Chris Roberts, who helped define the space sim genre in computer games during the 1990s with his Wing Commander® and Privateer® franchises, is back in the cockpit again with a new title he says will change the way people perceive games for the PC and will breathe new life into space combat games. The new game, Star Citizen™, was officially announced today at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) Online taking place at the Austin Convention Center. The game is being developed by Roberts’ Cloud Imperium™ Games studio, located in Los Angeles.
Roberts’ re-entry into gaming comes after he spent more than a decade as a director and producer in the Hollywood film industry. In 1990, he introduced Wing Commander to the world of PC gaming and the franchise went on to sell millions of units and spawned multiple sequels, a feature film and another highly successful game franchise, Privateer.
Star Citizen, already 12 months into production, will be launched on the PC and will include all the Chris Roberts hallmarks that fans of his games have come to expect over the years: high quality cutting-edge visuals and technology, a virtual world that is immersive and detailed, a sophisticated storyline that is wide in scope and visceral, heart-pounding space combat.
“In recent years, game designers have stopped innovating and pushing the boundaries of what you can do in this genre,” says Roberts. “I plan on bringing that kind of development mentality back into PC gaming and space sims in particular.
“There is a lot of noise out there regarding social and mobile games right now, and I think PC gamers are feeling a little left out of the mix. But the PC is still incredibly capable of presenting an experience that doesn’t take a back seat to any other platform out there, including consoles. With my game, I want PC gamers to stand up, be counted and get excited again about all the great experiences their computer can deliver.”
At GDC Online Roberts also announced a program to bring his devotees and other interested parties much closer to the development process. A crowd funding site has been posted at www.robertsspaceindustries.com to help raise the necessary funds for completing development of the project. “Our purpose today,” said Roberts, “is to allow our fans to join us in this process early. It will likely be another two years before the full product is ready for release, but early backers will be able to play a version of the game a year from now.
“We are taking this approach to fund-raising for several reasons,” said Roberts. “For one, this route takes the traditional game publisher out of the mix and enables us to take the millions of dollars normally used by publishers for a triple-A title and plow them right back into developing the game. Secondly, using our own crowd funding mechanism allows us to reach out to our international fans, who have been devoted followers of my games in the past. Thirdly, going direct gets us much closer to our fans and allows us to focus more on the community side, create more updates for our fans and directly interact with them as we are making the game.”
Star Citizen, still in early development stages, will not require a subscription, but will not be free-to-play either. Roberts says the game will be available for a one-time purchase. And while players will be able to play in the Star Citizen universe for free, there will also be virtual items available for purchase with in-game credits so players can customize their ships and other items.
The game is being developed for PC only. More information about Star Citizen can be found at www.robertsspaceindustries.com.
Darks wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 16:23:
Really Cutter? That’s your response? Grow up asshole! You could just as easily get screwed over with Kickstarter, there no guarantee there either. If you’re looking for a guarantee, go to the store and buy milk and cry over it that’s about as far as your bitching goes around here. From now on why dont we change your name to Piss and Moan. that about fits your to a T.
Darks wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 16:32:Creston wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 15:54:Rigs wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 15:25:
Don't get me wrong, I've been playing since before Wing Commander (though WC was one of the first games I played on a 'modern' PC - in 1992), and I love Privateer and Starlancer AND Freelancer (Starlancer never gets any love! I think it was almost as good as Freespace...seriously!) But one thing bothers the hell out of me when Chris speaks of doing a single player sim and then some kind of multiplayer/MMO -type of thing...he's said it before. When? Freelancer. In the run up to it's release I read preview after preview that touted it's grand single-player with dedicated servers for multi, which is fine. But then he swore that after Freelancers release, say a year or so out, he would release an MMO version of it. In fact, he said the the 'first' single-player release was to be a 'dry run' to work out all the kinks and bugs with the game and then they would put a new version out as an MMO...Of course, it obviously never happened. Freelancer released and I swear the day it went out, he closed up shop and disappeared. I'm not even sure if they released any patches for it. (They probably did, I stopped playing pretty quickly after release) But you never heard another peep out of him about it...
Now here he is trying to wow us again with a suitably impressive demonstration of a new game. But his plans for it are so strikingly similar to Freelancer that I have to sit back and say, 'Nope. I not falling for it again!' I'll wait and see. I'll watch, be sure. And yes, despite my wariness, I AM excited. I just really hope he pulls thru with this one. If anything, I wish he'd be trying to bring Freelancer back, maybe update it and put out the first MMO he said he would ten years ago...
EDIT: I'm with Cutter on this one, gents. I'll watch and wait. X: Rebirth will be coming along soon with a veteran crew at the helm and a seasoned game infrastructure to use...
=-Rigs-=
They are valid points, but most of Freelancer's bullshit happened because of publisher pressure, or at least so it appeared. When he was with a dev (and back then a publisher) who left him alone, he made Wing Commander and Privateer. When he had to work under publishers who were continuously pushing for shit, he made WC Prophecy and Freelancer.
And Freelancer really isn't a bad game, but it fell far far far far far short of what he promised.
This time he hopefully won't have a traditional publisher to jerk him around and he and his team can make the game they want to make.
I'm a bit worried that he's not using Kickstarter though. I understand that 7% of your total haul is a lot of money (KS fees plus Amazon fees), but who's to say he won't just cash in my donation even if it doesn't fund, and then blows it on hookers? A little checkmark that says you can get a refund doesn't make me feel any less wary.
Creston
First off, you guys really need to know the background on Freelancer and why it was never really finished before you go bashing Chris. You can blame Microsoft for that one. They pushed this game right out the door before it was finished, that was when Chris said the hell with this and left the industry. Don’t believe me ask him yourself. I know the guy personally and got all the low down on this one back in the day.
He had so many plans and ideas for Freelancer to make it something that had never been seen or done before but Good ole Microsoft just had to have this game out the door making money. This was a primary reason that Capitalships never made it into the final game; they were not finished in time.
Erin, Chris’s brother ended up taking over the project and released it as it was. But this was far from what Chris envisioned or wanted the game to be and the state it was released in.
Jerykk wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 16:43:
This looks seriously impressive. Also very ambitious. I'm not sure he can make the game he's describing with only $2-4 million. It seems like it would cost at least $10 million. I wouldn't be surprised if he cuts the open-world and multiplayer components to make it more manageable.
Still, I'm pretty much obligated to support this.
Creston wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 15:54:Rigs wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 15:25:
Don't get me wrong, I've been playing since before Wing Commander (though WC was one of the first games I played on a 'modern' PC - in 1992), and I love Privateer and Starlancer AND Freelancer (Starlancer never gets any love! I think it was almost as good as Freespace...seriously!) But one thing bothers the hell out of me when Chris speaks of doing a single player sim and then some kind of multiplayer/MMO -type of thing...he's said it before. When? Freelancer. In the run up to it's release I read preview after preview that touted it's grand single-player with dedicated servers for multi, which is fine. But then he swore that after Freelancers release, say a year or so out, he would release an MMO version of it. In fact, he said the the 'first' single-player release was to be a 'dry run' to work out all the kinks and bugs with the game and then they would put a new version out as an MMO...Of course, it obviously never happened. Freelancer released and I swear the day it went out, he closed up shop and disappeared. I'm not even sure if they released any patches for it. (They probably did, I stopped playing pretty quickly after release) But you never heard another peep out of him about it...
Now here he is trying to wow us again with a suitably impressive demonstration of a new game. But his plans for it are so strikingly similar to Freelancer that I have to sit back and say, 'Nope. I not falling for it again!' I'll wait and see. I'll watch, be sure. And yes, despite my wariness, I AM excited. I just really hope he pulls thru with this one. If anything, I wish he'd be trying to bring Freelancer back, maybe update it and put out the first MMO he said he would ten years ago...
EDIT: I'm with Cutter on this one, gents. I'll watch and wait. X: Rebirth will be coming along soon with a veteran crew at the helm and a seasoned game infrastructure to use...
=-Rigs-=
They are valid points, but most of Freelancer's bullshit happened because of publisher pressure, or at least so it appeared. When he was with a dev (and back then a publisher) who left him alone, he made Wing Commander and Privateer. When he had to work under publishers who were continuously pushing for shit, he made WC Prophecy and Freelancer.
And Freelancer really isn't a bad game, but it fell far far far far far short of what he promised.
This time he hopefully won't have a traditional publisher to jerk him around and he and his team can make the game they want to make.
I'm a bit worried that he's not using Kickstarter though. I understand that 7% of your total haul is a lot of money (KS fees plus Amazon fees), but who's to say he won't just cash in my donation even if it doesn't fund, and then blows it on hookers? A little checkmark that says you can get a refund doesn't make me feel any less wary.
Creston
Cutter wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 15:23:Darks wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 12:53:Cutter wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 12:27:Techie714 © wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 12:16:
Game looks so damn good! But why did he chose to privately fund this instead of using a Kickstarter where he "might" get more exposure? That is a lot of $$$ to get this thing going just by word of mouth & media....
Yeah, that's something else that sort of bothers me about this. That's pretty cheap just because he doesn't want to give up a few points in donations - and losing a ton of exposure in the bargain. Bad move IMO. And something else about accountability nags at me with all of this. So there will be a playable version next year, but the game really won't be complete for several years? And it sounds more like an MMO than SP with MP component. Hrm, I dunno. Just doesn't quite add up. I think my focus is going to remain on X-Rebith for now.
What’s there not to like Cutter? Stop being an ass, there’s a check mark to get a refund if the game doesn’t fund so what’s there to complain about? Oh wait that the norm for you isn’t? No one makes Space Sims as good as Chris Roberts, even your X-Rebith can’t compete.
Don't be an ass for expressing my reservations? Don't be a dick and try responding like a civilized human being. You don't have any nagging doubts? Bully for you. Give him everything you can in that case. I'll take a wait and see approach. That ok with you? Fucking people.
Due to the overwhelming response to our campaign launch, the main site robertsspaceindustries.com is currently overloaded. We expect it to be accessible again shortly, but in the meantime please use this site to back the project with one of the pledges listed below. Thank you for your support!
nin wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 16:15:Flatline wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 16:07:Cutter wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 12:27:Techie714 © wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 12:16:
Game looks so damn good! But why did he chose to privately fund this instead of using a Kickstarter where he "might" get more exposure? That is a lot of $$$ to get this thing going just by word of mouth & media....
Yeah, that's something else that sort of bothers me about this. That's pretty cheap just because he doesn't want to give up a few points in donations - and losing a ton of exposure in the bargain. Bad move IMO. And something else about accountability nags at me with all of this. So there will be a playable version next year, but the game really won't be complete for several years? And it sounds more like an MMO than SP with MP component. Hrm, I dunno. Just doesn't quite add up. I think my focus is going to remain on X-Rebith for now.
A few points? Kickstarter takes either 10 or 15% of your total haul. At 10%, raising 4 million would take a 400k cut. Nothing to sneeze at.
According to this, they take 5%. Amazon payments takes 3-5%. So that's 10, max. Not 15.
Flatline wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 16:07:Cutter wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 12:27:Techie714 © wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 12:16:
Game looks so damn good! But why did he chose to privately fund this instead of using a Kickstarter where he "might" get more exposure? That is a lot of $$$ to get this thing going just by word of mouth & media....
Yeah, that's something else that sort of bothers me about this. That's pretty cheap just because he doesn't want to give up a few points in donations - and losing a ton of exposure in the bargain. Bad move IMO. And something else about accountability nags at me with all of this. So there will be a playable version next year, but the game really won't be complete for several years? And it sounds more like an MMO than SP with MP component. Hrm, I dunno. Just doesn't quite add up. I think my focus is going to remain on X-Rebith for now.
A few points? Kickstarter takes either 10 or 15% of your total haul. At 10%, raising 4 million would take a 400k cut. Nothing to sneeze at.
Creston wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 15:54:
I'm a bit worried that he's not using Kickstarter though. I understand that 7% of your total haul is a lot of money (KS fees plus Amazon fees), but who's to say he won't just cash in my donation even if it doesn't fund, and then blows it on hookers? A little checkmark that says you can get a refund doesn't make me feel any less wary.
"On 2646.215 I myself attacked & destroyed TCS Tiger's Claw in my Jalthi heavy fighter"Bakhtosh Redclaw Nar Kiranka
Cutter wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 12:27:Techie714 © wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 12:16:
Game looks so damn good! But why did he chose to privately fund this instead of using a Kickstarter where he "might" get more exposure? That is a lot of $$$ to get this thing going just by word of mouth & media....
Yeah, that's something else that sort of bothers me about this. That's pretty cheap just because he doesn't want to give up a few points in donations - and losing a ton of exposure in the bargain. Bad move IMO. And something else about accountability nags at me with all of this. So there will be a playable version next year, but the game really won't be complete for several years? And it sounds more like an MMO than SP with MP component. Hrm, I dunno. Just doesn't quite add up. I think my focus is going to remain on X-Rebith for now.
Rigs wrote on Oct 10, 2012, 15:25:
Don't get me wrong, I've been playing since before Wing Commander (though WC was one of the first games I played on a 'modern' PC - in 1992), and I love Privateer and Starlancer AND Freelancer (Starlancer never gets any love! I think it was almost as good as Freespace...seriously!) But one thing bothers the hell out of me when Chris speaks of doing a single player sim and then some kind of multiplayer/MMO -type of thing...he's said it before. When? Freelancer. In the run up to it's release I read preview after preview that touted it's grand single-player with dedicated servers for multi, which is fine. But then he swore that after Freelancers release, say a year or so out, he would release an MMO version of it. In fact, he said the the 'first' single-player release was to be a 'dry run' to work out all the kinks and bugs with the game and then they would put a new version out as an MMO...Of course, it obviously never happened. Freelancer released and I swear the day it went out, he closed up shop and disappeared. I'm not even sure if they released any patches for it. (They probably did, I stopped playing pretty quickly after release) But you never heard another peep out of him about it...
Now here he is trying to wow us again with a suitably impressive demonstration of a new game. But his plans for it are so strikingly similar to Freelancer that I have to sit back and say, 'Nope. I not falling for it again!' I'll wait and see. I'll watch, be sure. And yes, despite my wariness, I AM excited. I just really hope he pulls thru with this one. If anything, I wish he'd be trying to bring Freelancer back, maybe update it and put out the first MMO he said he would ten years ago...
EDIT: I'm with Cutter on this one, gents. I'll watch and wait. X: Rebirth will be coming along soon with a veteran crew at the helm and a seasoned game infrastructure to use...
=-Rigs-=
Star Citizen, still in early development stages, will not require a subscription, but will not be free-to-play either. Roberts says the game will be available for a one-time purchase. And while players will be able to play in the Star Citizen universe for free, there will also be virtual items available for purchase with in-game credits so players can customize their ships and other items.