I've no skin in the game apart from I loved the original wing commander, but it is funny looking over old threads in /r/starcitizen actually, here's one I just found where the top comment was saying it'd be too long if there wasn't a beta in 2018 (there wasn't) and that some Squadron 76 missions should have been released by then (they haven't):
https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/4j211n/how_lon...
I ask because you sound exactly like one of the people complaining because they can't for some reason handle how the game is developed, that its not going according to your expectations. If you don't plan to play Star Citizen, then why do you care how Star Citizen players feel about the game? CIG has been very clear from the start that Star Citizen's development will be unlike any other game before it, and they have been especially clear and emphasized that "it will be done when it's done".
Look at the thread, people in there believed SQ42 was almost finished. That was 2 years ago! CIG were giving the impression that they'd almost done the single player campaign, now they're talking about 2020.
A possible scenario at this point is that they burn through all the cash and the game is put out either unfinished or never sees light of day.
Maybe a great game will come out of this, but it's perfectly reasonable to believe that's doubtful.
https://cloudimperiumgames.com/blog/corporate/cfo-comment-20...
Right now Star Citizen is barely a proof-of-concept tech demo, while Squadron 42 which was coming in 2014, is still almost 2 years away from BETA.
After blowing through $200 million of backer money, in May 2015 they sold 10% of the company to an off-shore investor for $46M to continue funding development. And Derek Smart was the first to leak that info as well, and almost a full week before CIG made it public that this was in the works since May 2018 (when Derek Smart first leaked that something was in the works).
Looking at the original kickstarter page https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cig/star-citizen there's pledges of a finished product in 2014, so it doesn't feel unreasonable for people to say that it's late.
In there they very clearly commit to delivering the game in specific timelines, nowhere that I can find does it say "it'll be done when it's done" or "this is an estimated time it could be much later"
Perhaps I'm missing where the page that backers used to decide whether to commit to the project says that their timelines are an estimate...
I've missed the point when fanbase became fiercely defensive of SC, but it's crazy how quickly reaction to any criticism of the game is to shut down that criticism. Saying that "Chris Robets said in advance that game will be developed differently" is not some sort of "get out of the jail card" for criticizing them for ballooning the game out of scope.
It's actually crazy how far some people are putting in "for defense of a dream". I once saw a comment under the article about SC which's author was berating the site for not knowing what they are writing about and telling them to shut it. Because comment was made using facebook comments, I've decided to follow the link to Facebook profile for my own curiosity.
His Facebook profile was literally those things:
- Intro was I am 64 years old retiree living somewhere. I am participating in creation of Star Citizen video game and love it!
- Wall was usual posts with photos of relatives, family meetings, travels and shares of StarCitizen news/commentaries
It's absolutely nuts!
I'm thrilled at this new way transparent way to see this game coming together, and it's a real look behind the cloak of game development. Imagine seeing GTAV or RDR2 development within a few months of development, it would probably be a shit show of bugs, ideas or features.
Another question, have we ever seen behind the cloak of a AAA game in super early development, and getting to watch all the pivots, bumps and warts so transparently? I can't think of a single instance.
Usually by the time the hype train starts on a game, the game's usually %75-%90 done.
What I do love, is that they're building a foundation of a game engine that they won't abandon next year for the annual or bi-yearly refresh. Imagine if there was only a single version of Battlefield/CoD that they continually added features to (like WoW). I would expect the level of code polish would be higher as the devs would be invested in creating good solutions verses throwing it away and starting over again.
I'm not sure why more games don't follow other Sass software models, or a WoW model, where the game lives on perpetuity, and the developers continue to enhance it over time as technology and resources change. As a developer, the choices you make about your code really impact when you know that you're going to have to deal with your choices years later, versus starting the project brand new again.
Same with whatever engine is used for CoD, although I’m not sure if each studio is using the same engine.
There has to be a reason why you guys always can't seem to help but drag him into all your discussions about Star Citizen. That's how ALL of you made him an integral part of the discussion. And that is how you all gave him the power to shape the narrative, while aiding in the complete destruction of the reputation of the project.
He says so himself:
http://www.dereksmart.org/2015/08/star-citizen-how-i-got-inv...