Star Citizen’s Production Schedule Made Public

Megalith

Megalith

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It sounds like the game won’t be done any time soon, but the developers have taken a step toward giving its players some idea of how things are going. Chris Roberts is stressing to everyone that game development is “complicated.”

In a lengthy note to donors, Cloud Imperium Games founder Chris Roberts said the schedule for Star Citizen Alpha 2.6 will be shared on a weekly basis with the public. This page breaks out production schedules for the Star Marine and Arena Commander modules; the technology/systems, content and UI teams, and the Mega Map stretch goal, with bullet-point notes on where they stand. Notably, the production schedule for Squadron 42, the single-player campaign, is not among them. That long anticipated module, originally expected in the fall of 2015, was not even shown at CitizenCon in October. There is no timeline on when the campaign, which stars Mark Hamill and Gillian Anderson, will be shown or made available to backers.
 
Megalith said:
It sounds like the game won’t be done any time soon, but the developers have taken a step toward giving its players some idea of how things are going. Chris Roberts is stressing to everyone that game development is “complicated.”

In a lengthy note to donors, Cloud Imperium Games founder Chris Roberts said the schedule for Star Citizen Alpha 2.6 will be shared on a weekly basis with the public. This page breaks out production schedules for the Star Marine and Arena Commander modules; the technology/systems, content and UI teams, and the Mega Map stretch goal, with bullet-point notes on where they stand. Notably, the production schedule for Squadron 42, the single-player campaign, is not among them. That long anticipated module, originally expected in the fall of 2015, was not even shown at CitizenCon in October. There is no timeline on when the campaign, which stars Mark Hamill and Gillian Anderson, will be shown or made available to backers.
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As someone that does quite a few development projects for customers where I have to show a plan and progress to it every week, I really like what these folks are doing. They are proving that they have transparency at least on the progress and it's difficult to fake that when you have to show and tell.
 
Am I missing something or does their website only show timelines for the next alpha (2.6.0)? Looking through the features coming after that point it will be at least v 3.2.0 before they will have a playable "game".
 
At this point, I'm not actually expecting a game. There will be something delivered that they call the game I'm sure, to wash their hands of doing more work.

But that "game" resembling in any way what anyone who paid in is expecting... exceedingly unlikely. In fact, why would they when they can sell fake ships in a dream? Once reality hits people have to buy what is actually there, not what they hope will be there.
 
Will go down in history as the only MMO to make more profit before its launch then after.

I loved the WC stuff like everyone else... however he almost took Origin down more then once with his delays and cost overrun. He suckered MS (in their desperate to get in the market days) into purchasing Digital Anvil on the strength of freelancer which was supposed to be almost done, they found out it wasn't even half completed. Then he got into the movies... where he ran a company that surprise was known for going way over budget and taking to long to complete projects. On the upside in that world his company made a great tax shelter for some shady folks... so his reputation may have took a hit but at least his investors didn't want him wacked. ;)

He couldn't get money for SC the traditional way not because the industry doesn't believe in the genre as he first claimed. They simply have no faith in him after years of burning cash on games he never finished. His entire game catalog has been completed by others, or in the case of the early WC games pushed out the door by the developers.

I have a particular hate for Roberts, ruining crowd sourcing for game companies everywhere. I don't think hes a complete conman... he just doesn't know his own limitations, hes a guy that requires a boss.
 
ChadD said:
I have a particular hate for Roberts, ruining crowd sourcing for game companies everywhere. I don't think hes a complete conman... he just doesn't know his own limitations, hes a guy that requires a boss.
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Hardly limited to Roberts. Going by the kickstarter page, Richard Garriott is more than 2 years behind on Shroud of the Avatar (though I have no idea how expected to deliver a game in 2 years (or less).
 
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The game is coming along. The anniversary stream showed a lot of work getting done and the public production schedule was a surprise. I didn't think CR would show it. It's a good thing. I agree with the above statement that perhaps Chris needs some kind of boss. Perhaps he knows that also down deep. By releasing the schedule it makes him more beholden to the fans as a kind of boss to hit targets and get things done. We are at the time to freeze feature additions until version 1.0 goes public.
 
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Dahkoht said:
Have a feeling this will be NMS meltdown x1000 when in a few years it's finally "released".

Will be popcorn drama on boards for years.
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Oh, no no no, NMS was 1000x worse because they lied about what would be in the game. Star Citizen is a completely different case because they lied about what will be in the game. See the difference?
 
PhaseNoise said:
At this point, I'm not actually expecting a game.
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Oh, there's a game already, and they are playing it with their gullible customers that keep throwing money at them, excuse after excuse. That's the game.

Its like the "Line Ride" in South Park, where customers are waiting in line and not realizing until the end that what they paid for was to wait in line.

Problem is, there are so many people that were duped, and that are so invested at this point, that they can't allow it to die.
 
I do know one bonus of SC dollar amounts spent , already for myself.

I look up the cost and see ships that are basic concepts , years away , being sold for thousands of dollars , for a single ship , and feel much better for all the premium ships that I own in World of Warships , that together don't add up to that amount.
 
Just to be clear, they aren't going to post an actual schedule. What we will get is a bulleted list with no hard deadlines to make it look like they know what they are doing.
 
Ocellaris said:
Just to be clear, they aren't going to post an actual schedule. What we will get is a bulleted list with no hard deadlines to make it look like they know what they are doing.
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I stand corrected then, I thought all this was a good thing but I guess it kind of sounds like it's fishy.
 
This is why I can't have nice things at work. The business gives me a set of requirements and I build it. Then they change it. I rebuild it. Then they change it again. I rebuild it again. (ad nauseum) Then they come to the conclusion that the application developers can't hit a deadline. It doesn't help that the CIO doesn't back his team. At this point, hitting a deadline is far gone. Hitting something else comes to mind.

I'm pretty sure the same thing is occurring on Star Citizen. Somebody keeps changing the requirements.
 
As an original backer, I havent bothered to download a new release in over a year. Something might come out, but the delusions of my fellow citizens are hilarious.
 
Star Marine looks to play like a mediocre, early 2000s shooter. Halo 1 multiplayer appears to be a better experience.
 
This is just another indication that since their disastrous CitizenCon show, which even led to some of the die-hard fans questioning the lack of progress, they're hurting for cash, which is insane given how much they've already burned through. $130 million. Just think about that. And then download the "game" during one of their countless "free fly" fundraisers and ask yourself where it went.

Then go and buy Titanfall 2 or even Infinite Warfare if you want a sci-fi game that plays like a 2016 AAA release, rather than a broken early access Crysis mod built by a couple of teenagers in 2010.
 
Your Welcome, yes I was one of those who jumped on board as an early adoper and bought a $250 Constellation knowing full well that it would be years before a playable game would be available. I did so so that I could have a gold star beside my forum name and a special ingame tag. I did so because I "HOPE" that this may finaly be the space shooter I have always wanted and I HOPE that some day it pulls through. So I may have thrown $250 out the window or I may have helped support one of the best groundbreaking games we have had in a generation. Only time will tell. For me it's a long term investment that I may lose but hope grows.
 
I like how despite there being no known date or patch for an actual game or release, each patch has 4 ships they'll sell ya!

He will make nearly as much money off this as he does the book and movie deal in about 10 years "How to stretch goal yourself into prison"
 
amddragonpc said:
This is why I can't have nice things at work. The business gives me a set of requirements and I build it. Then they change it. I rebuild it. Then they change it again. I rebuild it again. (ad nauseum) Then they come to the conclusion that the application developers can't hit a deadline. It doesn't help that the CIO doesn't back his team. At this point, hitting a deadline is far gone. Hitting something else comes to mind.

I'm pretty sure the same thing is occurring on Star Citizen. Somebody keeps changing the requirements.
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And that somebody is Chris Roberts ;)
 
Litfod said:
This is just another indication that since their disastrous CitizenCon show, which even led to some of the die-hard fans questioning the lack of progress, they're hurting for cash, which is insane given how much they've already burned through. $130 million. Just think about that. And then download the "game" during one of their countless "free fly" fundraisers and ask yourself where it went.

Then go and buy Titanfall 2 or even Infinite Warfare if you want a sci-fi game that plays like a 2016 AAA release, rather than a broken early access Crysis mod built by a couple of teenagers in 2010.
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Neither of those games strike me as being remotely like Wing Commander, which is what people those who are interestedin SC want. It may be a scam (and they don't have my money), but I'd buy SC. I'm not very interested in a war game.
 
Stepping into my flame retardant suit ...

Most of the games that are being referenced have established game franchises that already have all the game mechanics worked out and the company infrastructures setup from previous titles.
Titanfall 2 is a very good game, while Infinite Warfare feels like a COD refresh title It takes time to establish a company, build the infrastructure and acquire the right talent.
Star Citizen is only in the start of it's fifth year of open development for a AAA title. Most AAA titles take from 5-6 years or more to develop in a closed environment.
While the game is an open development alpha and not feature complete, it is playable. I'm very realistic in that the current live build 2.5 is a very unstable build. Give it the time that a AAA title takes to mature.
It's the most ambitious game title to date with tech that needs to be built to achieve, not a title that a game publisher pushes out before it's ready like No Man's Sky.
 
lol why can't they just release a single portion of the game, like flying ships only, then add FPS, then add ...
 
ManofGod said:
Progress with nothing to show for it from a customer perspective. Oh well, call me when they have something I can actually buy.
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Still better than Derek Smart's abortion that has been in continual development for about 20 years now. DS made Millenium available for free then he added a patch to it and is now charging $10.99 for it. He also has a some new version that is the same game but claims to have a new graphics engine for $39.99. Only problem the new graphics engine has not been implemented and all you get is the same old Millenium with promises of new stuff later.

You can get Star Citizen now with basic gameplay for $40.00 so there is a product to sell, with more to come.
 
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nightrider said:
Stepping into my flame retardant suit ...

Most of the games that are being referenced have established game franchises that already have all the game mechanics worked out and the company infrastructures setup from previous titles.
Titanfall 2 is a very good game, while Infinite Warfare feels like a COD refresh title It takes time to establish a company, build the infrastructure and acquire the right talent.
Star Citizen is only in the start of it's fifth year of open development for a AAA title. Most AAA titles take from 5-6 years or more to develop in a closed environment.
While the game is an open development alpha and not feature complete, it is playable. I'm very realistic in that the current live build 2.5 is a very unstable build. Give it the time that a AAA title takes to mature.
It's the most ambitious game title to date with tech that needs to be built to achieve, not a title that a game publisher pushes out before it's ready like No Man's Sky.
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I'm sorry, but where do you get the 5-6 year number from? You couldn't get a game published if it took that long to develop and you'd run out of money long before you could even sell it to anyone. In the real world it takes anywhere from 24-36 months to develop a "AAA" title "from the ground up." There are developers who frequent this forum like razor1 who could lay it all out.
 
evilsofa said:
Oh, no no no, NMS was 1000x worse because they lied about what would be in the game. Star Citizen is a completely different case because they lied about what will be in the game. See the difference?
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There is a difference, for SC they promised less, and lied and are going for more... lol
 
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