The Star Citizen Thread v5

[Stormprooter]

Fairly sure that he might also fall foul of the direct attacks on other forum members (as they do with him) but hey.

On topic, I'm very curious to see what gets announced this side of Xmas. I get the feeling that RSI/CSG are on borrowed time with the majority their own supporters since Citizencon.

The whole thing reminds me of the opening scene from Return of the Jedi.
Imagine for a moment, Darth Vader and Emporer Palpatine are "whale" backers of the project......
Skip to about 2:00 for the relevant dialogue

[video=youtube_share;qQB2NXfJev0]https://youtu.be/qQB2NXfJev0?t=78[/video]

 

[Stigbob]

On topic, I'm very curious to see what gets announced this side of Xmas. I get the feeling that RSI/CSG are on borrowed time with the majority their own supporters since Citizencon.

To be fair even the most dedicated fan can't overlook them missing the date for their own paid entry convention.

 

[Mu77ley]

I'm just waiting for them to make an excuse for yet again missing their target dates, claiming that Crytek's financial woes have had a "knock-on" effect on their development, or some other nonsense like that.

 

[Stigbob]

I'm just waiting for them to make an excuse for yet again missing their target dates, claiming that Crytek's financial woes have had a "knock-on" effect on their development, or some other nonsense like that.

Thats not what they do, they'll say nothing for a while and the fanbase will come up with an excuse for them on reddit probably involving denying any date was given. That will then become "reddit truth" and after everyone who doesn't accept the excuse is shouted down CIG will release a new date for them to miss in the new year.

 

[frostypaw]

To be fair even the most dedicated fan can't overlook them missing the date for their own paid entry convention.

Aw play fair - they were too busy finishing that SQ42 demo that missed it by days. What a wonderful demo it turned out to be though, hope they show it again tomorrow

 

[Marcus]

So what are peoples thoughts on what will be shown on the CIG Livestream tomorrow?

Do you think they need to show something new? SQ42 teaser? Announce a date (or actual) 2.6 with Star Marine release?

What would, in your opinion, make it a good stream and what a bad one?

Personally, I would like to see some new content, a teaser and/or some more information about SQ42.

 

[Stigbob]

I'm expecting a ship sale and lots of marketing fluff.

I'm hoping Chris Roberts tries to play the game live again, as that never stops being funny.

 

[Asp Explorer]

Ship adverts, "Just Do It", wavey hands, endless community interviews, "we are so close to X but sorry", and a light sprinkling of "I backed the right game!"

 

[GaryII]

How does derek get banned? He always seems polite here. He's a bit arrogant and a bit forum warriory but it's done politely and I don't think that's against the rules. I miss his unique interpretation on the project.

Read thread rule 4, I am quite sure its to blame

 

[1500]

Thats not what they do, they'll say nothing for a while and the fanbase will come up with an excuse for them on reddit probably involving denying any date was given. That will then become "reddit truth" and after everyone who doesn't accept the excuse is shouted down CIG will release a new date for them to miss in the new year.

Even the origin of the much used "internal dates" was from the fans. Originally the dates given by CIG were always real release dates, but CIG missed them so often the fans gave the excuse that they were just internal dates (like that is any better). CIG ran with it and took it to the next step and said they were internal goals, in an attempt to make it even less an issue (ignoring the fact that it is just as bad).

 

[McGlashan]

So what are peoples thoughts on what will be shown on the CIG Livestream tomorrow?

I expect they'll announce 2.6 is going live some time soon, as if that's some sort of major achievement and validation of their amazing progress, with some people playing it "live" and pretending to enjoy it.
And then there'll be another ship sale.

I would like to see something, anything at all, related to actual game play mechanics. And I mean in the context of SC/S42, not some pointless standalone FPS module which can't hold a candle to any of the countless others released in the last decade. And not placeholders that get swept under the carpet when it's pointed out that a golf-swing interface is something you expect from some trash mobile game, not a $140m BDSSE.

But I don't have any expectation of that happening.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

So what are peoples thoughts on what will be shown on the CIG Livestream tomorrow?

Do you think they need to show something new? SQ42 teaser? Announce a date (or actual) 2.6 with Star Marine release?

What would, in your opinion, make it a good stream and what a bad one?

Personally, I would like to see some new content, a teaser and/or some more information about SQ42.

They need just to release 2.6. People's expectations are so low at this point...SQ42 or SC 3.0 doesn't even come into it.

If they can't release 2.6 just yet (considering we all knew original 2 weeks in Evocati was is very likely), expect lot of unpleasantness which I frankly admit don't enjoy to watch.

They will massage it with lot of eye candy for sure (most likely new PG planetary tech, some new models, ship interiors, HUD demos, etc.). This is time when people spend more money than usual so they will want additional 3 - 4M before signing off.

Anyway, with 2.2.03 beta my focus is back on ED (and Howard today posted tasty networking issue update thread), so whatever they will release, it will be a bit popcorn material to me. Frankly, I just want them to release 2.6, so I can watch some footage and make up my mind is it overall improvement.

 

[Monk]

The whole thing reminds me of the opening scene from Return of the Jedi.
Imagine for a moment, Darth Vader and Emporer Palpatine are "whale" backers of the project......
Skip to about 2:00 for the relevant dialogue

https://youtu.be/qQB2NXfJev0?t=78

Winter has come and this backer is still waiting...but I'm no whale, so I guess I'll clear the driveway.

 

[CMDR_Orlando]

So what are peoples thoughts on what will be shown on the CIG Livestream tomorrow?

Do you think they need to show something new? SQ42 teaser? Announce a date (or actual) 2.6 with Star Marine release?

What would, in your opinion, make it a good stream and what a bad one?

Personally, I would like to see some new content, a teaser and/or some more information about SQ42.

I'm on the same boat although I would love some Squadron42 showcase I'm not sure has they have been pretty quiet about any hints concerning that.
I don't know if they will have 2.6 ready for the masses after the event but they will probably do another Live Stream of CIG/Streamers PVP matches in FPS and/or Arena Commander and showcase the new flight ready ships and the new FPS features.

New flyable ship's incoming and confirmed are the Drake's Herald and Caterpillar, Vanguard Hoplite and Origin 85X.
New starting UI, loading screens/music, ship loadouts were already teased, new Crusader missions (derelict Starfarer etc) and flight model changes already confirmed. https://starcitizen.tools/Star_Citizen_Alpha_2.6.0

[video=youtube;jIuF_DW5BOA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIuF_DW5BOA[/video]

[video=youtube;-Hlv1-vQz_8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hlv1-vQz_8[/video]

Like usual in game development it's not a matter of deadlines it's a matter of dealing with bugs / glitches has they come along. If things are in condition to be pushed to live they will.

From CIG production schedule page report:

But also, we would like to establish some ground rules before proceeding:

I.Quality will always be our number one goal. We set out on this journey by looking at the gaming landscape and asking: can we do better? We continue to ask that question about everything we do. As a result, we will ALWAYS extend timelines or re-do features and content if we do not feel they are up to our standards. The freedom to fight for a new level of quality in game development is what crowd funding has allowed us, and we will continue to fight to make sure Star Citizen is the best possible game it can be.

II.The estimates we provide are just that: estimates. They are based on our knowledge and experience, but there are many aspects of game development that are impossible to predict because they literally cover uncharted territory. You will see the same estimates we use in our internal planning, but it is important to understand that in many cases (especially with groundbreaking engineering tasks) these estimates are often subject to change due to unforeseen complexity in implementing features.

III.The time expected for bug fixing and polishing is also very hard to estimate, increasingly so in online and multiplayer situations. The complexity and the difficulty in testing at a large scale make it harder to reproduce and isolate bugs in order to fix them. We base our estimates, again, on our experience, but we also know that it’s possible for a single bug to cause a delay of days or weeks when a hundred others might be fixed instantly.

IV.Internal schedules, the ones you will now be privy to, tend to have aggressive dates to help the team focus and scope their tasks, especially in the case of tech development. Every team, even a team blessed with the kind of support and freedom you have allowed us, needs target dates in order to focus and deliver their work.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/schedule-report

Again remembering that delays are the norm not the way around, the more ambitious the game is the more bound to delays it is, Star Citizen being the most ambitious game ever attempted is doing just fine for what it's aiming for! "We should applaud when someone tries something that is hard, that hasn’t been done, not discourage them."

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Even the origin of the much used "internal dates" was from the fans. Originally the dates given by CIG were always real release dates, but CIG missed them so often the fans gave the excuse that they were just internal dates (like that is any better). CIG ran with it and took it to the next step and said they were internal goals, in an attempt to make it even less an issue (ignoring the fact that it is just as bad).

At this point is quite clear their internal planning is close to useless to hit particular dates. Which is very common issue in IT, but CIG definitely wouldn't be allowed into more mission critical software business with such attitude. Also hitting deadlines for CIG is just another issue - not releasing anything significant new for a year is different kind of disaster. Gamers aren't that keen about release dates - as long something substantial gets released. We moan, but when we see shiny, we recognise work put into game and say thank you. But CIG has not just missed deadlines - they have missed them in massive way, and reporting this year first time confirmed fears of many that Chris is just not that good as manager.

FD missed deadline they set up for EDH 2.1 and they communicated in advance about it - 2 months in advance. We don't know when 2.3 lands now, but we still expect it to be about same 6 month ballpark as 2.1 -> 2.2 phase. Because even without telling, FD internal workflow and our experience with it allows us to believe that will be the case.

CIG can't even submit on deadline for their FPS minigame which is disconnected from PU and is just way to test FPS mechanics.

 

[1500]

I'm on the same boat although I would love some Squadron42 showcase I'm not sure has they have been pretty quiet about any hints concerning that.
I don't know if they will have 2.6 ready for the masses after the event but they will probably do another Live Stream of CIG/Streamers PVP matches in FPS and/or Arena Commander and showcase the new flight ready ships and the new FPS features.

New flyable ship's incoming and confirmed are the Drake's Herald and Caterpillar, Vanguard Hoplite and Origin 85X.
New starting UI, loading screens/music, ship loadouts were already teased, new Crusader missions (derelict Starfarer etc) and flight model changes already confirmed. https://starcitizen.tools/Star_Citizen_Alpha_2.6.0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIuF_DW5BOA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hlv1-vQz_8

Like usual in game development it's not a matter of deadlines it's a matter of dealing with bugs / glitches has they come along. If things are in condition to be pushed to live they will.

From CIG production schedule page report:

But also, we would like to establish some ground rules before proceeding:

I.Quality will always be our number one goal. We set out on this journey by looking at the gaming landscape and asking: can we do better? We continue to ask that question about everything we do. As a result, we will ALWAYS extend timelines or re-do features and content if we do not feel they are up to our standards. The freedom to fight for a new level of quality in game development is what crowd funding has allowed us, and we will continue to fight to make sure Star Citizen is the best possible game it can be.

II.The estimates we provide are just that: estimates. They are based on our knowledge and experience, but there are many aspects of game development that are impossible to predict because they literally cover uncharted territory. You will see the same estimates we use in our internal planning, but it is important to understand that in many cases (especially with groundbreaking engineering tasks) these estimates are often subject to change due to unforeseen complexity in implementing features.

III.The time expected for bug fixing and polishing is also very hard to estimate, increasingly so in online and multiplayer situations. The complexity and the difficulty in testing at a large scale make it harder to reproduce and isolate bugs in order to fix them. We base our estimates, again, on our experience, but we also know that it’s possible for a single bug to cause a delay of days or weeks when a hundred others might be fixed instantly.

IV.Internal schedules, the ones you will now be privy to, tend to have aggressive dates to help the team focus and scope their tasks, especially in the case of tech development. Every team, even a team blessed with the kind of support and freedom you have allowed us, needs target dates in order to focus and deliver their work.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/schedule-report

Again remembering that delays are the norm not the way around, the more ambitious the game is the more bound to delays it is, Star Citizen being the most ambitious game ever attempted is doing just fine for what it's aiming for! "We should applaud when someone tries something that is hard, that hasn’t been done, not discourage them."

LOL, sorry but the last thing CIG are concerned with is quality. Just look at all of CIG's releases and especially the 2.0 release and it shows the lie to their statements about quality.

 

[CMDR_Orlando]

At this point is quite clear their internal planning is close to useless to hit particular dates. Which is very common issue in IT, but CIG definitely wouldn't be allowed into more mission critical software business with such attitude. Also hitting deadlines for CIG is just another issue - not releasing anything significant new for a year is different kind of disaster. Gamers aren't that keen about release dates - as long something substantial gets released. We moan, but when we see shiny, we recognise work put into game and say thank you. But CIG has not just missed deadlines - they have missed them in massive way, and reporting this year first time confirmed fears of many that Chris is just not that good as manager.

FD missed deadline they set up for EDH 2.1 and they communicated in advance about it - 2 months in advance. We don't know when 2.3 lands now, but we still expect it to be about same 6 month ballpark as 2.1 -> 2.2 phase. Because even without telling, FD internal workflow and our experience with it allows us to believe that will be the case.

CIG can't even submit on deadline for their FPS minigame which is disconnected from PU and is just way to test FPS mechanics.

You must not been following the game progress then, CIG released multiple updates and new content this year while improving many aspects of their existing tech and developing new one.

 

[1500]

You must not been following the game progress then, CIG released multiple updates and new content this year while improving many aspects of their existing tech and developing new one.

Well they did release a persistence patch that didn't have persistence. And in fact still does not. They added a shop, a few ships, and well....yep that is it.

 

[CMDR_Orlando]

Well they did release a persistence patch that didn't have persistence. And in fact still does not. They added a shop, a few ships, and well....yep that is it.

If you think that's all there is you are not following Star Citizen as closely as you are following other "issues" [big grin]

 

[Asp Explorer]

Have you got a handy link to everything they have released this year?