State of the Empire, #5

Welcome to the last State of the Empire for 2013, at least, barring any major surprise announcements from CIG during Christmas week.  I’ll be taking the week off to spend playing video games… I mean, with my family doing family things.

Plenty of news coming out from CIG this week, culminating in the 1 year anniversary of Wingman’s Hangar, and of course, the live stream on Friday.

Monday started it out with the official announcement that the Dog Fighting Module will not be released this month, instead it will be held back “for a couple months” to allow them to get further along on polish, and the MMO back end.  It seems a bit odd to be worrying about ‘polish’ on a pre-alpha module for a game.. apparently, Chris Roberts does too, as he addressed that in his announcement:

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.

While I understand that there are people who want SC to fail (or, think it’s over hyped due to being totally crowd funding, and at super insane levels of that)…I’m not sure I agree with delaying it just to “impress” them.  I get the delay to use the MMO backend code they’re working on, that makes sense rather than having to release it once with the CryEngine net code, and then implement the MMO code.. I think even acknowledging that part of the delay is polish related, is giving the ‘haters’ ammo to work with, he should have just left it at ‘working on the backend’.

Wednesday brought us a special episode of “10 for the Chairman”:

Here’s the Q&As from this episode, all of which are DFM related:

Q:  DFM serve as good benchmark for PC Hardware

A:  Yes, current game less optimized than final, if you can run DFM/Hangar really well with big ships, should be able to run the final game very well.

Q:  Will friends be able to join us on bigger ships?

A:  When those ships are added to DFM, should be able to.

Q:  When will server/backbone code be implemented? Chat channel between Hangar/DFM?

A:  One of the reasons for delay on DFM was to include the MMO Backend

Q:  How much space will there be in the DFM?  Only empty space, or varying ‘backgrounds’ (planets, asteroids, etc..)

A:  DFM base is 20 kilometers cubed.  Full of cool stuff (asteroids, nebula, etc)

Q:  More settings to tweak in DFM, so people can play at 30 FPS without top end

A:  Probably won’t have a lot more options initially.

Q:  Basic tutorial as part of DFM?

A:  Maybe, hasn’t been designed yet.

Q:  Will there be greater access to weapons in the DFM?  Different missiles, more guns, and power plants? Cargo box for Aurora?

A:  Yes, various iterations of DFM will have additional items for testing/balancing.  Aurora should already have it’s cargo box, might be a bug.

Q:  How will ships be balanced around class/size for DFM?

A:  Various categories for Matchmaking

Q:  DFM released with finalized flight module?

A:  Flight module isn’t finalized yet

Q:  Since the DFM is a testing module, what will you have built into the module to retrieve data?  File logging? Automated system gather stats/info that is sent directly to CIG?

A:  Servers will be the source of most of the metrics, all battle data is stored on them.

CIG Manchester will have about 30 Employees come Jan 2nd.  They seem to be settling into their new office space pretty nicely.  After the update, there was some Q&A with the Manchester team (so, focused on Squadron 42).  The audio from Manchester wasn’t very clear during all of the Q&A, so I may have mis-heard some of these.

• Q:  Will SQ42 allow you to interact/join NPC organizations, and does it carry over to the Persistent Universe.
• A:  There will be some interaction with a number of the different organizations.

• Q:  Anymore information on the co-op functionality of SQ42 yet?
• A:  Support from other ships, definitely got good plans for that, still need to work out details.

• Q:  Able to pilot a variety of ships (including bigger ones like Retaliator)?
• A:  Yeah

• Q:  How many people can drop in for Co-op?
• A:  Using same codebase as MMO, in plans to get as many in as they can

• Q:  Complete SQ42 before PU starts.
• A:  Absolutely.

• Q:  Pop up achievements, or more immersive like medals?
• A:  Plan to have campaign medals

• Q:  Uniforms in SQ42 able to show medals, rank insignia, etc..
• A:  Yes

• Q:  Gameplay gets stale after a few missions in some games, how are you going to keep it fresh?
• A:  Lot of it is story, so can’t give too many details.

• Q:  How are we going to treat that everyone’s SQ42 experience the same (in the PU)?
• A:  Way of ending the Single Player so even though you may have been important, and did an incredible job.. but they’ll address it.  CR compared it to the narrator in 300 who is there, played a part..but isn’t King L.

• Q:  Once SQ42 is completed/released.. will storyline change based on PU’s events.
• A:  SQ42 is going to be a prequel.  PU events may impact “expansions”

• Q:  SQ42 resemble linear structure like Wing Commander, or more open world with campaign?
• A:  Need to compromise..linear at times, up to the player at others.

Foundry 42 is also having a contest to celebrate the opening of their new studio.  Here’s the link to the announcement post, that contains a full list of the prizes, and also, the poll you need to answer to enter.  This is one of those contests with no bad prizes!

(Hint:  David Warner is the actor who said the line).  How weird would it be to win Star Wars ships from a contest for a completely unrelated IP?  Get your answer in ASAP, since they never say when the cutoff is.  I’d assume it’s after the 1st of the year though.

That ends the UK team’s portion of the stream, and jumps us into the 50th episode of Wingman’s Hangar!

A lot of this week’s WH is a montage of the last 49 episodes, a look back at some of the gifts the team has received over the year, etc.. etc..

Stuff tied to things besides the last year of WH shows..

• CIG Austin packing up to move to new office location.
• Hangar Patch 10 released:
  • New Avenger included (updated model (single seat) but not PBR).
  • Cutlass Included.
  • Firing Range included (Limited weapons initially).
  • Space Crab for the fish tank
• Forum Feedback
  • Cutlass package (single ship) available soon?
    • Yes, in store now
  • Control presets (energy settings) for ships?
    • Yes, talked about lots of different presets you’ll be able to set.
  • Need proper shooting range for FPS combat “training”
    • Add it to the ‘what do you want to see in the hangar’ thread, need to wait for more FPS stuff to be finished.
  • Can you cross into alien space to track a target (like for a bounty hunter)?
    • “Can vs Should” – Yes you can…different races might react differently.
  • Guns we own, or all guns on Firing Range?
    • For now, the goal is limited set (most ready)..that group is further limited to what you own.
  • Help for modders to get animations working in CryEngine SDK (for movie making, etc.)?
    • At some point, it’ll be a higher priority.. too many higher priority issues right now.  Will help out when they can though.
  • Is there an Executive Hangar?
    • Technical Difficulties impacted the answer

After WH, the Austin team held their Q&A portion of the livestream:

• Q:  How’s the PBR update coming?
• A:  Gonna be a big update, need some support from CryTek, which is currently being tested.

• Q:  When will people be able to visit friends’ hangars?
• A:  In progress, coming up soon… no set release date.

• Q:  Buggy Stunt Rings??
• A:  Lighting issues with fire on rings, possibly optimization needed (or, additional room added once that support is there)

• Q:  Is Holotable finished, or still in progress?
• A:  No way finished product, keep providing feedback.

• Q:  More info on the really big ships, and the Hangar?
• A:  Probably won’t be able to land the biggest ships at the hangar.. possibly stay in orbit, or at larger landing pad.

• Q:  Asteroid hangar progress?
• A:  It’ll be the first hangar using the new room system.

• Q:  Will future iterations of the module have more graphics settings to adjust?
• A:  Yes, needs the UI/Optimization stuff.

• Q:  How’s the Cutlass coming?
• A:  In today’s patch… go update!

• Q:  What’s the next big project?
• A:  Room system, and PBR.

• Q:  New motions/animations for ladder climbing?
• A:  Yes, all character movement will be tweaked/polished.

• Q:  Set number of hangars per planet?
• A:  Combination of instanced hangars (unlimited), special more limited ‘bigger’ hangars.

• Q:  PBR going to be ship by ship, or all at once?
• A:  Full pass on all hangars, ships, everything.. all hands on deck once it’s time.

• Q:  What do you need to do to assets after receiving from outsourcer?
• A:  Make sure they’re following specs, nothing breaks on import.

• Q:  Plans to rebind controls?
• A:  Yes, part of the UI that still needs to be added.

• Q:  Now that client side persistence is added, anyway to return things to default location if stuck?
• A:  Yes, will be UI in place for hangar customization.

Chris ran a video showing some of the work going into the DFM module, including some of the ‘damage state’ artwork:

Post video, we get what everyone has been waiting for.. a look at the Dog Fighting Module itself!  (about 1:24:00 into the live stream).

Here’s a couple screenshots I grabbed of this part of the stream.  The first one shows off some of the existing UI, the second shows a nice explosion!

The explosion screenshot, also gives us a look at what the 3rd Person view/chase camera will look like during the DFM.

At about the 1:30:00 mark, we see two pilots run into each other…and blow each other up via the collision.

Chris plus the new Drake Interstellar Hoodies that just hit the store (they do look nice).  For the Q&A related to the DFM, whoever was reading the questions, wasn’t near a mic, so the question wording is based off the answer provided.

• Q:  What was the load out?
• A:  2 Laser repeaters, 2 Laser cannons, 2 gatlings, and 2 (something I couldn’t make out)?

• Q:  Ships in DFM?
• A:  Will depend on when it gets released.

• Q:  People seem like they were dying too quick
• A:  Lot of balance, some of it shortened to make for a good demo.  Lots of systems not implemented yet (like physics)

• Q:  What peripherals will be supported?
• A:  Gamepads, keyboards, joystick, HOTAS, will get Oculus Rift added when working right.

• Q:  Will 3rd Person get nerved?
• A:  Won’t have HUD in 3rd Person, so it’s already pretty nerfed.

• Q:  What will be destructible in DFM?  Environment/Ship?
• A:  Answer was showing some of the damage effects (similar to the video shown earlier)

• Q:  Why gatling gun turret gone from Hornet?
• A:  Never supposed to be there.

• Q:  How is hit detection/hit boxes implemented?
• A:  As shown in video, everything is rendered, has physical location.. if it gets hit, it gets hit.

Quick look at shields, as done in their test sandbox:

Lots of visual feedback/clues to how you’re doing in the fight.

• Q:  Damage when collide, will there be moving objects?
• A:  Yes, and, yes.

Have system for the pilot, will be fully animated for g-force, and hit modeling.  Procedurally animated, not showing today since it’s not done.

• Q:  System requirements?  What’s today’s demo running on?
• A:  High end, modern gaming PCs… 680s/780s.  Not a lot of optimization done.  Shooting for what the standard system will be in 2015, not today.

• Q:  Ship customization (paint, decals, etc).
• A:  Will support something like that..doing R&D, CryEngine doesn’t support what they want to do.

• Q:  What if your ship isn’t in initial DFM release?
• A:  If you don’t have a ship that’s in the DFM, you’ll get to use one (probably Hornet).

• Q:  Accuracy of g-force modeling?
• A:  Modeling and simulating to be realistic, human body can take more gs in some directions.  Visual feedback.  Some changes will need to be made for gameplay/fun reasons.

• Q:  Missiles/signature system, when can we see?
• A:  Not in today’s DFM, having multi-player network synch issues..but work in single player.

• Q:  DFM persist post release, as a simulation mode?
• A:  It will evolve into the Arena mode.

• Q:  Test UEC, or a way to earn it?
• A:  Haven’t decided between test UEC, or test weapons

• Q:  Non combat ships in the DFM?
• A:  Everything will get in there eventually.

The link to the full stream archive is here.

As if the livestream alone wasn’t enough for the week… While Peyton Manning was busy setting the record for 51 TD Passes in a season… Star Citizen crossed over another funding milestone by hitting the $35Million mark!

Chris used the $35 million announcement to thank the Community for supporting the decision to delay the DFM, as well as talk some more about his motivation for delaying:

In my heart I didn’t want to rush out something that would be a stop gap. Testing the head to head aspect is the one I’m most focused on. I’ve made a lot of single player games – I know that we can knock that out of the park but I really want to make sure that the multiplayer combat is fun, compelling and that we solve the various challenges in having the controls and flight model work smoothly online. That was what the Dogfight Module was always intended to be at its core and so at the end of the day I felt I would be letting myself down, as well as everyone in the community if I didn’t deliver a module that lived up to the goals I wanted to achieve. Even though I want the community’s feedback that’s only useful when I’m mostly happy with how something plays and looks and I’m not there yet on the multiplayer dogfighting.

The $35 Million unlock, is the last of the fan voted ship roles.  The Drake Herald (the information runner ship):

• Drake Herald – Knowledge is power, and one of the most valuable commodities is pure information: the 1s and 0s behind everything from UEC ledgers to Citizenship ratings. Whether it’s colonists struggling to stay in contact with the UEE’s central worlds or criminals trading in illicit data, there will always be a need to securely move data. The Drake Herald, small, armored ship, is designed to fit that need and safely get that information from Point A to Point B. Featuring a powerful central engine (for high speed transit and generating the power needed for effective data encryption/containment), advanced encryption software and an armored computer core, the Herald is unique among personal spacecraft in that it is designed to be easily ‘cleaned’ when in danger of capture. The Herald includes an array of heavy duty internal options for data protection, including redundant power subsystems and EMPshielding, and a high-powered broadcast array for data transmission.

The $37 Million goal, is the next community voted system type….and the winner is…the Stellar Graveyard:

• Tanga System – At the heart of an unusual rectangular planetary nebula (see reference), lies Tanga System. The inner planets engulfed the star entered the red giant phase. The expanded habitable zone unfroze a small world on the former outer ring and for several hundred million years made it habitable. Life began to emerge and was just reaching a primitive state when the star collapsed into a white dwarf, throwing the planet back into a deep freeze, then blasting the atmosphere away with the resulting planetary nebula. That’s how the system was found: Only two worlds (speculation that there could have been three to four more) but both are dead planets with no atmosphere.

Voting is now open for the $38 Million goal.. which will be another system type:

That’s it for the week… Have a Happy Holidays!