Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 | The 'Verse Awakens
- Thread starter Raticus79
- Start date
mercenar1e
Member
not all that surprising.
Christ, that Kotaku article was a long ass read.
Nothing particularly new in it for those of us who've been following the project from the very start, but it's a good read nonetheless. I don't think "growing pains" quite covers all that was (and maybe still is) wrong with SC's development, especially with what went down during the extreme ramping up phase of it. Some big and genuine mistakes were made and a lot of it seems to stem from the "multiple studios" side of things and trying to deal with everything at once, when you don't even know what "everything" means yet.
At the same time, some of the sources' ideas on how things should've been handled seem completely wrong for what Star Citizen is trying to achieve. Also, the seemingly widespread "this has never been done before, it can't be done" way of thinking paints a pretty sad picture of the industry as a whole, but I think it has more to do with how certain developers are used to do things for the sake of keeping up with the publisher's demands, more than it has to do with themselves on a personal / individual level.
Things seem to have settled quite a bit over the last year or so, so hopefully CR & co. will manage to avod any new pitfalls on the way to BDSS.
Nothing particularly new in it for those of us who've been following the project from the very start, but it's a good read nonetheless. I don't think "growing pains" quite covers all that was (and maybe still is) wrong with SC's development, especially with what went down during the extreme ramping up phase of it. Some big and genuine mistakes were made and a lot of it seems to stem from the "multiple studios" side of things and trying to deal with everything at once, when you don't even know what "everything" means yet.
At the same time, some of the sources' ideas on how things should've been handled seem completely wrong for what Star Citizen is trying to achieve. Also, the seemingly widespread "this has never been done before, it can't be done" way of thinking paints a pretty sad picture of the industry as a whole, but I think it has more to do with how certain developers are used to do things for the sake of keeping up with the publisher's demands, more than it has to do with themselves on a personal / individual level.
Things seem to have settled quite a bit over the last year or so, so hopefully CR & co. will manage to avod any new pitfalls on the way to BDSS.
Couldn't have said it better myself. It feels like, maybe since 2.0 released but probably even more recently, they've really hit a rhythm and know what they're doing.
At the very least, they finally know what to show us to keep us at maximum hype lol.
I didn't want to bump the animation thread.
Hopefully Erin Roberts will be on stage on CitCon to detail the status of SQ42 and what kind of timeframe they are working on.
Hopefully Erin Roberts will be on stage on CitCon to detail the status of SQ42 and what kind of timeframe they are working on.
From the newsletter:
Also, Retaliator won the "Bomber of the Year" thing, next up is Sabre and Delta.
Also, Retaliator won the "Bomber of the Year" thing, next up is Sabre and Delta.
Sabre will win by a landslide.
Zalusithix
Member
I don't know why they bother with these votes. The winner is obvious as soon as the entries are known. They'll have to choose things that are a lot closer in demand to make anything interesting.
The Vanguard was a surprise.
Zalusithix
Member
Not to me. It seemed to be the obvious result. The SH was for sale many times before. The demand for it among the longer term backers had to be quite small in comparison to the Vanguard. That left only the newer backers really wanting a SH, and the Vanguard would appeal to them as well.
LOL.
Quite the opposite
I should make an important clarification. I meant hair type not style. Sorry.
I was really beat last night.
Let's hope so.
But i don't think it will anymore. 😭
FUCK NO. LOL.
I don't even feel comfortable doing voice.
I get that. I do.Because they don't want this running around the verse:
With great flexibility comes responsibility. Something users have proven incapable of handling. =P
I'm just a brown person who wants a place in the verse.
I don't think i'm asking for the world. Just to be myself.
CyberPunked
Member
At Citizencon they really need to not only show a demo, but some form of trailer/vertical slice for the SQ42 campaign.
Sausage_Carius
Banned
They probably will but people will jump to conclusions and assume that's final and judge it no matter what is said. They did the same thing with the Morrow Tour right up to this week.
Another example. Look at what just happened with the Mass Effect:Andromeda gameplay video that EA released. Despite them telling viewers it's early incomplete footage it caused a flame tornado of opinions rooted as fact about features/tech that is incomplete.
Insert quote here about large groups of people...
iHaunter
Member
I had to shut down some mis-guided clowns in that thread.
Derek's goons are literally everywhere.
apav
Member
We need you again! They return in greater numbers.
Dictator93
Member
kutthoat5150
Member
lots of new info here. CitCon will be showing an Earth like planet demonstrating V2 of their procedural planet tech with forest, canyons, deserts etc. We'll also be getting an example of what a typical SQ42 mission structure is like. Ex. waking up on ship, getting your briefing, getting in your ship, combat, FPS stuff.
Cabbagehead
Member
So how bad is that other thread.
Syphon Filter
Member
I'm legit looking forward to CitizenCon more than I am to my vacation. Lucky for me, they coincide.
Gonna be great. #WaitingForTheGameIsTheGame
What are the plans for that event?
The worst.
Cabbagehead
Member
Syphon Filter
Member
Its not all bad. SC has upgraded from "scam" to "shipwreck"
Give it a few months and it'l be "disappointing"
I can tell you what my plan is.
I made the effort and switched to a "healthy lifestyle" over the past year or so. I eat way less junk food than before, I picked up badminton and biking again, I try not to stay in front of a computer screen for hours on time. It's been great, honestly.
October 9th is going the be the opposite of all that.
Cabbagehead
Member
What an upgrade.
Goes from implausible to plausible with a chance of rain. Seems like progress. Now they will disappear once footage comes out. That some can't explain even coming from given said shipwreck.
There's also an article with some stuff that I believe wasn't in the video.
They're showing a fully realized SQ42 mission, holy shit.
Cabbagehead
Member
SQ42 is going to be simply breath taking (given the Character model work we saw eariler). I'm damn sure of it. Going to enjoy watching that video. Once it's released because it will most likely be in greater shape, as a showcase and put up on the official YTB page.There's also an article with some stuff that I believe wasn't in the video.
They're showing a fully realized SQ42 mission, holy shit.
Unlike the rough but impressive Morrow Tour vertical slice we got last year.
So exicted to hear that weather simulation, volumetric clouds will be in (Hope we get a nice taste.) , very happy to hear that AC is getting some needed love and great to see. We can expect varied biome that will adhere to the planets lore and certain landscapes will have different biomes and not just one single paint stroke of an environment, that goes on for miles.
Really hope they reconsider putting out the "Homestead demo"/planetary tech showcase to the public as something to give us as we wait for 3.0.
apav
Member
I'm not sure why you expect an unoptimized, unpolished early alpha with missing features and gameplay mechanics to not look like a janky mess.
Have you seen this video?
MisterFalcon
Member
Demos always look super smooth and polished. This one for instance from 18 months ago: https://youtu.be/UOfGB9kl1ek?t=1214
And then I look at a random twitch stream (Grimlock929 in this case) and see someone walk around with 15 fps and within a minute the game crashes.
apav
Member
That demo looks and runs awful. That's from when CIG contracted out Star Marine and fps combat to Illfonic, which backfired completely. They then decided to do it in house. The video I linked previously is mostly about camera stabilization but has some FPS combat, and it looks much better than anything Illfonic was able to show off.
The extremely low fps you get in the Persistent Universe comes from the original CryEngine netcode being suboptimal for this game. The game loads a ton of information you don't need to know, like the state of a ship landing at Kareah while you're in Port Olisar (which is hundreds of thousands of km away). Since it is doing it for all players all the time, this chokes the hell out the server, which in turn makes the framerate horrible for everyone. The first implementation of their new netcode is coming with 3.0. The fixes will make the game stream data that is only observable by you at any given moment. This will noticeably increase FPS, though it is only a first implementation, so expect even more improvements.
The reaon why these pre 3.0 demos have much better FPS than what we're getting in the PU is because the demos are offline. When you are offline, there is no server to choke the FPS. You can test that yourself now by going into your hangar, doing some free flight in Arena Commander or the offline mode "hack" for the PU. People with high end rigs are mostly getting 15-30 fps in the PU, 60+ fps in Arena Commander, and 100+ fps in their hangars. And the 3.0 demo seemed like it ran decently given that it was a very early and unoptimized version.
I'm expecting something that's fun, the only reason I even bother downloading and booting up the game is to admire the graphics. The FPS side of things still feels more fun to me than the wholly inconsistent flying experience.
apav
Member
Games are not usually fun in this stage of development. I know they call it an alpha, but it what we have now is really a proof of concept. First you have to make it playable, then you tweak the gameplay and add more features and content to make it fun. Expect many things to change as development progresses.
That being said, myself and others enjoy ship combat in its current iteration. It's buggy and it's imbalanced, but it's really just your opinion that you don't find it fun. And that's quite alright, this may not be a game you enjoy or certain aspects you don't enjoy may not make the entire game worth it for you, but I'd hold off on answering that question for yourself until the game releases.
Yeah it's only my opinion that I can't even see crucial HUD elements. I can definitely see people having fun flying around with this.
I know it's already been stated that "they're working on it", but why even bother releasing it like this? The HUD wasn't that great previously, but at least it was visible.
Yeah it's only my opinion that I can't even see crucial HUD elements. I can definitely see people having fun flying around with this.
I know it's already been stated "they're working on it", but why even bother releasing it like this?
Unbelievable.
apav
Member
Yeah it's only my opinion that I can't even see crucial HUD elements. I can definitely see people having fun flying around with this.
I know it's already been stated that "they're working on it", but why even bother releasing it like this? The HUD wasn't that great previously, but at least it was visible.
It is definitely being reworked, they're trying to balance immersion with practicality. In case you didn't know, in some ships (like the picture you linked) you have to look down in the cockpit at those screens. Hold Z and press W, A,S, or D and the camera will snap to a screen that displays ship info like hull integrity, the targeted enemy's hull integrity, emissions, etc. For the screen which displays weapons/missiles/power/shield you can change things with the cursor. You can also make a certain screen display different information so you can customize how you want it. Other ships don't have those screens in the cockpit, instead they have a HUD overlay. You switch between the tabs in the top-left by pressing F5-F8.
That's your opinion. You don't like an aspect of the game because currently it's buggy, incomplete and isn't fun for you. Not everyone else shares that same view. I think it would be best for you to hold off playing it until the beta or release. That way you get a clearer picture of what the finished game is like and can easier make the decision of if this game is worth your time.
The nerve of them, releasing alpha versions with missing features.
Dubbedinenglish
Banned
Except they are deep in S42 the "it's alpha" excuse really doesn't hold water when we are talking about the core gameplay. If they are building S42 around the current poor mechanics then it as a whole is doomed before it releases. We'll see where it goes after 2.6 but the game is not fun, and I'd say one of the worst flight games I've played tbh.
Yeah and you lose control of the ship when you snap, or if you adjust zoom it actives some heavy DoF and makes it unusable. Right now the info in the screens is unreadable and even in the screen you posted with the light blue hud against the light blue planet (lol) it is just as unreadable as the Avenger. Not to mention how far out in the periphery the info is where you can't glance at it readily. Honestly they have the HUD completely wrong in terms of info provided and the relation to the HDD. I know they are working on it and the mockup they provided (hopefully completely wrong) doesn't provide much confidence.
Dubbedinenglish
Banned
Hehe. I play on 32 in, and I'm a weirdo who prefers a tighter FoV (except on FSX) and looks around a lot with TrackIR.
As far as peripheral vision goes I hope CIG is defining their new HUD systems based on:
Which is why Elite's HUD system works so well. It's very organized in the near peripheral with vital info very prominent and lesser info spread farther out. I did like the new Freelancer HUD,worked very well and used the cockpit pretty creatively while giving that commercial liner feel.
Chris Roberts: "You know, I think we can put a Earth-like planet into 3.0."
3.0 delayed to Q4 2017.
Don't push it buddy. ;-)
I don't know how good or bad SC's HUDs will turn out in the end, but I very much doubt CR is happy with where they're at now. This is a man who saw The Order and (allegedly) immediately said "we have to do better". I can't imagine him seeing what Elite is doing, looking at SC's HUDs and saying "nah, that's good enough".
Sooner or later we're bound to see what Zane and the HUD team have been cooking up in England. Roll on CitizenCon.
Cabbagehead
Member
"It's alpha" is not an excuse if things are changing. Otherwise they would be set in stone. Also you haven't played a lot of flight games if you think this is the worst ever. I mean to be honest, if you feel this way. Why even stick around if it's that bad and the mechanic's are poor and this project being in alpha is not a good enough reason for you. Go play ED and dive in that ocean.
We'll play are crappy space flight sim (That doesn't fudge the sim part), with are equally horrible hud.
( That we will have full control over to turn off and on different areas. As we see fit.)
Anyways...
Changes are coming. But refinements are needed. Can't wait to see what item 2.0 brings to the table. In regards to overall functionality. Which is what's been missing from the nitty gritty aspects of gameplay other then the base flight calulations, which will be change to reduce all the drag and odd slide effect we get in DoF. Whether then relying on HP and damage thresholds to win, plus the pipe system will finally be in to improve micro gameplay.
I'm pretty sure SQ42 will need to have these things and would not be release without other new designs that are coming online. I make no doubts that whatever changes they've done will be in SQ42. But not exactly everything as some won't apply.
staticneuron
Member
Ima quote myself again.
The same posters, always highly critical. It is almost as if they don't realize there is something as post history. Put them on ignore so when they pop up around the same time makes the pages look interesting. Why try so hard? Why not even be subtle about it? lol.
We have two camps seemingly. Some that come from something awful and wants to share the teachings to make the rest of us "smart"er and ED fans who feel like it is best to come in here and make comparison and disparage the other game. It is sad because even the creators of ED and SC supported each other. There is no division there, only stuff fabricated by a select few, as if their confirmation bias will reshape what other people find enjoyable or worthwhile.
This is always interesting to see.
The same posters, always highly critical. It is almost as if they don't realize there is something as post history. Put them on ignore so when they pop up around the same time makes the pages look interesting. Why try so hard? Why not even be subtle about it? lol.
We have two camps seemingly. Some that come from something awful and wants to share the teachings to make the rest of us "smart"er and ED fans who feel like it is best to come in here and make comparison and disparage the other game. It is sad because even the creators of ED and SC supported each other. There is no division there, only stuff fabricated by a select few, as if their confirmation bias will reshape what other people find enjoyable or worthwhile.
This is always interesting to see.
Cabbagehead
Member
Both segments are fighting a losing batte. Once CIG proverbial egg starts hatching and finally gets its space legs. After a rough, uncertain start.
Something Awful will be the first to quiet down. They're wannabe sharks without fangs. While on the other hand ED players should only be worried about their own game. Because most in this game community either currently play or have played ED. You don't see people from SC going around talking shit very much and or care much for comparisons. Simply do to the fact, that 3.0 will provide a richer, more in depth/bigger playground to enjoy. That should be far more interesting then anyone can provide even at the base level. Plus ED has a ways to go to combat their main issues, so their community doesn't have another flair up. Still CIG knows it's not a race, but some rather be crusaders on this side of the fence regardless.
Its always someone else with the game or community on their mind. Usually they don't have postive thoughts. An I suspect it has to do with the amount of cash this game has gotten and in turn the lack of advanced income the other game got.
CyberPunked
Member
No, it's a forum.
I'm a huge fan of elite dangerous but actually sort of prefer the HUD direction that SC appear to go in. It's obviously inspired by fighter jet HUDs, and they are normally very effective to bring information into view in a minimalistic way.
Xane
Member
You might see a glimpse at Citizen Con.