Squadron 42 - Star Citizen : Wing Commander Style Space Sim

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It's not a charity, quite a childish opinion tbh, let them cancel, game would be better without that sort of short sighted group. Extra cash allows additional features but more importantly also decreases the chance of the game not being finished.

At a guess it's also the same group who thought they were special for backing it early b and now don't appreciate its popularity.

You got to wonder about the 'wahhhh too many features' brigade. You're right, they're probably those who thought they were backing an updated wing commander and don't appreciate their early dollars being lost in the tidal wave of hope.

Simply put, this is massively ambitious and has been given the best chance of success. If it fails it wont be for want of vision, cash or a bunch of whiners.
 
Nope. I'm more interested in the Freelancer brochure. Would also like to see if there is a less pirate version of the Cutlass too as I don't like the fact that's what mine is.
 
I'm probably likely to get my friend a legionnaire as a gift to get him in to the game though, he is interested but doesn't have much money.
 
I find the (rather weak) debate around this project almost as entertaining as the project itself. Which is just as well, because it'll be a long time before we get finished software to play with. It's only then that we'll know whether this is a success or a failure.

Until then it's all conjecture, though of course we do have Chris Roberts' recent projects to compare this against.

And for that reason I'm out! If this was such a great project a publisher would be funding it!
 
And for that reason I'm out! If this was such a great project a publisher would be funding it!

As far as I understood, CR wanted this to be away from the clutches of a publisher. He had investors lined up ready to back this game should he meet the minimum $2m kickstarter goal, however as we're now at $23m it is fully self funded and no need of a publisher or the investors.

Sure, there is a risk that it might not pan out as expected but the approach currently seems promising.
 
And for that reason I'm out! If this was such a great project a publisher would be funding it!

The project is sound, it's the risk that's too high for them to want to publish it. You either make these things properly (like Eve Online) or don't bother, Freelancer was a commercial success but frankly was nothing compared to how it could have been if they'd actually finished it, but the multiplayer element was considered too risky to develop compared to the cost of it.

Now the big question is can they make these modules and get them to work properly together seamlessly whilst delivering on at least 90% of what they're promising. If they do then they're onto a winner.
 
And for that reason I'm out! If this was such a great project a publisher would be funding it!

they wouldn't fund this type of game.

but lol at the fanboys acting like chris roberts is doing everyone a massive favour by taking everyone money more money than he ever could have imagined and still defending him when hes got more than he has stretch goals for to the point now money is going to fund a comic con style event for the game that will likely be in America somewhere and cost a fortune to attend even though the players paid for it.

activision never milked a gamerbase so bad
 
23m is hardly milking a fanbase... in this kind of industry its not really that much money.

A game doesnt need stretch goals every 1m for this to work. His core game is being made regardless of funding levels. The stretch goals offer tiny little pieces of content (with a few major every 5m or so) that they can bring in on release due to funding, rather than after release as post-release updates/expansions/dlc etc.

It also acts as investor proof. This was his initial idea. Release kickstarter campaign. Raise 5million and use this as proof to investors of peoples interest. The project however snowballed into the most successful kickstarter campaign of all time raising over 23 million. Meaning he was able to eliminate publisher reliance! A rare gem for a developer.

That said, if things went poorly on the money front. Hed probably get his pick of investors if he needed.
 
but lol at the fanboys acting like chris roberts is doing everyone a massive favour by taking everyone money more money than he ever could have imagined and still defending him when hes got more than he has stretch goals for to the point now money is going to fund a comic con style event for the game that will likely be in America somewhere and cost a fortune to attend even though the players paid for it.
activision never milked a gamerbase so bad
And how much do you thing big games like this actually cost?

Ubisoft's major title games back in 2009 cost $20-30 million dollars just to make.
The new GTA V was around $265 mil.
Even Crysis 3 was around $70 mil.

CR has a poxy $24 mil and you expect everything, including all the future implementation, for that??!! Gonna be a real naff game, then....


http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Video_game_costs
http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Most_expensive_games
 
And how much do you thing big games like this actually cost?

Ubisoft's major title games back in 2009 cost $20-30 million dollars just to make.
The new GTA V was around $265 mil.
Even Crysis 3 was around $70 mil.

CR has a poxy $24 mil and you expect everything, including all the future implementation, for that??!! Gonna be a real naff game, then....


http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Video_game_costs
http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Most_expensive_games

Not to mention the 200 mill on SWTOR, and that was themepark with a 12v12 space arena intro'd 2 years after launch. The more money for SC the better. Anyhow the modular development will highlight issues at an early stage, like the dogfighting bit will be late or on rails lol. Personally i think the game can pnly get better, even if it does start from basic.
 
they wouldn't fund this type of game.

but lol at the fanboys acting like chris roberts is doing everyone a massive favour by taking everyone money more money than he ever could have imagined and still defending him when hes got more than he has stretch goals for to the point now money is going to fund a comic con style event for the game that will likely be in America somewhere and cost a fortune to attend even though the players paid for it.

activision never milked a gamerbase so bad

A little harsh but you have a point, milking people into buying ships now that they can't do anything with except look at is crazy, the game won't even be here next year, all this talk about ships and corps is total madness
 
A little harsh but you have a point, milking people into buying ships now that they can't do anything with except look at is crazy, the game won't even be here next year, all this talk about ships and corps is total madness

Madness how? As its been crowd funded they are trying to show progress and test game elements, the hangers are part of the final game aparrently.

Its not milking when it goes towards development as well as additional stuff post launch, really think you have missed the point of this method of funding.
 
I read that over half of the GTA V budget was actually marketing... Most game code and stuff is made for much less.. Without the publisher fat cat cuts, and other sunk costs I would expect this to be a lot cheaper, remember they're not developing an engine... They've bought a license to the CryEngine, much easier to develop when you've got that.

Either way we'll see, if he does need more then the investors are likely to step up. If not, well we've learnt our lesson to be more careful.

Oh yes, and Elite: Dangerous; that made less than $2m on kickstarter yet there are some pretty good stuff happening in that (don't know if he has investors to fund the rest). I don't think games are actually as expensive as we think they are, I think it is simply the big publisher games with their massive PR/marketing costs that skew the figures.
 
you guys do realise he has outside investors ?
“We’re a little different to some of the crowd-funded [games] that go way over [their target] the game was never actually a $2 million game,” said Roberts. “It was, at the smallest version, it was a 12 to 14 million dollar game. So the deal I originally did was I had investors lined up for $10 million, and that money triggered if I raised between two and four million on crowd funding.” Chris went on to explain that they were expecting to “at least get to two [million] to prove there was a demand” for space sims on the PC to make a comeback. “The plan from that point was that [Star Citizen] would launch it a bit sooner and think of it like Minecraft where Notch had it, and you had the Alpha where he was using money from Alpha sales to finish the game.” Roberts went on to point out that doing it that way helped the folks at Mojang bring in around $40 million (and counting.) “So, ultimately the big game that I wanted to make was approximately $20 million on the minimum side.”
I guess he's getting their money back to buy them out with all these ships ;)
 
And for that reason I'm out! If this was such a great project a publisher would be funding it!

First of all i would like to say I'm not a fan boy as i've never played any CR games until the project was announced (then played Freelancer) but i am passionate about this game. It's something i've always wanted but never found and nothing in the last 10 years has ever been close to the level proposed.

Publishers wont fund it because if its no COD or BF series there's no brand security so it's classed as a high risk. It's a genre that was big back i the day and has been neglected for years!

The fact a publisher isn't in on the act means nothing if there's enough support to get the game made without one

they wouldn't fund this type of game.

but lol at the fanboys acting like chris roberts is doing everyone a massive favour by taking everyone money more money than he ever could have imagined and still defending him when hes got more than he has stretch goals for to the point now money is going to fund a comic con style event for the game that will likely be in America somewhere and cost a fortune to attend even though the players paid for it.

activision never milked a gamerbase so bad

Fan boys are always a problem with any game... show me one which doesn't have them! There are a fair few backing this project but there's plenty of people who aren't fan boys. The original plan was $2million and the remaining from private investors. Those private investors aren't needed now thanks to it's amazing crowd funding amount and if anything are in the sidelines as insurance if costs get silly.

Currently they have done almost no marketing regarding star citizen other than going to GDC etc and the citizen con this year and even then that wasn't advertised as such but more within the community.

The stretch goals are there to add more or improve content where the funds permit. Realistically they didn't expect it to get this big so quickly so yes they have struggled occasionally re stretch goals.

Citizencon was paid for using the funding, and it was for the company, the fans and the press as a mini PR event but they have said the public one next year will have no entry cost other than probably your citizen card or ID. The only cost will be hosting it. it's up to the fans if they want to attend and the associated costs with that

A little harsh but you have a point, milking people into buying ships now that they can't do anything with except look at is crazy, the game won't even be here next year, all this talk about ships and corps is total madness

No-one Is milking anyone. No-one is putting a gun to your head and saying.. quick pledge for this new ship and help support the game further or else. Your confusing milking someone with someone who may not have any self control and piles money in because they lack that self control.

If people want to support they will support, if they don't they don't. There's still plenty of people interested but not willing to commit so early on which is understandable. 243,000 people have pledged, there's about 36000 registered but haven't pledged or haven't bought the game pack.

For almost 1/4 million people to put $23.3 million into a project this early on there is a lot of belief this can be done. This is new ground for a game of this size with no publisher.

The way they have approached their development, releasing it in small bursts isn't a "thanks for your $300 now have this ****** hangar" it's a snapshot of whats been done to give their pledge and trust a tangible feeling. More so, releasing the game in small iterations is amazing for quality assurance and testing as 1000's of people testing each area will find more flaws and bugs to be fixed to make a much more polished game then a small section of QA testers. The community get something back in small portions but help to quality assure the game from day 1.

In summary:
Simple answer to you both, MrMoonX and Arknor, if you don't believe in the project of agree with it and aren't willing to put your money where your mouth is then you know where the exit door for the thread is.

Just because you have a negative opinion/ view and you cant contribute to the discussion in a sensible manner doesn't mean we really want to hear it.

The rest of us will sit and enjoy the build up and anticipation, play and help where we can and hopefully enjoy the game when its fully released
 
That article is old and irrelevant now.

There were outside investors originally lined up and he Kickstarted to $2,000,000 to prove there was a demand for the game and he was going to use the external funding to produce the game.

However, the crowd-sourcing has eradicated the need to have any private investment as it's purely funded by the user base now.

If anyone intends to pull facts, at least pull correct and relevant facts.
 
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