Chris Roberts Back in your wallet - STAR CITIZEN

[satael]

 

[Falconeer]

Stretch goal could be to reduce the size of the files. But all things considered, the way this church works this will just be additional publicity. And the zealots will just use it as a way to prove that their god is bigger and better than all the other ones.

[ezrast]

I wonder how many people with capped bandwidth are suddenly coming to terms with their inability to ever download their "investments".

[KallDrexx]

Surprised I haven't seen this posted.

30 minutes into the PAX presentation they show off the zero-g arena FPS gameplay

[Malakili]

Just what I always wanted in my open world space simulator, an arena fps mode.

[Falconeer]

KallDrexx that has been posted here and there (on f13) before. It just doesn't get any attention because, even in the dream world where this game will get made, that FPS arena part is the least interesting of all, and that video is a huge pile of meh.

[Rendakor]

I wonder how many people with capped bandwidth are suddenly coming to terms with their inability to ever download their "investments".

For an extra $1000, we'll mail you the game on a bunch of BluRays! For $200,000, we'll also do it for every patch ever, for the life of the game.

[KallDrexx]

KallDrexx that has been posted here and there (on f13) before. It just doesn't get any attention because, even in the dream world where this game will get made, that FPS arena part is the least interesting of all, and that video is a huge pile of meh.

It was on PAX East, and the video was only uploaded 5 days ago.  

*Edit:* Also, it may be the least important part but they are spending resources on it, which then becomes why are they spending resources on it, which doesn't bode well for other aspects.

[Malakili]

Well this "Module" style devleopment they are going for means they are going to have all these little stand alone bits of game.  I still don't quite understand how it is all going to get jammed together.

[tmp]

I wonder how many people with capped bandwidth are suddenly coming to terms with their inability to ever download their "investments".

For an extra $1000, we'll mail you the game on a bunch of BluRays! For $200,000, we'll also do it for every patch ever, for the life of the game.

For just 100k Chris Roberts will deliver you the initial launch build on the disc... personally.

(what's the odds they'd get at least a dozen buyers)

[ajax34i]

They can take your 100k and spend 3k to buy you plane tickets to whatever "release day" convention center, whereby you can stand in line and Chris Roberts can indeed give you your disc personally. 

I would totally set up that deal, were I Chris Roberts.

[Mandella]

That sort of huge size is nothing new to those of us who enjoy flight and space sims. The next version of Orbiter looks like it's going to clock in at well over a hundred gigs, if you get the high def Earth and Lunar surfaces. And those of us on reduced bandwidth (which is certainly me) have learned ways to circumvent those restrictions to download even 30 gig games.

That said, it remains to be seen if Star Citizen is going to be worth going to the trouble for...

[Lucas]

Well this "Module" style devleopment they are going for means they are going to have all these little stand alone bits of game.  I still don't quite understand how it is all going to get jammed together.

Let me attempt to give you a more detailed point of view that goes beyond the "OMG best thing evar/OMG scam" loop.
----------

As far as we know, the entire project is being worked on by almost 300 critters. Quite a lot seems changed since about 1/1.5 year ago: there is now a Director for the Persistent Universe, a director for the single-player campaign, a couple studio coordinators, executive producer, producers etc. Now, competent or not, inflated or not, it's surely better compared to when Roberts had to track everything down almost by himself. I assume there is some common technical paper among the various studios so they know what the common goal is no matter the daily hurdles they're going to face, but maybe I'm assuming too much 

Looks like it has also reduced the risk of "backtracking" too much on stuff they showed a couple years ago; now, some is inevitable: after all, there might be things in common design-wise, but this is not exactly your next run-of-the-mill DIKU. They're currently reworking the visual of some of the early ships, but that's understandable. Tweaks on the flying system/ship weapon balance/ship HUD and UI will be an ongoing work 'til it's locked for the single-player campaign (although some things might be different between the SP campaign and the persistent universe, when it comes to the ship HUD/UI)

Plus:

- Next Arena Commander patch will introduce multiplayer hangars;
- Next patch will also include a manual/automatic landing system on platforms that will be included in the "free flight" maps. ;


In theory, if they didn't treat the current space portion as a different beast, they already have a working "mini-loop" there (but I'm sure there is a seamless one already working internally):

- Flying in space - check
- Automatic approach/landing sequence on a planet - check (shown back in October: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-xvCg8CI9U&ab_channel=StarCitizen)
- Walking around a planetside location - check (see the previous video)
- Buy/sell stuff, use the trade UI - check (mobiGlass, shown in a previous Design post; will be included in the forthcoming "social module")
- Hangar/home for ships - check

Only thing they haven't shown is taking off from a planet (the exit sequence, in other words).

The FPS arenas are, of course, just a "test bed" for other mechanics:

- boarding a ship
- Planetside locations that will feature PvP, but also those included in the single-player campaign against the AI.

[Sir T]

I too appreciate your updates, Lucas.

[Lucas]

New "montage" from SXSW; from 2:25 and onward (before it's just recycled material) is all new stuff pertaining to the ArcCorp planetside location, now populated and with more shops/interiors (bar looks pretty nice):

https://youtu.be/sbZLbb0_RBI

Yep, little peek at the planetary "exit" sequence too (or, at least, the beginning of it :P) 

[Sophismata]

To be honest, the damage model was really cool, but the FPS seemed a tad janky for me.

I remain deeply suspicious, but this is honestly win/win. Either the game releases and is awesome, releases and is mediocre/terrible, or never releases at all - I am thoroughly entertained regardless.

My money is on the mediocre release.

[Velorath]

More likely it continues to release slowly over several years. People already heavily invested in it will keep throwing money at it to keep development going. There isn't going to be one singular point in time where the game is either canceled or released. I think anybody expecting some sort of apocalyptic train wreck moment are going to be disappointed.

[Mrbloodworth]

Well this "Module" style devleopment they are going for means they are going to have all these little stand alone bits of game.  I still don't quite understand how it is all going to get jammed together.

They are not really stand alone, they use shared assets/code. Player/ship models/textures/animations and code are all shared.

More info on the damage model rework: Link to Powerpoint

Stretch goal could be to reduce the size of the files. But all things considered, the way this church works this will just be additional publicity. And the zealots will just use it as a way to prove that their god is bigger and better than all the other ones.

File size should not surprise anyone at this point. Many newer games clock in at the 60gb mark recently. With the fidelity going into this title, 100gb is likely conservative, and that's with compression and smart reuse. Many early backers are entitled to a USB drive with the game on it ( as per the pledge rewards ). The ships themselves have what would normally be entire levels of focus applied to them, as some are levels worth of complexity.

Lucus is correct, the enders game portion is the perfect test bed for zero-g maneuvering, that will be used in the larger world for things like EVA outside your ship. So the approach of making it a mini-game is completely appropriate. In AC right now, you can leave your ship and see an early version, likely to be updated when the FPS portion is released. Its all rolls back into itself.

I think part of the issue is comprehension. Not many are used to seeing something like a game made, and all the iterations and components being worked and reworked. With each bit of information ( and there is nearly a constant stream ) many treat it as if its the typical "4 months to release" info dump. The damage model is a great example of iteration, and wholly confused commenters. When the first iteration is treated as "the finial" one and the second, and quite possibly not even last method is vastly different. Most people I suspect are not accustomed to seeing the guts of development, even SC for all its transparency, its still sanitized and compiled. Many are simply used to normal patterns of information in the few months leading up-to launch, so every bit of info that the media cares to share ( witch seems to mostly be focused on the money, Not really CIGS' fault, the details and info about subsystems are available ) becomes the next "Final" version in many viewers minds.

Not sure if it was ever posted, but remember the Mocap studio they set up? Inside CIG: Imaginarium

[Samprimary]

With each bit of information ( and there is nearly a constant stream ) many treat it as if its the typical "4 months to release" info dump.

eh maayyybe

i feel a bit better about this sordid project overall merely knowing that the actual employees and even probably the devs working on this game find the fans to be totally bugfuck

[Sir T]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr6AekjywFI

The mighty Jingles downloads Star Citizen - taking 7 and a half hours to do so and what he has at the ehld is the same game he had 6 months ago... with 2 new ships, one of which he cant fly as its not a dogfighter.

Also the landing system is in the game!!! Except theres nothing to land on. Werll theres a couple of places on a few of the deathmatch maps where you can land. And then you can take off again. And that's it.

He's a bit cheesed off. But he does spend most of the video wandering around his new ship and goes oooh and ahh a lot. And with good reason as its fucking gorgeous. No denying it, it's a stunning piece of design. (Yours to sit in your hanger and do nothing for only $300)

But yeah the beginning and end of the video is vintage Jingles ranting. Enjoy

[schild]

who the fuck is jingles

[Malakili]

who the fuck is jingles

Thank goodness I'm not the only one.

[Shrike]

He's mostly noted from the WoW, WoT, and WT communities. He does a lot of streaming on Twitch and has a rather extensive YouTube site.

Old school curmudgeon.

I saw the vid. It is pretty much vintage Jingles.

[schild]

So the answer is "fucking nobody."

Rad.

[Count Nerfedalot]

sometimes funny whiner who seems to be making decent cash off of YouTube ranting about WoT.

[Lucas]

Some updates:

- March monthly report (as always, a nice and in-depth read about the progress made by each CIG branch):
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14640-Monthly-Report-March


- Here's a more detailed post about the current manual/automatic landing system (scroll down a bit):
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14572-Star-Citizen-11-Is-Live

- Another endless money pit CIG Studio has been unveiled: CIG Frankfurt!
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14648-Inside-CIG-Foundry-42-Germany

Roberts basically raked in all the ex Crytek guys and put them in an office. They'll help with engineering and R&D about other stuff (probably the procedural stuff Roberts want to integrate later in the game); they're also helping the Manchester branch with Squadron 42.

Hereby I present: Breathing Marine Simulator Commander 2015!
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14653-Design-FPS-Stances-Breathing

Nothing really new about the stances compared to other games in the FPS genre: it just confirms they're attempting to deliver a more detailed experience instead of implementing it as an afterthought. The breathing system sounds ridiculous, but I'll be able to tell you more once "Star Marine" gets released (no official news, but I think it's being delayed because they're experiencing a lot of problems in the multiplayer environment of Arena Commander. Consider that the FPS module will be exclusively PvP, at least with the initial release).
-----

I finally assembled my new rig, so I'm now actually able to play it at 60fps instead of 5-10 :P; hopefully I'll get around writing more detailed impressions relatively soon.

[jakonovski]

Breathing system should pretty much be right next to the dictionary entry for feature creep.

[Malakili]

We intend to prove that breathing can be an active, interesting part of the FPS experience.

There isn't a big enough  available, so I won't try.

[Thrawn]

Late April Fools joke?

[HaemishM]

Breathing... system?


Wut?

[Paelos]

It'll leave the fans gasping for air.

[tmp]

"hold button for your sniper character to 'hold down his breath' and stop wildly swinging the gun around" has been around the block for a while now in shooters. Seems like they're just iterating on it, by attaching some fetapults and whatnot.

[jakonovski]

What's a fetapult, except a cheese flinging war machine?

[Surlyboi]

Fetus catapult.

[Abagadro]

You need to press B every 10 seconds or you die.