How long until it's mostly complete?

[dizmo]

Ok, so I'm sure this question gets asked a lot, but I'm hoping some of you have a solid answer.

 

• When is the best time to buy into the game?
  Are there launch road maps?
• When will it be "complete"?
  I know it's technically never going to be complete, but I mean complete as in what they promised in the initial campaign.

 

Freelancer was one of my favorite games, and this is basically like the multiplayer version they had for that, but more advanced. I can't wait to play this, but there's no way I'm going to invest my money into something that may never see itself finished. I have no faith in Chris Roberts.

[Techicolors]

here's a good idea of the progress of the game. i believe it's updated, not sure how often https://starcitizentracker.github.io

[dizmo]

22 minutes ago, Technicolors said:

here's a good idea of the progress of the game. i believe it's updated, not sure how often https://starcitizentracker.github.io

Haha oy. That doesn't look too promising.

[Wauthar]

In previous presentations, Chris has shown us an extensive roadmap for 3.0 and beyond, but I can't find those slides very easy at this time.

There is, however, this update/news post from Jan 5th, which has some information what 2018 will bring https://robertsspaceindustries.com/Schedule-report-05012018

 

No exact dates will ever be used anymore, because CIG got burned by not delivering previous updates 'on time'

For when it will be 'complete', define complete The game is still in an Alpha state and no one knows when it will be launched fully. It is still playable, though. No too long ago 3.0 came out and I heard it can be a lot of fun.

[Helly]

12 hours ago, dizmo said:

 I have no faith in Chris Roberts.

if you have no faith in him... move on, forget about this game and wait till you read something about the game being complete.

12 hours ago, Technicolors said:

here's a good idea of the progress of the game. i believe it's updated, not sure how often https://starcitizentracker.github.io

that is a terrible idea of the progress, at a quick glance i saw dozens of things that are just plain wrong on there... as far as i can tell that is just 1 person's opinion on the progress of the game, cant tell if its a hater or not but does kinda look like it...

[Techicolors]

3 hours ago, Helly said:

if you have no faith in him... move on, forget about this game and wait till you read something about the game being complete.

that is a terrible idea of the progress, at a quick glance i saw dozens of things that are just plain wrong on there... as far as i can tell that is just 1 person's opinion on the progress of the game, cant tell if its a hater or not but does kinda look like it...

yeah it's not the best report on the game's progress. i noticed that updates stopped in November 2017.

[dalekphalm]

On 1/10/2018 at 6:21 PM, dizmo said:

Ok, so I'm sure this question gets asked a lot, but I'm hoping some of you have a solid answer.

 

• When is the best time to buy into the game?
  Are there launch road maps?
• When will it be "complete"?
  I know it's technically never going to be complete, but I mean complete as in what they promised in the initial campaign.

 

Freelancer was one of my favorite games, and this is basically like the multiplayer version they had for that, but more advanced. I can't wait to play this, but there's no way I'm going to invest my money into something that may never see itself finished. I have no faith in Chris Roberts.

So starting with 2018, they are planning on Quarterly releases for major updates (3.0 being the latest major update). We should expect 4.0 by the end of 2018, which will be another huge update that is slated to introduce multiple solar systems, finally expanding the Alpha to something of a semblance of what the final game is intended to look like.

 

Personally, I'd expect another year before the game is close enough to complete to enter Beta, and another 2 years until public release.

 

Also, we may see Squadron 42 (the Single Player "game" for Star Citizen) released sooner - I'd guess 6-12 months from now.

 

That's just my own assumption though. So take with a grain of salt.

 

My opinion is that if you're on the fence? Just wait. They don't need your money, so just let them work on the game, and periodically follow progress if you are interested.

[dizmo]

On 1/11/2018 at 2:37 AM, Wauthar said:

In previous presentations, Chris has shown us an extensive roadmap for 3.0 and beyond, but I can't find those slides very easy at this time.

There is, however, this update/news post from Jan 5th, which has some information what 2018 will bring https://robertsspaceindustries.com/Schedule-report-05012018

 

No exact dates will ever be used anymore, because CIG got burned by not delivering previous updates 'on time'

For when it will be 'complete', define complete The game is still in an Alpha state and no one knows when it will be launched fully. It is still playable, though. No too long ago 3.0 came out and I heard it can be a lot of fun.

Ahhh thanks! I always hate it when I can't find sites and articles that I've previously read. That's more or less what I was looking for though.

I don't believe in buying into something quite that early. Once they're closer to a beta, I'll be more interested in dropping that kind of cash.

On 1/11/2018 at 4:41 AM, Helly said:

if you have no faith in him... move on, forget about this game and wait till you read something about the game being complete.

That doesn't really give me any idea of when it'll be complete though, now does it?

8 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

So starting with 2018, they are planning on Quarterly releases for major updates (3.0 being the latest major update). We should expect 4.0 by the end of 2018, which will be another huge update that is slated to introduce multiple solar systems, finally expanding the Alpha to something of a semblance of what the final game is intended to look like.

 

Personally, I'd expect another year before the game is close enough to complete to enter Beta, and another 2 years until public release.

 

Also, we may see Squadron 42 (the Single Player "game" for Star Citizen) released sooner - I'd guess 6-12 months from now.

 

That's just my own assumption though. So take with a grain of salt.

 

My opinion is that if you're on the fence? Just wait. They don't need your money, so just let them work on the game, and periodically follow progress if you are interested.

Eh, single player doesn't interest me too much. That was supposed to be included with the original game anyway wasn't it? I remember my friend who backed it early was super pissed when they announced that it'd be a separate product.

 

Quarterly releases would be good though. It seems like they got a good chunk of it out with the last one, so if they keep up the same pace it'll be going along quite nicely. I'm still shocked at how much money they've managed to collect. Hopefully they manage to get a lot of what they've set out to done. I get the feeling they keep biting off more than they can chew...

 

What's the best place to follow progress? Just the site?

[Helly]

Having no faith in the man who is supposed to make it all happen means, in my eyes at least, you have no faith in the game ever being finished. So why does a date even matter to you.

 

they’re biting off more they can chew? Congratulations, you just joined the haters group, having fun over there? They’ve all been saying that since the moment development started.

 

The progress can be easiest followed on the schedule report on the site. Which has not been updated since 3.0 was released. It will be updated when the new site is launched later this month.

they also WON’T get a lot of “it” done. They’ll get ALL of it done. Chris won’t stop until it’s all done. But i guess since you have no faith in him, you think they’ll scrap some stuff.... well there’s no EA breathing down their neck so that won’t happen.

 

my reaction is like this cuz im sick of the haters spewing their crap on here, so maybe kinda sorry about that? Maybe? 

 

[Wauthar]

16 hours ago, dizmo said:

What's the best place to follow progress? Just the site?

CIG is doing a weekly recap of everything that happened on YouTube called Around the Verse. Often they cover very interesting topics and highlight certain aspects of the game and the people behind it.

There is also the monthly report that gets posted on the website every, well..., month.

[dalekphalm]

18 hours ago, dizmo said:

Ahhh thanks! I always hate it when I can't find sites and articles that I've previously read. That's more or less what I was looking for though.

I don't believe in buying into something quite that early. Once they're closer to a beta, I'll be more interested in dropping that kind of cash.

That doesn't really give me any idea of when it'll be complete though, now does it?

Eh, single player doesn't interest me too much. That was supposed to be included with the original game anyway wasn't it? I remember my friend who backed it early was super pissed when they announced that it'd be a separate product.

 

Quarterly releases would be good though. It seems like they got a good chunk of it out with the last one, so if they keep up the same pace it'll be going along quite nicely. I'm still shocked at how much money they've managed to collect. Hopefully they manage to get a lot of what they've set out to done. I get the feeling they keep biting off more than they can chew...

 

What's the best place to follow progress? Just the site?

As far as I know, any original backers will get both Star Citizen and SQ42 when they become available.

 

So SQ42 being a separate game? I really don't know, on a practical level, how much that will matter. Will they be separate purchases? Separate launchers? Will they still be integrated in some manner?

 

I don't know the answer to these questions. Will it even matter if they are "separate" games, if original backers still get both for the price they paid anyway?

 

I'm not that worried about them biting off more than they can chew. Some time ago they pretty much finalized on "final" features and scope. Any new features they introduce at this point, are simply ways to solve existing problems (Eg: When they added the Mobi-Glass in-game UI - that wasn't part of the original scope, so one could say it's a new "feature", but on the other hand, UI needs to exist, and it's a good way to do it).

 

So, everything from the past... year? or so? And anything on-going, will be towards existing goals and scope.

 

That will likely eventually change, once they're at or near public release, and they want to start thinking about long term sustainability and brand new post-release content, but we're quite a ways away from that.

 

I think the best way to keep informed is to subscribe to their official YouTube channel, which puts out periodic (weekly I think) update videos on progress on various topics, and check their site every now and then, which posts timelines, schedules, and progress reports.

 

Alternatively, there are a bunch of YouTube channels dedicated to posting news and updates, but I don't follow any of them.

[dizmo]

20 hours ago, Helly said:

Having no faith in the man who is supposed to make it all happen means, in my eyes at least, you have no faith in the game ever being finished. So why does a date even matter to you.

 

they’re biting off more they can chew? Congratulations, you just joined the haters group, having fun over there? They’ve all been saying that since the moment development started.

 

The progress can be easiest followed on the schedule report on the site. Which has not been updated since 3.0 was released. It will be updated when the new site is launched later this month.

they also WON’T get a lot of “it” done. They’ll get ALL of it done. Chris won’t stop until it’s all done. But i guess since you have no faith in him, you think they’ll scrap some stuff.... well there’s no EA breathing down their neck so that won’t happen.

 

my reaction is like this cuz im sick of the haters spewing their crap on here, so maybe kinda sorry about that? Maybe?

Because, as I said, I'm interested, and if there was a more concrete date I'd like to know it. Why do you think I asked?

I didn't join the haters. If I had, I wouldn't even have asked.

Sometimes creative people need someone like EA breathing down their neck, or they stray too far off track. Creative people aren't always the most logical.

You sure make a lot of assumptions. I think you should be less attached to something as trivial as a piece of software. You act like someone's insulting your mother.

8 hours ago, Wauthar said:

CIG is doing a weekly recap of everything that happened on YouTube called Around the Verse. Often they cover very interesting topics and highlight certain aspects of the game and the people behind it.

There is also the monthly report that gets posted on the website every, well..., month.

Haha, thanks!

5 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

-snip-

I think the best way to keep informed is to subscribe to their official YouTube channel, which puts out periodic (weekly I think) update videos on progress on various topics, and check their site every now and then, which posts timelines, schedules, and progress reports.

 

Alternatively, there are a bunch of YouTube channels dedicated to posting news and updates, but I don't follow any of them.

I think this game is a lot more interesting for the multiplayer aspect anyway, so the single player campaign/standalone means little to me

 

Are they going to start on these additional features before finishing the core of the game? That's more what I meant by biting off more than they can chew. I'm all for adding more features...just finish the ones you've already laid out! That Star Citizen Tracker site shows what I mean; you can see the features balloon as the timeline goes forward. Granted a lot of them were bound to happen, but there's loads that weren't originally discussed.

 

It's been an interesting view into a games development, that's for sure. I don't think any other companies will follow the same model though, a bit too much drama

 

[dalekphalm]

10 hours ago, dizmo said:

Because, as I said, I'm interested, and if there was a more concrete date I'd like to know it. Why do you think I asked?

I didn't join the haters. If I had, I wouldn't even have asked.

Sometimes creative people need someone like EA breathing down their neck, or they stray too far off track. Creative people aren't always the most logical.

You sure make a lot of assumptions. I think you should be less attached to something as trivial as a piece of software. You act like someone's insulting your mother.

Haha, thanks!

I think this game is a lot more interesting for the multiplayer aspect anyway, so the single player campaign/standalone means little to me

 

Are they going to start on these additional features before finishing the core of the game? That's more what I meant by biting off more than they can chew. I'm all for adding more features...just finish the ones you've already laid out! That Star Citizen Tracker site shows what I mean; you can see the features balloon as the timeline goes forward. Granted a lot of them were bound to happen, but there's loads that weren't originally discussed.

 

It's been an interesting view into a games development, that's for sure. I don't think any other companies will follow the same model though, a bit too much drama

 

No one can really say if they'll finish the "core" of the game first.

 

Their main goals at this point are fleshing out the current Solar System, expanding new areas/bases/locations within it, and getting the economy rolling.

 

Once they get one system down nailed, they're planning on expanding systems. This is where things get fuzzy for me (for how much work it will involve). The existing system was basically hand crafted completely, including pretty much all locations, planets, moons, etc.

 

Will they hand craft all the other systems? My understanding is that by hand crafting this one, they've developed tools along the way that will make creating new systems significantly quickly. I also assume (no confirmation on this) that they will use some sort of procedural generation for at least the basis of some of the other systems.

 

I also don't recall how many playable systems they plan on doing - originally it was gonna be 20-something, but that number could be much higher now.

[Helly]

the procedural planet tech has been discussed in video's quite a few times now. So yes that has been confirmed, you can't do something of this scope without it. The same will be done with cities, the tech of which has also been shown already.

 

the amount of playable system has been 100 since pretty much the beginning as it was a stretch goal (at $6 mil even.). So i don't know where you get ur confirmation from but this all can be found on either their website or the youtube channel ;).

The systems can also all be found on the star map.... even the history of a lot of them can be found on the youtube channel (loremakers guide to the galaxy ;)). The only thing i don't know right now is if the star map is complete (meaning all the intended star systems on it) or not.

[LaughingCheeze]

On 1/10/2018 at 3:54 PM, dizmo said:

Haha oy. That doesn't look too promising.

If you really want to follow the games progress, channels like this and this are great to keep an eye on. For myself, I bought it when 3.0 came out and while I have terrible performance, not everyone necessarily does. I also expect updates to be more frequent with this new "Delta Patcher" system. 

I suspect it will take a lot to make this game actually fail at this point. What the delays have been about are 1. building and expanding expansive studios from the ground up both here and in the UK, 2. building all the low level systems like procedural planet tech and AI subsumption. One of those channels had mentioned the subsumption as taking the longest to implement, and is likely what is holding back the game as a whole. 

 

Keep in mind they have basically reworked the engine so much it is now colloquially called the "Star Engine." Most of what this game needs the engine to do it wasn't originally designed for. On top of that, they also switched from the CryEngine to Lumberyard, which is basically Amazon's version of CryEngine. All of this takes time.

[KevinTipcorn]

 

On 21/01/2018 at 11:44 PM, LaughingCheeze said:

Keep in mind they have basically reworked the engine so much it is now colloquially called the "Star Engine." Most of what this game needs the engine to do it wasn't originally designed for. On top of that, they also switched from the CryEngine to Lumberyard, which is basically Amazon's version of CryEngine. All of this takes time.

they said the switch to lumberyard took only 2 days.  I was amazed.

[dalekphalm]

22 minutes ago, KevinTipcorn said:

 

they said the switch to lumberyard took only 2 days.  I was amazed.

That’s because Lumberyard IS CryEngine. At least, fundamentally. 

 

Amazon licensed CryEngine in order to develop Lumberyard. There are no doubt differences, but I don’t know if there is anything that compares the two to see how divergent Lumberyard is. 

[Corwin111]

15 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

That’s because Lumberyard IS CryEngine. At least, fundamentally. 

 

Amazon licensed CryEngine in order to develop Lumberyard. There are no doubt differences, but I don’t know if there is anything that compares the two to see how divergent Lumberyard is. 

Afaik, lumberyard makes it easier to work with higher poly models and higher number of LODs and - most importantly for SC - larger environments. Cryengine was developed with classic sky boxes in mind, nobody expected it to be used for open-world stuff. Especially not on this scale! You could fit all crysis levels ever made, along with their skyboxes into the current SC Alpha's Stanton system a million times over and have room to spare.

 

But the biggest differences are in the networking and close integration with AWS, which is also the reason they moved to AWS from google cloud.