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STAR CITIZEN – A DISTURBANCE IN THE VERSE
Things are rapidly going from bad to worse over at the ranch. In my 16-10-25 update, I had pointed out some cracks which appear to now be getting larger. In fact, just the other day, multiple sources informed me that things were so bad now it would be a miracle if they are able to push the 2.6 patch out before year end; let alone the 3.0 Jesus Patch. As a result, I sent out some tweets (1, 2) of what I had learned, while awaiting further information.
In their defense, this sort of thing happens in game development and it’s par for the course. As I’ve stated over and over, as a gamedev myself, I simply cannot fault them for having major blockers in a game which, for all intent and purposes is basically a glorified tech demo; and with nothing that even resembles a vertical slice, let alone a pre-Alpha (as they’re calling it). However, the fault lies squarely on Chris Roberts due to having significantly increased the scope of the game, even as the engine chosen for the original vision, could only marginally have made that original vision possible.
The other side of this coin is that he has – repeatedly – lied to backers about the state of the project, withheld critical information, and intentionally failed to communicate to backers the true state of the project. Why? Because the truth will let backers see that not only is the entire project FUBAR, but it’s an impossible vision for a game which – as I stated over 18 months ago – simply cannot be made.
With the anniversary events mere weeks away, and during which they intend to again raise money through selling ships, the silence on the state of the 2.6 and 3.0 patches shouldn’t be surprising in the least. This has been the on-going theme. It happened with Arena Commander, then with Star Marine which was later flat-out canceled before being resurrected after an uproar. Then it happened with Squadron 42 (I wrote about that in my Shattered Dreams blog). Now it’s continuing with Star Citizen (aka Persistent Universe).
The biggest issue here is not that the 2.6 patch is late, it’s that the current 2.5 build is in a terrible state; and as some backers have said, very few people (even the pro streamers have either bailed or on their last legs) are even playing it now. The results and commentary for the latest free fly period which ended Oct 31st, should be yet another wake up call for the project. Most backers – rightfully – don’t have a problem with 2.6 being late. For a game that’s in constant development, this should be expected. But nevertheless, when you are touting “open development”, even as you focus on non-essential updates, selling in-game items etc, amid the uproar, information about a much awaited patch, should be front and center. They spend so much time writing and filming a bunch of nonsensical fluff – most of which, being R&D aren’t even likely to be in the game. That time – all of it – is better spent outlining specifically what is going on with the patches, how they are being addressed, what the delay looks like etc. That’s how you keep a community on your side, while keeping stragglers, dissenters, and trolls, in check. By doing this, you completely disarm them. Yes, there will still be some dissent, but then you can point at a bulletin, or a video and say “This is what we said. Go read or watch it“. Case closed.
When it comes to the 3.0 patch, backers may as well just reconcile the fact that they were lied to – again. It’s not even a case of a missed schedule. He basically came up with a list of features (none of which, according to sources, exists or in a form that would have lent any credibility to his “end of year” promise) he knew backers would fall for, then put it out there as “coming soon”; thus – like the demos at GamesCom and CitizenCon – raising money from the few whales who are still dumb enough to keep giving him money.
The issue with Star Citizen is that $130 million comes with a lot of strings, and accountability. Especially when, not even 15% of the larger game is completed; and by all accounts, won’t even be 50% completed (this promises list is 100% accurate and derived from the stretch goals, and updates from Roberts himself) by the 4.0 release slated for end of 2017 (which we all know is rubbish anyway). Since there is no publisher, the strings are the money that backers keep giving, sans the accountability that should go with it.
What backers are experiencing right now should come as no surprise that the accountability that comes with delivering a product, let alone accounting for the money given, went out the window with the June 2016 ToS update. They had no other reason for doing that as anyone can see. Most believe that they were basically preparing – well ahead – for the ultimate collapse and total loss of this project because it will end if they can’t keep raising the money to sustain it. Hence the on-going lies which are mandatory to keeping the money flowing.
Rumors and source leaks aside, the writing is on the wall. They are either going to move 2.6 into 2017 – as indeed they should if it’s not ready for test release – or they will try to push some interim 2.5.x minor branch out in order to quash some of the dissent. But the fact remains, waiting until the last minute, or at a time when the bad news won’t affect the anniversary stream, is just another dishonest plan, and one which has become a staple for them.
My advice remains the same. STOP giving them money; and just let them continue with their dev schedule and plan, release their patch updates as they see fit, then wait to see how things pan out. And if you’re sick and tired of waiting, the lies etc, do what others are doing, go get a refund. If you backed the game ahead of the June ToS, you are 100% entitled to it. If you backed after that date, and agreed to that ToS change, then you have 14 days from your purchase to get a refund. When all else fails, you can be like this guy, sell your ships on the Grey market, and buy a car, house or something.
With that editorial out of the way, here is how things stand as I understand it from my sources.
2.6 status: Not even close to ready for Evocati, let alone GA. Star Marine still laughably doesn’t EXIST because they are still trying to cobble together many bits in order to make that one happen – again. There are said to be many old and new blockers which are creating lots of problems. And sources say the 2.6 list (see above pic) is rubbish because a good portion of that, as basic as it looks, isn’t in a working state. And sources say that most don’t even have a clear understanding as to why Star Marine was even promised for this release; when it could very well have been pushed into a 3.0 point release, which – seeing as it’s nowhere near reality – would have given more time for implementation and testing further into 2017. For my part, I still maintain that Star Marine being back on the schedule (even though Chris went on the record saying it was already released and in the game) as a standalone” module is just a check mark against the liability based promises made to backers years ago.
3.0 status: sources say all are still laughing at this one. It simple does NOT exist as was communicated to backers. It was basically a wishlist of items they wanted to see in a point release; and which Roberts when on the record (again) as saying was coming by “year end, and not on Dec 19th like last year“.
As a result of all this, many threads (1, 2, 3, ) are now popping up all over the place, questioning not only the “silence” on the part of CIG as per the status of these two patches, now that the year is close to an end, but also whether or not, Roberts – again – went public with a litany of lies in order to continue misleading backers and raising money. When Shitizen #3 has a top Reddit thread about how he’s “bored”, you know you done goofed, and should probably start planning for inevitable conclusion of the in-progress E.L.E.
Here are some backer comments.
Even as Rome burns, Lando, a CIG community member, instead of providing info to backers as to the state of progress, instead decided to point out that:
“Updates on the development of the game: while the Comm-Link Schedule has never been the place for this, I certainly understand (and even share) your voracious appetite for updates. The primary source of updates to Star Citizen’s continuing development is in Around the Verse. “
Which was met with accurate responses like:
“I appreciate the sentiment but I believe you would agree that ATV has been mostly looking backwards since CitCon and not the future. At this stage the “we are working on it” that we got last week on ATV is not really an update – unless anyone thought you guys were all just partying instead of “working on it.”
“Sadly last 3 ATVs and RTV were about things you got had to get done for CitCon. There have been no word about what have been done since CitCon so you have to understand the frustration. We know that you are working on the game… But we would “really” like see that.”
“Curiousity here. Not hostility.
Can I ask why you have to show before you tell? That doesn’t really make sense to me. I have personally seen a lot of feedback on requests for telling us more about where 2.6 and 3.0 are in development.
I work in project management and when my team is late on delivering storyboards or late on a project in general (this can be date or not date focused, as a project manager, I can just gauge when it has been a while since a client has heard something) I give a list of what is keeping things back. Do you guys have a protocol for responding to the community until you have something to show? Again, for the love of god, I am just asking/curious.“
LATEST INSIDER SCOOPS
TheAgent (man on the inside looking at the abyss outside from the inside) is back with more insider scoops. Most of them echo what I said yesterday, but with more details (I tend to be vague in some regard, so as to protect sources).
here’s the problem
CIG has to push out a new patch before years end. this cannot be 2.6 (with FPS mechanics) or 3.0 or anything star marine related because its so fucking broken
- their current matchmaking breaks every damn thing on the server
- it also breaks your client when two people try and use cover at the same time
- half the time you still respawn inside your bunk during a match
- the new arena FPS maps are still buggy as hell (clipping, wall walking, etc) and have to get redone
- the replacement arena maps are areas that have been wholly lifted from current areas, like grimhex
- roberts doesn’t want “maps” but entire seamless areas (“Shoot in the same universe you can fly in.”)
- this is not so good for the servers or players in ships flying around outside the hostile zone (which is why the arena style maps are still being worked on)
- the team is confused on what exactly they are putting together and what roberts wants to release
- there’s a separate module for SM but roberts wants it folded into the universe
- lag is bad, really fucking bad, even with less than a dozen players
- the instance network code is six months to a year out for rudimentary matches (24 to 36 players, small arena type maps, etc)
- a year+ out for higher matches (multiple areas, surface to air combat, 50+ players etc)
- the much touted “local physics grids” don’t work for shit with FPS stuffs
they are discussing prepping the flight model changes and releasing that as 2.6 instead, with star marine being totally folded into 3.0. but this is a big problem, because chris said star marine is weeks away back in september
they are kinda fucked either way so I’m really interested to see what they do. if they really do end up pushing out 2.6 with star marine in its current state, I don’t think the game will survive. its like, not playable. you can only wave your hands around and say alpha so many times before people start figuring out this is the game they just paid $2500 to play
current standing at the office is there will be no more numbered releases until 3.0 in late 2017/2018, after the sq42 prelude/episode 1 is released. I posted that awhile back but it’s looking more and more like 2.5 will be the last patch for SC for quite awhile
SQUADRON 42 ON CONSOLE
So over the weekend in a stream, Nicole “Batgirl” mentioned an off-hand comment that Sandi made about Squadron 42 coming to consoles. As these things go, seeing as the Star Citizen project, which includes the Squadron 42 single-player component, has always been touted as a PC game, some parts (e.g. 1, 2) of the community was set ablaze. Most were either freaking out, or trying to figure out wtf was going on.
It’s easy to discard this sort of thing out of hand as being alarmist rumor. However, the irony is that CIG/RSI have consistently lied to backers so much, that this uproar is rooted in the fact that backers know this. They also know that when it comes to information – let alone those posing as truth – it’s hard to come by. As a result, it ends up being an issue with backers not knowing who to believe, let alone trust, anymore. Not even the company they gave $130 million and which, for all intent and purposes, most believe is actively running a scam of epic proportions. The Star Citizen backed (paid or unpaid) community streamers and writers, don’t even have an audience anymore; because they too lost whatever little credibility they had left, over a year ago. To make things worse, just this past week, several publications release completely false information posing as “reviews” of the game. To the extent that most now believe this to be the on-going work of an online “reputation management” company, as there is seemingly no other reasonable explanation.
Back in July 2014 (the glory era before it all went to shit), Andy Chalk at PC Gamer wrote an article about this console nonsense. Now over two years later, most everything in that article and the interviews cited, has turned out to be pure lies. Much like the majority of the Star Citizen project.
So with all the actions that CIG/RSI have taken in their on-going desperate cash grab, it’s clear to see how easy it would be for them to go back on the statements and promises that the project would remain a PC exclusive. It’s the natural progression of things. But here’s the thing, as I’ve written (1, 2, 3) extensively about Squadron 42 in my blogs, not only did they walk back various promises for that game, but they also split it earlier this year into a separate purchase in order to yield more money. Given that, as well as the history and the desperate need to keep raising money – especially now that it has been made clear that by the 4.0 release (slated for end of 2017), Star Citizen won’t even be 50% complete – it makes perfect sense that they would want to release SQ42 on consoles in order to make some money on that platform. Just like Elite Dangerous did, when they released it via the XBox Preview program, Microsoft’s equivalent of Early Access on the PC.
Following Batgirl’s stream, on Sunday I tweeted “No, SQ42 isn’t coming to consoles. Stop it.” because, even though Sandi was probably just talking crap as usual, I knew that it was rubbish.
You see, both games use the same FrankenEngine (aka StarEngine) based on the legacy CryEngine 3.0 kernel which Brian Chambers and others have gone on the record as saying they have modified by 50%. I covered that in this post from back in September. That base CE3 engine (depending on when they stopped taking drops) doesn’t support next gen consoles; let alone the VR they were also touting from back in the day. And seeing as they not only don’t have a source license for any CryEngine build above CE3, even as they stopped taking patch drops for that from CryTek years back, it’s impossible for them to have somehow added in next gen console support in FrankenEngine. And my very credible sources have stated – unequivocally – that no such build exists. Plus they would need separate source licenses from CryTek in order to do any such integration.
So the only way for them to even start to think about something as foolish as that, is to obtain a new source license from CryTek to the current CE5, then integrate all the changes between CE3 and CE5 into FrankenEngine. As a developer who builds engines from scratch, integrates middleware etc, that sort of thing is not the same as integrating middleware into a custom engine. Heck, even when we licensed the now deprecated Havok Vision Engine (previously Trinigy Vision Engine) as the baseline graphics engine for our Line Of Defense custom engine, there was a time when we simply stopped integrating their engine updates into our custom builds because it’s a lot of work. Especially for a small indie team. So we just planned it out for specific periods where we didn’t do anything but integrate whatever it is we needed. It’s horrendous, and a lot of work. Everything that can break, is likely to break. Then you have to go and fix that.
The other barrier to next consoles is that they have stringent guidelines for passing certification; even the indie programs setup by both Microsoft and Sony, adhere to that. While it’s easier in this console gen to push patches to console products, the problem remains that the product has to meet various criteria for functionality before it can even pass cert. Even though Microsoft subsequently came up with the XBox Game Preview last Summer, their version of Early Access, as of this writing only two notable games, Elite Dangerous and Everspace are released there. The game still have to be functional in some capacity, and has to pass some other requirements for it to be allowed to release there.
So, as much as I know they would love to have the additional revenue stream, seeing as the writing is on the wall that they have tapped out the whales funding Star Citizen, at this point in time, and with the work-in-progress FrankenEngine going through drastic changes in order to support the “dream”, they simply can’t do it. Period. End of story. And not even with SQ42 which is a smaller and different game from Star Citizen.
And no, they don’t have any Scorpio dev kits either. That was just a baseless rumor. That aside from the fact that, last I checked (I would be notified, since we are getting them for LoD) said kits don’t even exist yet.
The fiasco doesn’t end there. After the furor erupted over the weekend, Batgirl, in another stream decided to pin the blame for this apparent FUD on myself and the Goons. Here is a Goon transcript of precisely what she stated, complete with Goon commentary. It’s hilarious.
“what’s going on right now is that Derek Smart and other people are using my statement as a way to say this is what they said. And it’s not what she said and those people are just trying to incite bad feelings amongst the game. Now I do consider myself a pseudo journalist, which someone that is in the community and likes the game but also knows that I have to somewhat of a non-bias approach *laughs* when I do my videos and I’ve tried that in the past but people get a little bit upset.”
Earlier At 1 minute 35 seconds
“Now it does make sense for Squadron 42 to move to the console, being the type of game that it is”
At 2 minutes 07 seconds
“It would be a huge seller on that platform, just because it’s going to be an amazing game. Never was it mentioned it was definite and never was it mentioned that it was in the works, it was just something that we talked about hypothetically“.
There are several layers of comedy here that I’ve really enjoyed. First you have the idea that something that logically makes sense, doing a console version of a single player spacegame can be discussed with one of the game company founders, float the idea that it makes sense to both of you, would be great, would sell loads but it’s just talking “hypothetically”. The idea that because you aren’t saying something for definite or making an announcement, while the something in question would takes years to develop, but the conversation isn’t important considering what Elite dangerous did.
Layered on top of that you have the hilarity of referring to yourself as a “pseudo journalist” within a couple of minutes of saying Squadron 42 is “going to be an amazing game”, while displaying your own complete inability to refer to yourself as “unbiased” without laughing.
Then you have the historical record of Cloud Imperium Games displaying virtually zero professional behaviour, unable to release anything at all of even a decent quality, never mind “good”, during an interview with a VP of marketing that seemingly has no relevant marketing experience and who appears to have landed the role purely based on being married to a chubby liar with a bad haircut.
Nichole D’Angelo you are funny and I’ll sleep well once CIG goes bust, I hope you can do the same after plugging this expensive hobby of dreams for years to the mentally ill, while asking for money to continue to do so.
Also lol at fucking up an audio track, you had one job, you really are talented enough to work there.
Thing is, I never made any such commentary. All I stated was precisely as written in my one and only Tweet on the matter. Someone actually laid it out precisely as it happened.
1. Batgirl said some shit
2. I typed that shit out, 100% accurately
3. That shit got posted on the RSI forum
4. Batgirl blames Derek SmartShe said:
“potential console delivery of Squadron 42 only”
“I held off the stuff about CONSOLE because CONSOLE SCARES EVERYBODY”
And now that she created a shitstorm she’s blaming Derek Smart. Here’s what journo’s do – they take fucking responsibility for what they say. Pseudo-journalist my arse, sit the fuck down Batgirl and go back to shilling for a scam company because it’s the only thing you do well.
Also…
I think batgirl is just pissed because it’s obvious what’s going to happen, CIG wants to do a console version as CIG has always only been interested in money and the vast majority of the pc gamers who would buy SQ42 already have. Therefore console sales are a new source of potential cash, but she’s also pissed because CIG being CIG, it’s never going to happen, so she has the drama of CIG gradually informing the Citizens of their console intentions through her, while knowing it’s pointless drama as everything is on fire anyway.
That’s exactly it.
She’s having to placate backers (by blaming Derek Smart) for something she said about something that Sandi said about something about consoles that won’t happen anyway.
Yeah, we know that invoking “Derek Smart and the Goons” is the norm, but I think we’re at the point now whereby they really, truly believe that we are more responsible for all these screw-ups, than CIG/RSI – who have lied repeatedly to backers, and to the tune of $130 million dollars. They’re blaming one “failed jealous game developer” and a “bunch of morons on a dead gay comedy forum” for all the problems with the project; even as other sensible backers are waking up and trying to now hold Chris Roberts and CIG/RSI accountable for the mess that the project is in. This despite the fact that, all things considered, some backers have claimed to be getting more information out of myself and the Goons, than from even CIG/RSI themselves. Imagine that. The “open development” is only as open as the material they choose to share, while keeping everything else (e.g. financial accountability, state of the 2.6 and 3.0 patches etc) of relevance and importance, a big secret.
I’ve said this over and over, and I’m going to repeat it. The project is FUBAR. There is no saving it. And anyone still giving them money, continues to make the Roberts and Elms family get richer, while keeping the responsible exec level devs like Tony Z, Brian Chambers, Derek Senior et al in highly paid jobs and within the realms of “plausible deniability”.
UPDATE2: In today’s Batgirl broadcast “Ask Sandi Ep4, the lady herself chimed (30:44) in – clearly and on the record. Quote: “I mean yeah, FOR SURE, going forward, um… for STAR CITIZEN and SQUADRON 42 to go to CONSOLE. Not my decision. But that’s a whole other audience again, another… yeah… but we have… I have a different MARKETING PLAN for SQUADRON 42 which hasn’t started yet but…”
UPDATE1: Shortly after this went live, I ended up in a bit of a Twitter spat with Batgirl. Even though she only had herself to blame for what happened, she actually said “it’s on me. That is not in question. But like a piranha is the bloody fish you are to issue that promote your attacks on SC.” But yet, somehow, it’s still my fault. A Goon said it best: “Derek saying he doesn’t believe in some rumor started by an SC shill is an attack on CIG by itself”
THE DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN
Oh this one is good. Real good.
Earlier today, an absolutely crazy review of Star Citizen showed up online. Like seriously, it was here. Not only was it not even based on the game as we know it, but most of the outrageous claims were straight out of their marketing campaign. Even the tribe over on Reddit were aghast (which is a stretch, even for them).
Shortly after the outcry reached crescendo, the article was taken off line; mere hours later. You can find an image of the original, as well as an archive of the most outrageous parts highlighted. What’s worse, even David Swofford, head of PR for the project, re-tweeted the article earlier in the day.
Upon further research, it was discovered that the author was non other than Rick Hudson who just happens to live in Manchester where one of the studios (Foundry 42) is located. Here is an article from March 2015 which was preceded by this missive which he wrote a month earlier in Feb 2015.
“Rick Hudson, a well known horror and sci-fi writer, who lives in Manchester, stopped by the Foundry 42 offices a couple of weeks ago to have a look at Star Citizen. He came away impressed. He plans on writing a story on his visit and impressions at some major outlets, but in the meantime he posted his early thoughts on Indiebration. “Unusually for a computer game, it had me gripped. First off, the game looks amazing – don’t ask me about gigabytes and the like, I know nothing about that stuff – but in terms of graphics Star Citizen is phenomenal.”“
UPDATE: There is mounting evidence that CIG may have hired a “reputation management” firm as a result of all the negative press on the project. The way those companies work is that they flood the Internet and social media with positive articles, social media posts etc in a bid to drown the negative stuff. e.g. my blogs, the media (e.g. Kotaku articles etc). We’ve so far found other articles (1, 2) which have been shoved into the metrics. And it’s also duplicated, with different wording. Thing is, they’re mostly fabricated statements and outright lies touting features that are either non-existent or not even promised to be in the game. Any reader with a working knowledge of the game, can easily see this.
LATEST INSIDER SCOOPS
TheAgent (man on the inside looking at the abyss outside from the inside) is back with more outrageous insider scoops.
Let’s start with the most outrageous one.
Went out drinking with a friend last night..
“We are, we do! Work towards something. We work hard at making progress. We do! But that progress is changed every week. Every day sometimes. How can anything ever be finished if entire teams of employees are retasked at any moment? People lose momentum. You lose sight of what the project is. It just becomes one unfinished thing after another. One of Roberts’ lackeys tells you to drop something, you do. Then two weeks later Roberts is screaming at some poor guy because he did as he was told. “Not by me.” That’s the response you hear a lot from Roberts.”
“The best one, absolutely, deals with [a brand new employee]. It’s his, what, third day? He’s in the break room and Roberts storms in but is real quiet. Pulls the guy out and walks him in front of some other workstation. “What is this?” Roberts goes. The new guy, right outta college, is shitting himself. What could Roberts mean? Was something wrong with the desk? Was this where he’s supposed to be sitting? He’s got no idea.
“You know what this costs? You’re taking my time, everyone’s time,” and now Roberts is shouting, “it’s like you don’t care how much you’re costing us. Do you like spending my money?” Chris stands there, arms crossed, waiting for a response.
[The new guy] is scared stupid. He starts blubbering and apologising without having any idea what’s going on, right?
Chris points to the chair, “Sit your ass down and get it right.” He then storms off again. Poor guy has no idea what the fuck to do.
Turns out Chris thought he was [completely different employee]. He never apologised. Never went back to check if anything was fixed. [New guy] quit by week three.”
The on-going 2.6 patch debacle..
“if they don’t push out 2.6 before 2017 hits, they are done
if they push out 2.6 before 2017, its going to be a terrible, contrived, bug riddled mess and then they will be done
they are seriously weighing those options right now. like having closed door, “what will we do about 2.6” meetings
I mean 3.0 is supposed to be here in less than 9 weeks, but is roughly a year+ out. 2.6 is the last saving grace for them before they start shitting out sq42 episodes and preludes and interludes and prelude dessidia final fight squadrons or whatever fucking kingdom hearts titled shit they have stored in the back there
do you know that they are talking about doing another crowd funded project? I’m not even kidding“
On Squadron 42. Apparently still a thing…
“sq42 prelude in q1 2017, 100% confirmed today
its now more like a demo showcase, but its playable
and its awful
lol
honestly I don’t see it hitting until q2 because chris is still reshooting
but they do have march 31st, 2017 on internal mock ups
remember this isn’t a full episode. a full episode or whatever is 20+ hours of content
this ain’t
not even close“
The on-going fps shenanigans (we assume it’s Star Marine)…
“one of the biggest problems with the cover system right now is that when you peek out from wherever you’re hiding, your gun just sticks into the fucking wall or
you don’t shoot where your crosshairs are aiming or
you pop out of cover but can’t be hit because you’re still registered as being covered or
you vault over another player and kill him instantly (I think they should keep that in) or
you jitter out of the map when you go into cover most of the time or
you fall through the map because you switch guns while in cover or
the animations get totally fucked when popping into or out of cover and you turn into horror spaceman and your guns warp and bend and then you start shooting everyone like you just watched christian bale’s gunkata for beginners“
Oh, but it get’s better..
“roberts wants projectiles fired from guns to actually come from the barrel
that means you aren’t actually shooting where you are pointing the crosshair, you’re pointing the crosshair to point the gun that fires a round
which means a lot of coding to get that working
which also means a shitload of networking to figure out trajectories and shit because the gun isn’t static, its constantly moving
it also means you get fun ARMA type bugs where suddenly you die because you just shot your own neck“
EightAce (the other man on the inside playing tag with crobert’s wig) chimed in with this gem:
“Sq42 ep 1.01 is coming out around feb/march next year. Brace yourselves, it looks like a mid term submission off a half competent student on a games design course that has learnt to use Cry engine. I cannot wait to see the reviews“
I swear at this point, even though most of their scoops tend to pan out, I have to wonder if these two aren’t taking the piss now. Seriously, some of this stuff is so bat-shit crazy, that it’s unbelievable. But as the saying goes: “It’s CIG. There’s always more; and it’s always worse“
PROCEDURAL GENERATION OF PLANETS
This became a buzzword again with No Man’s Sky. We know how that turned out. But enough of that.
So anyway, I decided to visit the denizens of my very own sub-Reddit to enlighten them on the wanton obfuscation that’s going on regarding this nonsense. Seeing as those morons over there are just going to down vote it to oblivion, I decided to leave here as well for posterity. It all started like this:
“Given what your source has said you are arguing semantics, similar to your thoughts and implementation of seamless transitions (no I am not poking fun here you have stated your definition of it and are entitled to it). Take for example the gentleman in Minnesota who runs a business called Drive a Tank. The business is called Drive a Tank but only two of his four packages includes driving an actual tank. The other two have you driving a British FV433 Abbott SPG (self propelled gun, or self propelled artillery piece) and a British FV432 APC (armored personnel carrier). Neither of those vehicles are tanks by any definition of the term tank. Is he misleading customers? No, he states what his vehicles are. Should his business be called Drive a Tank? Who cares, in the end you get to drive something cool. Should CIG be calling it “procedurally generated planets”? Who cares, as long as the end result is good.”
Well at least you actually did the research, instead of just spewing rubbish like others tend to do.
I concede the point that right now – especially after yesterday’s AtV broadcast which shows what they are doing and how, that it’s probably all down to semantics. Why is that? Simple, because CIG themselves are to blame for yet another fiasco. If you search here on Reddit, Google, RSI forums etc, it is clear that the insinuation of procedurally generated planets implies the pure sense of the term as used by us devs over the years, and which isn’t open to interpretation.
That’s how the media, gamers – and everyone took it. Then they started thinking NMS, Battlescape, Dual Universe etc. All of which use the term and tech correctly.
Right now, this is what you see on Google when you search for Star Citizen procedural planets.
The minute Chris went on stage and called it “procedural generation of planets” – which btw my sources (and recently confirmed by Goon, TheAgent) say devs have asked Chris to stop using – he created expectations that the planets would be created as such.
Also, try reading these…
Don’t think Chris is the problem? Fine. Read this and this.
Then read the transcript of this interview. Specifically this part: “Q: A game like No Man’s Sky is using procedural generation of planets, how will Star Citizen be different in that aspect?”
So….
All this time, and even with the unclear methods which started all the way back to August, everyone (myself included) was under the impression that they were in fact doing procgen planets.
Then finally, the Oct 27th broadcast of AtV 3:11 made it clear that what they were in fact doing, is what most of us with experience building terrain tech, have been doing all this time. And in their StarEngine editor is no different from what you see in the likes of Grome, World Machine or with tools like Gaia (1, 2), Terrain Composer (1, 2) etc on Unity. It’s just a height map. In an editor. In which artists hand-craft most of the elements, while use the editor’s toolset to generate repeating (e.g. grass) assets, manipulating a 3D object (the Sun or star in the scene) with an attached light source etc.
All basic rudimentary stuff. What’s shocking is that as per the funding stretch goals:
They got $1m (at the $20m stretch goal) for:
“First person combat on select lawless planets. Don’t just battle on space stations and platforms… take the fight to the ground!”
And another $1m (at the $41m stretch goal) for:
“Procedural Generation R&D Team – This stretch goal will allocate funding for Cloud Imperium to develop procedural generation technology for future iterations of Star Citizen. Advanced procedural generation will be necessary for creating entire planets worth of exploration and development content. A special strike team of procedural generation-oriented developers will be assembled to make this technology a reality.”
And it’s going to take a LOT of time for ANY of that to be in the SQ42 (which has planetary missions, according to sources), let alone the PU.
The biggest problem is going to be performance. You think the game’s performance sucks now? Just wait until they finish doing the first planetary scene with all their high fidelity graphics – then you’ll see.
Then you have data storage. Storing those height maps on disk is going to be a major problem. We’re talking terrabytes of data if they even think of doing any scene that’s more than 12 sq km large.
This procgen fiasco is no different from all the other instances whereby reality takes a backseat to obfuscation. Some recent examples:
FPS headbob: they disabled headbob in fps, and all of a sudden it has a nonsensical name, “visual stabilization” to make sound like it’s something else – or some newly discovered tech.
Persistence: Same rubbish. There’s nothing persistent about Star Citizen. The ability to save and restore player data from a dB isn’t new tech, and nobody ever accused it of being “persistent” in the sense of the term as recognized in gaming tech. The game is 100% instanced, and that will never change. So no matter what is being told to backers, even if they invent some fantastic networking tech (hint: they won’t) that’s going to solve their multiplayer issues, there’s never – ever – going to be an MMO coming from this. Why? Because the design was all wrong – right from the start. All MMO games are persistent. You login, game state changes, you logout, log back in, and the state you left is no longer there. So regardless of whether or not you are on the server, the world state is consistently updated and persists. Even when servers are taken off-line, most save the entire state so that when it is brought back up, it is restored “in-place”. e.g. in Line Of Defense, you can login at a certain time, e.g. 1pm and the Sun is up, logout, come back later and it’s night time and it’s pitch dark and anything that was around during the day, is still there.
Seamless space<->planet transition: Rubbish. They’re using trigger points on the planet, in much the same way they do jump targets. Not new. Not revolutionary. Which is why in the Homestead tech-demo from the CitizenCon2016 presentation which I wrote about in my Shattered Dreams blog, you can see the area on the planetary sphere where the base is located. They jumped to it. They couldn’t pick an arbitrary point on the planet and jumped to that because it’s just a textured sphere that bears no relation to the planetary height map below. How do I know? Well watch this Universal Combat CE video (start at 12:05). I select and jump to the planet, pick a spot on the sphere, engage, and my ship appears (I use an external camera transition sequence) exactly at that spot. Why? because it’s procgen and the data for the planet, corresponds to what’s mapped to that sphere of the planet. Right now, you can download the UCCE or GALCOM Echo Squad demo on Steam and try it.
I could go on and on and on, but I’m sure that you get the idea of what I’m going on about.
So this “procedural planet” nonsense that’s now a huge bone of contention, is just more of the same. The disappointment that’s coming is when backers realize that by creating these planets the way they have, it limits the surface coverage for any planet. So instead of having large planetary surfaces – assuming they ever finish and implement it – you will end up with small planetary surfaces, with key points of interest. No different from how space has locations like ArcCorp, GrimHex etc.
The end result? Well, that’s precisely how it’s done in Line Of Defense and most games. Create a height map to define the terrain area (in LoD it’s 256 sq. km edge-to-edge). Have the artists and modelers build the assets into it. Then use scripts to add other dynamic content that’s not static (e.g. rivers, canals, bridges) in the scene. Use rendering tech for water (we use Triton), atmosphere (we use Silverlining), weather, dynamic day/night cycles etc – and a trigger point (in LoD it’s the jump gates or the location selection on the map if you are using the HAIS to go to the planet from space) to get to those locations.
That’s not procgen planets. Which, btw is what’s implemented in every single Battlecruiser and Universal Combat game since 1989. That’s why the smaller 2009 games, All Aspect Warfare & Angle Of Attack, use a different terrain tech that’s similar to what is described above.
And I opted not to do procgen in LoD because it’s a different kind of game and wouldn’t have benefited from it, seeing as I already designed the entire game’s world scope from the onset.
In conclusion, the bottom line is that, once again, backers are being sold a bill of goods that’s not representative, nor indicative of what they were promised. The $20 million stretch goal promised “First person combat on select lawless planets“. The $41 million stretch goal promised “Advanced procedural generation will be necessary for creating entire planets worth of exploration and development content“. Nothing they have shown thus far, is any of that. And my guess is that even the rudimentary FPS on planets, is a long way off, and because doing a proof-of-concept demo (as in Homestead) with a single player in a heavily scripted environment, is a lot different from the actual implementation for multiplayer. And that was promised in the 3.0 patch which was promised “end of this year“.
STAR CITIZEN PROGRESS
Ahead of the GamesCom event in August, I had said that Chris was – again – going to be making stuff up in order to raise money. During that event, he – again – made some lofty promises in relation to a much touted 3.0 (aka Jesus Patch) patch. Aside from the fact that sources had claimed that most of that stuff wasn’t even implemented at the time he made those statements, he has again used a tech demo as a means to show progress. A demo which, much like the one shown in the CitizenCon event of Oct, wasn’t even part of the current game proper. And so, here we are at the end of October, and not even the much awaited 2.6 patch is in community (Evocati) testing.
And the hilarity of it all is that even though Chris went on stage and claimed that 3.0 would be coming at the end of the year, in keeping with the tradition (NOTE: That’s only happened once, back in Dec 2015. So we have no clue what tradition he’s talking about), some in the community are now trying to pass it off as if he never did say that. Well, he did (start at 23:42).
To say that the natives are getting restless (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) would be an understatement. I mean, threads like this, in which almost 50% now don’t expect the game before 2019, which would normally be hidden away in the “concern” sub-forum, are still visible. And it’s not just on Reddit or the official forums; the dissent is getting louder by the day.
Not to mention the fact that the needle on the stretch goal promises list as of this writing, hasn’t even moved; and there’s nothing in 2.6 that would even cause it to do so.
Amid all that, you’d think that CIG/RSI would be focused on showing backers relevant development progress, instead of spending time on tech demos designed specifically to portray progress, while milking backers for even more money. But as we’ve now learned, the upcoming holiday stream is going to be showcasing ships (their primary commodity and source of income btw) as well as other peripheral irrelevant nonsense; all designed to continue raising money.
SQUADRON 42 PROGRESS
Sources say that it’s coming along, and that a trailer is quite possibly coming by year end. Which doesn’t mean squat; seeing as it was touted to be released back in 2014; and nobody has seen anything of it in over a year since the rubbish Morrow Tour tech demo was shown in late 2015 – at yet another event.
The issue with SQ42 is that a trailer is just going to be regarded as just another trailer in the list of trailers and tech demos they have been releasing; and in which most are either not reflective of the game, or which will never make it into the game. That fact that it’s over two years late, no demo for, or testing by backers, is testament to the fact that not only is it several months away, but simply isn’t in any production ready state which would facilitate even a live demo walkthrough.
On the tech side of things, aside from the fact that it shares the same engine as Star Citizen (aka Persistent Universe), it’s going to be interesting to see how exactly it is they are planning on shipping Squadron 42 ahead of Star Citizen, when in fact they both share an engine which, for all intent and purposes, is still very much in a major state of flux. For example, SC is currently at 2.5 (the Evocati testers are at 2.5.1). So let’s assume for argument sake that they do release 3.0 patch in Mar 2017, then SQ42 EP1 comes out in May. That would mean the latter is based on a subset of the 3.0 engine kernel, seeing as 4.0 is now targeted for end of 2017. Now they have to issue on-going patches for a released game (SQ42 EP1) and a work-in-progress game (SC) which has several interconnecting modules.
So basically, they would be releasing a “finished” game, based on an engine that’s still very much work-in-progress. Not to mention the fact that he’s recently been going on about having procedurally generated planetary terrain, when in fact what was shown, and what they seemingly have, is basically a pre-generated height map with 3D assets manually placed on it. Like this (that’s based on the same CryEngine3 sub-set from which they built this StarEngine btw).
That aside, if you have seen how they literally abandoned the Hangar, Arena Commander modules, canceled Star Marine etc, while focusing on the PU, it’s easy to see what will happen when SQ42 gets released and enters the mix.
Read more about this scheduling nonsense in my recent Shattered Dreams blog.
But it gets better. At $5 million funded, Chris promised 50 (!) missions (among other vague things) for SQ42. That was back when the package was the game, plus a “Behind Enemy Lines” mission disk for all backers who pledged before $6 million. Then in an April 2015 “10 For The Chairman” broadcast, Chris again not only made lofty promises, but he split the game into episodes. This time, the base game would be EP1, the mission disk would be EP2, and the story would continue in EP3. There’s a long Reddit discussion about that, if you want to look it up. Despite the fact that I had reported it long before he even made it public, in Feb 2016, he officially announced the split of SQ42 from SC. We all laughed.
What’s interesting about all this is the fact that most of the backers are already entitled to ALL these games. So if you consider that the funding is all pre-orders, it’s easy to see how this scheme is going to absolutely collapse if they can’t somehow monetize these games going forward. They’ve been doing just that with SC, but so far, no clue on how they plan on doing it with SQ42. One theory is that, seeing as nobody knows what EP1 to EP3 are supposed to contain, it’s feasible that the 50 (disregard that Reddit nonsense of 70 missions; he never said that) missions are going to be spread out in some fashion. In that aforementioned broadcast, he mentioned EP1 as having “about 21 chapters with over 70 Wing Commander style missions, spanning about 20 hrs of gameplay”. Nobody knows how many missions are in a chapter. So ponder this. Do you really think that the running time for 50 missions is “about 20 hrs”?
Seeing as they change things on the fly, my guess is that they are going to release a Minimum Viable Product for both EP1 and EP2 since they’re already in “debt” to backers for those; then try to somehow monetize EP3 to everyone. This is all assuming that they even survive 2017.
The other thing to remember is that once they release EP1 as a finished product, it is going to be reviewed as such, and automatically be associated with Star Citizen proper. If what sources are telling me turns out to be true, that the visuals look good – not great, the script is atrocious, the cut-scene acting piss-poor, the game rife with cut-scenes, and the “gameplay” is the usual cookie-cutter nonsense, it’s going to get absolutely ripped by media and gamers. Completely. All of these things contribute to Chris’s hesitation at showing this project to media, let alone the backers who have paid for it. He knows fully well that the minute this gets shown in any playable form, if it’s not the masterpiece that he thinks (only he thinks this btw, several sources have unequivocally stated that it’s crap) it is, then it’s game over.
Which brings me to today’s Sandi hilarity. At the 0:40 mark, after Forrest talks about what they are working on, she made a comment “so nothing’s happening then” after the mention of Squadron 42. No doubt this was meant to be a sarcastic jab at dissenters who have been upset about SQ42 not being shown at the recent CitizenCon, let alone released in 2016. Of course, since she has no training in media relations – let alone marketing of any kind – this sort of comment, in complete disrespect to the very backers who made them rich, is somehow perfectly normal.
In case you missed it, read more about the SQ42 fiasco in my Star Citizen – The Shafting blog.
MEMBER OF STAR CITIZEN COMMUNITY ARRESTED, ARRAIGNED ON PEDOPHILE CHARGES
On the darker side of The Farce, we have reports that one Shawn Thomas Weixelman (aka Fuzzy Modem), who has been prolific in attacking me and others for “saying bad stuff about the train-wreck that is the Star Citizen project” has reportedly been indicted in Alaska on serious felony charges. This was first spotted about two months ago in a comment posted on his YouTube page, but it wasn’t until the last 24 hrs, that more details came to light. As reported in the news and court reports (case # 4FA-16-01486CR <– if that doesn’t work, search by the case number), he was arraigned on July 22nd and held without bail, less than 24hrs after his last activity in the Star Citizen community.
As someone with a Shotgun (Star Citizen’s dev feedback platform) he interacted with some members of the team, including Sandi Gardiner (who he goes out of his way to defend at every opportunity) who mentions (18:37) him in the Oct 22nd 2015 episode of “Around the Verse: Episode 2.04” broadcast. And this is him from the May 2, 2014 episode of “The Next Great Starship Episode 1.11” broadcast. Apparently the Polaris ship that CIG/RSI have been flogging since CitizenCon2016, was either his original design, or the inspiration for the final version.
As I’ve stated before, the vocal backers in the toxic cesspool that is the Star Citizen community, who (aka Shitizens) are waging an Internet war of attrition against dissent, are the project’s biggest liability; bested only by Chris Roberts, his wife Sandi Gardiner, and community person, Ben Lesnick. Amid a lot of hate filled rhetoric, attacks, harassment etc, I have received death threats since my first blog. In fact, one such threat was traced to this fellow who is also a backer.
When you consider the fact that these people reportedly knew about allegations of sexual harassment of a community member by another, Wulf Knight (aka Dick Wulf, the delightful fellow written about here), and chose not to act, but to allow the accused (being long time friend of Ben Lesnick) to remain within their ranks, it’s hard to disregard. Heck, just weeks ago we raised the alarm after this same person, boasted on Twitter about handling security for the CitizenCon 2016 event earlier this month.
All that aside from the uncovering of Ben Lesnick’s website (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) earlier this year which was rife with not only racist, homophobic and anti-semitic posts, but also years of questionable commentary which would have certainly guaranteed the firing of anyone at any other public facing company. Shockingly, as I write this, though reports are that he is no longer actively on the payroll, having been “phased out” of the limelight and the project, he is still active at the CIG office in LA. We’re still investigating that one. But if true, it could only mean that he’s now a contractor (probably with a Golden parachute exit that’s normal for people who “know too much”) of sorts, and CIG/RSI have chosen to remain mum about his current role on the project, let alone his exit. Recently, he’s been seen begging for money in order to buy legacy Wing Commander trash (aka paraphernalia) which even Chris Roberts doesn’t seem in the least bit interested in. I kid you not.
QUICK THOUGHTS ON STAR CITIZEN GAMESCOM 2016
The presentation was bullshit. All of it. It’s staged using an R&D dev branch which was already shown two weeks ago and CLEARLY STATED BY THE DEVS to be in R&D and (I quote): may never be done. Meanwhile, during the stream ahead of the show, this is the ganky 2.5 patch that paid streamers were playing.
Sources say it was heavily scripted, and even that quest giver animation was done last month specifically for THIS canned/scripted Gamescom presentation.
Even the barren moon used for the procgen, anyone with access to CryEngine can put together in a weekend.
Note that they did this SAME thing ELEVEN months ago when it too was “coming soon”. That was the Nyx (https://vimeo.com/137655209) base. Still MIA.
Aside from that, this was 2 clients in a controlled environment on a private local LAN server. Which is NOT indicative of the shit that was being streamed just days before at the show. And THAT version which is the 2.4x kernel, is still largely broken. Which, when you think about it, is hilarious that the 2.5 build they were hoping to use, is somehow a LOT worse than that one; so they couldn’t even use it.
It’s all designed to show “progress” where there is none. This was more to appease the whales (stuck in Sunk Cost Fallacy), and somehow con new gamers into giving them money because they DO need the new money.
Thing is, if this was 2 years ago, and they hadn’t done this SAME SHIT before with various builds at PAX, GDC, E3, Gamescom, CitizenCon, nobody would care. But now, FIVE years – and going into year SIX and $119m later, this is still a pre-Alpha proof-of-concept tech demo that’s nothing more than a glorified CryEngine mod.
Then there’s Star Marine which they shit-canned months back. I wrote a huge blog about it amid the uproar. Then Chris went on the record and said that he was “annoyed” that people are asking about something that was “already in the game”. Yes. With a straight face, he said that SM was already in the PU and being played.
Now that State and Fed officials are looking up their skirt, and given the fact that Star Marine – as a separate module – was PROMISED and PROMOTED for over FOUR years, all of a sudden, it’s back again. That’s what happens when you start to worry about the legal liabilities of your actions.
Not to mention the fact that the games were due out in Nov 2014. It’s now Aug 2016. And neither Star Citizen nor SQ42 is going to be released before year end. So this Nov makes BOTH of them TWO YEARS late.
NONE of this sways my opinion about the game. They can’t build it. They don’t have the tech. They don’t have the expertise. And now they’ve run out of TIME and MONEY.
Anyone who thinks this “game” is ever seeing the light of day, should just ignore me and go give them money.
To be CLEAR: This is NOT about raging against them for “trying”. It’s about HOW they’ve LIED CONSISTENTLY while raising money for a game they KNOW FULLY WELL they can’t build. Also, it’s not about whether or not it’s alpha, pre-alpha, a tech demo or any of that. It’s about THIS being WHAT they have FIVE years and $119 MILLION dollars later. Anyone who thinks that’s somehow OK, SHOULD go give them money. Long after this shit-show collapses, most of us will just be staring into the abyss where dreams go to die.
It’s amazing to me how Shitizens are claiming “victory” over a scripted demo based on wonky R&D. Like the games were suddenly delivered. Even as they conveniently ignore/forget that CIG have done this same very thing many times before and NONE of that is IN the game right now. Shitizens wanted “something” to tide them for the next 6 months. then come Dec 2016, they’re going to (again) pretend Gamescom 2016 never happened. Meanwhile, they’re completely oblivious to the fact that NEITHER Star Citizen now SQ42 is a 2016 release & BOTH will be 2 YEARS late in Nov 2016
Then there’s this…
STAR CITIZEN FINANCIALS – THE SMOKING ROCKET LAUNCHER
Back in 2012 when Star Citizen went to crowd-funding on Kickstarter, one of the most important carrot sticks that was dangled in front of potential backers, and which remains in place today (even though the wording has been changed with the June 2016 update), was financial accountability for the project if they failed to deliver within 12 months (later changed to 18) months of the promised Nov 2014 deadline. There are two sections of the ToS which tie into i) refunds ii) use of funds iii) accountability for funds
In v1.2 of the ToS, which was current up until June 10, 2016 the following appears in Section VII
“RSI agrees to use its good faith business efforts to deliver to you the pledge items and the Game on or before the estimated delivery date communicated to you on the Website. However, you acknowledge and agree that delivery as of such date is not a firm promise and may be extended by RSI since unforeseen events may extend the development and/or production time. Accordingly, you agree that any unearned portion of your Pledge shall not be refundable until and unless RSI has failed to deliver the relevant pledge items and/or the Game to you within eighteen (18) months after the estimated delivery date.
For the avoidance of doubt, in consideration of RSI’s good faith efforts to develop, produce, and deliver the Game with the funds raised, you agree that any Pledge amounts applied against the Pledge Item Cost and the Game Cost shall be non-refundable regardless of whether or not RSI is able to complete and deliver the Game and/or the pledge items. In the unlikely event that RSI is not able to deliver the Game and/or the pledge items, RSI agrees to post an audited cost accounting on the Website to fully explain the use of the amounts paid for Pledge Item Cost and the Game Cost. In consideration of the promises by RSI hereunder, you agree that you shall irrevocably waive any claim for refund of any Pledge that has been used for the Game Cost and Pledge Item Cost in accordance with the above.”In the June 10, 2016 ToS, the above section was changed to the following. This widespread outcry sparked numerous backers to immediately ask for a refund. I covered some of those issues in my Refund Debacle blog back in July.
“RSI agrees to use its good faith business efforts to deliver to you the pledge items and the Game on or before the estimated delivery date communicated to you on the Website. However, you acknowledge and agree that delivery as of such date is not a firm promise and may be extended by RSI since unforeseen events may extend the development and/or production time. Accordingly, you agree that any unearned portion of your Pledge shall not be refundable until and unless RSI has ceased development and failed to deliver the relevant pledge items and/or the Game to you. (Pledges made under previous Terms of Services continue to be governed by the corresponding clause of the Terms of Services, or of the Commercial Terms, as applicable, which were in effect at the time of making the Pledge).
For the avoidance of doubt, in consideration of RSI’s good faith efforts to develop, produce, and deliver the Game with the funds raised, you agree that any Pledge amounts applied against the Pledge Item Cost and the Game Cost shall be non-refundable regardless of whether or not RSI is able to complete and deliver the Game and/or the pledge items. In the unlikely event that RSI is not able to deliver the Game and/or the pledge items, RSI agrees to refund any unearned portion of your Pledge, and to post an audited cost accounting on the Website to fully explain the use of the amounts paid for Pledge Item Cost and the Game Cost. In consideration of the promises by RSI hereunder, you agree that you shall irrevocably waive any claim for refund of any Pledge that has been used for the Game Cost and Pledge Item Cost in accordance with the above.“
You can see all the material changes to both the old and new ToS versions.
Here’s the thing. As per the above, backers who don’t agree to the new ToS, are 100% entitled to a no-questions-asked refund. Until this ToS change fiasco, coupled with the numerous complaints to State and Fed officials, it was very difficult – and near impossible – to get a refund. But people (recently a whale pulled out $11K) are getting them now, though the process is reported to still be fraught with complexities, numerous back and forth shenanigans, delays etc. But the new ToS makes it near impossible to get a refund.
Those who agree to the new ToS, either as existing or new backers, are faced with the possibility that they will never get a refund. Most people (especially gamers who think they’re rubbish anyway) don’t read the fine print. So let me interpret that fine print.
If RSI is unable to complete the game, that means they have run out of time and money. So where exactly would the refunds be coming from? If the funding chart is accurate (it’s not – but wait for my upcoming blog), it stands to reason that after raising $124 million (see breakdown) from backers over a four year period, if they failed to deliver, even without refunding media subscriptions – which they don’t – they would still have to refund the cost of undelivered physical goods, as well as the pre-purchase (no, it’s not a pledge – so stop it) of the game. Last we checked, subscriptions hadn’t even broken the $1 million barrier. So when RSI fails to deliver – as they already have, two years later – it will be a total loss; and there would be no money left to give refunds. Think about it; if they had money to give refunds, they won’t be closing up shop, would they?
Now here’s the fun part. Outside of legal, State or Fed action, they have no incentive to provide the financial accounting promised to backers. If they had nothing to hide, and they intended to provide it, there would be no need to keep revising (it’s on its 4th revision btw) the ToS, even as they reduce their liability, and hang backers out to dry with those changes. So, most of us believe that they won’t provide it because aside from wasteful spending, unjust enrichment by the execs, and claims of malfeasance, revealing those financials would give backers cause for concern, and of course give people like me even more reason to be shouting from the rafters. It would also no doubt show that not only are they running on empty – as claimed by several sources – but that’s why they have to keep using objectionable (creating canned demos to show progress, selling pictures of ships etc) tactics to continue raising money. It’s not unlike a Ponzi scheme; seriously. And that’s precisely how most of us expect it to eventually collapse. It won’t be a slow burn (see Godus and its ilk); but a sudden, catastrophic collapse. With four official studios worldwide, and almost a dozen more operating as contractors, and with over 300 employees/contractors, they have to be burning around $3 million or more per month – easy. Which means that, for all intent and purposes, unless they are making that kind of money each month, they’re probably running at an operating loss (spending more than they are making each month).
The question of what happens to money given to companies, is one that most backers aren’t focused on; even though it’s the smoking rocket launcher in the case of Star Citizen. Which is why, even though private US companies aren’t required to share their financials with the public, over in the UK, they are required to do so. Heck, Frontier Developments Plc, makers of Elite Dangerious, have theirs regularly filed (1, 2). And so, with three (1, 2, 3) entities still late on filing their 2016 accounts, we are still waiting to see what those numbers are; as they will in fact shed light on the financials of the US companies associated with them. As of this writing, they are late – again – on those filings. But according to discussions with Companies House, companies have two (it used to be three) months after the deadline in which to file, before facing higher fines and ultimately criminal prosecution of the directors. Which means that they have until Dec 1st to file.
Problem is, unless and until State or Fed agencies, banks, or investors takes action, the only way for backers to get these financials, is to file a lawsuit and obtain them either through discovery, or as a resolution to the suit. Right now any backer on the old ToS – with or without an attorney – can sue them for those financials seeing as they have missed the 18 month cure period to deliver as promised. But they are bound by arbitration (see Section XXII) which heavily favors (1, 2, 3, 4) corporations. But guess what? Even so, CIG will just refund them; and probably (depending on the arbitrating judge) never have to provide those financials. That would be the end of the matter. So they might as well give refunds; which is cheaper and has less PR nightmares for them.
In one of my blogs, I stated the following related to the financials as it ties into the executives who are relatives (Chris, Sandi, Erin – Roberts) and lifelong friends (Nick & Simon Elms, Derek Senior), most of whom were part of the Gizmondo collapse from a few years back, and which I covered in an earlier blog. Notwithstanding the fact that every single known venture that Chris has been involved in since leaving the games industry over a decade ago, has ultimately collapsed.
“Please ask them if it’s true that: after they founded a studio (Foundry42-UK) to help develop this game, and Chris pulled in his brother and childhood friends in from another company to head it, that less than two years later, another subsidiary (associated with the project) then turned around and bought the company back from those very people. Thus taking out a significant amount of wealth out of the project and putting it into the pockets of those very friends and family. While still paying his brother Erin, what amounts to almost $250K in yearly salary; not including benefits or bonuses – which aren’t disclosed. Aside from this being reported to be almost 3x what he was making at his previous company, it’s also 2x the average for a director in the Manchester region.”
For those of you clueless as to how a business runs, note that just because you have several shell companies, multiple studios, and hundreds of employees, doesn’t mean squat in terms of longevity, or financial health, let alone the internal state of the company. It’s all in the financials. And for a $124 million crowd-funded project – not taking into account investor amounts, loans etc – those financials are vital in determining whether or not they can in fact deliver on promises. Obviously RSI knew this, which is why they put that clause as a carrot stick in the ToS right from the beginning. Then, as with everything else, have thus far failed to keep their promise; even as they float the money across several shell companies.
Homework: Go look at Frontier’s company/team size, and their burn rate (it’s in their financials). And that’s one studio.
THE LUDICROUSNESS CONTINUES
RSI isn’t operating like a company that is flush with cash, let alone one that has ample cash reserves as Chris Roberts – who has the uncanny ability to lie on cue, even without reason – has claimed. They have continued to use a series of carefully planned and staged tactics designed to continue bilking backers (probably investors as well) in order to raise money. And with a few backers (approximately 2000 last time we ran the metrics), still funding the project, there is seemingly no incentive for them to stop using these practices. They pulled the same stunt this past August at the Gamescom2016 event – to the tune of $4.4 million total take for the month. Based on what many believe to be lies. Multiple sources have in fact confirmed that the demo shown – aside from the analysis by myself and others following the event – was staged for the event in order to show progress. Just like they’ve done before in the past.
And naturally, as part of the on-going fundraising effort, they’re still selling JPEGs of ships. The latest being the above concept ship. This aside from the fact that the engineering debt on those is currently so high, that last we checked, not even 50% of the ships sold, have been created, let alone implemented in the game. And with the upcoming yearly CitizenCon2016 event on Oct 9th, they announced another “concept” sale.
From the latest upcoming sale, ponder this. That’s $750 (not a typo) for an image of a ship, for a game that doesn’t yet exist.
Amid all this, remember that Chris Roberts this past April, came out and flat-out said that the first official release of the game, will be a Minimum Viable Product, instead of the full game promised back in 2012. This after five years, and having raised $124 million.
All of these actions and statements are enough for backers to have questions about how long the company can be a Going Concern, and also what has happened to all this money.
As I’ve stated before, how people choose to spend their money, is up to them. However, the few who, going through Sunk Cost Fallacy, and continuing to pour money into this train-wreck, can only speak for themselves. There are others who just want the game they were promised, or a refund in full. RSI cannot deliver the product promised; this is no longer in question because it’s now a foregone conclusion. What’s in question is what will they have achieved and delivered before they either start the inevitable down-sizing, or when the predicted catastrophic collapse comes?
And what should be even more concerning is that this game – as designed – relies on a very expensive server backend to operate. Built like an MMO, complete with cloud server backend, with database access etc, it simply cannot operate without someone footing the expensive monthly bill. There is no single-player. There is no peer-to-peer networking with private servers which ensures players can play the game once the servers go dark. That’s what a catastrophic collapse of the project means. And anyone still giving them money, knowing all this, amid the high risk and broken promises associated with this project, will lose their money when they fail to deliver.
THE NEW RADAR SYSTEM
So in the most recent AtV 3.9 broadcast, the F42 guys showed (start at 5:26) off the new and upcoming radar system. Shortly thereafter, the most vocal community backers were up in arms, quickly expressing [misplaced] outrage, and dubbing it “golf swing radar“. A thread (with over 26 pages) on the forums was quickly
moved to concern, away from the main forum threaddeleted. Shortly after, another thread (30 pages as of this writing) popped up; this time with a poll. That one was moved to the concern forum once CIG/RSI got wind of it.It’s much ado about nothing.
As a systems designer and someone who has developed some of the most complex (go play any of my Battlecruiser/Universal Combat games if you think this is hyperbole) systems in a space combat sim, I quite like how they implemented it. It looks cool, straightforward and functionally sound. Plus (and this is a biggie), they unified it across the infantry and ships. I did the same thing in my BC/UC games, whereby even the NPC infantry characters, have some sort of radar system which not only detects sounds, but also prioritized based on range and elevation.
What’s lost in the translation I think, is how the dev described it. But the fact of the matter is that he described it correctly for the layman to understand how it works. On the face of it, the system is no different from any other implementation of a “power up” mechanic in hundreds of games. So this outrage is completely misplaced I think. Plus, he also stated that it’s a first iteration, and that LA is going to be running with it. Which means that they are going to be tweaking and fine tuning it along the way.
The issue that I have with this system is that unless you’re going to be doing this “scanning” while stationery or moving at low speed, it’s going to be quite cumbersome to use – if you’re the pilot. Using a mechanic such as this, whereby the player needs to provide constant input, is counter-intuitive and misplaced in a game like this. Heck, even the most hardcore air combat sims don’t do it like this. I think it should be implemented as a fire-and-forget type system, but with simple key presses to activate whatever modes (e.g. ACTIVE vs PASSIVE) they want. Then all the benefits and restrictions are embedded within those modes.
In games of this type, the operation of a radar system is usually automated (it’s not like this is a realistic air combat game which requires accuracy and fidelity). You plot the targets, give the radar a range, give the player a way to select targets etc. You can also differentiate the radar op based on range, elevation, altitude (if on planet surface), target cross-section size, op mode etc. You can literally go crazy with it.
If they wanted to implement this as a “skill” (which is precisely what I think they’re going for) based op for multi-crew ships in which one player is going to be using this; then this is probably the way to do it. It’s not like the pilot is going to be doing any of this; in much the same way that a turret gunner isn’t expected to fly a multi-crew ship.
But here’s the problem which all multiplayer games which require player cooperation, run into: who the frack wants to be sat there, in a chair, pissing around with a game mechanic which, for all intent and purposes, doesn’t provide the same instant gratification and satisfaction as any other game mechanic? I don’t care what some of these guys keep dreaming up, even as they theory craft their way through a litany of pure and utter BS (which not even Chris Roberts has promised they could do in the game); when it comes down to it, most of them won’t want to be that guy. In games which require player co-operation, there is always “fun” stuff for all player classes to use. e.g. a medic, a tank etc. In a game like this, there is nothing fun about a skill based radar system, no matter how it’s implemented. Again, this is all assuming they are targeting this as a skill based system. If they aren’t, then this point is moot.
At the end of the day, it’s all down to user experience. If they keep it this way, in which it’s a timed “progress bar” type system which requires constant input (among other things), instead of just a fire-and-forget key input (which can also have the progress bar as it powers up and activates), it will be a complete disaster. And then they will have to do what they always do: go back in, rip it all out, or nerf it. Time wasted.
My suggestion would be to keep everything as-is, but instead of the constant “golf swing” input, simply make it a fire-and-forget mode change input. e.g. passive is the default, then you press a key, and it switches to active, which then initiates the same progress bar. Then, it could be that once the player (pilot or other) switches modes, the pilot would have to keep the ship pointed at the target in order for the progress bar scan to complete quickly. Doing it this way also allows the player to operate the radar system, even without a co-op player. And in the event of a co-op player, perhaps the ability to select multiple targets based on priority (which the pilot may not be aware of; especially in a combat situation), is the add-on benefit. The other benefit to this is that it would work in all ship types, since it gives the pilot autonomy, but at a cost.
FYI, I don’t believe this is a QTE (QuickTime Event) they are showing as the progress bar. It just looks like a Flash based UI (probably using Scaleform or similar; we use Iggy in LoD) animation.
Additional reading:
The radar system in my BC/UC games is quite complex under the hood, and I did my best to not expose too much of that to the user. Read how it works on p27 of the UCCE 3.0 game docs.
