Rumors have been that Turbulent (who originally did the web stuff) have been taking on more projects seem to be accurate since they just merged into CIG.
So a co-worker today was describing his most recent attempt to get his $$$ worth from this piece of software. He was regaling us with how he managed to take a mission, flew to this moon, and then couldn’t go outside. Why? He’d left his space helmet. Back on his apartment. Back on the starting planet. Which he had to fly back to, pick up, fly back to the mission location, and then figure out which key was assigned to “put your helmet on”. Truly compelling gameplay. I asked if he had to eat or take a bathroom break during this simulation.
That would be the perfect opportunity for a Douglas Quaid impression!
There’s a reason they had to remind Major Tom to take his protein pill and put his helmet on.
Yeah, but we all know Major Tom’s a junkie.
Regarding that funding graph, do we know what proportion is new money coming in, versus existing backers sinking more cash in?
It seems inconceivable to me that they would seriously be attracting THAT much new money after so long, and so much various media coverage of what an endless boondoggle it’s become.
Just mindblowing how far off any sort of finished product is after a decade and over half a billion dollars of development money.
We don’t really know.
Personally, and I’ve stated this before, I believe those graphs are representative of some gnarly scams/laundering goings on. I do not see how this continues to bring in 6M per month sans some really dodgy shit going on.
At work we have a relatively sophisticated system that replays old database transactions on dev DBs such as the tables/data look brimmingly busy. Since there is no outside verification of their claims, I never took the counter really serious.
However, the headcount is semi public and they have somehow running costs that they get away with and I don’t see any dumb venture capitalist to throw money after them.
I’m honestly shocked that the game didn’t just let him blithely go outside without his helmet and die.
I find it amazing that in 2023 there are still devs who honestly believe that gamers want total realism and to have everything simulated down to the last rivet. Then again, given how many people continue to throw money into the Star Citizen hat, perhaps there are just enough of them to give the illusion that such things are widespread.
There absolutely are such gamers. Just as there are gamers who want simulators of farming, there are also gamers who want simulators of being in space, and of dying if they forget a helmet.
I’ve done that while on a space station. Went outside without my helmet on. As soon as the airlock opened I noticed a gasping sound and realized my mistake. I turned around and made it back into the airlock and started it to cycle as I blacked out. Some other player had witnessed it all and had an “oxy-pen” and revived me.
A previous time I also left my ship on a space walk while helmetless and died gasping.
On another note, I have seen multiple NPCs outside without a helmet on space stations with no apparent ill effects on them!
I feel personally attacked by this statement :)
Seriously though, you have to pick and choose and do some designing whatever you wanna do, but I think reality is extremely helpful when it comes to figuring out cool mechanics.
I think you can find a lot of examples of devs putting in something that is basically true to reality - even something as simple as hoarding wheels of cheese in Skyrim - and gamers responding extremely positively to that because reality is relatable to us, and it’s cool to see that in a videogame, which we expect to be a false reality.
In a firefight it’s just way cooler if you have bullets whipping papers off a desk, or starting fires, or otherwise physically interacting with the environment than if you lean on the false reality, save on the resources, and do nothing.
When I’m talking about simulation, I don’t mean accurate simulations doing a bunch of math - using triggers and fudging it is totally fine as long as it looks convincing. To me that’s also simulation.
I know that’s not exactly your argument, but my point is that I see simulation as a net positive more than the opposite.
Sometimes people pick the wrong stuff, like eating and drinking for example. That’s not the most interesting part of reality to me. Flying a hyper-realistic F-16 though? That’s pretty sweet.
I also think there’s a strong connection between simulation and emergent gameplay and stories. Making a mechanic that allows a building to destruct, or adding physics to bodies can lead to entirely unique interactions within a videogame. “I threw a grenade and then this cool thing happened”. That stuff stays with people.
Sorta like the story @mondrasek is telling. Aside from the immortal NPCs, that stuff is awesome to me :)
Man, rivet-counting farming simulator fans don’t get a hundredth of the pandering/feature creep that Star Citizen fans do. Hell, the most advanced game doesn’t even simulate temperature or rainfall.
I don’t disagree; it’s really the anal retentive “All things must be simulated for it to be a simulation!” approach I’m talking about. I love verisimilitude. I do not love trying to replicate all the boring-ass minutia of real life.
Yes, I’m sure there are. And I am pretty sure they are far from the majority. Personally, it’s not my cup of tea, but hey, if it floats your boat, cool. I just think that on balance it is not a good formula for game design to try to replicate everything, even the mundane. Picking and choosing properly is key, and folks will disagree about the limits I guess.
I know, I was just using it as a springboard to speak in favor of simulation in general :)
Because really, how many games actually take that approach? I feel like I can count them on one hand. I wouldn’t mind seeing some more!
Fair enough. I do wonder whether trying to do that AND make the world’s most comprehensive all-encompassing space (and everything else) game EVAR is the right approach ;).
No, that’s a fair point. They could well be making the worlds most extravagant and expensive prototype :)
Still, it does make me a little excited when I hear some of the stories people tell about it. I like the spirit of it at least.
To me, this approach rings hollow for Star Citizen because it’s all made up anyway. We’re already suspending disbelief for starships with antigrav. Let’s go just a very little bit further and bypass questions like “did I remember my helmet?”…
I’m all for the argument that details like missing helmets make for better gameplay (although I don’t necessarily agree). I just find the fanboy argument (which you’re not making) that these things are because of Chris Roberts’ incredible commitment to make the most realistic space simulation EVAR to be ridiculous.