Game Discussions Star Citizen Discussion Thread v12

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Yes. I dont particularly appreciate any CIG dev engaging in non confirmed, non official, dream crafting that leads to unwarranted hype and related funding with zero guarantees, to be honest. Serious companies would most likely not allow their employees to do that in the first place.

But I guess this is CIG. Their leadership has burnt out so much of their credibility over the years that I would not be surprised if they had taken an explicit decision to ask lower rank devs to pass across these « leaks » instead.

Nah, this happens frequently with other devs, too. Social media makes it possible. Most devs aren't really trained for it. Just like the average employee isn't fit for CM.
The likely scenario is that CIG just don't have the staff and skills to do professional CM. Then again, they liked to suggest the image of transparent development by dragging innocent devs in front of cameras in the past. I wouldn't be surprised if they distribute nollocks talking points - there is always people who enjoy a bit of attention in the social media. And these people would do the work of the liar for free.

 

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I seem to recall someone like Jared saying "Unless it comes from Chris it isn't official"

And if it comes from Chris it isn't worth much either.

 

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Guys, I'm not sure Turbulent are riding to the rescue...



Maybe QA will fix it?

No testing can fix Mr Jiggles and The Merry Band of Displaced Pixels. Maybe a proper 64bit positioning and better netcode can?
Haha, I'm joking. A new dev with a new engine can. But they wouldn't make Scam Citizen - they would make a game that is deliverable.

 

[VR Golgot]

I thought I'd dig into this section of that Glassdoor:

You had a chance with this studio as it was full of talent, but I do think a big part of that left already and the rest will do the same eventually.

Just having a quick look at two of the 'welcome Turbulent' vids, the following have since left, all in 2023:

Art Director
Lead Level Designer
Lead Tools Programmer
Senior Level Designer (the guy who knocked up the race tracks on the side)

Given Turb scooped up a lot of experienced guys from Eidos, Ubisoft etc, it's going to be interesting to see how many bail now they've been thrust completely into the the belly of the beast

 

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I thought I'd dig into this section of that Glassdoor:



Just having a quick look at two of the 'welcome Turbulent' vids, the following have since left, all in 2023:

Art Director
Lead Level Designer
Lead Tools Programmer
Senior Level Designer (they guy who knocked up the race tracks on the side)

Given Turb scooped up a lot of experienced guys from Eidos, Ubisoft etc, it's going to be interesting to see how many bail now they've been thrust completely into the the belly of the beast

Are level designers much in demand for Open World building? I wouldn't imagine. Gives me memories of how Bioware tried to make open worlds: Bigger Levels. Then again, Bethesda pretty much chains the levels onto the World, too, even if Starfield is a bit of a peculiar aberration of that formula.

 

[Viajero]

I thought I'd dig into this section of that Glassdoor:



Just having a quick look at two of the 'welcome Turbulent' vids, the following have since left, all in 2023:

Art Director
Lead Level Designer
Lead Tools Programmer
Senior Level Designer (the guy who knocked up the race tracks on the side)

Given Turb scooped up a lot of experienced guys from Eidos, Ubisoft etc, it's going to be interesting to see how many bail now they've been thrust completely into the the belly of the beast

Given Turbulent had around 40 employees (unless I got the wrong info) that would be a 10% of the company gone.

 

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Given Turbulent had around 40 employees (unless I got the wrong info) that would be a 10% of the company gone.

This is fine....
Also gives me Bioware memories. The predominant reply was that every company has turnover in staff. That's right. And the more you churn them through, the more diluted become the skills and creativity. Especially when you have a caste of ever-fattening middle managers that seem to magically not churn at all. Except when they're sacrificed as lambs for overambitioned projects.

 

[VR Golgot]

Given Turbulent had around 40 employees (unless I got the wrong info) that would be a 10% of the company gone.

Linkedin seem to think in the ~180 range these days.

So not that impactful in terms of numbers, from that snapshot anyway. (Possibly impactful if the OP is right about a general talent drain tho )

Will be interesting to see what the story is if/when I do another deep dive next Sept ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

[StuartGT]

This is priceless

 

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This is priceless

That's rich. Who's the cherry picker? It's the gullibers.

 

[ECity]

The scammer doesn't have to keep his promises because the scammer got far more money than he expected.

 

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The scammer doesn't have to keep his promises because the scammer got far more money than he expected.

And there is many lackeys who profit of the scammer.

 

[Viajero]

The scammer doesn't have to keep his promises because the scammer got far more money than he expected.

To be fair, CIG contradicted themselves a few times on that one.

Erin Roberts in Jan 2014:

https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/1782853/

"Hi Bulldog, Yep, the plan is to give you guys a final polished S42. Alpha and Beta access are absolutely on for Star Citizen in terms of the different modules (Hangar, Dogfighting, Ground Based combat etc.) but S42 will be a standalone game given free to all those who have backed before Star Citizen launches. Having said that, as S42 will be using all the elements from these different modules, and improving the game based on the communities feedback as they are released for Alpha, you will all be making a contribution to making S42 a much better game. What we won't be letting people see early is the plot / story and missions, as we want it to be a ground breaking, immersive experience for everyone when they first play the campaign and are introduced to the level of quality we want to bring to the universe. Hope that helps, Cheers, Erin"

 

[Mole HD]

I thought I'd dig into this section of that Glassdoor:



Just having a quick look at two of the 'welcome Turbulent' vids, the following have since left, all in 2023:

Art Director
Lead Level Designer
Lead Tools Programmer
Senior Level Designer (the guy who knocked up the race tracks on the side)

Given Turb scooped up a lot of experienced guys from Eidos, Ubisoft etc, it's going to be interesting to see how many bail now they've been thrust completely into the the belly of the beast

The original plan at Turbulent, especially amongst the former Ubisoft and Eidos management level guys always had aspirations of becoming an independent game development studio in their own right...seems that's now been chucked on the rocks. I can imagine there are are a few over there in Montreal who aren't too happy with being folded ignominiously into The Empire of Roberts with the management sellout

 

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To be fair, CIG contradicted themselves a few times on that one.

Erin Roberts in Jan 2014:

https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/1782853/

But Star Citizen has already launched. No Sq42 in sight.

 

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The original plan at Turbulent, especially amongst the former Ubisoft and Eidos management level guys always had aspirations of becoming an independent studio...seems that's now been chucked on the rocks. I can imagine there are are a few over there in Montreal who aren't too happy with being folded into The Empire of Roberts with the management sellout

Those people are first to jump and do their own thing. Or join a trusted colleague's project

 

[Mole HD]

Those people are first to jump and do their own thing. Or join a trusted colleague's project

Most of them already did when they left Eidos or Ubisoft to join Turbulent. Montreal is quite a close knit community amongst the predominately French speaking Quebecois game devs. Leaving an internationally corporate and marketing driven parent company to join an independent on the recommendation of a few industry colleagues... which then gets sold out by the management to yet another internationally corporate and marketing driven parent company of incredibly poor renown...scraped out of the ashes of hope and independence to be thrown straight back into the fires of despair and corporate anonymity basically.

I wouldn't be too chuffed either

 

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Most of them already did when they left Eidos or Ubisoft to join Turbulent. Montreal is quite a close knit community amongst the predominately French speaking Quebecois game devs. Leaving an internationally corporate and marketing driven parent company to join an independent which then gets sold out by the management to yet another internationally corporate and marketing driven parent company...scraped out of the ashes of hope and thrown straight back into the fires of despair and corporate anonymity basically

It's still creative industry. And despair and tears often drive creativity even more. There is bound to be a couple ppl who go "I always wanted to try...." and boop a couple guys form some shack to make the next NMS or crash spectacularly. You just have to pick your teams carefully. And even then success isn't guaranteed. I don't think the devs who made Fractured Space are ashamed of what they did - it failed, but it's nothing to hide in the resumee. On the contrary.

 

[Mole HD]

It's still creative industry. And despair and tears often drive creativity even more. There is bound to be a couple ppl who go "I always wanted to try...." and boop a couple guys form some shack to make the next NMS or crash spectacularly. You just have to pick your teams carefully. And even then success isn't guaranteed. I don't think the devs who made Fractured Space are ashamed of what they did - it failed, but it's nothing to hide in the resumee. On the contrary.

I still marvel at the small French dev company Asobo...creators of not only the 'Plague tale' series of games (Innocence and Requiem) ...which are rather good, but also the studio responsible for MSFS 2020. That's quite a company resume

 

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I always marvel at the French dev company Asobo...creators of not only the 'Plague tale' series of games...which are rather good, but also the studio responsible for MSFS 2020. That's quite a company resume

Yep. Hefty contrast, isn't it? Typical "French" artistic game on one hand and heavy sim on the other. Maybe they just found the balance to create diverse software that many others struggle with?