While I don’t share Timex’s wild optimism, the combat here is far from mediocre, based on the already released and playable prototype that everybody seems to be ignoring. It feels very FS2, with the positive and negative connotations of that, but definitely not mediocre at all.
Everybody who thinks the core game is not developed should see what is actually playable now.
But also, Times, the arena commander 2.0 they were showing is not weeks away, but months probably. Next release is 1.3 and that’s an incremental bugged release.
I see them ha in the core of a sp experienced pretty nailed down (with the campaign left to develop, which is a significant undertakings, but mechanics already set). I see them far behind on the persistent universe stuff…
Timex
1763
But also, Times, the arena commander 2.0 they were showing is not weeks away, but months probably. Next release is 1.3 and that’s an incremental bugged release.
I guess we’ll see, but given that CR seemed to really want to say a date, and ended up settling on calling it the very near future, that’s what makes me think weeks rather than months.
I totally AM optimistic about this game. As you say, the existing game is already pretty slick, and we know a bunch more has already been developed and has yet to be added into the flight and combat mechanics.
When I see what they showed at citizenCon, it looked badass to me. But hey, everyone is entitled to think what they want.
(It was badass!)
rowe33
1764
I couldn’t help but watch the battle speech with the assumption that it’s Admiral Roberts speaking to all his followers about the life/death struggle with the Derek Smartians.
I have such a crush on Sophie Wu. Sigh.
Tman
1766
Well, the wired article from March of this year clearly states:
All told, some 320 people are laboring on Star Citizen.
All told, some 320 people are laboring on Star Citizen
So, I think either the author of that article is wrong, or CIG is clouding the issue by using terms like “dedicated staff” when they have a lot more contractors.
But even so, this is just the headcount - doesn’t count the movies, the motion capture, the advertising, the bling which is the big question mark. I can’t imagine Gary Oldman and Gillian Anderson are doing this for free!
How many days of shooting did they announce a while back?
If this thing ever actually morphs into a fully polished, finished (-ish) game that non-fanatics can enjoy without contortions, it’s really impressive, and I’d buy it. I can wait though.
So that’s it? A Gary Oldman speech with some super stiff animation?
You and I have a very different definition of “clearly”.
It’s odd to me how much you’re going to bat for Star Citizen in this thread. I honestly don’t get it. In a way, I wish I had your faith. But in another more important way, I’ve been following the business long enough to know how most troubled development processes end.
-Tom
You don’t know what Star Citizen says to me when you’re not around!!!
mok
1771
I think it does include advertising…as they seem to have staff and artists for that. I do not think they are buying ads in any mass quantity for any media, and consumers are taking some cost like this couple-hour presentation and after party called a “convention” cost them roughly $60 a head.
The personalities are going to cost, yes. And all told, probably a bit, and I would not be surprised if there is some contracting dollars for some things. So maybe it would be fair to lump all that into a box of current and future extra spending of $5-$10 million dollars. $10-$20M if you want to be more conservative, and the $46M based on the employment numbers was conservative, with me extrapolating a monthly head count based on stated numbers at times and rounding up. But with all that it does not seem to get close to the $90M (still growing) number.
One of the fundamental statements surrounding the whole SC controversy is that they are running on fumes - if this data is credible then they are not. The detractors are making assumptions that are not based on real numbers from what I can tell.
However, in 12 months from now it could be a different story as of now their burn rate is at Schilling levels. But I am sure they will make some revenue as well.
Once Mark Hamill and John Rhys-Davis popped up in the credits, I spent the rest of the video waiting for Tom Wilson to show up too. No joy. :(
Good lord, that was awful. It looked awful, the music was awful, the editing was awful, and the writing was awful. “For without victory there can be no survival!” That’s the supposed applause line? “Uh, if we don’t win, we’re going to die.”
Yep, those guys have no idea what they’re doing. This comment from Gary Oldman was so on the nose, but not for the reason he intended: “From what I gather, Chris [Roberts] is a bit of a George Lucas with this sort of stuff.”
You have no idea. /JeremyIrons
By the way, why does Andy Serkis have to do mo-cap anymore? He’s probably been fully digitized a hundred times over by now! :)
-Tom
Quaro
1774
I really disliked the uncanny valley Oldman speech. What’s the point of rendering that in game engine with models and stuff? Hell, what’s the point of even having video – it wasn’t very interesting – just play the speech audio over more interesting scenes. Also write a better speech.
The stupid-elaborate ship explosions though… kinda cool. That’s the kind of over-the-top effort to silly details I can get behind.
About the cinematic, did anyone else think the voice sounded about 20 years older than the character model? It really threw me off, to the point that I didn’t catch much of what was said.
Timex
1776
Yeah, Oldman had some gravely thing going with his voice at the beginning which actually made it not really sound like him.
I didn’t like the intro either. The directing was all over the place (moving cameras all the time! GO!), Gary Oldman’s voice didn’t fit his digital persona, the writing was at best mediocre (which, to be fair, felt a bit like “Hollywood” stuff).
Of course, that doesn’t really tell us much about the game itself, but if they spend millions doing that intro and that’s the final result, I wouldn’t be very hopeful about the rest of the project.
Also, was this posted here before?
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Combos/The-Completionist-Digital
US$ 15,000 gets you every ship. Well, not every ship, because one is not included (and nothing says anywhere that other future concept ships would be included), but nearly all ships. Of which most don’t even exist in the hangar, much less in the game.
Well, I guess they’ll all explode pretty good. Eventually.
I know this gets too P&R…but $#&#$@.
$15,000.
Let me repeat, $15,000.
Some people need to be reminded how much money that really is.
meeper
1780
No worries. From what we know about CR, the direction of the scene will change another 117 times before release. And Gary Oldman’s character will probably turn into a cat of some sort.
Timex
1781
I think that for anyone spending that kind of money on that, the answer is, “it’s not that much money”.
On some level though, I find it kind of hard to imagine who that person is. It’s weird to think that some guy would be so rich as to spend that kind of money on imaginary ships, and yet likes playing video games to the extent that he wants imaginary ships.
