Sunswipe posted:

The Matrix series is a really good analogy for SC. Both come from a relatively good idea, both were stretched out into incoherent gibbering by idiots, both have an inexplicable fanbase insisting they're the best thing ever. Main difference is The Matrix series got completed, but few analogies are perfect.

Flared Basic Bitch posted:

How dare you.

Loiosh posted:

I enjoy deep simulator games and always wanted to play a multiplayer game where I'd get actual human passengers and get to pilot them around.

Colostomy Bag posted:

A bunch of heretics in this thread. I'm appalled.

Loiosh posted:

Tijana is mocking me for it, but that's mostly true. I enjoy deep simulator games and always wanted to play a multiplayer game where I'd get actual human passengers and get to pilot them around.

ripptide posted:

Didn't they also lose the new "networking savior code" from the 3.0 release? I know it's a very minor thing with an MMO, but hey....

AP posted:

https://twitter.com/pcinvasion/status/858411206503256064

Mirificus posted:

AP posted:

https://twitter.com/pcinvasion/status/858411206503256064

X-Ultron posted:

The Matrix in space already exists in the much better, actual game Saints Row 4.

SR4 also features another one of CIG's staples: T-posing commandos:

AP posted:

https://twitter.com/pcinvasion/status/858411206503256064

AP posted:

https://twitter.com/pcinvasion/status/858411206503256064

Golli posted:

You see, in 4.0 instead of free-fly weekends, there will be free bus-ride weekends, to tempt the plebs who don't own a ship to bootstrap themselves into Citizenship and to encourage spaceship-pooling amongst the more environmentally-woke Citizens. Because with no mining in-game fuel prices will be ree-donkulous

Scruffpuff posted:

With Chris Roberts, the equation has always been the same: the more money he gets, the more money he needs. The reason in 2017 is the same as the reason was in 1998 - Chris Roberts knows nothing about game development. For every dollar he takes in, he promises ten dollars worth of features. Therefore, the more money he makes, the farther the game gets pushed back.

There's no worse person in the world that could have been put in charge of this project, but at the same time, no other person touches the special place in an autist's brain that leads them to open their wallets in quite this way. It's an interesting place Star Citizen is in, where the leader is what makes it both possible and impossible at the same time.

quote:

As to the 428 employee/contractor claim...

A well placed source and I were on a call yesterday; and he tells me that those numbers are somewhat close; and do in fact include all the third-party teams & companies. Those external third-parties are paid varying monthly (in some cases) fees. While he couldn't testify to the veracity of the 428 number due to not knowing how many people at the third-parties are working on the project, he tells me that he knows with certainty that as of last week, there were a little over 300 people (btw this [url="http://"http://i.imgur.com/5fqTqpt.jpg""]slide showing 363[/url] is from Aug 2016) working at the four primary studios (CA, TX, GER, UK). He also says that they still have a difficult time hiring quality people who want nothing to do with this train-wreck; and that most of the studios are a revolving door of talent which are replaced by under-qualified people who need to be brought up to speed on a five year project.

The pace of the development is attributed to all the R&D, issues with the engine etc. Notice how they have made little to no progress on the content side either.

And as of last week, they were still struggling with LumberYard because it's now become clear that merging their custom work with it, has proven to be more laborious than expected - and that it would take the better part of 2017 and well into the middle of 2018 to do what they want to do. There has been talk of completely scuttling their Star Engine, but some of the custom work is integral to the game design, and that work isn't implemented in LumberYard in any form. Nobody knows what that is; but my guess would be the scene sizes, and possibly some editor customization.

In 2016, aside from the dud that is Star Marine, they only released GrimHex, and some ships. The art pipeline itself is slow because key artist/modelers keep leaving; to be replaced by people who have to be brought up to speed all over again. I mean, they lost an entire team of 20+ content creators when Behavior Interactive exited the project in Dec.

They are spending most of their resources on visuals (ship concepts, models, commercials, R&D vertical slices etc); and in doing so, the key and more important areas such as Star Citizen and SQ42 suffer in part.

Note also that since he went from indie to a full blown triple-A production, those 300+ people are probably still insufficient; compared to the fact that most triple-A studios have over 500 people working on a single Triple-A project; let alone two in tandem.

This particular source doesn't share much, but each time he does, he has been 100% on the money. So I am inclined to believe him when he tells me that they have over 300 people working at these studios, thus pegging their burn rate between $3m - $4m per month.

It should also be noted that from the 2015 financials, F42-UK alone [url="http://"http://dereksmart.com/forums/topic/sc-scoop/page/2/#post-5064""]burned through over $20 million[/url] - while reporting a loss (!). We won't have the 2016 numbers until later this year, seeing as they routinely file late. From those numbers, it's very easy to extrapolate the burn rate across the other three studios; especially since most of the highly paid execs on the US side are in CA and TX.

All of this adds up to the recent fund-raising shenanigans, the latest newsletter (which puts the onus on backers, instead of CIG) etc.

The project is never - ever - going to see the light of day. And the whales who still keep propping it up are in for a rude awakening before long. I haven't seen anything that would make me change my opinion on this. In fact, all signs point to a project that's going to be scuttled in the short-term. And it is highly unlikely that SQ42 as promised, will ever see the light of day.

As I mentioned in my earlier missive, this is all kinds of bad news.

trucutru posted:

Wow, lethality is getting slower, it took him a full 30 minutes for him to read your post and then go do damage control.

Isn't he an Aussie? (no doxx Derek, pls). I can't imagine a better way to start a Sunday than to scan the web for miscreants being rude to SC.

D_Smart posted:

No, he's in the UK. Do you want his details? I have them in a dossier.

AP posted:

https://twitter.com/pcinvasion/status/858411206503256064

Samizdata posted:

No. Everytime I go gently caress with him on Twitter, I have too much fun seeing him as the guy from the WoW episode of South Park.

You know, this chappie...



Telling me more would ruin the fantasy.

AP posted:

https://twitter.com/pcinvasion/status/858411206503256064

Sabreseven posted:

"Is it a money pit?"

Why are people so far behind the times on this? It's been a money pit for years, money goes in, nothing but crap comes out.

Edit: And Lethality, as if it's surprising, is first to comment and immediately tell them how fud they are being.

Edit 2: The loving comments in the actual article are loving brilliant.

quote:

LOL! Paul Younger is misinformed, or has not been following the project from "a front seat" as he claims. It's not true that "[...] they have raised more than 150 million." He also interprets Chris Roberts' words as the devil interprets the Bible ... I also read that newsletter, yesterday, and never got the impression that CR "pleads for more money". Also, the reason they haven't showed us much from Squadron 42 (yet) is because - as they've said repeatedly - they don't want to spoil the experience.

Haters gonna hate, I guess.

Sabreseven posted:

This is how I see him when he's defending SC:



And here he is away from his home:

DarkRefreshment posted:

I'm the guy comparing CR's words to the Bible and the "haters" as the devil.

Also, how can you have "hiding spoilers" and open development? Maybe I'm just being the devil or some other form of evil deity.

quote:

"In the old model as a developer I would have captured 20 cents on the dollar," Roberts said. "Ultimately that means I can make the same game for a fifth of the revenue, a fifth of the sales, and I can be more profitable, and I can exist on lower unit sales. I think that's good for gamers, because crowdfunding and digital distribution are enabling more nichey stuff to be viable. It's also allowing gamers to have their voice heard, and have their influence earlier in the process. You don't really have your input into how Call of Duty's being made."

Scruffpuff posted:

With Chris Roberts, the equation has always been the same: the more money he gets, the more money he needs. The reason in 2017 is the same as the reason was in 1998 - Chris Roberts knows nothing about game development. For every dollar he takes in, he promises ten dollars worth of features. Therefore, the more money he makes, the farther the game gets pushed back.

There's no worse person in the world that could have been put in charge of this project, but at the same time, no other person touches the special place in an autist's brain that leads them to open their wallets in quite this way. It's an interesting place Star Citizen is in, where the leader is what makes it both possible and impossible at the same time.

fuctifino posted:

https://twitter.com/GhandiSardiner/status/858435605335752704

Mirificus posted:

https://twitter.com/real_lethality/status/858379425666269187