Anyone else playing right now??

[iamtruth 8]

I've been on the open world part of the game for a bit and I love it if we could get something going like we all try to get on one server and just destroy pirates!

[Aya Reiko 74]

I think we all lost interest in it long ago.

[iamtruth 8]

So, what the AJSA is no longer gonna be in star citizen? Wow I'm quickly running out of games to play with you guys..

[DoctorEvil 1,011]

We will of course be going big in Star Citizen once it releases!

[iamtruth 8]

24 minutes ago, DoctorEvil said:

We will of course be going big in Star Citizen once it releases!

How can you promise that?

[Rain 458]

13 hours ago, iamtruth said:

How can you promise that?

Based on previous games, I can promise you if Joe plays there will be a huge initial influx of people trying to get in. I was all for this game but I've been on the fence for quite some time now. So unless I see or hear about awesomeness, I'm not sure I will get into it.

[iamtruth 8]

56 minutes ago, Rain said:

Based on previous games, I can promise you if Joe plays there will be a huge initial influx of people trying to get in. I was all for this game but I've been on the fence for quite some time now. So unless I see or hear about awesomeness, I'm not sure I will get into it.

Well if it's true as what you say then I'm fearful that it will die out after a couple of months from what I've seen from previous supported games. 

[Rain 458]

On April 3, 2016 at 11:21 AM, iamtruth said:

Well if it's true as what you say then I'm fearful that it will die out after a couple of months from what I've seen from previous supported games. 

If the game lives up to expectations then I would expect to see a long lasting AJSA presence. I for sure would be in on it because I love immersive space life, I played the hell out of X3...I still have it too. But until release (if there is one), I don't think there will be much time spent on it except for a select few. Let me look into some more and I might jump in much sooner rather than later.

[Snapplemonkey 70]

I play on occasion to check out the progress and stuff, I wouldn't mind giving it another try.

[Forgewolf 25]

I'd play right now, but I need my Go Fund Me page to succeed first. 

[iamtruth 8]

On 5/28/2016 at 11:48 PM, Forgewolf said:

I'd play right now, but I need my Go Fund Me page to succeed first. 

Why do you need a Go Fund Me page?

[Forgewolf 25]

On 5/29/2016 at 9:23 AM, iamtruth said:

Why do you need a Go Fund Me page?

In the hopes I could start out with a better ship.. I ended up buying the cheap $45 Mustang, which is barely playable in the Universe mode due to a First Person View bug. :/

[Doctor 26]

I play/test the game daily and report found new bugs to Issue Council. So far it has been very interesting to follow the progress and be part of the development process. Star Citizen is easily most impressive game I have ever experienced.

It would be interesting to hear how people plans to play the game and which ships they are going to use in the beginning if any at all? A ship is not needed if one works as a guard, military, repairman, etc.

My choice is Aurora LN.

[Rizzwind 3]

I play just about 1 to 2 hours a day and keep up with the progress on the game. With grouping working right now it's easy to get a team made but you still have to play a little with getting everyone in the same sever. 

[Rain 458]

I literally forgot all about this game even with the Sub-thread on the main forum page. Safe to say hype has died for me and I am grateful I didn't have a part in the multi-millions these guys have taken thus far. This should be free-to-play at this point even though I'm skeptical it will even be released prior to 2020.

 

What are they even working on? Where is the production assets being allocated? It can't be design...it should be well beyond the design stages at this point being there hasn't been any actual complete content given to the public. I'm baffled.

[Doctor 26]

On 3/9/2017 at 0:39 AM, Rain said:

What are they even working on? Where is the production assets being allocated? It can't be design...it should be well beyond the design stages at this point being there hasn't been any actual complete content given to the public. I'm baffled.

Following the development is very easy. Here are couple links:

Weekly YouTube videos

Weekly development posts

Weekly updated Schedule Report

Monthly Studio reports

Making big games takes time especially if you have to build a game company from scratch. Just like Cyberpunk 2077, Beyond Good & Evil 2 and many more big games has been under development for a long time. Star Citizen and Squadron 42 will be enormous and complex games. Much smaller and simpler games like The Witcher 3, GTA V, etc. took near four years to get finished.

[Aya Reiko 74]

As far as I can tell, it's still in Alpha or pre-Alpha stage.  

There have been far too many red flags concerning this game.  For a game with 5+ years of development with supposedly a team of 400 plus people, there is way too little getting accomplished.  It should have been in beta or late-beta by now.  Squadron 42 has been AWOL for a long time.  Furthermore, they've changed engines at least twice, the most recent change was December of last year.

I've decided to side with "Team" Smart here.  He may be a bit of a horse's ass, but he seems to know his shit, and all signs point to this project is likely beyond FUBAR.  Chris Roberts may be a creative mind, but he desperately needed someone to reign him in and keep him focused.

edit-

Crunched some numbers.

Take $150 million and split it 400 ways, and then split that by 5.  If the entire sum of crowdfunding was spent on the dev team only, the only was CIG would not be in the red if the average salary was $75,000.  The average salary for a game programmer?  Approximately $100k per year.

Let's face some cruel, cruel facts.  CIG is broke.  There is no way that have anything left in the tank even if they used only entry-level programmers (avg. salary: $60k-$75k).  CIG would have other expenses beyond the dev team's salary. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole project implodes within a year.

Edited August 11, 2017 by Aya Reiko
number crunching

[Crazycrab 931]

1 hour ago, Aya Reiko said:

Crunched some numbers.

Take $150 million and split it 400 ways, and then split that by 5.  If the entire sum of crowdfunding was spent on the dev team only, the only was CIG would not be in the red if the average salary was $75,000.  The average salary for a game programmer?  Approximately $100k per year.

Let's face some cruel, cruel facts.  CIG is broke.  There is no way that have anything left in the tank even if they used only entry-level programmers (avg. salary: $60k-$75k).  CIG would have other expenses beyond the dev team's salary. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole project implodes within a year.

 

Wow......  I didn't realise Dev's were paid that much!  I need to book a course in Cryengine Development!

 

Although I don't believe it's been 400 devs on the project consistently the whole time you've still made a very good point here.  I myself predicted that the project will be cancelled within 2 years and if anything that was optimistic.

[Shagger 1,469]

 

Quote

As far as I can tell, it's still in Alpha or pre-Alpha stage.  

There have been far too many red flags concerning this game.  For a game with 5+ years of development with supposedly a team of 400 plus people, there is way too little getting accomplished.  It should have been in beta or late-beta by now.  Squadron 42 has been AWOL for a long time.  Furthermore, they've changed engines at least twice, the most recent change was December of last year.

I've decided to side with "Team" Smart here.  He may be a bit of a horse's ass, but he seems to know his shit, and all signs point to this project is likely beyond FUBAR.  Chris Roberts may be a creative mind, but he desperately needed someone to reign him in and keep him focused.

edit-

Crunched some numbers.

Take $150 million and split it 400 ways, and then split that by 5.  If the entire sum of crowdfunding was spent on the dev team only, the only was CIG would not be in the red if the average salary was $75,000.  The average salary for a game programmer?  Approximately $100k per year.

Let's face some cruel, cruel facts.  CIG is broke.  There is no way that have anything left in the tank even if they used only entry-level programmers (avg. salary: $60k-$75k).  CIG would have other expenses beyond the dev team's salary. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole project implodes within a year.

 

Developers do not earn $100 grand a year, not even close. Even I'm wrong and that actully is the salary a video game developer can expect then;

1. I'm in the wrong job and thus deeply depressed over the fact I've wasted my life, and;

2. It will only make my following point more valid.

To say per head a developer costs a company $100 grand per year I think is what you really mean because It's not just salaries. There's pensions, office space, 3rd party employees, contractors and resources to consider, so the figures do make sense, apart from two reasons. One, they didn't have 400 developers from the start, they grew as time went on, so to average it at around 200 staff per year would actually be closer to the cost. Secondly, with the budget they have had, a typical AAA dev' team could develop several games. They are faced with the same challenges, troubles and strife's and, if anything, even more pressure, so RSI have earned no extra sympathy given their resources. Had this been a investor funded project like most AAA games are, RSI would have been sacked and sued by now, but instead their fans, the people who invested their money into this bullshit project, defend them like Shiroyama. Noble, but hopelessly stupid.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am so glad to see that a fellow preacher of common sense has graced this subject and good for you, but if RSI have indeed blown all their cash, then tough fuck and fuck them. It's just another reason to not support them because with $150+ million and be unable to deliver anything beyond an "alpha" is unacceptable. And that's before one even mentions the shady store front, the broken Kickstarter promises and how much the owner's of RSI have "invested" in themselves.

[Aya Reiko 74]

$150 million and two known loans from banks; a January 2015 loan from NatWest Bank and a second loan from Coutts & Co.  The latter CIG apparently put virtually everything as collateral for the loan.

All signs point to a company that likely won't exist next year.

[Shagger 1,469]

37 minutes ago, Aya Reiko said:

$150 million and two known loans from banks; a January 2015 loan from NatWest Bank and a second loan from Coutts & Co.  The latter CIG apparently put virtually everything as collateral for the loan.

All signs point to a company that likely won't exist next year.

 

For the sake of the backers and fans, even though they would take up arms for RSI and defend them at even that happening, I hope you're wrong, but I sadly have to confess I think you're right.

[Rain 458]

You'd be surprised how much a software programmer makes especially in a successful company and if their resume is impressive. I've seen some ads for employment here in California for $50+/hr and that's pretty close to $100k and I don't even think they were looking for massive experience. And like Shagger mentioned they still have all the other expenses to take care on top of personnel like taxes on Ferraris and trips to the Bahamas.

 

This game shouldn't be all that complex with foundations like the X series and so many others to take notes from. If it is then the devs are biting off more than they can chew and are suffering for it. It sounds to me like they're stretched thin doing too many things at once which makes me agree with Aya that they should have been focused on particular sections first before branching to another and bring it all together (I'm no Project Manager or CEO so take that with a grain of salt or pepper). They wanted to rush the alpha out to people to encourage more income and it worked wonders.

 

It sounds playable though and if I didn't have to throw money down I'd definitely get into it, but at this point looks like it won't happen that way. I'd be sad if so much time hasn't passed and turned into out of sight, out of mind. Here's hoping things turn around, SC looked promising 4 years ago and I still want a space sim.

[Aya Reiko 74]

@Rain

Get Elite Dangerous instead.  Trust me. SC started off promising 100 star systems, but now say the initial release will only have 5 to 10 (if they don't scale back even more) with the rest to be patched in later.  Maybe.

Elite Dangerous has BILLIONS of systems to explore.

That aside...

It been made abundantly clear that Chris Roberts is totally inept as a developer.  Remember Freelancer?  Roberts' previous game?  Turns out it was a mess when Microsoft acquired Digital Anvil thanks to Roberts' incompetence, promising features that hadn't been implemented, numerous delays, and constant feature creep.  (Wait, does that sound a little familiar?)  MS promptly threw Chris out and tried to get Freelancer back on track as best as they could.

[Doctor 26]

I'm having a pause from the game and wait till Alpha 3.0 before I continue again. Since it will include so many new features and core systems into the game it will be a game changer.

CIG has made mistakes and they will make mistakes in future for sure. They are working on new topics and R&D that it is impossible to get it right in the first time. I have full faith for CIG and that they will be able to finish the project with support from players (feedback, bug reports, etc.) and hard work.

What comes to number of star systems I don't think the count matters at all. Even a single star system can have much more interesting content than a game with billions of star systems if the game has no depth.

[Crazycrab 931]

I've thought about it and these are the 4 steps that RSI need to do in to save this project.  A brief disclaimer here, the original backers are NOT going like this! Hell even I don't really like some of these steps but they will just have to accept that this is going nowhere unless RSI drastically change their strategy in order to keep this game alive.  Despite all the bitching I've done about it I want this project to be successful and I genuinely believe that this is the only way.  Here we go:

 

Number 1:  Release Squadron 42 As Soon As Fucking Possible

 

 

When the game was first announced this was supposed to be the single player component included in every copy, but they changed their minds and separated the two so now anyone who "pledged" (I say in quotations because it's really a pre-order) after Valentines day 2015 has to buy it separately.  As much as I still believe that's bullshit what's done is done and now they really need this released immediately for 3 reasons:

 

1. Right now under the current circumstances it's the only component of the project has ghost of a chance of getting finished.
2. It will generate some badly needed revenue.
3. As long as the quality is there and has a positive response from the journalists and the gaming community it will go a long way to getting people exited for the project again.

 

Squadron 42 is the key to restarting this engine, and will help to get enough new and old players back in to support step 2.

 

Number 2:  Go Free to Play

 

 

They need to scrap their current business model and do a Warframe or Planetside 2.  The production has gone on so long that in it's current state the competing games like Elite Dangerous have caught up and in some ways even overtaken it.  Few new players are going to be willing to "pledge" and the old playerbase is dying out.  I know because I played during that free weekend the servers were damn near empty, during a free weekend 2 years ago!  They wouldn't even have to re-balance the game that much as it's already full of microtransactions for ships, weapons, armour, accessories and even ship insurance (no joke).

 

Meanwhile the likes of Warframe which has been in development for about the same amount of time is now booming with it's FTP business model.  RSI should follow suit along with one other thing that Warfame has done, this is part that many original backers are going to REALLY hate, but........

 

Number 3:  A Console Release

 

 

I can already sense the "PC Master Race" grabbing their torches and pitchforks at the very idea but the only way for this game to reach a wide enough audience with the FTP model is to release on consoles.  If anything it has more appeal there since there is less games in this style on those platforms.  I know that RSI (at least used to) claim that Star Citizen is just to much of a powerhouse game for the consoles to run but considering the PC specs and my own experience with the game I'm convinced that's not true, especially with the release of the PS4 Pro and the XBox One X.  Even if it is true that the current consoles cant handle it then wait a couple of years for the next generation, this is not a valid excuse anymore.

 

Partnering with Microsoft and/or Sony will give them some support with the development and promotion of the game itself, but if that is going to happen there is one more thing that MUST be done.  In fact it's something that they should have done years ago and it might just be the most critical step of them all..........

 

Number 4:  SCRAP THE BULLSHIT STOREFRONT!

 

 

Picture if you will that your on your PlayStation, Star Citizen is FTP, you go onto the PS store and you see THAT!  Hell this is a problem that already exists right now on PC!  I don't care if it's "Optional" (although it's not optional since right now you have to spend at least $45/£37.80 to get into the game).  I don't care if they are earnable trough in game grinding and I especially don't care for that tired excuse of classifying it as a "pledge" rather than a "buy" since that is NOT even the problem!

 

The problem is almost anyone who is even a little more ignorant of Star Citizen who see's this will just abandon ship immediately because it leaves a such a terrible first impression.  With this on their page RSI look like untrustworthy, greedy assholes and their is obviously no way that Microsoft or Sony would allow this kind of crap of their stores, which I'm convinced is the REAL reason their is no console release in the works right now!  Not even Steam would allow this!

 

If RSI were to decide to do only one of these 4 steps, it has to be this one!  It is totally unacceptable!  No digital content is worth this, not even close!