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I recently visited CIG at their Los Angeles studio and got a look at their game development in action.
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Jan 16, 2016 22:39
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| # ? May 9, 2024 12:37 |
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ShredsYouSay posted:Another french newspaper has picked up on the Star Citizen controversy: Obviously edited. They probably removed all the juicy bits to get it down to size.
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Jan 16, 2016 22:41
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ShredsYouSay posted:Another french newspaper has picked up on the Star Citizen controversy: What is this a newspaper for ants?!
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Jan 16, 2016 22:41
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:Apparently I am bad for debating because I have opinions and stubbornly support them with detailed arguments. You should totally go debate them. What's the worst that can happen?
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Jan 16, 2016 22:42
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G0RF posted:I second Beer, but suggest Bootcha over Derek. I feel like Pgabz is the most pure representation of this thread at this point. I vote we send him.
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Jan 16, 2016 22:43
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Bootcha, pgabz, lowtax, and gryphon for shits and giggles. Like the power rangers but poo poo and less likely to do backflips.
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Jan 16, 2016 22:45
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Would someone who is a better poster than I let Reddit know that we are assembling an envoy
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Jan 16, 2016 22:45
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Brazilianpeanutwar posted:What is this a newspaper for ants?! They had to keep the typeface small so that Derek could fit all his words in. And also print it on extra long paper.
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Jan 16, 2016 22:45
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ShredsYouSay posted:They had to keep the typeface small so that Derek could fit all his words in. And also print it on extra long paper.  now I can imagine derek saying "Just let me loving finish!" in tiny French letters 
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Jan 16, 2016 22:51
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Brazilianpeanutwar posted:Bootcha, pgabz, lowtax, and gryphon for shits and giggles. I dunno, part of me feels like Bootcha is probably pretty good at backflips. I know if I recovered an actual assload of money out of a lovely investment I'd start doing involuntary joy backflips basically immediately.
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Jan 16, 2016 22:51
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Beet Wagon posted:I dunno, part of me feels like Bootcha is probably pretty good at backflips. I know if I recovered an actual assload of money out of a lovely investment I'd start doing involuntary joy backflips basically immediately. Like the power rangers but shitter and more likely to be sarky instead of roundhouse kick-ey.....
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Jan 16, 2016 22:54
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Daztek posted:Concierge card came in hahahahhaah good job outsourcing to the lowest bidder CIG
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Jan 16, 2016 22:54
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ShredsYouSay posted:They had to keep the typeface small so that Derek could fit all his words in. And also print it on extra long paper.  Page four is coming
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Jan 16, 2016 22:55
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Star citizen : laissez-moi putain finition
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Jan 16, 2016 22:59
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Stanko-Prussian posted:12 pages? That's a douze-y 
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Jan 16, 2016 23:04
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Emile Zola posted:Qu’on ose donc me traduire en cour d’assises et que l’enquête ait lieu au grand jour ! (So may one dare bring me to criminal court, and may the investigation take place in broad daylight!) I guess Derek and Zola aren't so different after all...
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Jan 16, 2016 23:05
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Daztek posted:Concierge card came in A misprint is surely even more valuable? Like when a short run of stamps get printed upside down. Collector's edition.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:07
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Brazilianpeanutwar posted:Like the power rangers but shitter and more likely to be sarky instead of roundhouse kick-ey..... We should set up a kickstarter to get them all leotards.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:15
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I'll go provided I'm allowed to talk at length about anime
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Jan 16, 2016 23:17
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Daztek posted:Concierge card came in I was gonna comment on this way back in the thread when these first got mentioned but realised I was about 30 pages behind. Now that it's come up again I'll give CIG some hints and tips. As someone who has been involved in providing marketing and merch for a whole shitload of companies let me first say, there is nothing unusual with sourcing this poo poo from the cheapest far east sweatshop you can find. Everyone does it (Sadly). It's because there's just no budget for making this stuff either because the product can't carry a western manufacturing cost but more often (as is the case here) just due to greed. However, here is what every other entity does that those brain dead fucks at CIG either didn't think of or didn't care enough to do. 1. You get the goods bulk shipped to you from the factory. This stops all that poo poo with the customs and the customer seeing the shipped value and puts you in control of the product. 2. You check the loving goods. Seriously, Checking cards, keyrings, t-shirts whatever takes a couple of seconds per item and saves you sending a customer loving trash. 3. You repackage and ship the items. This is where you add the value. Mount the lovely card on a nice letter with some sticky poo poo (like you get the cards from your bank) and put it in a clean or branded envelope and send it first class. There you go, you've still paid pence per card plus an hour of a receptionists time, but now your customers are gloating about their premium pieces of tat rather than ripping on them on reddit. Honestly, they can't not gently caress up merch and they're supposed to a multinational company or 6. Wrecked Angle fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Jan 16, 2016 |
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Jan 16, 2016 23:20
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Beet Wagon posted:We should set up a kickstarter to get them all leotards. Shmorky is Alpha 5 (had to google that I swear)
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Jan 16, 2016 23:23
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Beet Wagon posted:I dunno, part of me feels like Bootcha is probably pretty good at backflips. I know if I recovered an actual assload of money out of a lovely investment I'd start doing involuntary joy backflips basically immediately. I asked him just now if he could do a backflip. Attempting. Will report later.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:24
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Wrecked Angle posted:I was gonna comment on this way back in the thread when these first got mentioned but realised I was about 30 pages behind. Now that it's come up again I'll give CIG some hints and tips. Unless you're the best sales(wo)man in the world you have no right to criticize CIG!
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Jan 16, 2016 23:24
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Brazilianpeanutwar posted:Shmorky is Alpha 5 (had to google that I swear) Does that make Derek the big holographic face dude? fuzzknot posted:I asked him just now if he could do a backflip. Attempting. Will report later. As someone sort of experienced with backflips, I recommend he start by trying to do it with a little bit of height advantage (off of something short, too tall and he'll over-rotate) and into something very, very soft.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:28
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fuzzknot posted:I asked him just now if he could do a backflip. Attempting. Will report later. Oh God, the shoes are coming off. (I can't believe he had them ON for the first couple of attempts.)
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Jan 16, 2016 23:28
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fuzzknot posted:Oh God, the shoes are coming off. (I can't believe he had them ON for the first couple of attempts.) Don't let him hurt himself. I don't want that on my conscience.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:31
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fuzzknot posted:Oh God, the shoes are coming off. (I can't believe he had them ON for the first couple of attempts.) Aw poo poo, what have I started? Derek's goin to sue me! 
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Jan 16, 2016 23:31
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Beet Wagon posted:As someone sort of experienced with backflips, I recommend he start by trying to do it with a little bit of height advantage (off of something short, too tall and he'll over-rotate) and into something very, very soft. Oh. You're far too late. He's attempting to do basically a backwards somersault with his shoeless feet by a bunch of Legos (!) and rolling into his desk chair. I shouted at him to let me remove my drink from the coffee table but have otherwise, for schadenfreude reasons, not attempted to stop him.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:32
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Daztek posted:Unless you're the best sales(wo)man in the world you have no right to criticize CIG! This guy gets it.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:32
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Page four (all errors are mine) The call for donations never ended and there was never an estimate of the total cost of Star Citizen. It became clear that the budget fattened up concurrent with incoming donations. At 65 millions of dollars, Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) simply stopped promising any additional functionalities. While it is impossible to know what was done with the 100 millions reached at the end of 2015, Chris Roberts assured us at the same time that "all funds were used to enrich the vision of the game" and that "the studio keeps a robust reserve of cash and exercises its activities in accordance with the monthly earnings". From zero to hundred in less than three years. Till a certain point, the hesitations and contradictions are understandable. Nobody until know was confronted with a comparable phenomenon. Chris Roberts started looking for two million, maybe four millions in his wildest dreams, and three years later he found himself with 100 millions. He was in a situation like a guy who plants potatos in his garden to bolster his salary and instead finds an oil well while digging in his garden. Two millions, four millions, six millions. At the beginning he uses pots and bowls to catch all the oil before the well runs dry. But all the stretch goals are reached one after the other. Later he buys all tanks in the village and rents the local swimming pool: ten, twenty, thirty millions of dollars later all functions and stretch goals are reached without the well running dry. Now its the time to build a real refinery and pipeline, and that's exactly what Chris Roberts is doing, without any allowance for pollution or stench. In a Gamasutra article, Roberts explains: "One of the reasons we get that much money is because we somewhat gamified the support." From the beginning, the Start Citizen campaign differed from the classical scheme which consists in proposing the game and additional physical goodies in value of the level of support. Star Citizen only deals in virtual objects, their value corresponding to the donation. This way, the game can profit from the acquisitiveness and the fetish of buyers, who swoon over the game and are capable of spending fortunes for a fleet of virtual spaceships. We have walked on Money The fact that the funding campaign never finished had a perverse consequence. Instead of concentrating on developing the game after the campaign finished, the exploitation of the passions of gamers became a constant activity and goal of the studio. The teams of Cloud Imperium have to propose more and more of ships, which get more and more expensive. Additionally customers have to pay for "improvements" of existing ships in order to keep up with the new models. In contrast to the usual crowd funding model, in which supporter pay once and then wait patiently (or not) until the game is finished, Star Citizen has constructed a mechanism which allows it to cash in several time before the game is released. As a logical consequence, a strong marketing effort is constructed around this mechanism, with the goal of flattering to the obsessions of the clients and to maximize the revenues of the studio. Not only are there new ships designed, but short clips are produced which are in-universe (like in certain science-fiction films) but are basically advertisements for virtual goods which are sold for cash. Even the development cycle was adapted the contribute toward this mechanism. The first "playable" element wasn't a space flight in order to show some gameplay, but the "hangar" in which the players could admire (but not pilot) their hard-earned ships. This was nothing other than an luxurious showroom for extremely detailed models which no other studio would develop at this state of the project. And its works. Extremely well, in fact. At the end of November 2014, Cloud Imperium did sell 200 ships at 2500 dollars apiece (Javelin destroyers). Yes, 200 virtual ships for a non-existing games sold for 2500 real dollars. Wired reported that it took less than a minute to sell all and to earn 500'000 dollars. Promotions, limited ships, sales - the new economic model invented by Chris Roberts allowed to earn millions each month with a regularity which leaves us perplexed: Already 34 millions in 2015, almost 3 millions per month. Who gives how much? Cloud Imperium doesn't publish any details about the sales, but there are some interesting numbers for the initial Kickstarter campaign. There are 31'264 persons which gave between 30 dollars (the minimum donation for having access to the game) and 500 dollars (we eliminate the 27 donors which gave 1000, 2500, 5000 and 10'000 dollars, which we consider "eccentrics"), totaling in 1'882'732 dollars of donations. While the average donation was 60 dollars per person, the majority of this populations gave 37 dollars or less. This shows that the average donation is not really the interesting number. The 15% of donors which were the most stingy were responsible for 7.5 % of the total sum (30 dollars on average). The 15% most generous donors (110 dollars or more) were responsible for 43% of the total sum (173 dollars on averages). I'm probably doing the next page before going to bed, if anybody else is currently translating.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:32
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Beet Wagon posted:Does that make Derek the big holographic face dude? Oh i'm gonna do my best to gimp that into a good picture
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Jan 16, 2016 23:32
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FYI if you get that banner ad with the 8bit car driving on a highway at night at the bottom, it links to some stream called Shazbot Syndicate that plays 'synthwave', which provides good atmosphere for reading this thread, and also for looking at cyberpunk anime gifs. I had a good day after finding that out yesterday.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:33
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Translation Page 4 [url]http://imgur.com/a/EG2pV[url] Asking for donations never stopped and we never ever heard again of financial planning or budget estimates. Once it became clear that the budget would keep inflating along with the received money cloud imperial game simply stopped adding additional promises at the 65 million mark. Its impossible to know how the 100 million reached near the end of 2015 will be used since Christ Roberts can simultaneously say « The totality of the gathered funds will be spend in development to enrich the game original vision » and that « The company keep a robust cash reserve and operate in a prudent way in relation to its monthly revenue » From zero to a hundred in less than 3 years Up to a certain point, hesitation and contradictions are understandable. Nobody has ever before confronted to such a situation. Having set out to gather 2 millions form his fans and hoping for 4 in his wildest dreams, Christ Roberts is now 3 years later with a hundred millions. He’s in the situation of a man who, digging in his backyard to make a garden to plant potatoes for better eating, suddenly find an oil deposit. 2 Millions, 4 Millions, 6 millions. At first he try to control the flow and take out all the pots and pans of the house to hold on the precious liquid but the first stretch goals promising more content are simply pulverized one after another. So he then buy all the buckets of the town and rent the surrounding pool to hold the oil : 10, 20, 30 Millions later all offered stretch goals has been met and money is still coming up. Its time to build a real derrick and a pipeline without any consideration for the environment, the smell or pollution. To Gamasutra, Roberts explain : « I would say one of the reason we have managed to amass so much money is the « gamification » of the funding process » Form the very beginning the funding campaign differ form the classic model who usually consisted of offering a few physical goodies of increasing value in proportion of the amount pledged. In contrast Star Citizen put everything in virtual objects, the number of dollars pledged corresponding to the value of the ship allowed at the game start. This allowed the game to tap into the hoarding fetish of its buyers, able to self motivate into spending fortunes for a 100% virtual spaceship fleet. Target : Money The fact that the financing campaign never stopped had a considerably perverse effect. Instead of being able to concentrate on developing the game once the financing part over, exploiting the players passion for the project became a constant activity, integral part of the studio mission. Cloud Imperium teams began proposing more and more ships for more and more money. They then offered « upgrades »for cash to allow clients to keep up to date with the latest models available. Contrary to regular crowdsourcing projects, who has passionate players pay once and then wait patiently for the game to be released, Star Citizen has built a mechanism that allow them to pay up over and over up until the game launch. It only came as a logical next step that a complete marketing structure was put in place to caress the players obsession and thus maximize the studio revenue. They began producing not only ships, but video clips designed to promote them under the guise of immersion in the universe (like false commercials as in many sci-fi films) but they are in fact ads for virtual goods sold for real money. The development cycle of the game was next put to contribution : The first playable element released was not a simple space sortie to get an good idea of the gameplay but instead a « Hangar » where the players can admire their costly ships. Its in truth a luxurious showroom for the craft with an overabundance of of time consuming details and polish that no other development team would allow itself to spend a this state of the project. And it works. It works very, very well. By the end of November, Cloud Imperium game offer in sales 200 ships (Javelins destroyer) for 2500$ each. Yes, 200 virtual ships for a game that does not exist yet and sold 2500 real dollars. As reported by Wired, they all sold under a minute and brought half a million in the bank. With promotions, limited editions, special offering or simply sales, the new economic model invented by Chris Roberts bring the millions in every month with a regularity who begs questions. In 2015, another 34 millions where brought in, or nearly 3 millions each months. Who gves what Cloud Imperium evidently does not communicate the details of Star Citizen purchases but the numbers for the Kickstarter campaign are public and its analysis is interesting. For coherence, assume than the 31263 persons who gave between 30 dollars (the minimum to get the game) and 500 dollars (we do not take in account, the 1k, 2.5k, 5k and 10k packaged, whick we consider eccentric) for a total of 1 882 732 dollars. Even if the average amount to 60$ per backers, half of this population gave under 37$. This show that the average is not a pertinent indicator. The bottom 15% of the client (the most frugal, average 30$ contribution) contributed 7.5% of the total sum, while the top 15% of the client (the most generous, 110$ contribution and above) contributed 43% of the total (averaging at 173$ or six time more than the average « frugal » backer and 3 time more than the whole population average) Tl;Dr : CIG is not giving details on how it plan to spend the money above 65 million (nearly half the amount contributed), some leeway are give to Chris since he is in a Nener before encountered situation (Crowdfunding amount in excess of a hundred time all previous campaign ). Details of how the financial model prey on hoarding tendencies and how it affect game development, making them go "graphic first", something that no other company do. Last paragraph is a brief analysis of how the top 15% of the backer amount to 47% of the revenue of the kicstarter campaign. Thank you all for reading, this will be the last page i will translate today (Saturday 16). Anyone who is willing can pick up the effort. Edit : Bwahaha Double translate. Je suis désolé de cette situation. Je te laisse continuer a traduire jusqu'a demain avant-midi si tu veux.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:33
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fuzzknot posted:Oh God, the shoes are coming off. (I can't believe he had them ON for the first couple of attempts.) Its for the Fidelity!
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Jan 16, 2016 23:33
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fuzzknot posted:Oh. You're far too late. He's attempting to do basically a backwards somersault with his shoeless feet by a bunch of Legos (!) and rolling into his desk chair. Man, if Bootcha dies, who is going to make a ridiculous cat-face video to commemorate his death? These are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:34
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He's doing it off the bed. 
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Jan 16, 2016 23:34
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fuzzknot posted:He's doing it off the bed. Backflip status: Any landing you can walk away from. (I'm frankly amazed he's still walking after the alarming POP that came from his back, but I'll take it.)
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Jan 16, 2016 23:37
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fuzzknot posted:(I'm frankly amazed he's still walking after the alarming POP that came from his back, but I'll take it.) That was a fart.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:38
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Bootcha posted:That was a fart. I'm just glad I wasn't in the shower this time for that one. You rear end.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:39
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Do be careful though, Bootcha. Backflips are one of the reasons I only have a marginally functional knee.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:45
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