PC Star Citizen - Information Thread (Update: Squadron 42 is "feature complete")

[Xbob42]

 

I still think it's a damn shame that the narrative (especially in professional circles) around Star Citizen is that it's some big scam. Every time I check it out, there's a fucking mountain of new features and improvements. Hurr durr game take long time to make must be scam, me make very funny comment.

 

The game has a lot of unique shit you won't see anywhere else that's already fun to fuck around with, and is finally getting more and more stable and easier to run as it progresses so that you can enjoy these things more fully. This fuck's actually playing it at 40+ FPS in goddamn 4k!

Just watch the video and see if you can't appreciate some of the detail on display here, detail that can actually severely impact both gameplay and social interaction.

[elbobo]

the face over IP tech is insane 

[AbsolutSurgen]

Release date?

[stepee]

3 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Release date?

 

No.

[AbsolutSurgen]

9 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

No.

OK.  I'll wait for that announcement before caring -- it's already missed its promised release date of November 2014 by 5 years.

[Mr.Vic20]

My argument for this game has shifted over time. At first I just wanted another Wing Commander. Now I see that regardless of how this title turns out this project is actually fairly important to the industry as a whole. These massive teams are pushing boundaries and a good final product or not, we will all reap the benefits of this massive R&D effort! 

[Xbob42]

4 hours ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

OK.  I'll wait for that announcement before caring -- it's already missed its promised release date of November 2014 by 5 years.

That would be because they went from making a very small scale project to a very large scale project. They went from settling to making the game they wanted to make all along. So yeah, it absolutely missed the release date for the super narrow, super small game it was announced as on Kickstarter. Now it's pushing tech far beyond anything else we've seen in ways that actually matter and aren't just smoke and mirrors bullshit.

 

But it's also fine to wait for a release date, this wasn't to make you immediately buy the game, just to show off why the game is exciting for people.

[AbsolutSurgen]

2 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

That would be because they went from making a very small scale project to a very large scale project. They went from settling to making the game they wanted to make all along. So yeah, it absolutely missed the release date for the super narrow, super small game it was announced as on Kickstarter.

 

Rescoping games is usually why they are delayed -- and teams that rescope, are known for continually delaying their games.  Kickstarters "rescoping" and significantly delaying their projects is a personal pet peeve of mine (given that it has happened to me several times) -- if I had backed this in 2012, I would feel I was scammed.  Even if the final game released in 2022 (will it come out that soon?) is significantly better than what was promised to be released in 2014.

 

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Now it's pushing tech far beyond anything else we've seen in ways that actually matter and aren't just smoke and mirrors bullshit.

 

But it's also fine to wait for a release date, this wasn't to make you immediately buy the game, just to show off why the game is exciting for people.

I hope its great, they are able to deliver their promises and find something that has fun moment-to-moment gameplay.

[Xbob42]

1 minute ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Rescoping games is usually why they are delayed -- and teams that rescope, are known for continually delaying their games.

Games are rescoped literally all the time, you just rarely hear about it. It's a totally normal thing. Although usually the rescoping is downward as they realize they have less time, money or talent than initially thought.

[Paperclyp]

The narrative is not entirely unfair when they’re taking millions of dollars of crowdfunding money and promising a game that seems too good to be true in the end and has absolutely no end in development in sight.

 

I hope it turns out as good as it is being hyped to be, but it seems rather unlikely.

[Xbob42]

22 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

The narrative is not entirely unfair when they’re taking millions of dollars of crowdfunding money and promising a game that seems too good to be true in the end and has absolutely no end in development in sight.

What exactly seems "too good to be true?" You can already see in that video that the tech they've developed is already light years beyond anything ANY current game is using. They're hitting pretty much every single target they set out for (aside from game launch windows, obviously, talking about features), not at light speed or anything, but they set up a goal and knock it down shortly thereafter. People are very aware of the nature and status of the project and are happy to contribute, people are out here acting like there's people sitting in a corner somewhere being forced to shovel money to CIG while CIG hides in a cave showing no progress and ignoring the world.

For anyone actually following the project, progress is constant and contains more updates per week than most gaming sites, with tons of that being video content.

I just can't be upset about a project taking its time to actually achieve what it set out to do. Bloodstained had its Kickstarter in 2015 and just came out this year, and the scope of that game was tremendously smaller, using an existing engine to make a game that's been made dozens of times, on a 2D plane, and it still took 4 years. I cannot get on board with being mad at big projects taking lots of time.

The only arguments I ever see are "it's taking a long time," "it's not what I wanted in 2012" and "they 'take' lots of money" and how often can we regurgitate those sentiments before we discuss literally anything else? Who cares that they make lots of money? Money is keeping the project going on pace. Hell, they've released detailed financial information showing exactly what they spend their money on, everything is accounted for. They release tech that people have said is "impossible," they're adding new content at regular and predictable intervals, it's just sad that something so grand and interesting is reduced down to tedious discussions about this enormous game not coming out fast enough.

[legend]

It is (and has been) very technically impressive. I think I'm okay with it if that's all that manifests with SC specifically.

[Paperclyp]

2 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

What exactly seems "too good to be true?" You can already see in that video that the tech they've developed is already light years beyond anything ANY current game is using. They're hitting pretty much every single target they set out for (aside from game launch windows, obviously, talking about features), not at light speed or anything, but they set up a goal and knock it down shortly thereafter. People are very aware of the nature and status of the project and are happy to contribute, people are out here acting like there's people sitting in a corner somewhere being forced to shovel money to CIG while CIG hides in a cave showing no progress and ignoring the world.

For anyone actually following the project, progress is constant and contains more updates per week than most gaming sites, with tons of that being video content.

I just can't be upset about a project taking its time to actually achieve what it set out to do. Bloodstained had its Kickstarter in 2015 and just came out this year, and the scope of that game was tremendously smaller, using an existing engine to make a game that's been made dozens of times, on a 2D plane, and it still took 4 years. I cannot get on board with being mad at big projects taking lots of time.

The only arguments I ever see are "it's taking a long time," "it's not what I wanted in 2012" and "they 'take' lots of money" and how often can we regurgitate those sentiments before we discuss literally anything else? Who cares that they make lots of money? Money is keeping the project going on pace. Hell, they've released detailed financial information showing exactly what they spend their money on, everything is accounted for. They release tech that people have said is "impossible," they're adding new content at regular and predictable intervals, it's just sad that something so grand and interesting is reduced down to tedious discussions about this enormous game not coming out fast enough.

I think you’re simplifying it in the other direction though. I’m not reducing it down to the game not coming out fast enough. I don’t have to recount the red flags with the project, as I’m sure you know them just as well as anyone. I’m sure the snarky lines that fill any thread about the game are tiresome for people who are genuinely excited about it, but I think there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of the project even if they have developed some cool shit so far. 

 

I mean, they fucking better have with a quarter billion dollars and 7 years. Great, you’re making some cool stuff. Let’s see if the game ever actually releases. It’s not unreasonable to wonder if it will. 

[Bitgod]

"This game is so great because it needs the best hardware!".  Nevermind that it's already asking for more than what the original estimate was.  By the time the game comes out, it'll ask for 12 core-CPUs and 32 gigs of RAM. (oh, you're using a SATA SSD?  Sorry, that doesn't meet the minimum requirements).   And then he mentions future server needs too.  So, like, give it another 5 or 6 years and everything will catch up.

[Xbob42]

15 hours ago, Paperclyp said:

I mean, they fucking better have with a quarter billion dollars and 7 years. Great, you’re making some cool stuff. Let’s see if the game ever actually releases. It’s not unreasonable to wonder if it will. 

GTA V took $265 million to make (significantly more than Star Citizen) and it was just another GTA game. And it had regular ass, bland ass gameplay and was about as ambitious in terms of video games as waking up in the morning. That kind of shit is why it's tiring to hear about how much money Star Citizen has. Yes, they crowdfunded a lot of money, but in the grand scheme of video games, their ambition is way out there while the budget --while still very high-- isn't even at the top.

Being skeptical is one thing, being unrelentingly cynical every single time you see the name is just comical at some point. Let alone completely uninteresting.

[Paperclyp]

2 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

GTA V took $265 million to make (significantly more than Star Citizen) and it was just another GTA game. And it had regular ass, bland ass gameplay and was about as ambitious in terms of video games as waking up in the morning. That kind of shit is why it's tiring to hear about how much money Star Citizen has. Yes, they crowdfunded a lot of money, but in the grand scheme of video games, their ambition is way out there while the budget --while still very high-- isn't even at the top.

Being skeptical is one thing, being unrelentingly cynical every single time you see the name is just comical at some point. Let alone completely uninteresting.

 

The info I’m seeing has Star Citizen at $250 million dollars. Making games is hard and they’ve never put one out as a team. And they’re shooting for essentially the most ambitious project in video game history. 

 

Again I get that cynicism is tiring, but I think you should be pretty skeptical of the project. 

[Ghost_MH]

The only thing that bugs me about the Star Citizen cynicism is where the game is treated like vaporware when there's obviously a real game here. Whether the game is good or not is an entirely different story.

[Dexterryu]

I understand that people feel a bit burned, but if you're really following this game and also trying out the updates you can see a few things.

 

1) It's definitely a real game

2) They are pushing boundaries like crazy if multiple areas

  2a) The boundaries need pushed.

3) Unless you bought expensive ships, by the time the game releases you'll definitely be getting $60 worth of content. You already are if you're interested in game development at all.

[Mr.Vic20]

I just tried alpha build 3.7 and can confirm that it was pretty cool, even though I crash landed my hornet and then somehow unintentional initiated the self destruct sequence! 

[elbobo]

I want to know what the hold up on Squadron 42 is, it is just a single player space sim. They don't need all the fancy server tech and 2/3s of the other stuff they are inventing for SC.

[Bitgod]

That's all I want at this point, is 42.  I don't have time to be bored in space.

[Xbob42]

11 hours ago, elbobo said:

I want to know what the hold up on Squadron 42 is, it is just a single player space sim. They don't need all the fancy server tech and 2/3s of the other stuff they are inventing for SC.

From what I understand, they develop whatever Squadron 42 needs first (ships, for example, which is why some newer ships get priority over some older ones), and then put that into Star Citizen, so unless things have changed, Squadron 42 still gets the bulk of attention, it's just behind closed doors since it's story-based and whatnot. 

But I think (haven't checked in a while, could be wrong) that the plan is to release this stuff all pretty close together. Because once you finish Squadron 42 and earn your citizenship (hence the title) you can directly take that character and progress online, expanding the game to an MMO. Or you can just quit if that doesn't interest you, since the story is complete.

I do wish we'd see more info on SQ42 more often. The stuff they show off for it always looks really neat.

[Biggie]

I hope Bob will live long enough to eventually be able to play this

[DPCyric]

5 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

From what I understand, they develop whatever Squadron 42 needs first (ships, for example, which is why some newer ships get priority over some older ones), and then put that into Star Citizen, so unless things have changed, Squadron 42 still gets the bulk of attention, it's just behind closed doors since it's story-based and whatnot. 

But I think (haven't checked in a while, could be wrong) that the plan is to release this stuff all pretty close together. Because once you finish Squadron 42 and earn your citizenship (hence the title) you can directly take that character and progress online, expanding the game to an MMO. Or you can just quit if that doesn't interest you, since the story is complete.

I do wish we'd see more info on SQ42 more often. The stuff they show off for it always looks really neat.

 

Ah, my big concern has been Squadron 42 and I didn't know the plan was to release it all close together. I'm not at all concerned about the MMO part I feel like they are already a long ways to making that happen  As soon as graphics card and VR tech gets to the point I can comfortably upgrade and fly around in my Hornet Stealth I will be there 

[Pikachu]

Live stream is up: 

 

 

[Pikachu]

 

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What's out there? Find out what you've been looking for with the Anvil Carrack.

 

[legend]

1 hour ago, Pikachu said:

 

 

 

Was that voice Christian Slater?

[SimpleG]

12 minutes ago, legend said:

 

Was that voice Christian Slater?

Kind of sounds like Chris Pine

[TwinIon]

So this is free to play for the next few days (I think it started a little while back).

 

Is it worth a download just to see what the fuss is about?

[Xbob42]

2 hours ago, TwinIon said:

So this is free to play for the next few days (I think it started a little while back).

 

Is it worth a download just to see what the fuss is about?

I think so, if you've got a beefy PC. The game's still not done (as you are reminded of constantly if "Star Citizen" is uttered) but I think it already has a lot of really cool features we likely aren't going to see in many games, even next-gen, PC or console. In some ways it's a bit like No Man's Sky with being able to take off and land on and explore entire planets, but when you get down there and there's a huge fucking city with working trains and stuff, it's a little more impressive, at least it is for me. I believe there's also missions and stuff as well, so it's not just aimlessly flying around if that's not your thing.

[ARZ]

5 years past the due date and PC exclusive? I hope they don't plan on making much money.

[Remarkableriots]

6 minutes ago, ARZ said:

5 years past the due date and PC exclusive? I hope they don't plan on making much money.

Star Citizen already raised over $250 Million so they really don't have to earn a lot more to be profitable.

[SimpleG]

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/funding-goals

[Xbob42]

It now has a slightly bigger budget than GTA V! There better be functional flip-flops like in GTA V. 

[Bacon]