Chris Roberts Star Citizen

[Stormprooter]

I'm still impressed at how CIG always prefer taking the risk getting flamed for delaying stuff instead of pulling typical AAA developer/publisher mentality of rushing in the release no matter how 'broken' it's currently is. At least, they're pretty quick at fixing those things too. Far better to fix the bugs and delay the release, rather than push out a buggy client and have to deal with a load of bug reports and complaints that they already know about.I am still disappointed in the delay, naturally so, but the complaining backlash on the CIG forums is not in any way productive. Anyway, hoping CIG get things sorted as soon as is practical.

[Pinback]

I RSI are stuck between a rock and hard place, what ever they do they going to get criticized for it. Very short trailer for Arena which is not showing much. 

[MV2000]

Official announcement[url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13909-Arena-Commander-Launched[/url]

[Pinback]

Don't think I will be downloading it anytime soon as I see that 10 GB installer/patch thing has to be done first. Any how I see that their is the usual whinging going on about it on the net, never understand why people buy into these Alpha game then some how expect them to finished on the first release.  Couple of vids about the controls. 

[Pinback]

And they are at the $45 million mark [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13930-Letter-From-The-Chairman-45-Million[/url] We’ve hit $45 million in crowd funding, so I think it’s safe to say that the Freelancer is a winner! I think the Freelancer is a great microcosm of the Star Citizen experience. Backers chose the original design during the initial campaign, they petitioned us to update the cockpit… and now here it is, beautifully finished in your Hangars with a full set of variants. This isn’t just a ship you helped pay for: it’s a ship you helped create.At $45 million, you’ve unlocked one of our backer-selected rewards, the mysterious Hadesian artifact. We have some cool plans for exactly what this will kick off in the Persistent Universe… but you’ll have to explore that aspect of the game yourself! Here are the details:Hadesian Artifact – The mystery of what happened in Hades has been one of the great archeological puzzles ever since the system was discovered in the early 26th Century. The evidence suggests that the Hadesians nearly erased their entire civilization in devastating civil war that left a planet cracked in half, but so many questions remained. Who were these Hadesians? How did the war get started? Over the centuries, even the public became enamored by the mystery of this system. This curiosity was inflamed when scientists recently discovered a lone Hadesian artifact on the black market of all places. Trinket manufacturers quickly tried to capitalize on the resurgence of interest by building exact copies of the artifact for sale to the public, even replicating the unidentified symbols along the base…For your final ‘flare’ reward, you’ve voted for the “Engine Tuning Kit.” Here’s the newly-unlocked official description:Engine Tuning Kit – Wilkes & Federman MaxTune Kit has become one of the best-selling starter kits for the discerning home enthusiast. Featured in Whitley’s latest Steal of the Year issue, this kit comes with everything the fledgling engineer needs to take a deeper look into the mechanics of their engine. With a Tap Analyzer, you will be able to view your engine’s current output and energy draw numbers in an easy and comprehensible way. Use the thirty-eight piece omnitool to access your engine to start tweaking. Wilkes & Federman is not responsible for damage incurred after tuning your engine. Please consult with manufacturer’s warranty before performing work.I hope you’re enjoying your Freelancers, and that you like today’s commercial. As you know, our initial plan was to produce brochures and commercials for the first set of pledge ships. You’ve seen the Aurora, 300i, Hornet and Freelancer now, and the Constellation and Cutlass are in production.For the next ‘player reward’ stretch goal, I’d like to add another commercial to that lineup… and I’d like to leave the choice up to you! Please vote below to pick which of Star Citizen’s second wave of ships should be the focus of the next commercial we develop.As always, thank you for your incredible support! Enjoy Arena Commander, and stay tuned as we perfect dogfighting and roll out even bigger parts of the Star Citizen universe.— Chris Roberts New Freelancer variants out as well [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13926-Introducing-The-Freelancer-Line-Up[/url] Three additional versions of Freelancer are being launched today:The Freelancer DUR is a long-duration explorer ship, specifically outfitted for exploring strange new worlds!Go big, or go home: Freelancer MAX is the line’s dedicated hauler, with additional cargo space for merchant captains!The Freelancer MIS is the heavy hitter of the line: a powerful missile boat designed for use by the UEE military and now available for civilian operators! Still a butt ugly looking ship. :haha: And that commercial for the Freelancer. 

[auryx]

Butt uglyl?!? That's my ship you're talking about, flyboy! Tempted to purchase the DUR upgrade. It's all about the exploration  auryx

[Geraldine]

I will stick with the Max, have a 315P for exploring

[Pinback]

Butt uglyl?!? That's my ship you're talking about, flyboy! :biggrin: Same here but it still looks like a Toad :haha: Temped by the Max one.

[Geraldine]

Well it's been called worse than that! :girlcrazy: At the end of the day I bought it as a bread & butter ship. Its the thing that makes the money to run the other ships and its also one of the biggest ships you can get that can be flown alone effectively. I think the Starfarer is the other, but that was crazy money. The Max variant should be able to cart enough crap to get me by in the game.

[Stormprooter]

AC is unplayable with my X52 HOTAS :(Please don't tell me it's a config issue, because it isn't - it's an issue with response curves and non-linearity specific to the standard X52.I really don't want to have to play the game with a gamepad or a mouse - that's just not my bag. Hoping it gets fixed in the next patch (which CIG have said it should be) Until then, they can keep their shiny sparkly ships and other gimmicks. Apologies if the above is a bit more negative than usual - I think I'm getting grumpy in my old age, and I am tiring rather quickly of the CIG hype-machine.

[Pinback]

Has not done their funding they are upto $46 million now [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13944-Letter-From-The-Chairman-46-Million[/url] n my last letter, just a few days ago, I wrote that the Freelancer seems to be a hit. Let’s modify that: at $46 million, we have solid proof that our “interstellar pickup truck” is a superstar! Thank you for your support. It’s especially gratifying to see that backers are interested in roles beyond traditional space combat; the success of the trading and exploration-oriented Freelancer is a good reminder that Arena Commander is just our first step into building a living universe!The $46 million stretch goal is one of the player-voted in-game rewards. Here are the details:Updated Scanning Software – Chimera Communications unveiled the latest version of their SBit scanning software, also announcing a one-time free upgrade for their current and long-standing customers. The new SBit upgrade offers advanced scanning capabilities for prospecting asteroids above and beyond their baseline systems. SBit is a FIB-based system that floods the scan-zone with energy then processes the frequency of the energy reflected back, providing the operator with a composite sketch of potential ore deposits. With the new version, Chimera included an updated library of searchable frequencies as well as variable scan sizes, allowing smaller surface, higher-resolution scans. The general public will be able to purchase the update when SBit is officially released.The winner of the last letter’s commercial poll is the Retaliator! (It was neck and neck with the Avenger until pulling away at the last minute.) As a result, it will be the next commercial we put into production following the Constellation and Cutlass. Our writers are already busy imagining how to put together a cool and different commercial for the bomber!In honor of the poll, I’d like to share a couple of images of the Retaliator. You’re looking at an in-engine shot of an early model and a view of the internal weapons bay. These images are actually a few weeks old; I’ve asked the team in the UK to put together a small Retaliator gallery to show you the current status. That will be available tomorrow.This brings me to the topic of stretch goals. When we started the Star Citizen campaign, the purpose of the stretch goals was to make things we had imagined but didn’t think we could afford possible: adding capital ship systems, studying procedural generation, hiring additional artists to build more ships at once and the like. The additional funding continues to expand the scope of the game and make what we’re doing possible… but it’s becoming more and more difficult to quantify that with more stretch goals (and to explain that to the rest of the world, which likes to focus only on how much money we’ve made.)My preference would be to use these letters going forward to update you on what we’re already doing with the money; sharing additional parts of Star Citizen’s development. We would also continue to award flare and other extras to our backers as we hit milestones, whether they’re funding or schedule-related. If we discover additional technologies or come up with new elements to the game’s design we want to incorporate, we’ll let you know about those as they happen. But this is a decision for the community: let me know what you think in the poll below.— Chris Roberts 

[Pinback]

Also a new patch for Arena which looks like it address some of the issues [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13945-Arena-Commander-Patch-Available[/url] PLEASE NOTE: You must now press tab to show the cursor when the Arena Commander menu is open in the cockpit.New Features/FixesVanduul no longer show as committing suicide when defeating them with missilesAdded “Invert Flight Mouse” and “Invert Flight Controller” options to game settings screenHelmet animation plays when putting on the helmet nowEjection now counts towards player deathAdded an expanded X52 mappingLighting fixes for AMD machinesImproved Aurora mount/dismount/idle animationIncreased fuel tank capacity to allow for longer afterburner useImproved Thruster AnimationsImproved Holoship destructionPlayer is now able to access the scoreboard whilst waiting on respawnImprovements on overlapping ship audio SFXFixed crashes when match round ends300i seat animations now added and improvedEntering 300i and Aurora with your helmet now displays the HUD on the helmetRemoved debug text from X55 HOTAS in key binding menuKnown Issues Hangar:Buggy can only move when using boost in the business hangarAudio missing from legacy Aurora control panels when sit/standing in pilot seatCF-117 Badger repeater geometry becomes offset when fired from firing rangeRed replace me ball shown beneath DFM Trainer HornetTexture z-fighting appearing in DFM Trainer Aurora cockpitThird person camera view can roll using Q and E Vanduul swarmAurora boost level decreases when not using boostBoost level not shown while flying 300iMultiplayerAurora boost level only shown as decreasing after first deathOther ships can appear to rotate when they actually are notScoreboard info not shown if round ends while outside of ship 

[Pinback]

Roberts interview with Gamespot from a couple of days ago. 

[Pinback]

New ship? some thing called a Xi'An Scout [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13954-XiAn-Scout-Available[/url] Greetings Citizens,We are excited to announce that the first concept model of the Xi’An Khartu-al scout is now available !As part of the development process, our artists first create a ‘concept model’ to show how a ship will work before beginning work on the finished game-ready mesh. That’s what you’re seeing today: the concept model for the scout that lets us see how its unusual thruster configurations, cockpit, landing gear and more will function!Here’s the original description of the Scout from the Stretch Goal that added it. The goal is to build alien ships that fly totally differently than those you already know; something that Star Citizen’s robust physics simulation allows us to do!The Khartu is the light attack craft of the Xi’An military. Contrary to Human ship design, the Khartu doesn’t have a traditional main thruster, instead featuring an array of maneuvering thrusters on articulated rigs. This design allows for incredible agility, making them the bane of UEE pilots, who bestowed the nickname ‘Quark’ because when all of the thrusters are firing, the ship looks like a spark flying through space. The Xi’An Aopoa corporation also manufactures an export model, the Khartu-al, for sale to human civilians as a dedicated scout/explorer. The export model features the same Xi’An maneuvering rig, but control surfaces modified for human use and a more limited armament.We’ve also found some rough footage from a UEE reconnaissance drone, available below; this is a pre-viz of how the Khartu should function in-game!Xi’An Scout concept saleWant your own scout? The Aopoa Corporation has made another allotment available for the export market! They’re not ready for the Hangar or Arena Commander yet, but we’re adding them to the pledge store for this week (through Friday, June 27.) Get yours now and you can be the first to fly when it’s ready!Xi’An Scout The Khartu is the light attack craft of the Xi’An military.Press here to purchase. Video of it  You know me thinks some one at RSI has been watching the lost in space film. 

[Guest]

PINBACK wrote:
New ship? some thing called a Xi'An Scout
They were selling Scouts already in November

[Pinback]

They were selling Scouts already in NovemberI believe you are right but was it not just a pre order? back in Nov. Forgot to post about this, about the flight model and controls in the game apparently their was some shouting going on about it. [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13951-Flight-Model-And-Input-Controls[/url] It’s really great to see so many of you taking to space to try out the first taste of what space combat will be in Star Citizen. I, like the rest of the team have been avidly watching the Twitch streams of backers playing and reading the forums for your feedback. Two of the hot topics of debate have been the Flight Model and the advantage or disadvantage of various input devices. So I thought I would take a moment of your time to share some insight on the two topics.Flight ModelMost space games (including my past ones) greatly simplify the simulation, usually as an atmospheric flight model without gravity and air resistance – ships have predefined pitch, roll and yaw rates, linear acceleration (that is applied to a simplified point mass) and a capped top speed. When you want to turn, the joystick or mouse input is mapped directly to the specified turn rate irrelevant of the ship’s moment of inertia. Damage is usually handled as a multiplier on the turn rates and linear acceleration.Star Citizen doesn’t do that. We model what would be needed on an actual spaceship, including correct application of thrust at the places where the thrusters are attached to the hull of the ship – in our model moment of inertia, mass changes and counter thrust are VERY necessary. Star Citizen’s physical simulation of spaceflight is based on what would actually happen in space.There were a couple of reasons why we went this direction –1. Because we were planning on modeling and simulating spaceships with a fidelity that hadn’t been seen before I felt we needed a simulation that would let the player have different flight behavior if a thruster is damaged, a wing is blown off or a pilot overloads his ship with weapons and ammunition? I wanted a system that could feel distinct for a huge variety of ships, with wildly different sizes and roles because in Star Citizen you can go from a single seater ship 15 meters in length to a huge capital ship over 1km in size crewed by many players. I wanted these ships to come with their own identity and feel much like similar sized cars, even if equivalent in mass can feel radically different. I wanted ships to have their own personality – not just a slower of faster version of the base ship.2. The second is that Star Citizen will have a significant amount of player vs. player combat. I don’t know how many people played Wing Commander Armada (the first Wing Commander game to feature multiplayer) but it wasn’t that much fun in battle mode (the head to head mode). When you design a single player game you can deliberately dumb down the AI to allow the player to get on the tail and shoot down multiple enemies, which gives the player a sense of achievement. There’s nothing more fun than single handily clearing a wave of 10 enemy Kilrathi fighters. But let’s be honest, in single player games the ability for the player to gun down waves of enemies has less to do with the skill of the player because the player is usually overpowered in respect to the base enemies he will fight. You can’t do this in player vs player, and it’s likely that multiple players will have the same ship. Without a sophisticated simulation and flight model, with lots of options for a pilot to fluidly try different tactics to get the upper hand the battles can end up as a frustrating stalemate when both pilots have the same ship as no one can get on the other’s tail because you don’t have the same forces that affect air combat (namely gravity and air resistance) to bleed energy from the maneuvers.These reasons are why we went out of our way to fully simulate the physics that would involve controlling and moving a ship in space with no short cuts.In the very same way we also simulate the ship systems. Every function is tied to individual items that are “plugged” into the ship – the weapons, the thrusters, power plant, heat sinks, radar, fuel tank, batteries, targeting system, CPU, HUD and even the Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS) are all items that tie into various “pipes” that connect the systems – there’s a pipe for power, heat, fuel and CPU cycles. The targeting computer needs power from the Power Plant and CPU cycles from the Ship’s Computer, positional information from the Radar to resolve targets. If there aren’t enough CPU cycles to go around the targets will resolve slower, not enough power and the targeting computer may stop functioning all together. If you don’t draw off enough heat from the weapons, they may overheat, malfunction or even become damaged. If one of your wings gets blown off with its attached heat sinks, you better scale back your heat output.By fully simulating both the systems and physics of powered spaceflight we allow for a huge amount of emergent behavior and variety in the final game. Ship load out becomes very important not just for functionality but also for actual flight and responsiveness. Just like in real military aviation design, you could decide to have redundant systems for better battle survivability or you could maximize your hitting power at the expense of maneuverability. 

[Pinback]

Just keeps going up and up [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13971-Letter-From-The-Chairman-47-Million[/url] We’ve hit $47 million in funding! I’m betting that means there will be more than a few Xi’An scout ships flying around in the Star Citizen universe. The Xi’An ship is one of the ones I’m most excited about, because it’s really going to show off the depth of Star Citizen’s physics engine: with its unique thruster configuration, it will use the already-developed engine to fly very differently!Initial concept artThe Xi’An scout is a good example of how much goes into Star Citizen’s ship development process. As you may remember, we offered the scout earlier in the campaign without showing a picture. That’s because I decided the concept art we had didn’t represent the ship I wanted for this role. You can see that original art here; it’s a cool design, but didn’t get across the unique thruster system that makes the scout so special.Final concept designWe went back to the drawing board… and eventually got to the concept model you saw on Friday! Going forward, we plan to share all the WIP concept models in this same fashion once I believe they’re on the right track. In the case of the new scout, I’m very impressed with the work the team has done… and I can’t wait to have it flying in Arena Commander!Moving past the scout, the $47 million stretch goal that you earned today is the last of the player-voted reward items, the Engine Tuning Kit. Here are the details:Engine Tuning Kit – Wilkes & Federman MaxTune Kit has become one of the best-selling starter kits for the discerning home enthusiast. Featured in Whitley’s latest Steal of the Year issue, this kit comes with everything the fledgling engineer needs to take a deeper look into the mechanics of their engine. With a Tap Analyzer, you will be able to view your engine’s current output and energy draw numbers in an easy and comprehensible way. Use the thirty-eight piece omnitool to access your engine to start tweaking. Wilkes & Federman is not responsible for damage incurred after tuning your engine. Please consult with manufacturer’s warranty before performing work.Speaking of stretch goals, last time around we put their future up to a vote. 54% of Citizens voted that we should continue to offer goals, and we’re going to honor that choice. As I said last time, every dollar supports Star Citizen’s persistent universe… but I’m not comfortable promising additional features with each million unless they’re truly additive. When we have a new idea that really impacts the final game and needs the funding then we’ll offer it here… but you can expect a number of player rewards and new ways of highlighting Arena Commander as immediate goals!But with the $49 million goal, we’re going to give you something that didn’t quite win the poll the last time around: the “space plant”! It’s actually a Xi’An tree, so it’s very appropriate for today’s post. Here are the details:Xi’An Space Plant – Similar to a bonsai tree, the Centennial Bloom is a very famous Xi’An plant indigenous to Eealus III that blossoms for one night every one hundred years. They sell the plants in sealed terrariums to traders. Ever since their introduction to the UEE, Humanity has been fascinated by these beautiful plants and the wait for them to bloom.As always, thank you for your incredible support. We’re working hard to make Star Citizen a truly special game… but you have already made it an incredibly special community.— Chris Roberts A space plant.......................................just what I always wanted. :haha:

[Pinback]

RPS has an articles about Crytek which may be in trouble [url]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/06/24/crytek-financial-trouble/[/url] just wondering if they go under will it have any knock on effect for Star Citizen.

[Pinback]

In answer to my own question spotted this link on Incgamers the other day [url]https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/2895381/#Comment_2895381[/url] answer comes from Eric Roberts on the squadron 42 forum. We did an outright buyout of the engine last year and have the source code, so while we hope all the noise about Crytek blows over, as they are great partners and friends to the project, if the worse happened we would be ok, as we’ve already branched the engine and have a large team that is adding features and supporting it every day here at CIG. So even in the worst case scenario we should be fine, but obviously we hope it does not come to that.Cheers,Erin So it looks like even if Crytek went down the game would still be safe.

[Pinback]

Video about the asteroid hangar.  The big monthly report about of things SC [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13993-Monthly-Report-June-2014[/url] including a bit about the FPS game with in the game. Greetings from the FPS team at [REDACTED]! We hope you are all enjoying flying your ships in Arena Commander. It’s been really exciting to finally see you guys and gals playing the game, and hopefully enjoying the results of all the hard work that has gone into making it happen from each studio. We’ve definitely been having a blast watching your live streams… and playing along with you!June was a very productive month for the FPS team. The artists continued to work on the space station environment. Adding props, applying materials and setting up lights to set the mood. Visual effects are also being added. This includes things like steam flowing out of vents, water dripping from pipes, dust being pulled around by pressure shifts and other details that really make the station come alive and keep it from feeling static. In addition to the environmental effects, we have also been working on first pass effects for tracer rounds, muzzle flashes, explosions and a bunch of other flashy-shiny-noisy bits. A first pass concept of the FPS HUD was also created, and we are now working on hooking it up in the game.The animation team has been working through the mocap data, which will continue for quite some time… There’s a ton of it! They also worked with our engineers on a new way to rig weapons that helped to eliminate some pesky bugs we were running in to. With the cover system, zero-G, and the variety of weapons available, they definitely have their work cut out for them.The design team has been tweaking the properties for a few of the weapons, mostly making sure that they feel good and are well balanced. Of course this is a continuous process that will be iterated upon all the way up to, and after, the game is released. Our design team also came up with some pretty neat concepts for possible gameplay modes.The programming team has been implementing new features like crazy! Improvements to the cover system, zero G movement, a prone stance, energy recharge stations, HUD implementation, ammo variety system… and I could keep going. A LOT of new systems have gone into the game… and with those new systems, lots of new bugs! Just kidding, these guys do solid work and I am fairly certain that their code is completely bug free. cough coughBut in all seriousness, the FPS module is finally getting to a point where most of the core features have been implemented, at least in prototype form, and that is really exciting for us! Until next month Citizens! This is [REDACTED], over and out! and a new patch [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13996-Star-Citizen-Patch-124-Released[/url]