Soldato
Its quite solable now tbh.Indeed almost all comparisons to any of game development is worthless in reality as there are so many things you can utilise to argue for or against.
- number of person hours compared to big companies like Ubisoft, Rockstar, CD Project etc have all been lower as a total sum, but way higher than many established studios but then ratifying that against the game produced makes it hard to really compare anything. Kinda can be done against stuff like RDR2 or GTA V or Cyberpunk but that really feels about it.
- Finances, well that hard. Figures people look at for 'development' when it comes to stuff like the above games does not include the running cost of the day to day office, rent etc. They are completely separate finances, yet when people use a headline figure for CIG they take everything included. That isn't how costs reported work. Cost reported are salary figures and marketing generally as a total for most studios. The overheads of office and similar would need to approximately double their reported figures. That isn't to say CIG and the game hasn't cost a huge amount etc. But the perception gets skewed so badly in most conversations.
- There are still two games in tandem being created, although they share code, assets and such there is an additional overhead to that compared to creating one game. The split financially and resources has to be considered. It would be like building The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls Online at the same time. That is a big undertaking.
- It is hard to compare in fairness the differences because it is such a mix of so many things in one, that unfortunately is why it is a complete mess and why games generally focus in one or two directions, not encompass 10+ different game mechanics.
At the end of the day some people enjoy it and some don't. It is a hot buggy mess at times and works great other times. I would say that I personally find SC more enjoyable than most other games when it works but I do find need friends to play SC with and not something I can really play solo. However the new elements with regards to persistence, cargo refactor, salvage and navmesh side of things look like there will a solid amount of new content coming this way in the next 12 months where I could play solo with some interesting elements and not need the multiplayer crutch.
Its actually best to do the majority of missions solo as you get better pay out.
Lots to do solo-wise tbh but definetly comes alive when you play with friends.
Some cool videos below of recent news