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[Zabojnik]

Josh Strike, the dev in charge of designing the HUD, posted some more on the subject. Interesting stuff. Actually, no, it's fucking awesome.

Thanks for such a warm welcome! Can’t believe so many people stopped by to say hi while I was sleeping. I’m by no means able to answer all the questions, and I should be getting back to work but I guess I can give you all another good teaser…

I’m seeing a lot of questions about 2D vs. 3D displays, and about 3D HMDs vs. cockpit-projected HUDs. In fact, Chris made the decision to use all three types in Star Citizen from the beginning.

There’s a fixed holographic projection within the cockpit, which overlays things that don’t move with your head, e.g. velocity, acceleration, attitude, altitude, heading and targeting data. This projection has depth for greater effect (along the lines of what you see in that Scaleform promotional video), and also uses some (non-essential) stereoscopic depth cues to assist the pilot in reading certain situations more quickly. You don’t need an Oculus to get all the same info, but I’m not saying the depth cues won’t give you a slight edge.

In addition to that, there’s a separate projection on the inside of the pilot’s helmet which can be loaded up with with deeper data sets (e.g. ship status, weapons selection, power balancing, navigation maps, communications, etc). This HMD projection stays in your field of vision when you turn your head.

Finally, elements from both of these projections can be shunted to the flat LCD displays or brought back up to their respective projection, and have been designed to shift shape, color and opacity, and/or break into separate elements, depending on whether they’re being displayed on a flat screen or holographically. So yeah, there was definitely some inspiration from Minority Report and Iron Man, but at the same time these elements are very much in the CR space sim style, and my primary goal is to remain true to his original vision.

I should stress that these projection layers exist, and about 80% of the gizmos are fully functional; in tests, they have been added to the projections and screens and run successfully with dummy data. The part that’s not yet complete is the full integration that sends active environmental data to the components. The HUD is a platform in itself with 62 custom classes and a 20-page API manual so far. There are hundreds of data points that need to be connected up to the ship’s systems, so we’re still in the process of getting the cockpit fully “wired”.

And no, we’re not deviating from the classic polar-mapped radar screen! But we’ve added some nice touches like sector heat mapping, and ship-on-your-tail alerts.

Additionally, someone asked me about incorrect and/or damaged displays. Every element in our HUD responds to damage. As Chris built the fly-by-wire system to procedurally handle an infinite range of ship states based on damage to various components, that philosophy was extended to have damage also rendered procedurally in the HUD. Just as one example, text in the HUD is not pre-rendered or even generated on the fly as a block; it’s printed procedurally to the displays one character at a time, with a greater likelihood of transcription error (or garbled transmission) depending on specific damage to your avionics or communications systems. Response to damage is a bedrock feature of every element in the HUD and has a negative impact on boot times, data latency and accuracy. If this sounds like something not recommended in a Scaleform project, it isn’t – and they said it was crazy – but we’ve refactored, honed and optimized it to work.

So, I’ll end it here before I give away all my tricks, but I’ll drop back in from time to time. Meanwhile, stay tuned for the next vid!

 

[Zero-Crescent]

Funding progress.
RSI site: $1,139,687; 12,602c; $90.44 average
Surprisingly, the average contribution actually increased since my last post with calculations. That means that today they received some higher-tier contributions. Most notable is that the $1000 tier is now sold out on the RSI site, and there are now 3 people in the $10,000 tier.

KickStarter site: $218,421; 5217c; $41.87 average
The Kickstarter page passed $200k earlier, and it should be reaching the $250k point sometime today.

Total so far: $1,358,108; 17819c; $76.22 avg; $641,892 to go.

 

[thetrin]

Josh Strike, the dev in charge of designing the HUD, posted some more on the subject. Interesting stuff. Actually, no, it's fucking awesome.

That sounds like more thought was put into the HUD than many designers and programmers put into entire games.

 

[MasterOfPastures]

HUD explanation

Cot. DAYYYUUUUMMM.

This game is starting to look like the best simulation ever. Printed information display that can be garbled due to damage?! NUUUUUTTS

 

[MaritalWheat]

I'm almost not treating this game seriously because it seems so unreal and ambitious. Prove me wrong please, I'm begging you. That HUD stuff sounds AWESOME.

 

[Grief.exe]

The HUD design sounds amazing, looks like you can display it on your helmet or on the screens in the fighter.

 

[epmode]

I'm almost not treating this game seriously because it seems so unreal and ambitious.

It really sounds hard to believe. If it actually works out, it's the kind of thing that will get me to build a new computer. It's almost like Origin is still around!

 

[Grief.exe]

Found an interesting site: http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/cig/star-citizen/

I read about the trending number and they said that it was essentially broken for the first two days a project is posted. It starts to even out and get accurate data when the initial hype starts to die down.

I'm almost not treating this game seriously because it seems so unreal and ambitious. Prove me wrong please, I'm begging you. That HUD stuff sounds AWESOME.

I mean look at what Chris and a small team have gotten done so far? Without any significant contributions from outside sources.

They put together the most complete build we have ever seen on a crowd funding project that's this early in production. Generally we just get some concept art and a youtube video of the developer. This game truly delivered on that aspect, with a working alpha, that both looked and played amazing.

It looks like they are going to significantly beat their initial goal of $2 million, we will probably be at that point in the next few days. Once this is all over and they get their investments from outside sources, they are really going to be able to boost their staff and get to work.
You know by 2014 they are, at the very least, going to have full single player and a multiplayer component. Best case scenario they will have the open world system ready as well, but if not that will come later.

 

[Zabojnik]

I'm almost not treating this game seriously because it seems so unreal and ambitious. Prove me wrong please, I'm begging you. That HUD stuff sounds AWESOME.

It really sounds hard to believe. If it actually works out, it's the kind of thing that will get me to build a new computer. It's almost like Origin is still around!

Well, yeah, it looks and sounds ambitious and 'unreal' for a crowdfunded game, but that's not really the case here. Does anyone know how big the budget(s) and selling numbers were / are for Egosoft's X games? From what I understand they are pretty fucking huge in scope, even if it's a slightly different type of space sim, when compared to what Star Citizen is attempting to do.

 

[exmachina64]

I just backed Project Eternity....but I want to back this at the $250 level so badly.

Decisions, decisions...

 

[Zabojnik]

I just backed Project Eternity....but I want to back this at the $250 level so badly.

Decisions, decisions...

Obligatory: Do it. Do. It. DO ITTTTTTT.

 

[CecilRousso]

Seems interesting, but I already saved point&cklick adventures and RPG´s through kickstarter. Someone else will have to save spacesims.

 

[Sentenza]

Seems interesting, but I already saved point&cklick adventures and RPG´s through kickstarter. Someone else will have to save spacesims.

you don't understand... WE NEED TO GO BACK!

 

[Corto]

That HUD talk is just ridiculously enticing.

 

[Sharp]

Well, yeah, it looks and sounds ambitious and 'unreal' for a crowdfunded game, but that's not really the case here. Does anyone know how big the budget(s) and selling numbers were / are for Egosoft's X games? From what I understand they are pretty fucking huge in scope, even if it's a slightly different type of space sim, when compared to what Star Citizen is attempting to do.

I've always felt like space sims are one of those genres where there is a really huge potential audience. Much as I love RPGs they are super nerdy and "gamey," and while point and click adventures are super rad I'm not sure games are really the best medium for the stories they're trying to tell. But space sims? I mean... it's fucking space, who didn't want to be an astronaut as a kid? Plus, simulation genres have proven for decades and decades that they have crossover potential into the mainstream. Yet for some reason there are not a lot of quality entries. I've never understood why there aren't more publishers funding them... they must sell a lot worse than I think they should.

 

[Lime]

I've always felt like space sims are one of those genres where there is a really huge potential audience. Much as I love RPGs they are super nerdy and "gamey," and while point and click adventures are super rad I'm not sure games are really the best medium for the stories they're trying to tell. But space sims? I mean... it's fucking space, who didn't want to be an astronaut as a kid? Plus, simulation genres have proven for decades and decades that they have crossover potential into the mainstream. Yet for some reason there are not a lot of quality entries. I've never understood why there aren't more publishers funding them... they must sell a lot worse than I think they should.

Entry level can be somewhat steep for a larger audience. Unfortunately.

 

[Tankshell]

Can't wait to see how they make use of the oculus rift HUD integration. It's going to be incredibly immersive if they do it right.

 

[Perkel]

Oh my that HUD interview is just mindblowing. Chris didn't fuck with us when he told that he want ton of details because those details will make awesome experience.

 

[Perkel]

Christopher Roberts says:
October 20, 2012 at 2:02 pm
G-Forces will definitely be a factor. It wasn’t done in time for the demo, but the idea is the forces caused by raid changes in direction (not really G force as we’re in space!) are more a limiting factor on how tightly you can turn than perhaps your ship is.

You will definitely feel the affect of acceleration, deceleration and vector changes in the cockpit. Turn too tightly and you could black out. You’ll feel your view position shift as your virtual body is thrown around during tight turning.

love you chris !

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

Cool, switched to the digital $30 pledge, I don't need physical items, JUST GET ME DAT GAME.

 

[BigTnaples]

Holy shit. This sounds freaking amazing. This may be the first game I help "kickstart".

 

[~Kinggi~]

This product is impressive.

Their funding launch is a disaster. Guarantee you if they went the kickstarter route from the start they would be at like 2-3 mil by now.

 

[Munin]

This product is impressive.

Their funding launch is a disaster. Guarantee you if they went the kickstarter route from the start they would be at like 2-3 mil by now.

They're close to 1.5 mil now, added up, so it's really not that bad. If they do some good work to keep the momentum going like Obsidian did, they'll be fine in the end.

 

[Zabojnik]

This product is impressive.

Their funding launch is a disaster. Guarantee you if they went the kickstarter route from the start they would be at like 2-3 mil by now.

Eh, I don't think so. It's not like the ones that were enthusiastic enough to pledge immediately after the reveal went 'site crashed? fuck it then, you're not getting my money!'. Most of them probably pledged over the next few days. I'm not saying the numbers wouldn't be higher right now if everything went according to keikaku, but I doubt the difference would be that great.

 

[gatti-man]

This product is impressive.

Their funding launch is a disaster. Guarantee you if they went the kickstarter route from the start they would be at like 2-3 mil by now.

Haha come on.

 

[LTWood12]

I'm not a pc gamer. But I sure as hell might have to become one now. I got goosebumps from the pitch video.

 

[Grief.exe]

I'm not a pc gamer. But I sure as hell might have to become one now. I got goosebumps from the pitch video.

Join us.

Come for the cheap games, stay for the fidelity.

 

[Grief.exe]

Chris doing a little Q/A on the Kickstarter comments right now.

So excited! just 3 questions... tonight lol
1. By getting a bigger ship from pledging... how many hours of play does that put us ahead? (versus doing missions and getting credits?
2. is money the only factor of getting bigger ships? (or are there other requirements like piloting certifications for larger ships?)
3. And finally... what does 1000 credits mean? for reference how much does an aurora cost?
Thanks and I can't wait!!!

Cody -
1. Its too early to say as we haven't balanced or finished designing out all the upgrades / costs and the $ to credit conversion, but rest assured we will make sure the exchange of time vs money matches up. In addition having the bigger ship doesn't mean its fully equipped so you'll have to do some missions / trade runs to really kit your new ship out the way you want - it just means your base hull & engine package that you build on is at a higher cots level than the starter ship.
2. I DONT want a RPG level system (i.e. you have to be level 20 to fly a Constellation). I want it to be like real life. If you had the money you could probably buy a F16. But that doesn't mean you would be as effective pilot as someone that has been flying F16s for a while. I kind of like the idea of a pilots license and being qualified for different levels (like in real life). Not sure we would do something like that but I'm going to think about it - Getting your license could be the "training" run through / mission you get when you step up to a new ship class / size
3. 1000 credits can buy a couple of modules, or a few containers of cargo. Its not enough for abase Hull. We haven't priced the hulls out credit wise but my guess is that you would need 10-15K credits minimum to move up to the next ship level. Don't quote this as gospel - the big caveat is that we haven't leveled all this as we're still in the design stage!

You've stated that the constellation has a fighter bay. Is the fighter proprietary or can we upgrade the fighter bay to hold something like the Hornet?
CR: You will be able to upgrade your fighter, but the Hornet will probably be too heavy duty to fit in a Constellation. You'll need a bigger ship for that,

Will you be able to buy lifetime insurance after the game is released. like the one you have for your pledge ship? Or is insurance going to be mostly temporarily or for a limited number of "deaths"?
CR: Lifetime insurance is going to be available for the people that back before we go live. After this you can only buy insurance for limited durations or replacements. As long as your earning money through flying missions or doing trade runs you should easily have enough cash flow to pay for this insurance (kind of like real life!)

 

[Grief.exe]

More stuff from the AMA on Kickstarter

When will more details on the ships be coming? I'd like a fast fighter with high maneuverability. Would that Hornet be the one and it could be upgraded or would that be another ship with upgrades?
Were aiming to release ship specs this week - We're going to do it when you can upgrade / change your pledge on the RSI site, otherwise there will be a wave of frustrated people as I'm pretty confident a decent amount of people will want to move as this is something that a lot of people have already stated even before knowing the specs. We're aiming for Monday but its dependent on the web team getting the upgrade functionality
The Hornet (which will be a little different than the military one) is the one you'll want if you want to focus on dog fighting and maneuverability vs. trading or being an all around ship. It can still haul cargo but not so much with an additional module and its really set up more as a mercenary / bounty hunter / escort style ship.

Chris - Freelancer chose mouse control over the joystick. Is joystick/HOTAS the main focus again, or could the controller scheme be compromised due to a preference for the mouse?
I'm supporting ALL - mouse, gamepad, joystick, full HOTAS + rudder pedals - even keyboard (for the people that like the highest degree of handicap!)
Its not that hard and there's no point in limiting it. We're PC baby!

@Chris are you thinking of doing any sort of ranking system for players? Basic stats at first maybe.. then you could also show ranks vs other players and friends. Data and stats are always fun to look through
There will definitely be a player & squadron ranking system (squadrons will be our version of a clan). Its on the list of things to do on the community site, but you're going to be able to create a squadron and have your friends join it (kind of like your friends list or battle unit)
We're going to run some fun stuff around squadrons in the future (which look like are already happening informally anyway)

@Chris - Any thoughts on unknown alien artifacts or tech? Perhaps while exploring the galaxy you come across a derelict space craft of unknown origin and can salvage a weapon or power upgrade. I think that could be a cool addition for the explorer/freelancer types.
This will definitely be in the game!

Ok folks - Have to grab a bite to eat, then troll the RSI forums so they don't feel I've ditched them for the hot new GF Kickstarter
I'll be doing AMA Reddit starting at 10am PST Monday through most of the day... We'll share more info tomorrow...

Davin
@CR
Any plans on doing a separate Privateer/Freelancer themed singleplayer campaign a few years down the road? I loved the original WC campaign too, but there's something to be said for a story driven campaign with that type of backdrop. (as well as the types of characters that inhabit it
CR: Most definitely - not all SP campaigns will be military themed

 

[Keasar]

Have someone asked what the maximum size of a ship will be? Will we be able to go full battleship, cruiser, carrier etc.?

 

[Hackbert]

Have someone asked what the maximum size of a ship will be? Will we be able to go full battleship, cruiser, carrier etc.?

Can you tell me about the different ships?
We’re working on concept art right now that will show you the different levels of ships! For now, imagine the sort of ship advancement you encounered in Privateer or Freelancer, with the Aurora being the basic ship and others being improved or more specialized craft. The top-of-the-line ship in our pledge campaign is the RSI Constellation, which is a multi-person craft that includes a turret and a smaller fighter that can be manned by your friends!

as an indication. tomorrow there should be artworks and more infos on the ships.
so after one week they are at 1,550,000 Dollar.. nice

 

[Keasar]

as an indication. tomorrow their should be artworks and more infos on the ships.
so after one week they are at 1,550,000 Dollar.. nice

Saw that at least, was just hoping they would be more specific by now, but, I will keep my hopes up.

One day...

 

[Zabojnik]

Here's another interesting post from Chris regarding physics:

As someone that was taking Physics at Manchester University before I dropped out to make games full time I can assure everyone that the physics model is COMPLETELY accurate and it’s a full rigid body simulation. I know because I wrote the code.

Maybe I should have done a better job in the demo, but if you are flying at speed and you set your desired velocity to zero you WILL see the top front thrusters articulating and firing to slow your velocity. If you watch my demo you will notice there is some momentum with the Hornet when I slow down close to the bridge. It may not have been apparent on the screen, but I can assure the Hornet does not stop on a dime. if you load it up with more mass (like extra weapons) you feel the effect of this.

There is no drag modeled – everything is done as it would be in space.

Additionally there is actually counter thrust being applied inside the physics and if you had your hands on the controller you would feel it. If you look closely you will see the inertia of this – the ship doesn’t stop rolling or pitching on a dime. There is however a very good reason why you don’t actually see the thrusters fire entirely accurately.

The problem with visually depicting the proper thrust is that it would actually look pretty horrible (trust me this is how I first did it, and is still pretty easy to switch back to as I’m actually doing some extra work to make the visuals looks nicer).

The reason is because there is no drag in space, so even a micro amount of thrust starts the Hornet (or any spaceship) rotating until you apply counter thrust. So what is really happening is that the flight control system is always applying micro thrust and counter thrust to achieve the pilot’s inputs. This results in the thrusters flickering off and on in micro amounts and you actually not getting a good feel of the general application of thrust. I think you know I like things to look cool (come on, we all know you probably wouldn’t be engaging in space dogfights at WW2 speeds, but it’s so much more fun than what the reality would probably be), so what happens is that the system is still modeled accurately, but I use the angular /linear velocity delta to drive the visual representation of thrust. Here’s my code comment

//Note the thrustGoal is actually the linear velocity delta (desired vel – current vel of
//the vehicle & rotational vel rather than the actual linear & angular acceleration / thrust.
//This is because, while inaccurate its cooler to see more constant thrust that gives
//you a visual clue as to what correctional movement / velocity vectors the vehicle is using.
//If we just used the acceleration as opposed to the desired velocity correction, the thruster flames
//would flicker on and off – especially in the Wing Commander use case of Space, where
//there is no atmosphere to provide drag.
//
//Of course if you pass the actual accelerations to SetThrustGoal, then you’ll get an accurate //visual representation of what a thruster would really do

I hope that clears up any confusion!

I will admit that the ship doesn’t need to have wings or fans on the front, but the idea behind that is for possible atmospheric flight (this is not a promise of planetary action for the early build but allows for expansions in this direction), and as a RAM scoop. Plus it just looks / feels cool!

 

[gatti-man]

Chris has so many great ideas. I just hope he can pull them off.

 

[Zabojnik]

People seem to be a bit concerned about the cockpit taking so much space on the screen ...

If you think about it, it's a bit ridiculous that we'd still have framed cockpits in the future, considering today planes like the F-22 no longer have any framework whatsoever, just a pure bubble canopy. However, Josh Strike (HUD designer) posted that: "Historically, in Chris’s games, the higher-end / more expensive ships tend to have more open and undivided viewport areas in the cockpit than the basic models. Just sayin’." Makes sense. That enemy fighter concept art they released seems to indicate just that.

 

[Anno]

I'm okay with a somewhat limited view. Maybe not to the degree of that first shot, though. Makes me wonder about 3rd person, though. I assume it will exist, but what will be the tradeoff in using it? Less information?

 

[maquiladora]

Backed at $30 tier.

 

[epmode]

I'm okay with a somewhat limited view. Maybe not to the degree of that first shot, though. Makes me wonder about 3rd person, though. I assume it will exist, but what will be the tradeoff in using it? Less information?

Costs more! I'm pretty sure you have to pay for insurance in the MMO portions.

It's probably tied to storyline in single-player, as it was in Wing Commander.

 

[Anno]

You definitely have to pay for insurance. Apparently early backers will be eligible for lifetime insurance on their starter ship, though. I'm in for at least $60!

 

[Grief.exe]

They are going to be hitting the 2 million mark across both sites pretty soon it seems.

 

[Lime]

So apparently they already withdrew my pledge from my bank account. I thought the transaction would not go through until the deadline à la Kickstarter, but apparently not.

Anyone know how to withdraw your pledge and get your money refunded?

 

[Mindlog]

People seem to be a bit concerned about the cockpit taking so much space on the screen ...

http://i.imgur.com/Heknp.jpg

If you think about it, it's a bit ridiculous that we'd still have framed cockpits in the future

Windows are a structural weakness.

 

[Dictator93]

So apparently they already withdrew my pledge from my bank account. I thought the transaction would not go through until the deadline à la Kickstarter, but apparently not.

Anyone know how to withdraw your pledge and get your money refunded?

No idea. If you dont mind my asking, how come you want to withdraw your pledge?

 

[Grief.exe]

Reddit AMA starts in about an hour.

EDIT: Wow more bad luck, reddit is down right now. Hopefully it gets fixed by the time the AMA starts.

So apparently they already withdrew my pledge from my bank account. I thought the transaction would not go through until the deadline à la Kickstarter, but apparently not.

Anyone know how to withdraw your pledge and get your money refunded?

If you pledged through the site, its an instant transaction and it can come back to you if they don't meet their goal at the end of the pledging period. Basically impossible at this point.

If you pledged through Kickstarter they don't take your money out until it has reached its goal. Again, basically impossible at this point.

I'm guessing you did the former, but either way you are going to get money withdrawn from your account. Just depends on the when.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

Went through Kickstarter.

 

[Phanatic8390]

I had no idea this got added to Kickstarter. Just pledged $30

 

[Grief.exe]

Reddit AMA starts in an hour, site is back up by the way.

He did a AMA last night on kickstarter. He also comments on the forums as well, but those are harder to find since there is no 'find user posts' function that I can find. I haven't looked that hard to be honest.

Here are the comments, but you can always go here to see what the team is posting: http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/cig/comments

GT500 @Chris R. Any thoughts given to server side calculations for Multiplayer as World Of Tanks has implemented? One of the things that is great about WoT is knowing the other players are unable to cheat. This is why the persistent universe and the "battle" servers that run the instanced combat are operated by us, as opposed to on the client side or peer to peer. Its more expensive but it provides a better experience both in reduced latency and also preventing cheating.

bleachorange @Chris will there be a limit on maximum velocity on ship speed? CR - Yes, there has to be as it won't be much fun otherwise. So the fly by wire system has limited top speeds and boost speeds. So while the physics is 100% accurate and everything is done via impulses / forces the FBW system will prevent you from going to fast (for the sake of game play) Can we have nose art (including kill markers)? CR:Yes I very much intend to implement this how are the systems scaled in terms of size (including sector size)? CR: Tough question to answer - kid of like saying how long is a piece of string. Star Systems can have multiple locations - planets, asteroid fields, jump points, etc that you can navigate to. Each "location" is a large chunk of 3D space that has "terrain" - a planet, a nebula, asteroids, a gravity well etc, To travel between locations you "auto-pilot" just like in Wing Commander / Privateer. We will may also let you try and fly in real time between locations, but I can;t promise this yet as there is a floating point precision issue that would need to solved (as space is so vast, plus I would guess this would only be for die hard realists as it would vb every boring.

Sorry for the delay folks. Martin Solis There was a huge discussion about what exactly should be AI controlled and what shouldn't. Could you clarify what your limits are concerning this? (Example: AI turrets are fine but AI fighters isn't. The constellation mini fighter was a big contention point.) CR: Currently AI will run your turrets but wont fly your fighter tender. You'll need to either set your ship on autopilot, turn on the auto turrets and jump in your fighter or get a friend to fly your big ship while you pilot the short range fighter... I wouldn't rule out an AI upgrade at a later date that could pilot the fighter tender at a later date though!

Scott E. 34 minutes ago Backer info Report spam @Chris I seem to be having a hard time identifying what the stretch goal details are, can you provide a link please? We're going to do a better job of this on Kickstarter (there currently isn't anything) on the RSI site its on the pledge page http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/star-citizen/ and click on Stretch goals In the next few days we'll out more detail though - not just $1M levels but sub levels between these bigger ones.

CCraig 22 minutes ago Backer info Report spam CR, what exactly is an instance ? CR: An instance is a server run battle of players (maximum not determined yet but will be at least as much as BF3 and hopefully a lot more). We dynamically create these based on different player's locations and travel in the universe, so that when players that would be in conflict (or hostile NPCs) cross paths we have a battle instance to put them into to resolve the combat before letting them continue on their way.. The persistent universe server keeps tracks of all the players locations and assets and dynamically "match makes" these battles. Also, what security measures is your website providing to protect our data ? for example : encrypting passwords and credit card data, etc CR: All the payment stuff is handled away from our site (via Paypal, Amazon or Stripe, which is how we manage the credit card stuff). We don't keep financial data or CC numbers on our site. The most we keep is your email address and name. Having said that we recognize that even the email addresses are sensitive so we will be upping our security on this over the coming weeks - moving to https and such.

Scotty "S42:Space Marines" Has there been any thought to creating your own base? If I were a pirate I might be inclined to find an asteroid and set up shop in the middle of a field. Would something like this be possible? CR: This is part of the design. With enough money you should be able to buy a base, and there will be some that you can discover and take over and perhaps have to defend from others if they try and take it form you - we will just have to work out the issues of people being online at different times as it wouldn't be fair to lose your base because you were offline.

Dave blanchard @chris any chance of mark Hamil doing some voice work? CR: I very much would like this to happen. If we hit our stretch goals we will have enough money to afford to do this - bring some other high end voice talent and more specific mo-cap Off topic you ever see Richard garriott and do you think he will ever do a kickstarter? I do see him - Just a week ago in Austin in fact. And yes, I've told him he needs to make another Ultima (or f EA doesn't let him have the IP an Ultima like game) for the fans, and this is a good way to go!

StMorpheus @Chris I assume that the game will have the space sim standard targeting computer showing where you should shoot, but are there any plans for ship add-ons like an ECM that would confuse the enemies targeting computer. Maybe be based on the range of the enemy. basic would protect against long range, and the more expensive and advanced ECM's would protect at closer ranges? CR: Yes all of this - HUDs and various targeting components and other avionics systems will be modular and enhancable. There's quiet along thread from the flash genius that wrote all the dynamics HUD code for the system (like most AAA games we use scale form for the UI). You can read it here http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/forums/topic/hello-from-one-of-the-devs/

Adam Seinen Is there any thought towards mining and resource collection for the trader/industrialists? CR: Yes - we are going to allow this - its pretty simple to support and I really want people to to able to play different roles in this universe. I suspect some people will gravitate to combat, some to trading, and so on.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

I messaged the devs on Kickstarter a day ago:

"Hi! Can a tier be added for two or more digital copies of the game? It would help a lot of people who want to get the game for a friend as a gift. Thanks!"

Cloud Imperium Games Corporation:
"Yes! We are looking at this now and hope to have something for you."

Consider my pledge increased when this is added.

 

[LTWood12]

Join us.

Come for the cheap games, stay for the fidelity.

With the advent of Steam Big Picture, it is only a matter of time. By which I mean at whatever point I can trick my wife into letting me buy a pc exclusive for gaming, permanently hook it up to our tv, and convince her it's a console.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

With the advent of Steam Big Picture, it is only a matter of time. By which I mean at whatever point I can trick my wife into letting me buy a pc exclusive for gaming, permanently hook it up to our tv, and convince her it's a console.

Saturday, I decided to say fuck it. Connected my PC via HDMI to my 70" HDTV and 5.1 Surround sound. Installed PS3 controller drivers.

Gaming has never been this good. Sleeping Dogs with high-res texture and 60fps = AMAZING!