Chris Roberts: Hello everyone, I'm just doing a little bit of my homework for the upcoming
GamesCom. Anyway, I'd like to invite you all to 10 for the Chairman, this for those
of you who haven't seen the show before is where I take 10 questions from our subscribers
and answer them to the best of my ability, which I hope is fairly decent. And for those
of you who don't know, subscribers are the subset of our community who kick in a little
extra money every month to enable us to do an additional amount of community interaction
and feedback. So things like 10 for the Chairman, which I'm doing now, Around the Verse, the
Jump Point magazine which is about 50-70 pages of more indepth, behinds the scenes
material and some fiction. And some other stuff that we do, the Inside CIG reports.
A lot of this stuff allows us to really bring you close to our production process,
which is pretty big and all across the world. So thank you all to subscribers for allowing
us to be able to do this because there's loads of people behind the cameras here,
and a lot of other stuff. It actually does cost time, effort, and money to do, but I
definitely think it's worth it to make sure that everybody is as connected as possible
to our development effort. So there you go, alright, getting to the questions.
The first question comes from MuddyGrimes who asks:
My crew and I want to know if it'll be possible to capture a Vanduul individual to use for our
"initiation process", which is having the initiate(s) fight this captured Vanduul to
the death in melee combat.
That sounds like that crazy DayZ stuff that I saw where they would get people
on a bus and put them into the equivalent of thunderdome. I don't really think right now
we're supporting capturing a Vanduul to put in a fighting pit for initiation.
It's a cool idea, I'm just trying to think if any of the game systems would allow it.
Right now we don't really have the concept of capturing people and keeping them for a
long time. We have the concept of capturing people if you're a bounty hunter and someone's
got a price on their head, you've got to bring them back, but at some point they just
become an item that you're taking verses a living, breathing, NPC. So right now, the
way the system works, I don't think it would be able to do that, but it is a cool idea,
so you never know what happens down the road.
Ok, next question comes from PreachMan who asks:
The plan is to roll out modules to both share WIP and to pre-pre-alpha test pieces of the game.
(CR: That's even one more pre than we use) Have you considered an "Economy Module"; maybe
"SC - It's the Economy, Stupid: The Board Game" as part of the testing plan?
That would probably be a better question for Tony who, the economy's actually his--
something he's very keen on, and he's working hard on it. We are definitely building an
economy module to be separate, so we actually have an economy simulation that happens, and
there's gonna be the brains that will run most of the Persistent Universe, and simulate where
the NPCs are moving around, trading, what the players are doing, all the rest of the stuff.
We, on our side, we will definitely have it where we'll have the economy simulation
and we can zoom in to different planets or systems and see what's happening.
Then long term, once the game's up and fully running, the Persistent Universe,
and everyone's playing in it, we'll probably have some control room that we'll sit there
and they'll have monitors of the different states of the systems. And we'll be able to
see what's happening in the universe. What the NPCs are doing, what the players are
doing, and then occasionally tweak things if we need to tweak things. Whether or not
we'll release that as a module for people to play with, my guess is probably not,
but we definitely are building that as a module because we need it as an internal system.
So I don't know, maybe I'd have to talk to Tony, but I don't see a really good way
to release that to individual backers, 'cause it's really a more server side thing,
it plugs into a lot of our backend server sub-systems, and it's not something you can
just release as a client-side module. But we are building it.
Alright, next question comes from Emulator who asks:
Can you stay in the UEE Military for some time? Be able to achieve Constellation command or
Higher as the rank structure? (CR: I dont' think we have Constellation
command because it's not really a military ship, but I get the idea, like maybe command
of an Idris frigate or something like that.) Getting promotions and awards and
having ceremonies for them? Will the UEE require military contractors? Possibly even
having a retirement for those that stay in for a period?
The way the structure of Squadron 42 to Star Citizen works is that you play the game
and at the end of it you have to muster out into the civilian population. We are planning
on having stories that, think of it like a mission pack in the old Wing Commander
days where we'll have a story that we will build and make available to backers for,
whatever you want to call it, DLC or something, that would have the sophistication of the
Squadron 42 storyline that will come back online down the road occasionally.
People can participate in that if they desire, and some of those will be military based.
You reenlisting back into the military for a campaign. We're also thinking about
having certain things that you could do as a player where maybe the military needs
some contractors to help it secure a star system from Vanduul incursions or help
flesh out an attack on Vanduul space, and those will be PU missions, so there'll be
a little bit of that. There's not really a game set-up where you stay in the military
and work your way through ranks. It is a cool idea, longer term I think that would
be some of the professional stuff that we would expand once the game's up an running
and we're adding new content. 'Cause I think that's definitely a career path that a lot of
people would like to choose, but until then, the way you would get back in the military
would be joining up in a sort of story campaign, along the lines of Squadron 42,
or taking some sort of adhoc work for the UEE military.
Ok, next question comes from Acebravo who asks:
My guild mates and I were wondering if the shield on the ships is a physical barrier
or could you possibly, as an example, fly a small fighter inside a larger ship's
shields to put direct fire onto its hull, effectively bypassing the shields?
That's a good question. The way the shields work on all our ships is the shields are
actually separate collision geometry that is further out from the actual collision
geometry that defines when you would hit the hull of the ship, and the concept is
the shields are really meant to absorb energy. So if I'm firing an energy bolt it'll take that
and dissipate it around the shields, and ballistic weapons actually penetrate through
shields, but they do have some of their energy sapped away, so if you've got really
strong shields, you can reduce the kinetic energy through hitting the shield.
But they're not really built to prevent, save you, from hitting an asteroid or a
head to head collision with another ship, because the idea is that shields will only
stop things at a certain kinetic velocity, or energy, or whatever. So there definitely
would be a case I would think that you should be able to fly a ship through, assuming
the AA guns of the ship aren't firing at you, through a bigger ship's shields and
maybe be on the inside of it and shoot. Once you're inside that shield proxy, obviously
your bullets won't get stopped by the shield proxy, they'll only get stopped by the hull proxy.
So yes, it is possible to do, as long as the shields have enough room between them
and the hull, to do what is suggested by Acebravo.
Next question comes from Jeremiah Irons who asks:
I was curious as to how Star Citizen will tackle digital families of NPCs as well as
children in general. It seems that in most games, children NPCs are simply absent,
but going down to a planet and only seeing men and women about their daily lives
could take away from immersion.
That is a good question, we don't really have a child character pipeline at the moment,
so we may very well be guilty of what most other MMOs are. I would say if there were
some children, it would only be background NPC stuff, just to add some variety to an
environment, but we're really only planning on players being able to pick whether they
want to be a male or a female, an adult male or an adult female, and then customize
and dress up your character. So NPC wise would be the only way you would see a little
bit of children, and that really comes down to variety. It certainly won't be something
that we'd be doing at the very beginning because we've got our work cut out for us
just doing the various characters and costume combinations and all the rest of the stuff.
But it is a good point, so thanks Jeremiah.
Next question comes from Dag who asks:
Will players be able to rent out their ships to other players, and if so,
how would that work? Used ship lot?
I'm not sure about renting out ships. I mean we discussed it, so that's definitely
something that we're gonna investigate. You definitely will be able to hire other
players to fly your own ships, and so I would think that there probably would be a case
where you could rent out ships, and we're thinking about some other options like
being able to finance a new ship you want to buy inside the universe just like you can
in the real world. But I would think if you're renting out ships, basically the way it
would work would be not so much a used ship lot, although that would be the way, if I'm
a player and have lost my ship and I don't have the money to buy a new one, I could go
to an NPC lot and say "I want to rent this" and they say "you've got to give us so many
credits per month" and you could do a deal like that. But for a player, I would think
that it would be brokered on our, what we call the mission board, because that's where you
put out requests for people to fly missions for you or to do things for you, and you can
also offer services. So that's what you'll do. It'll be kind of like the Craig's List of space.
Which is "Have Hornet, good condition, willing to rent for so many credits per game time."
We haven't implemented that into the Persistent Universe yet obviously, but that
would be kind of how I think it would work. So there you go.
Nobyn asks:
Currently the player's interaction with the world is through a large use icon appearing
for vague activation zones and non-detailed input panels. What is the plan for the
fidelity by which the player interacts and manipulates the world? Will the player be
able to press individual buttons on a dashboard or door lock numeric keypad
with a more refined and precise method?
Yeah, the current implementation's the generic CryEngine "use" implementation.
We've definitely talked about the need to have it more sophisticated, higher fidelity.
Because we are planning on having it, if you want to turn on your engines or turn
them off, or turn on your HUD. You have to hit the switches on your dashboard to
turn the stuff on. You need a little better idea than just "use" when you're in the
general area. So we're thinking about things where maybe the object gets slightly
brighter or has a shine on it or the default would have an outline around it, so you
know which one it's telling you you can use and go from there. But that's still in
development in terms of how that would work or what we'd do with that, but that's
definitely part our plan, to be able to do that. Because we want you to be able to
interact with the world and use and turn things on and not have it be as imprecise as it currently is.
Ok, next question comes from Bear who asks:
We've been told SC will go for the Hollywood version of space simulation where sound
travels through the void. Have you considered having a switch in the game options
where external sounds can be turned off?
Yeah, I've actually talked about this a few times. It definitely isn't that difficult to
have a version where when you're outside, the listener and the sound system are outside,
you don't hear any sounds. That is definitely something we would consider, we have
considered it, and probably would put it in. But that's sort of a plus item, let me put
it that way. It's not something that I would hold up other work for, but it would be
something that, down the road, would be fairly simple and we probably would want
to do just for the people who want to feel like their sound in space is realistic.
Ok, next question comes from Circus who asks:
As spying and hacking will be part of the game, I would like to know if for example a spy
(with a blown cover) or a citizen who made a huge mistake will be able to
get a new identity? I could imagine that this means he/she needs to visit an
identity-renewal institution, new face, hair, etc.
Yes, absolutely we're gonna allow it. There's actually a whole set up where you
can go get plastic surgery and change your appearance. It's actually a device that we
use at the beginning of Squadron 42 to be in fiction but allow the player to determine
what they look like. So the concept is that you're involved in an opening battle and
you heroically save the day, but you're really badly scared and injured so you wake up in
the hospital and you have to give input on how you want to have your face reconstructed.
So we're definitely gonna allow that, we'll definitely have parts where you'll
be able to, it will be expensive, but there will be places you can do that, and some
definitely be "off the grid" so to speak, so you can do it and not be tracked.
If you wanted to change your identity, and do all the rest on the outlaw planets, you
could do that, and it would definitely not be a cheap thing to do. But I think it'd be very cool.
Ok, last question comes from Algared who asks:
How/when do you envisage implementing the beta testing? Will beta testing be implemented
by module while alpha is testing other modules, or will beta be a final test of
whole whole package prior to release?
I know I read this on the forums where everyone argues about what pre-alpha or alpha or
beta testing is, so to just give you my concept. The reason why we call Arena Commander
pre-alpha is because my definition of alpha, which is kind of a more standard one, is
alpha is not content complete, but generally functionally complete, that you start testing.
Then beta is content and functionality complete, but you're trying to fix bugs.
So you're still honing and tweaking and adding stuff in alpha. You've got pretty
much all your features in, but you don't have all your content in. But in beta, you have
content and the features in, but you're just making sure it's debuged.
Therefore with Arena Commander, we're not even on Arena Commander v1.0, so you could
say right now we're pre-alpha, when it's Arena Commander v1.0, it will be alpha,
and then it will roll to beta, but really the alpha and beta descriptions we originally
had at the start of the project were alpha and beta for the over all game. Which means
Star Citizen, the Persistent Universe, Squadron 42, all that stuff rolled together.
So one of the reasons we say pre-alpha on each one of the modules is because we're
rolling out sections of that bigger overall game individually to beat on them, test
on them, get feed back, make them better. That's sort of all the elements are pre-alpha
in all these sections, and they will all roll into an alpha that will be Star Citizen
that will roll into a beta. That's kind of why we say pre-alpha verses alpha,
verses beta. And that's what the process is. The process I can see us doing is each
of the modules gets released in a pretty rough state, much rougher than I would
ever release anything to the public normally, and much rougher than a lot of times we
would release on a wide beta test just to get the tests, stress tests, get feedback
on whether things work or don't work, and see where the problems lie. We hone those,
and then on the modules themselves, we go along and it's not just "that's the final module."
No, it's this is a set of the full feature set, and then we're adding more features
and functionality as we go along, which is again why I said pre-alpha, 'cause it
doesn't have all the functionality, and by the time we get to all the functionality
being there, it should be joining the other modules that have also been doing the
same process into a place where we've pretty much got the alpha of Star Citizen
together, but we're missing some of the content, some of the planets, locations,
some of the ships. But all the functionality's there, and then at that point you go
from the alpha to the beta once all the content's in there, then you finish and test
that, then the game is released or live. Done is a bad word because as far as I'm
concerned, as long as you guys are having a great time and we can keep a viable
business going, paying people to work on the game, then we will continually work
on Star Citizen to make it cooler and bigger and add more and more of the features
that just would make this the best damn space sim ever. There's a long way to go
there, so I don't want anyone out there to think that I'm saying that's where we are
now, that's just our goal and ambition. That's what we're working towards, but
we recognize that there is a huge way to get there. But we're very committed to
always making the game bigger, better, all the time. That's the beauty of being online,
you can constantly be sharing it, like we're sharing it right now. I know people are
always worried about things like feature creep and stuff, but look, people have code,
they can sit and play, and interact with, and as we get more of it, we keep adding
to it and we keep making it better. It's just an ongoing process, and I'm kind of,
I hope we'll be around long enough, but it would be really interesting in 10 years
time to see what the universe looks and feels like and what's happened in it compared
to what we all talked about now. 'Cause I definitely think it's gonna just get cooler
and bigger and better and also take some unexpected turns. I mean you can certainly
even see the process as we go along. You see what the Hornet looked like in the original
prototype in 2012, then we did an upgrade when it first went into the hangars, then now there's
another upgrade that went in when we went on to dogfighting. You can see the constant
iteration and improvement that we're doing and you guys are all in for the ride, which is
pretty damn cool, and that's one of the things I think's pretty exciting about the
process we're taking. I mean it does take people to understand that this is early,
it's gonna get better and you're sort of seeing the sausage get made, but it's gonna
be damn good sausage at the end.
Anyway, there you go, that's the end of this 10 For the Chairman, thank you all for
tuning in and listening. Thank you to all the subscribers out there who generously
provide a little extra money every month to allow us to do this kind of stuff.
Thank you to everyone who's backed the game who's allowing us to make this game at the
scope and level and ambition that we're doing on a worldwide basis. There are people
all around the world who are working on this game. There's a huge amount of people
who have now got gainful employment working on the video game of their dreams thanks
to all you, so thank you very much, and I'll talk to you next week. Bye.