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Euro Star Citizen fans getting local support, VAT
Are you a Star Citizen fan based in Europe? If so I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that Cloud Imperium is opening a "publishing arm" in the UK and thus will provide local customer support. The bad news is that Euro customers will be subject to the VAT beginning on February 1st. "We wish there were an alternative to charging the tax, but also believe that it is in our best interest to expand Star Citizen's footprint to a part of the world that has proven to be truly passionate about space games," CIG explains on its website.
Star Citizen's Chris Roberts looks back on a year of growth
2014 was a pretty big year for Star Citizen, and not just because the Arena Commander module went from its first release version to 1.0 over the course of the year. A recent letter from project head Chris Roberts states that over 2014 the studio has gone from having 70 employees in one location to 180 employees in four locations across the globe. He also notes the huge increases in funding that the game has seen from both new backers and old. So what's in store for 2015? Big stuff for backers. The first episode of Squadron 42 and the beginnings of the game's persistent universe will be reaching backer hands, along with the first iterations of the FPS module. There's no exact timetable given, but the developers are certainly planning big for the year ahead. Take a look at the full letter for more statistics on the year past and the one just begun. [Thanks to Cardboard for the tip!]
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!]
Elite: Dangerous scores a HUD color mod and grats from Chris Roberts
The stage was set for a truly epic battle of words with the launch of Elite: Dangerous. In one corner, David Braben and Elite, a project that's launched and offers a space sandbox experience with the controversy of a removed offline mode. In the other corner, Chris Roberts and Star Citizen, another space sandbox that hasn't actually launched but hasn't managed to irritate its fans yet. The intense rivalry between these two developers is... well... it's nonexistent, actually, as Roberts recently released a letter congratulating Braben and his team on the launch and wishing them the best of luck. Roberts states in the letter that he's happy to see more games like Elite: Dangerous on the market; he says everyone benefits from having the game on the market, especially since his game and Braben's game both feeling distinct from one another. He also states that he's looking forward to playing the game himself during his time over the holidays. And thus the battle of words never happened because the rivalry doesn't actually exist. Hint, hint. In other Elite: Dangerous news, an intrepid modder has released a tool to help players change their UI HUD colors. How cool is that? [Thanks to Oliver, Cardboard, and Carson for the tips!]
Get a closer look at Star Citizen's Gladiator bomber
So just what is the Gladiator, Star Citizen's newest ship, and why might it have some players salivating? Recently, the team posted additional information and technical specs on this carrier-based bomber for all those interested to check out. According to the description, "The Gladiator is the UEE Navy's premiere carrier-based torpedo-plane and space-to-ground dive bomber. Operating with Hornet escort fighters, Gladiators have seen service with great success in battles across known space. Rugged to a fault, the Gladiator is the most capable bomber chassis ever designed." Star Citizen is selling the Gladiator as a not currently flyable pledge ship for $165, or or you can pay $180 for the ship and an extras package. It will be available for pre-purchase only through December 22nd, although it will eventually be in the full game upon release. [Thanks to Cardboard 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 Hornet available to all backers this week
I'm a Star Citizen backer, but I didn't pledge enough to pilot the Anvil Hornet prior to launch. Thanks to Cloud Imperium, though, I'll be flying it in Arena Commander anyway, at least for the next week. The Hornet has been unlocked for all backers, according to a posting on the game's website. "The Hornet is the civilian version of the F7A Hornet flown off of the elite Bengal carrier vanguard of the UEE Navy," CIG explains. "It may not be the prettiest ship but it is the go-to short range fighter due to Anvil's sturdy design and ability to take as much punishment as it can dish out." In other SC news, Chris Roberts published another Letter from the Chairman last night which includes tidbits on multicrew ships, modular ship design, and exterior customization options.
Star Citizen's November report is long, informative
Welcome back, Star Citizen fans, curious onlookers, and trolls of all shapes and sizes. It's that time of the month where Cloud Imperium publishes an absurdly huge wall-of-text detailing exactly what it's doing with its crowdfunding windfall and provides some fairly unique insight into the making of a triple-A online game. But, eh, why bother reading all that when you can just skip to the comments and call it vaporware? On your marks, get set, go! [Thanks for the tip, Cardboard.]
Star Citizen opens up a $350 ship for sale
Do you want to go out exploring with Star Citizen once it's actually possible to do so? It's one of the stated goals of the game, after all. If so, perhaps you'd like to do that exploration inside of the newly revealed Anvil Carrack, a ship that is available for purchase now for the not-at-all low price of $350. And you can't use it in any of the game's current modules once you do purchase it. According to the official page, the Carrack is being offered as a concept sale, which means that it is currently unavailable for use in any modules. It comes with lifetime insurance once purchased as well as decorative items for the player's hangar, although there's no ETA on when the ship will actually be available for use within the hangar. The ship is available for purchase until December 8th if you want to drop another $350 on the ongoing development of Star Citizen. [Thanks to Cardboard for the tip!]
Star Citizen eclipses $63 million, adds pets
Cloud Imperium has a lot to be thankful for, including the fact that Star Citizen surpassed the $62 and $63 million crowdfunding plateaus during Thanksgiving week. Chris Roberts has published a new celebratory letter in which he outlines the latest stretch goals (the Genesis-class Starliner at $62 million and the Reliant at $63 million). The upcoming $64 million goal should please pet lovers. "From Jones the cat in Alien to the Battlestar Galactica's Daggit, pets have a place onboard starships," Roberts writes, "and we want to give you that option in Star Citizen." What about $65 million? "We have a major feature we're investigating as an option. Suffice it to say, we've heard a lot of your feedback about modular ships and we want to expand our plan for how to do them," Roberts teases.
Star Citizen aims to redefine avatar death, combat realism
Remember way back in February of 2013 when Chris Roberts posted his Death of a Spaceman concept? It was a high-level look at how character death would function in Star Citizen, and it broke from gaming industry norms by aiming for an immersive system with strategy and consequences rather than the typical run-and-gun and die-and-respawn mechanics common to MMOs, FPSs, and most other games. This week Roberts and company have released another extensive design doc called Healing Your Spacemen, which greatly expands the original concept. "In the end, the team decided to run counter to the standard FPS mechanics of regenerating health and instantly respawning on death to make every fight a calculated decision that can have ramifications that impact your character and place in the 'Verse," Cloud Imperium says. Character health involves a limb-based system featuring four levels of health for each limb, and the system deliberately avoids "the current trend of hiding behind cover for blood to clear off your screen and jumping back in the fight ready for more." The post also explains how characters may be dragged to safety and how the spaceflight portion of the game will include "a robust rescue system" that complements the character death and damage mechanics. Read all about it via the official site links below! [Thanks Cardboard!]
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.
Star Citizen's crowdfunding total tops $61 million
What's better than $60 million in crowdfunding support? $61 million, of course, and that's what space sim sandbox Star Citizen's sitting at today. Cloud Imperium boss Chris Roberts has penned his usual Letter from the Chairman in response to another million-dollar milestone. This particular milestone unlocked the Espera Prowler, which Roberts says will be interesting to watch during the build process since it's an alien design that will be retrofitted for human use. The letter also features a poll that allows backers to choose Star Citizen's third starter ship.
Star Citizen's Roberts on job boards, affecting AI, and more
Got a few minutes for a Star Citizen update? Good, because this week's 10 for the Chairman is available for viewing. If you're new to 10FtC, it's a video sitdown with Chris Roberts where he fields subscriber questions and does his best to answer them. Roberts talks about everything from in-game job boards (both NPC- and player-run) to capturing capital ships to the effects of player action on Star Citizen's AI. Click past the cut to watch the full episode!
Star Citizen passes $60M in fundraising, becoming 'single, coherent vision'
Star Citizen appears to be unstoppable, with the in-development space sim passing the $60,000,000 crowdfunding mark this past weekend. The $60M barrier unlocked the Aegis Bulldog fighter stretch goal. Moving forward, Chris Roberts revealed the next few milestone goals: the Espera Prowler boarding ship ($61M) and the Genesis-class Starliner ($62M). "I think I speak for everyone on the team when we say it really feels like Star Citizen is starting to go from a series of modules to a single, coherent vision," Roberts said before teasing "a few more surprises" before the year is out.
Get your first look at Star Citizen's FPS gameplay
Star Citizen's first-person shooter gameplay has often gone overlooked in its large (and mostly space-bound) features package, but this weekend it's been the star of the show at PAX Australia. In a 10-minute demo, the devteam ran a four-player co-op mission through a dilapidated space station. Eurogamer notes that animations are synced between viewpoints and players, and that players can move their heads independent of their guns. The FPS module is currently scheduled to be released (among other things) in 2015. You can get your first look at this combat in the screenshots and video below.
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 explains its ship design pipeline
How does a ship for Star Citizen go from a vague concept to a functional design in the game? That's a great question! It's also one with a concrete answer, as a new official blog on the site explains the whole design pipeline process for new Star Citizen ships, starting with the highest level of concept and moving on to the level where the ship is ready for everyone to take into space. The process is a fairly straightforward one, moving from initial renders and tweaks during the concept stages to having a specific internal layout and then a map of damage areas on the final model. You can also check out the blog for a complete listing of all the ships currently in planning and moving through the concept process. It's not an easy path to go from the idea to a full, working version of the ship, so if you want to get a more detailed look, check out the full breakdown.
Cloud Imperium is OK with Star Citizen's grey market
If you think Cloud Imperium charges a lot for Star Citizen's spaceships, you should see what some of the "rarer" ones are going for on the game's grey market. Eurogamer has published a look behind the curtain of the space sim's secondary item sales, including interview snippets with a couple of middlemen who have made significant amounts of real-world money by facilitating digital spaceship swaps. In many cases, the perceived value of a Star Citizen spaceship is tied to whether or not it has lifetime insurance, which was originally offered to backers during the game's early crowdfunding days. Cloud Imperium says that the insurance will function as a convenience item instead of a must-have in the final game, but that hasn't stopped speculators and collectors from paying a premium for LTI-equipped ships, even though some of them can't be used in Star Citizen's currently available hangar and dogfighting modules. Eurogamer reports that CIG and Chris Roberts have "no desire" to interfere in the trading of pretend spaceships for real cash.
Star Citizen's Roberts: 'A working universe is much more interesting than just a battlefield'
Do you think Chris Roberts keeps a stack of future Letters from the Chairman in his desk drawer? It would make sense, given the fact that Star Citizen regularly blasts through million-dollar crowdfunding barriers (each one prompting a new letter). The latest milestone to fall by the wayside is $56 million, and the latest letter talks up the sci-fi sandbox's non-combat bells and whistles. Roberts writes that he's pleased to see the new Reclaimer salvage ship striking a chord with backers, as it confirms his "feeling that a working universe is much more interesting than just a battlefield." He also mentions a community poll that determined the role for Star Citizen's initial fourth wave ship. "The results of the poll also confirmed my belief that the community understands the broader reach of Star Citizen: an overwhelming number of backers voted for the research and hospital ship!"
