Inside the Troubled Development of Star Citizen

Discussion in 'Frontpage news' started by chispy, Sep 24, 2016.

  1. chispy

    chispy Ancient Guru

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    For the past seven months, I’ve been talking to the people who have been making Star Citizen. This includes its directors, a number of anonymous sources who’ve worked on it, and the man who drives the whole project: Chris Roberts. From the outside, Star Citizen appears to have been wildly successful; to date, it has raised more than $124 million from passionate fans. The money has allowed its developer, Cloud Imperium Games, to open studios around the world and employ more than 325 talented developers.

    Behind the closed doors of CIG’s studios, however, it’s been far from an easy ride, according to staff. They have all faced a unique challenge: how to nail down the scope of a game whose budget and ambition is always growing. Star Citizen has now been in development for five years, and over that time it has suffered through significant changes and unrest among its staff, huge delays and, 18 months ago, a radical restructuring of all its studios. CIG has released several discrete demos over this time, but there is still not even a date for the final game, which was originally planned for 2014...


    Complete Story And Source: http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2016/09/23/inside-the-troubled-development-of-star-citizen
     
  2. Mannerheim

    Mannerheim Ancient Guru

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    fans wanted more and i am ready to wait even next 3-years, if thats what it takes to get good game.
     
  3. BarryB

    BarryB Guest

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    No wonder the game hasn't progressed beyond a barely playable Alpha when people like you keep giving them the excuses they need to NOT finish the game! "Oh, the fans want more so we can't possibly finish the game so we need to keep delaying and taking their money"

    Come back in 3 years and see if you're still saying that garbage!
     
  4. Mannerheim

    Mannerheim Ancient Guru

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    Been here 12-years so i might come back in 3-years and tell u if im happy or not :D
     

  5. The Laughing Ma

    The Laughing Ma Ancient Guru

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    This is the problem, if the team behind the project, and it doesn't matter what the project is, aren't even aware of what the end objective of the project they are working on is then how on Earth can you ever expect to reach that objective or for that matter excel at that objective?

    Anyway, someone saying something about Star Citizen isn't right, this could get interesting.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. tsunami231

    tsunami231 Ancient Guru

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    Crowdfunding games... no thanks i dont really cause who the name behind is I would never do put money into a game develop cause you now when or if it will be done. and if not done or cancels you probably wont get your money back.
     
  7. Denial

    Denial Ancient Guru

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    On the flipside, what's the alternative?

    The original kickerstarter was for $2M. Had they received $100M and built the game they were intending to with the $2M and pocketed the rest, wouldn't people just be equally as pissed?

    The shifting scope of the project, along with it's transparency allows people with no skin in the game to make the comments like the ones you see here on Guru3D in every thread. People think 5 years is a long time for development - it's not. It's actually pretty average for a $100M game. Now combine that with the fact that it's an indie studio that had to bring in other studios, rebuild itself and the entire engine it's running on multiple times + the stuff I mentioned and I'm impressed its gotten as far as it has already.
     
  8. Loobyluggs

    Loobyluggs Ancient Guru

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    Play Hearthstone, it's a real game and is free.
     
  9. Loobyluggs

    Loobyluggs Ancient Guru

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    I got an awesome idea for a game. Give me $100 million.
     
  10. Stormyandcold

    Stormyandcold Ancient Guru

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    Well, after reading that article (excellent in-sight btw), this game does indeed sound like it's going to be a real game. The quality bar has been set very high. The only thing stopping this game from being made is if they ran out of money. Good luck to them tbh.

    As a side note, it's no wonder there's no Crysis 4.
     

  11. tsunami231

    tsunami231 Ancient Guru

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    they had 100m+ and there ran out money, when inintaly they were only asking for what 2 mill.

    I sorry but there reason why I dont and wont fall in to this trap
     
  12. Clouseau

    Clouseau Ancient Guru

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    They just need to release the game. State that the game is in continual development and release the new content when it's available. That is the model World of Warcraft and Eve follows. If they a re looking for a polished final product on this kind of scale, it will never come. The way it currently stands with the way the project is being handled, 124 million was only seed money. Classic example of a boondoggle.
     
  13. Darren Hodgson

    Darren Hodgson Ancient Guru

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    If they'd had any sense then they would have made the core game that was promised then added the requested features and improvements afterwards to give a constantly evolving game, kind of like what Elite Dangerous is doing.

    By constantly moving the goalposts with each new feature or addition they are effectively never going to finish the game. I've seen the pricing of the ships and stuff and it's clear that they are just milking as much money out of people even before the game is anywhere near finished. It's disgraceful in my view.

    Lock down the features right now, postpone anything extra until after release and just get the damn game out, will you!
     
  14. H83

    H83 Ancient Guru

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    After reading this article, a very good one by the way, it´s clear that the (major) problem is that they are trying to do everything at the same time and that it´s never going to work! They need to prioritise certain parts of the game, put all the studios working on them ASAP and when they are finished, release those parts and then move to new ones!...

    In a certain way it just feels like they are "sabotaging" their own game so they have an excuse to continue to ask money...

    Also, for this article to be complete, they need to investigate the life of Cris Roberts, before and after receiving all this money to make the game to be sure he didn´t put some of it in his pocket. After all, living in Santa Monica is not cheap...

    Love that area, too bad i don´t have a Visa to live there... And some money too...
     
  15. Reardan

    Reardan Master Guru

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    I don't understand why these threads with clickbait titles are allowed. Actually I do, there's effectively no integrity here to speak of, but I'm assuming most of you didn't actually read the article. The game's problems aren't any worse than you'll hear about at any other studio. The real problems stem from the original development decisions being based on a 2 million dollar budget that turned into 100 million (ie the choice of CryEngine).

    The rest are personnel and structuring issues and if anyone has ever held a job for any period of time, you would know these exist in any field.

    They've shown progress, a half finished early access version of portions of the game exist that people log in and play every day, and the development time has not exceeded the expected development time of any AAA title. The end.

    You would suggest a game based entirely on RNG. Unsurprising.
     

  16. The Laughing Ma

    The Laughing Ma Ancient Guru

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    As DH said

    or as I am saying

    You complete the project to spec as described and release ahead or at least on time? If they had a raft of cash after that they could have added or excelled on the original goals post launch. The issue occurs with the fact that they are still selling over priced DLC for a game that isn't released on top of the fact that they haven't added any new stretch goals to justify why they are still selling as a crowdfunded game.

    Their total, according to their website is 125million yet their stretch goals stop at $65million.

    Only if I can continue to pay for over priced artificially limited special edition DLC for the game, with the promise that the game will be released piecemeal well after the original promised release date, oh and make sure you are sneaky about changing the TSO regarding the release date, and please whatever you do ensure that you continue to sell over priced DLC for the game well after you have exceeded the stretch goals for the game. If you promise me this you can have my $100million. ;)
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2016
  17. Loobyluggs

    Loobyluggs Ancient Guru

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    Define AAA.

    They asked for $2m - why do you think that makes it AAA?

    Divide $100m by $60-$90 (per unit cost avg inc DLC) and you get pretty terrible sales figures. Sales which a AAA game would not consider a success. I am, of course, factoring in the cost of marketing and promotions, which is normally the cost of development for a AAA game. So, if it cost $100m to develop a game, you are going to need another $100m to market it for that all important launch-day.

    Again, what is your definition of a AAA game? because Scam Citizen is far from it, and I would be open in my belief that people are simply regurgitating the PR swill by CR on his 'game'.

    Hearthstone is a real game, was my point - not this fleecing system.
     
  18. Andrew LB

    Andrew LB Maha Guru

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    So where is your proof that the $100 million is gone? Or are you just going to repeat the lies being spread by Derek Smart? The fact is that in the past year and a half they've expanded to 5 development teams and are currently hiring, not firing or bouncing employee paychecks.

    Did you even read the article? Its one of the few objective articles written among rabid mouthbreathers who are determined to lie again and again to further their desire to see Roberts fail. See... i can understand why the defenders of Star Citizen largely do what they do. They invested in this game and obviously want to see it succeed. What i don't understand is why people like yourself who never spent a dime on the game or have any stake in it whatsoever are even more prone to this crazed lunacy that failure is the only option than those who actually have a stake in it. Great... we get that you dont like the game, the dev, or you're the kind of person who believes "everything looks better when its on fire" and want to see it fail. Try getting a life and doing something constructive with your time instead of trying to ruin it for everyone else.

    and fyi, i have not spent a single penny on this game.
     
  19. Steppzor

    Steppzor Master Guru

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    Pretty sure CR also said they had a healthy fund that's not part of the backer money so they had funds to complete the game even if crowdfunding stopped. Pretty sure there are some behind the scene investors in the picture.
     
  20. INSTG8R

    INSTG8R Guest

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    All I want and what I bought into for is Squadron 42. Give me that and they can screw around with whatever else they have planned all they like.
     

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