Star Citizen Megathread v. procedurally-generated deadlines
1,645 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Hezzy;51563097]They keep selling LTI? I thought it was a one off thing for Kickstarter backers?[/QUOTE]
They've always sold LTI versions of ships when they're basically drawn spaceships and not in the game in any way.
It's pretty much exactly what Lowtax is making fun of.
Also, [sp]Derek Smart[/sp]
[QUOTE=BANNED USER;51565747]They've always sold LTI versions of ships when they're basically drawn spaceships and not in the game in any way.
It's pretty much exactly what Lowtax is making fun of.
Also, [sp]Derek Smart[/sp][/QUOTE]
I'm glad I'm out of booze, this thread would kill me.
good thing the bars opened up in grimhex and echo11
they seem well stocked on Blue Moon
One of the new(?) ICC missions, Nebula inside an Asteroid field
[IMG_thumb]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/131482024450981888/261857922622029824/StarCitizen_2016-12-23_15-05-42-72.png[/IMG_thumb] [IMG_thumb]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/131482024450981888/261857925348196352/StarCitizen_2016-12-23_15-06-41-19.png[/IMG_thumb]
[url=http://epaper.pcgames.de/en/profiles/5c3b36d592b7/editions/fc731a6fe18bb24fd204/preview_pages]german PCGames article 1/'17, sneak peek[/url]
S42
[t]http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/editor.production.pressmatrix.com/browserclient/widgets/5ae12368826d483b5b9e/images/image_2.jpg[/t]
3.0
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[quote][google translation of page 26 from that source preview]
It could be the most important year in the development process of Chris Roberts' space space, after all, major goals on the agenda are 2017.
By: Stefan Weiß
For 2017 we expect a lot of gameplayers, many of them trimmed on multiplatform marketing. But when it comes to exclusive PC games, we've been looking around the world for more than ever since 2014, or rather to Chris Roberts and his great science fiction dream star Citizen, which he announced four years ago. The swarm financing project is now able to record the extremely proud sum of more than 138 million US dollars, while benefiting from the financial support of more than 1.67 million bakers (as of 14 December 2016).
However, Star Citizen is not yet able to speak of a fully developed game. The madly ambitious project and its development process caused a lot of excitement as before. In particular the technical progress, which the developers showed at the CitizenCon during a longer live gameplay presentation, brought down the folds of the visitors. The so-called Homestead demo showed the incredibly high level of detail of planets, ships and objects. The seamless and smooth transition from space to the orbit of a procedurally generated planet, followed by a smooth approach with point landings in a realistic-looking environment - that was already great to see. Obendrein offered the demo insights into future mission scenarios with scripted events, exciting shooter battles and surprising events, such as the attack of a gigantic Sandwurms of the brand Dune.
On the other hand, it was the shift of the single-player campaign Squadron 42 to 2017 for fans and also for us probably the most serious wormwood drops, also without a specific publication date. In general, there was anger and doubts about the opaque shifting policy of the manufacturer Cloud Imperium Games, which could not be discussed in the big MMOG universe Star Citizen and the planned game modules throughout the year. For example, the first-person shooter part Star Marine should have been playable for months.
More transparency in the future
To offer as open an as possible look at the development of Star Citizen is for the developers nothing new. With regular video formats, the various studios in Los Angeles, Austin, Frankfurt and Manchester show what they are working on. In addition, they publish monthly studioreports. This includes specials on topics such as bugfixing and story-telling about the game universe as well as game features.
Yet this kind of information policy does not seem to satisfy all the doubters and critics. It is therefore all the more important to take Roberts' step towards presenting the project more transparently and openly to the community. Still in October 2016, in his open letter format "Letter from the Chairman", he communicated why it was so hard to schedule the gigantic project with all its features and modules exactly in time. It was therefore decided to make the team-internal planning for the individual game projects and their updates accessible to the interested parties in the form of regular reports. It was the beginning of an update on the latest version of 2.6, which is scheduled to be released in December, with many new content, such as the long awaited stargoer module, Star Marine, for the already-playable mini-universe in the Stanton system from Star Citizen. If you hold this issue in your hands, we know if the internal release date mentioned in the plan was actually fulfilled on 16 December 2016. The signs are good, so Roberts just published before the editorial deadline an update to the production plan for the extension 2.6, which showed among other things that most of the planned features are ready and ready for testing. What is gratifying is that, according to the report update, developers are currently removing bugs faster than new ones. In the coming year, we are looking for new content for Star Citizen according to our internal planning for the project.[/quote]
not the same as the gamescom footage we never got but damn that facility
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/DQ9tjVo.png[/IMG]
[QUOTE]2.6.0 - 490789 is now LIVE!
Patch Notes
PTU Site
[URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link//15653-Star-Citizen-Alpha-260"]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link//15653-Star-Citizen-Alpha-260[/URL]
Major Known Issues
Major known issues are listed in the patch notes!
Issue-Council:
Star Citizen
[URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/community/issue-council/star-citizen-alpha"]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/community/issue-council/star-citizen-alpha[/URL][/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]Important Issues:
- Players in a party will be separated after finishing a multiplayer game. You will have to re-form parties after a match.
- Star Marine Leaderboards are not yet in-game, and will show up as “Coming Soon”.
- Star Marine loadouts can take 15-30 seconds to save to the database. If you proceed into the game right away, it will sometimes place you in the default loadout instead.[/QUOTE]
I'll be tucking those into the OP right now.
[editline]23rd December 2016[/editline]
There's also to be a two-day freefly when 2.6 goes live. Anyone who hasn't backed can create an account (remember to use the referral code list in the thread OP, and pick someone other than me) and then [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/promotions/welcome-to-sc"]register for the freefly here[/URL] with code WELCOME2SC. You'll get an email when it's ready to go live.
I don't know when that is or how long it lasts, though.
[URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/15646-Star-Citizen-Alpha-26-With-Star-Marine-Available"]2.6 is live![/URL]
Pirate Swarm looks neat, got tired of Vanduul.
You'd think it'd come out long before Vanduul swarm but I guess that would make sense.
Uninformed question time.
Delta patching?
What is this I'm hearing about them changing engines with this new release? Isn't that usually a red flag for a game that's been in production for a while?
[QUOTE=halflife_123;51576147]What is this I'm hearing about them changing engines with this new release? Isn't that usually a red flag for a game that's been in production for a while?[/QUOTE]
They switched from Crytek's Cryengine to Amazon's Lumberyard, which is a branch of Cryengine.
That all basically means that nothing has really changed except now they have Amazon's Web Service running online features of the game. Which is an improvement for global servers / connections.
[QUOTE=halflife_123;51576147]What is this I'm hearing about them changing engines with this new release? Isn't that usually a red flag for a game that's been in production for a while?[/QUOTE]
I assume there's a new version of CryEngine or they finished rewriting some backend system.
Ah fair enough, I suppose if it was a totally different engine people would be going mad haha.
[QUOTE=halflife_123;51576229]Ah fair enough, I suppose if it was a totally different engine people would be going mad haha.[/QUOTE]
Clickbait games journalism hasn't changed.
I doubt they've even really "switched to lumberyard". I think they're just using some lumberyard tech to interface with amazon's web hosting in preparation for the new netcode deployment and the MMO.
[QUOTE=Mattk50;51576281]Clickbait games journalism hasn't changed.
I doubt they've even really "switched to lumberyard". I think they're just using some lumberyard tech to interface with amazon's web hosting in preparation for the new netcode deployment and the MMO.[/QUOTE]
I mean, it's right on the startup screen
[img]http://i.imgur.com/u3iAoAI.png[/img]
[QUOTE=Daemon White;51576291]I mean, it's right on the startup screen
[img]http://i.imgur.com/u3iAoAI.png[/img][/QUOTE]
Engines dont work like car engines. They're software libraries that link to other software libraries in a big messy web of confusion. Likely the bits in star engine that used to link to cryengine now just link to the same bits in lumbaryard's cryengine except their networking stuff also links to lumberyard's relevant networking changes.
Just saying because a real engine change typically causes massive gamebreaking upheaval and a completely different feel but it's pretty much business as usual.
it's unclear what the 'switch' even entails at this stage, presumably they did some kind of deal with amazon which requires they switch to the lumberyard branding, but more likely they haven't actually implemented anything yet and this will be an ongoing partnership to integrate AWS and some of lumberyard's other features as development goes on
[QUOTE=krail9;51576391]it's unclear what the 'switch' even entails at this stage, presumably they did some kind of deal with amazon which requires they switch to the lumberyard branding, but more likely they haven't actually implemented anything yet and this will be an ongoing partnership to integrate AWS and some of lumberyard's other features as development goes on[/QUOTE]
[URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/hr6txd91ghvyur/source/SC-And-Lumberyard-FINAL.pdf"]Official press release:[/URL]
[QUOTE]In fact, we are excited to announce that our just released 2.6 Alpha update for Star Citizen is running on Lumberyard and AWS.[/QUOTE]
At the very least they've implemented the switch from Google Cloud Compute to AWS, and you'd have to claim that "running on Lumberyard" has to be some sort of contrived technically-true-is-not-a-lie lie.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/9N6HbOq.png[/img]
Star marine is quite fun. It has reminded me how awful/nonexistant the mouse sensitivity options are though.
You might open the options, scroll past 4 pages of inversion checkboxes and think "oh, this slider that says mouse sensitivity must be for the mouse sensitivity". haha, no. It's for the exponent applied to the mouse sensitivity curve, which will make it non-linear and therefore unsuitable for any self respecting fps player. Then you might think, oh, then maybe i can just drag one end of the curve down and keep it linear, so you open it and try to edit and realize "oh, by default they place 10 points which i need to go through and delete" so you go through and delete them and are left with two points. Adjusting them should result in a usable though imprecise sensitivity curve somewhere around what you want, so you drag them. And then it creates a horizontal S curve and doesnt attach to either end properly. And then you sigh.
It's nice that they have all these fancy curve and exponent options. It's horrible that they don't have any real sensitivity options. I haven't been on the SC forums for awhile, are the joystick users still smearing poo everywhere about how mouse users get so much more support than them?
it's interesting about the Lumberyard (CryEngine 4.x branch) but obviously for MMO title the Amazon cloud and database services might be worthwhile ...
yet CryTek has newer v5.x branch already, which uses even some tech the Lumberyard missing (not related to cloud)
so what i do wonder if is StarEngine may or will contain any of those (v5 leap ahead v3/v4 perf wise too)
also for those who failed to understand my previous cryout about LTI,
i was talking about good ship which isn't 250 bucks for 3 players ... not the worst possible pick
and i was deadly serious about hoping that RSI will get more former CryTek staff or whole studios (CryTek closed 5 out of 7)
i want SC to actually become great space scifi MMO game (and the amount of work means it need huge workforce)
seems like some think i do not by being skeptic on the time-frames (imho 2020 fits realistic release))
[QUOTE=Dwarden;51577581]it's interesting about the Lumberyard (CryEngine 4.x branch) but obviously for MMO title the Amazon cloud and database services might be worthwhile ...
yet CryTek has newer v5.x branch already, which uses even some tech the Lumberyard missing (not related to cloud)
so what i do wonder if is StarEngine may or will contain any of those (v5 leap ahead v3/v4 perf wise too)
also for those who failed to understand my previous cryout about LTI,
i was talking about good ship which isn't 250 bucks for 3 players ... not the worst possible pick
and i was deadly serious about hoping that RSI will get more former CryTek staff or whole studios (CryTek closed 5 out of 7)
i want SC to actually become great space scifi MMO game (and the amount of work means it need huge workforce)
seems like some think i do not by being skeptic on the time-frames (imho 2020 fits realistic release))[/QUOTE]
While I understand a lot of the work so far has been gameplay mechanics and stuff, I have not seen much art content other than those in the Crusader system. If they intend on having something like 16 or so systems at launch, they got a long way to go, and I doubt they will hit a 2020 release.
[QUOTE=archival;51575979]Uninformed question time.
Delta patching?[/QUOTE]
at this rate, Delta patching will be out when the 3rd episode of Squadron 42 is out
They were using Google Cloud Compute before, and I guess it just didn't cut it or the AWS integration with Lumberyard was better than rolling their own.
[QUOTE=Dwarden;51577581]also for those who failed to understand my previous cryout about LTI,
i was talking about good ship which isn't 250 bucks for 3 players ... not the worst possible pick[/QUOTE]
They already have that, it's called the [B]MISC Freelancer[/B] family, the [B]Drake Cutlass[/B] family, and the [B]Constellation Taurus[/B], all of which cost substantially less than $250 (before any applicable taxes). And there's also the [B]MISC Prospector[/B] for mining specifically. You can't buy them with LTI anymore because the window for that is long gone, but you can still play the cheap LTI concept ship upgrade routine to end up with an LTI'd ship that you like, as long as you have it as a separate ship on top of your package.
There haven't been any three-person general-purpose concept ships lately because [I]there are already several ships filling that niche[/I].
And, again, LTI is [U]not a big deal[/U] and you need to get over thinking it's critically important.
Devs are consistently saying, now, that insurance time will only tick down when you are logged in - this means that ships with 48-month insurance from this year's anniversary sale effectively have LTI, because that's four years of play time worth of coverage. Even ships with merely 2-3 months of insurance will last a long time before you need to renew their insurance policies, way more than enough time to earn the credits to keep it going.
And if you don't like it, you can wait until you can earn one in-game. ;)
[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;51578608]
And if you don't like it, you can wait until you can earn one in-game. ;)[/QUOTE]
isnt hull insurance going to be cheap as all hell in the final game as well?
[QUOTE=little.sparrow;51578651]isnt hull insurance going to be cheap as all hell in the final game as well?[/QUOTE]
Generally, yes, though it's going to depend on the size of ship you're insuring.
[QUOTE=Lord Hayden;51577680]While I understand a lot of the work so far has been gameplay mechanics and stuff, I have not seen much art content other than those in the Crusader system. If they intend on having something like 16 or so systems at launch, they got a long way to go, and I doubt they will hit a 2020 release.[/QUOTE]
They've been focusing on one star system for now because building multiple systems means duplicating work if you go ahead and change some underlying thing about the system, because now you have to correct it in each instance. Make it work, then make it fancy.
They intend on 100+ systems, and the way they're going about building their prop sets and engine support for procgen planets and star systems means that, once they have the tech in place and can focus on pumping out content, things should be [I]relatively[/I] rapid to move from there.
This is a bit long, but to explain in more detail, SC's devs are building out multiple different architectural sets of props and set pieces. The result is that, like LEGO sets, the parts can be quickly assembled into tons of distinct shapes and produce a wide variety of structures. The system also has colour tinting and wear/tear support built in, so going from a perfectly pristine and clean space station wall piece to a grungy scuffed and spraypainted derelict station panel is a matter of a couple sliders and a vandalism spraypaint decal or two.
The Revel & York luxury hangar uses pieces from the high-end luxury prop set:
[t]https://i.imgur.com/jx68vRt.png[/t]
So does the TDD Jobwell mission center in the Area 18 landing zone on ArcCorp:
[t]https://i.imgur.com/2o58bks.jpg[/t]
Same pieces, different assembly and presentation.
This same system of kitbashing sets from shared prop collections extends to building entire space stations and planetside locations.
Generating unique-looking planets also takes less time than you'd expect because of their crazy powerful procedural biome and fine-detail sculpting tools. [URL="https://www.twitch.tv/starcitizen/v/94032328?t=13m52s"]Check out this ten-minute live demo of the editor from Citizencon in October.[/URL]
This editor allowed [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdCFTF8j7yI"]the procedural planet used in the Citizencon demo for 3.0[/URL] to be made by one artist in a couple days.
The editor is similarly powerful for establishing the conditions in space, and their procedural asteroid tech is close to coming online, allowing asteroid belts to go from thousands of tediously hand-placed roids to millions of procedurally-created rocks in the same space.
[URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/starmap"]The starmap[/URL] shows the known star systems that are intended to be available at launch, with lots of lore already filled in. The lore team consults with astrophysicists and other experts to make sure the science is as accurate as possible, although it should be noted that decisions will favour cool/fun over realism if it makes for a better game.
I believe that their concentration on building out both the foundations of the game as well as building powerful procedural generation tools that are meant to be artist-driven means that the star system content side of things is in good hands. Once they can change focus to the star systems and they've got things refined from practice with the Stanton system, they should be able to flood the content channel with new places to go.
[QUOTE=little.sparrow;51578651]isnt hull insurance going to be cheap as all hell in the final game as well?[/QUOTE]
Chris is on-camera as stating that a month's worth of hull insurance (which I take to mean enough insurance to cover you for a calendar month of semi-casual play) will cost less than the reward for one mission. The ultimate implementation of insurance and mission rewards may not end up matching that perfectly, but I'm confident it'll still deliver on the promise of being trivially cheap.
[I]Equipment[/I] insurance, which protects the aftermarket upgrades you attach to your ship to replace the bottom-tier stock equipment, now that's going to be substantially more expensive, and that is all we know about it so far. There will be some sort of method of insuring the contents of your cargo hold as well but that's entirely TBA.
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Star Citizen Megathread v. procedurally-generated deadlines
