The Star Citizen Thread v5

[Mr.Nowak]

Game is delayed to 2017 at least, too

Hard to say what is reason for all this money incoming...maybe "Alfa Whales" now want to push SC no meter at what cost...after all weak CitCon event (no release dates...) and all negativity..

About CR vs DS, I guess truth is somewhere in between..

Actually there has been many new backers. And nobody needs to push SC. It just is being funded well by people who are willing to support the project.

Between the same dates August 14th until Now 72000 Backers Joined the project. By backers I mean actual people who put in money to the game.

Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...rDW3OaLO4zgBA1RSYoQOQoNSI/edit#gid=1694467207

Seems so      about face to spend more time making demos than delivering actual gameplay to their backers, no wonder people talk of mismanagement.

You do realise they worked on the build that backers are going to get? That is not a demo just for the demo. That's what is different about CIG. They actually stopped work on the SQ42 demo because they said that it would be at the last point just fixing it for the demo and whatever work they do they wanted to have it for the build that the players will get.

Again a lot of misconceptions about people thinking what this actually is.

 

[AJW]

...A list actors who rally behind him and admire him...

I've seen no evidence that the actors in question are in it for anything but the money.

 

[GaryII]

Whatever attacks you want to make about DSmart I don't care - I'd decided this game was before I'd ever heard his name and entirely independently of him - the rest is pure comedy.

Same here, I just looked at actual game (I mean pre-Alfa ) and never-ending concept jpgs for sale..not actual content...
About DS I find out later...i even backed the game in 2013...and now its looks like wasted money..

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Star Citizen has the best period of funding at this time of year compared to all other years.

https://i.imgur.com/iyrwtNP.png



Source: http://imperialnews.network/2016/10/star-citizen-10-million-in-60-days/

2015 doom and crash prophecy was wrong. 2016 doom and crash prophecy was wrong. I think CIG and Star Citizen doomday is delayed to 2017? The Swedish mafia collab with CIG was a fairy tale. The whole East Europe thing is prolly also a fantasy.

It's incredible how people trust someone who has produced some of the worst games in the industry to somebody who has made actual classic games that were amazing for their time as well as producing holy-wood movies and is working with A list actors who rally behind him and admire him. But that's what you get. Misinformation is far more dangerous than being un-informed.

It wasn't Derek who broke news about moving to Brno, certain sources at SA forums did. You know, he isn't only one reading it.

Also those numbers are meaningless as no one fully trusts CIG reporting anymore. Also it is a bit sad if you consider it these at this point rather meaningful numbers a sucess. Yay, you succeeded to scam another few thousand people. Good on you.

 

[Viajero]

*Mod hat off

I mean you might brag about your bigger budget, but openly stealing spotlight every time FD does release is a <beep> move.

Just wanted to reality check and hopefully dispel some myths on this regard.

Unless I got the figures wrong from the annual reports:

FDEV sales in fiscal year June 2015 - May 2016: £21.3 m ($30.8 m)
CIG funding (as per tracker) from June 2015 - May 2016: $31.1 m

FDEV sales in fiscal year June 2014 - May 2015: £22.8 m ($35.4 m)
CIG funding (as per tracker) from June 2014 - May 2015: $39 m

FDEV sales in fiscal year June 2013 - May 2014: (including IPO which generated around $6 m): £15 m ($23.3 m)
CIG funding (as per tracker) from June 2013 - May 2014: $34 m

Some of my numbers and £ to $ rates may be slightly off, but in general the numbers magnitudes are strikingly comparable between the 2 companies (asuming CIG´s tracker is accurate of course)

FDEV obviously has other projects in addition to Elite where funds/budget go to, namely Planet Coaster. But CIG also has a larger overall staff size, SQ42 and expensive mocap where funds go to. If we consider the space sim mmo side of the potential budgets, they may not be that different after all. For now...Planet Coaster will start generating actual revenues this fiscal year, whereas we have no idea about when SQ42 will be launched commercially.

Budget or revenues going in may not be that dissimilar. What I suspect is really very different between the two companies is the discipline and budget control (bang for buck) on how the money is spent.

 

[Dementropy]

Star Citizen has the best period of funding at this time of year compared to all other years.

https://i.imgur.com/iyrwtNP.png



Source: http://imperialnews.network/2016/10/star-citizen-10-million-in-60-days/

2015 doom and crash prophecy was wrong. 2016 doom and crash prophecy was wrong. I think CIG and Star Citizen doomday is delayed to 2017? The Swedish mafia collab with CIG was a fairy tale. The whole East Europe thing is prolly also a fantasy.

It's incredible how people trust someone who has produced some of the worst games in the industry to somebody who has made actual classic games that were amazing for their time as well as producing holy-wood movies and is working with A list actors who rally behind him and admire him. But that's what you get. Misinformation is far more dangerous than being un-informed.

And despite the funding (still no word on how the funds are allocated) and delays in the "doom and crash prophecy," any semblance of game from either project has yet to appear. I wholeheartedly agree that misinformation is a terribly dangerous thing (not that INN are renowned for their accuracy - see their "near future" predictions regarding the release of Star Marine, using the completion of the Stanton system, their social module, how AI subsumption is "right around the corner," and the first installment of SQ42 with 20 hours of gameplay... from 2015), and RSI/CIG have provided conflicting information about what's coming to their project and when, and a lack of transparency with this whole "open development" thing. I'm not retreading what "producer" means in movies (especially when many of those flicks have four and five people with that title), and actors will do many things when a paycheck is involved (though Gary Oldman and Kevin Costner might give a different story).

 

[Stormprooter]

Careful friend - that way lies madness!

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Ahab

Hehehe, I'm not out for revenge, my motives are purely those of trolling for the lulz, as opportunity presents itself naturally. Then again, I may not bother, or forget, or get bored - who knows? Currently it's just a mischeivous thought

 

[Tippis]

Ironically this tactic might be reason FD will be tight lipped about Season 3 reveal till last minute, because CIG is doing this very visibly for ED. I mean you might brag about your bigger budget, but openly stealing spotlight every time FD does release is a <beep> move.

Well… openly trying, at least. I seem to recall that pretty much every time, they ended up shoving something out the door that was spectacularly broken (as opposed to merely expectedly broken) to put ED in a better light, comparatively.

 

[GaryII]

Actually there has been many new backers. And nobody needs to push SC. It just is being funded well by people who are willing to support the project.

Between the same dates August 14th until Now 72000 Backers Joined the project. By backers I mean actual people who put in money to the game.

I think, most money was made from Polaris sales (look at days after sale started), new backers mostly bought basic packages I think..

Anyway main question here is Chris ~5 years and 129m later WHERE IS MY GAME ?

 

[hairychris]

It's incredible how people trust someone who has produced some of the worst games in the industry

There's a chunk of hyperbole for sure, but a lot of the management issues that DS has bought up have been confirmed by CR in recent interviews.

You're playing the man not the ball here!

to somebody who has made actual classic games that were amazing for their time

The games that CR completed were when he was working for a studio/publisher. I have no problem with calling WC a classic even though I wasn't really a fan. However, once he ran his own studio things didn't end well.

CR was also out of the business for a decade, and the game industry had expanded massively (in budget, team size and scope as well as with the technology) in that time. He's starting from scratch...

as well as producing holy-wood movies and is working with A list actors who rally behind him and admire him.

Well, some A-list actors, but I wonder what Kevin Costner thinks of him? And CR's one attempt at direction was, well, not great.

Anyway, personal opinion here: this is a game, not a film. Completely different criteria for success. A-list actors and >2 hours of mocap (this is millions and millions of USD of work) are not required to make a good game. In fact they may end up getting in the way of actual gameplay. YMMV with this. It may be an enjoyable cheese-fest, but CR boasting of a ~1200 page script at Citizencon sends shivers down my spine. This is an absolutely ridiculous amount of talking and direction aka not gameplay.

But that's what you get. Misinformation is far more dangerous than being un-informed.

Well, you have to be aware that at least some of the misinformation may be coming from CIG. CR can't seem to keep his mouth shut and this is not really a good thing!

EDIT: The non-appearance of SQ42 at Citizencon was an absolute killer, IMO. How bad could it have been for CIG to pull? The desert planet demo was a bit janky (although pretty in places) so I really dread to think.

 

[CMDR_Orlando]

Speaking of Polaris, which seems to be very popular here. Here's a nice analysis if you are looking to go for that beast of a ship!

Spoiler

[video=youtube;lTPfbz9QkA0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTPfbz9QkA0[/video]

But If you are looking for a starter ship look no further:

Spoiler

[video=youtube;PaLlvip1GDM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaLlvip1GDM[/video]

[big grin][up]

 

[Mr.Nowak]

It wasn't Derek who broke news about moving to Brno, certain sources at SA forums did. You know, he isn't only one reading it.

Also those numbers are meaningless as no one fully trusts CIG reporting anymore. Also it is a bit sad if you consider it these at this point rather meaningful numbers a sucess. Yay, you succeeded to scam another few thousand people. Good on you.

Wow people still believe it's a scam? I mean come on even the industry at this point things that that definition is just . You got 4 offices across the globe with 360 people working hard on making a game. You dismiss it as a scam? Disrespectful to all of those people who put blood tears and sweat to the project.

Same here, I just looked at actual game (I mean pre-Alfa ) and never-ending concept jpgs for sale..not actual content...
About DS I find out later...i even backed the game in 2013...and now its looks like wasted money..

You do realise that those so called once upon a time jpegs are in the game? Yes 25 jpegs to be exact. So yes jpegs become ships and they get added to the live build. Each one of those ships is actual content too. They all fly differently and have different attributes.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Also Mr.Nowak, please don't talk about misinformation - majority of those thousand new backers come in SC with assumption that SC Alpha 3.0 is coming this year and planet tech demo is representative of the game - both are lies and you know this very well.

So please, do not touch misinformation label. I know you guys.

 

[VidarSnipes]

Between the same dates August 14th until Now 72000 Backers Joined the project. By backers I mean actual people who put in money to the game.

Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...rDW3OaLO4zgBA1RSYoQOQoNSI/edit#gid=1694467207

That spreadsheet doesn't track backer numbers, only the accounts (which are free to make) and ship numbers, and people can buy more than one.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Wow people still believe it's a scam? I mean come on even the industry at this point things that that definition is just . You got 4 offices across the globe with 360 people working hard on making a game. You dismiss it as a scam? Disrespectful to all of those people who put blood tears and sweat to the project.

Biggest scams in history have had thousand of people working in offices knowing a zero/nada about what's really going on here. I saw how these videos from Gamescom and Citizencon where pitched online. "It's coming at the end of this year", "This is already included in SC Alpha 3.0" when actually CIG itself already said IT IS NOT. Please don't. It is a scam. Many have already pointed out you might have made errors with predictions, once, twice. Third time you promise and not deliver you are lying. Period.

You do realise that those so called once upon a time jpegs are in the game? Yes 25 jpegs to be exact. So yes jpegs become ships and they get added to the live build. Each one of those ships is actual content too. They all fly differently and have different attributes.

Errr, no, majority of ships before JPEG era were already at model level before going on for sale.

 

[VidarSnipes]

I'm not claiming that SC is a scam, but Enron, for example, was a company employing thousands of people before the sheer amount of their accounting shenanigans came to light.

 

[Mr.Nowak]

There's a chunk of hyperbole for sure, but a lot of the management issues that DS has bought up have been confirmed by CR in recent interviews. You're playing the man not the ball here!

Come on there are a lot of management issues in many companies. This tends to get more critical the more ambitious a project is and when the complexities multiply. Also factors like branching from a 8 man team to 360 is a tough transformation. So nothing new in the industry but just because everything is behind closed doors you can't see any of those changes or what kind of effect they have on the project. Because projects get shown at the last stretch before release.

The games that CR completed were when he was working for a studio/publisher. I have no problem with calling WC a classic even though I wasn't really a fan. However, once he ran his own studio things didn't end well. CR was also out of the business for a decade, and the game industry had expanded massively (in budget, team size and scope as well as with the technology) in that time. He's starting from scratch...

Yea true points. CR pushed the Freelancer dream far too much. Because he thought ahead of this time.

Well, some A-list actors, but I wonder what Kevin Costner thinks of him? And CR's one attempt at direction was, well, not great.

Some directors that have certain personality traits are less like by some actors. Nothing new in the movie industry too.

Anyway, personal opinion here: this is a game, not a film. Completely different criteria for success. A-list actors and >2 hours of mocap (this is millions and millions of USD of work) are not required to make a good game. In fact they may end up getting in the way of actual gameplay. YMMV with this. It may be an enjoyable cheese-fest, but CR boasting of a ~1200 page script at Citizencon sends shivers down my spine. This is an absolutely ridiculous amount of talking and direction aka not gameplay.

The script is spread to 360 speaking roles and all cinematics are live gameplay. Minimal pre-rendered cutscenes most of the stuff will be happening while you will be able to move around the room in the singleplayer campaign. That's the challenge SQ42 wanted to take on getting the highest detail characters to do their scenes live in the gameplay without big cutscenes so it doesn't take the player out of the game like most games do.

Well, you have to be aware that at least some of the misinformation may be coming from CIG. CR can't seem to keep his mouth shut and this is not really a good thing!

Agreed. CR is as excited about the project like many backers are. He accidentally can't stop himself sometimes. Look I hear the critics against CR but at the end of the day I think that the negative voices here have travelled too far on the unreal plains that are too disjointed from the project. Even sometimes resulting in hate speech. It's perfectly fine to not like CR or SC or what not. It's not fine to be a        person attacking hard working people on the project, their families and loved ones.

Biggest scams in history have had thousand of people working in offices knowing a zero/nada about what's really going on here. I saw how these videos from Gamescom and Citizencon where pitched online. "It's coming at the end of this year", "This is already included in SC Alpha 3.0" when actually CIG itself already said IT IS NOT. Please don't. It is a scam. Many have already pointed out you might have made errors with predictions, once, twice. Third time you promise and not deliver you are lying. Period.

Errr, no, majority of ships before JPEG era were already at model level before going on for sale.

I'm not claiming that SC is a scam, but Enron, for example, was a company employing thousands of people before the sheer amount of their accounting shenanigans came to light.

Yea but did they have an open development process? Did people actually work on the product? Did they have sleepless nights over getting the game out? I mean I know people who work at CIG. These statements are crazy. These people left the biggest companies like CryTek, Ubisoft, EA, 2K just to work on a project that pushes boundaries. YOu guys are discrediting industry veterans and new comers a like. It's not acceptable. This is a shame to the entire good will attitude of sharing and supporting each other in the game development industry.

 

[CMDR_Orlando]

Biggest scams in history have had thousand of people working in offices knowing a zero/nada about what's really going on here. I saw how these videos from Gamescom and Citizencon where pitched online. "It's coming at the end of this year", "This is already included in SC Alpha 3.0" when actually CIG itself already said IT IS NOT. Please don't. It is a scam. Many have already pointed out you might have made errors with predictions, once, twice. Third time you promise and not deliver you are lying. Period..

That is so disrespectful not only to the backers that support the game and post here but most importantly to the Dev's that work hard in this project. Some of them read this thread and even post here once in a while. You should tone down those accusations!

I mean do these guys look like scamers to you?

[video=youtube;rRsF6_lwLas]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRsF6_lwLas[/video]

:S

 

[GaryII]

You do realise that those so called once upon a time jpegs are in the game? Yes 25 jpegs to be exact. So yes jpegs become ships and they get added to the live build. Each one of those ships is actual content too. They all fly differently and have different attributes.

Sorry maybe i have too high standards, but currently there is NO game, 2.5 is tech-demo just for testing...
I am currently disappointed backer, since I also do not like some design choices, too.
Like cockpits with very limited visibility:
here is good analysis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOUPVYcUM6I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxj1oAtYXI8

All those rotating chair animations = bad for fast PVP action...

Basically style over usability

 

[Dementropy]

Mining! Farming! News vans in space! Ships to put out fires and rescue people! A...caterpillar ship that may or may not have been in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman! Procedural birds! It's not that Chris Roberts gets excited and can't "accidentally stop himself sometimes." There's a point where it is neither "accidental" nor "sometimes" and become a trend approaching Molyneuxian proportions.