Overview
If I was making Wing Commander today, Star Citizen is what I would do.
Chris Roberts
Star Citizen was announced by Chris Roberts at GDC on the 10th of October, 2012 after he previously spent an extended period working in the film industry. Players take on various roles and duties within a vast space-faring empire. Those roles could include becoming a freelance merchant, a pirate or signing up for military duty as part of Squadron 42 - the single-player story component of the project. Star Citizen is described as a first-person action game where player skill is the primary means of achieving outcomes.
The game is being developed by Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) and is using a heavily modified version of CryEngine 3 as part of an integration with Amazon's Lumberyard engine. CIG consists of four main studios located in Austin TX, Los Angeles CA, Manchester UK and Frankfurt, Germany.
Crowd Funding Initiative
Star Citizen / Squadron 42 was a successful Kickstarter campaign and now holds the Guinness World Record for being the highest crowd-funded project of any kind. It is currently being further funded directly from the Roberts Space Industries website via the sale of Ship/Game Packages. These pledge packages offer a selection of ships to fly, ranging from small trading vessels and fighter craft up to large multi-crew freighters and capital ships. These ships are not exclusive to the funding period and are being offered as an incentive for early backing and to support ongoing development costs. The minimum cost package offers the same access to the game as any other package.
Gameplay
The game is divided into two main components. Star Citizen is the online persistent universe and Squadron 42 is the single-player story component.
- Squadron 42 is more akin to the Wing Commander series of military campaigns. The player joins the navy and is recruited by the titular Squadron 42. It will have cinematic events and an engaging story as the main attraction with many high-profile actors including Mark Hamill and John Rhys-Davies.
- Star Citizen's open world promises a Freelancer/Privateer-like experience where players are free to choose their own path. Everything has to be earned via practical skills, and reputation will play a very important part in a large empire spanning dozens of star systems.
Any combination of controller input such as joystick, HOTAS, gamepad, etc are supported for character and ship control. The game will also support VR and head-tracking systems.
Online persistence
The universe, and all the characters and events within it will be managed by a central "Galaxy" server. Player statistics will be tracked and preserved throughout the game. A virtual economy system will play an important part of the universe, and will reward a multitude of achievements such as the discovery of rare uncharted jump points in space.
A dynamic 'server mesh' instancing system will allow for a large amount of players to interact in a single area. Unlike conventional forms of instancing, the game will dynamically adjust layers of multiple instances in a specific location according to player density. This will allow players to interact with friends without having to connect to specific instances.
Regional servers will be connected through the galaxy server. Later on, tools will be available to provide private servers akin to Freelancer's multiplayer servers. These private servers will not be linked to the public persistent universe.
First-Person Combat & Interaction
Throughout the entire game players are able to interact with the game world in first person as their player avatar aboard ships, orbiting stations, and in planet-side cities. Ship boarding, zero-G combat, first-person shooter (FPS) combat, trade, and other social interaction can all occur separate to the piloting of ships and vehicles.
Spaceships
Players can purchase a variety of ships and ship modifications as they progress in the game to develop their chosen career and play style. Control of ships is primarily from the cockpit, with a restricted 3rd person camera view. The cockpits feature detailed, customizable instrument panels and holographic HUDs, intended to reflect different ship manufacturer styles.
The larger capital ships allow players to operate specific tasks such as Co-Pilot, Radar Operations, Torpedo/Missile Reloading Stations, Science Station, Electronic Warfare Operator, Engineering Station, and a Power & Shield Station.
The game features a semi-realistic physics simulation that handles the operation of ship thrusters based on the player's input called Intelligent Flight Control System, or IFCS. Players can switch between IFCS functions on-the-fly depending on whether they wish to fly in a linear atmospheric style or a free-floating style. G-forces will affect the player's body and the IFCS will assist with managing this.
Ships feature accurate location damage modelling which allows for individual components to be damaged or disabled. Visual damage effects will appear on the hull based on the location of damage and also the longer the ships are used the greater wear and tear effects will appear on the hull.
A future set of modding tools will allow players to submit their own mods and ship designs for potential inclusion in the game universe by the developers.
Locations
Star Citizen features over 100 star systems to explore with each consisting of multiple planets and orbiting moons as well as asteroid belts and space stations. CIG in conjunction with web development company Turbulent have created an award-winning interactive star map for players to chart their journeys.
Development Progress
Hangar Module (Released August 29, 2013)
Intended both as an early reward for backers as well as a preliminary testbed for the game's systems, the Hangar Module let players preview a small selection of ships they purchased in their own personal hangar. There were three aesthetic 'tiers' of hangar based on the size of ship purchased; Discount for the Aurora and 300i, Business for the Hornet and Freelancer ships, and Deluxe for the Constellation.
Arena Commander (Released June 6, 2014)
Formerly known as the Dogfighting Module, Arena Commander is an in-fiction virtual simulator which allows players to fly and compete without the risk of loss in the persistent universe.
Arena Commander offers various gameplay modes such as Free Flight and Vanduul Swarm. Free Flight lets players fly their ships around maps with no combat, while Vanduul Swarm is a wave-based fight against enemy Vanduul pilots. More single and multiplayer modes have subsequently been added such as Murray Cup Racing, Pirate Swarm, and Battle Royale.
Social / Planetside Module (Released August 29, 2015)
This module allowed players to experience the walkable outdoor environments such as trade shops, bars / clubs and city streets. The original module featured ArcCorp Area 18 in the Stanton System.
Alpha v2.0 (Released October 29, 2015)
The culmination of all previous release modules. This is where the Star Citizen MMOG began to take shape. Players could jump between various locations seamlessly and perform basic missions.
Alpha v2.4 "Persistence" (Released June 10, 2016)
A significant step towards the Star Citizen MMOG vision when information that was previously stored client-side via XML files became synced with a server to achieve persistence in ship equipment/weapons, player character clothing, and FPS weapons.
Star Marine (Released December 23, 2016)
Much like Arena Commander, Star Marine functions as a simulator within the game to test equipment builds and play traditional competitive FPS matches without in-universe consequences. The module launched with a team-based conquest mode called Last Stand and a free-for-all deathmatch mode known as Elimination. Two maps were launched with this module; OP Station Demien and Echo 11.
Planetary Travel - Alpha v3.0 (Released December 23, 2017)
The first culmination of the procedural generation technology for the game, this patch opened up several large moons for players to interact with including the ability to seamlessly descend to the surface from space along with a swathe of new gameplay features such as item interaction, cargo purchasing, transporting, and selling.
Squadron 42 (TBA)
The first episode in the single player story campaign developed primarily by CIG's UK studio.
After the release of v3.0, CIG took on a development schedule with quarterly release targets. Further information on the development roadmap for Star Citizen and Squadron 42 can be found here.
Minimum System Requirements
- Windows 7 (64 bit) – Service Pack 1, Windows 8 (64 bit), Windows 10 Anniversary Update (64 bit)
- DirectX 11 graphics card with 2GB Video RAM (4 GB+ recommended)
- Quad core CPU
- 16GB Memory (additional RAM recommended)
- SSD install recommended
Game Peripherals
Cloud Imperium Games entered into a hardware partnership with Saitek to build a suite of Star Citizen themed controllers. These included 2 different styles of HOTAS joysticks - a high-end joystick with integrated touch screen, and a more basic model with a segmented keyboard for various configurations. After Saitek's parent company Mad Catz filed for bankruptcy, Saitek was purchased by Logitech and progress on the Star Citizen peripherals has stalled.
At Gamescom 2017, CIG announced a partnership with Faceware Technologies to provide facial tracking technology to allow players to self-animate their character's faces in real time. In conjunction with this feature they will release a Star Citizen themed camera for the game.
Since 3.12 alpha patch there is supported head & eye tracking with Tobii Eye Tracker 4 & 5 controllers.
Since version 3.15.1 alpha patch the first phase of the Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) deployment for there.
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