Star Citizen: Chris Robert`s new space sim (the Wing Commander guy)

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Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
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read the copy. Npc's dont run anything - players run drinks. This is a multi-player flight attendant mini-game built into the ever increasing impossible everything game.

ill make it easy


I read the copy. Perhaps you interpreted this differently than I did...or maybe I'm interpreting it incorrectly, but it sounds like you can hire NPCs to do the stewarding.

At some point, though, most players will seek to supplement their operation with one or more non-player characters, if only to allow the player to focus on those tasks that they find most interesting or where they truly excel.
 
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Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
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This is how I interpreted it, hence why I rolled my eyes. If it's something NPCs do, and you have to manage employees...I'll groan less. But if it's something the player must do (rather than focus on you know....space things) then I'll keep rolling my eyes (and my wallet will remain in my pocket.)


But if it's not a career that interests you, why would you even consider it? Part of what appeals to me about this game is the options.

If you want, you can spend your entire life engaging in combat, pirating, military, etc...

If you don't, you can be a trader, merchant, explorer, transport, hauler, etc.

To me, that's what makes the entire concept of Star Citizen so appealing.

I've already spent thousands of hours playing multiplayer FPS and trying to prove how good I am at twitching. Honestly, I'm bored with it, but I don't have anything against those that still dig it. I like having options.
 

JSt0rm

Lifer
Sep 5, 2000
27,399
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I read the copy. Perhaps you interpreted this differently than I did...or maybe I'm interpreting it incorrectly, but it sounds like you can hire NPCs to do the stewarding.

I guess we will have drink demanding AI and drink running/mixing AI. Probably figure out a way to turn that into a infinite money maker.
 

Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
1,871
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I guess we will have drink demanding AI and drink running/mixing AI. Probably figure out a way to turn that into a infinite money maker.

I'll track down Guinan. She can serve as my stewardess / drink maker / air marshall combo. ;)

6b0973e236a73f3e58f48058f00e9b1f.jpg
 

mizzou

Diamond Member
Jan 2, 2008
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No roughly 2 years.

The kickstarter for the funding wasn't even done until 11/19/2012 (which is when the money was released to them), and even then, it takes another 2-6 months to even hire people to do the work. Something not included in the "average time to make a game" because those are for game studios that already have a team/staff on hand which are simply given the green light to begin work on a project that was pitched and accepted by a publisher. So we are at about 22-24 months of development at this time.

i think the assumption with kickstarter games is that they already have the groundwork set and require funding to fulfill a planned goal. Its not even running on a new engine.

So this game shouldnt have been at dev day 1 when funded by kickstarter

This game was more of a concept then a concrete reality, and will remain in dev-hell for several years until they finally release a buggy, flawed, yet inspirational failed attempt

Anyway, this game is going to take time. People should be a bit more patient because its complex. I will gladly purchase this, even if its a wreck, when finally released
 

Subyman

Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
Mar 18, 2005
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Mixing drinks seems to be only a small portion of the commercial transport business. The thing I find strange though is how many people you need to get together to do it. I'm guessing you can't pilot the ship, put it on autopilot, and then deal with drinks/medical/ICES requests? That means to start at all you need a friend to help out. I'm not so sure how easily it will be for people to group up for this stuff especially because your characters will need to meet up, so you are limited to people in the surrounding areas. The amount of time it takes to get money enough for the licenses, ships, movies, and drinks would make it so you'll be spending 50+ hours running routes to make it worthwhile? Can the simple ICES mechanics be entertaining over that long of a play time? What are the odds that you'll personally know someone that will enjoy that content enough to tag along for that long?

The concepts are interesting, but I'm not so sure many people will be in the right circumstances to being able to even participate in them (such as having friends that want to run drinks.)

I really like how they are expanding careers modes, but it is going to be a delicate process of creating depth while still making the careers accessible to the general player base.
 

JSt0rm

Lifer
Sep 5, 2000
27,399
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Writer sounds like he's got a fair sized chip on his shoulder, but it certainly doesn't take away from the fact that he's essentially spot on.

He tried to make the impossible everything game a while back. He was railed pretty hard when it failed so I think his chip is more experience meeting skeptisicim.
 

TheVrolok

Lifer
Dec 11, 2000
24,254
4,090
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He tried to make the impossible everything game a while back. He was railed pretty hard when it failed so I think his chip is more experience meeting skeptisicim.
Definitely. I think anyone with project development experience sees the validity of his points. We've all been part of projects whose scope overtook reality.
 

Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
1,871
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I'm not so sure how easily it will be for people to group up for this stuff especially because your characters will need to meet up, so you are limited to people in the surrounding areas.

The article explicitly states you can hire NPC staff. More experienced / higher skilled staff will command higher wages.
 

Subyman

Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
Mar 18, 2005
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The article explicitly states you can hire NPC staff. More experienced / higher skilled staff will command higher wages.

Sure, I read that. It made it sound like it was something you'd do later in the career though.
 

JSt0rm

Lifer
Sep 5, 2000
27,399
3,947
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Sure, I read that. It made it sound like it was something you'd do later in the career though.


AND they have all these delays and they are still adding features like this? When I got scammed out of my $35 he said it was going to be freespace and release at the end of 2014. o_O
 

kn51

Senior member
Aug 16, 2012
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He tried to make the impossible everything game a while back. He was railed pretty hard when it failed so I think his chip is more experience meeting skeptisicim.


The main problem as I see it is from a financial standpoint. Everyone shouts out $86 million or whatever they raised. Sounds like an incredible amount of money...and well it is. Problem is by my napkin calculations they are probably blowing through at the minimum $4 million a month now. That adds up quick. At this point folks are getting sick of concept sales. This hurts cash flow.

Combined with the netcode issues that they are having (after purchasing the CryEngine and most of their engineers) I think this will get ugly.

I feel for the folks that they think they can board an Idris and take it over after cruising around in their 890 Jump with a flank of Mustangs or whatever hired by NPCs. And I feel for the BMM and Caterpillar folk as well.
 

ToySoldier

Member
Dec 17, 2003
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They are taking in $50,000/day with the current sale. Not even the most exciting ship with limited use for most players.

*shrug* They will pull in more millions as the more 'exciting' ships debut.
 

JSt0rm

Lifer
Sep 5, 2000
27,399
3,947
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They are taking in $50,000/day with the current sale. Not even the most exciting ship with limited use for most players.

*shrug* They will pull in more millions as the more 'exciting' ships debut.


that will make the crash even bigger.
 

ToySoldier

Member
Dec 17, 2003
186
0
76
The main problem as I see it is from a financial standpoint. Everyone shouts out $86 million or whatever they raised. Sounds like an incredible amount of money...and well it is. Problem is by my napkin calculations they are probably blowing through at the minimum $4 million a month now. That adds up quick. At this point folks are getting sick of concept sales. This hurts cash flow.

Combined with the netcode issues that they are having (after purchasing the CryEngine and most of their engineers) I think this will get ugly.

Other calculations are less:

For fun I decided to ball park yearly spending, mind you this is a wild guess, if the average pay for the 200-300 employees is about $50,000 that is somewhere in the realm of 10-15 million a year, office space across the 5 studios is roughly $1-2 million a year, CryEngine was around 1.2 million, who knows about freelance costs, and I know I didn't consider everything, so giving ample breathing room it costs about $20-25 million a year to continue development which means that the current funds have raised about 4 years of development funds, as the first year or so they spent less due to smaller teams at the time.
 

JSt0rm

Lifer
Sep 5, 2000
27,399
3,947
126
Other calculations are less:

For fun I decided to ball park yearly spending, mind you this is a wild guess, if the average pay for the 200-300 employees is about $50,000 that is somewhere in the realm of 10-15 million a year, office space across the 5 studios is roughly $1-2 million a year, CryEngine was around 1.2 million, who knows about freelance costs, and I know I didn't consider everything, so giving ample breathing room it costs about $20-25 million a year to continue development which means that the current funds have raised about 4 years of development funds, as the first year or so they spent less due to smaller teams at the time.

I think he is spending more then that. Santa Monica is not cheap. Entry pay for workers would be in the 30k range but a lot of them are earning over 100k. Office space is prime down there. I would expect them paying 100k a month if it's a big enough space. The space we had was unfinished and 20k a month.
 

ToySoldier

Member
Dec 17, 2003
186
0
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I think he is spending more then that. Santa Monica is not cheap. Entry pay for workers would be in the 30k range but a lot of them are earning over 100k. Office space is prime down there. I would expect them paying 100k a month if it's a big enough space. The space we had was unfinished and 20k a month.

He did hire a bunch of guys when Crytek was about to go bankrupt. They cant be cheap.

I wish he did avoid California all together. it is a hostile place for a business his size. Taxes are brutal and California regulations continue to squeeze and drive corporations out of the state.

Redmond, WA (MS HQ) and Austin would have been just fine for his dream to be accomplished. I dont have any issues with Chris Roberts brother being in England leading the development of the single player version (Squadron 42).
 
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