[Buckshee Rounds]

When the original SC development plan was released, with a succession of modules each focussed on getting one aspect of the gameplay right and testing it out in a sandboxed environment, that was a reasonable plan.

And then CIG started ignoring that plan. Arena Commander is mostly abandoned, the social module was effectively cancelled, Star Marine Has Never Been A Thing, Citizen!, and now they're doing all development within that thing they call Crusader?

I dont agree with this. Quite the opposite, what CIG should have done is to pursue the development of Crusader map (persistent universe) from the very beginning, and then implement Star Marine, social module, dogfighting etc inside of that basic framework. Trying to develop various modules instead of core game was one reason why the game is delayed now, those were multiple developmental detours. There is a reason why no game is developed in such a modular fashion. Right now any modules should be rightly cancelled and all development efforts should go towards implementing Stanton system as a playable area in Alpha 3.0. Thats what will make or break the game.

Actually what they should have done was nail down essential gameplay elements and plan accordingly. The game as it stands now is missing trading, cargo mechanics, mining, perma-death and a whole bunch of others I can't even remember. What's disturbing isn't merely that these are missing from the Alpha or promised for a future release, but that these are mostly still unelaborated. Googling "Star Citizen cargo" for instance brings up this as the first result:-

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/engineering/14677-Cargo-Interaction-That

That article was released on 25th April 2015 and since then I haven't seen anything from CIG to elaborate on how that mechanic will work, how it will be implemented or when backers should expect to start using it. I could be wrong in this paricular instance, but there are so many gameplay mechanics that are essential (imho) that are nowhere near to being implemented. Is perma-death even still a thing that'll be included? How in the world is it going to work?

As an aside, I managed to secure a refund for $90 (**** me what was I thinking). I was mildly disappointed our back and forth didn't amount to more than a couple thousand words for my part.

[Spoon]

As an aside, I managed to secure a refund for $90 (**** me what was I thinking).

Good call

[Unknown Target]

When the original SC development plan was released, with a succession of modules each focussed on getting one aspect of the gameplay right and testing it out in a sandboxed environment, that was a reasonable plan.

And then CIG started ignoring that plan. Arena Commander is mostly abandoned, the social module was effectively cancelled, Star Marine Has Never Been A Thing, Citizen!, and now they're doing all development within that thing they call Crusader?

I dont agree with this. Quite the opposite, what CIG should have done is to pursue the development of Crusader map (persistent universe) from the very beginning, and then implement Star Marine, social module, dogfighting etc inside of that basic framework. Trying to develop various modules instead of core game was one reason why the game is delayed now, those were multiple developmental detours. There is a reason why no game is developed in such a modular fashion. Right now any modules should be rightly cancelled and all development efforts should go towards implementing Stanton system as a playable area in Alpha 3.0. Thats what will make or break the game.

This is something I've always been wondering. Games don't just "drop in". Modules are best likened to plugins or expansion packs, and all software that's been developed this way first started with a core product. It makes no sense to develop a completely separate "module" because game code doesn't work that way - you can't just develop three games and "plug" them together. The fact that Roberts kept talking about this made me think he really doesn't know what he's doing.

[karajorma]

Another aspect is that while developing interim modules instead of core game may not be the most efficient thing to do, it allowed them to release something playable to the backers quickly and thus bring moar money in.

So in other words, exactly what you are lambasting Elite for. Release something with very shallow gameplay and then slowly improve it with more features. Except in this case it's even more shallow and being improved even more slowly.

[NGTM-1R]

The thing about Elite is, they're incorporating aspects of the game's future in real time. You're watching what will become the Elite story unfold as the alien stuff gets added in. People go looking for stuff, chasing it, when it appears in the patches. Even the upgrade process has been turned into something that increases the involvement of the player with the universe of the game. It's a touch of genius.

Nothing in Star Citizen has managed to involve the community so much in hoping for the next patch and seeking out the changes.

[Dragon]

As if SC fans needed to be any more involved than they already are.

[Spoon]

As if SC fans needed to be any more involved than they already are.

Croberts just needs to tell em what might become possible someday, the citizens will fill in the rest with their imagination.

[Cobra]

I've been thinking about getting a partial refund, at least. I don't want to completely pull out of this in the hopes that it does turn out as promised, but still... five years later and this ****'s barely playable.

[Firesteel]

I've thought about it too, but given how many hoops (at least historically) you need to jump through, I'm not sure I want to waste my time. Even if it is on principle.

Also on a note about bug fixing and technical debt, I used to tutor assembly language and I would always recommend people to make sure what they had was error free before moving to the next part of an assignment. As others have said, it's much easier to fix things that are part of your immediate thought process rather than try and figure out what your or someone else did months or years ago.

Working with Unity is a good example of this. I heard from some people I was working with that their networking protocols didn't work at release and they've had to play catch up ever since. If you've tried dealing with inputs in the engine, you'll know how god awful it is. Me and another programmer had to code a dictionary and repeatedly search a massive set of enums thanks to Unity's inability to get the name of the raw input outside of a partially depreciated function.

[Spoon]

:lol:

[Lorric]

Holy ****, they're up to $123M now?!

That video is hilarious.

[Cobra]

https://youtu.be/5c41-61jHqs

The Harlem Shake version is even better.

[Lorric]

https://youtu.be/5c41-61jHqs

The Harlem Shake version is even better.

I prefer the first one, but each to his own.

[The E]

Kotaku UK out of nowhere with the massive megaarticle about Star Citizen's development troubles

[NGTM-1R]

My personal favorite parts.

The sense that things weren’t working as they should and that it was someone else’s fault came out in a lot of my discussions with CIG staff, past and present. It was described as a culture of blame, where when a job was delayed or couldn’t be completed, developers would shift responsibility onto other people, particularly those working at other studios. The animosity led to a hostile work environment; one source even told me that they’d suffered panic attacks as a result.

Another source told me that Roberts would sometimes give leads a dressing down in public. “The leads had a Skype call once a week and every week someone would be read the riot act, publicly, for all the leads to see,” another source told me. “It was a public shaming. It's something that happened more often than it needed to, and there's no justification... there's never justification. [...] Chris' involvement absolutely created that atmosphere of fear and tension and overall agitation.”

“All of the developers who had worked on inventory systems said ‘OK, well, that's why this works in their game and why it won't work in this game’,” a source told me. “We spent four months having to prove ourselves right because that's the way it works with Chris Roberts. He will never believe you if you say you can't do something. You have to actually spend the time to make the entire thing and then show him when you push the button it doesn't work. That was a persistent issue. The team lost four months on that, a lot of manpower and hours, proving that, yes, in fact that doesn't work.”

Another source added “There are no compromises with Roberts or reasoning with him once he has made up his mind about something.”

This stuff isn't even like Management 101. It's a remedial class, Management 65 or Management 82 or something. Do not encourage blaming others. Praise in public, rebuke in private. And I don't even known how to categorize the last bit except aggravated stupidity. The reason you give people responsibility is that they are collectively more competent than you. If they all agree something doesn't work, forcing them to prove it by making it not work is madness; it's a self-fulfilling prophecy even if it shouldn't be.

[Luis Dias]

You are just not able to appreciate how much of a genius mr. Roberts is. I find your lack of faith disturbing.

[Spoon]

Great article.

The comments though, all the citizens coming out of the woodworks to say how all of this is a good thing, and reinforces their believe. It never ceases to amaze me.

[Grizzly]

You are just not able to appreciate how much of a genius mr. Roberts is.

Yeah, he just got me to read Kotaku!
(Although tbf to Kotaku UK the UK version tends to be advertised by everyone as the "non-****" version except for the people who work at Kotaku UK (and that's only because they're too nice)).

[SkycladGuardian]

“Will it be fun to play? Not sure. Will it be an amazing tech and beautiful art demo? Absolutely.”

This one really made me laugh. 

[The E]

Star Citizen had a headbob problem. And they solved it in the single most stupid way imaginable.