No, ED simulates the known galaxy and then uses PG to fill in the blanks. Er, you do realize the ED stations are comprised of hand-crafted assets, right? The PG recombines them, just like SC plans to use for their station assets because they don't have the time or money to create 100s of unique stations. It only took them five years or so to mention it!
The engineer bases are placed there by artists. I mean, OBVIOUSLY you only use PG for certain parts of the game. It's not some magic formula that codes for you and creates a giant space sim! You're really dismissing all the great artists and devs who worked hard on ED while pretending just math does it all instead of the old world master craftsmanship CIG does.
You know damn well space legs are planned and we already have planetary landings and SRVs. If you're going to credit CIG for things they haven't accomplished yet, why not extend the indulgence to Frontier? Or at least acknowledge the SRVs?
It just sounds like you're describing the same thing, altho I sure as hell have NEVER seen Star Citizen described as an MMORPG by anybody from CIG. Have you? Link please. Otherwise you're just pulling it out of some random orifice. Are you saying you understand game development MORE than Chris Roberts? Gasp.
"Is Star Citizen an MMO?
No! Star Citizen will take the best of all possible worlds, ranging from a permanent, persistent world similar to those found in MMOs to an offline, single player campaign like those found in the Wing Commander series. The game will include the option for private servers, like Freelancer, and will offer plenty of opportunities for players who are interested in modding the content. Unlike many games, none of these aspects is an afterthought: they all combine to form the core of the Star Citizen experience."
Question: what's with the constant capitalization? You don't actually have to capitalize most of the words you do.
Then again, it's not like you answered anybody else's question. Would love to see you come up with a 3D radar in a game before Elite, say. I guess it's easier to ignore people tearing your argument apart when you are utterly wrong.
1.
Any PG uses Modules and Assets to do Creation. Nothing Strange.
And yes Engineer Bases are for a Reason after all looking very very Different.
As for SC. Well I would assume they at least got the Money to do much much more Handcrafting than ED.
But most of all. Its a Big Difference to use Assets and Spawn these Stations with a Random Mix all around.
And Using Assets to actually make Stations which all look slightly Different and Unique and then Handwork them for NPCs etc to work.
2.
Space Legs are Planned. But FD themselves said it was not Originally Planned.
I could be mean here and say. It was stolen from SC I guess *gg*
But I wont. Cause just like the stuff in SC. it was not Stolen. Its simply something the Community of Space Games has been Demanding for Years everywhere. So it was Adopted.
3.
Dont compare this Pls.
SC will Offer the Option of you Running a Server for you and your Friends in the Base Universe.
That does however also mean that your not Affected by Players outside your Game Server AT ALL.
Its pretty much just that they are allowing Private Servers.
WoW for example has alot Private Servers as well. Just that in WoW these are Illegal.
its a very very Different Thing.
And the Persistent Universe Online will likely very fast be very Different from the ones on Private Servers.
4.
I am German. In German you Capitalize alot more Words than in English.
This is a writing habit which just carries over. Its easy to change the Language itself. But changing habits like this is really hard.
I really need to concentrate and proofread things if I were to not capitalize these. Which is way too much effort for an Internet Forum. So I just leave it at that.
And yes.
As you can see I am very often also answering stuff which was posted before I actually made two other Posts already.
Maybe you noticed. But this Forum is Growing at quite the Speed.
So usually when I check between Playing. I find like 3 Pages of Stuff. Including several Posts Aimed at me.
And even just while I answer them. Another Page has grown onto it containing more Posts Aimed at me.
I am just Human Mate.
If I am Bombed with 3-4 pages of Text which partially Grow while I am just writing one Post. I end up missing stuff as well.
If your really Interested in something being Answered Feel Free to Post it again.
But pls dont Expect that I see each and every Post which is done while I am writing here.
Oh and considering the Post I am answering Below this.
I assume in some cases it will also Happen fairly Soon that I am going to simply put People on Ignore given they only Troll anyways and are unable to keep any sort of Acceptable Tone for an Discussion.
So who makes the timetables and roadmaps? Elves?
And where are you getting this production expertise from? A strong feeling, personal experience... elves?
Oh, sure. Seeing the lightning fast speed they've been building stations so far, I can totally see how not using PG for bases and handcrafting over 300 stations and over 500 different planetary bases is technically possible.
In what timeframe do you see CIG handcrafting over 300 stations and over 500 different planetary bases, incidentally?
Ah, I see. Now that I realize he's typing all this in all caps, it all makes sense.
1.
And here we go with the Sniping....
Timetables and Deadlines. Are usually set on Behalf of the Publisher. Which has nothing to do with the Development Directly. But wants to Ship and Sell this Game.
Meaning he is usually the Drive behind the Dev Team to Limit themselves to the Stuff they Consider most Importand. And which sits in their Neck if they Delay the Release of the Game.
2.
I am Prohibited to tell you this by NDA Contracts.
I can tell you I am not a Programmer Tough. And while I do have some Knowledge of Programming this is Self Taught over Time and thus not very Extensive.
3.
Well Mate. That Depends on how many more Modules they are Planning to make.
Once you got all Modules Ready and go over to Simply Create Stations by Mixing these Modules. You get much Faster than you were for doing the First 10 or so Stations which are made by Creating new Modules.
Currently. As I said before. If SC wants to get out by 2017-2018 as the current Estimate Goes. I would guess they will get maybe 20-30 Systems Done. Meaning maybe 50 Stations and 100 Planetary Bases.
The Good thing about this. Is that such Design Work. Can be Done by Adding more People and simply Distributing the Work.
If the Stations Modules are within the Systems you got. You can have 100 Different People have Create 100 Different Stations from those Assets.
Which as you can Imagine will work Fast enough.
How long they need for the Promised 100 Systems. Is something that Depends on how much Staff they Hire for it.
If they have 1 Guy doing all of this Work. You can assume that he.ll not Finish this for 20 Years
But I doubt SC will be having just one Guy doing this.
They will likely have several Smaller Groups Work on this. Which means after the Games Released. You will be seeing around 20-30 new Stations each Year.
it also Depends on how they Focus on it.
They could for Example make only 1 or 2 Big Stations OR Bases for an System.
But have 4-5 Smaller Outposts. Which would only consist of small Number of NPCs thus requiring maybe a Tenth of the Work of one of the Major Big Stations.
Given the System. I would also Assume that Big City Like Stations and Planetary Bases are going to be Unique. Meaning that only 1 out of 20 Systems will have one like this.
An Station in City Size with like 50 NPCs takes a Ton more Work than some Outpost with 5 NPCs.
It also Depends on wether they will use an Area AI for NPCs.
For example. When I crafted an Base for an Multiplayer Mission.
I wanted this Base to look Alife. (I really Pay attention to this. And consider this stuff as an Very Importand Part)
So I used several Base NPC Builds which I set up with Base Behavior Scripts.
For example. NPCs had base Scripts which would make em use a Chair or other Objects within their Area if one was Around.
NPCs carried a Certain Group. So at an Certain time of the Day. All of these Soldiers moved to Barracks and got a thus Automaticly used a Bed there.
This could be Copy Pasted to an entirely Different Area and the NPCs could be placed entirely Differently. They would still at an Certain Time go to the now in a different place sitting area and get a Bed.
This Routine also allowed a Different Use. By for example having them go to the Cantine to an Certain Time. And again as they were set to use Objects in the Area they went. They would then Sit down at the Tables.
Meaning that I could place such Routines with different Objects and Areas.
This can even be used to have NPCs upon Alarm grabbing Arms and going out to Fight the Intruder.
Add to that an Routine for NPCs Respawning after Death. But not the exact same NPC. But just an NPC of the same Type.
Meaning that in the Backround there was a Timer. And when this Timer ran out. NPCs would be Spawned in an Inaccessable Part of the Base or be Delivered by an Vehicle. To Replace the Fallen.
They would Automaticly carry the same Subroutines. And thus Carry over in the Flock as usual. Until the Maximum Set for this Base is Filled again.
Such stuff is not exactly hard to do. To be Precise. It is really really Basic stuff.
Even someone with extremely Limited Knowledge in Programming like me can do this if he has some help for doing the right lines of code.
Now for the First Base I needed almost a Month. Only working on that.
But after having Finished about 5 Different Bases. I had enough Modules to basicly Create a Base in a Day or Two.
Now for Fairness Said. This does not have the Detail Level and Size of Star Citizen. So Star Citizen will likely take longer. And SC has to do the Voicecovers etc for this as well.
Meaning that they will have much more Effort on the NPC Aspects. And also need to keep much much more Triggers and Systems in Place. Because their Stations needs to Function with 100s of Players being there constantly and having much more Interaction Options than what I had to cover for back then.
But once they are Up to Working Order. I would assume that each of the Teams they Got. Can likely Finish a Base each Month while still doing other Work.
So given their current Teams. You get the Idea.
Dont underestimate what Handywork can Archieve.
4 Billion Stars wont be Possible by Handcrafting. But 100 Systems are Possible.
Greetz Sun
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Competitors take inspiration from one another all the time, and learn from the mistakes of others. When AC first came out, it seemed like that CIG were conciously making it as different from Elite as possible. Over time, a fair number of those differences have been dropped, but SC is still a very different beast. That might be why I've spent so little time with it
!
I agree that ED is far more focus on flying ships than SC is, but SC as pitched was way more that way inclined than it currently is.
The new landing procedure is clearly heavily influenced by ED. Eventually, SC might have a brilliant feature that ED copies, sorry is influenced by.
BTW, did you know that the first GTA was described by one of its creative directors as Elite in a city?
Didnt know.
And dont get me wrong.
I assume if nothing else. SC has some Pressure to Add stuff. Based on Elite Players which look for stuff they dont get here or which they want to have there as well.
As for the landing Method.
Thing is. I have seen this before. But despite Checking all over I just cannot find where I saw this already.
I think it was an Aircraft Game where you got an Small Animation in an Extra Screen when Landing. To show your Position above the Base.
But heck I dont know where this was so I dropped it.
However. Even if its Influenced by ED. It is an very General System.
And the Split Camera showing you your own Position and Movement on certain Actions. Is something that was definetiely used in other Games before.
So Claiming its stolen from ED is quite the Empty Claim.
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As an sidenote.
I am heading to work now.
So dont expect me to answer stuff till tomorrow.
Yesterday I checked the Forum on my Cellphone. But heck most of the Posts here are quite extensive. So its not something I am going to do on my Phone xD
