Chris Roberts Space Garage Simulator: Star Citizen

[Cyko]

screw the haters!

29th may is the day!

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13883-Arena-Commander-Weekly-Report-May-12-16

Let me begin with the information you most want to hear: we intend to launch Arena Commander in two weeks, on May 29th.The goal is that every backer will have access to the single player “Free Flight” and “Vanduul Swarm” games modes on this day, and the very first batch of multiplayer testers will get access to the game’s multiplayer game modes. We will scale up the multiplayer as quickly as possible starting on that date, increasing the number of players as it is stable and stopping to fix bugs where needed.
This date is based on our best possible projections using the latest information put together by Star Citizen’s production team as of this afternoon. This is a big part of what the often-unseen production side of game development does: schedule out every task they believe is required for a game to ship. Sometimes (in fact, more often than not) things go wrong and these forecasts change: bugs we don’t foresee appear, features we didn’t realize we needed become necessary and so on. This is why we haven’t had a solid release date yet; it’s not to better schedule marketing or because we want to keep you out of the cockpit… it’s because game development is a complex beast, and there are few games more complex than Star Citizen! At this point, we’re close enough that we feel fairly confident in this date… but the next two weeks will be a march!

x 1 billion!!!

You assume it will be good. You assume you'll be able to play on the 29th. You assume your rig will even be capable of running it. You're assuming alot and "screwing the haters" is exactly the last thing you want to do. The "haters" are the one keeping CR in check and not expanding the scope to infinity and beyond. The haters are the reason you are getting a single player version of anything in the first place. Stop drinking the kool-aid and start thinking rationally.

[Napoleonic]

You assume it will be good. You assume you'll be able to play on the 29th. You assume your rig will even be capable of running it. You're assuming alot and "screwing the haters" is exactly the last thing you want to do. The "haters" are the one keeping CR in check and not expanding the scope to infinity and beyond. The haters are the reason you are getting a single player version of anything in the first place. Stop drinking the kool-aid and start thinking rationally.

my kool-aid is apparently much better than your crack

[GanjaStar]

multi player beta testers will have a great time. Exploring a free virtual universe and advising devs what laws to create

[Cyko]

my kool-aid is apparently much better than your crack

Single player wasn't even on the map. They were adamantly against it. The only reason you're getting it is because of all the bitching and moaning that went on in the forums from the "haters". If it weren't for them you'd be waiting for a multiplayer version until God knows when because, again, without the "haters" there would be no impetus to get things done in a timely manner...and lets face it, even with the "haters" things still aren't getting done in a timely manner.

Did I mention I hate the word "haters"? It's fking stupid.

[acroig]

Did I mention I hate the word "haters"? It's fking stupid.

[Sundance Kid V2]

x2

[GatsuTheBerserk]

Is this the game being developed by haters?

[Redeemed]

Single player wasn't even on the map. They were adamantly against it. The only reason you're getting it is because of all the bitching and moaning that went on in the forums from the "haters". If it weren't for them you'd be waiting for a multiplayer version until God knows when because, again, without the "haters" there would be no impetus to get things done in a timely manner...and lets face it, even with the "haters" things still aren't getting done in a timely manner.

Did I mention I hate the word "haters"? It's fking stupid.

To the best of my knowledge single player was always in the works- that is what Squadron 42 is.

Granted, I haven't been following this since the absolute first day it was announced- but pretty danged close. And I never recall them not planning on releasing Squadron 42.

[v3rninater]

Squadron 42 will be released first, then be the starting point going into the persistent multiplayer. Squadron 42 is single player, Star Citizen is the multiplayer part of the game.

Arena Commander is basically "Alpha Test our Game" mode...which will include DFM.

There you have it!

[Redeemed]

Squadron 42 will be released first, then be the starting point going into the persistent multiplayer. Squadron 42 is single player, Star Citizen is the multiplayer part of the game.

Arena Commander is basically "Alpha Test our Game" mode...which will include DFM.

There you have it!

Yup- this was my understanding. From the get-go SQ42 was the single player, and you're forced to play through it first. After completing your tour of duty you're released into the persistent multiplayer universe.

I avoid the forums mostly to avoid the drama. I don't care about that. I care about, some day, playing this game. I only skim each email they send me, looking for news that interests me. Seldom is there anything I just have to investigate, to be honest.

I imagine by the time SQ42 is released I should have my new computer built (planning to do that in the first half of next year) and will be ready to rock this in all its splendor. Maybe. I'm really considering picking up that $700 Samsung 4k monitor next year as well. Kinda' doubting any rig no matter how bleeding edge, will be able to deliver consistently playable framerates at 4k. Oh well. Still looking forward to it!

[Napoleonic]

hopefully the last arena commander weekly report before it launched.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13891-Arena-Commander-Weekly-Report-May-19-23

[Cyko]

To the best of my knowledge single player was always in the works- that is what Squadron 42 is.

Granted, I haven't been following this since the absolute first day it was announced- but pretty danged close. And I never recall them not planning on releasing Squadron 42.

I was talking about the Single player dogfighting demo Holmes, not game. There was no arena commander on the map until people bitched. They said "we can't release the DFM until the netcode is finished" in December an oh look, they're releasing the single player version first. Something they could have done in December.... That is if they weren't lying their asses off about the netcode being the reason for the delay.

[Napoleonic]

haters rejoice!

AC has been delayed

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13898-Arena-Commander-V8-Delay

[Cyko]

Lol. That's all I have to say really. That and I can't wait to see the ball gargling on the forums.

[Redeemed]

What keeps me not infuriated is that I haven't dumped a ton of money into this and that I'm sure the development cycle of most big games is similar, just we don't get to see the behind-the-scenes process.

I can be patient, this is a very ambitious project. I anticipate greatness upon its release. If they don't deliver, I'm only out $30.

[vertual]

I don't think they really understand what open iterative development means. They want to release a polished product to please the masses.....that isn't iterative, that's waiting to release a finished product.

The way it should have been handled is we see all of the broken builds, missing textures, broken enemies, placeholder sprites and shaders, etc. We should have been testing the original DFM that was shown, we should have seen it replaced with what is being released now, even in it's bare-bones state. That's what ALPHA testing is.

Project CARS does the iterative thing well. There have been releases that simply don't work, or there are tracks that don't work or have glaring issues, replay functions that don't function, and all the other missing elements of a game being made.....but that's what I paid to get into. Knowing that one release could accidentally format my computer. And I am willing to take that chance so that I can watch development go from "completely unplayable, why would you even click on the .exe?" through to release, and all the steps in between. And maybe even guiding the direction the game takes.

[DaJMasta]

If I were them, I wouldn't be satisfied to release a broken product. Being feature incomplete, unbalanced, or having a rough UI is no problem given that it's the first gameplay release in a long development cycle, but if it's not functional at least on a base level, releasing it will only piss people off.

I remember their little show a month or so ago that had a couple of outright crashes just in their presentation and their own development blog footage saying they were still working on fixing massive, game breaking bugs in the week up to the show.

I'm not trying to say that it's all fine because they have promised a release a few times now... but they should learn from their mistakes, not promise a date for the next one, and work on it until it's right. Putting a bad product out, even in a very early stage, will tarnish your image, piss off your playerbase, and misrepresent the quality of the work you do.

Open, iterative development does not mean that you have access to the code commits on a daily basis, it just means that you talk about the process and release several steps before the final product. If you release a build that you KNOW will crash often or won't work at all on some systems, you're just wasting everyone's time. Save the time it takes to compile and release a build and the thousands of complaints and bug reports for bugs that you already know are there and can fix in the short term and just release a functional product, even if it's a very early version.



Since there is a clear trend towards releasing non-functional bullshit and incorporating crowd sourcing to earlier and earlier points in development, I'll make my (and probably many others') opinion clear: don't bother. Have some pride as a developer and make what you think is good and to a level of quality you think is sufficient, then release it and ask for feedback. It's absolutely fine if it's not the finished product, but write and publish functional software. I am sick of broken releases, day one patches, the 'averaging out' of features and ideas that crowd-sourced ideas tend to yield, and the general trend towards shoveling out crap quality stuff to satiate an artificial need that's only there because you promised some unrealistic prerelease date.

Have some pride and put out good work, have some sense and don't brag about it coming out until it's actually ready to come out.

[FMT]

So they say all these bugs are stopping the release.

Arena Commander V.8 Bug List – May 28, 2014

Blockers

• Vanduul Swarm – Display drivers can crash when Vanduul spawn or blow up
• Lag in feedback and update of essential game events resulting in increasingly divergent multiplayer sync

Critical

• Battle Royale (Crash) – While Flying (Shader)
• Camera – After respawn character is stuck looking up
• Vanduul Swarm (Crash) – Shortly after missile lock
• All Maps – Occasionally, when first spawning into the maps lasers and ballistic fire is invisible but can be heard when firing – they eventually appear
• Crash on exit after returning from DFM match
• Character is unable to exit DFM Aurora bed if helmet is on
• Gforce animations are not playing on the pilot in any of the ships
• Character and parts of cockpit interior vanish while accelerating

What so they got to the day before and went.......HEY has anyone looked at this stuff? No.......oh well lets delay again.


Why even put a date on when its coming out if they dont even follow it. You cant tell me they just found these bugs out 2mins before launch.


Oh the comments on the link are good.


PRAISE BE CR!!!! THE SUN SHINETHS OUTTA HIS ARSE!!!!

[FMT]

To quote one of the losers.

yeah same, i am sort of relieved that its delayed, i have plans this weekend and would have been annoyed i couldn't play it. Hope its out before next weekend though, 3 DAY WEEKEND!!!

[Sundance Kid V2]

To quote one of the losers.

yeah same, i am sort of relieved that its delayed, i have plans this weekend and would have been annoyed i couldn't play it. Hope its out before next weekend though, 3 DAY WEEKEND!!!

LMAO!!!

[ALien8ed]

Didn't see this one coming...

Almost half the year gone and we've yet to get our hands on the DFM. At this rate we'll be lucky to see the game in this lifetime...

[Mangler]

Maybe people should start throwing money at that elite thing, seems like it's coming along nicely without the huge pile of money that this thing managed to get.

[bobvodka]

Slightly smaller scoped game however... BUT it was the one I backed on Kickstarter so I'll be playing the hell out of the beta for it this weekend

[yoz]

Maybe people should start throwing money at that elite thing, seems like it's coming along nicely without the huge pile of money that this thing managed to get.

Elite is looking to be a much better game, and at a fraction of the budget.

[Eisberg]

Why do I have a feeling that this game is going to take so much longer to develop when they have to work on bugs for modules they're going to release to the backers? If I were them I would not have ever offered modules throughout development. Spend all the time and money on actually developing the whole game, and then give the backers to the beta of the whole game.. i would imagine this would save them both time and money.

[Nunz]

Might as well rename this shitstain to Space Nukem 3D.

[aviphysics]

Might as well rename this shitstain to Space Nukem 3D.

Watchdogs was in development for 5 years. This game has only been in development for a year and a half. DN4ever was in development for 14 years from the time its initial development was announced. I think we can safely give them another year or two before getting into DN4ever comparisons.

[bill dennison]

Watchdogs was in development for 5 years. This game has only been in development for a year and a half. DN4ever was in development for 14 years from the time its initial development was announced. I think we can safely give them another year or two before getting into DN4ever comparisons.

don't need another dog watch

rather it run well and they get most of the bugs they can, but I only gave them 60 bucks at the start and no more

[Napoleonic]

Why do I have a feeling that this game is going to take so much longer to develop when they have to work on bugs for modules they're going to release to the backers? If I were them I would not have ever offered modules throughout development. Spend all the time and money on actually developing the whole game, and then give the backers to the beta of the whole game.. i would imagine this would save them both time and money.

well for instance the Arena Commander at later iteration is going to be like the equivalent of 50% of the total spaceship oriented gameplay in the game, even they planned to have some of the FPS gameplay in there; the rest of the game would simply be the world/universe building, economic side, persistent online features and single player campaign which all of them depend a lot on features from the Arena Commander.

so doing AC is perhaps the biggest milestone for CIG and very essential to the core of Star Citizen; as for releasing the module for backers... well that's like half the point of crowdfunding isn't it? what if there's no alpha for Elite for example? and releasing the module will allow CIG to gauge the balance of the game, to do mass testing etc.

[acroig]

Might as well rename this shitstain to Space Nukem 3D.

[Cyko]

well for instance the Arena Commander at later iteration is going to be like the equivalent of 50% of the total spaceship oriented gameplay in the game, even they planned to have some of the FPS gameplay in there; the rest of the game would simply be the world/universe building, economic side, persistent online features and single player campaign which all of them depend a lot on features from the Arena Commander.

so doing AC is perhaps the biggest milestone for CIG and very essential to the core of Star Citizen; as for releasing the module for backers... well that's like half the point of crowdfunding isn't it? what if there's no alpha for Elite for example? and releasing the module will allow CIG to gauge the balance of the game, to do mass testing etc.

I love you CR fans. AC is 50% of the game? You're insane. Those other features you list (universe creation, economy, online persistence) are all just as important (if not more than) as AI based single player interaction in arenas. FPS isn't even on the horizon for release with the PU, and with the addition of procedural generation will not be released for a while.

They don't even know what's coming if they think they've found all the game breaking bugs. The sh*tstorm hasn't even begun.

[Napoleonic]

@Cyko, apparently you can't recognize that getting the ships functional is the foundation of a spaceship themed game, lol

anyway it's out

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13909-Arena-Commander-Launched

request thread title name change to "CR's spaceship simulator in simulator" please

[SirBaron]

Once they have the foundation, such as modules, ships functioning, all systems working etc.

Development will speed up. Can't go any slower anyway.

[Dungeoncrawler]

Should we announce internal date targets?

[Cyko]

Development will speed up. Can't go any slower anyway.

I'm going to quote this so I can reference it later when the inevitable happens

[AGibbon]

Guess you have to be a pathetic doucebag to post there from the looks of it.
They need to wipe the jizz off each others chin .

[Cyko]

So AC has been released and the CR fans are silent? How is the thing?

[FMT]

http://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/27bm98/can_i_just_say_how_awesome_arena_commander_is/

[Darkz0r]

So AC has been released and the CR fans are silent? How is the thing?

Im having some sort of metafile error over and over. Repairing didn't fix it.
Oh well, too lazy to look it up. Maybe in a few days.

Will probably reinstall.

[Napoleonic]

So AC has been released and the CR fans are silent? How is the thing?

only tried it for like 45 minutes or so, mostly struggling with the stupid ED style joystick control setup (yaw and roll swapped compared to many spaceship games) and familiarizing the game

what I don't like :
- retarded joystick control setup
- still not so readable UI
- flight models rather clumsy despite the solid physics implementation behind it
- my business hangar look crap even with PBR
- still no detailed graphics options, no in game AA

what I like :
- damage modelling almost (if not on par or exceeding) rivals DCS, I damaged my guns from hitting enemy debris after blown him up closely, this is AFAIK unseen before in combat oriented spaceship games
- game run much better than expected on my aging hardware
- graphics of course better than any other spaceship games