Star Citizen hangar UPDATE2(Dogfight module Screen shots)

It lacked that RPG element

Well since the Wing Commander franchise now belongs to EA, we won't be seeing any cats in THIS game... But we may still see Mark Hamill doing some voice-overs or taking on a new role, who knows...

So a 2016 release is wishful thinking at this point?

@ShepardCommandr: Should be out in 2015 no problem. The past year they've spent working on background stuff. They had to tailor the engine for their needs and they rewrote the entire networking portion as CryEngine 3 doesn't have an MMO architecture in place. They also spent a good part of the year in pre-development phase where they started to design the game. Chris had a lot of ideas but they needed a long phase of pre-development to actually put all of the pieces together.

Ontop of all of this they needed a lot of concept artwork done so the artists had a direction of where to go. They set up their own motion capture studio. Hired over 150 people while setting up 3 different studios and setting up outsourcing contacts.

Only now is it all starting to come together. Now they have a good 5-6 studios working on various parts of the game. One working on the single player, another working on the ships, another working on the stations/hangers, another working on just the economy, and a bunch of freelancers providing all of the bits and pieces in between. Development is now ramping up and content should be flowing no problem.

When the dogfight module is released they will start with real playtesting and large scale bugfixing/network stabilization.

@milannoir:

didnt chris say most of the cast of wing commander will return

Those screens look great

@Wasdie: Hopefully it comes out in 2015 (I would cry), but if I was a betting man it would probably get released mid-late 2016.

@Ballroompirate: Why are you betting on such a late launch? They've got over 200 people working on it.

They still need to do a beta for their large scale battles, which will probably take a good 6-10 months. Then there's still content they haven't put in or even shown us. So to break it down I imagine they have another 12-16 months of dev time and another 6 or so of beta testing/de bugging. Plus they don't have a time limit so they can and probably will take their time with the game.

where are you getting these time frames from? 6-10 months to beta test battles? wtf?

That's usually the time frame for betas...if they actually do a beta at all.

after seeing the pax demo I expected big delay to 2016... here are the reasons

1. they haven't even finished the hornet, no I'm not talking about the 3d models, it's the system, there are still much works on this area because CIG 'promised' that ships will have pretty complex systems like in modern flight sims like the ability to do startup sequence, I wouldn't be surprised if none has been implemented in the hornet, and that is just a single ship variant, heck we still haven't seen any energy distribution capability in the hornet! these things can take long time to code even if they are no where near DCS complexity.

2. most of the 'promised' gameplay and variants in the arena commander are probably are no where close to implementation, and they contain complex programming, the network code is another big concern and something that need huge amount of trials and errors testings.

3. squadron 42 alpha has been delayed to 2015.

4. if anyone follow CIG and RSI forum closely, watching these weekly videos... you can see that there is AN AWFUL FUCKING HELL LOTS OFF gameplay features that are being 'promised', and frankly as a backer, I estimate that the arena commander is like just 1-2% of the entire game features SC supposed to have.

right now we can expect a 2016 release, or even further, the good news is that unlike your normal AAA games, we can start enjoying the game piece by piece this year for sure instead of drooling over fake trailers and gameplay demos that sometimes are no where near the final products... the arena commander alone will be definitely a much bigger 'game' than MGS Ground Zero lol.

i NEED this game /drools

The upcoming dogfighting module is the alpha/beta test. That's ongoing throughout the development. This isn't a traditional game. The backers are the one doing the majority of the play testing so they can get the game that they want. As soon as the dogfighting module is released widescale playtesting begins. They'll slowly release content over the course of the year with 3 major versions of the dogfighting module planned. Once those are done we'll get the first persistent world star systems to test and then throughout 2015 they'll continue to add more and more systems to the game, each being tested as we go. By late 2015 the entire game will be released.

Early 2015 the first episode of the single player will be released. Over the course of 2015 the episodes of the single player will be released leading up to the final epsiode allowing players to explore the entire universe, that's when the game is officially launched.

Testing and playing the game begins in a few weeks and doesn't end. The launch of the game will be irrelevant for most backer as they'll have been playing unfinished versions of the game for a good year before they'll go retail with the full game.

Basically the Arena Commander mode is the first "launch" of the game. Once that's out content will continue to flow into the game. There is no large downtime. There is no turning off the servers, internally testing for a few months, then launching the game. It's a very gradual process with players having a lot of influence from day one.

While I still think a 2015 release isn't a big issue, I agree with your 4th point. They are promising SOOOOOOO much. The ability to control economics and create trade empires, exploration of vast, open worlds and systems, a third person shooter element that will play a big role in the game, a massive persistent universe. The dog fighting and hangers are just the surface of Chris Robert's vision. Unless they dumb some things down, this game seems too good to be true. That said, if all their promises are fulfilled to their full extent, I would cry tears of joy.

1. The hornet was never the first ship. The first ship they "finished" was the Aurora. That's the first ship we get to pilot in Arena Commander. The 300i and Hornet follow.

2. That's why we're starting testing soonish and they have 3 large released of the DFM. That's a major change from the original plan which was going to be a very stripped down, peer to peer or basic dedicated hosting structure dogfighting module that was basically its own branch of development. They decided to delay Arena Commander so they didn't have to branch it and they could implement their backend network.

3. Squaron 42 doesn't really have an alpha. It's being released in chunks throughout 2015. We're alpha testing the engine, flight mechanics, AI, and all of that stuff with Arena Commander. Since it's no longer its own branch of development, but rather the actual game itself, the work they put into Arena Commander is actually Star Citizen. Think of if this way, Star Citizen version .01 is releasing next month. Everything worked on is part of the full game, not some dev branch just to give backers something to play around with. That was the original intent but they've changed it to actually mean much more.

4. There are a lot of gameplay features being promised but there are also a good 6 studios + freelancers working in parallel on the different parts. It's not one team working in a linear fashion. There is a whole team right now building the stations, another working just on the FPS mechanics, a small group of people building the economic simulation, a team working on AI behavior and pathfinding, an entire studio scripting and recording animation and audio for squadron 42, there is a team working just on the ships. They don't need to wait for other parts of their studio to be done to keep working. Each studio has a manager in charge of everything. Now that they are all pretty much fully staffed and working without huge delays caused from moving offices or hiring more people, content is going to really start flowing.

They'll easily be able to hit their late 2015 launch. For backers like you and me, the game launches next month. It's a tiny portion of the whole, but everything we play is going to be part of the final game. Arena Commander is a brilliant way to let us beta test everything and still have fun.

Want to make a bet it doesn't come out in 2015?

well I hope it can get to 1.0 no later than 2015... but gee... it's going to be an awful lots of coding there, and from programming standpoint SC is scarier than hell, if you ever got any basic programming lesson, I'd think you'd agree with me.

i'll make one

i bet that if it doesn't come out in 2015, i'll just wait longer.

@Ballroompirate: What do you define as release? Starting next month I'll be playing the game.

This game isn't being released in the traditional sense. Its being released in huge updates starting with the DFM.

unless you mean when the game is finished updating..but of course that may be awhile

You should know what I mean by release, it's not rocket science.

well it's already released in form of hangar module but it is just equivalent to 0.0.11 version lol

If the game is going to be released in massive updates at what point would you say the game is "finished"

I just bit the bullet and got my self the Hornet F7C-S Ghost package...

There is no real release date though. One day in 2015 it's going to hit version 1.0. Next month the content starts flowing. A the beginning of the 2015 Squadron 42 gets its first episode. There is no "release date". Everything is ambiguous.

Playing a game in "un finished parts" is not even close to the definition of a release (it means it will be in alpha/beta). Since you need to get educated on the term release, it's when it's in full retail.

Atm if I'm not mistaken the backers can only explore the hanger, is that a release? (no). Then the next update next month if I'm not mistaken is when they add "dog fights", is that a release? (no).

Taken from the official site

"Pledge Packages are "pledge bundles" which will go directly toward helping us make Star Citizen a reality.

What you get with each package is the actual Star Citizen game upon its release, access to alpha and beta modules that will be released up until the final product, a reservation of your own spaceship, and a variety of other add-on items.

As a backer of the Star Citizen project, you will also gain access to all of the behind-the-scenes engineering and development processes of the game with updates happening daily. We are also surrounded by a vibrant community who all share the same excitement for a revolutionary new space-sim adventure and whom we frequently interact with.

Pledge today and become a contributor to the development of the next-generation space-sim. Here are a few pledge options to start your journey"

@Grey_Eyed_Elf said:

I just bit the bullet and got my self the Hornet F7C-S Ghost package...

Nice I'm thinking of getting the AURORA MR+ PACKAGE once I get my new computer in the next week or two. If I have the money to spend I'd get for sure the MISC FREELANCER PACKAGE

@Ballroompirate: You really want to win this stupid internet argument don't you?

The game will have some official "release" date sometime next year. They'll hit that with no problem. However for anybody who actually gives a shit about the game, the release is completely ambiguous. You won't even know when the game comes out because most people who want it will already be playing it by the time they change the version number to 1.0.

Considering that you can buy the game at any point from now until the end of time, them ticking a 1.0 on the version number is not really a release. There won't be some day where you can suddenly start purchasing the game. You can still purchase it right now and get to play when the dogfight module comes out. Then, if you somehow missed the alpha, you'll be able to play when the beta comes out later this year. Again these terms are extremely ambiguous.

So they'll still "release" in 2015 but it's irrelevant. You're trying to make a big deal about it yet it doesn't change a damn thing.

@Grey_Eyed_Elf: I broke down and bought a 325a in addition to my founders pack. (I'm at $110 and counting).

amazing

chris roberts is an american. i had no idea, I would've suspected he was English from his accent. Evidently he grew up in Manchester.

I'm not making a big deal out of it cause I know what release means and the difference of playing a beta/alpha/final version of a game.

There is no final version of the game though. It's an MMO, there is never any real end of development. You're trying to apply traditional terms to Star Citizen. That's not really applicable in this situation.

@Wasdie: I have been holding back for a while now but with the dog fighting module around the corner I just couldn't resist... Also I am tempted to get a Saitek X52 for it next month but peripherals are a lot harder to hide from the wife than digital games :P.

@Grey_Eyed_Elf: just get a new frying pan at the same time bro.

I just might... I heard there's a new Tefal coming out.

I'm done arguing, you have no idea what beta/alpha means when it even fraking says the game is going into alpha/beta in parts on the fraking official site. I'd even call it going into early access since most EA games are in alpha/beta, not a full blown release. Most of the people who actually back or "buy" Star Citizen aren't even gonna play it tell majority of the content is out since there would be no point, specially now when all you can do is walk around in a hangar, which of course next month has dog fights but I wouldn't even touch that tell it's in a stable condition.

But you know what, think what you want cause it's irritating arguing with someone who has no idea what they're talking about.

@Grey_Eyed_Elf: reminds me of a joke

The wife was upset with me the other day

I put a stick in a non-stick pan

trying to be clever on a message board just makes you look like an ass.

@Ballroompirate: You mean arguing with somebody like you? Sorry you can't see what everybody else sees. You're trying to quantify various states of this game for some reason instead of just acception that those traditional titles that are given to states of video game development don't apply here.

@lawlessx: Not trying to be clever, just using common sense. If I wanted to be an ass I wouldn't back up my claims with shyt actually posted on the official site and just spew bs without anything backing it up.

have fun waiting till the end of time for a 'release'

That must be one long development time.

well if you have any idea of what's being considered into the game...

On top of that, version 1.1 will likely see a massive content update and addition that might make it into a totally different game.

The only people who don't get early access and will be bound to the actual "release date" are non-backers. Which at this point, how many could there be? Anyone who wants to play it has given something (or in my case, is planning on giving at some point, but don't have the budget to at the moment).

Graphics look shit.

@murray69murray:

your either blind or trolling

Worst troll ever