Star Citizen Development Discussion (Is Derek Smart Right?)

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aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
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Oh the game will be released so they avoid lawsuits.

That slime ball Chris Roberts though is pocketing millions and siphoning it away from development.

surprised they still have backers dishing out millions.
I would assume the audience would of all outgrew the game by now.
 

SAAA

Senior member
May 14, 2014
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So, I've read this from the start and even had some fun looking at Derek's site and recent comments. Well, he was totally right.

I'm somehow pissed all these millions in funds that could make for spectacular space themed games aren't going into several times better ones, like Homeworld 3 that is still open to funding, or to stay closer to the genre something like Infinity: Battlescape.
This one unfortunately is somewhat hardly managing while having a game 100x more stable and with seamless space to ground transitions, plus hundreds of people in the same instance. No bull like Elite or SC where you see something far off then pop-in happens then you are next to a station and some ships. No, actual orbit, what you can see you can reach and is really there, always.
They don't use a proprietary engine with ten years of development for nothing, as the good old Derek said: those games take time to develop, even more so when you want massive scale worlds.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
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I'm somehow pissed all these millions in funds that could make for spectacular space themed games aren't going into several times better ones, like Homeworld 3 that is still open to funding, or to stay closer to the genre something like Infinity: Battlescape.

If you think that's bad, the world's leading-edge hot fusion project (headed by Commonwealth Fusion) has received less funding overall than Star Citizen.
 
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Skel

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2001
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surprised they still have backers dishing out millions.
I would assume the audience would of all outgrew the game by now.

There are people that still play Ultima Online. Never underestimate staying power of online games, more so when people sink as much time, energy and money into the game.
 

Dannar26

Senior member
Mar 13, 2012
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Guess this is my annual check in to see if there's been any progress since before the pandemic outbreak...

I follow the SC subreddit, but nothing there seems to be shouting progress either. I guess that there have been successive releases of the alpha, all without making significant strides forward.

Imagine if they would have actually released SQ42 in something like 2015? And then just kept building off the success? Instead all we can do now is hope the funds they get from whales ends up giving us something worth playing...
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
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There has been progress. But it's painfully minimal and (in my opinion) not in the areas in most need. They've added a lot of art assets....tools, weapons, and....ships. Lots of ships. And a few locations.

But the Stanton system (something that was supposed to be finished many many years ago) still isn't done. Crusader is the last planet to add with it's landing zone (Orrison). It's a gas planet and the landing zone is a cloud city so they needed special tech to get that right (so they say). Thus the years of delay.

But from what I can tell, gameplay and game mechanics are still lagging and neglected. The servers are still capped at 35 players (or maybe it's up to 50) and still suffer from crashes, freezes, and low FPS. And gameplay itself still is combat oriented. If you're new and unexperienced in a starter ship, you're fodder for the experience players in the latest alpha combat ship for sale. Doesn't sound fun to me.

Well that's my understanding anyway. Apathy claimed me a couple of years ago. I no longer read the forums daily, nor watch any of their weekly videos. I now just skim their weekly update email.

All I want is SQ42. Just give me a 30 hour, on rails, space opera with some cliche storylines, fun combat, throw in some twists and.....the Hollywood cast will make it worth playing.
 
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Dannar26

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Mar 13, 2012
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Right, it's all "icing-on-the-cake" items, and none of the substance. Do they have enough to at least make a solid dogfighter? Could you take what they have, and make a free space game out of it? I know they changed the flight model, and I only ever played back when Arena Commander was new back in 2014.

I am not a programmer. But how hard is it to make 3-d objects that you can't fall through? There are tons of games out there, past and present, that have managed this...what's so hard about it with this game?

Even if everything about this game ends up delivering, your point about other players makes me worried. At this point I'd imagine that most of the people playing are the hardcore folk, many of whom probably own all kinds of crazy Super Death Kill Cruiser ships with the practical skills to bring the pain. I'm not against PvP, but I don't relish the prospect of being target practice on my Scooty Puff JR to the 10 bored no-lifers in their Death Stars.

I really want SQ42 as well. I think it's a brain-dead move for them to try to unify both games mechanically. It ensures that one game will hold up the progress of the other. They should have just ran with SQ42, and taken the lessons learned and customer feedback into Star Citizen later on. Right now it seems like it's a recipe for a holding pattern: "I'll work out to look good!" "I don't want to go to the gym until I look good though!"
 

cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
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Lolz its been 10 years in the making so far and .. this is where its at? Still got my ticket for both SC and SQ42 but man .. are they pulling a DNF?
 
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rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
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Right, it's all "icing-on-the-cake" items, and none of the substance. Do they have enough to at least make a solid dogfighter? Could you take what they have, and make a free space game out of it? I know they changed the flight model, and I only ever played back when Arena Commander was new back in 2014.

I am not a programmer. But how hard is it to make 3-d objects that you can't fall through? There are tons of games out there, past and present, that have managed this...what's so hard about it with this game?

Even if everything about this game ends up delivering, your point about other players makes me worried. At this point I'd imagine that most of the people playing are the hardcore folk, many of whom probably own all kinds of crazy Super Death Kill Cruiser ships with the practical skills to bring the pain. I'm not against PvP, but I don't relish the prospect of being target practice on my Scooty Puff JR to the 10 bored no-lifers in their Death Stars.

I really want SQ42 as well. I think it's a brain-dead move for them to try to unify both games mechanically. It ensures that one game will hold up the progress of the other. They should have just ran with SQ42, and taken the lessons learned and customer feedback into Star Citizen later on. Right now it seems like it's a recipe for a holding pattern: "I'll work out to look good!" "I don't want to go to the gym until I look good though!"

Yes, there's enough there to make a decent dogfighter. They have overhauled the flight model several times and from what I can tell, it's generally accept to be enjoyable. There's always conflict between the desires of sim players and casual players. I think CIG actually found a decent middle ground. And they continue to refine small parts of the combat experience in great detail....missile trajectory/locking, counter measures, shield management, radar, stealth....stuff like that. I mean, you can sit in the cockpits of all these different ships they've made and click on all the buttons....and they actually do something. Or...you can click on the letter "E" for start engine sequence (or something like that).

I think the falling through objects problem lies within their object container streaming structure. Because the play area is so large (1/10 the scale of our actual solar system is what they're going for), they have built this OCS structure to reduce strain on the servers. Basically the server streams in a container that just has what the game needs to show the player. If a space station has no players at it, that object isn't streamed...reducing strain. Well that's the general concept anyway. And it's still very buggy.

Yeah, I worry about the type of players in SC too. That's why I'm mainly hopeful for SQ42!
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,512
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It sure helped Cyberpunk 2077! Oh wai -

Well, one is a completely playable yet flawed game that still does many things quite excellently. The other is a planned scam that exists only to bilk morons from their money as long as they continue to believe in fairytales.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
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I don't see how a 'Hollywood' cast make the game any better ? I mean that's the last thing i care about and money is better wasted elsewhere.

Well my point there is....hollywood cast should be able to at least voice act. I'm playing Witcher 3 right now. Just started. Just had a conversation with the Emyr and....holy sh*t that's Tywen Lannister from GoT! I mean, it's not much, but it's a distinctive, recognizable voice and I was excited.

Besides, the hollywood cast...we knew from the start that money would be wasted there. It was no secret. It was one of the first funding milestone rewards way back in 2013.

Sure it could have been wasted better in other places, but it's a sunk cost now. Might as well hope it makes the game just a little better.
 
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DrMrLordX

Lifer
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Well, one is a completely playable yet flawed game that still does many things quite excellently. The other is a planned scam that exists only to bilk morons from their money as long as they continue to believe in fairytales.


Having a celeb as one of the game's main characters (including all the related art assets) proved to be a problem that probably wasn't anticipated when they hired him on. Or drafted his contract. In any case I'm glad CDPR at least attempted to release Cyberpunk 2077, and it pains me to see the dev house associated with my favorite online gaming store struggle so mightily to right the ship; that being said, Star Citizen is demonstrating how releasing nothing substantial can potentially be a more-profitable endeavour. For now.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,512
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Having a celeb as one of the game's main characters (including all the related art assets) proved to be a problem that probably wasn't anticipated when they hired him on. Or drafted his contract. In any case I'm glad CDPR at least attempted to release Cyberpunk 2077, and it pains me to see the dev house associated with my favorite online gaming store struggle so mightily to right the ship; that being said, Star Citizen is demonstrating how releasing nothing substantial can potentially be a more-profitable endeavour. For now.

Well, can't argue against that! :D
 

bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
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Interesting take on this was just posted from one of Linus' subs. I know we got a lot of haters here but thought I would post the vid anyway.

 
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rivethead

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Interesting take on this was just posted from one of Linus' subs. I know we got a lot of haters here but thought I would post the vid anyway.


I enjoyed that video. Thanks for posting. It's a pretty accurate and balanced take on the project.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
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I think humans will land on Mars before Star Citizen 1.0 is ready, no joke.

I agree. Because I don't think CIG ever intend to "release" Star Citizen in a way most gamers think of "release". I their minds, it's already released, and continues to be expanded and improved (?) each patch.
 

cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
23,049
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And when its ready to ship everyone else is rocking "True VR" on their Elon Musk neura link implants.
 

Skel

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2001
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I agree. Because I don't think CIG ever intend to "release" Star Citizen in a way most gamers think of "release". I their minds, it's already released, and continues to be expanded and improved (?) each patch.

It does give them the ability to declare that any issues are due to it still not being the final release while also being able to stay off the 'it's taking too long they ripped me off' crowd by saying you can download and play it now. At least that's what it used to be, I haven't seen many people talking about this game anymore.. but back in it's prime that's all I saw.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
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It does give them the ability to declare that any issues are due to it still not being the final release while also being able to stay off the 'it's taking too long they ripped me off' crowd by saying you can download and play it now. At least that's what it used to be, I haven't seen many people talking about this game anymore.. but back in it's prime that's all I saw.

Yup. It's definitely CIG's "get out of jail free" card. I don't think they'll ever give up that card. The money will run out first and they'll just fade into the black with a "we spent all the money as best we could....what you have is what you get".

I'm fine with that.....as long as I get SQ42 before that happens.