Star Citizen: Death of a Space Thread?

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SoftNum: Mar 31, 2011

his nibs posted:

Is there an expectation of a Skadden response before the 9th?

Purely for entertainment value - CiG will undoubtedly want to have the last word, and draft something hilarious again.

Almost assuredly not.

Skadden will stand up and go: "Seeing as how the defense is arguing the facts of the case in their submitting pleadings, this proves that the case has enough merit to be argued." Then we don't hear anything forever. Then SPACE COURT.

Or maybe CIG settle. who knows. The judge could even approve the MTD. Strange things happen in court.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 18:10

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# ? May 21, 2024 14:47

Duckaerobics: Jul 22, 2007; Lipstick Apathy

On the adjustable belt thing. I don't really understand it, but maybe someone who uses one can explain it to me. Do you gain and lose weight often? I don't think I own any pants that I need a belt to hold up so they are decorative.

Do people really need a fancy ratcheting belt to keep their pants from falling down? i guess I can understand it if you're in the process of losing weight and don't want to buy new clothes yet, but that seems like a small market. People realize they sell mens pants by the measurements right? Like you can just find out what size fits you and wear that. :confused:

# ? Feb 2, 2018 18:14

Bofast: Feb 21, 2011; Grimey Drawer

Toops posted:

Who would play Crobbler in the HBO MS? Danny Devito?

Terry Jones?

# ? Feb 2, 2018 18:14

CrazyLoon: Aug 10, 2015; "..."

Bofast posted:

Terry Jones?

The clock would have to be wound back for the looks, but his recent unfortunate senility would fit Crobblers handwaving babbling perfectly.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 18:20

Sunswipe: Feb 5, 2016; by Fluffdaddy

SoftNum posted:

Almost assuredly not.

Skadden will stand up and go: "Seeing as how the defense is arguing the facts of the case in their submitting pleadings, this proves that the case has enough merit to be argued." Then we don't hear anything forever. Then SPACE COURT.

Or maybe CIG settle. who knows. The judge could even approve the MTD. Strange things happen in court.

Since that case where the Bundy family took over a federal facility by force and got off scot free, I've learnt to expect the worst from courts.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 18:26

Dogeh: Aug 30, 2017; ShitMeter: -------------|- 99%

CrazyLoon posted:

The clock would have to be wound back for the looks, but his recent unfortunate senility would fit Crobblers handwaving babbling perfectly.

Indeed, this makes me very sad.
Terry was a creative genius, so playing Roberts would have been a Oscar winning career challenge

# ? Feb 2, 2018 18:30

Combat Theory: Jul 16, 2017

Hello

Performance Theory posted:

Hello again commandos. Performance Theory back again, drawn by the siren song of this lovely screenshot.

Full disclosure: I have not seen all of the source material. I'm basing this off of what I know from this screenshot and from what I have witnessed in past displays of CIG's code. I could go into even more detail about minutia, but will endeavor to keep this brief and focus on the major pain points.

if (abs(speedA) < 1)
speedA = 0;
if (abs(speedB) < 1)
speedB = 0;

This is what is called a kludge. Some bit of functionality which is added in order to fix a separate issue. A band aid, if you will. It has the short-term benefit of solving whatever the problem is. Presumably, the root cause is that their physics engine runs into issues with near-zero velocities. The correct and proper solution would be to resolve whatever issue is causing that unwanted behavior.

Instead, they kludge it.

This may solve the issue in that specific instance. But, odds are, someone else will eventually try to do something very similar and will run into the same issue. Hopefully they communicate well enough that the known fix is shared and simply copy and pasted in that new area. This is a poor design practice as it leads to code bloat and makes the codebase less maintainable, but at least not too much time will be lost. Unless it's someone else who runs into it who has not been over this particular piece of code where the kludge is stored, and/or the right person is not asked, and/or any of a thousand other scenarios in which the developer is forced to spend a bunch of time debugging until they discover the same kludge.

I could go on, but you get the idea. This type of practice is not good for Star Citizen.

if (!IsBlame(speedA, speedB))
{
return;
}

I saw some discussion from people who seemed to think that this was a really bad thing. They were right, because it is a really bad thing. But perhaps for slightly different reasons.

There are actually two issues hidden in here. The first is that it relies upon the function being called twice. This is actually okay in the very specific context of collision response code. A properly designed physics engine would create an event for each collision, which collision objects could then handle. Every collision event would logically have at least two participants. There isn't actually anything wrong with this approach.

The second issue is function control flow which begins here and continues in the next conditional statements. In other words, we jump out of the function and skip the rest in some cases. This design makes a lot of sense.

Except it leads to the inevitable creation of enormously bloated superfunctions which contain arcane sets of complex business logic.

In enterprise software, business logic frequently changes. Perhaps the way an interest rate is calculated, for example. A naive approach would be to have a function called GetInterestRate() which returns a hardcoded mathematical function. This makes sense and works well. Until it changes, later on.

Then, you have to decide what happens when you change GetInterestRate(). What if you need to interact with older data sets which rely upon the original function? Are you going to just create GetInterestRate2() and remember to call that if older data is detected? What happens when it changes a second or third time? Etc. Probably best to just put some conditional logic inside of GetInterestRate() which checks what formula we need to use.

But what happens when you now start doing business with Elbonia, the land of waist-deep mud? Their interest rate is calculated based upon the square root of the width of the shadow cast from the nearest village's oldest pig at noon. Sounds like we need to add yet more logic to GetInterestRate() in order to handle that edge case.

A few mergers and acquisitions later, and GetInterestRate() is one thousand lines of code long and you can never fire Bob, because he's the only one who remembers how it all works.

Now, games are different than enterprise applications. Game developers cheat a lot, especially when it comes to performance optimization. But poor design practices can be universal, and bloated superfunctions like that are incredibly common.

A better design would involve a proper refactoring of the codebase so that you don't need a mountain of brittle conditional checks. Most physics engines utilize an event-driven paradigm, wherein objects simply subscribe to certain types of events that they want to listen for, such as OnIsCollisionBlame, OnVehicleHostile, etc. Encapsulating each of those conditions into a collinion information tag, which the physics engine checks once and assigns to the raised collision events, is a fantastic way to support that very same logic in a much more robust, easier to use, and less error-prone manner.

---

But, game developers are only human. Humans make mistakes. Humans get tired and sometimes even want to go home after working 12 hour days trying to do the impossible. We love it, because doing the impossible is exactly what we signed up for, and we wouldn't have it any other way. https://www.polygon.com/2017/8/23/16184068/why-i-worship-crunch

But sometimes that means that we end up writing superfunctions instead of painstakingly redesigning the way in which the physics engine communicates.

Sometimes it works out okay. I wrote my fair share of code that makes the above look like a paradigm of amazing design. Sure, I was working 16 hour days at a time. Sure, the deadline I was under was impossible. But it worked out okay in the end.

I genuinely hope it works out okay in the end for Star Citizen, because I have enormous respect for those who are in the trenches and trying their best. Maybe they simply don't have the experience to recognize these design pitfalls. Because I am quite certain that the average Joe Programmerdude is just trying to do his job and collect his paycheck, and maybe do something cool in the process, rather than sitting back, rubbing his hands together, cackling and muttering evilly about how he's going to do the worst hack job he can get away with.

That said, we should ask why after $175,000,000 and 7 years, core engine features fall victim to this.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 18:40

Jobbo_Fett: Mar 7, 2014; Slava Ukrayini; Clapping Larry

Duckaerobics posted:

On the adjustable belt thing. I don't really understand it, but maybe someone who uses one can explain it to me. Do you gain and lose weight often? I don't think I own any pants that I need a belt to hold up so they are decorative.

Do people really need a fancy ratcheting belt to keep their pants from falling down? i guess I can understand it if you're in the process of losing weight and don't want to buy new clothes yet, but that seems like a small market. People realize they sell mens pants by the measurements right? Like you can just find out what size fits you and wear that.

I imagine its because snooty people like MoMa have a hard time figuring out which shirt they want to wear. The various fabrics available to such fancy individuals are of different thickness, so when you come to tuck in your shirt you need the ratcheting ability of an adjustable belt to make sure you always look perfect*

*Perfection not guaranteed

# ? Feb 2, 2018 18:47

Scruffpuff: Dec 23, 2015; Fidelity. Wait, was I'm working on again?

Duckaerobics posted:

On the adjustable belt thing. I don't really understand it, but maybe someone who uses one can explain it to me. Do you gain and lose weight often? I don't think I own any pants that I need a belt to hold up so they are decorative.

Do people really need a fancy ratcheting belt to keep their pants from falling down? i guess I can understand it if you're in the process of losing weight and don't want to buy new clothes yet, but that seems like a small market. People realize they sell mens pants by the measurements right? Like you can just find out what size fits you and wear that.

I have a ratchet belt (not kickstarted) and I have it for two reasons:

1) My weight doesn't change. As a result, even expensive leather belts rip within 6 months as the bar that goes through the designated hole wears it out and the belt rips. I've never made it a year, and they look worn and lovely long before then.
2) When I eat I tend to get a bit of distention around my abdomen due to stomach surgery. With a ratchet belt I can loosen a very small amount until I digest, then I can tighten it up again without drawing attention to myself or excusing myself to the bathroom. In addition I can make micro-adjustments instead of the large adjustments holed belts have (where no hole feels 100%)

I'd hardly call it fancy - the belt I have is cheaper than any traditional leather belt, but it's for functional purposes. I used to have a belt many years ago without holes in it - it was woven leather almost in braided fashion - that was good for having the fine-tuned adjustments I need, but they look like poo poo, wear out quickly, and you still can't adjust them on the fly like I need.

Another good kind for me are the ones where the buckle has the pin at the end of it and you can push it into the leather instead of weaving the strap through the buckle. Still though, they don't have the adjustability I require.

I'd say 99% of the population has no need for them, but for people in my shoes, they're a life saver.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 18:49

Jobbo_Fett: Mar 7, 2014; Slava Ukrayini; Clapping Larry

Combat Theory posted:

Hello

I'm the loving idiot who enjoys 16-hour work days because its less depressing than reading the news or seeing my dead gay family.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 18:50

Jobbo_Fett: Mar 7, 2014; Slava Ukrayini; Clapping Larry

Scruffpuff posted:

I have a ratchet belt (not kickstarted) and I have it for two reasons:

1) My weight doesn't change. As a result, even expensive leather belts rip within 6 months as the bar that goes through the designated hole wears it out and the belt rips. I've never made it a year, and they look worn and lovely long before then.
2) When I eat I tend to get a bit of distention around my abdomen due to stomach surgery. With a ratchet belt I can loosen a very small amount until I digest, then I can tighten it up again without drawing attention to myself or excusing myself to the bathroom. In addition I can make micro-adjustments instead of the large adjustments holed belts have (where no hole feels 100%)

I'd hardly call it fancy - the belt I have is cheaper than any traditional leather belt, but it's for functional purposes. I used to have a belt many years ago without holes in it - it was woven leather almost in braided fashion - that was good for having the fine-tuned adjustments I need, but they look like poo poo, wear out quickly, and you still can't adjust them on the fly like I need.

Another good kind for me are the ones where the buckle has the pin at the end of it and you can push it into the leather instead of weaving the strap through the buckle. Still though, they don't have the adjustability I require.

I'd say 99% of the population has no need for them, but for people in my shoes, they're a life saver.

Wrong account, dummy

# ? Feb 2, 2018 18:51

Lladre: Jun 28, 2011; Soiled Meat

Aren't we all just ratchet belts in the end?

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:02

G0RF: Mar 19, 2015; Some galactic defender you are, Space Cadet.

YOUTUBE: REVERSE THE VERSE w/ Todd Papy & Brian Chanbers

Dogeh posted:

G0rf, I love your posts.
When is your book on this shitshow coming out?
Will it be thicker than Derek's?

The thread is the meta-book and we are all authors.

Btw, did anyone catch that fantastic moment at the end of the Subscriber�s Town Hall?

They are talking about Chris and their relationships to him. There�s some friendly joking, nothing subversive, and Forrest makes mention that they have a scanned 3D head of Chris. Brief discussions about Chris�s inclusion in Squadron 42 somewhere, then it leads to this truly funny tangent from Sean about his occasional use of Chris�s 3D head in Face-Over-IP.

Discussion starts here.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:06

AlbieQuirky: Oct 9, 2012; Just me and my 🌊dragon🐉 hanging out

Lladre posted:

Aren't we all just ratchet belts in the end?

Don't you dare call me ratchet!

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:06

Hav: Dec 11, 2009; Fun Shoe

Duckaerobics posted:

On the adjustable belt thing. I don't really understand it, but maybe someone who uses one can explain it to me. Do you gain and lose weight often? I don't think I own any pants that I need a belt to hold up so they are decorative.

Do people really need a fancy ratcheting belt to keep their pants from falling down? i guess I can understand it if you're in the process of losing weight and don't want to buy new clothes yet, but that seems like a small market. People realize they sell mens pants by the measurements right? Like you can just find out what size fits you and wear that.

Gonna say that ratchets are loving awesome and are $20 on Amazon. It's less about gaining/losing weight and more about being able to adjust the belt at better increments than 1".

Also, you're probably under thirty? You've got a shock coming when your metabolism goes all middle-aged on you.

Sunswipe posted:

Since that case where the Bundy family took over a federal facility by force and got off scot free, I've learnt to expect the worst from courts.

Prosecution completely hosed the case up. Like seriously mishandled evidence, didn't inform defence counsel; it literally was a shower of poo poo. Like how to gently caress up a complex case when the other side was literally _caught in the act_.

quote:

Navarro found that the prosecution had committed "flagrant misconduct" by withholding evidence that could have supported the defendants' case. Namely, Navarro explained that federal prosecutors had failed to disclose information from cameras recording video from the standoff and the presence of federal snipers around the Bundy Ranch.

Navarro ruled that as a result, the men, who had been slapped with felony conspiracy and firearms charges, could not receive a fair trial. She dismissed the charges "with prejudice," which specifically bars the possibility of bringing a new trial against them.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:15

Dementropy: Aug 23, 2010

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:17

Hav: Dec 11, 2009; Fun Shoe

Dementropy posted:

Best community ever;

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:20

Ayn Marx: Dec 21, 2012

Speaking of narrative control can anyone take up my reddit shift tomorrow?

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:20

D_Smart: May 11, 2010; by FactsAreUseless; College Slice

trucutru posted:

We actually only quote MoMA's (and other blocked buddies') posts so that Derek is able to read them, as a service to the community. Unfortunately, as nobody really knows the content of the b.buddies list (not even Derek, I bet), the amount of quotes required to insure that they are read is bound to increase exponentially.It's a quite sad, unsolvable conundrum.

But I have no idea why people quote Derek, to be honest, it's much better to just add a link to his blog.

I don't have MoMA blocked though, cuz we're besties :grin:

ps: HO LEE poo poo!! That avatar. :laffo:

----------------
This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:29

Colostomy Bag: Jan 11, 2016; C-Bangin' it

Hav posted:

Best community ever;

That one really made lol.

The absurdity.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:29

Tippis: Mar 21, 2008; It's yet another day in the wasteland.

Lladre posted:

Aren't we all just ratchet belts in the end?

Now that you mention it, no.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:29

Colostomy Bag: Jan 11, 2016; C-Bangin' it

D_Smart posted:

I don't have MoMA blocked though, cuz we're besties

ps: HO LEE poo poo!! That avatar.

:avatar_alert:

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:30

Renegret: May 26, 2007; THANK YOU FOR CALLING HELP DOG, INC.

YOUR POSITION IN THE QUEUE IS *pbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbt*

Cat Army Sworn Enemy

I hope moma sticks around

he's funny

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:30

Scruffpuff: Dec 23, 2015; Fidelity. Wait, was I'm working on again?

D_Smart posted:

I don't have MoMA blocked though, cuz we're besties

Whoever is paying for your avatar changes lately is loving bereft of wit and imagination. I mean poo poo, insult you if they feel the urge, but attempt to put the comedy in this dead gay comedy forum. Your last few avatars have been so dull I'm tempted to think Chris Roberts himself changed them.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:30

Renegret: May 26, 2007; THANK YOU FOR CALLING HELP DOG, INC.

YOUR POSITION IN THE QUEUE IS *pbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbt*

Cat Army Sworn Enemy

hey what do I have to say in this thread to get reddit to start talking about me.

Because they're not insulting me and I feel a little left out. I want them to be angry at me too

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:31

D_Smart: May 11, 2010; by FactsAreUseless; College Slice

boviscopophobic posted:

The latest episode of Guard Frequency, which was apparently recorded prior to CIG's latest filing, has lengthy discussions about Star Citizen and the lawsuit in response to listener comments.

http://guardfrequency.com/199

Discussion begins at 57:52.
Tony invokes Enron at 1:00:05.
Ortwin's position in the GLA negotiations at 1:02:25.
At 1:05:10, Tony clearly has an unfavorable opinion of CIG's legal maneuvering to date.
DEREK SMART DEREK SMART DEREK SMART is discussed from 1:06:32-1:09:47.

----------------
This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:33

Lladre: Jun 28, 2011; Soiled Meat

I still like how they keep repeating 14 days from purchase.

Imagine this was a real factual thing. There would be a whole business designed around not giving the customer the item they purchased till 15+ days after the sale.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:34

Tippis: Mar 21, 2008; It's yet another day in the wasteland.

Renegret posted:

hey what do I have to say in this thread to get reddit to start talking about me.

Because they're not insulting me and I feel a little left out. I want them to be angry at me too

Just make some very obvious and unquestionably true statement about game development, and they'll brand you a hater and FUDster who's out to destroy Star Citizen.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:35

Tsar Mikey: Nov 30, 2005; When will then be now?

Tippis posted:

Just make some very obvious and unquestionably true statement about game development, and they'll brand you a hater and FUDster who's out to destroy Star Citizen.

Chris Roberts is a hack that hasn't made a good game ever.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:36

SoftNum: Mar 31, 2011

Renegret posted:

hey what do I have to say in this thread to get reddit to start talking about me.

Because they're not insulting me and I feel a little left out. I want them to be angry at me too

"I think gameplay is more important that ships." seems like a good start.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:36

Lladre: Jun 28, 2011; Soiled Meat

Touching the poop so you can have the poop mention you is counter productive.

Don't touch the poop.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:38

D_Smart: May 11, 2010; by FactsAreUseless; College Slice

G0RF posted:

that�s funny. Don�t let me screw up your work!

Also:

It�s been a while since I�ve done this, but as a courtesy to our newer posters and lurkers, I wanted to offer one admittedly subjective summary of the present malaise, particularly with respect to the Star Citizen brand and Chris Roberts reputation as chief architect and spokesman.

(As a disclosure for those unaware, I don�t root for the failure of the project, even if I root for the failure of a select few. I genuinely believe there are hundreds of people working on the project doing their level best to deliver even though goalposts are forever shifting and many dysfunctional processes are both set in stone and protected by the lunatic leadership. That I am pessimistic about the future is not meant as blanket condemnation of the lot; it arises as grim acknowledgement of how densely concentrated organizational power is into the hands of the very worst of its members.)

STATE OF THE GAME - Q1 2018

Despite the claims of the funding tracker, I think parties at the very top of CIG see themselves looking at the downward revenue slope of a saturated market. A couple of years ago, and before many joking embellishments followed, I put up the old bell curve model:

No real inputs � I just grabbed a traditional bell curve off google images and made a guess where things were in late 2015. It was a little premature because I think the blowoff actually hit in 2016...

2016 - THE YEAR CHRIS LOST THE PLOT

The fictive miracles of Gamescom / CitizenCon that year probably gave them the last truly meaningful boosts to organic new demand and deferential hype amplification from the gaming press, even as Roberts himself planted seeds of his own credibility destruction during that same critical period.

How interesting that the Streetroller refund controversy (July 2016) broke a month before Gamescom and �Inside the Troubled Development of Star Citizen� (September 23rd, 2016) broke right after. If nothing else, that series sent signals far and wide to others in the gaming press that this project about which there had already been much hype and controversy was at the very least struggling, perhaps mightily, under Chris�s chaotic leadership. Kotaku UK�s inclusion of the Level story translation framed the controversial elements (Derek Smart, Beer, �goons�, War) pretty fairly as well, and sent signals via new sourcing that perhaps some of the smoke coming up from The Escapist had some fire under it after all.

The net impact of that exhaustive series � coming as it did between two gollywhopper megahyper CIG events � was a very loud signal to the more serious writers at the more serious publications that perhaps the era of fawning deferential coverage of this Hype Train needed to slow because perhaps there were serious organizational/developmental/ethical problems still challenging it.

One can see the impact of this starting in 2017. Coverage didn�t stop, but it certainly slowed. A new caution and sometime snarkiness started creeping in to the coverage . Kotaku UK made it much safer to call Chris�s project �troubled� and �mired in controversy� and all the other qualifiers so common to stories nowadays. Even Charlie Hall does it, though usually as buried lede.

Yet the greatest blows to CIG during that incredibly consequential period of both hype and controversy were new self-inflicted wounds inflicted by the master himself.

Chris Roberts, with the note perfect timing of a Savant Self-Owner, helped confirm the �Troubled Development� narrative of Kotaku UK�s coverage at CitizenCon 2016, when the long-awaited, much-hyped Squadron 42 demo was a last minute no show after months of build up. Instead we got a ginormous Sandworm as the biggest, baddest symbol for hope yet. It was as fictive as phallic yet for some neither were enough to compensate for the MIA Squadron 42.

The Road to CitizenCon was quickly released as a palliative for the faithful, yet a deeper reading of the work shows only too clearly how damning it is of the development itself. In fact, it is one of the most inadvertent self-incriminating pieces of self-congratulatory agitprop since Sandi Gardiner�s disastrous Sunny�s Diner appearance years prior.

The purposefully manipulative �documentary� showed key developers losing sleep, highly stressed and enduring up to two months of constant crunch to deliver two demonstrations for CitizenCon. The Squadron 42 demo was meant to update fans on the actual progress of the two years late game yet could not be completed in time. The �Homestead� demo was crafted expressly as a fiction starring a fake sandworm, fake enemy NPCs and fake combat, was CitizenCon�s redeeming �triumph.� How perfectly appropriate.

�A BRIEF TANGENT

(This will read as bridge too far for some, yet I have trouble shaking the sense there�s truth to it.)

I am cynical enough now about Roberts vanity to believe that the Squadron demo never really stood a chance and that Chris and a trusted few knew long in advance he would not show it at CitizenCon.

Yes, that�s pure , and I�d never fight to defend it, yet the circumstantial case is quite suggestive and it�s hardly unlike Roberts to craft fictions with cynical intent. That is in fact one of his only proven talents and has been key to their stratospheric fundraising (yet at this point of waning appetite for the game even that fundraising itself appears partly a work of manipulation.)

So it�s very worth asking ourselves, �why would CIG be filming a mini-documentary weeks in advance of CitizenCon 2016, one so maudlin, manipulative and expressly framed as a �it�s for the best� so �sorry not sorry� about a demo they fully expected they would show up until two days before the event?�

It makes no sense to christen so dramatic a production so far in advance absent foreknowledge that you were going to need it. And indeed they did need it, as the CitCon 2016 rage was real for many until the opiate of �The Road to CitizenCon� was administered and all way forgiven.

It is more plausible to me that Roberts decided well in advance that Squadron would not be previewed at CitCon because he genuinely feared further humiliating comparisons with Infinite Warfare. It�s Wing Commanderish campaign was as slick, bombastic and cinematic as you�d expect from a AAA powerhouse, the motion capture was often near photoreal, and the prospects of either the media itself or �the anonymous hate campaign� juxtaposing clips from his Squadron demo for a game he himself once described as �the equivalent of huge AAA Call of Duty but better� legitimately worried him. Even the Fanboys had taken to reddit that summer to praise what they�d seen at E3 and chide CIG using Infinite Warfare as rebuke.

Roberts was fortunate that COD futurism fatigue and a bumbled multiplayer launch kept Infinite Warfare from being a franchise triumph, but the single player campaign itself deserved the ample praise for its �World War 2 story in space� received and oops, Infinite Warfare even delivered the emotional payoff Roberts thought was only his to deliver.

(BTW- if his RTV claim about touching emotional territory rarely reached with video games was not Roberts telegraphing the self-sacrifing death of �Old Man� at the end of Squadron 42, I�d be amazed. You have to wonder if that�s what Lando is referring to here. It�s the easiest, most obvious possible way to emotionally manipulate the Wing Commander nostalgiacs, so I�m calling that big mashing of the FEELS button here now.)

�END OF

The absence of a Squadron slice denied the media and his mockers a chance to put his �Call of Duty but better� claims to the Trial by Memes Roberts rightly feared. The �presciently� sanctioned documentary about its absence turned the legitimate anger about the no show demo back onto the victims, provoking yet more guilt they shouldn�t feel for Roberts� sins. HE was the one crunching devs on show demos. HE was the one demanding that �not a joke� sandworms be grabbed from the sci-fi trope box and inserted into his fundraising fictions. HE was the one selling things not in the game.

With refund dramas and �troubled development� narratives competing directly against Roberts increasingly tiresome flyboy swagger at Gamescom and CitizenCon, it was Roberts who proposed the final test to determine whether a deluded bug mouth or a brilliant visionary helmed the enterprise.

Could he or could he not deliver the whole of Stanton by year end? 4 planets, 12 moons and a handful of new mechanics that could finally give long-suffering backers renewed faith in his competence, his genius, or trustworthiness?

He said he thought they could, even though he�d never bothered consulting his Devs on that possibility and indeed, many were horrified to see him once again throw a gauntlet down they�d never be able to lift. Yet would this time be different? Was he just a guy with chronic mismanager with a runaway mouth running a Troubled Development, or might Chris actually deliver this time?

No, he could not.

No more than he could deliver Squadron 42 at the end of 2015 as he�d said they do. No more than he could deliver Star Marine in �3 weeks time� as he said that same day he�d do.

As with nearly all things but disappointment, Chris Roberts delivered much less, much later, and in the case of 3.0, even upon delivery, he delivered mediocrity at a fraction of the originally promised scale.

Let us remember, too, that Chris had justified the long wait of his all important 3.0 patch because it needed extra polish and bugfixing. It needed to be friendlier than any patch prior because so many new users would be signing up. Yet a year and a half after it dazzled the crowds of the faithful, it finally arrived in the classic tradition backers had miserably come to expect � broken, empty, lifeless and stuttering.

With 3.0, Roberts failed the test he himself inadvertently proposed.

In so doing, he confirmed for all but the most devoted faithful that his critics were right. The dichotomy that prompted so much uncertainty and debate in 2016 was over. It was not the cynics who bested Roberts, it was Roberts, and he did it as the cynics expected he would, by being himself.

2017 - THE YEAR OF LIVING DISSAPOINTINGLY

If 2016 was the zenith of years of cumulating hype and expectation, 2017 was the year of diminishing expectations and growing outrages. Until the �miraculous� turnaround of the anniversary sale you could see it in their own reported numbers. You could read it in the growing number of full combat comment fields under any Star Citizen news story. New voices of skepticism on the Star Citizen subreddit were sometimes catapulted to the top of the charts not with memes or praises but with criticisms, warnings, frustrations. The widely read /Games subreddit saw skepticism about the project flourishing amongst the mainstream gamer population.

In 2017, CIG�s efforts to bolster the faithful at the usual venues only compounded the damage further.

Gamescom 2017 delivered cringe so real it hurt, reinforcing further still the �Troubled Narrative� claims and sending the �Chris Roberts, Savior of PC Gaming� myths up in glorious self-parody.

CitizenCon 2017 delivered this year�s model Sandworm, a planet covered in buildings melding the newly released Blade Runner with the prequel�s Coruscant signifying little beyond �Chris Roberts Fever dream hype demo, 2017 edition. Was it cool to watch? Sure. Was it coming soon to the game? Not a chance, and even the Believers know that. It was simply the latest in a long line of golden calves Roberts erected before the people that they might worship false divinity as he lead them once again in circles through his wilderness. That some will still do it though they know the calf wrought of their own melted wealth speaks more to their desperation than true faithfulness. Yet what other choice has Roberts left then?

2018: CAPITULATION TO THE OBVIOUS FOR ALL BUT THE OBLIVIOUS

Though the year-end numbers managed to mask it, 2017 was the year Chris Roberts faced down his mortal enemy � himself � and lost.

Those looking ahead in 2018 for truer hopes to cling to than bygone show buzz and the 100th rewatch of the Imagine video will find an emptier horizon line than in prior years.

That we�ll see no Squadron release in 2018 is obvious already. Chris Roberts is unlikely to explicitly state the infuriating obvious and instead will just show clips and progress on a monthly basis like the carrot on a stick it has been since 2012.

The decision not to attend Gamescom this year is itself a telling sign, yet lest we risk missing it, CIG explicitly stated their reasoning; they don�t want their developers distracted with all the preparation work such an event demands of them. That this concern never stopped them before and was glorified in �The Road to CitizenCon� suggests a deeper reading, and that reading is capitulation.

What good might such an event be when they�ve saturated the market and hype fatigue plagues even the faithful? When the very game itself has become so unplayable that marketing it courts frustration and mockery? There is too little to be gained this year in so exhausted a marketplace with so damaged a brand, so tired a narrative, so broken a game.

So with Squadron and Gamescom off the calendar, 3.1 aiming for performance improvements only (if they can get them) and the features of this summer�s 3.2 so uncertain that Community Manager Disco Lando scoffs at community attempts to nail them down, what else might we expect this year?

SPECULATIVE: Player housing for sale

Cash purchasable player structures may be a high priority now, though Chris has said nothing recently to explicitly affirm that. Land claims were the thin end of that wedge and Lando�s very first question on the very first episode of Calling All Devs was about Land Claims.

How curious that something which earned them bad PR and a fan backlash goes to the front of the question line. Stranger still that Dave Haddock was the one being asked as he will have absolutely nothing to do with its implementation. The cynical reading would be that Land Claims (and later structure sales) are a Chris Roberts priority being fast-tracked out of LA at his insistence for financial reasons. Roberts himself went into his rationale for Land Claims and pitched it as the protection racket it so clearly was designed to be. Land claims bore all the hallmarks of a new feature made urgent priority not because the game needed it so much as because Roberts wants new revenue lines ASAP.

Since he employees a gigantic army of modelers and artists it would not be surprising if a subset is already working up models for shacks, hideouts, condos, bases, rest stops, whatever... I�d also not be surprised if he�s bent Garriott�s ear for tips but even if not there is a lot that can be gleaned just from playing SOTA and exploring their cash shop. Where Garriott sells castles, Roberts would sell space mansions, and the rationale would be �you don�t really want to park your 890 Jump at just a sad little outpost, do you? Poorly matched AND unprotected? Well have I got a deal for you!�

SPECULATIVE: For Sale By Owner, a piece of the Dream Factory itself?

Similarly, it wouldn�t be surprising if Garriott�s seedinvest experiment hasn�t been studied for replication by Roberts as funding sources decline. It wasn�t a barn burner but they hit their minimum target, and Roberts being Roberts, he�s probably doing napkin calculations already to map out worst and best case yields.

These aren�t explicit predictions so much as cynical hunches, and the cynicism is rooted in seeing last year defy worst case scenarios. There are obviously some big fires they need to put out too this year, not the least of which is basic playability.

As much as it probably hurts Chris to put player needs ahead of his own wants for a change, until they fix their networking / performance issues, they�re pretty much in a tar pit unable to get back to the good work Chris prefers; selling things, redesigning things, polishing things. It remains to be seen if and to what extent they can clear those obstacles.

Even assuming they clear the Stability / Performance hurdle, a hurdle they�ve given little confidence they can overcome, the next hurdle before them remains no less vexing � can they start to design a game worth playing? Roberts himself is no ally to such an endeavor; indeed, he has proven only too clearly how much it disinterested him, for during the six years he could spent designing and refining The Best drat Space Sim Ever, he instead was focused on an entirely different game and still it consumes him. Selling an unbelievable future at an unjustifiable price to anyone still foolish enough to trust the industry�s biggest underdeliverer will somehow deliver it.

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This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:38

Scruffpuff: Dec 23, 2015; Fidelity. Wait, was I'm working on again?

Renegret posted:

hey what do I have to say in this thread to get reddit to start talking about me.

Because they're not insulting me and I feel a little left out. I want them to be angry at me too

Just make a Reddit alt and start poo poo-talking yourself. This is Star Citizen, self-identified "leaders" who are actually such hardcore followers they're human-centipeded together. They'll jump on that bandwagon in seconds and you too can be a new Dark Lord.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:39

Renegret: May 26, 2007; THANK YOU FOR CALLING HELP DOG, INC.

YOUR POSITION IN THE QUEUE IS *pbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbt*

Cat Army Sworn Enemy

SoftNum posted:

"I think gameplay is more important that ships." seems like a good start.

Tippis posted:

Just make some very obvious and unquestionably true statement about game development, and they'll brand you a hater and FUDster who's out to destroy Star Citizen.

*ahem*

I think gameplay is more important than ships, unfortunately Chris Roberts doesn't know how to deliver on either.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:40

Renegret: May 26, 2007; THANK YOU FOR CALLING HELP DOG, INC.

YOUR POSITION IN THE QUEUE IS *pbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbt*

Cat Army Sworn Enemy

how was that, mom?

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:40

Thoatse: Feb 29, 2016; Lol said the scorpion, lmao

Ayn Marx posted:

Speaking of narrative control can anyone take up my reddit shift tomorrow?

Dude you always need someone to take your loving reddit shift and those of us pulling our weight are getting kind of sick of it (sorry to bring this out in the open guys but it really pisses me off) if you aren't really committed you shouldn't have accepted the responsibility I mean you sure had no problem accepting the rewards god drat man

USER MUST HAVE PLATINUM TO VIEW THIS MESSAGE

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:40

Duckaerobics: Jul 22, 2007; Lipstick Apathy

Hav posted:

Gonna say that ratchets are loving awesome and are $20 on Amazon. It's less about gaining/losing weight and more about being able to adjust the belt at better increments than 1".

Also, you're probably under thirty? You've got a shock coming when your metabolism goes all middle-aged on you.

I will accept that I am wrong about adjustable belts. Thank you kind goons.

I'm 31, but look like I'm ~15 so hopefully I've still got a few years. This plus being in engineering where the dress code is basically jeans and some kind of collared shirt means I'm fairly insulated from the idea of uncomfortable work clothes. I can tell it's coming though. I'm glad there are adjustable belts for people who need them and I will keep them in mind for the future.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:43

D_Smart: May 11, 2010; by FactsAreUseless; College Slice

Scruffpuff posted:

Whoever is paying for your avatar changes lately is loving bereft of wit and imagination. I mean poo poo, insult you if they feel the urge, but attempt to put the comedy in this dead gay comedy forum. Your last few avatars have been so dull I'm tempted to think Chris Roberts himself changed them.

Yeah, it's baffling. But then again, it's Streetroller who doesn't appear to have better things to do with 10 bux.

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This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:45

Colostomy Bag: Jan 11, 2016; C-Bangin' it

Probably the best avatar for Derek would be a slideshow of every avatar change with a dollar counter. But then it would take a few hours to watch the animated jif.

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:48

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# ? May 21, 2024 14:47

big nipples big life: May 12, 2014

the best one

# ? Feb 2, 2018 19:51

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > The Goodmine > Star Citizen: Death of a Space Thread?

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