Chris Roberts is a single player guy. This is his first MMO as far as I know. Seems like the right way to go. SQ42 goes live and he will probably generate a lot more cash for the MMO. All the ships we have in the Alpha are because they are in SQ42. Again I could be wrong. If so, owell.
Not too wrong.
I canāt speak to CRās motivations but they are absolutely pushing forward on SQ42 in order to get a viable product in playersā hands.
And again, as you said, most of what we have in PU is because of the assets required for SQ42
Getting SQ42 out there will definitely tide me over a bit, depends on how much content there is in SQ42.
Well judging by past CR games, it should be a blast. hopefully at least 40 hours of gameplay.
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What he said. 
In the meantime I have started running and boxing again to get back into shape. Biking and swimming with my daughter too. Taking a little more time to smell the roses and take a break from gaming. Plenty to keep me busy and I am approaching gaming more as a treat then a regular meal this summer.
I will likely jump into Cyberpunk 2077 and The Outer Worlds when it comes out for PC. (Plus I really should get that new furnace installed and run the gas for my wifeās new fireplace :P)
Once I get the heads up from the rest of you guys that we are getting close I will likely buckle down and start refining my skills with the flight model and get my twitch skills up on the first-person side.
Yep. I wish I could get myself motivated to do that.
I understand that I am a bit unique here in that I am not only willing but excited to be part of the ETF, test regularly, live through the buggy crashy mess to tell about it and generally abuse myself with what is the Alpha experience.
That said, I am also happy to be the reporter for you guys, making it known when it is time to jump in and prepare for the more persistent and fully developed PU.
Until then, feel free to drop in anytime to see how things are going
Iām one of those that appreciates the reporting. RL is far too busy right now to follow and test things myself, so thank you.
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Hah! Iād also be glad to be Evocati, but thatās because down here in PTU land the reporting system is absolute trash and Iām sick and goddamn tired of the Issue council. Iām tired of seeing Evocati issues 14 days old in Wave 1. Iām sick of seeing 800 duplicates known and unknown of stupid shit. Iām tired of putting time in on serious things that need attention and fixing and Iām STILL dealing with them years later because they just arenāt getting 800 threads of shit.
For me - Star Citizen is a project to advance game technology. Thatās what itās for. Itās not about me getting another videogame. With the amount of cash Iāve given it, Iād have gotten MANY videogames. If 4 meteors hit CIG tomorrow, the endeavor has already paid off in terms of new technologies at every level of the game. I DO want a videogame, though.
Macallen is absolutely right, though. The old money backers are just sitting on a SC Savings Account. Theyāre all done. They need new money, so it absolutely boggles me why they donāt start putting in more cheaper options or create gameplay that would support people like me who donāt mind putting a 20 or so into the game when it asks nicely and gives me something I can play with. Yet, thereās no collectibles, no crafting, no personal spaces outside the Hangar module (which is shit, now), no NPC relationships, and so on.
Not sure I agree.
It was stated some time ago that the development for SC was fully funded back around 200 million pledged.
Everything we see going in now is extra.
And even if that is not true, which I tend to believe it was a stretch at best, then they are still pulling in money with every patch and every event.
IF they needed your money then they would be catering to you. So obviously they donāt.
As I mentioned in the other thread, there is good reason why those things are not added in at this time.
Let me try to explainā¦
There are two products being created here. One is a long term open ended adventure in game development while the other is a boxed product with a very defined beginning and end. Which do you see as the more viable product to release first in order to get cash on the table?
CIG is almost entirely focused on SQ42 this year, as they said they would be at the end of last year. We knew it was going to be a light year for feature development in SC because of that. But if they can get SQ42 to the finish line then that is worth a ton more funding to the company as a whole than having a couple of minor features added to the PU. People who are still sitting on the fence even now will jump over and buy a completed single player game, and in the end be excited about where the PU is going because of it, far more quickly than they will jump over the fence because a half finished MMO added a new feature.
This was actually a smart move on CIGās part. They saw the opportunity to quickly (relatively speaking) get a product out in its complete form and use that as a shot in the arm for the funding to support their bigger more expensive project.
The downside being people like you and me who have already bought in on both are left with not a lot of excitement in the product that we do have access to.
Man, I am so appreciative of you guys that backed, but Iām also discouraged by the fact that the money making mechanism for Chris and Co doesnāt seem to be a working game. Iām obviously hoping he can turn that corner, but a lot of what you guys talk about seems pretty far off, and why spend energy actually fixing anything when thatās not where the money is?
It bums me out because more than any other crowdfunded game this one had me excited, and as a matter of personal philosophy I donāt early back any games. If Iām going to invest in a company Iād like equity not the chance to maybe use their products when/if they are released.
I feel like Chris has been a huge success in this, but not by being an example of a successful crowd funding model, but by figuring out how to make his product a promise and his delivery a dream. I feel like greenlight on Steam has seen similar although less successful plays.
Some of my favorite games were crowdfunded. Kenshi and Path of Exile are both awesome examples, but Iām not sure about the future of crowdfunding. There is a reason why promised future delivery normally carries a large financial reward for investors, and that is because there is a lot of risk in taking someoneās word for it.
Anyway, I lurk and read all of your posts with great excitement and anticipation, and even though you guys took a risk I wouldnāt be comfortable with. I totally get it.
PS. Iām a capitalist at heart, and feel like the payoff should be the delivery. If the payoff is something else that becomes the goal, even with the best of intentions. So this is a bit of a paradox for me. Iām glad the game is being made so I cheer the early payers, but I also think it is less likely to be made based on the payoff mechanism. Do you guys think he will make more money over the next five years if he releases next year or if he doesnāt release in the next five years?
I am no expert about business stuff. I do think though that aside from SQ42, they absolutely need to get server technology to the point where this game can run with little to no latency or huge travel packets. Let me explain what I see that happened, only my opinion, but they started with CryEngine, but guessing that wasnāt going fast enough or there was a fatal flaw in it. They spent the first 2 years developing it, then switched to Amazonās lumber yard and have been developing that. If thatās the case then the first 2 years of development was for naught. I have seen MMO makers in the past do exactly this. They develop an engine, then switch midstream to another one. Itās costly but it does/has happened. Reading some of the stuff I see on youtube I think that we are going to hit a cycle where people are getting disgruntled at the time spent on this game. My opinion. no offense ment, except where its funny to do so
I think there has to be a ceiling on how long they can go time-wise, before most everyone writes it off, but if they reach that and only have a C-/buggy game are they better off going way past it? From a financial perspective i mean?
Itās fascinating either way.
Personally I think theyāve already gone past that for a lot of people. The focus on Squadron 42 isnāt going to help with that either.
But weāll see. I donāt expect anything useful in the next 3 or 4 years or so, though.
I hear this often enough and I always chuckle a little.
What does writing it off mean exactly?
Anyone who is going to put their money in for the early backing of this game has likely already done it.
Anyone who is on the fence will be there until release at which point they will pay premium price to play.
Every single person who has backed the game will be there at launch. Every one.
Why?
Because they have already paid to be there.
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Yup. Iāll show up, get ganked 3 times, lose my ships, go broke paying for insurance and replacements, get invested in doing something, get ganked doing that, log out and go play something else. But Iāll be there
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By write it off, I mean stop putting anymore money in. That was my question, are people so enamored with the promise that many will never stop? There is obviously a date by which most people will, so if that date is reached will it be better to continue the promise, or release whatever they have? Think of the guys who continually add more and more to their fleets. They are essentially pre release whales, and thatās a pretty sweet quantity. They may not even be post release whales.
Thatās the real trap IMO. He found a way not just to get early payers, lots of people have done that, but to make those early payers feel like they are getting something by paying more and more. I feel like that is unique here, and I wonder if he will ever be able to get away from it.
Anyway, I just find it fascinating. I am not making predictions. And my hope is that he makes an awesome game, and if he does I will for sure buy it. Iām not sure I will be able to convince myself that paying real money is a good means to own assets in game, but Iāll at least do a sub model if that is available.
Nope. Iām not buying the Nautilus because itās not a fit for me. I bought the motorcycles, but not the missile launcherā¦same thing. If I like it, Iāll buy it, but iām not playing/testing because I donāt enjoy that part.
LTI ships have zero expedite costs. Thatās why Iā'm literally spamming my LTI 300i Loaner for everything.
Not likely.
They are getting pretty hardcore on criminal activity. At least the groundwork for serious penalty is in place.
I think ganking will be at a minimum in most civilized regions. Where we will see it is in border regions where criminals can get in and out quickly.