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Ex-DICE leads found Fugitive Games, build space survival sim
Ben Jones, previously lead designer of the Battlefield Premium service at DICE, and a team of former DICE, Capcom and Sony America developers have formed Fugitive Games, and their first project is an open-world space survival simulator called Into the Stars. In Into the Stars, players are the captain of a ship exploring a huge solar system to find a new home for humanity. Players oversee the details of ship management, including choosing unique resources, modules and personnel to take on the journey. Into the Stars is single-player, it features crew permadeath, and it's in development for PC and Mac, running on Unreal Engine 4. The score comes from Jack Wall, the composer behind Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. Fugitive Games is seeking $85,000 on Kickstarter to build Into the Stars, and it's up for voting on Steam Greenlight. On the Kickstarter campaign page, Fugitive explains the decision to seek crowdfunding with the following message: "We've been involved in the Kickstarter community for several years now, so when it became clear that we required additional funds to complete this project, we knew just where to turn. The reality is that we simply can't provide the high level of polish, quality audio and compelling score this game demands with our existing resources. Though we could potentially turn to publishers to fill this void, we'd much rather deal directly with gamers like you who can help shape the experience into something truly special!" [Image: Fugitive Games]
Stick and Rudder: This is not an Elite: Dangerous review
One of these days I'll get back to writing Star Citizen-flavored words in this space. Right now, though, Elite: Dangerous is a thing that I've been playing, and please ya'll, put down your pitchforks. It is possible -- and even healthy -- to like and support both of these titles. This is not space Capulets vs. space Montagues but rather the beginnings of a new sci-fi sandbox age. Elite's not quite where I would like it to be at this early hour, but it's still a fine piece of work that's salvaged a thoroughly regrettable MMO year.
Descendants Kickstarter promises 'real freedom of choice'
One thing you can say about Descendants, a new space sandbox that's asking for fan donations via Kickstarter, is that it's certainly not lacking in ambition. This creators of this sci-fi title promise that players really will make a difference: "Our main goal is to create exciting game mechanics with real freedom of choice." The rundown of Descendants' proposed feature list is staggering: The game will have 20 playable races, 50 base classes, 20 prestige classes, crafting, land ownership, and a full-fledged political system. Cities can be built and spaceships designed from the inside-out. Of course, this sort of ambition doesn't come cheaply; Descendants is asking for $900,000 to get this game cooking. The team created a 40-minute overview video of the project that you can watch after the jump to see if this is a game worthy of your interest -- and your dollar.
Here's an early look at Star Citizen's planetside gameplay
Did you miss CitizenCon last weekend? I sure did, and as a result I also missed this rather exciting 11-minute clip that shows off a boatload of Star Citizen sights and sounds. Better late than never, though, right? Click past the cut to see an early version of the game's planetside gameplay and environments!
Stick and Rudder: Oh yeah, Star Citizen is a game I'm following!
I actually said the title of this piece out loud the other day. I was compelled to do so primarily because of a certain sandpark's launch as well as the fact that it's been dominating my game time for a solid month now. And yeah, I left off the Stick and Rudder part when I said the title out loud because "Stick and Rudder: Oh yeah Star Citizen is a game I'm following!" would've sounded even stranger than "Oh yeah, Star Citizen is a game I'm following!"
Choose My Adventure: Basically Han Solo in Elite: Dangerous
When Frontier Developments' Elite: Dangerous eventually launches, I'm guessing there will be two primary types of pilots cruising its vast expanses: quiet, peaceful types who enjoy exploring and courier-ing, and destructive, violent types who prefer interacting with NPCs and other players via pulse lasers. Elite's loose structure has room for other archetypes, though, such as the savvy trader working the marketplace and the under-the-radar smuggler who lives on the wrong side of the law but avoids drawing attention to himself. Being peaceful doesn't mean you have to be lawful. Last week's Choose My Adventure poll set me on the path of the smuggler, challenging me to secure illegal goods and to sneak those goods by the feds to net a healthy profit. Results were mixed.
Stick and Rudder: Even more sims to fill the Star Citizen void
I was hoping to use this week's column to talk in glowing terms about Star Citizen's newly released racing mechanics. The only problem with that plan is that Arena Commander 0.9 hasn't launched just yet, purportedly on account of a few pesky bugs that Cloud Imperium is still in the process of squashing. Sooo, I thought I'd dust off an old Stick and Rudder standard wherein we talk about which genre games are worth playing while we're waiting on the "best damn space sim ever."
Stick and Rudder: Star Citizen is standing on the shoulders of genre giants
It's confession time, folks. My Star Citizen fandom has been on the fritz. It's not that I'm less enamored with Cloud Imperium's sci-fi sandbox opus; it's just that the interminable waiting coupled with a pretty severe case of themepark MMO burnout (help me, ArcheAge, you're my only hope) has conspired to foul my gaming mood of late. Fortunately, CIG read my mind and pulled me back in with its gangbusters Gamescom reveals.
Stick and Rudder: Should you be scared off by Star Citizen's community?
Massively's Justin Olivetti and I were talking MMO communities recently. Star Citizen came up, and my esteemed colleague mentioned that the constant hubbub surrounding the crowdsourced space sim sandbox has made him a bit wary of getting invested in the title for the time being. From the inside looking out, I can see how the game's community sometimes seems like a roiling mass of internet rage and entitlement, but I think it's worth mentioning that -- like the game itself -- it's also what you make of it.
Braben: We 'would be stupid not to' look at Elite on consoles
Frontier is considering console versions of Elite: Dangerous, according to Eurogamer. "I don't want to do something that constitutes an announcement," studio boss David Braben said, "but we would be stupid not to support other platforms, including console." Frontier has experience making both Sony and Microsoft first-party games, and Elite uses the same engine as Xbox One launch title Zoo Tycoon. A possible Elite console port will take a while, though, as Frontier is currently laser-focused on the PC release. "We will then do the game on Mac and during that time we will be looking at other platforms as well," Braben said.
David Braben explains Elite's high prices
If you looked at the £200 alpha and £100 premium beta price tag for Elite: Dangerous and thought, wow, that's pretty damn expensive, you're not alone. Frontier boss David Braben recently explained the price points to Eurogamer. "We've taken flak for it," Braben said. "But the important thing for the alpha is, for it to be a genuine alpha, we didn't want huge numbers. Maybe we shouldn't have restricted it by price but it seemed like a logical thing to do. It seemed like a fair thing to do." He goes on to say that while Frontier could have "thought more carefully" about how the prices would appear to gamers outside of Elite fandom, the devs "planned it this way for sound reasons, and part of that is going toward backing the game. We don't have a publisher here," Braben said. "That backing helps financially."
Stick and Rudder: How complex is too complex for Star Citizen?
I've taken a little while to let Chris Roberts' recent flight model manifesto marinate. In that time, my opinion has run the gamut from "funk yeah, simulation!" to "hmm, I hope I'm able to enjoy this title" and back again. I waffled because as much as I'm salivating over Star Citizen and everything it represents, it's still one game out of dozens that I'm following. And as much as I'd like to, I can't realistically devote all of my free time to a single title!
Space Faction opens up a huge galaxy for you to explore and exploit
Is intergalactic multiplayer the new hotness on the MMO scene? It seems as though outer space has finally opened up for business, and we have another title that's eager to get in on the spaceship and ray gun fun. This new game is Space Faction, a PvP MMO that features ground and space exploration and combat. The factions part of the name comes into play because, according to the official site, "to conquer the unknown, these newcomers must learn to hone their abilities and create factions with others, because as large as the galaxy is, it isn't nearly large enough for everyone." Space Faction purports to feature a wide variety of classes and activities, from treasure hunting to collecting bounties to surveying planets. And also fighting. Lots and lots of fighting. The game looks to be in early development and is currently working on setting up a Steam Greenlight campaign. [Thanks to Thomas for the tip!]
Stick and Rudder: How Star Citizen is turning the game industry on its ear
When this column began, the first thing I talked about was Star Citizen's then-unique development model and how important it was both for fans and the game industry as a whole. Over a year later, the jury's still out on whether or not Cloud Imperium's opus will bring balance to the Force and give starving hardcores a home of their own. It's already safe to say that Star Citizen has turned the industry on its ear, though.
Stick and Rudder: On crowdfunding and 'dev abuse'
The DFM PAX reveal came and went, and it was exactly what I expected: full of bugs befitting an alpha state and still absolutely stunning in terms of its potential. And that's all that really needs to be said about that, at least until we get our hands on it in the comfort of our own homes! I'm more interested in riffing off some of the trollish behavior from the pre-PAX backer-only gala. If you watched the full presentation, you probably know what I'm talking about. If you didn't, well, it was basically drunks being drunk, but it leads into something I've wanted to talk about for a while, which is mass appeal, niches, and the gaming industry viewed through the prism of Star Citizen.
Stick and Rudder: Five more space sims to fill the Star Citizen void
A few months back I put together a list of my favorite space sims in an effort to pass the time remaining until Star Citizen's release. Well, that release is still a ways off, even though we are scheduled to get our grubby little space mitts on the dogfighting module next month. I'm in the mood to pew pew right now, though, and if you are too, here are a few more classic games to help fill the void.
Stick and Rudder: Getting perspective on Star Citizen's development
I recently spent a week enjoying the hell out of Elite: Dangerous. CCP's Valkyrie project -- a virtual reality EVE Online riff powered by Oculus -- is apparently far enough along to merit public demos and a slow-burning hype train. And Star Citizen? Well, I can still solo around in my hangar, fitting ship guns and firing them at cardboard targets. I bring all this up not to pile on Cloud Imperium. On the contrary, I'm OK with SC's development pace, and if you're on the world side of the world-vs.-game debate, you should be OK with it too.
Stick and Rudder: Star Citizen's backlash effect
Can someone help me understand the Star Citizen backlash effect? I mean, seriously. If Chris Roberts and his Cloud Imperium developers announced that the game's next stretch goal was a cure for cancer, the first comment on the resulting news article would be some variation on "bullsh#@!" Followed closely by "that's not possible" and "feature creep!" My question, though, is why?
Stick and Rudder: OK, so Star Citizen might be a PvP game
A few weeks ago I outlined why I think Star Citizen is more a PvE title than a PvP title. I'm sure most of you disagreed, so this week I'd like to examine the other side of the debate. Sorta. See, I still think SC is mostly for PvE types, given Chris Roberts' design sensibilities, but I also went back and studied the Roberts PvP quote highlighted in the previous piece as well as the full wall o' text that surrounded it. Roberts, according to that interview, believes that SC will be both a PvE and a PvP game. Fair enough. We often hear devs speaking grandly in the pre-alpha stages of a project and swearing up and down that it's going to make everyone happy. Can it really, though?
Elite's multiplayer alpha coming next week
Frontier has released its 16th development newsletter for Elite: Dangerous. In it, the company says that phase two of the space sim's alpha is undergoing internal testing right now. Next week, alpha backers will be able to download it, which is sort of a big deal since phase two equals multiplayer! Beta is on the horizon, though there's no firm date just yet. "After next week's alpha 2.0 we still have two major alpha releases to roll out before we reach the premium beta stage: Outfitting, Travel and Trading." We've embedded the latest Elite video dev diary after the break, and you can click through the links below to read the full newsletter.
