Star Citizen - Development Update
 

Farflame spotted a new video about Star Citizen. Some nice enviroment is shown starting at the 8:35 mark:

More information.

Well it's purdy, and the environments would make a nice SWTOR-type game. It's also coming up on five years since announcement. Not sure I'd want to contribute to any crowdfunding game that took that long. A cure for cancer, I might, but not a game.

Am I the only one to expect this game too fail?

I see a game that tries to do too much on too many aspects. Lacking focus i think you end up with a game where you can do a lot of things, but all things being boring…

I do not know what to think anymore, so I'll simply wait and see.

No, a lot of people expect it to fail. In fact, it seems a lot of people are hoping it will :)

I could use a good Wing commander/Tie-Fighter/Privateer/Freelancer-like. SC looks great everytime I see a vid, but there still is no game. Only more and more shiny new ships to sell to sheeple.
They should have released Squadron 42 already and then build the MMO crap after.

Is there much gameplay involved in the latest build? What exactly can you do in the game?

There's a reasonable amount in the current alpha you can play around with - but I would highly recommend you wait a couple of months for the next big release (3.0).

Also, they often have free-fly weekends and such where you can get a good sense of where it's at.

Game hasn't been in full development for more than a few years. First couple of years was mostly a process of establishing the scope and maturing the development team - and as the budget kept expanding, so did the scope.

Early on, when it became clear that people were very eager to pledge for a PC game with true vision (this never really happens anymore), CIG had a poll asking if backers wanted them to keep expanding the game and adding potential funding. IIRC, something like 90% voted yes.

Chris Roberts didn't even expect it to get funded - and he was already talking with several outside investors about getting those initial 10-12 million dollars he thought he would need for the least ambitious version of his vision.

So, they've had a lot of adjustment to do on a near-constant basis. That said, they've been locking down features slowly for the past few months. They've made a ton of serious progress lately - and the technology is getting close to where it needs to be to pull the most challenging stuff off at the level they're aiming at.

They have the most open development environment I've ever seen - so you can easily get answers to nearly every question you might have. They're also releasing several community videos on a weekly basis - where they go into great detail about progress. You don't really need to watch more than a few ATV (Around the Verse) videos to see that they're not playing around here.

Most people don't even bother to follow the game on that superficial level - so I'm not surprised that many are sceptical. I would be highly sceptical myself, if I was that ignorant about what they're doing - and why.

3.0 should be the first release that truly resembles something close to what the final game will look and play like. That said, I don't expect a release until late 2019 at the earliest - so there's that.

I doubt SQ42 will be out this year - but I suppose it's possible. Wouldn't expect it, though.

Given that it's (very deliberately) the most ambitious game of all time, I'd say it's pretty unrealistic to expect anything like the finished game at this point.

Just read on RPS that Everspace is out of EA. So I guess I will buy that one.

I think its cool to see Dart actually looking forward to something :)

While I'm definitely looking forward to Star Citizen more than any other game, there are plenty of upcoming titles I can't wait to play :)

In fact, I'd say I'm more optimistic about future releases today than I was 10 years ago.

Some of my most anticipated titles include:

ELEX
System Shock Remake
System Shock 3
Underworld Ascendant (though I'm starting to get sceptical about it)
Divinity Original Sin 2
Seven Dragon Saga (if it's still alive?)
Last of Us 2
Upcoming Ken Levine game

And several more….

Nah, my problem is definitely much more about having enough time to play all these fantastic games - as well as working on my ridiculously huge backlog :)

Think i'll wait a while then..thanks for the great reply NewDArt.

Ah, I forgot about Seven Dragon Saga. I hope it is still alive.

If anyone wants the specific of "what can you do in the game" right now.

There is 4 part to the alpha right now:
- Arena Commander: a space ship simulator with free flight, racing and combat maps (it has some limitation in regard to multicrew and not-fighter ships).
- Star Marines: a multi-player shooter game ( it's technically an in-game simulator in Star Citizen like Arena Commander)
- ArcCorp: the hub on planet ArcCorp which is linked to your hangar (which you can "decorate"). You can buy gear for your character (armor, clothing, weapons) and ship, or just walk around the different area.
- Crusader space area: that's a persistent universe in the Stanton system which include two landing port (Port Olisar and the lawless Grim Hex), basic NPC security around Olisar, a repair station to repair your ship, missions terminals with missions you do to get cash to buy stuff (or clean your lawless status), some random encounters and a basic reputation system. Also, emergent gameplay because there is other players around and you can steal ships, shoot people or bring people into your multicrew ships.

There is like 10 different missions and a few maps in AC and SM, so unless you got a bunch of friends to play with you or you love flying around, you aren't going to spend that many hours in the alpha. Some features are going to change in 3.0 too.

Also, until there is an incremental patcher, you have to re-download the whole thing each new update (over 30 GB). The incremental patcher is now in QA which means it should be there for 3.0.

Elite Dangerous? With VR, it will change your gaming world. (he says with a 1000 yard stare)

Is yet another pathetic MMO. Games he mentioned were not.
Also those games didn't sell season pass scam.

Freelancer had multiplayer, even the single player started a server instance, and the most recent of the game listed by Darkheart having been released in 2003.. (that's how long good Space Sim have been dead).

Saying that, I don't think Elite Dangerous is a good Privateer/Freelancer wannabe game.

It did? Never knew it. But I'm sure everyone still plays that multiplayer. :D

I'd love something that would continue the legacy of Freelancer, but I just don't see it happening. SC was pretty much my last, known hope, and the SP focus seems to have evaporated. I know the campaign is still inc, but it doesn't seem to be much of a priority.

How so? SQ42 is going to be HUGE in scope and features.

That said, SC was never promised as a SP focused Freelancer game. It was promised as a combination of Wing Commander (SQ42) and the multiplayer version of Freelancer.