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CIG kicks off Star Citizen Meet the Devs video series
Cloud Imperium has kicked off a new video series called Meet the CIG Devs. Episode one focuses on production coordinator Darian Vorlick, who is profiled via a question-and-answer vignette that's long on personal info but relatively short on game-specific stuff. Still, it might be worth watching if you're curious about the personalities behind the curtain on the largest crowdfunded project of all time. Click past the cut to view Episode 1.
Here's what Star Citizen's devs accomplished in August
Wondering what Star Citizen's devs accomplished in August? The latest monthly report is written with you in mind. As always, it's a wall-of-text comprised of reports from the heads of Cloud Imperium and contractor studios around the world. The TLDR version boils down to "massive progress on everything from the first-person shooter module to the soon-to-be-playable racing mode." Don't forget to watch Star Citizen's Gamescom presentation, if you haven't already. It's embedded past the break. [Thanks Cardboard and Oliver!]
Roberts talks Star Citizen's flight model, story, and more
Chris Roberts is back to answer another batch of Star Citizen subscriber questions in this week's episode of 10 for the Chairman. He touches on quite a lot of stuff during the video's 22-minute running time, most notably flight model concerns and single-player story elements as they relate to both the persistent universe and the Squadron 42 campaign. "If I was going to pitch [the S42 story] to you I would say that it would be the opening of Gladiator, mix it with the Ninth Legion and Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now, all set in space," Roberts explains. In terms of the flight model, Roberts talks about the current implementation vs. the upcoming "additive mode" that will basically allow for inputs without autocorrect centering tendencies (and thus true six-degrees-of-freedom control). Cloud Imperium is aiming for a best-of-both-worlds solution, with players able to switch between assisted flight, temporary decoupled 6DoF for certain maneuvers, or full 6DoF as the situation requires. You can learn more by watching the video after the break. [Thanks Cotic!]
Star Citizen's Roberts talks trial accounts, the persistent universe, and more
Cloud Imperium has published the 33rd episode of 10 for the Chairman, which is a video show hosted by Chris Roberts that's designed to answer fan-submitted questions about Star Citizen. Roberts talks up everything from the game's persistent universe to a unique take on a trial account system to the various systems behind hirable NPCs. There are also bits about the game's Murray Cup racing mechanics, missile lock options, and more. Click past the cut to have a look!
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!]
Star Citizen's new persistent universe director loves economic, strategic gameplay
How important is Star Citizen's persistent universe? Important enough that Chris Roberts has hired game industry veteran Tony Zurovec to oversee its direction. "The game has become so big that I can't actually direct every single aspect of it every single moment of the day," Roberts explains at the outset of a new 40-minute interview vid posted on Cloud Imperium's official site. Zurovec previously worked with Roberts at Origin and Digital Anvil. He also developed the Crusader series and brings a love of economic and strategic gameplay on a galactic scale to the table. Roberts also mentions Zurovec's work on an unreleased Digital Anvil game called Loose Cannon that was essentially "Privateer on wheels" and a pre-cursor to the sort of open-world sandbox mayhem found in Grand Theft Auto III and its sequels. Click past the cut to watch the full interview.
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.)"
Star Citizen tops $45 million, releases Freelancer commercial
It's been a while since we've seen a new spaceship commercial for Star Citizen. Given that Cloud Imperium is pimping the Freelancer this weekend, though, it's no surprise that the space big-rig now has its own in-universe advertisement. Genre mainstay Lance Henriksen does the voiceover honors, and there's a distinctive Firefly vibe to the whole clip, right down to the twangy guitar underneath. See for yourself after the break, and don't blink or you'll miss the Mother Trucker bumper decal! You might also want to read Chris Roberts' latest thank-you letter penned in response to Star Citizen breaking the $45 million crowdfunding barrier.
Star Citizen's latest video Q&A talks used ships, collisions, and more
Will Star Citizen's dogfighting module feature collision damage? Will the game allow you to buy used ships from other players? Will you be able to name your ship (and will said name be visible to other pilots)? These and seven other gameplay questions are answered by Cloud Imperium boss Chris Roberts in the latest episode of 10 for the Chairman. The answers are yes, yes, yes (and yes), if you don't have time to watch the video embedded after the break.
Star Citizen tops $43 million, Roberts talks Gladius and combat armor
Guess what folks? Star Citizen is still making money. Chris Roberts' latest Letter from the Chairman celebrates the $43 million stretch goal achievement, which adds a set of marine combat armor to each backer's account. The letter also details the Gladius light fighter, which became a thing when SC broke the $42 million barrier. The Gladius is "an older fighter that doesn't have the arms and armor of a Hornet... but that can maneuver and strike quickly," Roberts writes. Click through the links below to see the work-in-progress screens and read the full letter. Don't forget to click past the cut and watch Roberts field backer questions in the latest episode of 10 for the Chairman.
Star Citizen vid shows off the Hornet's 100 different damage states
If you've yet to watch this week's episode of Wingman's Hangar (or any episode of Wingman's Hangar, for that matter), number 59 features plenty of interesting nuggets for Star Citizen fans. Nearly half of the show's 32-minute running time is devoted to the space sim's ship damage states, and Cloud Imperium shares plenty of behind-the-scenes footage on the creation process as well as a roundtable discussion featuring the principal designers. Lead ship modeller Chris Smith says that the Hornet alone has 100 different states. "We wanted a lot of fidelity, kind of movie-like breakup on these ships with lots of little pieces," he explains. Click past the cut for the full episode!
Stick and Rudder: 2013's essential Star Citizen stories
What say we recap 2013 from a Star Citizen-focused perspective? It was a huge year for Cloud Imperium's space sim sandbox, and no, I'm not just talking about the ever-increasing crowdfund windfall.
In-character Star Citizen Aurora ad released
It's been a while since we've seen one of Star Citizen's in-character ship trailers. Fortunately Cloud Imperium released another one over the weekend. The focus this time is on the Roberts Space Industries Aurora, which is something of a newbie ship in terms of gameplay but is nonetheless highly customizable as you'll see when you watch the vid. The clip clocks in at a smidge under two minutes in length and shows off various loadouts followed by in-engine footage of the Aurora departing from a planetary hangar before blasting into orbit and braving an asteroid field. Have a look-see after the break!
Star Citizen's Roberts: 'Every day I'm just thinking about how to make this game awesome'
Can't get enough Star Citizen news? We can't either, so we're passing along this nine-minute video documentary recently released by Stage 5 TV. It's called Rise of the Indies, and it offers a newbie's look at Cloud Imperium's upcoming space sim. The filmmakers interview Chris Roberts and environmental artist Dave O'Preska, both of whom show off a few behind-the-scenes work-in-progress tidbits. Roberts also offers up a smidgeon of commentary illustrating the benefits of crowdfunding vs. traditional publisher-funded development. "[With publishers], you're still in these meetings with marketing, you're still in the meetings with sales, and you've got people who are like 'well, demographically we need to appeal here,' so there's a lot of extra stuff that gets in there," Roberts explains. "They're writing the check, so you try to have as much of your stuff as possible but you also have to do some stuff for them, and I always think that kind of compromises stuff. In [Star Citizen's] case I don't deal with any of that. Every day I'm just thinking about how do I make this game awesome." Quotables aside, there's nothing really new here if you're already on the bandwagon. That said, it's the perfect introduction for that SC virgin on your friends list. Check it out after the cut!
Cloud Imperium shows off Star Citizen character motion video
Star Citizen's developers recently wowed us with an extensive look at the game's spaceship customization. Fortunately, the team isn't skimping on the title's character models either. A new video released yesterday demonstrates the range of motion for human avatars, and Cloud Imperium says that this is a good approximation of how characters will function in the finished game. The company also notes that the clip is "real-time, in-engine movement and not a pre-rendered video." Have a look after the break.
