Slashdot Mirror
Star Citizen Takes the Crowdfunding Crown, Raising More Than $4M
Zocalo writes "Star Citizen, Chris Roberts' attempt to reboot the Space Sim genre, hit a major funding milestone earlier today, exceeding the previous record of $4,163,208 secured by the game Project Eternity and more than doubling the initial funding target set by the producer of the Wing Commander series. With Stretch Goals now being passed every few hours bringing new features to the planned game, and David Braben announcing a new installment of the classic Elite using a similar funding model at Kickstarter could this be a wake-up call for the big game publishers to take another look at the genre? There are still two days left for Star Citizen funding as well, so if you feel like taking part, you can chip in either at the main RSI site or on Kickstarter."
You sound more like Eve and X3 fan than Space Sim fan to me.
No it's not a wake up call. Only if one of these games is successful like the "500 million US Dollar on the first day" latest Call of Duty sequel http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57551285/call-of-duty-black-ops-2-earns-$500-million-in-24-hours/
If one of these games, or better several, are huge hits, then the publishers will howl. Not before.
Eve:
1) requires 15 a month (sucks).
2) requires you to engage in pvp or hit a harsh progression cap (drives away the pve market)
3) has a player base full of crooks!
X3:
1) not massive.
2) interface is egregiously klunky, complicated, and unintuitive.
So, yes, we need a reboot. However, space sims are really hard to do well. Space is pretty empty so there isn't nearly as much to do out there as there is to do on the surface of a planet. Especially when combat mechanics are concerned. Space combat usually falls into two categories, neither one of which is as fun and engaging as most ground combat systems. The two categories are:
1) arrow chasing. Most of the time you are flying, you are chasing the arrows on your HUD. Then, you have a split second when the enemy is in front of you, so you can shoot at them, and then you are right back to arrow chasing. You can't really appreciate the graphics if you are staring at that arrow most of the time, and it gets silly fast.
2) resource allocating. You let the AI do the fighting for you while you mostly just pick the targets and reallocate power. Fun from a tactical perspective, but not from an adrenaline perspective.
You can mix the two...usually that just makes it confusing. I am not saying it can't be done right, I am just saying the bar is really, really high. After watching bioware sink 100 million into a game that flopped largely because of unengaging combat and a boring endgame, I would be quite wary of investing in this.
But if he pulls it off, you will see me online. pew pew!
As someone who's been playing eve since 2006 and only quit a few months ago, I'm hopeful that SC can properly tackle some of the issues that have been slowly eating away at the... eveiverse? I don't know the "right" solutions to the problems, and absolutely love the sandbox, but there are serious issues, especially WRT new players and corps. As Douglas Adams put it, space is BIG, yet due to the mechanics of gates and the politics of nullsec and lolsec, it feels very cramped.
If SC (or even eve) could just fix that issue, somehow, I'd be back in a heartbeat. I know it's technically extremely difficult, but here's what I'm saying in simple terms: Direct flight from any star system to any other, without jump gates. No more gate camps. No more clusters of dozens of empty systems locked up behind some alliance "firewall." No more "front lines."
Just some thoughts from a retired eve player who really wants to like the game today as much as he did for so many years.
X - Wing
EVE is not really a space sim. To me, space sim means real time flying and dog fighting... specifically things like having to lead your target.
I've always found that the X series wasn't very accessible. The controls seem really complicated (instead of complex yet simple).
But the biggest thing I miss from the old space sim days is the story. In Wing Commander, X-Wing, TIE Fighter, etc. you really felt like you were a pilot who's accomplishments on missions really made a difference in the larger picture. Something sorely missing from either of the titles that you mentioned.
Yes. That's why I lived entirely in null and low since my first week.
Doubt there's anything SC or Roberts can do about the asshattery of the community, unfortunately.
Why there are so many 'crowdfunding' stories here on /. ;-)
Exactly why is it so interesting how a company raises money? It was interesting the first couple of times, but now? Meh... not so much.
By the way, its about time for a bitcoin / RaspberryPi story
rm -rf --no-preserve-root /
If I had my druthers, I'd go for LLL remake by Al Lowe...
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/leisuresuitlarry/make-leisure-suit-larry-come-again?ref=live
Wuddooeyeno? IITYWYBMAD? Like nuts? eclecticallyincorrect.com
http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/star-citizen/?rid=19681
"With Eve Online and X3 available, is there real need for rebooting the space sim genre? "
They both suck compared to freespace 1 + 2, xwing and the old wing commander series. Eve has no action oriented gameplay it's fully automated and slow as molasses. X3 is just too simmy and poorly made compared to freespace. Fans want something like this, see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhAR8rWPluQ
And that is what star citizen is fundamentally about, although there will be some other elements. Space combat is at the fore-front, not an after thought.
Star citizen has no procedural content generation. How are they going to fill a whole galaxy without that?
BYOPlanet.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Not for system generation, no. It's not been stated how they plan to implement things like planet textures, nebula structures, commodity prices and so on, so that may well turn out to be procedural in the final game. Atmospheres that can be flown through have not been ruled out of Star Citizen yet, but since refuelling stations seem to be tied to gas giants, it's a very real possibility that Star Citizen might have some analogue to Elite's fuel scoop. For star system generation though, I think it's more of a concious design decision rather than a requirement.
:)
David Braben has gone for a large, procedurally generated, universe that is likely to have thousands of star systems and tens of thousands of worlds and installations. Chris Roberts has gone for a smaller number (50-80, depending on final funding) of hand crafted star systems that might contain a total of several hundred worlds and installations with the intention to add more content (at no extra cost to the player, I might add) over the following months. Both approaches are equally valid in my book; it would be very hard for Elite's procedural approach to have the kind of in-jokes that Star Citizen's hand crafting approach makes trivial, such as having one of the bread basket systems called "Kellogg" (yes, really!), so think of it as a quality vs. quantity kind of thing. Regardless of how good (or bad) the two games turn out, I think the universe in Star Citizen will probably feel more immersive and authentic than the one in Elite: Dangerous, and that can only be a good thing for the game's longevity.
For those reasons I put funding into BOTH games.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!