Dogfighting module delayed

Overnight Chris Roberts posted a comm-link updating everyone on the status of the DogFighting Module (originally scheduled to be out this month).  I’ll break the bad news up front.  DFM delayed, for a few months.

Good news is, this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s been following the hints that CR has given in the last two “10 for the Chairman” segments.  Or, to anyone who participated in the “now or later” poll they ran awhile back.

The DogFighting Module is being delayed, so that it can ship with the initial version of the backend it will use at launch…and so it’s more bug free.

Here’s a brief excerpt of CR’s letter, this bit hits the highlights of why they are delaying:

I feel that the Dogfighting module, especially with Star Citizen’s greatly increased profile, needs to be more polished than a typical “alpha”. There are a lot of eyes on the game, and more than a few people wanting us to fail. Because Dogfighting is the first module that will involve significant gameplay, it has to be good – I don’t feel that we will get a pass just because it is pre-pre alpha.

So we had two choices: either fork development and spend time building something that would involve throwing away work in order to meet the December deadline and deliver something that wouldn’t have the level of polish I’m happy with, or stay on course to build something that would lead directly into the finished game.

A modular release schedule, which we delivered the first of with the Hangar, was not something we promised in the original funding campaign. Delivering the game in a modular fashion was an idea we hit on after the initial crowd funding campaign when we realized just how impassioned and engaged this community was. It would help the project and involve the community: you would be able to follow our work and help us improve Star Citizen to a level never before experienced in game development. If releasing dogfighting were to mean throwing away months of work and give an experience that doesn’t advance the final vision of Star Citizen, for the sake of meeting a deadline, we would be poor stewards of the funding which has been entrusted to us by the community.

But, always one to try and keep us rabble rousers happy.. CR is going to host another livestream on Friday morning, showcasing some of the current DFM build’s functionality:

So please join me at 9 AM PST on Friday, December 20th for a special Christmas two hour livestream that will have updates on Squadron 42, The Hangar and Dogfighting!

So, tell your Boss you’re going to be a little late to work, and tune into the stream.. let’s see what goodies they have to show us!