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Star Citizen's Executive Producer might have quit the project

low-G

Member
The potential fallout of Star Citizen being bad would be devastating.

The fanboys alone would bring about the real world apocalypse!


This sort of news means little. I have huge doubts that it'll be any good, but this could be any game.
 

Arrage

Banned
The E3 PC Gaming show video was a spit in the face to all the people: NOTHING new was shown, some Mo-cap development action was the focus of the video. Don't waste people's time showing some last minute video (not even traveling to the event) revealing nothing new and only reassuring people that this is the glorious project.

Every time there is a SC thread people have no idea what is going on with the game. Space Flight Simulator, FPS Module, Three Campaign Chapters, persistent universe, MMO?... First campaign chapter was supposed to be out in 2015, but now maybe in late 2016. Other campaign chapters were in 2016/2017, are they on track for 2017/2018 now? FPS Module is delayed without a new date. Maybe persistent universe is going to be released, who knows. His brother is working on those story chapters... Are they pulling Colonial Marines on us? This whole confusion is probably a sign that Mr Roberts is lost in his own vision and games development.

Very low chance that the game delivers even with delays.
 
The E3 PC Gaming show video was a spit in the face to all the people: NOTHING new was shown, some Mo-cap development action was the focus of the video. Don't waste people's time showing some last minute video (not even traveling to the event) revealing nothing new and only reassuring people that this is the glorious project.

Every time there is a SC thread people have no idea what is going on with the game. Space Flight Simulator, FPS Module, Three Campaign Chapters, persistent universe, MMO?... First campaign chapter was supposed to be out in 2015, but now maybe in late 2016. Other campaign chapters were in 2016/2017, are they on track for 2017/2018 now? FPS Module is delayed without a new date. Maybe persistent universe is going to be released, who knows. His brother is working on those story chapters... Are they pulling Colonial Marines on us? This whole confusion is probably a sign that Mr Roberts is lost in his own vision and games development.

Very low chance that the game delivers even with delays.
Considering CIG was never scheduled for E3, the fact that there was even an e3 video at all was nice. Why is that a spit in the face?
 

_machine

Member
Off the top of my head, Capcom outsourced the entire engine work for resident evil code veronica to Nextech.
I know a few games where the whole multiplayer component was outsourced (I'm not sure if it's public information so I'll leave the names out for now, but I might take a look at it tomorrow if it's ok to mention by name). Also animation tech and mocap together has been outsourced completely in a few projects I know, and one of them didn't work out so well. Complete DLC pack outsourcing isn't unheard of either, for example some Borderlands DLC are done nearly completely by an outside studio (writing and general direction usually still comes from the IP holder, as well as QA).

It certainly isn't an uncommon thing, even if not the same kind of industry standard as art outsourcing.
 

Soi-Fong

Member
Wait, the story mode is now split into three? Was this always on the table? And SQ42 got delayed again? I thought this was supposed to release holiday 2015. That's another delay then...
 

Krejlooc

Banned
I know a few games where the whole multiplayer component was outsourced (I'm not sure if it's public information so I'll leave the names out for now, but I might take a look at it tomorrow if it's ok to mention by name). Also animation tech and mocap together has been outsourced completely in a few projects I know, and one of them didn't work out so well. Complete DLC pack outsourcing isn't unheard of either, for example some Borderlands DLC are done nearly completely by an outside studio (writing and general direction usually still comes from the IP holder, as well as QA).

It certainly isn't an uncommon thing, even if not the same kind of industry standard as art outsourcing.

Right, but the guy was asking for things beyond multiplayer components. Tose does lots of entire multiplayer components.

Infinite realities handles a lot of rigging and mo cap on contract for many big name studios.

And of course the most classic example in gaming - nintendo outsourced the entirety of Donkey Kong to a shadow developer. Nintendo didnt make Donkey Kong.
 

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
Squadron 42 is being split into 3 separate games. The first episode is being released next year. They're aiming to make it around 20 hours.

This is the first I've heard of this. When did they announce this?

I'm an original backer who keeps up with things fairly well I'd like to think, and the last I knew, Squadron 42 would be five episodes of 10 missions each, and each episode would be released in two-month intervals. The only thing that's changed with S42 has been its release date — it was supposed to be fall 2014, then moved to fall 2015, now I guess it's some unspecified time in 2016.


[edit] Okay, it's still fine. They just changed how they're naming it ("Episode 1" instead of just Squadron 42 and "Episode 2" instead of "Beyond Enemy Lines"), and they're adding a second expansion called Episode 3: http://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/31pk2q/for_those_confused_about_squadron_42_and_what/
 

Starviper

Member
My issue lately has been there has been nothing substantial from CIG for some time now. It was fun following along previously because once in awhile they would do a new commercial for one of the aircraft being developed. Now we're lucky if we get any new trailers at all.

I don't have a ton of interest in the development diaries and all the little details, I just want to see some trailers, some new gameplay, some movement on the MMO.. We were shown a planetary landing that was scripted once. What about landing on planets without a gigantic city?

My other big issue has been they've had some really shitty interface for adding / removing parts from your ships in the hangar before you go and fly around with them, and haven't bothered to update it at all. It's been the same way since the hangar originally came out. They know it sucks.
 

_machine

Member
Right, but the guy was asking for things beyond multiplayer components. Tose does lots of entire multiplayer components.

Infinite realities handles a lot of rigging and mo cap on contract for many big name studios.
Oops sorry, missed the "multiplayer" part totally. Though I would argue that multiplayer in itself is still a massive part of the product. Animation is a somewhat common one though, live services / backend / analytics is another where I've seen people work with outsourcing or freelancers to help build custom solutions on a game basis.
 

aliengmr

Member
So the process of game development isn't...easy?! Random things, like...happen?! I thought they just used magic, but clearly its a lengthy process that is subject to setbacks and issues, regardless of where the money came from.

This is the first I've heard of this. When did they announce this?

I'm an original backer who keeps up with things fairly well I'd like to think, and the last I knew, Squadron 42 would be five episodes of 10 missions each, and each episode would be released in two-month intervals. The only thing that's changed with S42 has been its release date — it was supposed to be fall 2014, then moved to fall 2015, now I guess it's some unspecified time in 2016.

Wasn't there a beta supposed to come out at the end of 2015?
 

KKRT00

Member
The E3 PC Gaming show video was a spit in the face to all the people: NOTHING new was shown, some Mo-cap development action was the focus of the video. Don't waste people's time showing some last minute video (not even traveling to the event) revealing nothing new and only reassuring people that this is the glorious project.

Every time there is a SC thread people have no idea what is going on with the game. Space Flight Simulator, FPS Module, Three Campaign Chapters, persistent universe, MMO?... First campaign chapter was supposed to be out in 2015, but now maybe in late 2016. Other campaign chapters were in 2016/2017, are they on track for 2017/2018 now? FPS Module is delayed without a new date. Maybe persistent universe is going to be released, who knows. His brother is working on those story chapters... Are they pulling Colonial Marines on us? This whole confusion is probably a sign that Mr Roberts is lost in his own vision and games development.

Very low chance that the game delivers even with delays.

Bollocks. They never said that or even plan S42 for a such late release.

And E3 video was actually nice from them. They denied being on conference, because Chris was still doing performance capture, but AMD put them on the list anyway.
They did video at last minute just to show some stuff to people.

----
My issue lately has been there has been nothing substantial from CIG for some time now. It was fun following along previously because once in awhile they would do a new commercial for one of the aircraft being developed. Now we're lucky if we get any new trailers at all.

I don't have a ton of interest in the development diaries and all the little details, I just want to see some trailers, some new gameplay, some movement on the MMO.. We were shown a planetary landing that was scripted once. What about landing on planets without a gigantic city?

My other big issue has been they've had some really shitty interface for adding / removing parts from your ships in the hangar before you go and fly around with them, and haven't bothered to update it at all. It's been the same way since the hangar originally came out. They know it sucks.
They will be on SDCC this Sunday, including Chris Roberts and they have big show planned for Gamescom which is exactly month and a day away from today.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Oops sorry, missed the "multiplayer" part totally. Though I would argue that multiplayer in itself is still a massive part of the product. Animation is a somewhat common one though, live services / backend / analytics is another where I've seen people work with outsourcing or freelancers to help build custom solutions on a game basis.

Right, in fact the mo cap studio I mentioned, infinite realities, is actually working on star citizen. They have done tons of other games, though.

Tose is probably the best known shadow developer, although there are plenty of others.
 

Zalusithix

Member
My issue lately has been there has been nothing substantial from CIG for some time now. It was fun following along previously because once in awhile they would do a new commercial for one of the aircraft being developed. Now we're lucky if we get any new trailers at all.

I don't have a ton of interest in the development diaries and all the little details, I just want to see some trailers, some new gameplay, some movement on the MMO.. We were shown a planetary landing that was scripted once. What about landing on planets without a gigantic city?

My other big issue has been they've had some really shitty interface for adding / removing parts from your ships in the hangar before you go and fly around with them, and haven't bothered to update it at all. It's been the same way since the hangar originally came out. They know it sucks.

The ship commercials were mostly serving as test beds for the tech they were implementing. There's no real point to continuing to do them just for the sake of doing them. Lord knows they got flak for doing them in the first place. "Why are they wasting money on that stuff instead of making the game?!?!" Can't win. Ever.
 

mnannola

Member
Bollocks. They never said that or even plan S42 for a such late release.

And E3 video was actually nice from them. They denied being on conference, because Chris was still doing performance capture, but AMD put them on the list anyway.
They did video at last minute just to show some stuff to people.

----

They will be on SDCC this Sunday, including Chris Roberts and they have big show planned for Gamescom which is exactly month and a day away from today.

Squadron 42 seems to use the FPS module quite a bit. If they can't get that in an acceptable state soon, than I imagine S42 will be pushed back for at least 6+ months. It's not crazy to think it won't come out until late 2016 at the rate they are going.
 

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
Wasn't there a beta supposed to come out at the end of 2015?

Haha, yep, basically. Well they moved to calling it a persistent universe alpha. Backers were going to get access to five systems at the end of this year. We'd be able to fly between them, land on a few planets or bases in them, go to the shops on those planets and bases ... try out a small-scale persistent universe, basically.

Now, who knows when that's going to come out. Sounds like they've made three systems with a planet in two of them (ArcCorp in Stanton System, Terra in Terra System) and an asteroid base in the third (Delamar in Nyx System). They're just putting the finishing touches on Delamar, going by the monthly reports. I presume those three systems will have a couple systems between them filled with nothing but jump points and maybe some asteroids or whatever. It's part of the major trade route between Earth and Terra that they've talked about in-fiction (Sol System is one jump from Stanton System).

As an aside, the persistent universe beta was supposed to come out December 2014, according to the Kickstarter. Squadron 42 was going to be considered the alpha test and was supposed to be out around September 2014.
 
People change jobs all the time and the idea that there are people stalking LinkedIn to find some BIG DRAMA SCOOPS is kind of scary tbh. It's bad enough when random forum posters do it but seeing the press doing this is uhhhh... making me consider deleting my own LinkedIn.

If Roberts left you'd have a real story :p
 

Starviper

Member
The ship commercials were mostly serving as test beds for the tech they were implementing. There's no real point to continuing to do them just for the sake of doing them. Lord knows they got flak for doing them in the first place. "Why are they wasting money on that stuff instead of making the game?!?!" Can't win. Ever.

Ahhh, fair enough. I just don't have a ton of interest in reading all the dev. diaries. I do read the monthly reports and it definitely sounds like they got a lot going on. I guess I enjoyed the trailers because they usually show off something new in them; I really liked the Constellation trailer because it shows off exploration in a really engaging way, for example.
 

Sijil

Member
i don't like that trend called early access gaming.

I would love to see ALL early access games fail :)

No thanks, the kickstarter/EA trend brought us Divinity, Pillars, Shadowrun etc... Countless brilliant games that wouldn't have happened otherwise. Sure some games turned out to be crap or failed to deliver or failed to complete at all but it's not a reflection of the whole process, not even the majority of it and in the end that's life, shit happens.
 

Zalusithix

Member
Ahhh, fair enough. I just don't have a ton of interest in reading all the dev. diaries. I do read the monthly reports and it definitely sounds like they got a lot going on. I guess I enjoyed the trailers because they usually show off something new in them; I really liked the Constellation trailer because it shows off exploration in a really engaging way, for example.

Oh, I enjoyed them too - warts and all. There will be one for the Retaliator eventually. It was put on hold to focus on S42, but it'll eventually be done. I'm pretty sure that'll be the last of them though.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
i don't like that trend called early access gaming.

I would love to see ALL early access games fail :)
That doesn't make any sense whatsoever, like, so many awesome projects were made with early access, in some cases entire communities were formed, see dayz.
 

KKRT00

Member
Squadron 42 seems to use the FPS module quite a bit. If they can't get that in an acceptable state soon, than I imagine S42 will be pushed back for at least 6+ months. It's not crazy to think it won't come out until late 2016 at the rate they are going.

They arent working in waterfall. S42 is mostly developed in Manchester, not in Denver.
FPS modules has problems mostly with look and feel of animations, which are unrelated to gameplay modules and with online code, which is also irrelevant to SP campaign.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
No thanks, the kickstarter/EA trend brought us Divinity, Pillars, Shadowrun etc... Countless brilliant games that wouldn't have happened otherwise. Sure some games turned out to be crap or failed to deliver or failed to complete at all but it's not a reflection of the whole process, not even the majority of it and in the end that's life, shit happens.

look at all the early access survival games on steam and tell me this is NOT getting out of hand :)
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
In other news, key members of Naughty Dog quit while working on Uncharted 4...Uncharted 4 is still being made.

If Naughty Dog was run by a guy with a history of over promising and under-delivering, and was spending tens of millions of dollars to fund 6 different studios working on vastly different game designs in the hopes of cobbling it all together eventually, with endless feature creep and no release date, I would say Uncharted 4 would be in trouble.
 

tuxfool

Banned
If Naughty Dog was run by a guy with a history of over promising and under-delivering, and was spending tens of millions of dollars to fund 6 different studios working on vastly different game designs in the hopes of cobbling it all together eventually, with endless feature creep and no release date, I would say Uncharted 4 would be in trouble.

Alas, that is not what is being argued here. What is being argued is that one or two people leaving means the project is doomed.
 

KKRT00

Member
If Naughty Dog was run by a guy with a history of over promising and under-delivering, and was spending tens of millions of dollars to fund 6 different studios working on vastly different game designs in the hopes of cobbling it all together eventually, with endless feature creep and no release date, I would say Uncharted 4 would be in trouble.

Instead they are doing completely by the book standard cinematic game for about $40m and it takes them about as long as Star Citizen.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
It isn't a survival game...

you-dont-say-FB.jpg
 

Krejlooc

Banned
If Naughty Dog was run by a guy with a history of over promising and under-delivering, and was spending tens of millions of dollars to fund 6 different studios working on vastly different game designs in the hopes of cobbling it all together eventually, with endless feature creep and no release date, I would say Uncharted 4 would be in trouble.

I like how chris roberts now suddenly has a history of "over promising and under delivering."
 

Soi-Fong

Member
Instead they are doing completely by the book standard cinematic game for about $40m and it takes them about as long as Star Citizen.

"By the book..?" I think that applies more to Rise of the Tomb Raider than Uncharted 4. Don't down Uncharted 4, when it's furthest from "by the book."

It's completely understandable the skepticism people have from this game with the constant delays, seeming lack of progress, design changes, ship transactions, etc
 

Sijil

Member
look at all the early access survival games on steam and tell me this is NOT getting out of hand :)

It's NOT getting out of hand because people buy them, they want them, there's a market for that sort of thing and developers are obliging, no one is forcing anyone into anything here. Second those games are irrelevant to the fact that EA and kickstarter in general have helped some of the best games to come to light, game which would've never have happened without them.

Have you ever heard of Freelancer?

A single game which turned out to be awesome regardless is history now? Never mind the fact that he left Microsoft because they didn't allow him to make the game he wanted. Freelancer remains just one game while he also delivered on the entire Wing Commander Saga and Strike Commander.
 
Instead they are doing completely by the book standard cinematic game for about $40m and it takes them about as long as Star Citizen.
Lmao "completely by the book standard" you cannot be serious. No need to shit on uncharted because star citizens development looks problematic.
 

Arrage

Banned
Considering CIG was never scheduled for E3, the fact that there was even an e3 video at all was nice. Why is that a spit in the face?

If you break down the video, it was an ad for the game which rode on the PC Master Race, evil publishers and community focused bandwagons. Yet, it showed very little game. It looked like a behind-the-scenes video that is released with the actual trailer, but there was no trailer. Also there wasn't anything announcement worthy in the video, which defeats the point: no game shown, no new info, nothing announced, same old message. Perhaps I should blame PC Gaming Show for forcing a CIG video message.

Bollocks. They never said that or even plan S42 for a such late release.

Well, I might have put that extra word, but I think that nobody expects it before 2016. However, even with the early 2016 release, it would leave very little room for the second chapter same year. Look at Doublefine and how much time they took to release a much less complex two chapter game.

I think most people are disappointed in the fact that this game is not just another community funded game. It ultimately decides whether high-budget games are worth kickstarting. And from what we have seen so far, it is a fairly big mess from the developers' side.
 

mclem

Member
i don't like that trend called early access gaming.

I would love to see ALL early access games fail :)

Possibly the biggest non-AAA franchise in gaming right now - Minecraft - was originally funded as an indie through a form of early access.

I think you might not get your wish.
 

Taruranto

Member
This thing reminds me of the Ouya kickstarter, it's an obvious trainwreck waiting to happen, and yet some people refuse to see it.
 

Zalusithix

Member
I think most people are disappointed in the fact that this game is not just another community funded game. It ultimately decides whether high-budget games are worth kickstarting. And from what we have seen so far, it is a fairly big mess from the developers' side.

The bigger the project, the bigger the mess is going to be. People just aren't used to seeing the mess first hand. People see a game a bit before it goes on sale, and if they hear anything about it at all before then, it's due to NDAs being broken. Star Citizen is the first big budget (AAA level) game where everything has been open from the get go. It's also the most ambitious of all the crowdfunded games by a large margin. Yeah, shit is going to happen.
 

KKRT00

Member
"By the book..?" I think that applies more to Rise of the Tomb Raider than Uncharted 4. Don't down Uncharted 4, when it's furthest from "by the book."

It's completely understandable the skepticism people have from this game with the constant delays, seeming lack of progress, design changes, ship transactions, etc
Lmao "completely by the book standard" you cannot be serious. No need to shit on uncharted because star citizens development looks problematic.

Its completely by the book cinematic game with greater polish.
You know what game is not by the book? Dishonored for example. Compare Dishonored to Uncharted in terms of gameplay depth and structure and get back to me with this 'not by the book'
---
Well, I might have put that extra word, but I think that nobody expects it before 2016. However, even with the early 2016 release, it would leave very little room for the second chapter same year. Look at Doublefine and how much time they took to release a much less complex two chapter game.

I think most people are disappointed in the fact that this game is not just another community funded game. It ultimately decides whether high-budget games are worth kickstarting. And from what we have seen so far, it is a fairly big mess from the developers' side.
I get that second chapter can be delayed, but saying that first chapter was pushed to late 2016 is just missinformation.
And Double Fine doesnt have 350 developers.
 
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