Star Citizen

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

If it wasn't for the increased backer count, I would have assumed a lot of the money was coming from idiots like me who go "eh, what's another $110 on an imaginary internet spaceship?".

Yeah, that has been really encouraging to see... 9 days ago when the campaign hit $16 million there were about 36300 alpha slots left. Now there are 28750.

And since June 10th, the number of "Star Citizens" has risen by 58,850... almost 13,000 of them in the last 9 days.

[Nehkara]

New images of Drake Interplanetary's Caterpillar, the "pirate transport":

[Thor]

Damn I need to get in before there is no more Alpha slots.

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by Nehkara

UPDATED AUGUST 20

Some thoughts on where the funding campaign may end up.

I'm going to assume an end date for the campaign of December 31st, 2014. The game should be in beta by then and on its way to release in early 2015, if the schedule remains the same as it is now.

There are 499 days between today and the above presumed end date.

The campaign currently sits at $15.736 million.

Since January 1st, 2013 the campaign has averaged ~$36800 per day.

The slowest period during the campaign was February 15th to April 25th where it averaged ~$10000/day.

The strongest period during the campaign was June 21st to July 10th where it averaged ~$200000/day


Campaign final total @ $40000/day = $35.7 million (If average daily funding continues to increase.)

Campaign final total @ $36800/day = $34.1 million (If average daily funding long-term is continued at this year's average to date.)

Campaign final total @ $30000/day = $30.7 million (Added because current average is roughly $30k/day)

Campaign final total @ $25000/day = $28.2 million (Added because current "low days" are about $25k)

Campaign final total @ $20000/day = $25.7 million (If average daily funding continues strongly but fades somewhat.)

Campaign final total @ $10000/day = $20.7 million (If average daily funding long-term drops significantly from current levels.)


Given the above I think it is almost certain that we will see a game that is completely crowdfunded. Should be interesting!

I thought it would be worth mentioning that since the last time I edited this (15 days ago), the campaign's daily average for the year has increased from ~$36800 to ~$42850.

If the crowdfunding campaign continues to see these massive spikes each time a big milestone or announcement occurs, it is very likely that the game will reach its goal to be completely crowdfunded ($21 million) before the end of the year.

Not only that, but you have to imagine that once the Dogfighting module comes out at the end of the year and we have actual gameplay (multiplayer even), the campaign could just explode.

I find this all fascinating and I wonder if there is a large part of the gaming industry watching very closely. If you can raise what is likely to be (at the end of the campaign) $30-$50 million without a publisher or investors... it could be a new way forward for some developers.

Here are some updated numbers (484 days until expected campaign end):

Total @ $60,000/day = $46.81 million
Total @ $50,000/day = $41.97 million
Total @ $42,850/day = $38.51 million
Total @ $25,000/day = $29.87 million
Total @ $10,000/day = $22.61 million

We're now at the point where even if the funding falls flat on its face for the next 15 months (which seems inordinately unlikely), the campaign will still achieve its goal. It also looks reasonably likely that it could possibly DOUBLE its goal, especially with future spikes from module releases, ship variant sales, new ships, and beta.

[PsYcNeT]

Something about what CIG is doing, and how they are doing it is really connecting with players though. It's lightning in a bottle and I'm really unsure any other developer could pull it off.

For example, one of my fellow Goonrathi started a thread inquiring as to how far we can push the Pirate RP, specifically in regards to scamming. The thread was pretty hot and heavy, and developer wcloaf replied with some very measured information:

The easy-but-unsatisfying answer is that we haven't set any rules of this kind yet. But I guess I would go as far as to say that no one is specifically looking to ban anyone for being a pirate right now. The EULA is designed to give us the freedom to deal with issues as they emerge... but at the moment we're imagining banning the guy who spends all day screaming racial slurs over the comm system, not the guy roleplaying one of the careers the game was built to support.

One of the stories Richard Garriott tells over and over about Ultima Online is about how he went out in his Lord British character and told a thief who was luring other users out into the woods to stop. And the thief promised he would but kept doing it. And that went around and around until Richard got ready to ban the guy, who explained that he was roleplaying a thief... of course he was going to pretend to change his tune when the King stopped by.

So as frustrating as that thief is for other users at times, they're part of the game. They're obeying the spirit and the rules of the game world as established by the developers. It's the kind of problem you want to "solve" within the universe. The guy luring everyone into pirate space and murdering them and eating their babies should be cause for other players to issue bounties and band together to hunt him down... not for them to click a BAN THIS USER button and wait for someone to do that.

Now there are all sorts of instances where griefers *aren't* playing by the rules like this... people who are using tools to cheat, who are exploiting game mechanics in a way that technically works but breaks the spirit of the game and so on... and we'll likely be a lot less forgiving about that kind of thing. But the guy playing a pirate and being a jerk like an actual pirate would be is just playing the game.

https://forums.robertsspaceindustrie...s-to-piracy/p1

[Nehkara]

I just read that thread.

The interaction and transparency between CIG and the fans is fantastic.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Nehkara

I find this all fascinating and I wonder if there is a large part of the gaming industry watching very closely. If you can raise what is likely to be (at the end of the campaign) $30-$50 million without a publisher or investors... it could be a new way forward for some developers.

This could only work in a few unique situations. With Star Citizen, you basically have the entire space sim genre rallying around a single game, because they've been starved for so long and the "father" of space sims is making it. There's no way a game in a genre like FPS or RTS could generate this same kind of momentum, there's too much competition

What I could see happening though is the original goal of Star Citizen, which was to gain enough crowd funding support to convince outside investors to fund the rest. I could see more developers going this route, creating a Kickstarter with a pre-set goal and if they reach it then the publishers give the go ahead. Might be a good way to start getting more new IP instead of the same old Call of Battlefield 17

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

What I could see happening though is the original goal of Star Citizen, which was to gain enough crowd funding support to convince outside investors to fund the rest. I could see more developers going this route, creating a Kickstarter with a pre-set goal and if they reach it then the publishers give the go ahead. Might be a good way to start getting more new IP instead of the same old Call of Battlefield 17

This is what happened with MechWarrior: Online. They got an initial investment from a publisher to create a tech demo and a basic frame, then solicited "donations" in the form of the backer system which raised ~5-6 million, and then because they reached their funding goals, investors stepped in and funded another 5 mil or so.

And then the game crashed and burned because PGI is a terrible developer.

[rd_aaron]

Sorry for the probably dumb questions as I haven't been following this all that closely. People have been playing the Alpha version? Looks good?

Additionally, I think I will purchase the Bounty Hunter Alpha package thing. This gets me the full game (just Alpha/Beta until the full thing is released) as well as a Bounty Hunter ship in the game? What happens if my ship blows up? Am I stuck buying a new ship with real money?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Something about what CIG is doing, and how they are doing it is really connecting with players though. It's lightning in a bottle and I'm really unsure any other developer could pull it off.

For example, one of my fellow Goonrathi started a thread inquiring as to how far we can push the Pirate RP, specifically in regards to scamming. The thread was pretty hot and heavy, and developer wcloaf replied with some very measured information:





https://forums.robertsspaceindustrie...s-to-piracy/p1

Dear Richard Garriet;

Was the guy that murdered you in one of the greatest Ultima Online moments ever, "just playing the game"

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Dear Richard Garriet;

Was the guy that murdered you in one of the greatest Ultima Online moments ever, "just playing the game"

He was banned for griefing players by exploiting bugs instead of reporting them which isn't playing the game from within the expected rules of the gaming universe in a fair manner.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

This is what happened with MechWarrior: Online. They got an initial investment from a publisher to create a tech demo and a basic frame, then solicited "donations" in the form of the backer system which raised ~5-6 million, and then because they reached their funding goals, investors stepped in and funded another 5 mil or so.

And then the game crashed and burned because PGI is a terrible developer.

Must be because they are Canucks fans.

As for crashing and burning...I thought it was still in beta? What's crashed and burned about it?

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Must be because they are Canucks fans.

As for crashing and burning...I thought it was still in beta? What's crashed and burned about it?

It is in beta still and I think it's too early to say it's "failed." Just your typical bugs/optimization and balancing issues.

[PsYcNeT]

A year of broken promises, broken balance, and a broken playerbase. Still no tutorial, community warfare, or fun to be found. A horrible playerbase<>developer interaction system. The lead dev telling players that he knows better than them what fun is.

Bitter? You betcha. 300+ hours of gametime, $300 spent, countless hours of foruming along with podcasts and other media, and I can't even bring myself to boot up the game anymore.

But this isn't really the thread for that.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

A year of broken promises, broken balance, and a broken playerbase. Still no tutorial, community warfare, or fun to be found. A horrible playerbase<>developer interaction system. The lead dev telling players that he knows better than them what fun is.

Bitter? You betcha. 300+ hours of gametime, $300 spent, countless hours of foruming along with podcasts and other media, and I can't even bring myself to boot up the game anymore.

But this isn't really the thread for that.

I just started last weekend. $0 spent, 30 matches played, and a lot of fun so far...but I'm coming from World of Tanks and this is seemingly much more featured than that ever was.

I think more game modes, competitive scenarios, etc. will be great because I can tell this gameplay might get old in a bit. Nothing has convinced me to spend any money yet because the gameplay is just round after round of deathmatch with the odd base capture fail so far.

I put too much money into Star Citizen to spend it on MWO but it will tide me over for a bit. I have a craving to play it right now while I'm at work! Just wasted half a million in C-Bills selling all my mech's gear and re-speccing it.

Any links to any interesting forum posts relating to what exactly is so bad and so broken? I guess I haven't gotten deep enough yet.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I just started last weekend. $0 spent, 30 matches played, and a lot of fun so far...but I'm coming from World of Tanks and this is seemingly much more featured than that ever was.

I think more game modes, competitive scenarios, etc. will be great because I can tell this gameplay might get old in a bit. Nothing has convinced me to spend any money yet because the gameplay is just round after round of deathmatch with the odd base capture fail so far.

That's really the biggest problem. I haven't dropped any money since 2012, but they've been promising Community Warfare (large scale maps, capture and hold areas a'la Planetside 2, etc.) would be in since December. Literally they said "The first version of CW will be in December 2012", and have been backsliding and deflecting about it every month since. They also said "We will never implement 3rd person", then they said "If we do implement 3rd person (but probably won't), it will be in a separate queue from 1st person players", and then they just implemented it and basically said "#### anyone who complains, we know better than you." Generally, they act like belligerent #######s anytime anyone criticizes the game, and most large guilds have dropped out because it's just more of the same crap month after month.

It's obvious they have no interest in keeping a competitive scene, and instead of new maps/game modes/trying to actually balance the game/introducing the clans (March 2013! Yeah they totally stuck to that timeline), they just keep churning out new mech variants and things they can sell in the cash shop.

If you want to see how much they ignore the playerbase, do a hunt for the #saveMWO trend. It gives a pretty good idea of what not to do if you're a developer trying to create a lasting game.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

A year of broken promises, broken balance, and a broken playerbase. Still no tutorial, community warfare, or fun to be found. A horrible playerbase<>developer interaction system. The lead dev telling players that he knows better than them what fun is.

They released a balancing patch just recently addressing the PPC gauss issue. Nerfed both. Tutorial is active now in the game, UI 2.0 is due out next week and CW is supposed to be out at launch is what they are saying? They're incredibly slow about things but maybe things will be a bit better for you now?

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

They released a balancing patch just recently addressing the PPC gauss issue. Nerfed both. Tutorial is active now in the game, UI 2.0 is due out next week and CW is supposed to be out at launch is what they are saying?

I played last night, and the PPC/Gauss nerfs didn't really solve anything. It's still a game full of poptarts that hates brawling. So basically, not fun.

If CW ever comes out, I may start playing again regularly, but since they're already ~9 months past the due date, and it's looking more like CW will be "gain tickets for your faction in the region of space by playing DeathMatch (assault)" rather than "holy #### massive robot fights to area control between zones and cool we just got a powerplant and now we can get a dropship wowee". Still deathmatch, still hardly a metagame.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by rd_aaron

Sorry for the probably dumb questions as I haven't been following this all that closely. People have been playing the Alpha version? Looks good?

Additionally, I think I will purchase the Bounty Hunter Alpha package thing. This gets me the full game (just Alpha/Beta until the full thing is released) as well as a Bounty Hunter ship in the game? What happens if my ship blows up? Am I stuck buying a new ship with real money?

The alpha isn't out yet - all that's been released is the "hangar module" that lets you walk around your hangar and look at your ship. I believe the dogfight module is expected later this year.

I have the Digital Bounty Hunter package - it includes the Origin 300i ship as well as alpha and beta access. You can get insurance that covers your ship - I think the package still includes 4 month insurance on the hull and you will be able to buy more in game, supposedly fairly cheap. Presumably most ships later in the game will be bought with in-game money, not necessarily real money.

[cDnStealth]

I was never under the impression that the game would be PS2 scale. They said from the beginning that it would be 12 vs 12 so I am not sure where this is coming from. CW, from my understanding, was always going to be like that of Chromehounds.

At the end of the day, this is why you shouldn't spend hundreds of dollars on an unreleased game. People get all kinds of flak for pre-ordering. These kickstarters and crowdfunded games are even more risky.