Ffycchi posted:

What the bloody hell did I miss. Derek smart suing cig... Derek smart... Broke due to the bitcoin market... Derek smart... fellatio with Chris Roberts... Leave for a week and all hell breaks loose.

reddit liker posted:

tbh you know your game is hosed when derek smart thinks it's nothing more than a lovely pipe dream

Ffycchi posted:

I don't even know who he is other than the fact that he seems to be a great troll. And he makes sexy duck faces.

Zeike posted:

drat, those are cringy

reddit liker posted:

he made a game called battlecruiser 3000ad that was basically the archetypal star citizen

it promised a bunch of impossible poo poo for hype and when it was released was extremely mediocre at best, and people pretty much universally panned it as a very generic, bad game

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlecruiser_3000AD

Ffycchi posted:

so he's a nobody .... And yet causing this much of a stir? Brb coding a shite game.

reddit liker posted:

in the grand scheme of things yes he is a nobody (the fact that you didn't recognize his name should say as much)

i guess it just goes to show how far gone star citizen backers are that they'll attack literally anyone who questions their idols or star citizen itself even if they haven't been relevant since people still used usenet

Beer4TheBeerGod posted:

*snip*

CrazyLoon posted:

Ffycchi posted:

yeah I stopped going to the forums after the pvp is griefing debacle happened. I almost broke my airplane wing desk with the amount of times my head slammed into it.

Sarsapariller posted:

Social module patch rolling out to test server:


https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/280997

I wonder if they kept the headache-inducing dance emote?

AP posted:

So release pattern has been:-

Hangar Module > Everyone
Arena Commander > Roll out via Citizen number
Social Module > 2000 Hand picked disciples.

CrazyLoon posted:

Even though, in this case, they might not have much to hide at all and would've saved themselves a LOT of hassle upfront, if they had realized from the start that character of all of their prominent faces and players would matter a lot in this kind of crowdfunded project, so yea - just say from the start that Sandra's married to Chris, that Ben's been a slobbering fanboy with no qualifications, ect. - then we can all move on from this foundation and they don't need to seriously respond to anything coming this way, since the moreso reasonable people will answer these dumbass questions for them.

AP posted:

If you assume they plan to actually ship a game at some point I think it's going to be interesting to see them drop the act entirely. I bet the whole "we love you wonderful backers" charade will disappear so fast that some members of the community team get whiplash. I have no doubt some there are dreaming of a time they can hand out game bans to feet worshipers, pirates griefers after the time period for refunds expires.

reddit liker posted:

he made a game called battlecruiser 3000ad that was basically the archetypal star citizen

it promised a bunch of impossible poo poo for hype and when it was released was extremely mediocre at best, and people pretty much universally panned it as a very generic, bad game

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlecruiser_3000AD

DancingShade posted:

Oh yeah, once the game finally gets kicked out the door and they have a new revenue stream in the form of whatever freemium is tacked on top of the B2P model along with new purchasers it's going to be a bloodbath on the forums.

A great purge of the unclean (unless they keep spending that is).

AP posted:

Derek Smart does NOT represent the Star Citizen community!

AP posted:

quote:

Tony Zurovec (Director of PU) was in chatroll earlier (and a lot of other devs too), here are some random answers he gave to questions we posted to him. Please note that some of these were with respect to the Social Module PTU which just launched:

What time is it for you?
2:18 AM here.....

When asked about ingame chat
Chat is currently totally global. Tomorrow's update will make it global per server instance. Chat channels will come in an update. They're already supported at the network service level, but the user interface doesn't yet expose them.
When asked about chatboxes ingame
I think you may as well allow it. It's a convenience, and if you don't, players will just use TeamSpeak or Skype or their cell phones to communicate in real-time anyways....

When asked about shared hangars
Going into friends hangars will arrive with what I'd call Social Module 2.0. That's the next major milestone, but I'll likely aim to slot a half-point upgrade before that once we've back in the main development stream. Ironically, most of the code to share a friend's hangar is already done. It's just in a different development stream.
Milestones
The fun really starts after the Social milestones.... I'll talk about those with the release text for the public launch of the Social Module. The Social milestones are more about laying groundwork and testing base functionality - network functionality and performance, in particular. Two months ago we couldn't put a dozen players into ArcCorp without cratering the frame rate. Now at 25 the bandwidth is irrelevant...and it will be getting much better over the next couple of months. This particular PTU version? It'll be outdated by tomorrow night.

When asked about ship optimization
The PU's efforts are currently focused on network optimizations for FPS players and characters. Ship optimizations will require a separate effort. It's likely we'll focus on that after getting the character stuff working really well.
Grabby Hands
you'll likely see a grabby hands update with the AI Module, or possibly the earlier Character Customization Module where you'll be able to change your clothing.

When asked about avatars:
Clothing customization will come first. Facial and body customization will come a bit later. The exact elements haven't yet been decided, but the basic thinking is that you'll be able to select your sex, possibly some level of height/weight, hair, skin tone, facial texture, possibly eyes and nose, likely distinguishing marks (like scars), and other such things.

When asked about facial customization on the Sims level
.Unknown at this point, honestly. My preference is to usually go with the base functionality first and then build upon it. So...I'd aim to get the basic facial customization stuff in as soon as possible and release it, and then just add the ability to customize additional stuff later....
Most looked-forward to module?
My favorite will be the AI Module.

When asked about delivery dates/scope:
I'm predominantly focused on what we can realistically deliver over the next twelve months. It's a rolling window, so in six months I'll be worried about what we can deliver 18 months from now.
PU Alpha is too vague. It means different things to different people. The schedule is broken down into PU milestones, each of which focuses on different parts of the basic foundation that's needed for the ultimate game. I'll touch on that a bit with the release text for the Social Module release to the general community. The problem with "PU Alpha" is...can you shop? How are the prices and availability determined? What will the TDD pay for your commodities? Can you mine? What other types of missions are available? Is there AI? To what level exactly - walking around shops? Available for hire? Piloting ships in capacities other than combat pilots? Etc. etc.. It's impossible to try and describe an alpha in a couple of sentences without everyone having a different idea of what's going to be delivered. I'm going to try and add some more specificity to the near-term goals with the text for the Social Module release to the general public.
I don't know what this means, sorry. Question was about players in the bar
No hitching? Yes, tons of work done on NPC blending and interpolation with the new network optimizations to achieve that.

When asked about player limits/networking:
The networking could easily handle 50 players at the moment. It's the graphics performance that's the limiting factor. That graphics performance will take a substantial leap forward as soon as we're back in the "GameDev" stream. It's a long story, but basically Star Citizen split the code base into streams for Star Marine, and we had to do the Social Module in 1.2.0 - which doesn't have access to the latest graphics stuff - because that's where GIM was, and we had to do GIM in 1.2.0 with Star Marine because it needed a more robust matchmaker. That said...obviously we've got loads of low-res LODs to help cope, and the zone system will cull characters very efficiently.

When asked about dev streams:
Merging 1.2.0 and GameDev is a huge priority. It's a long story, but basically the code base split when Star Marine was supposed to launch, and most of the main (not FPS specific) development occurs in the GameDev stream. We had to launch the Social Module from 1.2.0 - without the benefit of a lot of cool stuff in GameDev - because we needed GIM and the other updated networking tech, and that had specifically been done in 1.2.0 for the benefit of Star Marine. So...long story short...we'll take a quantum leap once we're back in GameDev.

Further Quotes
Casaba is still being modified, so we just closed it off rather than show something that wasn't quite ready. ArcCorp is actually getting a facelift as well. The store facades will look much better in the near future...the main building below Astro Armada will get a big bump in its visuals...and we'll go to lower-poly but parallax occlusion mapped objects to get better performance while maintaining high visual fidelity.
The area just past Dumper's Depot ends at a fence. You'll be able to go past that eventually. The area to the left of Casaba and heading away from the Skywalk ends at a fence. You'll be able to go past that as well.

Report all issues you find in the PTU. We'll fix as many as possible this week.
Terra Prime's main "city" takes place on external levels of a huge (probably 0.75 mile or so) skyscraper. Terra Prime is so large that we're focusing on some smaller cities first - the so-called First Five.
Other stuff
They are planning a rollout of a lot of features soon, with daily PTU updates, and at least two LARGE updates of the Social Module this year, with many more smaller ones in between.

The Current Arccorp space in the PTU is about a third of the final size of Arccorp. There are two fenced off areas that nobody can access yet (although by the time I post this I'm guessing someone will have figured out how to clip through).
The Size of Terra Prime will be THREE times the size of any other planetary landing zone. Initially 3 maps stitched together, eventually seamless without any loading.
Nyx should be in by October or so (No promises), and temporarily your elevator will have magic planet-hopping powers. Tardis!
Current plan is to roll out PTU invites for Social Module over this week, hopefully getting everybody in by Friday, but no promises.
First Five systems confirmed. PU Alpha mentioned by Tony Z, but he also noted that the definition of "PU Alpha" varies by individual. Stand by for clarification.
Expect a big Commlink post from Tony Z sometime soon going into expectations for the Social Module.

Bounty Hunting and Piracy commlink articles from Tony Z sometime in the future.
CIG requests that we do NOT share media/pictures/videos/streams of the PTU just yet.
Tony Z asks that we submit bug reports as much as possible. Current bugs found include a falling through the map bug near the M50 and clipping through some objects, as well as gamepads being able to go prone (it's supposed to be disabled).
Josh (Of commlink "Sweet!" fame) was the first Citizen on Arccorp, and possibly the first to submit a bug report (the M50 clipping bug). Congrats.
Tony Z mentions that they are definitely pushing for "more than 50" people in an instance. This was in reference to the Social Module. Not sure if applies to space instances.
Tony Z is expected to drop in chatroll throughout this week. Drop by and have good questions ready!

AP posted:

Anyone know what this is?

ALL-PRO SEXMAN posted:

Looks like one of those metal toy planes from the '30s or something. Another wise investment of other peoples' money by Croberts.

SelenicMartian posted:

Looks like a metal plane made out of junk by the same hands that made the atrocious wing table.

AP posted:

NDA? Must really be amazing gameplay in this social module you can walk around and dance in.

Also "Doesn't break any of our rules and CIG won't ask for it to be removed, BUT YOU REALLY SHOULD DELETE THIS".

Self censorship, best censorship.

Beer4TheBeerGod posted:

I got an invite.

quote:

Ambition turns to sorrow as Woolfe's studios GRIN closes shop, unable to afford even postage to send the backer rewards, meanwhile Star Citizen attempts to avoid a panic over resource restructuring.
...
Star Citizen is going through a bit of a scare right now. Modules are once again behind schedule, Illfonic started laying team members off while CIG argues that they're pulling everything in-house. Players ponder why they weren't told that this was part of the process, if there is something wrong with Illfonic's work, or if it's business as usual. Doubt isn't a healthy thing for a game, and while die-hard Star Citizen fans will true believe no matter what, the doubt in the general public can turn funding from full tilt to zilch. While we would assume a game like Star Citizen is set, we have to ask a few questions: what if development on a module has to be set to zero, for quality reasons? Does CIG just produce a bad product or do they rely on incoming funds? We can all hope and pray that a game will go from 0 to 100% without taking a step back, but it's all possible.

quote:

Pre-Release Testing Terms
US Players
As a reminder to PTU testers, please read the following :

I. Special Terms: Pre-Release Testing

In its sole discretion, RSI may contact you to review and evaluate the Game, aspects or modules of the Game, or online features as part of, or prior to a wider Alpha test, Beta test, or commercial release thereof (hereafter “Pre-Release Games”) for the purpose of identifying program errors. You will be asked to provide to RSI (and to RSI only) certain feedback and suggestions regarding your experiences while reviewing and evaluating the Pre-Release Games. This process is referred to herein as a “Pre-Release Test.” If it is a closed Pre-Release Test, RSI may ask you to enter into a Pre-Release Software Confidentiality Agreement (“Confidentiality Agreement”) for each specific Pre-Release Test BEFORE you will be allowed to be a tester (“Tester”) and BEFORE any software will be provided or made accessible to you. In such case, your participation as a Tester is subject to the Confidentiality Agreement, in addition to the following terms and conditions which apply to all Pre-Release Tests.

In connection with the Pre-Release Test, RSI may provide you, on a temporary basis, Pre-Release Games, as well as confidential and proprietary information (collectively, “Pre-Release Materials”). You understand and agree that the Pre-Release Materials are confidential or proprietary information of RSI. You agree as a condition of participating in a Pre-Release Test to (i) not copy or reproduce the Pre-Release Materials, (ii) safeguard the Pre-Release Materials and prevent unauthorized access to, reproduction of, disclosure of and/or unauthorized use of, the Pre-Release Materials, and (iii) if applicable, fully comply with the terms and conditions of the Confidentiality Agreement.

You will carry out the testing personally and not provide access to Pre-Release Materials to any other person. You agree that breach of the above obligations will cause irreparable harm to RSI, and RSI is entitled to (in addition to any other remedies available to it) ex parte injunctive relief without bond to prevent the breach or threatened breach of your obligations. Your obligation to keep the Pre-Release Materials confidential will continue until RSI publicly distributes, or has otherwise disclosed to the public through no fault of yours, the Pre-Release Materials that you are testing.

Upon request, you agree to immediately return to RSI all copies of the Pre-Release Material which RSI provided to you.

As a Tester, you are invited to play Pre-Release Games for the sole purpose of evaluating the Pre-Release Games and identifying errors. Nothing in these Terms of Service or any other RSI Terms shall be construed as granting you any rights or privileges of any kind with respect to the Pre-Release Materials or other RSI Content.

THE PRE-RELEASE GAMES ARE PROVIDED FOR TESTING ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS AND WE MAKE NO WARRANTY TO YOU OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED UNLESS SUCH WARRANTIES MAY NOT BE EXCLUDED BY LAW IN WHICH CASE SUCH WARRANTIES SHALL BE EXCLUDED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

When playing some Pre-Release Games, you may accumulate Virtual Goods or other value or status indicators. This data may be reset at any time during the testing process, and it may be reset when the particular Pre-Release Game completes a testing phase. In this case, all player history and data will be erased and each player will return to novice status.

By selecting a “Play” button to start a Pre-Release Game, you agree that: (i) playing Pre-Release Games is at your own risk and you know that the Pre-Release Games may include known or unknown bugs, (ii) any Virtual Goods or other value or status indicators that you achieve through game play may be erased at any time, (iii) RSI has no obligation to make these Pre-Release Games available for play with or without charge for any period of time, nor to make them available at all, (iv) you may need to pay a subscription or access fee in order to access these Pre-Release Games once the Pre-Release Test process is complete or at any time in the future; (v) these Terms of Service apply to your use of the Pre-Release Games during the Pre-Release Test, and (vi) if it is a closed Pre-Release Test, you will keep all information about the Pre-Release Materials confidential as stated above and not disclose such information to any other person.

Pre-Release Test accounts are non-transferable under any circumstances.

no_recall posted:

Wow. This is so full of awesome.

I don't even know anymore, are these guys for real?

I mean, seriously? Seems to me its as though their trying to prevent their sweet dreams from collapsing due to ONE known internet troll.

Xaerael posted:

Yeah... It doesn't bode well, I've been on a number of limited Alphas/Betas now, and it's usually only the really lovely ones that NDA you, or dislike info leaks. Same with most things really. Eg, there was a review embargo on the movie Pixels until the day AFTER release.

Tank Boy Ken posted:

The social module is coming. Let's talk about toxicity (old video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9A8VJBh_Yc

AP posted:

So release pattern has been:-

Hangar Module > Everyone
Arena Commander > Roll out via Citizen number
Social Module > 2000 Hand picked disciples.