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[Starfield]

Hello fellow citizens of NeoGAF.

I wanted to give you a quick insight on how the development is currently going inside Star Citizen and also give you a small round-up on what's to come for this year and beyond. First of all the game's current Live version is 3.7.1 with 3.8 being the last major update for this year (Q4).

If you don't know since about a year or two the development team has decided to bring out a major patch each quarter of the year. Usually these updates consists of various new locations to explore, new ships to be made flight ready and new gameplay or tech systems to be implemented or improved on.

For example about a month ago we got patch version 3.7 which gave us caves to explore on various moons and planets, harvestable items such as plants or fruits to be sold at a store, fps mining with a hand mining tool, 2 new ships (Banu Defender and Mantis) aswell as 2 new ship variants, AI behaviour updates and overhauls aswell as more stability improvements.

Here is an approximate list of what you can currently do and explore in Star Citizen's Alpha version 3.7.1

If you never heard about Star Citizen it is a Massive Multipler RPG game set in space and currently in production. Backing of this project began in I believe 2012 and actual development in or around 2013. The game has seen a very long development phase and will likely stay in development for atleast the same length to be called "feature complete" aka Beta.

Development is growing exponentionally which means in order for development speed to increase there has to be a slow curve of development in the beginning since the artists and game developers have to create all the tech and assets that are needed first, after that everything comes together piece by piece (which we are slowly seeing now).

Coming Soon...

Citizen Con right around the corner (this time for free, yay) where we will see panels across the whole day, like building the next planet system Microtech and its moons which will be implemented in 3.8 aswell as a new gameplay demo where its rumoured that CIG is going to show as a new system to explore (Pyro). Let's hope they show something new to Squadron 42 aswell! (The Singleplayer campaign of SC)

Planned features for this Year

• First implementation of Medical system (med ships, hospitals on ground, etc..)
• New Microtech planet and its moons
• FPS Melee combat
• 3 new ships aswell as the Anvil Carrack which will be the biggest Exploration ship yet (note: biggest overall implemented ship currently is the Orign 890jump with a length of close over 200m
• Ground fog tech

2020 and beyond

In 2020 we expect to see the further improvements to the medical systems that will be hopefully implemented by the end of this year aswell as the first implementation of player status (hunger, thirst, dirtiness).
The first implementation of Ship salvaging should be coming aswell. Crusaders gas giant will be an actual Planet to fly to with a new landing zone, which means there will be some sort of gas tech implemented next year for gas giants. Refueling will be a big feature to look out for next year too.

I know many people are still unsure about Star Citizen but since around this year people who might not be so informed about this game slowly starting to realize that this might not be such a "scam" afterall that some would have said the past 5 years or more.
Slowly the gaming community realizes that this game is starting to shape into something thats actually impressive and never seen before.


Keep in mind thought that NO ONE knows if we will ever see a fully complete game with all of its features. Theres still plenty of VERY important milestones ahead where we as the community of Star Citizen say that these are the "make or break" features that need to be working in order for this game to be truly the thing it was in the vision from all those years ago. These milestones for example are Server Meshing.


Have a great day!

 

[Ballthyrm]

The main issue i'm having with this game is performance and controls.

The controls are too complicated (sure it's simulation or whatever) and don't really add any value.
The game won't work for a lot of people until they fix the fundamentals.

As for performance, the whole game is designed around people with super powerful computer and even then it barely runs.

They keep adding new stuff and not polishing the stuff they have, I'm not talking about graphics here (which they improved continuously) but how the game the games plays, which every time i check back in, it has barely changed.

You can make an entire game with one mechanic .
If you want a great example of a game with 1 mechanic & polish , look at Dive kick.
Again, IMHO it's better to spend your time to do something well before doing something new.

 

[MadYarpen]

So is this thread to convince us to waste some money on this scam or what?

 

[Starfield]

The main issue i'm having with this game is performance and controls.

The controls are too complicated (sure it's simulation or whatever) and don't really add any value.
The game won't work for a lot of people until they fix the fundamentals.

As for performance, the whole game is designed around people with super powerful computer and even then it barely runs.

They keep adding new stuff and not polishing the stuff they have, I'm not talking about graphics here (which they improved continuously) but how the game the games plays, which every time i check back in, it has barely changed.

You can make an entire game with one mechanic .
If you want a great example of a game with 1 mechanic & polish , look at Dive kick.
Again, IMHO it's better to spend your time to do something well before doing something new.

The controls are actually quite easy now. The hint bar is giving alot of useful tipps for beginners and reacts to what the player is doing.
As for the graphics all I can see is that performance wise this game runs alot better now and even on older hardware. The most important thing tho is to have the game installed on a SSD because otherwise it would take too long to load in the game which will cause hiccups.

So is this thread to convince us to waste some money on this scam or what?

No, its just for people who might be interested in the game or haven't heard much of it yet.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Thanks for the info but I have a feeling we'll see this thread pop up in 10 years with the game still incomplete.

 

[Starfield]

Thanks for the info but I have a feeling we'll see this thread pop up in 10 years with the game still incomplete.

In my opinion the game will probably need another 5 years in order to be in a beta state. There's still missing plenty of features such as salvaging of ships, player driven economy with stock markets, exploration with base building, data salvaging and data trading, scienctific features and plenty more.

I'd say feature wise we're close to 10% now.

Right now all the procedual tech has to be finished and implemented into the game aswell so building new star systems can be done much faster.

 

[CeeJay]

In my opinion the game will probably need another 5 years in order to be in a beta state.

I'd say feature wise we're close to 10% now.

Considering how much the game has cost already and the common knowledge of how much the game has scalped its existing whales I am not sure the game can get the new investment for the remaining 90%

 

[Tomeru]

How many solar syayems and planets are there currently?

 

[Ballthyrm]

Thanks for the info but I have a feeling we'll see this thread pop up in 10 years with the game still incomplete.

There is only a difference in kind. This game will be never finished because that's what it means to be a live game. As long as people are playing it and enough of them to assume the cost, they will continue to refine it.

WoW is not a finished game either.

 

[Starfield]

How many solar syayems and planets are there currently?

1 solar system (that is playable in the Persistent Universe, allthough there are more already but not playable yet) which consists of Hurston (Super Earth type Planet), Arccorp (Super Earth type Planet, like Corrusant in Star Wars consists only of city), Crusader (Gas Giant) and various Moons and even asteroids to land on. microtech and its moons will be implemented in 3.8

There are rumours that they are going to announce a new star system at citizen con.

For the finished game there are over 100 solar systems planned.

 

[Snake29]

Great thread! I'm looking forward to attending CitizenCon again this year and Alpha 3.8 and all other surprises.

Man finally getting my hands on my Carrack. hopefully already around Evocati but i don't think they will give this ship in our hands before CitizenCon.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/captain_raoul/ My Star Citizen flickr album.

 

[V2Tommy]

Its, not it's.

C'mon nerds, get your spelling together.

 

[Starfield]

Great thread! I'm looking forward to attending CitizenCon again this year and Alpha 3.8 and all other surprises.

Man finally getting my hands on my Carrack. hopefully already around Evocati but i don't think they will give this ship in our hands before CitizenCon.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/captain_raoul/ My Star Citizen flickr album.

Who knows if the carrack will be finished by 3.8 given its only at, 47 / 130 tasks finished or something

 

[Tenaciousmo]

Is it a game yet or should i still wait before dipping my toes in?

 

[Shai-Tan]

they have free weekends sometimes. or just check out streams of it on Youtube (Xenthorx has unfiltered footage of every patch if you want to look at it sans commentary/hype). im only interested in the single player component that's like wing commander so for me not that interesting as it is

 

[Starfield]

Is it a game yet or should i still wait before dipping my toes in?

edit: double post

 

[Starfield]

It depends on what you would call a game or a "playable game". It is very much playable right now, however it is missing alot of its features.

Things you can do currently in the game:

• Missions (different mission types, like delivery missions, kill pirates on a base on some moon or in space, retrieving data from an abandoned space station, racing missions, bountys and more)
• Mining (mining asteroids or on planet surfaces either with a mining attachment on a mining ship or a hand mining tool and a backpack)
• PVP
• PVE (obviously)
• Plants and fruits collect on planets to sell on the market
• ingame ship renting (with ingame currency) as well as ingame ship buying
• exploring (Caves on Moons and Planets, some hidden locations like a shipwreck on a moon for example)
• drug trading (buying on one hidden location and sell it somewhere else, very risk --> other players hunting you . but high reward)
• trading (buying minerals or scrap and selling it somewhere else)
• a standalone pvp mode (deathmatch, team deathmatch, etc)
• a standalone coop wave mode against ai
• and more which I forgot probably

they have free weekends sometimes. or just check out streams of it on Youtube (Xenthorx has unfiltered footage of every patch if you want to look at it sans commentary/hype). im only interested in the single player component that's like wing commander so for me not that interesting as it is

Yeah exactly.

The whole of next week is going to be a free-fly week again where you can download the game and fly 5 of the most common ships for free.

 

[Blade2.0]

I'll go with no man's sky until it's actually in beta.

 

[Starfield]

I'll go with no man's sky until it's actually in beta.

depends on which beta you're waiting for, Squadron 42 should be going into Beta in Q3 next year

 

[Blade2.0]

depends on which beta you're waiting for, Squadron 42 should be going into Beta in Q3 next year

I'll check out free weekends but I won't spend any money until a more fleshed out experience is finally here

 

[Inviusx]

I watched a stream last month of 2 unbiased fellas trying to give Star Citizen another honest try. It was possibly one of the buggiest and obtuse experience I've witnessed in a long time.

Despite all the bullet points and infographics it is still a technical nightmare. A jumbled mess of half finished features and systems contained within what you could loosely call a "game".

 

[Starfield]

I'll check out free weekends but I won't spend any money until a more fleshed out experience is finally here

That's a goo idea. If I would be sceptical I'd wait a few more years then it should be much more of a game than it is right now.

Buying the game right now literally just is a way of supporting the game nothing else.

For example I backed Star Citizen around 2013/14. Back then you were only able to walk around and in your ship inside of a hangar. You couldn't even fly your 40€ ship at that point. We've come a long way yet the goal is still further down the roa.d

 

[Poordevil]

I was there years ago when Chris Roberts was making his pitch for this game on Kickstarter. My son was really looking forward to it. Since then he has grown up, moved out, and become a responsible adult. This is what happens when the fans are the publishers, there is no end to money supply and there is no publishing deadline.

 

[Petrae]

I was there years ago when Chris Roberts was making his pitch for this game on Kickstarter. My son was really looking forward to it. Since then he has grown up, moved out, and become a responsible adult. This is what happens when the fans are the publishers, there is no end to money supply and there is no publishing deadline.

Crazy to think that it’s been EIGHT YEARS since crowdfunding began. It could be another eight years before the project is ready for prime time.

Indeed, that’s the problem with crowdfunding. You’re giving your money away with the hope that the people you’re throwing the money at might make a finished game. Unlike shareholders, there’s no responsibility to crowdfunders. These people got the money out of you, and then they work at their own pace with unknown oversight or management.

This is why I have never and will never throw money at a crowdfunded game, no matter how good the idea is. As shitty as publishers are, they’re at least far better at project management and making sure that games don’t take a decade to complete. Better than that, we consumers are only on the hook once the game ships... not once someone comes up with a cool idea that may or may not happen.

 

[Starfield]

Crazy to think that it’s been EIGHT YEARS since crowdfunding began. It could be another eight years before the project is ready for prime time.

Indeed, that’s the problem with crowdfunding. You’re giving your money away with the hope that the people you’re throwing the money at might make a finished game. Unlike shareholders, there’s no responsibility to crowdfunders. These people got the money out of you, and then they work at their own pace with unknown oversight or management.

This is why I have never and will never throw money at a crowdfunded game, no matter how good the idea is. As shitty as publishers are, they’re at least far better at project management and making sure that games don’t take a decade to complete. Better than that, we consumers are only on the hook once the game ships... not once someone comes up with a cool idea that may or may not happen.

That is why you will also never see a game like Star Citizen being made by a publisher, because it takes that long. EA, Ubi, Microsoft or Sony they all want to make money at a certain pace, they cant allow a product to just waste reccources over years with no outcome

 

[ThatGamingDude]

That is why you will also never see a game like Star Citizen being made by a publisher, because it takes that long. EA, Ubi, Microsoft or Sony they all want to make money at a certain pace, they cant allow a product to just waste reccources over years with no outcome

I'm sure you meant that differently, but that's kind of 100% the issue with the game

A business literally can't let a product waste resources over years and not have any out come, that's not sustainable

 

[Poordevil]

I would defend Star Citizen against all the nay sayers and doubting Thomas's. Where is your patience? Great projects take time. But that was 5 years ago...

 

[Petrae]

I'm sure you meant that differently, but that's kind of 100% the issue with the game

A business literally can't let a product waste resources over years and not have any out come, that's not sustainable

But it IS sustainable in this case, as people keep throwing money at this thing. Chris Roberts probably has a Scrooge McDuck-like vault of cash to dive into at will. Where’s the money going? Where’s the accountability? Who cares? When you attract enough easily-persuaded people with shittons of disposable income, terms like “accountability” and “fiscal responsibility” don’t matter. It’s the modern day equivalent of snake oil sales.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

But it IS sustainable in this case, as people keep throwing money at this thing. Where’s the money going? Where’s the accountability? Who cares? When you attract enough easily-persuaded people with shittons of disposable income, terms like “accountability” and “fiscal responsibility” don’t matter. It’s the modern day equivalent of snake oil sales.

Modern day philanthropy would include software; entertainment software included

It's sustainable for a while, yeah, but if it's a snake oil deal, wouldn't that also mean that people figure it out at a later date, or lose interest?

MMOs that sit in an open/paid beta for too long tend to die out because of development taking too long, having to rebuild or add tech to meet mondern standards, then resources drying up, then finally shutting down.

If they can break that trend, more power to them, but I don't see everyone immediately buying it just because it's now branded "Released." Ark comes to mind

 

[MeatSafeMurderer]

WoW is not a finished game either.

Perhaps not...but WoW isn't a buggy unpolished, unoptimized crock of shit after 7 years of development either. At this rate by the time Star Citizen actually "comes out" it won't be graphically impressive anymore.

 

[Starfield]

Perhaps not...but WoW isn't a buggy unpolished, unoptimized crock of shit after 7 years of development either. At this rate by the time Star Citizen actually "comes out" it won't be graphically impressive anymore.

The game is actually built for future hardware from the get go. They are implementing tech in this game which isnt to be seen in any other game currently.

they currently also use like 4 times less polygons for their assets right now then what they actually have

 

[Snake29]

Perhaps not...but WoW isn't a buggy unpolished, unoptimized crock of shit after 7 years of development either. At this rate by the time Star Citizen actually "comes out" it won't be graphically impressive anymore.

It's not like they don't work on the graphics engine or all the tech around it. The engine team and graphics teams are constantly working on new tech, tools and the overall graphics pipeline.

 

[klosos]

Great thread! I'm looking forward to attending CitizenCon again this year and Alpha 3.8 and all other surprises.

Man finally getting my hands on my Carrack. hopefully already around Evocati but i don't think they will give this ship in our hands before CitizenCon.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/captain_raoul/ My Star Citizen flickr album.

Just went through your album, there is some fantastic photos there mate. You might wanna post some in the Pc screenshot thread.

 

[SantaC]

Scam Citizen

 

[The_Mike]

When the game gets released in about 40 years will players progress be reset?

Might been asked a hundred times before but tbh I'm too retarded to read the entire thread.

 

[SweetShark]

1 solar system (that is playable in the Persistent Universe, allthough there are more already but not playable yet) which consists of Hurston (Super Earth type Planet), Arccorp (Super Earth type Planet, like Corrusant in Star Wars consists only of city), Crusader (Gas Giant) and various Moons and even asteroids to land on. microtech and its moons will be implemented in 3.8

There are rumours that they are going to announce a new star system at citizen con.

For the finished game there are over 100 solar systems planned.

Ok, I don't want to sound very negative because I REALLY want the game to become something beautiful at the end, but 100 solar systems aren't too much after so many years of development?
If the Devs made only 1 solar system so far, how long it will take for the other 99?

 

[Whitesnake]

Reminder that Elite Dangerous is out and is pretty good.

I mean, it’s not as ambitious as Star Citizen’s ”planned” final version but it, y’know, exists.

 

[Starfield]

Ok, I don't want to sound very negative because I REALLY want the game to become something beautiful at the end, but 100 solar systems aren't too much after so many years of development?
If the Devs made only 1 solar system so far, how long it will take for the other 99?

Theyre using the Stanton System for implementing and creating/testing all their procedual tech right now so in the future it should be far easier to create new star systems when all the tech is ready.

 

[Snake29]

Ok, I don't want to sound very negative because I REALLY want the game to become something beautiful at the end, but 100 solar systems aren't too much after so many years of development?
If the Devs made only 1 solar system so far, how long it will take for the other 99?

1 Solar system in the PU right now because everything we test is within this system. They already have other systems in development and the system for SQ42 is not the same system as we have currently in Star Citizen (Stanton system), but already done. Stanton system is a testbed for all the procedural tech they create to prepare the other systems for the PU. Their tools can already create space stations in less then a few days and their planet tech is already mature. The moons and planets are most of the time already finished before the we even enter the patch where they will add them in.

We have to wait for Server Side Object Container Streaming and server meshing (later next year) before we will see multiple systems on the roadmap. Maybe interesting read from yesterdays jump point magazine: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/i2gtpjaggpg1ir/source/JP07-10_OCS-Boot-Camp.pdf

 

[SweetShark]

Great thread! I'm looking forward to attending CitizenCon again this year and Alpha 3.8 and all other surprises.

Man finally getting my hands on my Carrack. hopefully already around Evocati but i don't think they will give this ship in our hands before CitizenCon.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/captain_raoul/ My Star Citizen flickr album.

My God, all these pictures are beautiful.
There is a issue of how the people look, but everything else, the environments, the armors, planets, ships are crispy delightful.

 

[SweetShark]

1 Solar system in the PU right now because everything we test is within this system. They already have other systems in development and the system for SQ42 is not the same system as we have currently in Star Citizen (Stanton system), but already done. Stanton system is a testbed for all the procedural tech they create to prepare the other systems for the PU. Their tools can already create space stations in less then a few days and their planet tech is already mature. The moons and planets are most of the time already finished before the we even enter the patch where they will add them in.

We have to wait for Server Side Object Container Streaming and server meshing (later next year) before we will see multiple systems on the roadmap. Maybe interesting read from yesterdays jump point magazine: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/i2gtpjaggpg1ir/source/JP07-10_OCS-Boot-Camp.pdf

So in other words they are trying to do a more complex formula like the one they used in No Man's Sky?
Interesting.

 

[magnumpy]

so is there a release date for this yet? maybe this should just be left alone for a few years...

 

[Starfield]

So in other words they are trying to do a more complex formula like the one they used in No Man's Sky?
Interesting.

Their biomes already look far better than what no mans sky is doing

 

[SweetShark]

Their biomes already look far better than what no mans sky is doing

What is biomes?
Like, animals and plants you mean which randomly changed on each planet?

 

[Halo is Back]

What a joke of a “game” only desperate whales are keeping this thing a float

 

[Starfield]

What is biomes?
Like, animals and plants you mean which randomly changed on each planet?

yes. for example on the planet Hurston you can find desert biomes, waste biomes (where litter and scrap metal lies around everywhere), savannah biomes or sea.

There's also a planet called ArcCorp which basically looks like Corusant from Star Wars (whole planet is basically one giant city)

 

[Starfield]

Here is Star Citizen's current Roadmap update:

 

[andreymagnus]

It's always funny how people buy ships in that game for >$1000

 

[DoctorEkkoUK]

if this is 5 years away from being in Beta then by the time this actually goes complete wont it be horribly outdated?

 

[Starfield]

if this is 5 years away from being in Beta then by the time this actually goes complete wont it be horribly outdated?

No since they are constantly upgrading tech and the game you can actually play today is a way cycled back version. For example the current polygon count is only a quarter for all the assets Ingame than they actually are. They had to turn them down from over a million to 250k in order to make this game playable on current Hardware