[Star Citizen News]Chris Roberts announces new Space Sim "Star Citizen"
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Well… lag to a large degree is result of server performance… and i believe i wrote already about that above.
The net code also plays a role… but to say that Chris Roberts has much experience is not really true. All his online games (and we are talking just about 2 games) had major problems in this area. I dont believe that Chris Roberts is better than any other developer. -
Crytek, however…
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SWAT_OP-R8R wrote:
Next to that there is still the question if we really get modding support (where we can change the game on our own) or if we are only limited to submit 3d models which get included into game updates if approved (just like it is written on the website).
The stretch goals are indeed confusing but I think they will make a comm link post soon to clarify it. In any way, the community manager has said that the stretch goals will only take longer if they are not reached, it does not mean that they will not be developed.
So with the 5 million stretch goal you would get the full game (with persistent world etc…) already in 2 or 3 years whereas if only 2 million are reached, it will just take longer for these parts of the game.
At least that’s how I understood it so far. Im sure they will clarify that soon.
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When you talk about the ‘huge’ funding - think about what the game’s production will cost. Chris will have to pay for at least 100 men to make that game. 100 men that cost $100.000/year each. So I’d expecxt he’ll need at least $20.000.000 to finish that game!
Atm it doesn’t look like he’ll get more than $3.000.000 from funding. Hm, is Chris Roberts the man always delivering in budget and in time?
There will be lots of investors which will have demands and I wonder if he’ll be able to make the game he dreams of (and promises to make).
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Xylander wrote:
When you talk about the ‘huge’ funding - think about what the game’s production will cost. Chris will have to pay for at least 100 men to make that game. 100 men that cost $100.000/year each. So I’d expecxt he’ll need at least $20.000.000 to finish that game!Humm…… Maybe…Kickstarter?
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They posted a FAQ:
http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/draft-faq/
Is Star Citizen an MMO?
No! Star Citizen will take the best of all possible worlds, ranging from a permanent, persistent world similar to those found in MMOs to an offline, single player campaign like those found in the Wing Commander series. The game will include the option for private servers, like Freelancer, and will offer plenty of opportunities for players who are interested in modding the content. Unlike many games, none of these aspects is an afterthought: they all combine to form the core of the Star Citizen experience.How will modding work?
Players will be given full control of their game! When operating private servers, players will be able and encouraged to mod the game. It doesn’t stop there, though: we hope to institute a ‘mod approval’ process that will allow the best of the best player created ships and other additions to be integrated into the central persistent world as well.Can you explain the stretch goals?
The purpose of the higher stretch goals is to ensure that the game-as-described is finished in the two year time period. We intend to build the game that Chris Roberts described at GDC Online regardless, but without additional funding we are going to have to do it one piece at a time, starting with Squadron 42, rather than as a single larger production. With more funding we can include more ships, systems, unique locations, animations and cinematic sequences.Is Star Citizen “free to play”? A subscription game?
To play Star Citizen you need only to buy the initial game. There will never be a monthly charge for usage. Some in-game items may be available as microtransactions, but we will NEVER sell anything that can’t be acquired through honest (and fun!) gameplay. -
Facebook Statement by Chris Roberts:
Hi, Chris Roberts here.
I’ve seen a few concerned posts on the Facebook stream about whether there’s going to be a single player game, and whether if the budget gets tight will that be the first feature that gets cut. I just want to be clear with everyone, Squadron 42 is an integral part of the Star Citizen experience and it will be the classic Wing Commander experience that everyone loved (without the FMV though!)
In fact the order of the development means that there’s no way that Squadron 42 will be cut, as the features for this, and multi-player dogfights are the first steps in building Star Citizen. The prototype that I showed already includes most of the functionality that I need for Squadron 42.There’s still a lot of polish to do on the dogfighting and assets to be created but Squadron 42 is not the difficult part of Star Citizen. The difficult part is building the open world that Squadron 42 fits inside. I’m confident of that too as I’ve built this open world twice, and have done a lot upfront technical design work to avoid some of the problems that I dealt with on Freelancer
So ambitious yes. Achievable? Most definitely!
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I guess in a few years we know more. My worries remain for now since I heard similar statements about Freelancer ages ago. However, for me its time to let this topic drop and concentrate again on more important topics like modding FL.
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From arecent interview with Chris Roberts (see http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/chris-roberts-answers-your-question/
The Wing Commander games didn’t allow much content creation, but Freelancer continues to flourish because of mods. What is your position on user-created content?
Absolutely for it! I love what the Freelancer community has done, and I’m impressed what other communities like the Skyrim or Team Fortress achieve with good tools. There’s a lot of talent and creativity out there and I fully intend to enable it and support it in my new game.
And another one from FAQ (see http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/draft-faq/)
How will modding work?
Players will be given full control of their game! When operating private servers, players will be able and encouraged to mod the game. It doesn’t stop there, though: we hope to institute a ‘mod approval’ process that will allow the best of the best player created ships and other additions to be integrated into the central persistent world as well.
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Something someone posted, probably relevant - or you can shoot it full of holes too.
Posted by another user on the RSI forum (Flashpoint) but I believe this is something all the Cynics should read.
……I posted this as a reply on another thread, as it suddenly dawned on me what the success or failure of this game actually means.
I thought it might be good to give it its own thread…I have a simple question for you lot: Do you like space sims? Yes or no?
If the answer is yes, be that the Wing Commander style or the Freelancer/Privateer style, then you MUST back this game.
Why?
Remember this…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZfURi4it5M
Look at the words at the beginning of that trailer and remind yourself how long it has been since the last AAA space sim.
Remember how many industry ‘experts’ said it was a dead genre. Remember how many times you’ve said to yourself, friends or forums that you’d kill for a new AAA space sim.This game is a challenge to those experts. It’s a blatant ‘prove you wrong’ piece and if it fails, a thousand developers, publishers and ‘experts’ will shake their heads and smugly say ‘We told you so’, and then the space sim WILL truly be dead.
If you don’t back this now (and remember that a pledge of just $30 gets you the finished game. How cheap is that???) for whatever reason you choose to dig up, if you don’t back it because the Wing Commander element comes before the Freelancer element or because the game might not be 100% exactly containing everything you exactly want, if you just let everyone else do it, then you lose the right to complain about no more space sims.
If Squadron 42 is a massive success, then Star Citizen will be a success like the PC has never seen. If this happens, there will be new space sims springing up all over the place. So even if Star Citizen ends up not quite doing what you wanted, the chances of someone else doing it increase exponentially.IF THIS IS A SUCCESS THERE MOST PROBABLY WILL BE THE FABLED FREESPACE 3 (A point which I am about to make to the SCP forums).
This is not 23 days to make this game viable, this is 23 days to save our genre.
If you don’t help to do it, you have nobody else to blame.
If we don’t do it, who will?I know there are cynics amongst the midst - the “it’s not Freelancer 2” folks, the “I don’t think he can do it” folks and the “argh it’ll interfere with my own dreams” folks.
Sadly being a cynic is almost a self fulfilling prophecy - if everyone was one. If no-one pledged money, then it’d go nowhere. Lastly, with enough coverage, we may well see the “death knell” of the genre. I hope some people’s enthusiasm isn’t negatively affected by others derision. Things will have their supporters, detractors, cynics, sceptics, fan boys etc. Make your own mind up, don’t be put off by criticisms - especially if they’re criticisms from sectors I’d label as “non professional” (i.e. those actively involved in development, or having extensive knowledge of, what is required to achieve his claims)
p.s. Related to hitboxes and so on. FPS games generally have relatively simple models and scenery I would admit. Yet they manage 50 odd players running around blatting weapons and more without any lag issues. Does that instantly translate to Space? Not really, but rest assured that clever folks can make many optimisations - and we’re talking 10 years since FL. The computational power increase is… insane.
With FL, a lot of “lag” was graphical - during big battles.
And yes, you can use “big” hitboxes too - because if something doesn’t intersect that hitbox, you have zero need to perform further calculations. If it does, then you can start calculating what it hits, or whether it actually misses.
For all the criticisms being levied I’d ask what are the qualifications to be in a position to really offer an insight into the troubles being faced. For instance, hosting for a persistent universe won’t be on a single box you know… nor on your home network either.
p.s.s Need to clarify. Not saying people shouldn’t be cynical - that’s their prerogative. What I am saying is that unless the cynics are offering up a reasonable base from which they’re cynicism is borne (if being mentioned) you should be simply not take what they’re saying as truth.
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Is that a threat?
So if it fails all those who didnt supported it have to be accused. Sure thats the thing how it works nowadays. I tend to like the space genre.
But honestly I support what i like to support and not because someone tends to accuse me that i am guilty if a thing fails or not. What happens if it fails? There will be a next trial of someone else. Earth does not stop rotating - and there are many centuries left on this earth to bring other space sims or try it
If its a success then well - congratulations. All involved deserved it then. And they shall have fun and enjoy it!
Sometimes its just as easy as that. Postings like the one Chips quoted wont bring me any closer to fund this project - more likely the other way round. They shall convince fund givers and not beg for it.
What wonders me a bit - why in gods name shall this game make everything different than all the others who failed until now? Just because Chris Roberts is involved? Lets assume the project reaches the total sum it requires - it still could fail. Who says it will be a success if all funds could be collected?
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Looks like the crowd-funding total has just passed 1 mil, half way in less than a third of the time.
That should be enough to convince the undecided and maybe even the cynics ;).
I think we tend to look at this as an ambitious FL mod being assembled by a bunch of inexperienced coders in their spare time. In actual fact it’s a business venture that has to have been planned and researched thoroughly before it’s green lighted, Chris Roberts and his backers intend to profit from this game but if it gets me a new space sim they deserve it!
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Isn’t it also cynic to say that the genre is dead while during the past 10 years +20 games of this kind were released? Sure, the space sim genre is not main stream (it actually never was)… but it is not dead at all.
There are currently 28 space sims in development (star citicen included). If Chris Roberts develops his game or not is not important and to save the genre is not required at all. Such comments were just respectless to every game developer which worked and released space sims during the past years while Chris Roberts did nothing for the genre in that time.I also would disagree with the conclusion mentioned in that quote above. IF star citizen becomes a major success then all small space sim projects practically will die out. Quoting FF:
What I find unsettling here is: what the hell do you guys think? That Freelancer’s going to survive forever?
… same practically applies to the rest of the space sims sooner or later.
New projects will have major problems to establish because in order to be successful they would need the same amount of support, time and money that Star citizen has… and that with the disadvantage of not having a famous name (Chris Roberts) in the team. -
You SWAT guys are always focussing on the negative mind aren’t you lol. I have to agree with one thing you point out though, there are a shed load of space games on kickstarter, some funded, so this is far from the live or die situation some would make you believe it is.
I’m itching to pledge for the freelancer ship, but I still want to see more first. Plenty of time left.
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Not really focusing on the negative. I just try to weight what has been given. And just an outline of what is planned. A especially rendered trailer, some nice pictures are just what they are. All of what was done for BP too.
It didnt raise (dunno unfortunate) a WOW effect for me, CRAZY a new game that everything else now developed would make looking bad thing^^ For me its just a game in development - i admit i follow its progress - but actually thats all and its not the only game that gets my attention in this matter.
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Well, we are focusing on diversity and don’t let a shiny light at the horizon blind us. If that is negative in your eyes then ok, fine.
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Damn it OP, even when I put lol on the end, you still take it seriously. Bloody Germans, there’s no hope!
