Poster #53 is totally swimming in the cool-aid, he's splashing it all about the place!

Both those names; The Hull Truth and Wingman's Hanger, make me think cult (less so Wingman's Hanger) or TV evanglist. You should look with a lot of skepticsism at anything with Truth in it's title.

I was at work, so I did not grab the latest version, but it hasn't really changed. Yes, dogfighting is late and I wanted to honestly show that, so I mentioned they missed that original target and left the original target date to show that. They have not shifted any of their other targets, so I saw no reason not to publish the old version as is.

The early previews were made to help get corporate backing to supplement the full cost of making the game. They have now made enough money crowd funding to not need the corporate backing at all.

Chris Roberts has stated that a lot of the preview assets were being developed for the final Squadron 42 game. Specifically the carrier was being designed to eventually turn into the final product. Only the rooms that were finished were shown in the preview, there was still a lot of work to do. With the upgrades to the Star Citizen ships, the carrier likely has seen some tweaking. Also all footage was fully working in game. Some of the assets were purchased to fill in what they hadn't developed yet. I think the enemy was purchased assets just to have something. The preview was an early version of what will be the final game showing assets and tech that was already working.

As for development of Squadron 42, yes, putting the story in the game engine was just started in December. Writing of the story started before that, and so did the asset creation. The asset creation started about 2 years ago and was the first thing they started working on. Are they modifying the story, yes, I think 2 of the stretch goals extended the scope, but while getting the story in game is a lot of work, it is only part of a larger piece of work that they are well into. Why haven't we seen more? According to their weekly show, they want something to be a surprise, and that is Squadron 42. They have said a few times last year that they were in active development of assets for Squadron 42.

Yes, there will be a full release of Squadron 42. The early backers will get the story in beta episodes as each segment is mostly polished, but after the last episode they will do a final coat of polish which will be the full release. The final beta episode they are targeting for December 2014, final release January/February 2015. Chris admitted that December might be a little too ambitious for all the episodes to be done, but that is their current target. I think they were looking at September/Early October for the first episode.

This information is spread all over the place, but The Hull Truth and Wingman's Hanger are really good resources that pull a lot of this information together.

The Hull Truth
http://www.youtube.com/show/thehulltruth

Wingman's Hanger
http://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceIn

Tom wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 19:53:
I'm just a little annoyed that we've had like 100 Star Citizen threads here, and in every single one there's been this overwhelming stream of negativity - mostly from the same people every time. It's like they feel compelled to repeat the same extremely pessimistic views every time they see another Star Citizen thread. I understand that this is the nature of the Internet, and certainly everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, but come on people. Did Chris Roberts murder your families? No. Give the guy a frickin' chance already. It's not like his track record is THAT BAD.

$0.02

You have a point, but then do they have to report and then Blue follow that up a post here for every single million they got? We got it, you have a lot of donators from wherever they hell they are coming from. If each million wasn't reported, there would be a whole lot less bitchin about this game going on here. So as Ac/Dc sang... "Who made who?"

I get that there are a lot of red flags, and the number of promises is off the scale. Will they be able to deliver on everything? Make a game that satisfies every wish? Of course not. Are they going to completely screw this up and make a terrible P2W pile of crap? Maybe, but so far I haven't seen any evidence of that being the most likely outcome.

This project actually has some things going for it. Personally I think they have a pretty decent chance of making a good game - maybe even a great game - and making it better over time. Am I $300 convinced? No way. I got the $30 scout package or whatever it was, in order to get access to the alpha.

I'm just a little annoyed that we've had like 100 Star Citizen threads here, and in every single one there's been this overwhelming stream of negativity - mostly from the same people every time. It's like they feel compelled to repeat the same extremely pessimistic views every time they see another Star Citizen thread. I understand that this is the nature of the Internet, and certainly everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, but come on people. Did Chris Roberts murder your families? No. Give the guy a frickin' chance already. It's not like his track record is THAT BAD.

$0.02

Tom wrote on Feb 5, 2014, 23:20:
Another Star Citizen post, another raft of BN regulars pissing all over it. *yawn*

I've come to hope the game is successful JUST to prove you guys wrong.

Dude. We all hope the game is successful. There are just so many red flags on this project at this point it's highly unlikely. I would be this close to pulling my funds if there were an easy way to do so. I don't think they are intentionally putting together an unsustainable, unfinished product - but that's exactly what they've created. They just are too involved to notice, or really do anything about it even if they do notice.

HorrorScope wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 14:57:

harlock wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 13:17:

HorrorScope wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 13:05:

theyarecomingforyou wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 12:41:
The way I see it, there are no decent space sims out there so I've got nothing to lose by backing this. It is one of my favourite genres and I'm happy to gamble on a title as promising as this. However, everything I've seen so far has been positive.

If people don't want to back it then don't - wait for the final game to be released, check out the reviews and decide whether you want it then. But clearly a lot of people have faith in this project.

What is interesting is there are now like 4 space sims in development. As for backing it, you are right our choice. Doesn't mean we cannot comment though. Blue lines them up, we knock them down.

You are correct a lot of people do have faith, to the tune of 38 million and counting. People had faith in Bernie to.

do you know how many people have faith in our Lord God Almighty?

Now you are comparing apples to grenades. Now Chris is even a false prophet on top of everything else. lol

faith based thinking is faith based thinking... one mans fairy tale is another mans fact based scenario

HorrorScope wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 15:01:
Looks like 3 others will be out before this, if any are good, they'll steal a lot of thunder probably.

No shit.
I wonder if this whole game concept will look as good when it comes out as it does today.
Elite definitely going to take some of that thunder away from SC.

CJ_Parker wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 14:20:
Development of the real Squadron 42 game has actually started just fairly recently (December) at Foundry 42, the Manchester UK based studio that is headed by Erin Roberts.
Of course they'll be using a lot of the assets that the teams in Austin and Santa Monica (and elsewhere) have created but they are starting from scratch with mission #1.

Also, there is not going to be a "full release" as far as Squadron 42 is concerned. Erin Roberts has confirmed that Squadron 42 is going to be an episodic game.
The release of the final episode is supposed to be timed to coincide with the launch of the persistent universe (most definitely nowhere anywhere remotely near "early 2015").
Foundry 42 just started working on S42 in December. I have very serious doubts that there will be a first episode in early 2015. On the other hand they haven't really committed to what constitutes an "episode" so if it's three missions at a time, well, then it might happen but I wouldn't expect anything substantial before mid 2015 at the very earliest.

Geeze really stringing it out. Now you didn't invest in a game, you invested in an era of games. I bet that was in the KS description. Episodes now... rather have Bears roaming the office during a menstrual cycle. Looks like 3 others will be out before this, if any are good, they'll steal a lot of thunder probably.

harlock wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 13:17:

HorrorScope wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 13:05:

theyarecomingforyou wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 12:41:
The way I see it, there are no decent space sims out there so I've got nothing to lose by backing this. It is one of my favourite genres and I'm happy to gamble on a title as promising as this. However, everything I've seen so far has been positive.

If people don't want to back it then don't - wait for the final game to be released, check out the reviews and decide whether you want it then. But clearly a lot of people have faith in this project.

What is interesting is there are now like 4 space sims in development. As for backing it, you are right our choice. Doesn't mean we cannot comment though. Blue lines them up, we knock them down.

You are correct a lot of people do have faith, to the tune of 38 million and counting. People had faith in Bernie to.

do you know how many people have faith in our Lord God Almighty?

Now you are comparing apples to grenades. Now Chris is even a false prophet on top of everything else. lol

theyarecomingforyou wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 12:41:

The dogfighting module is basically how people will perceive the game - the persistent universe, content, FPS, economy and such all supplement the space combat. If it's not right then people will quickly lose interest.

That's very true. I also think there's probably some truth to the concept of them going "Holy shit!" when they saw the Elite alpha, because that was extremely polished and slick looking.

Hanneth wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 11:15:
The early previews were mostly from Squadron 42, so we know that they have that at least some working. The plan is to have the full release early 2015, but still add more content and features over time.

Not sure what you are talking about and the Wiki you quoted is outdated.
The early previews were merely a demo in the CryEngine. It's called visualization. Chris Roberts and a couple other people made that stuff to show what Squadron 42 should look like one day. Everything in there was just mockup though for visualization purposes. It wasn't real playable content. Just a demo.

Development of the real Squadron 42 game has actually started just fairly recently (December) at Foundry 42, the Manchester UK based studio that is headed by Erin Roberts.
Of course they'll be using a lot of the assets that the teams in Austin and Santa Monica (and elsewhere) have created but they are starting from scratch with mission #1.

Also, there is not going to be a "full release" as far as Squadron 42 is concerned. Erin Roberts has confirmed that Squadron 42 is going to be an episodic game.
The release of the final episode is supposed to be timed to coincide with the launch of the persistent universe (most definitely nowhere anywhere remotely near "early 2015").
Foundry 42 just started working on S42 in December. I have very serious doubts that there will be a first episode in early 2015. On the other hand they haven't really committed to what constitutes an "episode" so if it's three missions at a time, well, then it might happen but I wouldn't expect anything substantial before mid 2015 at the very earliest.

I'm waiting to see how P2W it is and how complete it is at release before making a decision. Saw no reason to get in on the KS once it was obvious that money was not going to be a problem.

Unfortunately I also won't be able to count on reviews from backers though. Many have put hundreds of dollars into this and can't be trusted to be objective.

Suppa7 wrote on Feb 5, 2014, 20:31:

mellis wrote on Feb 5, 2014, 20:09:
This guy seems to be making more money than a federal quantitative easing program

Well he's put a lot of effort into the fund raising drive while most developers are just "here give us money to make our game". He's being open and transparent with players. Where other developers basically are camera shy an hiding from the audience.

Very well said. To me this was an automatic buy just like a remake of UT with modern tech would. I preordered the last X game, safe to say I won't give a dime till I read user reviews. Also bought bf4 so the industry needs to impress me to get another dime from moi. The Witter 3 seems like the only title worth my money in 2014 but really hope I'm wrong.

HorrorScope wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 13:05:

theyarecomingforyou wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 12:41:
The way I see it, there are no decent space sims out there so I've got nothing to lose by backing this. It is one of my favourite genres and I'm happy to gamble on a title as promising as this. However, everything I've seen so far has been positive.

If people don't want to back it then don't - wait for the final game to be released, check out the reviews and decide whether you want it then. But clearly a lot of people have faith in this project.

What is interesting is there are now like 4 space sims in development. As for backing it, you are right our choice. Doesn't mean we cannot comment though. Blue lines them up, we knock them down.

You are correct a lot of people do have faith, to the tune of 38 million and counting. People had faith in Bernie to.

do you know how many people have faith in our Lord God Almighty?

theyarecomingforyou wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 12:41:
The way I see it, there are no decent space sims out there so I've got nothing to lose by backing this. It is one of my favourite genres and I'm happy to gamble on a title as promising as this. However, everything I've seen so far has been positive.

If people don't want to back it then don't - wait for the final game to be released, check out the reviews and decide whether you want it then. But clearly a lot of people have faith in this project.

What is interesting is there are now like 4 space sims in development. As for backing it, you are right our choice. Doesn't mean we cannot comment though. Blue lines them up, we knock them down.

You are correct a lot of people do have faith, to the tune of 38 million and counting. People had faith in Bernie to.

SpectralMeat wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 11:19:
I have a hard time believing that will happen.
Maybe they will surprise me but I don't think they are far enough in development to hit that target.

I think the delay for the dogfighting module is understandable given the huge expectations for the game. Rushing to hit the target would have delayed the final release and if it was poorly received it would have dried up any funding (not that any more is needed) - delays are understandable and every major crowdfunded game has seen delays. Heck, even a lot of AAA games are delayed (Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Far Cry 3, Bioshock Infinite, Metro: Last Light, etc)

The dogfighting module is basically how people will perceive the game - the persistent universe, content, FPS, economy and such all supplement the space combat. If it's not right then people will quickly lose interest. Fair or not, people expect more of the game now than when they backed the Kickstarter to hit the $500,000 target and that's a factor.

The way I see it, there are no decent space sims out there so I've got nothing to lose by backing this. It is one of my favourite genres and I'm happy to gamble on a title as promising as this. However, everything I've seen so far has been positive.

If people don't want to back it then don't - wait for the final game to be released, check out the reviews and decide whether you want it then. But clearly a lot of people have faith in this project.

Hanneth wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 11:15:
The Dogfighting Module (estimated December 2013) will allow a limited number of early backers to playtest the ship combat portion of the game against other players.

I see that the wiki is spot on.

Hanneth wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 11:15:
full release early 2015,

I have a hard time believing that will happen.
Maybe they will surprise me but I don't think they are far enough in development to hit that target.

So far they have delivered on time with the Hangar Module. The dog fighting module is late, but will use their own netcode instead of the stop gap Cryengine netcode. The early previews were mostly from Squadron 42, so we know that they have that at least some working. The plan is to have the full release early 2015, but still add more content and features over time.


From Wikipedia
--------------

Star Citizen is being developed using a modular approach, with the first module (dubbed the "Hangar Module") scheduled for release on or around 29 August 2013 in order to coincide with the games appearance at the 2013 Gamescom trade fair.

The initial release of the Hangar Module will allow backers of the project to explore their virtual ships from a 1st person perspective within Cryengine 3. Subsequent updates to the Hangar Module will include the ability to add upgrades and modifications to players' ships and allow players to invite friends to their hangar. The module system is intended to be iterative in nature, with updated version of modules being released as and when additional functionality and content are finalized.

Other Modules which have been mentioned by the developers (if not officially confirmed) include:

The Dogfighting Module (estimated December 2013) will allow a limited number of early backers to playtest the ship combat portion of the game against other players.

The Social/Planetside Module (estimated March–April 2014) will allow backers to experience the 1st person non-combat planet based environment, consisting of various shops and bars.

Squadron 42/Singleplayer Alpha (estimated August 2014) - little is known at this stage, but it is understood that this module will allow backers to try out the branching single player campaign (known as Squadron 42).

Persistent Universe/Beta (estimated end of 2014/early 2015) - again little is known at this stage, but it is understood that this module will allow backers to access a Beta version of the massively multiplayer persistent universe (known as Star Citizen).

Final Release (estimated Q1 2015) - Full commercial release of both Squadron 42 and Star Citizen.

NKD wrote on Feb 6, 2014, 03:55:
No one on this site ever admits being wrong.

I have a few times, BN posters have no problem correcting a mistake. I have no problem being educated. Just saying.... because I have.

We are all critics here, we all have decades worth of gaming experience to draw from, sometimes as a group we are wrong, most of the times though... probably spot on. We comment because we care.

My thoughts again "Too good to be true" and/or "Man this is going to take a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time to finish". We all hope for a knock out here, but were are bracing for a ground out double. Why, because of decades following gaming and the promises here are now possibly the most promises ever for a single game.