Star Citizen - The Stars of Star Citizen

Chris Thursten of PC Gamer tells us what a day in the studio is like with Mark Hamill, John Rhys-Davies, and other A-list talent as they bring the characters of Squadron 42 to life.

In June I spent two days at The Imaginarium motion capture studio at Ealing Studios, London. Founded in 2005 by actor Andy Serkis, it has been used for Avengers: Age of Ultron and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It is also where Squadron 42’s substantial narrative component is being pieced together, using a cast that includes Mark Hamill, John Rhys-Davies, Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson, Mark Strong, Andy Serkis and many others.

By the time I arrive filming has been progressing, on and off, for several months. Mark Hamill and John Rhys-Davies are working through what is left of their parts, and the production as a whole is coming to a close. It is the first time I have seen what over $100 million in funding looks like. That number can be difficult to parse, if you’re not a big-budget game producer. In Ealing, I learned that it looks like a lot of very expensive cameras, skintight suits covered in ping-pong balls, and a cast of top-flight actors.

Bolted onto Squadron 42’s open-ended structure is a scripted narrative told through conversations in the open world and story missions. That world-class motion-capture rig is being used to map the likenesses of the cast into the game, striking for the sense that you’re inside a sci-fi TV show. This is a modern way of achieving what Wing Commander struck for in the 1990s. FMV is gone, but Hamill and RhysDavies are back. They’re no longer Christopher Blair or Paladin (and the aliens are no longer men in giant cat costumes) but this really does feel like a spiritual successor.

“Right from the beginning it was something I wanted to do,” Chris Roberts says. “It’s fun—I haven’t done this in a game for quite a long time. We can take modern technology, fuse it with great acting… take it up a level, like Wing Commander took it up before.”

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Didn't think this has so high a budget..

Can someone that is familiar with the game explain how the Squadron 42 campaign is going to work. The article mentions an "open ended structure". Is it going to play like Privateer where you have a campaign but you can stray from it and do other missions? Or is it going to be like Wing Commander?

Supporters of Star Citizen want this to be a successor to the Wing Commander games, so casting Mark Hamill and John Rhys-Davies in new roles was a smart move. However, I can't help but feel suspicious of the perpetual fundraising for its never-ending development. I'll be thrilled if this game is half of what Wing Commander 3+4 were, but I'm not holding my breath… More than likely, this has more in common with Grimoire, but at least I'm only out $30 on this Kickstarter.

Originally Posted by Vindicator
Supporters of Star Citizen want this to be a successor to the Wing Commander games, so casting Mark Hamill and John Rhys-Davies in new roles was a smart move. However, I can't help but feel suspicious of the perpetual fundraising for its never-ending development. I'll be thrilled if this game is half of what Wing Commander 3+4 were, but I'm not holding my breath… More than likely, this has more in common with Grimoire, but at least I'm only out $30 on this Kickstarter.

I don't know about that….it has made a lot of progress so far.

Well, I haven't tried any of the Alphas, so I don't know how far they've come… I prefer to wait for the finished product. But it does seem like Chris and his crew are more concerned with steady employment than actually finishing the game.

Originally Posted by DarNoor
Can someone that is familiar with the game explain how the Squadron 42 campaign is going to work. The article mentions an "open ended structure". Is it going to play like Privateer where you have a campaign but you can stray from it and do other missions? Or is it going to be like Wing Commander?

It is going to work in a way that it is never going to be released.

You can buy every ship, system and weapon with real money and prices up over $1000 USD for a single item. It's the ultimate pay2win game.

But pay2win games are so unpopular? What's the trick?!

Get everyone to pay2win BEFORE the comes out and it can't possibly be pay2win because it doesn't even exist.

Originally Posted by Vindicator
Well, I haven't tried any of the Alphas, so I don't know how far they've come… I prefer to wait for the finished product. But it does seem like Chris and his crew are more concerned with steady employment than actually finishing the game.

Maybe you should try the alpha and keep up with the weekly and monthly development updates instead of complaining about them not working fast enough for your taste.

Derek Smart's blog posts talking about the economics of the game are really scary. This game could end up being a colossal failure and sour everyone on crowdfunding projects.

They have promised so much that there is no way they can deliver it all, and the game is staggeringly incomplete, with the studio having very little cash still on hand and being on the verge of running out of cash. They even introduced a MLM-like scheme to get even more money. It's obscene.

It's no wonder they try to bring so much attention to the likes of Mark Hamill and Gary Oldman, rather than to their finances, their questionable exploitation of their biggest fans which sometimes approach a downpayment for a house, and to Derek Smart.

Originally Posted by Humanity has risen!
Derek Smart's blog posts talking about the economics of the game are really scary. This game could end up being a colossal failure and sour everyone on crowdfunding projects.

They have promised so much that there is no way they can deliver it all, and the game is staggeringly incomplete, with the studio having very little cash still on hand and being on the verge of running out of cash. They even introduced a MLM-like scheme to get even more money. It's obscene.

It's no wonder they try to bring so much attention to the likes of Mark Hamill and Gary Oldman, rather than to their finances, their questionable exploitation of their biggest fans which sometimes approach a downpayment for a house, and to Derek Smart.

I'm not shocked you looked at derek smart as a good outlet for info, not saying that he is good by anymeans….more a nutcase looking to make more money from his own games.

Originally Posted by rune_74
I'm not shocked you looked at derek smart as a good outlet for info, not saying that he is good by anymeans….more a nutcase looking to make more money from his own games.

Except his information has been corroborated by many different people, and even though he never had the means or the budgets to fully materialize his ambitions, he did make and ship this kind of all-encompassing space flight sim and knows what kind of money it takes to make one and what can be realistically made.

Originally Posted by Humanity has risen!
Except his information has been corroborated by many different people, and even though he never had the means or the budgets to fully materialize his ambitions, he did make and ship this kind of all-encompassing space flight sim and knows what kind of money it takes to make one and what can be realistically made.

Make and ship are different then make and ship a good game.

I had hopes in his stuff years ago, long ago learned he is all talk and has a very large ego in what he considers successes.