Wing Commander Creator Unveils Star Citizen

[Scars Unseen]

What some of the people who are complaining about this being an MMO aren't thinking of is that the old apace combat/trading games all play out pretty much like sandbox MMOs already. And since there will be no RPG level structure in Star Citizen, the only grind will be for money to upgrade/replace your ship with. Hell, if the game ends up like this guy is pitching it, you could create your own private server and play in the entire game with just you(and a few friends if you want).

SWTOR was(in my opinion) a bad game because it was a Frankensteinian merge of WoW(an MMO) and KOTOR(a story-focused single player RPG). There was no way to create that with out compromising one or both sides of the equation. This game doesn't have to sacrifice a thing because it isn't trying to be WoW or any other MMO. It's just taking the idea of a space sim sandbox to a logical evolution. After watching the GDC video, I'm convinced that this is going to be a great game, and that's saying something because I typically loathe MMOs.

Just look at these features and tell me that this man isn't writing a love letter to the space sim genre:

[list style=bullet]
[li]HOTAS, rudder pedal and Oculus Rift support[/li]
[li]functional maneuvering thrusters that can be disabled in combat by enemy fire or intentionally to perform manual maneuvers(think Starbuck in the BSG mini-series)[/li]
[li]ships ranging from single man fighters to carriers that can carry other player ships and have multiple people manning the turrets and handling secondary systems in combat[/li]
[li]Wing Commander style mission trees that can be played online or offline[/li]
[li]Deep economy for Freelancer style space trading game[/li]
[li]Highly detailed ships(ranging from 300K to 2M polys) with all the appropriate parts moving as they should(gun turrets, maneuvering thrusters, missles bays, etc)[/li]
[li]detailed functional cockpits(the pilot activates panels and switches as you do things)[/li]
[li]modding and private servers[/li]
[li]frequent content microupdates planned that take into account player impact on game universe[/li]
[li]exploration element where players can discover new jump points(which you then gets named after you) and sell the nav data to other players[/li]
[/list]

And that's just what I remember from watching the video last night. Regardless, this is definitely a man who is courting the niche instead of buying into the "you must appeal to everyone!" mantra that publishers have been shoving around. Basically the complete opposite of Resident Evil 6 as portrayed in the latest Jimquisiton [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/6377-Resident-Evil-6-Is-the-Epitome-of-Survival-Horror].

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Instantly sold on this one. Let's just hope the combat doesn't devolve into space jousting.

 

[shrekfan246]

HNGH.

Offline single-player and a persistent, MMO-style online world? All without any sub-fee? Made by the Lead Designer/Producer/Director/Programmer behind Wing Commander? Fuck me, where's my money so I can throw it at my computer screen.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

My money! TAKE ALL MY MONEY!

Hopefully this starts a revival of the space sim genre, and we can get FREESPACE 3!

 

[Goro]

Love love love the genre, love the concept, badly want to play. But a ratty old pc means this game will probably end up costing me 3k after I upgrade and get peripherals. How can I justify that to the minister for finance?

 

[Nurb]

"Massively-Multiplayer persistant universe servers" SHIT, There goes long-term library title like my Wing commander and x-wing/tie-fighter games.

It's not free-to-play model is it? Oh god, I hope not.

Wait, what was the golden ticket and "special package" for people who signed up on the first site for if we can't log in?

 

[RoonMian]

My money! TAKE ALL MY MONEY!

Hopefully this starts a revival of the space sim genre, and we can get FREESPACE 3!

Considering that the creators of Freespace went on to make Saints Row I'm sure that would have potential for some funny starship design. Like gigantic flying purple dildos in space...

"Massively-Multiplayer persistant universe servers" SHIT, There goes long-term library title like my Wing commander and x-wing/tie-fighter games.

It's not free-to-play model is it? Oh god, I hope not.

Wait, what was the golden ticket and "special package" for people who signed up on the first site for if we can't log in?

The words "free-to-play" we're not mentioned anywhere and since the crowdfunding happening right now is basically a very early pre-order system with access to alpha and beta versions of the game (similar to what Minecraft did) etc. I'm pretty sure you'll just have to buy a physical copy of the game when it comes out. Pretty much like Guild Wars plus modding and offline mode I guess. Or just like Freelancer did it ten years ago.

The Golden Ticket is just for show. You'll get the title "Founder" and gold decals for your ship in the finished game.

 

[Scars Unseen]

My money! TAKE ALL MY MONEY!

Hopefully this starts a revival of the space sim genre, and we can get FREESPACE 3!

Considering that the creators of Freespace went on to make Saints Row I'm sure that would have potential for some funny starship design. Like gigantic flying purple dildos in space...

"Massively-Multiplayer persistant universe servers" SHIT, There goes long-term library title like my Wing commander and x-wing/tie-fighter games.

It's not free-to-play model is it? Oh god, I hope not.

Wait, what was the golden ticket and "special package" for people who signed up on the first site for if we can't log in?

The words "free-to-play" we're not mentioned anywhere and since the crowdfunding happening right now is basically a very early pre-order system with access to alpha and beta versions of the game (similar to what Minecraft did) etc. I'm pretty sure you'll just have to buy a physical copy of the game when it comes out. Pretty much like Guild Wars plus modding and offline mode I guess. Or just like Freelancer did it ten years ago.

The Golden Ticket is just for show. You'll get the title "Founder" and gold decals for your ship in the finished game.

I'm fairly certain that the citizen's cards are also an in game status that you can otherwise gain through military gameplay. Sort of a Starship Troopers "Service Guarantees Citizenship" thing. So there's that.

 

[Nurb]

The words "free-to-play" we're not mentioned anywhere and since the crowdfunding happening right now is basically a very early pre-order system with access to alpha and beta versions of the game (similar to what Minecraft did) etc. I'm pretty sure you'll just have to buy a physical copy of the game when it comes out. Pretty much like Guild Wars plus modding and offline mode I guess. Or just like Freelancer did it ten years ago.

The Golden Ticket is just for show. You'll get the title "Founder" and gold decals for your ship in the finished game.

True, I'd love the guildwars model, but I'm just paranoid since Mechwarrior Online and Hawken are F2P and they're just too "grindy"

There are no login screens on the site now though, so I don't know how they'll give out the decals, unless they retain the info

 

[RoonMian]

I'm fairly certain that the citizen's cards are also an in game status that you can otherwise gain through military gameplay. Sort of a Starship Troopers "Service Guarantees Citizenship" thing. So there's that.

Yeah, but the golden ticket benefits are purely cosmetic as the golden ticket itself was free. The citizenship cards have some kind of actual effect I'd guess.

True, I'd love the guildwars model, but I'm just paranoid since Mechwarrior Online and Hawken are F2P and they're just too "grindy"

There are no login screens on the site now though, so I don't know how they'll give out the decals, unless they retain the info

For the golden tickets and the gold decals etc. you're too late anyway. You would have had to sign up yesterday for those. I'm not sure how they are going to do it but I used the same eMail adress for signing up for the golden ticket and for pledging the money so here's hoping that will work out somehow

 

[Razorback0z]

I cant believe this.. You mean all those articles about PC gaming being dead on this and other sites were wrong ?? /sarcasm off

PC gaming is in its infancy folks. Never stop believing!

 

[Ticonderoga117]

Oh hell yeah! Color me interested!

 

[Scars Unseen]

Alot of assumptions here, but if you get the chance to watch the watch the presentation it will give you a better understanding of what he's trying to do. The single player aspect is akin to the wing commander experience with branching missions. I dont doubt that individual tours will not be as extensive or lengthy as playing WC's full campaign but he stated that there will be regular expansions to it as the universe develops. My guess is that single player missions will be like bookmarks to various in game events such as when a certain area is uncovered there might be a single player campaign to pacify it. I wonder how extensive the voice acting will be in it though.

The website (currently overwhelmed) or the presentation ( http://www.gamespot.com/shows/gamespot-live/?event=roberts_space_industries_gdc_panel20121010 ) explain the Single Player and Multiplayer in greater detail, looks promising.

Yeaaaah . . . now I watched the presentation.
Obviously the ships look gorgeous, and the game sounds pretty cool, but from a single player perspective I don't think there'll be any real incentive for me to play it.

The 42nd Squadron thing for example, sounds basically like an intro SP quest.
And while there will be more SP stuff added, I think it's a safe bet that some multiplayer investment will be required to play those games. Multiplayer may even need to be required for the SP if he's comparing it to Dark Souls multiplayer component.

From a purely single player perspective, I just don't see how the game will be worth my time.

I barely have time to play games, I don't really want to go and grind levels for new equipment for my ship or whatever. I don't want to haul tin cans from A to B so I can afford a mark 2 laser or whatnot. I personally, just to want to play through an experience, enjoy it, and be done with it.

So the game sounds great, for the people who are into this sort of game, but, I very much doubt I'll be one of those people.

I'm not sure how what you are saying is a "safe bet" when he said the exact opposite in the presentation. Here are the facts that he said about the Squadron 42 experience:

[list type=bullet]
[li]Squadron 42 is the single player military "Wing Commander" experience[/li]
[li]You can play it offline[/li]
[li]You can bring in friends for "boss fights" (with mention made of Demon Souls for inspiration)[/li]
[li]When new Squadron 42 content is released, you can play it by "reenlisting"[/li]
[li]You can earn credits and citizenship, which can be used in the persistent poertion of the game[/li]
[li]Absolutely zero mention is made of the multiplayer content affecting the singleplayer content[/li]
[/list]

I could understand your concern if it had some basis, but as far as I can tell, it doesn't. Hell, I can tell you didn't even really pay attention to the presentation since you went on to talk about grinding levels when he explicitly said that there were no levels to grind when someone asked him about a comparison to SWTOR. As for your other complaint... I'm not sure how much more emphasis is needed here. How can multiplayer be required to complete a mission mode that can be played offline?

I mean do what you want, but I just don't see where you are pulling these complaints from, especially after you said you watched the presentation video.

 

[Product Placement]

This really sounds crazy ambitious. A little too ambitious but then again, it is the guy that gave me the Wing Commander series, which was one of my favorite game series, growing up. I'll be keeping my eye out for that one. I'm gonna hope he can deliver.

But for those that like to take a diss at EVE, remember that it's a 10 year old game that's run by an independent corporation that have more or less always focused on respecting their players. Their original dream was to create a tactical space simulator that snowballed from there; first person perspective was never how they originally visioned their game.

Yes, this game promises to have allot of very cool features that would make it far more exciting to play than EVE, PROVIDED that it can deliver on those promises, but you have to be blind to not see that Chris Roberts isn't borrowing allot of concept from what made EVE successful.

I mean, come on! A player driven universe with an open, manipulatable market? High security space where the law is the law vs low security space where you'll have better business opportunities but have to watch out for players that have decided to become pirates? You can become a trader, a miner or an industrial magnate? This is how Chris describes his game on his main site. It's like reading through a bullet points for why EVE is the game for you.

No, Star Citizen is a game that promises to be allot more than EVE is but don't be disrespectful towards games that are clearly inspired by it.

EVE Online is World of Warcraft in space. Space populated by thousands of Randian assholes.

Oh sure and I'm certain you won't have to deal with anyone that you wouldn't like in this game. I mean, a game that offers the very same amount of player freedom that EVE promises? Yeah, I'm sure no assholes will ever think about trying to screw you over.

 

[Scars Unseen]

This really sounds crazy ambitious. A little too ambitious but then again, it is the guy that gave me the Wing Commander series, which was one of my favorite game series, growing up. I'll be keeping my eye out for that one. I'm gonna hope he can deliver.

But for those that like to take a diss at EVE, remember that it's a 10 year old game that's run by an independent corporation that have more or less always focused on respecting their players. Their original dream was to create a tactical space simulator that snowballed from there; first person perspective was never how they originally visioned their game.

Yes, this game promises to have allot of very cool features that would make it far more exciting to play than EVE, PROVIDED that it can deliver on those promises, but you have to be blind to not see that Chris Roberts isn't borrowing allot of concept from what made EVE successful.

I mean, come on! A player driven universe with an open, manipulatable market? High security space where the law is the law vs low security space where you'll have better business opportunities but have to watch out for players that have decided to become pirates? You can become a trader, a miner or an industrial magnate? This is how Chris describes his game on his main site. It's like reading through a bullet points for why EVE is the game for you.

No, Star Citizen is a game that promises to be allot more than EVE is but don't be disrespectful towards games that are clearly inspired by it.

EVE Online is World of Warcraft in space. Space populated by thousands of Randian assholes.

Oh sure and I'm certain you won't have to deal with anyone that you wouldn't like in this game. I mean, a game that offers the very same amount of player freedom that EVE promises? Yeah, I'm sure no assholes will ever think about trying to screw you over.

Actually this game is borrowing quite heavily from Privateer and Freelancer, both games that Chris Roberts made before EVE existed. The reason they sound similar is that all of those games are basically descended from Elite. If you read up on what the original intention for Freelancer was, it ends up sounding almost exactly like Star Citizen.

Still not going to say anything against EVE though. I'd just prefer a persistent space sim to a massive tactical 4X game.

 

[Tar Palantir]

"Massively-Multiplayer persistant universe servers" SHIT, There goes long-term library title like my Wing commander and x-wing/tie-fighter games.

It's not free-to-play model is it? Oh god, I hope not.

Wait, what was the golden ticket and "special package" for people who signed up on the first site for if we can't log in?

From the site's FAQ:

What's Your Online Revenue Model?

Not a subscription but not free-to-play; rather a hybrid of these two business models. Much like ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2, you will purchase the PC game and pay no recurring subscription charges. Your purchase of the game will allow you to play in the universe for free, forever! The game will offer a variety of virtual items for purchase with in-game credits allowing you to spend money on items that offer more ways to express yourself, provide convenience, and customize your experience. But the cardinal rule regarding "in-game purchases" is: Players who spend money purchasing in-game credits will have no advantage over players who spend time!
Everything is bought with in-game credits. These purchases won't offer any advantage over someone who puts in the "game-time" to earn the same amount of credits. You might ask, why have "in-game" purchases at all? This allows us the resources to support the game on an ongoing basis as well as continually add content.

 

[Kahani]

So do you want my money, or shall I just post you my credit card?

This game doesn't have to sacrifice a thing because it isn't trying to be WoW or any other MMO. It's just taking the idea of a space sim sandbox to a logical evolution.

Indeed. Just look at Freelancer. One of the last great space sims, and it did exactly this with multiplayer servers hosting persistent worlds. Obviously not on the same scale given the limits of private servers and the game itself, but exactly the same in principle. I really don't see why anyone would complain about it. The one thing space sims have always tried to do is give the feel of an actual living world where you're just one among many pilots all doing the same sort of thing to try to get ahead. The obvious answer is to stop just trying to give the impression of that and actually do it.

The only real problem I see is PvP. I love Eve, but there's no doubt that kind of unfettered PvP is not for everyone. It will be interesting to see how they plan on limiting that end of things while not making it feel too forced when you're allowed to shoot some things and not others.

 

[draythefingerless]

OHSMHOAUSDHGAG SOMEBODY GET ME A MOTHERFUCKING TABLE TO FLIP! this is awesome. i hope they manage to pull it off.

 

[Frostbyte666]

I was interested until I got to the words "massively multiplayer".

Then I quit reading

Pretty much what I thought. There is a mention of single player missions that will be "integrated into the online game upon completion", but that doesn't sound all that promising. Depends how it's handled I suppose.

Colour me interested - but not optimistic.

Agreed plus with the words massively multiplayer that means that is the focus. So the interest died before it could be born. Now I'll go back to playing X3 for my space sim fix.

 

[penguindude42]

Yes. All my money. All of it.