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Star Citizen releases Arena Commander 1.0
Pilots, start your engines, for Star Citizen's Arena Commander 1.0 is here! Arena Commander is the next significant milestone for the modularly developed space sim. With AC 1.0, pilots can take their ships out for dogfighting or just to experience flight among the stars. Arena Commander 1.0 also has the effect of growing Star Citizen's feature list. The team's tripled the number of flyable ships with 14 new vessels. Missiles were improved, while the game added a lobby system, a friends list, a ship signature system, a thruster power system, and a lateral g-force system. The team also improved many of the visuals, animations, and audio effects. [Thanks to Chrysillis for the tip!]
Star Citizen's latest patch adds another ship, drunk effects
Star Citizen's latest patch is now live. Actually, it's Arena Commander's latest patch, where Arena Commander is the dogfighting and ship pornography simulator that allows players to explore various craft as Cloud Imperium developers get them "hangar-ready." AC version 0.9.2.2 adds the Anvil Gladiator to the mix, along with a drunk effect for your hangar's liquor cabinet. CIG encourages you to "please drink responsibly."
Star Citizen's latest patch adds ESP, improves control
Cloud Imperium has officially released version 0.9.2 of Star Citizen's Arena Commander. It's kind of a big deal thanks to something that the company is dubbing ESP, or Enhanced Stick Precision. CIG's Chris Roberts explains how this latest version of the alpha software, which combines ESP with significant changes to the ITTS and HUD systems, comes the closest so far to achieving "the level of control and sense of dogfighting that I had in my head when I first pictured how space combat should feel back when I started the journey that is Star Citizen." The latest patch also doubles the size of Arena's Commander's maps. You can read the full patch notes here. CIG also unveiled the Drake Herald this afternoon. Be sure to click the web page's decrypt button to see all the details. [Thanks Cardboard!]
Star Citizen working to develop ships faster than before
In a new monthly report, the makers of Star Citizen said that they have restructured their internal process so that they can pump out new ships even faster. Some of these new ships include the Herald, Carrack, Reclaimer, Avenger variants, and 890 Jump. "We have been hard at work refining our process and improving our workflow so that we can develop ships more quickly and more efficiently than we have ever done before," the team writes. "The creation of new ships for Star Citizen is an incredibly complex and detailed process, so it made sense to move it to LA where Chris [Roberts] can maintain oversight and provide direction to everyone involved." The report also touched on the fleshing out of Arena Commander, preparations for upcoming conventions, the hiring of new personnel, and improvements to ships' HUDs. One thing to look forward to is a brand-new cinematic that should arrive within the week.
You can race your Star Citizen spaceship today
Before I get too deep into this news post, I'd like to take a moment to thank Cloud Imperium for releasing Star Citizen's racing module on ArcheAge's launch day. Now that that's out of my system, let's see here. Arena Commander 0.9 is officially patchable right now. It brings with it the Murray Cup racing simulator, co-op play, leaderboards, and "too many bug fixes to list," according to CIG's announcement post. [Thanks Oliver!]
Star Citizen updates backers on the status of Arena Commander V0.9
Star Citizen's latest update to the Arena Commander module has not come out yet. Yes, V0.9 is being held back slightly, but there's a good reason for that. A recent dispatch from the development team explains that the update just had not been rigorously tested enough to release, especially with the overall goal of making fast progress from V0.9 to V1.0. Of course, the V0.9 update also offers a significant number of upgrades to the experience as a whole, which makes the change that much more understandable. Improvements include the addition of the Murray Cup Racing Mode and the Vanduul Swarm Co-op Mode, leaderboard functionality, and improvements to existing hangars. The update also includes the M50 and 350R ships for all modes and adjustments to make flight options more robust. So you'll have to wait a little longer for the update, but the hope is that it's more than worth the wait. [Thanks to Cardboard for the tip!]
Star Citizen's Arena Commander V0.9 patch delayed
If you were hoping to get your hands on Arena Commander V0.9 this weekend, you've probably guessed by now that that's not happening. Star Citizen's website published an update blurb that details the reasons behind the delay. It's also worth reading if you're a casual SC follower and weren't aware of all the stuff that 0.9 will bring to backers. There's the new Murray Cup racing map and game mode, a co-op Vanduul Swarm mode, and two new flyable ships (the M50 and the 350R). The update also features Star Citizen's first stab at private match functionality and a few other bells and whistles. Cloud Imperium says that it "will be working around the globe through the holiday weekend to deliver on the promise of V0.9." [Thanks Cardboard!]
Star Citizen's Arena Commander gets new CTF mode
Cloud Imperium has added a new game mode to Star Citizen's Arena Commander dogfighting module. Capture the Core is a team-based mode that sees players tasked with -- you guessed it -- capping the core on the opposite side of the map. If that sounds a bit like classic capture-the-flag games, that's by design, though CIG's announcement post points out that there's an "additional challenge of operating in three dimensional space." The new mode is now available to all Arena Commander-eligible backers. [Thanks Cardboard!]
Star Citizen's Arena Commander open to all backers
Cloud Imperium released Star Citizen's July update this week, which says that the dev team has "finally achieved victory" in its long battle with the game's pre-alpha rubber-banding issues. Arena Commander multiplayer is "playing like we originally intended," the firm explains, and as a result the module has been made available to all eligible SC backers. The rest of the update letter details happenings at all of CIG's studios around the world. [Thanks Cardboard and James!]
Here's what CIG accomplished on Star Citizen in June
It's the beginning of a new month, which means it's time for Cloud Imperium Games to recap last month's Star Citizen progress. The big news was the release of Arena Commander and its four patches, but there are plenty of other interesting nuggets packed into the the latest update wall-of-text. Foundry 42 studio director Erin Roberts says that capital ships are coming together, and his team has also begun work on multi-crew vehicles. CIG Austin studio director Eric Peterson says that his bunch has been "busy working on the persistent universe and backend server component," while Behaviour producer Mathieu Beaulieu says that his studio is hard at work on hangar revamps as well as Star Citizen's mobiGlas development. Read all about those initiatives and more at the Roberts Space Industries website linked below. [Thanks James!]
Star Citizen begins AC multiplayer invites
It's been a busy week for Star Citizen. The crowdsourced space sim sandbox topped $46 million in funding, and Cloud Imperium Games began rolling out invites to the multiplayer portion of the recently released Arena Commander dogfighting module. The module also continues to be patched in order to address bugs and control issues. CIG also kicked off a new video show called Around the Verse. The first episode features a 40-minute running time and a sit-down with AC producer Travis Day. Finally, CIG chairman Chris Roberts penned his customary thank you letter after the $46 million milestone, in which he offered a sneak peek at the game's next in-universe spaceship commercial and made available a community poll relating to the continued use of project stretch goals. "When we started the Star Citizen campaign, the purpose of the stretch goals was to make things we had imagined but didn't think we could afford possible: adding capital ship systems, studying procedural generation, hiring additional artists to build more ships at once and the like," Roberts explained. "The additional funding continues to expand the scope of the game and make what we're doing possible... but it's becoming more and more difficult to quantify that with more stretch goals (and to explain that to the rest of the world, which likes to focus only on how much money we've made.)"
Delayed Star Citizen dogfighting module finally leaves the launchpad
Though bugs delayed the initial release of Star Citizen's Arena Commander a la carte gameplay mode, developer Cloud Imperium Games has popped an airlock, sucking those dastardly code glitches into space like so many hapless xenomorphs. Today's 0.8 update for Star Citizen offers access to new ships and gameplay modes. Would-be pilots can now step into the cockpit of the Roberts Space Industries Aurora, 300i and Hornet. These spacecraft can then be deployed in either the Vanduul Swarm gameplay mode or in simple, self-explanatory free flight. Additionally, this update adds multiplayer gameplay to both the Team and Battle Royale gameplay modes. All of this new content may seem daunting, but Cloud Imperium has also debuted an official "Pilot's Guide" for the new Arena Commander content. Assuming you backed Star Citizen's overwhelmingly successful crowdfunding efforts with enough cash to earn either Alpha access or an Arena Commander pass, this new content is available for download at no additional charge. [Image: Cloud Imperium Games]
Star Citizen's monthly report, AC tutorial vid released
Cloud Imperium has had a busy couple of days, what with launching Star Citizen's long-awaited Arena Commander and all. Last night the firm also released its latest monthly studio report wherein CIG's development teams share their progress reports for the past 30 days. The devs also published a mouse-and-keyboard based flight tutorial for the new dogfighting module. You can view that after the cut.
Star Citizen's Arena Commander is live
Cloud Imperium has released Star Citizen's dogfighting module, more commonly known as Arena Commander. Qualified backers can now access the Vanduul Swarm and Freeflight modes using three different spacecraft: the Aurora, the 300i, and the Hornet. The current version includes limited multiplayer for a handful of backers in the form of the Battle Royale and Team modes. CIG says that these modes will open up to more players as it hunts down lag and synch issues. The announcement post also features a lengthy blurb from Chris Roberts on the future of open development as well as a poll to gauge interest in internal date targets. Finally, there's a launch trailer with gameplay footage after the cut! [Thanks everyone who tipped us!]
Star Citizen's Arena Commander delayed
Despite the best efforts of a dev team that's been working around the clock for the past two weeks, Cloud Imperium has decided to delay today's planned Arena Commander release for Star Citizen. CIG's Chris Roberts offers a lengthy explanation on Star Citizen's official website, complete with a list of critical bugs soon to be squashed. It would be foolish to release an unstable build, even if pre-alpha for the sake of meeting an internal deadline. This is the power of the crowdfunding that made Star Citizen possible: a publisher would make us ship tomorrow regardless of the current build quality... but as you are all focused on quality rather than a financial return for shareholders we are able to take a few more days to deliver something that is stable. I know that's not the news you wanted to hear tonight. No-one would like to see the community get their hands on Arena Commander more than I would. This is what can happen with an open development process, especially when we are sharing code and content long before one normally would in traditional development. [Thanks Kommissar K!]
Star Citizen's Arena Commander is launching on May 29th
Star Citizen fans, mark your calendars for May 29th. If all goes well, you'll be playing at least a single-player version of Arena Commander as Cloud Imperium begins to roll out portions of its long-awaited dogfighting module. CIG chairman Chris Roberts has posted his weekly recap, which contains the tentative date and a preview of what to expect. "The goal is that every backer will have access to the single-player Free Flight and Vanduul Swarm games mode on this day, and the very first batch of multiplayer testers will get access to the game's multiplayer game modes," Roberts writes. "We will scale up the multiplayer as quickly as possible starting on that date, increasing the number of players as it is stable and stopping to fix bugs where needed." There's much more to the weekly studio report, so click through to the Roberts Space Industries website to read it!
PAX East 2014: Star Citizen and the DFM are 'more than just PvP'
Chris Roberts took the stage at a backer-only pre-PAX event in Boston last night to show off some of Star Citizen's alpha dogfighting footage. Despite a few technical glitches, fans were able to get an extended glimpse of the game's first playable module, which Roberts said will likely release in a month or so. The dogfighting module will be presented as part of the in-universe fiction and thus will take the form of a space sim called Arena Commander which released to gamers in the year 2944. Players will load into the DFM through their pre-existing hangar module where they'll choose between five alpha game modes: Free Flight, Battle Royale, Squadron Battle, Capture the Core, and Vanduul Swarm (basically a horde mode). Cloud Imperium is including leaderboards and plenty of stats which will show up both on Star Citizen's web-based player and organization profiles as well as in the finished game. The upcoming module will also feature co-op capabilities along with PvE AI. "At the end of the day, for me, it's not all about combat," Roberts explained, "so if [combat's] not your thing you don't have to worry about it." Click past the cut to watch the full livestream.
