Star Citizen Discussion Thread v11

[Mole HD]

True, but we were sold first and foremost a SPACE SIM where we could walk. Now we have a FPS where we can somehow pilot ships.

I'm not seeing much FPS at all outside of RexZilla's previously shilled cramped little world...most folks just walk out to their ships and fly off to go do something else...I honestly can't remember the last time I fired my personal weapons at all in SC...except to rid my Caterpillar of vermin that had sneaked aboard.

I suppose there's a world within a world in SC where folks get up to all that FPS shooty nonsense, but to be honest...in SC it's kinda crap.

 

[VR Golgot]

I am stumped by this as well. I mean, the AI in SC so far can do these things:

• rush you and randomly shoot, while it breaks randomly

• stand in place and talk to you, while it breaks randomly

Source: https://youtu.be/-P4ESZjaWbQ

• try to walk around to seem alive, while it breaks randomly

Stands up!

 

[Viajero]

That's cool, because they definitely can't

That's not just knee-jerk cynicism. Their core Kickstarter-era pitch was a pot pourri of 'all the dreams' from the start, with no apparent thought given to any technical conflict between the aims:

• 10x the polygon count of industry standards
• Single shard game space for 1k+ players
• Physics based flight model + twitch shooter flight & foot gameplay
• Offline / Co-op / MMO.
• A huge universe

And that's without getting to any of the scope creep that followed almost immediately after, and still goes on to this day in the form of new ship functionalities being sold (on top of the many, many undelivered ship functionalities still on the pile...)

None of this is to say they might not make something. But the sheer bombast of all of the above doesn't really inspire confidence. And suggests a lot of effort is being wasted trying to do the deeply improbable. (It's one thing to take a lot of difficult ideas and throw them at clever people, as CR seems to like doing. It's another to resist compromises to achieve those aims, such as reducing polygon load to free up headroom etc).

It's all got strong echoes of past epic over-reach by CR. Freelancer being the obvious, regarding its pitch vs delivery (which had to be delivered with him removed from the helm). And as Tippis noted the other day, Strike Commander has similar echoes:

If they weren't caught in the 'monetised feature creep' cycle maybe they could draw some lines in the sand, pick their fights, and get an MVP+ going with some decent game loops. But they are trapped. By the very funding model that set them on their way.

(In an ideal world SQ42 could free them from that cycle. I've got a feeling this isn't an ideal world though, and SQ42's cross-over tech with the PU, plus helming by CR, means it's unlikely to reach dream heights, or flip them over to a classic business model...)

---

TLDR: It's cool. I get the appeal of being a character in a land of spaceships and landscapes. Cover yourself in sand, enjoy the box, seek out metaphorical Sandworms . Enjoy walking around those shiny assets. (But stay sceptical, as you seem to be, about it ever reaching epic coherence )

Wow, what a text. Freelancer too. WC the movie, and the admissions by CR that he would have liked to have someone to reign him in there. Now SC is also a full on déjà vu.

It is almost as if CR was the best in the world at not learning at all from his own mistakes.

 

[VR Golgot]

I can see a slightly reworded copy of that article tacked to Star Citizen when it inevitably goes shiny side down...CR is probably copy/pasting it to his CV right now

Yeah can see some epic self-absolving at some point. (I'm not gonna guess which successful movie he'll tie it to though, too tricky. Maybe Avengers Reassemble 7? )

 

[Skizomeuh]

I'm not seeing much FPS at all outside of RexZilla's previously shilled cramped little world...most folks just walk out to their ships and fly off to go do something else...I honestly can't remember the last time I fired my personal weapons at all in SC...except to rid my Caterpillar of vermin that had sneaked aboard.

I suppose there's a world within a world in SC where folks get up to all that FPS shooty nonsense, but to be honest...in SC it's kinda crap.

Well I see my basic play sessions and going from A to B, ship manning represents only a tiny fraction of the overall experience, even when totally ignoring shooter aspects. I also see what's been added to the game recently, and that even ships are more about their inner spaces than their vehicle functionalities.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

No one says it´s a revolutionary idea.

You haven't spent much time on Spectrum or the SC reddit sub have you?

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I am stumped by this as well. I mean, the AI in SC so far can do these things:

• rush you and randomly shoot, while it breaks randomly
• stand in place and talk to you, while it breaks randomly
• try to walk around to seem alive, while it breaks randomly

The notion that somebody believes SC could have AI flying around and EVAing, in pairs, even... that's a level they won't reach for few more years at least, if ever.

You just don't understand fidelity development. The AI is currently at Tier 0. They are testing out their improvements on the Bartender. Once they have Bartender Tier 5 the AI will be perfected and overnight they will be adding all sorts of NPCs like Sandworms and Tusken Raiders that are indistinguishable from real players!

 

[Asp Explorer]

The drink mixing close combat is particularly enthralling! We are, at this very early stage of development, already making fine progress in Coffee Execution maneuvers - and with further iteration it can only get better! Genuine Roberts was right - beverages far more lethal than COD!

 

[Tippis]

…I also want to point out the link that went along with my recent posting of that manual page, demonstrating that SC wasn't the first time Chris… ehrm… overemphasised his contribution to a project. He did the same three years earlier with WC and his claims to programming prowess that almost got Origin sued into a smoking crater.

 

[Mole HD]

I just managed to get my Tobii 4C working with SC through some jiggery pokery with Facetrack Noir...so now I have headtracking, no eyetracking though but it's better than none at all. I really missed that from E-D.

Even better, it now works with IL2 BoS and Rise of Flight too

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Well I see my basic play sessions and going from A to B, ship manning represents only a tiny fraction of the overall experience, even when totally ignoring shooter aspects. I also see what's been added to the game recently, and that even ships are more about their inner spaces than their vehicle functionalities.

Form over function is a design approach.

 

[Mole HD]

Well I see my basic play sessions and going from A to B, ship manning represents only a tiny fraction of the overall experience, even when totally ignoring shooter aspects. I also see what's been added to the game recently, and that even ships are more about their inner spaces than their vehicle functionalities.

Aye, I kinda misread the whole point of your post and looking back on it, I certainly agree. It's what I bought into...or rather thought I was buying into, a space sim with walking. Trouble is with SC and the direction Ci¬G are painfully shoving it is exactly as you pointed out. Apart from basic pew and using the ships as transport from A-B...there's not a lot of gameplay for ships with the exception of running cargo...since nothing else works or just hasn't been added.

 

[[VR] Merkir]

Form over function is a design approach.

... and in CIG's case, the foundation of their business model.

 

[metatheurgist]

The drink mixing close combat is particularly enthralling! We are, at this very early stage of development, already making fine progress in Coffee Execution maneuvers - and with further iteration it can only get better! Genuine Roberts was right - beverages far more lethal than COD!

The slow glass passes the lips. Then you hunt sandworms...or something.

 

[ECity]

FTR on what he wants to see at Citizencon:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5YZO4KZrEc

 

[Ben Parry]

Hi Surfoot, thank you. But what makes you sure that the rest of the game which need 64 bit precision isn't using it?
The quote from Ben makes it clear to me, that the areas where it needed are 64 bit.

Of course I see the wonkyness of physics but couldn`t this be related to other problems with the engine? I see Cryengine wasn`t made for what SC tries to archive and they still do workarounds to make things happen, like the ship in ship physics. I sometimes ask myself if they really can make so much more workarounds and customisation to CryEngine/Lymberyard/StarEngine that it will work somewhat flawlessly?

Oh wow are you guys doing the 32-vs-64 bit conversation again?

 

[MTBFritz]

Oh wow are you guys doing the 32-vs-64 bit conversation again?

Nope, nobody wants to repeat this....like....EVER Geez what are your settings that this got your attention?

 

[Ben Parry]

Nope, nobody wants to repeat this....like....EVER Geez what are your settings that this got your attention?

It's the first post in this thread, hard to miss. An auspicious start, I thought.

 

[milligna]

I'm sure if you stay employed there long enough, you'll get to do the 32/64-bit conversion again too.

 

[Skizomeuh]

We're systematically told "it's an alpha", why would the 64bits conversion be a thing done, finished, final then? And then why is it a problem if it regularly comes into the conversation when many problems still occuring could be related to the topic?