Chris Roberts Back in your wallet - STAR CITIZEN

[Mrbloodworth]

WiP Star Citizen Male Character Range-of-Motion Test - 2013-04-08

[Furiously]

Wow what a lot of unnecessary polys.

[Lucas]

He's back again, and he wants to empty your wallet some more!!  

http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/the-aurora-revealed/
----------------------
- Beginner ship, the "Aurora", is throughly detailed with a (21 pages!!) brochure:

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/cdn-rsi/brochures/aurora_brochure.pdf

And also:

To celebrate the release of the Aurora, we’ve put together a special AURORA SALE WEEK promotion! We’re making a special edition version of the Aurora, the Aurora LX, available for a limited time. The LX will be available in the finished game, but this will be your only chance to pledge for it through the site (existing LTI Auroras may be upgraded through our promotion for $5 or in the finished game using in-game credits!) It features a unique paint scheme, twin lasers, leather seats (visible in-game!) and a four-missile mount with Talon IR 4 Stalker missiles pre-loaded. The standard Aurora includes an empty missile hardpoint and fabric seats… this is the luxury model! Several new packages including the LX will be available through Saturday, May 4th:

Two new stretch goals:

9 million: If we can make it to $9 million in total pledges before the new site launches, we’ll go ahead and put a cool Roberts Space Industries Class II space suit in your closet, colored to match the new site! What’s more, every current pledger will get Lifetime Insurance! This will be your last opportunity to get LTI before the game launches.

10 million: Our big goal before the website is $10 million. That’s a crazy amount of money, but we have a plan for it: $10 million would allow Cloud Imperium to build our own mocap studio rather than hiring out time from someone else. Renting mocap equipment and studio time is expensive: upwards of $35,000 a day, with four hours work for each 30-second segment. Having our own studio would cost more right now but will allow us to produce a lot more content for Star Citizen in the long run! We’ll provide more details very soon, but here’s one thought right now: it would even allow us to mocap a few lucky fans into the finished game!

And a final note from Chris Roberts himself:

I thought it would be good to explain a little of our thinking in the Aurora promotion that we are running with the Aurora brochure. According to our database we have over 40,000 users that signed up but have yet to back. Some of these may be accounts of people that have pledged but their account is unlinked. Some are secondary accounts of people that have backed through a different account. Some of these will be people that signed up but have since decided that they are not interested in Star Citizen. The last group are people that are interested but aren’t ready to back yet, either because they are not convinced just yet, or are waiting until they can play something. A really interesting statistic is that almost 20,000 of the accounts with Golden Ticket status show as of not having a pledge!

My dream is to make Star Citizen the first AAA game that has been 100% funded by the crowd – besides being a milestone there are many reasons why this a good thing, but the most glaring is that this will ensure that the community and developers are 100% in alignment. Both our priorities is to make the best game possible, no compromises. Star Citizen is going to cost approximately $20M to make. We have this covered already between the incredible funding we’ve received from you and the commitments from investors. But here’s the truth: I’ve been holding off on closing investors because your commitment means we won’t need as much money as we originally expected. Every dollar we make from crowd funding means one less we’ll take from outside investors.

To achieve this we need to bring in new people, as all of you have given more than we could have ever expected you should not be expected to contribute any more to the cause. What better way to get some new members than a sale to entice them to join before the new site and their access rights change? Which is why we decided to create a sale for the unveiling of the Aurora in all its glory. We’re really proud of the work that’s been done on the Aurora – I think you will agree that no other game goes to such detail in designing and realizing a universe. The Aurora is indicative of what we are looking to achieve in terms of detail and immersion in the final game, and while it is the cheapest player ship available it is by no means a “Starter ship”.

As part of this we’ve decided to create a little mini campaign around the new site, complete with some stretch goals, rewards for all backers and a 24 hour live cam setup to celebrate the new site going live at the end of May. For those of you that will want to add the Aurora LX to your collection now we’ve created a couple of options for you to contribute a little more money towards development and get in return add the LX to your fleet. I want to stress that if you did this it would only because you wanted to contribute to the development funding not because you have to. You will be able to earn credits to buy this ship in game once we go live. So please do not feel obligated to do anything. Everyone has given more than enough. This is purely a “for the fun” sale / event to hopefully push our funding along.

[Venkman]

So $10mm is actually more on the trajectory of a AAA game. However, I hope he realizes the budget he really needs has inflated quite a bit since Wing Commander days. Hopefully he's got a good Producer behind him who's been there/done that.

But at least he's talking a more realistic actually-build-it goal than the "$2mm for a new MMO/./11!" ones.

[Lucas]

So $10mm is actually more on the trajectory of a AAA game. However, I hope he realizes the budget he really needs has inflated quite a bit since Wing Commander days. Hopefully he's got a good Producer behind him who's been there/done that.

But at least he's talking a more realistic actually-build-it goal than the "$2mm for a new MMO/./11!" ones.

Yeah, $10M crowdfunding minimum, but in that note he actually states that the game will approx. cost $20M (but from what we're seeing we can safely assume he's being conservative :P)

[Venkman]

Yea. THIS might be one of the KS's I back. He seems pretty sharp, enough to hire the right people or have kept up with all the modern business needs anyway. Most realistic one I've bothered to follow anyway...

[Stormwaltz]

In a recent update, Chris Roberts declared, "Star Citizen is going to cost approximately $20M to make."

This endears this project to me further, because that's precisely the budget target I've been been saying MMGs should be designed for.

[UnSub]

In a recent update, Chris Roberts declared, "Star Citizen is going to cost approximately $20M to make."

This endears this project to me further, because that's precisely the budget target I've been been saying MMGs should be designed for.

It was closer to US$15m when the project was announced. Plus it isn't to make one 'game', it's to make a single player title and a MMO.

I'm expecting to see that game budget creep higher over time.

Although I agree that MMOs have to keep their development costs down, especially from current AAA levels.

[Sky]

He should move to Rhode Island.

[Mrbloodworth]

The 300 Series: The Next Generation is Now

The PDF sales brochures and Car Commercial like videos are just awesome.

[Falconeer]

And they have raised 10 million and counting. Wow.

[Samprimary]

money creeps away from you in games like this. I'm hoping he continues to make the game as though the budget is 15m, because that'll end up being 22m realistically

[Ratman_tf]

Huh. I'm really starting to get jazzed about the thought of going back to the Wing Commander universe, even if they have to file off the VIN and call it Squadron 42.

Star Citizen... Eh. I love the idea of space trading sim things, but I find the reality of them is pretty drudgey. Haul cargo, shoot dudes, haul cargo shoot dudes.

[Mrbloodworth]

Note the font on that logo :)

[Stormwaltz]

Shit, man, note the logo on that logo.

[Lucas]

Purchased my ORIGIN 315p ; I'm ready to fly in style 

[Falconeer]

I pledged 40 but I plan to slowly upgrade my pledge over the months. That 315p looks nifty *jealous* - I am eyeing the Pirate Pack. Tractor Beam? Yes please.

EDIT: Lucas, you are Italian. Doesn't it make you a bit uncomfortable too that Roberts Space Industries' acronym is "RSI"?

[Lucas]

I already spent too much for this damn game, shame on me  

- $ 125 during the original KS campaign (Freelancer package; already got my Star Citizen bronze card and T-Shirt)

- $25 for the Aurora LX (add-on ship)

- $65 for the Origin 315p (add-on ship)

- $20 for the "Squadron 42" hardback bound manual

Fuck me  

EDIT: didn't really think about it in those terms, Falconeer. Besides, my (paternal) grandfather (who I consider the person I loved the most in my entire life) was in the RSI. But we're getting a tad off-topic :D

[Pennilenko]

I gave this some money. Fingers crossed.

[5150]

I pledged 40 but I plan to slowly upgrade my pledge over the months. That 315p looks nifty *jealous* - I am eyeing the Pirate Pack. Tractor Beam? Yes please.

EDIT: Lucas, you are Italian. Doesn't it make you a bit uncomfortable too that Roberts Space Industries' acronym is "RSI"?

There's some confusion over the pirate pack, some are saying that the extras (pirate skins & tractor beam) were only included if you bought the pack during the closing week of the kickstarter and that you'll only get the base Cutlass now - I dont think there has been any clarification.

I'm not listing what I bought as it scares me, not as much as an RL friend though who is one of the 100 Idris Corvette owners........

-edit-
The new website lists what's included with the Cutlas and it shows that the pirate skin, tractor beam and docking collar are included

[Mrbloodworth]

Just received my citizen card and T-Shirt!

[5150]

With the launch of the new website all the previous time-limited ships are available for sale again until the 6th

They did add another 200 Corvettes (civilian grade and costing $250 more) but they apparently sold out in under 10 mins

[KallDrexx]

People paid $250 for ships for a game that's not going to be out for quite a long time yet?

[Malakili]

People paid $250 for ships for a game that's not going to be out for quite a long time yet?

As someone who spent a lot on Hex, I realize this is somewhat silly for me to say, but the amount some people are spending on this game basically sight unseen is really crazy.  I know a few people well into the thousands already.

[Mrbloodworth]

Star Citizen Galaxy Map WiP

Inside Cloud Imperium Games . Making the Hangar . Forrest Stephan

300 Series Commercial - Director's Cut

300 Series Spacecraft Showroom  

Inside Cloud Imperium Games . the Vanduul . Chris Olivia

Inside Cloud Imperium Games . Player Character . Mark Skelton

[Falconeer]

It is crazy because it's in a much earlier stage of development than Hex, and because it's a kind of game that is 1000 times easier to fuck up than Hex. That's the thing, really: not that people are spending so much on a game that isn't out yet, but that they are spending so much on a game that has nothing but carefully architectured teaser videos to show, and not even a bit of gameplay. (still, I pledged 40$)

People are gamblling on this, hoping it'll change their lives. It's like buying 500$ 1250$ of lottery tickets because the powerball is 60 million this week, and being excited every day you wait for it. So weird to watch. It's like people are paying to buy hope, that can be comforting.

[Mrbloodworth]

All those videos are in engine. 100% using the game assets. I think you may underappreiciate the amount of communication they are doing with people. I personally have never seen a game so open with its development or this level of constant communication, and that's on the non-subscription tier.

[Falconeer]

So?

[Mrbloodworth]

So?

Its not a CGI mockup. Its proof of development, and experience. They ARE game play.

[Falconeer]

They ARE game play.

 

[5150]

People paid $250 for ships for a game that's not going to be out for quite a long time yet?

I think you may have misunderstood my last post - The recently available 200 Corvettes were actually $1250, $250 more than the 100 that were made available last year (for a slightly lower spec ship - that may not actually come with an engine!)

Alot of people have paid alot more than $250 on Star Citizen so far.......

[Malakili]

So?

Its not a CGI mockup. Its proof of development, and experience. They ARE game play.

"In engine" and "game play" are not the same thing. See also - Eve online trailers.

[Mrbloodworth]

Star Citizen - Chris Roberts shows off the RSI Constellation

[KallDrexx]

So?

Its not a CGI mockup. Its proof of development, and experience. They ARE game play.

As others have said, that doesn't make it a gameplay video.  Furthermore, I've seen actual gameplay video of 100s of games out right now, doesn't mean I'd spend more than $60 on them, even the better ones.  The money people are blowing on this game at such an early stage rivals lifetime memberships to MMOs back when subs were cool, and might I add the internet went into a ragestorm because people thought $300 for a lifetime sub was ridiculous.

[Nonentity]

I'm really angry that because I wasn't at my computer the second the website went up that Non and Nonentity were both taken as handles.

I got angry and now I am forever 'suckit'.