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I watched the game play demo they presented at the recent Citizencon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-fkMHOyswU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-fkMHOyswU).

I watched the game play demo they presented at the recent Citizencon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-fkMHOyswU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-fkMHOyswU). As I don't follow Star Citizens development closely, it was a fascinating view into that universe and the developers behind it. To me it felt they're getting lost in all the little details on the planets, instead of concentrating a bit more on the space and its use with space ships. After all, selling space ships is what they make a lot of money with. They're talking about an incredible level of detail on the ground (e.g. a working subway system, physically correct ice cubes in drinks and plans to receive damage, when you're in a room with a fire, which consumes the available oxygen), but there was literally nothing about new stuff in space (or is that already completely done and working?). Given their ambitions I hope they succeed long term and will continuously develop the game, similar to EVE Online.

danso 8y ago
That’s been one of my red flags too, the lack of significant progress on fundamental parts of the game, such as the flight model and even just the combat AI. Nevermind the parts that will require real groundbreaking work, such as the game-wide economy, AI, and shipmate AI. Nevermind the balancing work. That they’re even thinking about how ice cubes are modeled really seems to indicate that work is expanding to fill the time.
- jessaustin 8y ago
  Expanding to spend the money that they've raised, perhaps? After all if they've already raised it, it doesn't really matter what they're spending it on. In normal game dev they would have to make a game that people wanted to buy.
FooHentai 8y ago
Sounds like an incredibly pure form of bikeshedding. Admirable, in a strange way.
redhale 8y ago
> physically correct ice cubes in drinks I cannot stop laughing at this. Meanwhile Elite Dangerous is iterating effectively. The difference in philosophy/approach between the two teams with somewhat similar end objectives is stark.
jdlshore 8y ago
As someone who does follow Star Citizen closely (but isn't a backer or otherwise motivated for the project to succeed), I couldn't disagree more. They got "ships in space" working years ago. This release was celebrating their latest tech, "OCS," which is designed to reduce their in-memory working set. The big benefit of OCS? They're more than doubling the size of their world, adding a planet, gigantic new city, and three new moons. Of course they're showing off planet-side content. They've had ships flying around in space for literally years now. The big new improvement to that (a new flight model) was demoed in a booth on the show floor, where people could experience it, not in the splashy keynote session. MVPs are for testing product-market fit. CIG (the makers of Star Citizen) proved their fit long ago. They have a successful product that's about to cross $200 million in revenue. Now they need to turn that product-market fit into successful recurring revenue. And that requires doing something that captures the attention of a market that is notoriously fickle, negative, and entitled. Immersive systems-based gameplay with things like physically-correct ice cubes is the niche CIG has chosen, and it's been their niche since the Kickstarter. Who knows if the excitement they've generated so far will last. But it's obviously done very well for them so far. It's no surprise they've doubled down on it.
- geoah 8y ago
  Couldn’t agree more. I backed the game in the kickstarter, and I’m fine with logging in now and then to see how it progresses. The results they show are breathtaking. And yes I understand that this is a game that might actually never make it, but the niche you mentioned is very close to a lot of people’s hearts. So we just keep hoping.

danso 8y ago

That’s been one of my red flags too, the lack of significant progress on fundamental parts of the game, such as the flight model and even just the combat AI. Nevermind the parts that will require real groundbreaking work, such as the game-wide economy, AI, and shipmate AI. Nevermind the balancing work. That they’re even thinking about how ice cubes are modeled really seems to indicate that work is expanding to fill the time.

jessaustin 8y ago
Expanding to spend the money that they've raised, perhaps? After all if they've already raised it, it doesn't really matter what they're spending it on. In normal game dev they would have to make a game that people wanted to buy.

FooHentai 8y ago

Sounds like an incredibly pure form of bikeshedding. Admirable, in a strange way.

redhale 8y ago

> physically correct ice cubes in drinks I cannot stop laughing at this. Meanwhile Elite Dangerous is iterating effectively. The difference in philosophy/approach between the two teams with somewhat similar end objectives is stark.

jdlshore 8y ago

As someone who does follow Star Citizen closely (but isn't a backer or otherwise motivated for the project to succeed), I couldn't disagree more. They got "ships in space" working years ago. This release was celebrating their latest tech, "OCS," which is designed to reduce their in-memory working set. The big benefit of OCS? They're more than doubling the size of their world, adding a planet, gigantic new city, and three new moons. Of course they're showing off planet-side content. They've had ships flying around in space for literally years now. The big new improvement to that (a new flight model) was demoed in a booth on the show floor, where people could experience it, not in the splashy keynote session. MVPs are for testing product-market fit. CIG (the makers of Star Citizen) proved their fit long ago. They have a successful product that's about to cross $200 million in revenue. Now they need to turn that product-market fit into successful recurring revenue. And that requires doing something that captures the attention of a market that is notoriously fickle, negative, and entitled. Immersive systems-based gameplay with things like physically-correct ice cubes is the niche CIG has chosen, and it's been their niche since the Kickstarter. Who knows if the excitement they've generated so far will last. But it's obviously done very well for them so far. It's no surprise they've doubled down on it.

geoah 8y ago
Couldn’t agree more. I backed the game in the kickstarter, and I’m fine with logging in now and then to see how it progresses. The results they show are breathtaking. And yes I understand that this is a game that might actually never make it, but the niche you mentioned is very close to a lot of people’s hearts. So we just keep hoping.