Welcome back to part 2 of the weekender. This part includes great bits about being a global studio and star marine maps, but first we'll hear about a question comparing SC to other space sims.
The tone that we want for Star Citizen is very different from some of the others. There is very high sci-fi concept we're going for. But some of the other things like radar or cargo, or how they handle death, things like that. Is that a good fit for us or do we want to go another way? We want to make sure however we do it we put our stamp on it, but if someone has already figured something out and it's the accepted way of doing something, do we want to go our own way? It would be stupid to put our hands over our eyes and go, "no we know what we are doing", it would be stupid to say our way is the right way of doing things.
If other games have gone through development and research and they've become standards, then we should always at least listen to those things. Then incorporate them where they are at least applicable.
Hi, this is sort of a 2 part thing on SM maps. The first time we saw it was almost like an Enders game sphere in zero-g that teams were going to be fighting on, is that going to be a thing anytime soon?
No not anytime soon, that was a test by Ilfonix who was doing the test. That was kind of a zero-g, everyone going after the ball and has their gravity guns. It worked okay, but it wasn't particularly fantastic. We kind of went back to the drawing board....SATA ball yeah that's what it was called. We kind of got our own FPS team. I think we're going to end up with much better FPS and EVA action than where that was heading. You might see an EVA specific FPS map.
Currently what we've got is two maps that approach EVA in different ways. Damien kind of has EVA surrounding it, it's kind of like picking people off going in between the two station structures. With Echo it's kind of EVA in the center, and you can use that to go between points. So you don't have to go through the rat runs between points, you can just skip it all. That is how we're approaching the EVA spaces in maps, we're looking for new mechanics.
Narrator asking second question, the 3.0 demo was obviously, that we saw, we went onto a planet surface. Is there any technical limitations where you could put a dome on it and turn it into a map.
There is no limitation on that, that could happen.
The panel was asked about challenges of working in a global studio.
It was difficult to start with, we had to learn this. Right now we use Skype, like, we would just go up and talk to someone at a desk. We got used to it not being hard. You know when you get a phone call, like, you feel like you're at work in the middle of something. It was difficult to get used to, but now you feel like you work with them in the same office. You get into cadences, okay I know Frankfurt comes in a little later. I know Austin will come online around 2, and LA will come in around 4 o'clock ish. So you get to know people and when to expect them, it is really not a problem anymore. We have confluence where all our documents go, so we can get them even if the person is away.
We usually work right up until the deadline for some things, like literally around the clock. The wonderful thing about a global studio structure, spanning multiple time zones. It can be disadvantageous at times, but it also means that when you work and done your time, you can sign off and write an e-mail to a studio that is just waking up, go to sleep, and wake up, they've done the same to you. So it's really organic and once you get into it it becomes really natural.
The next question was how missions were assigned to players in SQ42.
We're trying to be informed as much as possible by the PU. If it exists in the PU then we can leverage it in different ways. So we kind of leave it up to the player in how to approach some things. We also have the affordance of being much more scripted and focused at times, so we have these key beats we need to tell the story, so we can choke point the player into something to have a cinematic or moment to interact with Mark Hammill inaudible then it's back out into an open thing. So it could be some place that is out in the PU, but we're adding context and that sort of thing.
The panel was then asked how they will allow multiple people to have unique experiences in the verse.
So you can build up reputation, almost mutually exclusive kind of thing. You have to pick paths sort of thing. If you do something for someone else or become a criminal then a whole bunch of people might not want to work with you. So everyone will have a different standing and a different set of missions available to them. I mean create your own story, the amount of role playing that goes on in this games give you the freedom to do that. The PU that we keep talking about is kind of sparse at this moment and yet we have this kind of abandoned space station there, and I watch people role play being the security guards kind of thing. And anyone who comes near it they ask papers from, and papers don't exist in this game yeah. Then they command them at gun point and tell them to sit on the floor, then they take their ship and search it, so stories get built.
How is the tech being developed affecting the game development.
Well the tech is always moving along, which is why it's difficult to create the PU. We create it in one form of tech then this amazing new form of tech comes along. Example the gravity tech is incredible, it blows my mind, but we can't use it yet. That kind of tech is for a race that isn't in the game yet, so I'm constantly trying to, how about if we did it like this. And they'll say no, the human race doesn't have that set of complex gravity things. So I'm looking forward when we create puzzles using all this gravity tech we have. But...so...the guys we got working on the tech are just incredible, zooming down from planets, inaudible. You can go from a moon to uh...anyone who saw gamescon where we went from Space Station to a planet to a city underground on the planet to a derelict space station on a moon. All of that was actually really along for one play through, but right now all that looks 10 times better, it just keeps on moving and gets better.
Another question was posed to COO Carl Jones, what progress should we expect to see this year?
We're not going to talk about any dates. But we're working really hard on SQ42, and SC moving forwards. This year we're looking to do 2-3 major updates. So we'll be adding more locations, more gameplay, bringing jobs in so you can have careers and whatnot. Those will be part of the updates as we go through this year. Generally we'll be trying to pull together closer to what the final SC is going to be, and we'll get closer and closer to with each incremental delivery. It's coming, but we won't release it until it's ready.
They were then asked how new models of ship would be handled and LTI backers received.
I don't know the answer in terms of the economy. If you have the Super Hornet when we have the 2019 Super Hornet then you might be able to upgrade all the way through with your LTI and everything. Don't hold me to that, but it'll be like upgrading your BMW.
. It is actually the other way round. The controller issue and arcade aim/fly system in SC is fundamentally a controller design one, nothing to do with an xml value for a rotational speed parameter.
