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Around the Verse - Upgrading Ships to Item 2.0, Part 2 - Star Citizen Videos - MMORPG.com
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Around the Verse - Upgrading Ships to Item 2.0, Part 2 - Star Citizen Videos - MMORPG.com
Chris Roberts and Sandi Gardiner host today's episode, which features a UK studio update and part two of our feature on how Item 2.0 affects ships.
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"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I've seen it with Everquest Next. Devs tools made into a stand-alone game;Landmark, all the shows on twitch, all the devs active on twitter and the forums. Don't get me wrong, I wish Star Citizen all the best, yet they have to give people something worth their money. I wouldn't expect anything less when I pay for ideas and promises on paper.
This game put all the others in it's potential shadow. As an adult gamer who's disappointed from the MMO genre for the last 10 years (EVERYTHING is a copy of other games, minimum innovation) I'm waiting for this one badly and will support it as long as it takes. Its ambitions are mind blowing.
So is Star Citizen though.
It's mission system is currently very generic and boring and the FPS gameplay is barebone at best and also very generic.
Sure they have plans, but until they actually implement anything, it looks like a boring generic grind.
I'm not so sure on their progression system either.. I mean is it just grind for cash to buy new ship?
That's gonna work great considering how many people will have shitloads of "progression" day one.
Also, good luck reaching the polish or variety in gameplay of other MMOs like GW2 or EvE.
..Cake..
The people working on this project are even more eager than the fans to create this game, at the best quality possible. They are very dedicated.
Have fun
From continuously improving the landing zones the and game universe visuals to the new UI, procedural outposts, derelict ships, character customization, stamina and breathing systems, the really cool KIOSK interfaces and so forth, things are being taken to the quality and depth that was meant to be.
The cut footage-only version:
With 3.0 implementing the first delericts this can be taken to be rather interesting, if they add stuff in a way scanning mechanics being able to find them, trigger missions (if you find them/to find them) or just collecting loot, that alone adds a layer of exploration.
As for FPS, 3.0 also iterates on it, the obvious new weapons and armors, but the fundamental stamina/breathing system is likely to game how fast-paced and tactical FPS is attm, up to the point 3.1/3.2 with melee, takedowns/knockdowns, drones/shields, downed states and so forth... I think there's enough going on that front to give it the depth we would expect.
Currently they are committed to spending all pledge money on the game. Once released though it becomes a commercial product.
Doubt anyone will disagree but compare this to last summer when the first "planet" demo was shown. There were comments about how boring and drab it looked, no flora, fauna, that it was simply bad etc. etc.
The reply given - of course - was that this was the initial release and it would be built upon. And that has - and continues - to be built upon.
And it will be the same deal here. Just the nature of this development. We are seeing the paint being applied to the canvas layer by layer and its a slow progress.
The real questions are: will it take to long; how much detail is needed; what can they leave out? Looking at e.g. the response to ME Andromeda's facial portrayals these are not easy questions either.
While that might very well be true, I have yet to meet a developer which in the end was not even more exited to have a solid steady income, which this game has proven to be for five years straight. Hell, if someone would keep paying me to polish business apps to Mona Lisa quality, i would love every day at work! (Yeah, I am a business dev.) I doubt that it would motivate me to actually really finish. How does the saying go? "Art is never finished, only abandoned."
Sales af what exactly?
Ships?
Remember that ships will not be sold after release.
Games sales?
While they might hand over more copies, they have more than likely already sold many of the copies they can expect for a fairly niche game like this. They might make a fair chunk of the SQ42 part, but that remains to be seen. Again a farily niche product.
Subscription to SC?
I seem to remember B2P being a promised thing.
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No, once they release they will earn about ½-2 years worth of extra earnings through box sales, and then thats it. Good luck maintaining servers and keep delivering content for years on that, especially with thier focus on "hand crafted content". That will take most of the full current team to carry the project on.
Microtransactions, Ships sales and a Freemium sub model incoming before they dry out.
Just saying.
Only one delusional would defend that the game regenerates more revenue as it is with the high cost of not only the maintenance of the entire dev team but the cost the constant creation of new ships to continuing funding has vs the MMO's low-cost profits like microtransactions as the one SC has would provide with the game released.
idk how are you unaware of the main monetization method of SC, this was announced in 2013.
The premise was - "game will never be finished, why would it when it could generate more revenue being developed". No reason to assume it cannot selling exactly the same stuff it is selling now. The difference being that post-Kickstarter there wouldn't be the "promise" that all money raised would be spent on the game.
However to answer your other points: the "subscriptions" are something that people pay for the game reporting - nothing to do with the game itself.
Ships sales in SC are - essentially - the same thing as class sales in CU say. A pledge in SC gets you a ship, a pledge in CU gets you a class. And just as in SC you can buy other ships I am sure you will be able to buy other classes in CU and that there will be other classes in CU. As has just been introduced in ES say - new class: Warden.
As far as "keeping the servers running" there is a cost. And you are correct to say that the game will appeal to a niche - all games do its just that some niches are bigger than others. There are other entertainment products out there! Its about how big the niche is. Hopefully they have considered this in their business model. Maybe - maybe - some of the money allocated will be used to ensure the "servers" will be up for a period of time. After which it will be in the same boat as Destiny and lots of other games say.
A bit you missed, ship sales are also character slots (the ones sold as game packages), 1 game package = 1 character slot.
Star Citizen will go down in gaming history, as the highest grossing game... that was NEVER released!
Perhaps if they spent less time showing off the shinnies and more time actually working on the stuff that isn't even seen by the naked eye, the game might have a rats ass of getting done. At this juncture, it appears as though they are happy being gainfully employed as demo artists for all eternity. I suppose it beats unemployment.
Many of those shinies shown on this ATV are actually things part of the next alpha update, 3.0, this summer.
Yep those feisty jpegs are also character slots (as they are with CU I will add) and come with a complete game! (Game in development to be accurate).
Micro-transactions will undoubtedly provide a revenue stream as will additional sales. I was simply making the point that some of the money raised so far may also be allocated.
....... some people might suggest they are not working on a game and are on an island somewhere. Nah. That would never happen.
More seriously this is a Kickstarter funded game. Backers have demonstrated a desire to be updated periodically. The game also has to be marketed. This type of thing does both at the same time.
So the "shinnies" people see are paid for by voluntary subscribers like me.
So they better spend enough time on those "shinnies" ;-)
Have fun