the Hornet.

Popped over to the official forums a couple of times today and it is still a bit of a mad house. I'm in the more accepting side of things. The stream had issues, but I was fine with just watching on a delay until the unfortunate cutoff. Of course I would have liked to see more, the escort carrier for one, but I liked what I saw (eventually). Really these events are all well and good, but what I really want is modules as on time as possible and to see the improvements to them as time goes buy towards around this time next were when we will hopefully be looking towards the imminent release of Squadron 42.

 

[superdeluxe]

Hit 33 million funding this morning


Each ship with have a different style HUD based on the ships manufacturer

Dat HUD.

 

[Jono]

It has had an epic last two months. $5 million in Oct and $7.8 in Nov.

 

[Blamo]

Been a while, but incase anyone is interested the dogfight module is going live by the end of the week. The online section will be rolled out based on backer number, but supposedly everyone should be able to play the offline content from the get go.

Also Idris frigate is looking awesome.

 

[Timby]

Been a while, but incase anyone is interested the dogfight module is going live by the end of the week. The online section will be rolled out based on backer number, but supposedly everyone should be able to play the offline content from the get go.

Also Idris frigate is looking awesome.

I'll believe it when I see it. They have four or five different studios working on various components, they're arrogant enough to believe that they can deliver the offline component to everyone while meeting demand (not even Blizzard accurately scales its server load when it rolls out a new WoW release, and they've had years of practice), and now that they're putting shit like towels and plants as stretch goals, I think CIG has more money than it knows what to do with.

I would not be stunned in the slightest if they just add a bunch of ships to the DFM and some campaign missions (the Squadron 42 stuff), then call it a day, and then focus the rest of the cash on the PU. They have whiffed so hard on so many deadlines, with so many disastrous demonstrations and ideas (I still can't comprehend Cargo Commander, for lack of a better term, being a real thing they're building), that I have lost a ton of faith in CIG.

 

[Yoda]

I haven't been paying too much attention, I gave 'em like 70 bucks a year or two back. Occasionally I catch a video that looks pretty cool. I haven't bothered with the hangar module because... seems kind of boring. I'll dust off the old Logitech Wingman Digital 3D for some dog fighting though. Though it's going to be in competition with the new Mario Kart.

 

[Jono]

Not at all surprised that the Arena Commander has been delayed again. I don't know if they have stated any changes in release dates, but I'd be amazed if SQ42 comes out this year and wouldn't be surprised if Star Citizen becomes a "Coming in 2016" game.

 

[Blamo]

Yeah, can't say I'm shocked either.

They really need to stop giving out release dates.

 

[Timby]

Not at all surprised that the Arena Commander has been delayed again. I don't know if they have stated any changes in release dates, but I'd be amazed if SQ42 comes out this year and wouldn't be surprised if Star Citizen becomes a "Coming in 2016" game.

"Star Citizen" is never going to happen -- if it does, I will bet actual money that it doesn't launch (post-alpha, post-beta, real actual launch) until 2017. Chris Roberts was a legendarily terrible project manager at ORIGIN and Digital Anvil (there's a reason DA sold to Microsoft, the company ran out of money on Freelancer), and now that he doesn't have a leash, RSI / CIG is just pissing money away on a bunch of studios that have no idea what the fuck they're doing.

I mean, c'mon, they're trying to integrate a space sim with an FPS with a Cargo Tetris plugin. Scope creep isn't just a possibility, it's happened.

 

[Jono]

If I remember correctly 2017 was the original launch date, but with one of the stretch goals during the initial funding campaign they shortened it under the theory that they would be able to hire more staff to push it out quicker.

As you say, it continued to increase in scope after that and its revised release dates are, to be kind, very optimistic. The fans also have to take some of the blame for that. They were asked at least twice about stopping the stretch goals (again if my memory serves the first was to continue after the initial funding campaign and another was to stop after a certain funding goal), but the majority were against it. If they did stop things like the FPS component, which were on the "for the future" additions would have probably stayed there.

 

[Amaris]

I hope this doesn't turn out like Freelancer. I love the game, but it's obvious that the game isn't complete. The game's economy is a mess, the mission portion of the game ends quickly, and after that it's all repetition. I have high hopes for Star Citizen, and it better work out, because at this point it's $45 million of AAA title level game money, and people are going to be pissed if this ends up being anything less than what was promised.

Especially if it's being spent on crafting digital towels instead of concentrating on core components.

 

[Jax]

When will they stop collecting money and trying to expand on the game and get down to finishing what they already promised. I know he wants to make this great massive game but I can't help but feel this kickstarter fund the game is generating is doing more harm than good.

 

[JarodRussell]

Ever since Jane's ATF and X-Wing Alliance there hasn't been a single decent aerial/space combat simulator. And X-Wing Alliance was already inferior to X-Wing vs TIE Fighter. This one looked promising.