• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

STAR CITIZEN, Chris Roberts' (Wing Commander) New Game [$25 million funded]

Babalu.

Member
1.2 million in 45 hours? Seems impossible.

Besides, we'll eventually get the bengal. All these stretch goals are just to have them in the game at release. All that stuff was going to be in the game eventually with patches or expansions. If all goes according to plan that is.
 

Xane

Member
(moved to this page)

** TO EVERYONE WHO HASN'T PLEDGED YET BUT IS PLANNING ON DOING SO OR IS GOING TO UPGRADE THEIR PLEDGE! **

I implore you to read the signature of the fellow citizen Shadows Lament:

Please Help Us Win the Idris Corvette by marking "void-singer" as the account that referred you when pledging!
We're thinking of naming her the "Free Beer", will be hosting an ingame Bar & Free Trade Zone. Open to all friendly pilots & giving away free Space Lube™ (Everyone loves Space Lube™!)!
You can also support by using this referral link.

We are planning on building an ingame bar and free trading place for the community, a friendly place where all traders and fellow citizen are welcomed to join in!
But in order to actually realize this, we need to get our hands on the Idris Corvette, which, as of now, is an exclusive reward for winning the Grand Price in the Referal Competition.

Thank you!
 

gatti-man

Member
1.2 million in 45 hours? Seems impossible.

Besides, we'll eventually get the bengal. All these stretch goals are just to have them in the game at release. All that stuff was going to be in the game eventually with patches or expansions. If all goes according to plan that is.

Improbable but not impossible I think.
 
How does this work with the private investor funding?

what do you mean exactly?

1st response: Chris Roberts is taking half the funding from a crowd based model and presumably another half from private entities.

2nd response: You invest in the game and get a copy quite plainly depending on your tier.

I assume you meant the first?
 

DTKT

Member
what do you mean exactly?

1st response: Chris Roberts is taking half the funding from a crowd based model and presumably another half from private entities.

2nd response: You invest in the game and get a copy quite plainly depending on your tier.

I assume you meant the first?

Sorry, I meant the funding for the game itself. Is it confirmed that he's getting outside funds?
 

Corto

Member
Sorry, I meant the funding for the game itself. Is it confirmed that he's getting outside funds?

That was what Chris said from the beginning. The money raised through this campaign would never be enough to develop a game of the scope he envisions.
 

hellclerk

Everything is tsundere to me
Well, I pledged. Not gonna let another Crowd Funding project pass me by, especially not one like this. I'm just wondering if my PC will handle it. Either way, things are gonna be a little tight for me for the next couple weeks because of this. I hope it's worth it...
 
Well, I pledged. Not gonna let another Crowd Funding project pass me by, especially not one like this. I'm just wondering if my PC will handle it. Either way, things are gonna be a little tight for me for the next couple weeks because of this. I hope it's worth it...

You have until 2014 to upgrade your PC :)
 

epmode

Member
From what I can tell, a subscription doesn't confer a single in-game benefit aside from a ship decal. I really like complaining about stuff but I can't find anything wrong with this at the moment.
 

Munin

Member
To that end, we want to make clear that there will NEVER be a subscription needed to play Star Citizen. Once you have backed you should not be have to spend extra money to play the game. Similarly, Star Citizen will never be ‘pay to win,’ so we are not going to offer a subscription plan that gives some users special equipment or additional money or any kind of edge in combat. We feel strongly that everything that affects gameplay can be earned in game via your actions.

Well, not seeing the issue really
 

Zabojnik

Member
Well, not seeing the issue really

Because there isn't one. If people feel so strongly about this project and don't mind playing 10/20$ per month until release day ... Good for them. They'll have access to some really cool staff.

We are eternally grateful for all the amazing support you’ve given us so far and we don’t expect any more from any of you. This is completely optional and is all about your desire to see that Star Citizen is the richest game possible from the outset.

Centurion:

- The ability to participate in the live monthly team “show and tell.” We will answer twenty questions from subscribers (selected via voting system.) Subscribers will watch the update live as it is being recorded.
- Jump Point, the monthly digital magazine of Star Citizen. A 4-6 page monthly newsletter which includes updates from the team and new in-universe Star Citizen fiction from the writing team.
- Access to “The Vault,” a collection of Star Citizen artwork that would otherwise never be seen, including ‘paths not taken’ discarded concept art for the true collector.
- An exclusive catalog of Star Citizen subscriber merchandise.
- Your name in the game. We can’t tell you where you’ll find it, but if you subscribe for at least 12 months your name will be located somewhere in the Star Citizen world!
- Centurion decal for your ship

Imperator:

- Everything listed above, plus…
- Visit Cloud Imperium and see how the game is made! Imperator-level subscribers will be allowed one visit per year (scheduled in advance) to the Star Citizen development offices in Austin or Los Angeles.
- Three wishes – Chris Roberts will personally reply to three of your questions a year.
- Your name on the wall-of-honor at Cloud Imperium HQ if you subscribe for at least 12 months.
- Jump Point: Year One, a printed collection of Jump Point issues provided to anyone who subscribes for the entire first year of development.
- Imperator decal for your Ship.

The Cutlass looks pretty badass!

CUTLASS-03-Black-Martin.jpg.jpg

 

Izayoi

Banned
Crap. I really want to subscribe..... Agh why does Chris Roberts hold magical sway over my wallet!
I can't really justify $240 for some magazines and a visit that I probably won't have time for, unfortunately. I managed to stick with just my initial $250 pledge.
 

Zabojnik

Member
This subscription business is rubbing me the wrong way.

Did they just "jump the shark"?

What's your gripe with it, seriously? It's something (some) people have been asking for since the beginning. It's a harmless extra, something that doesn't bring any real in-game advantage to the subscribers. A bonus for the hardcorest of the hardcore. And we all benefit from it.
 

ghostmind

Member
What's your gripe with it, seriously? It's something (some) people have been asking for since the beginning. It's a harmless extra, something that doesn't bring any real in-game advantage to the subscribers. A bonus for the hardcorest of the hardcore. And we all benefit from it.


It comes off as greed to me, simple as that.
 

epmode

Member
The counter just went down by ~10k. I wonder what happened.

There was a problem with the RSI website. It was counting new $100 pledges as $5000. It's fixed now.

It comes off as greed to me, simple as that.

Why is a subscription that gives you absolutely no in-game advantage (not even the game itself) more "greedy" than a one-time pledge that gives you all sorts of in-game currency as well as a ship + lifetime insurance? From a financial standpoint, none of the tiers aside from the bottom one are worth the money.
 

i-Lo

Member
Query about the budget: How is it that they are only asked for a funding of $2 million with that kind ambition of scale and visual fidelity?

Edit: it's 2 mil sorry.
 

Corto

Member
It comes off as greed to me, simple as that.

It's greed to every player benefit. Every revenue coming from the subscriptions will revert to the development of the game. I would be more confortable also if it was announced from the beginning but I can live with this.
 

epmode

Member
Query about the budget: How is it that they are only asked for a funding of half a million dollars with that kind ambition of scale and visual fidelity?

The project started on robersspaceindustries.com with a goal of $2M. The Kickstarter page was added later so that people would be able to pledge if the main site went down. Kickstarter is also nice in that it doesn't take any money until the countdown is over (unlike RSI).

The big thing to know is that this project is not entirely crowdfunded. Chris Roberts already has a bunch of external investors on board and the game probably would have gone forward even if the $2M goal wasn't met. According to Roberts, more money in the crowdfunding phase means that the external investors will provide more money faster.

It sounded a bit shady to me at first, but you can't argue with the professionalism of this campaign.
 

ghostmind

Member
Do you... understand the entire reason for Kickstarter?


Can you show me the other game kickstarters that offer up an ongoing subscription, especially so late in the process?

So far, DoubleFine and Obsidian have managed to keep me well-informed about the ongoing development of their games without dangling a carrot in front of me, so that I "have the opportunity" to give them more money on an ongoing basis to get the full story on the development of the game.

All of these little perks should have been in the tiers. Multiple other Kickstarters have done the whole "your name in the game" and "your name on a plaque on our office wall" without having to resort to subscriptions.

All of this just makes me wonder what other ways RSI will come up with to ask its faithful for additional money during the next 2 years.
 

epmode

Member
Can you show me the other game kickstarters that offer up an ongoing subscription, especially so late in the process?

None of them do. Kickstarter does not have a subscription option. This is only happening because of the RSI site.

I agree that development transparency is better than hiding behind a pay wall. But remember, we're already going to get major progress reports every 30 days plus the usual site updates. The other subscription stuff is bonus fluff.
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
I hope this game has an awesome ambient soundtrack akin to EVE or Homeworld. That type of music is perfect for space. But i have a feeling they are going with generic "epic" music.
 

vazel

Banned
So now a portion of the behind the scenes stuff is going to be locked behind a subscription. That's so lame. And an 'exclusive merchandise' catalog too. I bet they're going to have neat stuff like mousepads and posters in that catalog.

Edit: I'm probably going to cave on the Centurion subscription by this time tomorrow. I can't resist more behind the scenes material.
 

inm8num2

Member
$tar Citiz€n

If they're talking exclusive content subscriptions, they might as well tell people they already have DLC planned and the game will only be made available through Origin. That'll make people happy.
 

FGMPR

Banned
$tar Citiz€n

If they're talking exclusive content subscriptions, they might as well tell people they already have DLC planned and the game will only be made available through Origin. That'll make people happy.

Yeah because that exclusive content is just so vital to the gameplay, right?
 

diamount

Banned
I don't care. They'll continue to support it afterwards anyhow. Worst case I'll just play it a few months later.

That's the right attitude but games of this ambition rarely make it to fruition in my experience. I can see them running out of money fast.
 

i-Lo

Member
The project started on robersspaceindustries.com with a goal of $2M. The Kickstarter page was added later so that people would be able to pledge if the main site went down. Kickstarter is also nice in that it doesn't take any money until the countdown is over (unlike RSI).

The big thing to know is that this project is not entirely crowdfunded. Chris Roberts already has a bunch of external investors on board and the game probably would have gone forward even if the $2M goal wasn't met. According to Roberts, more money in the crowdfunding phase means that the external investors will provide more money faster.

It sounded a bit shady to me at first, but you can't argue with the professionalism of this campaign.

Yea, I am pretty sure the external large investors had their set of clauses outlining ease of access to funds being contingent on X and greater that X amount of capital.

However, my query pertains more toward how they have been to constrain the budget to $2 million as baseline for developing a game with such ambition and visuals. In the era where mainstream games out on console on average costs tens of millions of dollars to make, this looks like a exception to the rule especially because it seems much more expansive than a XBL/PSN title.
 
Top Bottom