News: All your up to the date Official RSI news in one thread!!!

MONTHLY REPORT: AUGUST 2014 (Continued)
SEPTEMBER 2ND 2014


FPS TEAM




[Redacted]


G’Day Citizens! Did you enjoy Gamescom? Are you happy with your Connies? We certainly hope so!

I’m sure you all must be aware by now… The secret is out. The beans have been spilled. The cat is out of the bag! That’s right, [REDACTED] will finally be showing off some FPS goodness at PAX Australia!

We’ve been hard at work getting things ready for the big event. As you may have noticed from the teaser that was shown at Gamescom, the station environment we’ve been working on has been coming together really well. More props are coming online daily and are being added to the environment. We now have detailed objects filling up the mess hall, security office and Gravity Control room… Along with all these props, visual effects are being added to give a strong sense of atmosphere. Air rushes through doors as they open, sparks trickle down from broken equipment and water splashes (you guys really seemed to enjoy that…) as players crash through puddles on the floor.

The engineers and animators here at [REDACTED] took a quick trip down to CiG Austin to hammer out some long standing animation issues. We now have a new skeleton and rig to work with that should greatly improve the animations in the game and fix many of the issues that we have been having (and some of those you may have been experiencing in the hangars).

On the engineering and design side, we have shifted from real life nerf-gun fights to in-game playtests. In my personal opinion they are much more fun, more productive and less dangerous! These tests have mostly been focused on improving stability and fixing network issues, but we are now transitioning to iterating on gameplay and balance.

I would like to personally thank [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] for all their hard work and crunching to put together an amazing Gamescom teaser trailer in a very short amount of time. I think everybody would agree that you guys did a real smash up job and deserve some special mention.

Lastly, I would like to give a shout out to an unexpected guest we had last month. Super Star Citizen Wulf Knight somehow discovered our true identity (are you a wizard?!), stopped by to meet the team, and then fed the entire office with pizza! From everybody here, thanks for the grub Wulf!

P.S. – Are you Citizens all hyped up for leaderboards like I am? I’ll see you on the rankings, my handle is [REDACTED]! 


TURBULENT



Benoit Beauséjour, Founder
The Platform team was all over the place this August, pushing the website to its full potential and shaping its future at the same time.

August Events and the Ship Catalog


Of course August was the month we officially released the new Ship Catalog and what we dubbed the “Store Revamp”. We reorganized the whole store to make it easier to navigate, while at the same time interlocking it with game data every step of the way. The new Ships catalog is the first brick toward a complete and thorough Galactapedia, giving you access to tremendous amounts of data directly from the game.

You may have noticed that this last month had been heavy with events. Gamescom, the Constellation lineup reveal, DragonCon, the shattered 50 Million barrier… These were all perfect occasions to make the whole site a better experience for everyone, one step at a time. We fine-tuned the way the Store can handle flash sales, stabilized the Chat for high traffic events… and overall smoothed out a lot of bumps in the site.

We took advantage of the new Ship Catalog to make its centralized data available across the board : the Constellation lineup saw the birth of Comm-links with Stats and Holo-Viewers that will never go out of date. The Community’s overwhelmingly positive response has been a huge influence on us to go even further an immerse you, the players, into the Star Citizen Universe as soon as you hit the Site.

Starmap, Leaderboards and future projects


In the aftermath of the new Store and Catalog release, we are now laying down the foundation of what the Website will be for the next few months. The Community has spoken, so the web-based Starmap is taking form. Still in early concept, we are making this into the second brick of Galactapedia. But it will be its own complete feature, and we can’t wait to share with you what we have in store for it.

We’ve also been working on creating the first Arena Commander Leaderboards module. Gathering the data from all available game modes, compiling data for users AND organizations, and displaying that huge amount of data in a way that will allow players to measure up against others, quantify their progress and even recruit promising players into their orgs is a beautiful challenge, and we are happy to step up to it. You won’t have to wait long until you actually see it, so stay tuned!

Pretty soon you’ll also be able to select the Hangar you want to see in the Hangar Module, and which ships you want to display, directly from the Web. That’s been another focus of ours lately, so that you can fully enjoy these beautiful 4 new hangars!

Of course concept work for Organizations Drop Two is still going on as well. It has been for a while now, and production on this will be kicking in shortly.

Full of challenges and great surprises, this has been a busy month, and above all, a promising one!


MOON COLLIDER



Matthew Jack, Founder


August was a big month for all of the Star Citizen teams, and Moon Collider was certainly no exception. With a big demo imminent, as well as a major new release to prepare for, there was plenty of work to get done

You all saw the Gamescom demo, of course, and with it the announcement of Vanduul Swarm Coop mode. We’ve been doing some work to make sure the AI behaves well in a multiplayer environment, but overall we were very pleased that the AI handled the transition quite smoothly, and there weren’t that many issues to deal with. This is a great gameplay mode, and we’re looking forward to hearing from the community how we can tweak and improve the AI to make it even better.

We’ve also done some work on Vanduul Swarm Singleplayer for version 0.9 of Arena Commander that we think will be a big improvement. We got a lot of feedback about ways to improve the behavior of team mates, and in particular people want them to do a better job of avoiding you. So we’ve improved their avoidance behavior and now they should give you a wider berth. We are keen to get community feedback on how effective this change is. There have also been some tweaks to all AI ships due to the speed increases in the new version, and we expect that we’ll be doing further tweaks as we get feedback from you all about what works and what doesn’t.

On the FPS combat front, we been continuing to do work on the perception abilities of the AI. There were also some issues with animation of the AI that were making them have trouble aiming at the player and being able to turn around properly when being flanked, but we got those solved and the AI are much more effective as a result. It was a good example of how AI and animation are often very closely connected.

We added a very cool feature to our AI debugging toolset this month, that has already proven to be extremely useful in tracking down bugs. One problem is that in multi player matches the AI will be running on the server and when you see something weird on a client, it can be hard to get good information about what the AI is doing on the server, so you can figure out if the problem is on the server or the client. We now have the ability to capture information about the AI from the server, and then stream it in real time inside a client with 3D visualized debugging, so we can see immediately if there are any discrepancies between what is happening on the server and on the client.

Finally, we’ve been doing more design work on the persistent universe, along with some prototyping work to enable designers to start placing objects in the world that AI can interact with. And as always, no month would be complete without doing various other bugfixes and optimizations, improvements to our processes and all of those little things that aren’t very exciting, but are essential to making all the cool stuff possible!

 

ARENA COMMADER V.9 STATUS UPDATE
SEPTEMBER 5TH 2014



Greetings Citizen
This morning, we held a “go/no-go” meeting to discuss whether or not we could launch Arena Commander V0.9 today. The decision from the production team was that we are not go for release at this time. While we hope that today’s build will resolve some of the last remaining blockers we do not want to release a build that has not been thoroughly tested as these fixes may have had knock on effects. Additionally, Star Citizen’s team members have gone above and beyond lately so we didn’t want to make people work straight through the weekend again, as some worked over Labor Day and we’ll be immediately sprinting to V0.9.1 and ultimately V1.0. We know some will be disappointed not to play this weekend, but we’re also cautious about releasing an untested build to our community.

Last week, we had a number of backers asking about specific features planned for V0.9. Here’s the “short list,” which I think you will find represents a major step forward for Arena Commander!

• Murray Cup Racing Mode: As shown at Gamescom, players can now race their pledge ships in a specially designed upper-atmospheric scenario!
• Vanduul Swarm Co-Op: Take on the alien hoards with a friend, or competitor!
• Flyable M50 and 350R: The M50 and the 350R have been readied for flight to kick off the race mode. These ships will now be flyable in all Arena Commander game modes.
• Private Matches: Tired of being matched with random players in AC? Private matches will let you play with friends!
• Friend Codes: We’re launching a code system for both private and public matches so you can connect with your wingmen.
• Leaderboards: Your performance in Arena Commander’s various modes will display on the RSI website and allow you to compare with others.
• Updated Ship Performance: We’ve increased the speed and acceleration of every ship. With this we’ve also reworked the afterburner mechanic to increase acceleration instead of top speed.
• HUD Update: We’ve overhauled the usability of the visor HUD interface so you can customize your ships systems much more easily in flight.
• New Hangars: We’ve remastered all of Star Citizen’s Hangars with the new forward-looking room system and added the Asteroid Hangar.
• New Pause Menu: Our refactored pause menu is a large step forward ascetically and will support new features like custom keybindings in the future. In the meantime we’ve included selectable profiles for the most common peripherals.
• 6DOF: With the improvements to the IFCS and flight physics we are now ready to introduce 6DOF movement for an entirely new way to fly.

Some of these are big, headlining features that we know backers are eager to get their hands on; Like Murray Cup Racing and Vanduul Swarm Coop! The reality is that the less flashy features are some of the most important in the long run and also some of the most challenging. You’re seeing the individual atoms of the persistent universe coming together before your eyes. The Friend Code feature represents the first step towards connecting you with friends and organization members from the web platform in the game itself. Likewise the leaderboards involve building the platform/client connection that will someday let you interact with your character through the RSIwebsite and will serve as the basis for stat tracking and rating based matchmaking!

Other features are a direct result of your feedback. The HUD improvement is designed to address how players have responded to HUD navigation and interaction. Every patch we release involves listening to our backers, watching them play and aiming to improve the experience. We hope that you will find the HUD much more user friendly, functional, and intuitive than it has been in previous iterations.

We’re also giving pilots more control over how they fly their ship. In addition to adding 6DOF (six degrees of freedom) controls pilots will now have the ability to “overboost” directional thrusters, at the expense of more fuel burn. This allows you to temporarily increase the thrust output of your maneuvering thrusters to better arrest undesirable angular velocity such as in a tight turn.

The physics modeling and damage feedback have also been improved. We’ve resolved some ongoing issues with the damage modeling but more importantly we also provided increased feedback to players on incoming damage and the direction it came from. You are now jostled in your ship based on the direction and power of a weapon impact. We have changed the g-force animations to more accurately reflect the physics g-force has on your character.

With a patch that adds so much and is thusly so complex as V0.9 issues are inevitably going to come up. Due to the diligent work of our team we have been able to solve most of the biggest blockers: leaderboards, rubber banding, stuttering in Vanduul Swarm Coop, and friend code issues. While these issues and a few other appear to be nearly resolved we need a couple more days to test and validate that our fixes haven’t created any new issues.

Our goal for V0.9 isn’t just to add exciting new features, it’s to keep improving every aspect of Arena Commander (and ultimately Star Citizen) based on your testing and feedback. We very much look forward to being able to share V0.9 with all of you as soon as it is proven to be stable enough to release. We are aiming for the middle of next week and we will update the community on Wednesday, September 10th about the status of the build if plans change. Until then we appreciate your patience and support as we engage in this open development process together.

 

ARENA COMMANDER V0.9 STATUS UPDATE
SEPTEMBER 10TH 2014



Greetings Citizens,
We are getting close! This afternoon we will kick off a Release Candidate build of Arena Commander V0.9. What that means is that we presently believe that our engineering teams should have eliminated all of the remaining blocker and critical bugs identified by our internal QA teams.

What happens next? The RC build process takes roughly eight hours. For those unfamiliar with software development, generating a build is sort of like baking a cake: we’ve put together all the ingredients into a pan and it’s now in the oven. Later tonight, we’ll take that piping hot copy of Arena Commander V0.9 and hand it over to QA for a final round of internal testing.

Why does it take so long to bake this cake? As our codebase and asset sizes grow, the amount of time to build the code with full optimizations and do a full clean build of the assets into the pak files takes longer and longer. (We do a clean build for release candidates for QA to test to avoid compiler and toolchain bugs with incremental builds.)

Then, to make the download smaller and faster for our backers, we run a patch building process that compares the previous release’s files to the new release – this binary delta comparison is an expensive process that also takes longer as the size of the code and assets grow. This patching process makes it so backers don’t need to download the whole game (or even whole files that have only been slightly changed) for the new release – just the differences.

Next, we need to distribute this patch data to all of our studios over the Internet so QA and developers throughout the company can test the build. Unfortunately, all of these steps added together makes the whole process take many hours.

But while it takes eight hours today, the system will change in the future as Star Citizen gets bigger and more elaborate! We plan to make the process faster to decrease the build->test->fix->repeat cycle for release candidates – we have efforts both in-progress and planned for the future to decrease the amount of time the full clean release build process takes. These improvements will also help development efforts earlier in the development process by increasing the rate at with QA and developers receive test builds.

Until that happens, we do have an ace in the hole that helps maximize testing time! Since we have QA teams in Manchester and Austin, we can effectively test through the night. The UK team will pick up the Release Candidate to put it through its paces. By the time the teams in Austin and Santa Monica get into work on Thursday, we’ll know how that testing cycle went. Should everything work as expected, the build is then propagated to the public release channel.

At that point, we’re really, really close… but things can still go wrong. At this step QA will do a ‘real life’ test of the game: downloading it from the server just like a backer to make sure it works correctly in the wild. It’s rare, but we’ve seen new blockers appear at this step in the process before: aspects of the real server environment we can’t emulate in the office that make themselves seen at the last minute.

Once QA gives us the final ‘thumbs up’ on the propagated build, we will flip the final switch and the patch will become available. If all goes as planned then you can expect to see Arena Commander V0.9 immediately thereafter. Should the unexpected happen, our bug smashers leap back into action to try and fix issues as quickly as possible… and then the Release Candidate cycle will begin again. We will keep you updated as to the status either way!

 

ARENA COMMANDER V0.9 STATUS UPDATE
SEPTEMBER 11TH 2014



Greetings Citizens,
Arena Commander V0.9 will release tomorrow! The QA team in Austin has just cleared a Release Candidate for liftoff. This version is currently being uploaded to the public release servers where it will be staged with publishing.

Why not release it tonight? Answering that question means going behind the scenes. Tonight’s version, now approved, is what we’re calling Release Candidate 2, or RC2. Since kicking off the build process for RC2 earlier today, we’ve made a number of additional bug fixes and improvements that we’d like to see included with the patch. Release Candidate 4 is currently building and will be available for QA in Manchester to test when they get to work in a few hours. This version will also be uploaded and staged later tonight. If Release Candidate 4 is also approved, we will release it instead of the version undergoing staging now. If it introduces unexpected bugs, then we will pull the trigger, make RC2 available tomorrow and integrate the last-minute changes in a future patch.

So check back tomorrow for the long-awaited update! Arena Commander V0.9 includes a multitude of new features, from co-op play to leaderboards to the Murray Cup racing simulator to the new Hangars, along with too many bug fixes to list! Starting tomorrow, you can expect a totally revamped Star Citizen experience. We’ll also have plenty of cool content on the website, including the M50 brochure and commercial, an updated Arena Commander manual and a post from design talking about the ship stat change process. The team is working tonight to have all the finishing touches on this material done, and it’s content we’re thrilled to share!

 

DESIGN: UPDATING SHIP STATS FOR GAMEPLAY
SEPTEMBER 12TH 2014



Or: Holy @#$*! What did you do to my (insert ship name here)?!
You might have noticed that as more ships are becoming battle-ready, some of their stats are changing. Sometimes, these changes look very dramatic. The important thing to remember as you see these numbers changing is that no matter what the changes are, we are not changing the purpose of any ship. What you see in that brief paragraph of description is precisely what we’re attempting to reach with each and every stat change.

An ongoing game balancing
Most of the numbers that appeared early in Star Citizen’s development were the conceptualizations by the design staff of what these ships might be relative to one another. As you’ve seen over the years, many of our original ideas on how the game would work have evolved (and improved!) during the process of developing the game. This is the inevitable result of taking design concepts and bringing them to life in code and art. Each department adds its own insight to the process, and the resulting hybrid is pretty much always something markedly different from the original words on paper (or Confluence, or bar napkins, or what have you). That’s just the way these projects grow.

Often, numbers were envisioned before the systems that would support them were fully fleshed out, and those systems also were changing and evolving over the course of development. So what we initially thought would define (as much as a handful of numbers can define anything) a ship that served a particular purpose wasn’t always the same as what that ship would end up actually being. Once artists start conceptualizing these visually, things change even more. We might have thought initially that the M50 would be about the same size as the Hornet, but it turned out much smaller (and really awesome looking, to boot). The Idris doubled in size during construction (that’s one reason why it’s a frigate now). The Starfarer tripled just because the concept art looked so cool at that larger size!

Re: Jump Drives
To address the current hot topic of jump drives: not every ship will include one. Our philosophy is that sometimes small craft (especially ones that are carrier based) won’t start out with a jump drive … but jump drives will be available, inexpensive and able to be mounted to any ship larger than the parasite fighters (Merlin-class). We don’t see the lack of jump drive on, say, the M50 as limiting gameplay in any way; if players want to take their interceptor off to explore another system they’ll be able to configure it for that mission almost immediately! (Think back to Chris Roberts’ Privateer, which began without a jump point, and offered a true thrill once the ability to go beyond a home system was earned.)


HOW STATS CHANGE

Each time stats change, it’s because the team feels like we’re making that ship better – and a better representation of its specific role. That, after all, is our most important goal in building this game. (But let us stress once again: each ship will be what you make it; because we present the M50 as a racer in one example and an interceptor in another does not mean it can’t be kitted out as an info runner, a dogfighter or a fast personal transport!)

The impact of Physics
One of the systems that the engineering team has spent the most time and effort on is the physics model for our ships. What that model allows us to do with Star Citizen’s ships is downright amazing. But it also sets certain realistic constraints on what will really work for each ship. As you’ve seen, the feel of each individual ship has already changed multiple times, just in the time since Arena Commander released. That’s because getting the numbers just right for the physics system is a very painstaking process. If the engines on a ship are too big, stopping becomes too difficult, and that makes turning sloppier. If there aren’t enough maneuvering thrusters, or they’re too small, the ship turns like a whale, but if they’re too big, then flying the ship becomes a white-knuckled, vomit-inducing terror ride.

Cargo and Freight
Cargo is the same way: we estimate rough numbers based on our initial conception of the size of a ship, but once that ship is built out in all of its glory, those numbers can turn out to be pretty far off. You won’t see “real” numbers for cargo until we have a real ship built and in the game, carrying cargo.

One thing to remember is that the number of freight units isn’t the same thing as the sum value of a ship’s cargo hold. There are many other factors to consider, including how well protected cargo is against damage, whether it can be identified with various types of scans, and even how attractive the ship is to those wishing to ship goods. (AVIP would likely rather travel on a luxury Phoenix than a bare-bones Freelancer!)

Extremely small ships like the M50 and the 350r don’t have any measurable ‘freight units’ … but they do have room for passengers and personal cargo, and they do a better job than a massive transport or frigate of keeping that cargo safe. So if you’re looking to move a spy across Vanduul lines or transport a briefcase full of diamonds, one of the racers might be a great choice! (For those interested in shipping bulk goods with a speedy ship, cargo drop pods will be available; ORIGIN doesn’t include them as standard because they aren’t very sexy!)

What is not shown
And then there are a lot of numbers that you can’t see yet, as well. Given some of the reactions to just the few that we have published and changed (and changed some more), adding more theoretical numbers that we’ll inevitably also have to change once they’re implemented in the game just seems unfair. Wondering why the Freelancer seems light on cargo space compared to other cargo ships? Maybe that’s because it has the best cargo shielding in the business. What does that mean? Your cargo is harder to scan, and it’s also better protected against being damaged when things get a little rough out there. Likewise, the new, smaller values for the M50 engines don’t change the fact that it has one of the best top speeds in the ’verse, and it also has the snappiest maneuvering of the racers. We just realized that slapping TR4 engines on that now-much-more-compact baby would turn its poor driver into mush the first time you cranked up the throttle! Meanwhile, the M50 becomes the first small ship with redundant power plants. The guns got smaller, because bigger guns looked silly on a ship that size – but it got a few missiles!

 

SEPTEMBER SUBSCRIBER FLARE
SEPTEMBER 12TH 2014



Attention Development Subscribers: your new monthly flare item is now available in your Hangars! This month, we’re adding a set of lockers to your home-away-from-home… but it’s more than a place to keep your flightsuit! Each of the three lockers contains a variety of Star Citizen-related surprises for you to explore.

Are you interested in joining the Development Subscribers? You can find out more details here.

 

ARENA COMMANDER V0.9
SEPTEMBER 12TH 2014



Arena Commander V0.9 is here, and it is a big one! You can now update your copy of Star Citizen via the launcher client. Today’s patch is the most significant iteration of Arena Commander yet, featuring new game modes, game balancing and bug fixes! What can you expect to find?

NEW GAME MODES


Racing
Do you have what it takes to win the Murray Cup? We’ve added a simulation of the famous race to the Arena Commander game. In order to accommodate racing we have added a new map, New Horizon. Compete with your friends to finish the course as quickly as possible… but be warned: racing isn’t just about having the fastest ship, it’s about being the best pilot!


Vanduul Swarm Coop
Put your new friend codes to good use! Take on the Swarm together with up to three of your wingmen for the toughest Vanduul Swarm experience yet.

Friend Codes
Star Citizen is all about communities, and it’s time to start enabling that on the game side. We’ve launched our initial friend code system with Arena Commander V0.9, which will allow you to group with other citizens in the module’s co-op modes. Whether you’re racing for the cup, teaming up to capture the core or taking on the Swarm together, AC is more fun with friends.

Leaderboards
When fighter pilots gather, they invariably want to know: who’s the best? Arena Commander’s leaderboards will show you who are top pilots are… and on the technical side, this kicks off the web-game connection that will be needed for many of Star Citizen’s future features!


KNOWN ISSUES


PLEASE NOTE: We are aware of an issue when loading into Arena Commander from the cockpit of your ships. This does not affect all ships and will be fixed in Patch 13.1. For the time being we suggest loading into Arena Commander through the pause menu.









MODULE IMPROVEMENTS


New flyable ships
Arena Commander V0.9 adds two of our racing ships: the M50 and the 350R. If you’ve pledged for either of these ships, they’ll be available in your Hangar to fly in all of Arena Commander’s game modes.










Grab all the latest info and buying options on these incredibly fast ship :

Start Your Engines!

New Hangars

Your home just got a new coat of paint… and then some. The team at BHVR has rebuilt all three Star Citizen Hangars in the new expandable room system that will eventually open to the Persistent Universe. Did we say three? There are actually four Hangars now, with the addition of the long-awaited asteroid or ‘pirate’ hangar! Additionally, players will now be able to select which Hangar they wish to use via the website. If you have access to the highest tier hangar (Asteroid) you will be able to elect any of the lower tier hangars if you prefer them aesthetically.


Self-Land



Aeroview



Revel York



Asteroid




GAME IMPROVEMENTS

Six Degrees of Freedom
As we’ve continued iterating and improving on the physics based flight model, we’ve now implemented 6DOF controls and flight mechanics for all of our ships. This will allow players to move along every axis and shows off the flexibility of our flight model as well as what makes space flight so cool!

New control schemes
You can now select between multiple popular preset control schemes. This represents the first pass at personal customization the full version of which will be coming shortly, planned for patch 13.1 which will allow you to completely customize your control scheme.

HUD Improvements
v0.9 introduces some significant usability improvements to the Combat Visor Interface. Navigation within each context window has become much more streamlined, in addition to becoming navigable with a mouse cursor. We’ve also introduced new hotkeys for managing your ship’s power and shield allocation quickly in the heat of battle.







Lead Target Indicator

Your HUD now features a lead target indicator which will extend from your active target. This is your targeting computer’s (ITTS) attempt at telling you where to shoot in order for your weapon groups to hit the target. It accounts for relative velocity, acceleration, and the average projectile speed of your weapon groups. This change to targeting means that you no longer aim at the ship itself and rely on ITTS to auto-fire on the predicted hit location. Instead, pilots need a little more skill: you’ll have to fire at the ITTS lead indicator! We’d originally wanted to have this system in place for V0.8 so we are very excited to introduce it with 0.9. This is a big change to how Dogfighting works in Arena Commander but is more realistic, and fun.

Fixed Weapons and Convergence
With the introduction of the Lead Target Indicator we’ve also introduced fixed weapons and fixed weapon convergence. Now class one weapon mounts are properly fixed forward and no longer gimbal. They do however now automatically converge based on your range to the target lead indicator to ensure that if you line up your gun cross properly, you won’t miss.



Improved Ship Performance
We’ve increased the top speed of every ship. With this we’ve also reworked the afterburner mechanic to increase acceleration instead of top speed. We’ve also added the ability to temporarily boost the output of your maneuvering thrusters to more quickly arrest undesirable angular velocity, such as in a tight turn.

Improved Sound
We’ve added a number of sound effects that help make the ‘Verse feel more immersive. Everything from the ships, weapons, and environment have completely new sound effects. We have also fixed numerous sound bugs and given our legacy sound effects another pass to make sure they meet the quality of our new sound effects.

And that’s not all. You can find a complete list of new features, balance changes, bug fixes and known issues in the R13 Patch Notes.

Since Arena Commander V0.9 makes so many changes to the game, our crack publications team has updated the previously-released Arena Commander manual. You can download a copy here.

And to further celebrate Arena Commander V0.9, we’ve added the two racing-oriented ships as permanent additions to the pledge store! If you’re interested in backing for an M50 or a 350R, you can learn more (and see our most fun ship commercial to date) here.

Finally, for those interested in ship stats we have a post from the design team talking about how and why changes have been made to the ships now integrated into Arena Commander. You can find that here.

 

Star Citizen Patch 13
2843.58327
SEPTEMBER 12TH 2014

• Features
  • Added Cooperative Vanduul Swarm game mode
  • Added Classic Race game mode
  • Added Private Matches
  • Added Friend Codes
  • M50 is now Arena Commander Ready
  • 350r is now Arena Commander Ready
  • Added New Horizons Speedway level
  • New Hangars:
    • Discount is now Self Land
    • Business is now Aeroview
    • Deluxe is now Revel & York
    • Addition of VFG Industrial Asteroid Hangar
  • Added backend support for Leaderboards
  • Added ability to boost maneuvering thrusters by consuming fuel
  • Additional controls for Six Degrees of Freedom in both coupled/decoupled mode
  • Added various control schemes
  • Added fuel gauge to HUD of all ships
  • Greatly improved pilot g-force animations
  • Added scalable directional pilot animations for hit impacts
  • New game/pause menu
  • Updated and improved a plethora of sound effects
  • Added sounds for catwalk doors
  • Updated countermeasure sounds
  • Added response sound for hitting target
  • Updated Character Animations
  • New Sound effects for Vanduul wave spawns
  • New ship flight sounds
  • Updated Aurora paint jobs
  • Updated 300-series paint jobs
  • Added lead target indicators
  • Added sound effect for failed missile lock
  • Added sound effect for hit confirmation
  • Fixed a multitude of ships bugs for hangar ships
  • Double tapping throttle up/down on gamepad and keyboard sets throttle to full/zero
  • Added spectator cam after you are destroyed
  • Added support for Track IR
  • Added support for players to select their active hangar on the website
  • Updated HUD, revamped HUD controls, and greatly improved functionality
  • Added slight head movement to look where you are flying

• Balance/Tweaks
  • Increased top speed of ships to previous max boost speed
  • Afterburners now increase thruster power instead of top speed
  • Removed automatic lead shooting by ITTS. Training wheels are off.
  • Rebalanced all weapons
  • Improved weapon damage due to ITTS changes
  • Improved weapon heat dissipation
  • Boosting now overrides G-Safe
  • Improved control sensitivity for finer control on joysticks and thumbsticks.
  • Revised shield recharge rates and health
  • Revised health of all ships and their discrete pieces
  • Throttle now proportional to acceleration for more precise throttle control on gamepad and keyboard
  • Revised missile speed, damage, and signature requirements for lock
  • Updated flight performance characteristics for all ships
  • Balanced energy consumption on weapons and items better.
  • Updated and improved art and visual effects in Broken Moon and Dying Star
  • Improved AI flight behavior

• Fixes
  • Sound no longer plays while the loading screen is still active
  • CTC Core radar icon changed to be more visible
  • Fixed an issue where targeting reticles were still present after target died
  • Fixed the performance issues with CTC Cores
  • Fixed orientation of targeted ships on HUD
  • Respawn message no longer shows when you eject on your final life in Vanduul Swarm
  • Loading of ship hud no longer cancels lock-ons
  • Memory optimizations for sound
  • Missiles no longer pass through geometry
  • Various Animation and IK fixes
  • Freelancer door animation fixes
  • Fixed an issue with the crab escaping its tank and wandering out of the hangar
  • Fixed missing textures
  • Fixed up ejection issues
  • Fixed misaligned decals on ships
  • Various crash fixes
  • Fixed issue where player was able to exit ship while respawning
  • Fixed an issue where player would sometimes die immediately when spawning during Free Flight or Vanduul Swarm
  • Lighting adjustments
  • Fixed a lot of animation issues throughout
  • Fixed an issue with players falling through elevators
  • Fixed an issue with character appearing to fall after loading
  • Fixed camera angle issues in third person
  • Fixed character missing eyes in some situations
  • Fixed issues with audio cutting out
  • Fixed collision issues with walls
  • Console no longer displays user information such as username
  • Adjusted landing pad to be easier to land on
  • Fixed various server crashes
  • Track IR adjustments
  • Fixed issue where 300i could sometimes fail to eject the player
  • Fixed 325a control panels missing
  • Enabled Hornet volume trail
  • Fixed avenger geometry, animation, and texture issues
  • Fixed collision on the Cutlass
  • Fixed issues with damage states and visual effects
  • Fixed a potential security issue present when accessing the console
  • Fixed various issues with throttle and stick pilot animations in the Hornet
  • Fixed an issue where the Aurora’s cockpit camera was cutting off important HUD information

• Known Issues
  • New Hangars are limited to the amount of ships that can be displayed
  • You cannot select which ships will be displayed in your Hangar
  • Non-Dogfight Hornets appear overly shiny
  • The large Hangar doors in Revel & York drop out of view at certain distances
  • Idris does not spawn in Hangar
  • Arena Commander menu clips through the M50 canopy after boarding the ship
  • 350R pilots have a slight chance of spawning into race mode with broken wrists
  • The Hornet can throttle to 100% and boost to max speed even after its main engine has been destroyed
  • Players receive a “You died” message and are forced to respawn after launching Free Flight
  • Numerous locations with z-fighting on ships and hangars
  • Numerous minor collision issues in ships and hangars
  • Numerous locations in hangars where graphics will drop out at a distance
  • Some weapons and components are missing information in the holo table
  • Some weapons and components are showing one sided polygons in the holo table
  • 300i variants cannot use their beds
  • Avenger bed cannot be used
  • Oculus Rift only works in Vehicle seats
  • The Arena Commander menu in the Aurora Legionnaire, Aurora, CL, Aurora MR and Aurora ES are really low down in the cockpit and hard to read
  • No Hornet variants have Arena Commander menus
  • The overdrive / boost bar does not work in the m50 or the 300i
  • Unable to change the power-triangle / priority in the 350R
  • Issue regarding CIG2 keyboard settings
  • In Race Mode if the player crashes towards the front of the starting grid, they will respawn underneath the hangar
  • The 17th checkpoint ring currently does not display in the Murray Cup – Defford Link level.

 

ARENA COMMANDER PATCH - STAR CITIZEN 13.01
SEPTEMBER 13TH 2014



Greetings Citizens,
The Star Citizen team has been following the Arena Commander V0.9 rollout! Today, we are issuing an additional Arena Commander patch to address some of the issues backers are having with Arena Commander V0.9. Patch 13.0.1 includes fixes for some connectivity issues and repairs the missing checkpoint from one of the racing mode tracks. The patch will apply automatically the next time you connect to the Star Citizen launcher.

In order to address ongoing connection issues, we are temporarily taking private servers offline. The engineering team is addressing what they believe to be a server-side issue that is causing the matchmaking issues some backers are experiencing. (In short, the server isn’t correctly reassigning private match resources to public games after sessions finish; so each server gradually becomes unusable for public matches and no one is able to connect.) Once a solution is found, we will bring private game modes back online. Note that friend codes will continue to work in public matches while the private servers are offline.

We are also aware of issues with some control types, especially the gamepad. Another fix is in the works to address this, and our QA teams have just begun testing on the customizable keybinding system that will be included with Patch 13.1. This release, which we consider a strong priority, should improve the control experience!

Finally, we are also working on a hotfix to improve the “No Match Found” issue that some backers have been encountering. This bug relates to the server-side queuing system: the game is trying to put players into matches that have already started, which the game rules for Versus and Racing modes do not allow. As a result, players are made to wait and then ultimately told a match isn’t available instead of being given a new one. Engineering believes they have a bead on this one and that the hotfix will be ready shortly.

The development team is standing by to address issues with the build that backers experience. This process would not be possible without the exhaustive feedback we receive from the community; whether you’re reporting bugs on the forums or streaming your Arena Commander experience on Twitch, you are helping us build a better game!

 

LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN
SEPTEMBER 16TH 2014



Greetings Citizens,
Over the weekend, we crossed $53 million in crowd funding!

Let me first apologize for the delay in this letter. One thing we’ve learned is that the period following a major patch is critical: we get our most important feedback by tracking and responding to what we hear in the first hours of a release. So the team has been working through the weekend not only fixing urgent issues but also adapting our future plans to your feedback.

But in the end, we have been extremely happy with how the Arena Commander V0.9 rollout has gone. It looks like a lot of people are enjoying the race modes, and the updated mechanics are really showing what we meant when we said combat in Star Citizen was going to be skill-based! Our most urgent charges now are re-enabling private matches and addressing control issues; expect to hear more about both in the near future!

For now, let’s take a moment to celebrate another crowdfunding milestone. We’re proud of Arena Commander, for sure, but we also know that we would not be where we are today without the support of our backers. You’ve made this possible, and you deserve all the blood and sweat we can put into the game. The $53 million unlock was for the Independent Arbitrator’s Guild position, described:

• INDEPENDENT ARBITRATOR’S GUILD – Have you been wronged by your superiors? Has the member of your organization entrusted with watching the funds, been watching them go into their own pocket? Think you don’t have any recourse? You’re wrong. Fully licensed and bonded to work within the UEE and beyond, the Independent Arbitrator’s Guild allows citizens (and civilians, we don’t discriminate!) to file complaints against (or within) private organizations. Petition cases with our IAG representatives to have your voice heard and restitutions made. Is your business less than legitimate? IAG is only here to judge the matters you want us to. Confidentiality is guaranteed.

Obviously, this is something we aren’t going to need until the persistent universe launches… but we’ve set aside funding for the position, and are in the process of determining exactly what the requirements are. We’ve heard from many fans who want the job, and are leaning towards considering applicants from outside the gaming industry. It seems like a paralegal with the appropriate grasp of our universe might be an ideal candidate!

For the past two years, you’ve learned the ins and outs of our ships and you’ve heard that they will be fully customizable. Next, we’ll be moving to make that a reality. For the next set of stretch goals, we’re asking you to vote for a component that you’ll to keep (and use in combat!) The development team recently kicked off a new pipeline for ship components, with the aim of ultimately populating Arena Commander and the Voyager Direct store with plenty of options to make your game more interesting.

We’ve selected ten of these future upgrades, ranging from laser weapons to cooling units, for the poll below… and the one the community picks will be awarded to every account that backs before the $55 million level. So take a moment to vote for something you’ll get to play with in the short term in Arena Commander.

Here’s a rundown of the poll options. Which will you choose?

• Ballistic Cannon: A&R PyroBolt C1: With the introduction of the PyroBolt C1, A&R provides another worthy addition to their historical line of products. The PyroBolt is a 15mm ballistic cannon capable of delivering a variety of ammo types with a moderate rate of fire and maximum accuracy.

• Laser Cannon: Preacher Armament Alpha 1: When Preacher Armament unveiled their Alpha 1 laser cannon at last year’s DefCon, no one was expecting a shocker, but Preacher redefined the ‘standard’ ship weapon, increasing stopping power without overtaxing your power plant.

• Ballistic Gatling: Preacher Armament Inquisition XXII: Preacher’s Inquisition XXII is the weapon to turn to when you want complete target saturation. Its dual-ammo feed allows you to hotswap feeds without exiting your ship, giving every owner the ultimate flexibility to pick the ammo based on the situation.

• Laser Repeater: Verified Offworld Laser Technologies Firestorm: You can run, but you can’t hide from a FIRESTORM. VOLT’s new laser repeater is a cost-effective addition to your offensive arsenal, capable of delivering a baseline six rounds-per-second that make it comparable to its ballistic counterparts and without the worry of running out of ammo.

• Neutron Cannon: ProPOW Kill-O-Blast 3000 Pro: POW does it again! The Kill-O-Blast 3000 is their latest middle-of-the-road solution capable of providing massive stopping power per shot. The Kill-O-Blast 3000 may be the first neutron cannon you buy, but it might be the last you’ll ever need!

• Missiles: Spearfish ASIM-09/eN7 Arrestor: Spearfish’s line of Arrestor missiles are tried and true hunters. Top-of-the-line Infrared sensors combine with their proprietary VK9 processing software to minimize lock-loss and deliver a devastating EMP payload every time.

• Power Plant: Ace Astrogation FusionPro 3H: Optimized for medium-sized spacecraft, the 3H from Ace Astrogation boasts high durability and performance under fire while maintaining a robust energy output.

• Shield Generator: RAMP Corporation ProTec Twin Standard: The ProSec Twin Standard is a binary-segment shield generator, each offering front or rear placement to more effectively direct your defensive measures. The ProSec also features a lower EM signature, for those times where you don’t want to fight at all.

• Cooling: J-Span Cryo-Star: Award-winning designers at J-Span have produced one of the most advanced cooling systems yet. The Cryo-Star utilizes a new kind of liquid cooling technology guaranteed to keep your engines cool without sacrificing power.

Remember, Star Citizen’s scope is based on our crowd funding; your continued support is making it possible for us to operate with teams around the world! You are the reason Star Citizen is actually happening, and I can’t thank you enough for both funding the game and spreading the word.

— Chris Roberts

 

ARENA COMMANDER PATCH RELEASED - 13.0.2
SEPTEMBER 18TH 2014



Greetings Citizens,
We’ve issued a small Arena Commander patch today to improve control sensitivity for gamepad players. If you rock a ‘pad, get out there and let us know if the experience has been improved! We have also issued a server hotfix which should improve the “no match found” error that some backers have been experiencing. The patch is now available via the Star Citizen launcher.

A more significant patch, 13.1, is currently in the works. (And to pilots who are unable to access their M50s in the menu: we are aware of the issue and are working a fix.)

 

FUTURE CONCEPT SALE PLANS
SEPTEMBER 19TH 2014



Greetings Citizens,

Detail: the concept stage involves planning every working part of a ship!

Late last year, we asked the community to vote on the next ‘wave’ of ships we design for Star Citizen. A new ship was selected as each stretch goal, for a total of six winners. The ships in questions ranged from a mobile salvage yard to a luxury yacht to a speedy data runner. You can find the original concept bios for all six ships below.

The great news is that these ships are getting to a stage in their development where we’re ready to share their concepts! Ship design is incredibly important in Star Citizen, and Chris Roberts does not approve ship art for release until it is up to his personal standards. So we’re getting close to the final forms of the base ships… and are ready to start offering them in concept sales!

In the past, concept sales have been short ‘blink and you miss it’ events to reveal new ships. Going forward, we’ve decided to change the process to offer some extras for backing a Star Citizen ship at this earlier stage in its development; some more exclusive rewards to make up for the fact that you can’t go right out and play with a concept ship the day it’s for sale.

When a ship’s concept gets ‘final approval’ from Chris, we plan to offer it as a one-week concept-only sale. After that week ends, the ship will not be available for sale until it is ready for use in the Hangar. In addition, we are going to offer several extras available only during the concept period:

• The Lowest Price – backing earlier helps the production process the most, so it stands to reason that early backers should get the lowest price for their ships. Future Hangar-ready and flight-ready sales will increase the cost of a ship hull slightly.

• Hangar Flare – everyone who backs a concept sale will receive two pieces of Hangar Flare. At launch, you’ll get a poster featuring the ship you’ve purchased to display in your Hangar and when the CryEngine model asset is finished you’ll get the in-game Takuetsu model to add to your collection!

• Lifetime Insurance – one of the most common demands of CS is that we offer newly announced ships with cross-chassis upgrades to preserve LTI. While we maintain that Lifetime Insurance is a slight convenience and not a game changer, we know it’s something a lot of backers want. We feel comfortable including it during concept sales of ships which have never been available before (and do not intend to make it available again for existing ships or variants.) We will however, be adding LTI retroactively to the Gladius and Xi’An Scout if they were purchased during their respective concept sales.

We’re aware that this is a change to how sales have worked in the past, so we wanted to announce the plan early to let the community know our intentions. Sales like this are what keeps Star Citizen funded; the revenue we take from selling ships at different stages in the pipeline gets turned right back into the game, expanding our scope to match Chris’ ultimate vision for the Best Damn Space Sim Ever!

The first concept sale for this wave of ships will be Friday, September 26th. We can’t reveal which ship it is yet… so sound off in the poll below and let us know which one you want to see! (The poll will not impact next week’s presentation, but it will let us know which ships you’re most eager to see!)


WAVE THREE SHIP CONCEPTS

• RSI Orion – Roberts Space Industries’ goal has always been to make the stars available to individual Citizens. Now, with the RSI Orion mining platform, RSI is letting individuals take over a process formerly controlled by megacorporations. The Orion’s features include high-grade turret-mounted tractor beam arrays, durable exterior-accessible ‘saddlebags’ for mineral storage and a cabin designed by the team that brought you the Aurora and Constellation!

• Origin 890 JUMP – The rumors are true: Origin Jumpworks has a larger ship in the works! The Origin 890JUMP is an interstellar super-yacht with exquisite styling and an array of high quality upgrade options. Travel the stars in style with multiple decks, high visibility windows and a small boat bay. Whether you’re outfitting it to explore new worlds or to take a pleasure cruise through Terra, the 890 JUMP is the epitome of luxury, class and refinement!

• Aegis Reclaimer – The Reclaimer (formerly Surveyor), from noted military contractor Aegis, is an industrial-quality salvage ship. Equipped with a reinforced cargo bay, a long-range jump drive and launch pods for unmanned drones, the Reclaimer is an ideal ship for taking advantage of deep space wrecks. Tractor beams, floodlights, scanner options and docking ports round out the tool chest on this capable, utilitarian spacecraft.

• Anvil Carrack – The Anvil Carrack has been the vanguard of every UEE exploration effort in recent years. Featuring reinforced fuel tanks for long-duration flight, a highly advanced jump drive array and a dedicated computer core room that allows it to put the maximum processing power into jump charting operations. Originally a military exclusive, the Carrack is now available for civilian use as a pathfinder spacecraft. Features on-board accommodations to allow for truly self-sufficient flight, including crew medical and repair facilities, and a mapping-oriented sensor suite capable of always charting a route home!

• MISC Hull C (Discreet) – Scaling from small “box trucks” to massive supertankers, the MISC range of cargo hulls (A-D) are the standard goods transporter in human space. Extremely configurable, MISC Hulls can be adapted for most any type of transport job: from standard bulk shipping on the patrolled spacelanes to armored cargo hauling on the frontier. While these pre-configured hulls are primarily used for legitimate purposes, the MISC Hull Cs have recently become the favorite for criminals who modify the ship with advanced sensor shadow technology, quick-decompress holds and a variety of hidden compartments without modifying the ship’s body so it will appear to onlookers as standard everyday transports.

• Drake Herald – Knowledge is power, and one of the most valuable commodities is pure information: the 1s and 0s behind everything from UEC ledgers to Citizenship ratings. Whether it’s colonists struggling to stay in contact with the UEE’s central worlds or criminals trading in illicit data, there will always be a need to securely move data. The Drake Herald, small, armored ship, is designed to fit that need and safely get that information from Point A to Point B. Featuring a powerful central engine (for high speed transit and generating the power needed for effective data encryption/containment), advanced encryption software and an armored computer core, the Herald is unique among personal spacecraft in that it is designed to be easily ‘cleaned’ when in danger of capture. The Herald includes an array of heavy duty internal options for data protection, including redundant power subsystems and EMP shielding, and a high-powered broadcast array for data transmission.

 

LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN
SEPTEMBER 25TH 2014






Greetings Citizens,
We have passed $54 million in crowd funding, and we have two groups to thank: racers who picked up M50s and 350Rs during our sale… and new backers who are just discovering Star Citizen! I’m proud to announce that since the $53 million letter we have added almost 10,000 new Citizens to our ranks. Thank you for making this possible, and especially affirming my belief that the best way to sell the dream of Star Citizen is to let our backers spread the word. Every new backer makes the game better… so tell your friends!

Before we talk about stretch goals, I’d like to share some work from Foundry 42. You may have seen a few seconds of this video on a recent Around the Verse, but here it is in its full glory: the Retaliator greyboxing status update! The Retaliator is a heavy, multi-crew bomber that’s going to play like nothing you’ve seen in a space sim before… please enjoy seeing how much detail the team in Manchester is putting into the ship.

At the $54 million level, you’ve unlocked additional AI activities for the persistent world!

• More Detailed AI Activities – we’ll add ten distinct types of AI character roles on planetside environments! At $54 million, this includes Bartender, Doctor, Entertainer, Nurse, Sanitation Worker, Security Guard, Shopper, Tourist, Vagrant and Vandal. Future AI roles will be added with future stretch goals! Each additional ‘class’ of character will be fully expressive and have a role to play in Star Citizen’s planetside interaction AND the game’s greater economy.

One of the great things Tony Zurovec has brought to the process is a desire to enhance the planetside portion of Star Citizen well beyond my original goals. He wants to see a living, breathing world on our planetside landouts, complete with AI and player roles that you don’t ordinarily associate with a space combat game. So adding things like security guards, shoppers, tourists and vagrants, each with their own form and function, to the game is another step to making it more of a real world!

The winner of last week’s “ship upgrade” reward poll was…

• Ballistic Gatling – Preacher Armament Inquisition XXII: Preacher’s Inquisition XXII is the weapon to turn to when you want complete target saturation. Its dual-ammo feed allows you to hotswap feeds without exiting your ship, giving every owner the ultimate flexibility to pick the ammo based on the situation.

Every backer who pledges before we hit $55 million will have a pair of Inquisition XXII ballistic Gatling cannons added to their accounts! Since the poll was such a success, we’re going to continue it for the next stretch goal. We’ve removed the lowest performing option… and then we’ve added three more! Each of these new upgrades corresponds to a specific Arena-ready hull type… so you can choose based on the component or the ship! Which would you like as your $56 million gift?

• Engine – Dragon Stellar STC Silver (300 Series): The STC Silver from Dragon Stellar Transit Company is a TR4 engine noted for its high thrust output and low EM emissions. It has been rumored that Dragon Stellar has been using inferior components, but for some pilots the decreased power and fuel efficiency is worth the extra boost, especially at this price point.

• Power Plant – Broad & Rabiee Quietech M120 (Hornet): The largest class in the M series, Quietech M120 from Broad & Rabiee is a dynamic Superfluid Quantum Vortex power plant system that is capable of handling all your ship’s energy needs with a minimum of emissions. Ideally constructed for anyone who’s looking not looking to make an impression while travelling through a system.

• Jump Drive – Tarsus Leaper Jump Engine (Aurora): The first step to the universe beyond. The Leaper Jump Engine from Tarsus connects with your onboard NavDrive to allow your ship to access jump points. The Leaper also includes an introductory scanning software package to try your hand at discovering the undiscovered.

For full descriptions of all the other options, please check out my previous letter.

As I have said before and I will no doubt say again, thank you all. Star Citizen has been the best experience of my career… and it’s because of the incredible community that has come together to support this game. Seeing us hit $54 million is incredible… and so is seeing you come together to support the Lego Hornet, or seeing Citizens host events and becoming friends because of this game. I am so thoroughly happy that you are coming together in so many ways to make the world I’m building your own.

— Chris Roberts

 

ARENA COMMANDER V0.9.1 RELEASED
SEPTEMBER 30TH 2014

Greetings Citizens,



Arena Commander V0.9.1 is now live! You can now update your copy of Star Citizen through the launcher client. This update being numerous improvements to Arena Commander as well as the first implementation of customizable keybindings.

• The SLI/Crossfire fix represents our efforts to provide the best Arena Commander experience we can for all users. We still need feedback and the diligence of our community to assist us in perfecting the implementation but we believe this is a step forward in that effort.

• Customizable Keybindings is a feature our backers have wanted and now we can share the first step in our vision. Backers will be able to customize their controls to feel more comfortable dogfighting and racing. We will be implementing improvements in the future but with this release we wanted to give our community the first taste of where control in Star Citizen is heading. Control customization currently allows you to remap a subset of actions oriented towards ship navigation. It supports keyboard and mouse, controller devices and joysticks/HOTAS setups. It allows for customization of discrete and continuous (axis) outputs. Going forward, we’ll be working to add device specific options (sensitivity, axis inversions, dead zones and the like), the ability to host multiple control profiles, the ability to remove bindings, setting actions as single or double-taps and binding actions to a different set of keys on the same device.

• Backers may now select what ships appear in their Hangars! You can do this through the RSI website under Account and then My Hangar.

These are just some of the bigger ways we are improving Star Citizen but by no means the complete list. For list of fixes in Arena Commander V0.9.1 please read here

Our team is constantly taking community feedback into account and we are all working hard to make YOUR game, the game we all want to play. Thank you Citizens for your continued support and dedication to the ‘Verse.

 

LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN
SEPTEMBER 30TH 2014



Greetings Citizens,
Only a few days ago, I wrote the $54 million letter which is truly incredible. I think everyone should take a moment to appreciate the enormity of what you as a community have achieved. Two years ago, the idea that a group of people who love space sims, PC gaming and the promise of a huge new universe to adventure around in could unite to raise $55 million to fund a game was unthinkable. Every one of you, from single Aurora pilots to those building their own fleets, has been part of something unprecedented. Today, we’re in the Guinness Book of World Records, and not as the largest crowdfunded game of all time, but as the largest crowdfunded anything of all time!


Reclaimer Concept Art showing the claw in use.

I’m very glad to see that the Reclaimer is so popular! This is a ship that you made possible, and I think it speaks to exactly what’s cool about Star Citizen: we’re going beyond the traditional dogfighting game and building a living universe. The fact that so many players want to take part in salvage ops makes me more hopeful than ever! How many have we sold? Well, in the Reclaimer’s description, we mention that it can store roughly a single Constellation worth of scrap. In the current stats (always subject to change!) a Bengal carrier weighs in at about 1,400 times a Constellation… meaning that it would take 1,400 Reclaimers to haul it away as wreckage. Well, the UEE had better watch out: we’ve released enough Reclaimers so far to dismantle THREE Bengals! I’ve included a new piece of Reclaimer concept art which has just come in; here you can see the ship’s claw salvage mechanism in action!


Concept Art

I sometimes get asked why continue to raise money. Haven’t you already raised enough to make the game? The answer is that Star Citizen isn’t a normal game. It’s not being developed like a normal game and it’s not being funded like a normal game. I’ve had to toss aside a lot of my knowledge from the old way of developing and embrace a completely new world. There is no publisher. There is no venture capitalist wanting a massive return in three years. There is no need to cram the game onto a disc and hope we got it all right. Star Citizen is not the type of game that will be played for a few weeks, then put on a shelf to gather dust. Instead of building a game in secrecy we can be fully open with you as a community who have made this game possible. We can involve the future player base in the creative feedback loop as we develop and iterate core systems. As a group we are all involved and united in our quest to make the best game possible.

I have a lot of industry friends pat me on the back and say, “Wow, it must be so great to be operating in profit even before you ship!” Their look usually turns to incredulity when I explain that my intention is for all the money we bring in before launch to be spent on development. It is the community, from the existing backers who continue to support the game, to new members who join every day who are setting the level of ambition and budget for Star Citizen. Every effort is about enriching the game’s vision. Funding to date has allowed us to go so far beyond what I thought was possible in 2012. You’re still getting that game, no question, but it will be all the richer and so much more immersive because of the additional funding.

Long ago I stopped looking at this game the way I did when I worked for a publisher who gave me a fixed budget to make a retail game. I now look at our monthly fundraising and use that to set the amount of resources being used to develop this game. We keep a healthy cash reserve so that if funding stopped tomorrow we would still be able to deliver Star Citizen (not quite to the current level of ambition, but well above what was planned in Oct 2012). If you combine our in-house staff and outsourced developers, we now number more than 280 people. Your support has created a significant number of jobs in the gaming industry. (And no matter what you might have heard, only a small number of our team is tasked with designing new ships!)

If we had raised the original amount and no more, we wouldn’t be able to deliver involved capital ship systems or the level of FPS gameplay that we are now planning for planets in the Persistent Universe. Nor would have the time or budget to continually upgrade the game with new features like Physically Based Rendering (PBR), or continually strive to make the art assets better. Just compare the Hornet from October 2012 to the current PBR Hornet in Arena Commander. Our ability to iterate in Arena Commander, to try different flight or targeting schemes, or add new game modes that are test beds for future Persistent Universe gameplay is all due to our increased funding, as is the ability to deliver FPS, Planetside and Squadron 42 as modules or episodic content for the community all before the game is “done.” And in the process, you’re giving us the time to get it right, and you’re giving us more opportunities to share our work with you.

I know some people are afraid of “feature creep” and the game never being finished as we keep adding functionality and content to the mix with increased funding. I would say that this would be fair criticism if we were delivering this game at retail and on disc. However, we are online and already pushing out builds, well before Star Citizen reaches what anyone would consider a “finished” stage. Just because we haven’t implemented a planned feature or built a certain asset yet doesn’t prevent us from sharing the game with everyone right now. It’s this evolved process which gives us the Hangar and Arena Commander and so many modules yet to come. We’re sharing the game as it’s being built and it’s an amazing opportunity for everyone who has backed, to have input on the direction the game is going. You just don’t get this in the traditional game business.

Ship sales and new members of our community are the two main fund raising sources. I want to stress that no one has to or should contribute more than the basic amount for a starting package. Everything is earnable in the game with enough time (and skill). However, if you like the direction we are taking and want to contribute more to the development of Star Citizen, then purchasing different ships with diverse roles are a great way to give back for this support. The new ships add interesting new gameplay and populating the future Persistent Universe with a range of different ships, flown by players pursuing all kinds of professions, will only add to the richness of the game once it’s fully live.

That’s what Star Citizen is about: the creative freedom to build something unlike anything that has been done before and the ability to do it with the support of a community that is as passionate about this game as I am. We want to make the Best Damn Space Sim Ever, and with your continued support I know we will.

Now, on to the stretch goals! This time around, you unlocked a user-voted ship upgrade!

• Ballistic Gatling – Preacher Armament Inquisition XXII: Preacher’s Inquisition XXII is the weapon to turn to when you want complete target saturation. Its dual-ammo feed allows you to hotswap feeds without exiting your ship, giving every owner the ultimate flexibility to pick the ammo based on the situation. This Arena Commander upgrade will be given to all players who pledged before we reached the 55M goal.

We’ll be placing two of these guns on every account that backed before $54 million, and they’ll be available in a future Arena Commander patch! (These guns will be among the first to come off our new component pipeline.)

For our next series of stretch goals, we’re going to ask you to pick ‘wave four’ of Star Citizen’s ships! Now that the previous set, also selected by backers, are exiting the concept process, our artists can start on another group. We’ve selected ten ship concepts we think are interesting and which would improve the Star Citizen universe. Some are combat-oriented, others speak to the larger Star Citizen universe… and the next one we build is in your hands! With each upcoming letter, we’ll select one winner and eliminate the least popular, until five have been chosen. Please vote for your favorite in the poll below.

I’m excited to see what you choose; I know my favorite already. Your input helps create Star Citizen just like your pledges. We couldn’t do this without you; thank you for making the Best Damn Space Sim Ever happen.

— Chris Roberts

 

ARENA COMMANDER V0.9.1.1 RELEASED
OCTOBER 3RD 2014



Arena Commander V0.9.1.1 is now live! This is a minor patch to address issues we’ve observed with the V0.9.1 patch released earlier in the week. You can update you copy of Star Citizen through the launcher now! This update address two main issues that we feel were detrimental to the overall Star Citizen experience. The fixes are as follows:

Leaderboard Update

• Private matches will no longer count on the leaderboards. You can now dogfight with your friends and not have stats reported. Allowing you to experiment with different strategies and keep them secret!

Command Stability (COMSTAB) Refinement

• We fixed an issue with COMSTAB that seemed to impact the 300i more so than the other ships; 300is should be back to fighting form!

What is COMSTAB?
Also known as Command Stability, COMSTAB an IFCS mode that attempts to guarantee that any high level command is carried out in a stable, controlled manner. Think the future equivalent of modern ‘fly by wire’ aircraft controls. It was originally intended to be a more generic concept, but has become synonymous with turn control or anti-slide, and has sometimes been referred to as TCS (Turn Control System).

As currently implemented, COMSTAB will automatically decrease the forward velocity of the ship in order to deliver a controlled pitching or yawing turn with minimal slide. Because a ship’s ability to slow depends on the strength of its retro thrusters, which, under damage conditions, may be unreliable, COMSTAB will also limit the turn rate to one that can be sustained at the true current forward velocity. As a result, as you request a turn, the ship will begin to slow, increasing its turn rate as it approaches its sustained turning velocity. You can still improve your ship’s turn rate manually by throttling back yourself, or by momentarily increasing your ship’s thrust with Boost. When COMSTAB is enabled, pitching and yawing will result in a controlled turn, while without COMSTAB, depending on the forward velocity and turn rate, the result may be more of a spin than a turn. It is still possible to sustain a controlled turn without COMSTAB, but it is up to the pilot to balance the turn rate and forward velocity manually.

Note that with COMSTAB now properly enabled, your ships may seem more sluggish to turn. This is the system doing its job correctly! This allows for minimal drifting at the expense of turn rate. You can counteract this by boosting to supply more power to your thrusters, throttling down, or just turn the COMSTAB system off altogether. If you’d like more individualized control (or feel like you can squeeze more maneuverability out of your ship) you can disable COMSTAB. Just cycle through IFCS modes with CTRL+CAPSLOCK!

Remember: ships aren’t meant to be flown with throttle maxed all of the time. This would be akin to one driving their car 90 miles an hour on winding city streets. One can’t expecting their vehicle to handle at its fullest under those conditions, and space ships are no different!

COMSTAB is an important part of our flight mechanics and we want to get it right. Future patches will address balancing and other fixes for Arena Commander as our team constantly looks to improve the Star Citizen experience. Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for Star Citizen and we look forward to your feedback!

 

MONTHLY REPORT: SEPTEMBER 2014
OCTOBER 3RD 2014

Greetings Citizens,
It has been a busy month for Star Citizen! In the past month, we’ve released Arena Commander .9 and then followed it up with a number of patches. Perfecting Star Citizen’s physics, flight model and multiplayer is an effort that studios around the world have come together for… but we’ve also been building deeper elements of the game! The September reports below will let you in on just what we’ve been spending our time developing.

CLOUD IMPERIUM SANTA MONICA



Greetings Citizens!
September was very busy and productive for the Santa Monica studio. Much of our focus this month has been on completing features and fixing bugs for v0.9 of Arena Commander. We were very excited about this release, as it introduced the new Murray Cup racing mode to the game, along with the M50 and 350R racing ships. Hopefully you all watched our “Galactic Gear” commercial that introduced these new features. There was quite a bit of buzz about the commercial around the Internet, and we were even referenced on the official “Top Gear” website for our homage to their show!


How an idea becomes a ship.

In addition to supporting Arena Commander’s development, we have also been improving our pipeline for creating new ships. Recently, the ship pipeline was moved from Austin to LA, and we have been hard at work refining our process and improving our workflow so that we can develop ships more quickly and more efficiently than we have ever done before. The creation of new ships for Star Citizen is an incredibly complex and detailed process, so it made sense to move it to LA where Chris can maintain oversight and provide direction to everyone involved. Part of our process improvements included sitting down and reevaluating every step of the pipeline and making necessary adjustments to the workflow. If you are curious about what that looks like, please see the attached diagram of what it takes to develop a new ship for the game.

And beyond supporting Arena Commander and building new ships, we’re also preparing for Citizen Con and PAXAustralia events coming up in October. A lot of work is happening around the company to put together a sneak peak of many of the new areas of the game that are currently in development. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we reveal more of our progress to you.

We have also been busy this month interviewing a number of applicants for various positions around the company. We’ve been talking to prospective 3D artists, concept artists, lighting artists, technical animators, technical designers, programmers, outsource managers, and many more. As a result, we’ve identified some really talented people who are ready to join us at Cloud Imperium Games. We’re very excited to be bringing on board some amazing new people who will help us to execute on Chris’s vision of the best damn space sim ever! As we add more resources to the project, it increases our development capacity and provides us with the ability to do even more on this ambitious project. None of this would be possible without all of our backers, so we thank you for your continued support in our development efforts! Now onto the departmental updates!

Engineering
Our engineering team in Santa Monica has been working on all aspects of Arena Commander this month. On theHUD front Brandon has been working on code support for new features and targeting modes that we are prototyping for introduction in a future patch to improve the HUD functionality and the user experience. Similarly everyone’s favorite Bug Smasher, Mark Abent, has been working with our Physics Programmer John Pritchett to improve everyone’s ability to “stay on target” with improvements to the lead prediction as well as some new aiming functionality for both gimbaled and fixed weapons that interface with the IFCS and should be rolling out to you guys soon.

We’ve also created a new system for handling ship variants that cleverly allows us to share identical parts across variants. This new technology allows us to save an amazing amount of time and effort throughout the whole ship pipeline by eliminating the duplicate work we used to have to do updating the same pieces of a ship on all the variants separately. Now we can fix the bug or make the improvement we wanted to on the base model of a ship and it automatically propagates to all the variants of that ship that share that part.

On the Graphics programming side our Engineer Okka Kyaw has been diligently working on moving to a 32-bit depth buffer. This will help to eliminate a lot of the z-fighting throughout the game. Previously the precision of the depth buffer was lacking which would cause geometry that was very close to each other to begin z-fighting when viewed from far distances. These fixes will be in an upcoming patch. Okka didn’t stop there though, he’s also begun the process of researching a developing a new vehicle paint system so that we can more easily create custom paint jobs for ships and paves the way for eventual customization by you in the community.

Last but not least we here in Santa Monica had a Networking Summit where we hosted all of the top network and backend programmers from CIG and our partner studios led by Chris to discuss topics ranging from short term improvements like improving movement prediction, bandwidth consumption, server CPU usage, chat system, lobby systems, matchmaking, and telemetry data gathering. We also covered a multitude of longer term initiatives that included how best to handle clients migrating from server to server, handling the scale of the persistent universe, unified player and object ID’s for use across multiple servers, and a number of other topics dealing with delivering the most seamless multiplayer experience for both SQ42 and the Persistent Universe. All in all a very productive week long summit that laid a solid foundation for continued development.

Design
Design this month has been working in close collaboration with the Engineering and HUD team to design, prototype, and implement improvements to the HUD and targeting systems. Calix Reneau has been prototyping out ways to improve the control of gimbaled weapons on the control systems that commonly don’t natively support smooth analog movement such as joysticks, HOTAS, and gamepad peripherals. We are confident that these new systems, once implemented, will significantly improve the functionality of gimbaled weapons on these controller types.

This month we have also been spending a significant amount of time reviewing community feedback on the balance of ships and their flight characteristics. You’ve already seen some patches since the V0.9 to address some of this feedback but we’re also working on some more long term balance changes that you will see in future releases. As part of this we’ve also been designing new weapons and items that we feel will further diversify the strategies that we see players using online.

Another big push for our Design team has been spec’ing out improvements to the nascent signature and emissions system with our teammates at Foundry 42. We’ve had numerous discussions with them as well as the Engineering team and have a solid plan for implementing Chris’ vision for this system. Alongside this the team has also been designing game modes for Arena Commander that will better focus on gameplay that isn’t purely about dogfighting and instead will highlight the advantages of ships like the Aurora and other yet to be introduced ships that are less capable dogfighters and maybe have a bit more cargo capacity…

Art

Reclaimer Claw Functionality Concept
With the move of the Ship Pipeline to Santa Monica from Austin we’ve been building our Art team in Santa Monica with additional Concept and 3D resources. The team has hit the ground running and have been blazing away at all the new ships that we are concepting, adding the hangar, and adding into Arena Commander. We are also continuing to hire in order to increase our pipelines capacity for developing more ships simultaneously. Especially since as we move forward to the larger and larger ships they will occupy our Artists for longer periods of time than the single seat ships have.

With regard to ship development, we have a number of new concepts we are working on this month, including the Hearald, Carrack, Reclaimer, Avenger variants, 890 Jump, as well as new concepts for various items and weapons. We’ve completed the models for the full Mustang lineup, the full Cutlass lineup, and beginning to dive-in on Avenger variants, the Herald, Redeemer, and a few others… Now that we have the new variant system from Engineering we’re also planning to tackle all the custom pieces, damage states, and LODs for the variants of the 300 series, Aurora series, and Hornet series to get all the variants dogfighting ready as quickly as possible from an Art perspective.

The Art team has also been working closely with Production to flesh out the new and improved Ship Pipeline and helping to identify areas where we can improve quality, reduce time, and further parallelize the development of new ships. We’ve ended up with a new pipeline that we feel is much more streamlined and primed to deliver a higher level of quality much more efficiently. Of course pipelines are not set in stone and it will continue to evolve as we work with other disciplines to further improve and refine the process. The great thing is that everyone on this project is motivated by the same desire to achieve the best quality possible so modifying this pipeline has been a great collaborative effort with likeminded individuals.

Cinematics
Our huge Cinematics team in Santa Monica who are responsible for the most recent commercials that we do for our ships have been hard at work, all two of them… John Griffith and Chris Wolak who were most recently responsible for bringing the M50 Galactic Gear commercial to life have been pouring that same creative energy into a new Cinematic in-fiction commercial that will be revealed at Citizen Con on October 10th. We are quite excited to share it with everyone and look forward to reading the comments and reactions.

The great thing about the Cinematics that we do is that we use all our game assets and our game engine to create them. With the level of quality that the Art, Animation, and VFX teams are putting into these assets we are able to accomplish these beautiful commercials with a team of just two, very talented, individuals working diligently to use all these game assets to create a piece that matches Chris’ vision. We are also lucky to have two very talented writers, David Haddock and William Weissbaum who, when they aren’t working on Squadron 42, pen the scripts for these commercials.

At any rate, we are truly looking forward to sharing our next in engine cinematic piece with all of you in the community in seven days and hope everyone enjoys it as much as we’ve enjoyed making it!

Well that about wraps up this month’s update for everyone and while we aren’t able to cover every little detail we feel like this touches on the most important and interesting developments of the past month without crossing the 2000 word mark. As always we’d like to reiterate to everyone that we sincerely appreciate your support in making this game with us. Without you guys none of this would be possible and we are grateful for the opportunity to develop and share this game with all of you!

 

CLOUD IMPERIUM AUSTIN



Howdy folks,
The Austin team has been hard at work this month on many different fronts. We’ve been a bit more quiet than usual, but we are very excited to be able to have something to demonstrate very soon. Our team has been working hard on Persistent Universe tasks and a multitude of Live Operations activities. Here’s a brief report from each team!

Programming
This month in Austin we have been hard at work on the Persistent Universe. We have made substantial progress on several of the core technologies critical to the Persistent Universe. Brian Mazza continues his work on server side persistence, which is essential to allow players to retain their inventory after they log out, among other things. James Wright and Allen Chen tag-teamed to wrap up Large World “Phase 1” this month as well, which is the first step to getting truly expansive galaxies in place that will literally take days to traverse without quantum travel. Tom Davies wrapped up development on the System Layout Tool, which our designers will be using to physically lay out our universe in-game as well as define properties and attributes of various planets and other objects within a solar system. Tony Zurovec completed the first design iteration of Subsumption, Star Citizen’s objective-oriented NPC AI system, and we’ve now moved into full production. Moon Collider – our AI partners in the UK – have started the long process of adding support for the multitude of specific features we’re going to need to their Kythera AI engine. Two of our Austin programmers – Jeff Uriarte and Tom Davies – have begun work on some of the numerous tools that will be required for the highly data-driven design, which will in turn eventually allow the constitution of the NPCpopulation and even their daily schedules to be algorithmically determined based upon what’s occurring in the surrounding environment, and heavily contribute to providing the feeling of a living, breathing universe.

Design
Much groundwork was laid this month on laying out designs for some key elements to building our universe. We started looking into several different types of space phenomena and what types of interesting encounters they might make for our explorers out there. Each of these phenomena has different technical and artistic considerations, and we want to be sure to pick the most interesting and exciting to use as space exploration points of interest (POI). Some sensational examples we looked into this month include the Dark Nebula, Pulsar, and Ice Giant. Other things the design team have been doing are standardizing our props for environments, investigating how we might incorporate FPS into our planetside locations, and developing reputations for the various corporations within our universe. We’ve been working on other things we can’t reveal at the moment, but you will get to see a taste of it fairly soon.

Art
Persistent Universe art tasks have all been geared towards getting the first planetside location, ArcCorp, up and running. Our Art Director, Mark Skelton, has been constantly interfacing with the team at Behaviour to really push the visual envelope. Cort Soest further fleshed out the Tier Toolset which our designers and artists will use to quickly and efficiently build out planetside environments, space stations, and potentially even huge capital ships. Work on visual effects and props for ArcCorp as well as other planetside environments are being worked on here as well. Concept work for our next planetside environment – Terra Prime – is nearing completion, and full production will soon commence.

Bryan Brewer and the animation team has been hard at work supporting [REDACTED] in getting the FPS characters in ship shape. We have been improving our character locomotion to look more realistic, making sure our characters have an awesome ragdoll effect for when they get blown off their feet, and moving over our existing animations to a brand new rig that will help raise our characters to next-gen quality. We have also been working on several NPCanimations so that when peaceful NPC AI system comes online, our NPC’s will have something to do.

Chris Smith and the ship team worked very hard to spruce up the new racing ships that were released this past month. They’ve been horsin’ around on other things we can’t tell you about just yet, but stay tuned and you’ll find out soon enough!

Quality Assurance
Star Citizen QA hit the ground running for the month of September rigorously testing the long awaited v0.9. After a lot of hard work we were happy to finally share all the new features with everyone with a successful release. Then we did it all again with a total of four releases! We also continually tested our internal tools to ensure that our developers have the most up to date and stable dev environment. Thanks to our resident QA engineer Keegan Standifer, significant progress was made with our development of automated testing. This will be important to leverage as the Persistent Universe expands. This month we added two new members to the QA team. Please welcome Melissa Estrada and Jeffrey Pease! Jeffrey joins us from Blizzard Entertainment where he specialized in growing an epic beard! Melissa joins us from NCSoft where she gained valuable MMO QA experience. As a solid team, we look forward to continuing our bug squashing efforts in order to provide the most enjoyable experience possible with each future release.

Live Operations
Work on the Publishing and Live Ops side continues at a frenetic pace. The QA Team led by Justin Binford has been burning the midnight oil on a regular basis to test latest build versions for our various development teams and for upcoming publishes to the public. Our Austin QA team works very closely with the QA team in the UK office so that we can provide testing on a virtually 24/7 basis. We’re looking forward to seeing this work on a live server in the very near future.

We’ve been working on a ton of behind the scenes upgrades to our build and deploy systems so that we can decrease turnaround time on new builds and then test and deploy updates more quickly around the world. Every bit we save in this area helps us be more productive throughout our operations.

It’s been a busy month and we’re very excited that much of our “behind the scenes” work is going to be more visible to the public over the coming days. Stay tuned for more updates! And in the meantime, here’s something fun:


“Long before introducing the AMX-1 Repair Bot for personal craft, Saga Datasystems was known for its more industrial designs. The M3-A Multifunction Space Drone has been in service for more than 50 years, and is ideal for performing basic unmanned tasks in and around stations. While never fit with any advanced AI or communications capability, the M3-A is perfectly capable of performing any basic assigned task – from simple repairs to tug functions and the manipulation of heavy mining and cargo containers.”

 

FOUNDRY 42



Hi all,
Another really busy month here at Foundry 42. We’ve been heavily involved in pushing out new content for Arena Commander, working on the Character pipeline for S42 and the Persistent Universe, working through concept, design and full production on the huge amount of ships we need for Squadron 42, and of course moving forward on the design and implementation of the first missions. Lots of areas to update you guys below, and as always thanks for your support, it really makes a difference to the team, we are REALLY enjoying making this game with you guys.

Creative Director
September was a good “Housekeeping” month for us, having been full speed ahead for the last few months, we needed some time to catch up with ourselves and some of the fixes that have gone in.

Arena Commander: We have increased the size of the maps now that the Z-Buffer issue has been fixed by the engineers, (which you guys will see soon) so now sorting issues will diminish. It’s quite an achievement actually, considering that some of our asteroids are bigger than most of the levels in Crysis. Again thanks to numerous code fixes, we also got to some of the polish tasks, such as getting the asteroids rotating and placing some more accurate physics objects. A lot more design time went into the first implementation of our missiles vs emissions gameplay, and that work is now underway, as well as breaking down the planned features for the 13 stream which will include HUDmode updates, and Leader-boards and of course continued improvements to the key bindings. At the same time we are progressing on branch 14 where we plan to introduce proper lobbies, a huge amount of polish to space flight mechanics and effects, ship / helmet HUD displays, and new ships systems. Matchmaking is now becoming a big consideration, to give the community a choice on what and who they play with.

Ship Design: The StarFarer got a much needed design white-box pass, and came off slightly more heavily armed, with two extra rear belly turrets on either side. Stay tuned for updates on its progress as it gets built out. All the other ships including our huge capital ships are moving along nicely.

Squadron 42: We are working through a bunch of new mechanics for Squadron 42, to give the community a really immersive experience. Our verticle slice is in good shape, and so the art department is really motoring through the grey boxing of our levels and we have also started white boxing a number of new levels so we are ready for the big motion capture shoot we will be performing after Christmas. Progress is continuing well on the script, with multiple updates as we refine the gameplay within levels and we have started white boxing the gameplay (sandbox) for the interstitials (Your base or home ship), so the player will feel like they are in a living HUB which they can interact in and explore.

All in all, a good month of cleaning up, and progressing Star Citizen on all fronts.

Programming Director
One of the big pushes we’ve been making this month in getting the new controller customisation UI into Arena Commander. We know it’s something a lot of people have been clamouring for a long time (ever since the first Dogfighting module release!) and this will be the start of allowing you to set up your controller(s) just the way you like. We intend to keep developing it over future releases to give you full control of your setup.

Our networking engineers have just come back from a very productive mini networking summit held over in Santa Monica, where all the networking engineers from all the studios spent a week going over the features required for Star Citizen. It’s been a really interesting week for all involved, discussing everything from player prediction on the client level, to the server architecture, databases, chat, security etc… It’s really good having these meetings for internal visibility, and make sure everything is moving forwards in the right direction.

Other than that, we’ve been concentrating in the usual areas to keep Arena Commander, Squadron 42, and the PU moving forwards.

Bug of the month: The Flashlight of Thor! So we were having this problem where if you flew your ship around for a period of time it would suddenly explode for no particular reason. To begin with we thought it was just the usual excuses for people’s bad flying, but when it was still happening in an empty level we did have to conclude there might be something else afoot. After much scratching of heads, and drinking of tea, we finally discovered that after an update a flashlight, which should have been attached to the player, had suddenly gone rogue. It was colliding with the interior of your ship and doing a tiny piece of damage every single frame, eventually culminating in calamity. Yes, one flashlight could take down the mighty Hornet!

Graphics Programming Director
The graphics team have been working on some of the core tech to benefit each of the art pipelines (ships, characters, environments & vfx). For the ships we’ve been continuing work on the new damage shader that will give us fine grain location specific damage. This will be crucial for capital ships where the traditional method of cutting a ship into numerous meshes won’t be practical due to their immense scale, but this will also benefit smaller ships. We’ve also started work on the shader that will enable us to create custom paint jobs. This isn’t as simple as just swapping some textures because our paint jobs need to be sharper than is possible with traditional textures to maintain our high quality bar, but the paint also needs to degrade over time and respond correctly to the damage system (e.g. bending & burning).

For the vfx team we’ve created a volumetric lighting shader for particles to approximate complex effects such as multiple-scattering of light and volumetric shadowing. To achieve this the vfx artists bake out 6 separate passes of an explosion or smoke from an offline fluid simulation, and the shader uses these to calculate how the in-game lights would bounce around inside the gas. The end result is smoke and explosion particles that are lit correctly with the in-game lights but approach the quality of an offline render.

We’ve also been working on two general pieces of tech that should benefit the whole game, the first of which is 32 bit depth rendering. We’re moving towards 64 bit physics to handle enormous maps, however rendering doesn’t require such precision because from the cameras perspective everything is actually relatively nearby. However most games actually use just 24 bit depth buffers and this isn’t enough for large space scenes and so we’ve just completed the transition to 32 bit rendering. This has allowed us to enlarge the small dog-fighting maps which we desperately needed since the recent speed increase of the ships! The other general tech we’ve been developing is the ability to combine multiple textures at run-time to allow us to dynamically combine multiple objects into fewer large objects. This will significantly improve rendering performance while maintaining the flexibility and modularity of building the characters, ships and environments out of many smaller textures, which is crucial for the persistent universe (customisable ships, clothing & hangars etc).

Art Director
You want Characters? – you got it! We have taken a global view of the characters within the star citizen universe and are reviewing quality and pipeline going forward so they will not only cater for all aspects of the persistent universe but also stand out as world class AAA characters. Additional Documentation for outsource partners have been put together, we know the level of quality you the fans are expecting and we are placing the foundations for a strong versatile system. Along with an updated anatomically correct base male (and female to follow) we have taken possession of the camera scanning rig to help aid the development of photo real characters for Sq42 and the PU. Real focus is now being placed on answering the tough questions that could trip us up later down the line and working with talented folk like 3Lateral and Cubic motion is certainly making some areas easier (nothing is simple on SC though!)

You want Ships? – you got it! The Gladius is now in the tech setup stage, making it suitable for the Hangar stage of release. The Retaliator is now 50% more awesome since you saw the video released recently (it was about a month old) along with the Gladiator which has most of its exterior given the PBS treatment with the complex dual cockpit/gunner interior next. The Idris and Javelin are still coming along and we are taking into account the Sq42 storyline, adding a few tweaks here and there to shapes and structure to create a more cohesive environment. The wait will be worth it, I promise. New and noteworthy, some of the Vanduul fleet is going into production which we need for the storyline too – tune in next month for more info – we are really excited about this as we can now really start dialing into who/what the Vanduul are and what their construction methods are.

You want Environments? – you got it! Shubin mining facility – ‘Archon’ has reached the stage of Greybox complete, it’s a huge challenge but the visuals are matching its physical size, no shaders yet, just lots of geo, I mean lots! To give you an idea there are at least 26 landing pads located around the facility, each of them the player can land on, get out of their ship and walk around. All of these details will help make the Shubin Archon Facility feel like a living and breathing environment.

You want concepts? – you got it! Concepts department has slowed a little this month (instead of 100mph its more like 90mph ). Shubin interior wrapping up, Starfarer has been given the ‘Parry’ treatment and a full interior has been worked out along with some meddlesome functionality issues, this has now gone out to be fully visualised, it’s a pretty big ship so it won’t be done in a week if that’s what you think! Xi’an transport ship interior is also taking good shape, we’ve now dialled into a visual language that we are happy with, it makes developing the rest of the rooms a ton easier once you have a few key factors to launch from. Focus is also shifting to answering the niggling parts of the UEE crew costumes, we are taking a systemic approach of really defining how these designs will work, how they fit with the customization system and do they have the level of detail we need to keep Chris and you the fans happy.

You want animations? – you got it! Animation department (who we are looking to grow) has started looking at Previz and prep work for some of the in game action sequences – I can’t give much away at this stage without giving out spoilers. We’ve also been supporting the design department working on specific game mechanic animations, it’s an important part of the process, early Previz for design often saves on wasted work further down the line.

You want spice with your VFX? – you got it! Self shadowing lit particles, mmm, tasty – that’s what the VFXdepartment has been developing with the tech department, we’re still trying to think of a name for this technique/texture format by the way, we’d love for it to be something snappy/media-friendly, but the current name is SSL (Self-shadowing lighting). Aside from that, we’re also starting to improve the vehicle damage effects starting with smoke and fire, trying to make a cleaner more efficient system that has greater long term effects for the project.

That’s it – a full on man vs polygon serving of heart stopping griddle cooked CGI goodness.

Signed, The Chef

Audio Lead
This month the audio team have split between Citizencon related tasks and the upcoming demo of the FPS module.

The environment sounds for the demo level are starting to shape up. A lot of attention is being paid to the details in this area. All of the whirring, hums, and general ambiance comes from specific points in 3d space. We we’re never going to be satisfied with a faked 2d ambient soundscape! Computers will idly tick away, screens and lights will hum and buzz, air conditioners and fans will whoosh and whirr! This will all move around you as you move your player.

We’ve also been working on R&D and generally testing the water with the FPS weapon firing. There’s a lot to consider with something like a gun sound! First person gun firing, iron sights gun firing, 3rd person gun firing, gun sounds over distance, environmental effects on gun sounds and this is just firing the guns!! Getting this right is a long process and will be ongoing long into the future. Even so, we are hoping that with the work we’ve done so far, it’ll be a great start to the FPS sound when it is demo’d for PAX.

Other than that we’ve been working on a selection of the fps gadgets and trying to keep up with the unending (but awesome) onslaught of ship related sound tasks!


BHVR



Citizens!
September was a month of great accomplishments for the Montreal team. We can’t wait to have you try out all of the new features we have been working on, and we are looking forward to hearing your feedback. As always, it is a great pleasure to be a part of creating this game for you guys.

Meanwhile, here is the latest update from the team.

Design
On the level design side the guys have been hard at work debugging and working on the new hangars. We have also (re)started work on blocking out Planetside locations which we’ve been designing on paper quite a while now. Seeing them finally taking shape in-engine is “SC grade” fantasticness!

More flair objects have been designed (we probably have enough flairs lined up for the next 18 months Our goal is to incorporate as much lore as we can into the flair objects we design, which keeps them interesting and unique, so they don’t end up getting fed to the monster living in your hangar’s garbage compactor. On a related note, some special add-on rooms for the hangars are in the brainstorming phase. If all goes well, you’ll be able to add them to your hangar in the future.

With Gamescom and the bulk of the work for the new hangar public releases now behind us, we’ve (re)kicked off mobiGlas development. Hand in hand with the fabulous UI team, we’ve refined our designs for various mG apps to get them ready for production: mG HOME, easyShop, Wear, skyLine and Scheduler, to name a few, are in the pipeline. mG Scheduler already has a version running in the engine and is coming along nicely.

On a more technical note, we’ve been working closely with engineers to develop the TAG system tool which allows us to tag practically every object in the game world. It’s a bit like hashtags on Twitter or the use of keywords in search engines. With this powerful tool we will be able to add and query items dynamically in-engine for faster, more efficient development, and the real bonus for the design team: the ability to track and update the game seamlessly.

Programming
One of the main focuses for programming during the month of September has been to complete and deliver a first version of control customization to the public. There are still loads of features that we want to add to it and we’ll definitely be working on it for a few more months. We’ve also spent quite a bit of time polishing and debugging the new version of the pause menu that was released earlier this month.

After a couple months of working on a few higher priority tasks, we’re finally getting back to mobiGlas development.

Our new Tag Editor Tool has been receiving a lot of focus and attention internally and we’re eager to connect it with the next systems we are planning to implement.
As usual, the hangars weren’t left behind as we reworked the ship spawning algorithm to support the feature where players will be able to customize their hangar ship layout through the RSI website.

Finally, we’ve also added a few nifty flair items for our subscribers to enjoy.

Art
The art team has been very busy working on both interiors and exteriors for various planetside locations, as well as preparing a section of Arc Corp that will be shown soon! We have also started work on next month’s flair object, and have something cool in the works for Pax Australia. Our concept artists have been focusing on ArcCorp production, but have also started to get further into Terra concepts. We have also made a few 890 Jump concepts for the brochure. And last but not least…

UI
This month a lot of work has been going into developing control customization, which we will be rolling out in several phases. Engineers and UI artists alike have been working hard to make sure that the user experience feels just right.

As mentioned, we have also moved into asset development for various mobiGlas apps, specifically HOME and easyShop (for starters), as well as some of the core components that will be used across all mobiGlas apps.

We have also been having a lot of fun creating decals, in-fiction billboards, and fake ui screens for the ArcCorp Citizencon environment.

 

FPS TEAM



Hello Esteemed Citizens,


Another month flies right on by faster than the Murray Cup leaders and PAX Australia is approaching quicker than a fully equipped M50! September has been a crazy month for the FPS team. We have been pushing hard to make sure everything is ready for the big event and we really, really want to knock all of your socks off. This past month we were focused on getting all the last pieces of the game we plan to show at PAX implemented and the month of October will be spent polishing and tweaking all those pieces leading up to the event.

Design
Our Creative Director, Lead Designer and Level Designers have been putting the final touches on the level we plan to show at PAX Australia. In addition to that work, they have also been creating paper designs and grey room levels for the FPS Module. Work continues on destructible objects as well and there is now a really good amount of things that shatter, fall to pieces and explode populating the FPS environments. All of this detail gives a real sense of power to the weapons.

The design team has also been finalizing weapons balance, at least for the PAX event. As we’ve mentioned before, weapon balance is an ongoing task that will continue to be worked on up to the FPS Module release and beyond, especially once you Citizens have had a chance to dig your teeth into FPS and give us that invaluable feedback.

Programming
Throughout last month, the programming team has been focused on getting everything implemented and functional. There has also been lots of collaboration with the animation team to get everything looking and feeling right. This isn’t your standard FPS… and the approach we are taking relies very heavily on animation and code being perfectly in sync. I don’t want to say any more than that at this point, but feel free to speculate as much as you want!

Other programming tasks over the last month have included some pretty major fixes in physics and networking. All of the weapons and gadgets are now working over the network properly so we can really start play-testing them and iterating as fast as possible on the mechanics.

Lastly, there was a very productive Networking Summit that took place at CiG Santa Monica where all of the brightest coder brains from each studio gathered to discuss things that I won’t even pretend to understand.

Animation
Wow, the animation team here has been crazy busy… probably more so than anybody else at [REDACTED] (and that’s really saying something considering how busy everybody else has been!). They have been working on re-targeting animations to a new rig that fixes a whole slew of issues. In addition, they have been working with design and programming on a daily basis to make sure that Star Citizen FPS is something truly unique. We can’t wait for you Citizens to see what they have been putting together for PAX and we sincerely hope that you will notice the differences in what we are creating.

I also want to mention that the team in Austin has been giving us a huge helping hand with animation in general. We couldn’t have done it without you guys, and we really appreciate the help.

Audio
Speaking of big helping hands, Foundry 42 has taken on the task of finishing out all of the sound effects for PAX and some big thanks are in order there as well. It really is amazing to be involved with such an ambitious game where everybody at all the studios involved are so willing to pitch in and help each other out where it’s needed. The guys over in the UK are putting together some amazing sound effects for the remaining weapons, gadgets and grenades as well as doing a huge amount of environmental sound effects that should make the FPS Module sound as good as it looks (and believe me… it looks amazing!).

Art
The art team here has really done a spectacular job over the last month. While finishing up modeling and textures for the last few gadgets that are needed for PAX, they have been adding an insane amount of detail to the environments. I have been in the industry for over 10 years, and I can honestly say that I have never seen this level of polish in visuals before (except the work coming from the rest of the Star Citizen team!). It is something truly amazing and my hat goes off to them.

The visual FX team has been iterating and polishing the weapon and environmental FX, and that work will continue over the next few weeks. Impact decals and particles have also been going in, which looks amazing when combined with the destructible environments.

That should about wrap it up for the [REDACTED] report this month (yes, I know I killed that joke for most of you last month and I apologize). Before I sign off here, I want to throw out a big thanks to High Admiral Tristram who sent us a care package with some Nerf guns in it. Thanks from all of us Tristram! Now back to work… see you in a month!


TURBULENT



Hi!
Pushing hard into September, the team has been putting most of it’s effort in supporting the deployment of R13 and the leaderboards system that is used to rank players in the different game modes on the web platform. We’re really excited about this subsystem because not only is it a very awesome feature it’s also the first time the game servers are sending data back to your account. We plan on using that to give you more ways to access the different data points that you generate as you pilot your ship in Arena Commander. As always, seeing the reaction of the community to a launch is always the best part of working in the Star Citizen universe.

Programming
Most engineering time was spent supervising the deployment of the leaderboards system.
As you play Spectrum Matches, definite statistics from the match are sent back to the platform for ranking and processing. The data pipeline created at this stage makes use of a durable and persistent messaging queue system that allows us to never lose a game and always compute the rankings and stats, very useful for the cloud environment we are in which can be unpredictable at times. Some interesting challenges were also tackled as to how we would persist actual player rankings in a way that would allow us to display a custom board for player who do not share a sequential rank. A good example of this would be a “per Organization” leaderboard.



A very cool new feature that you technically should have in hands now is the hangar configuration utility. This new tool, accessible in your “My Hangar” allows you to pick which of your ship shows up in which bay of your chosen hangar. This new subsystem exposes the different hangar bays to the platform so that you can hand pick which of your ships you want to see, giving the players control over this process that used to be powered by an algorithm.

The team finally had time to look at some of the chat system issues web users have been experiencing! With the deployment of a new set of connection managers(a process that handles HTTP to XMPP socket connections) it seems the disconnect issues that players were experiencing have been resolved. Coupled with a few web client bug fixes the chat experience should be greatly improved. Chat away!

Onwards to the lobby system!

UX & Design
The UX and Art teams have been doing some headway on a new home page for Star Citizen as well as revamping the experience for new players. This includes new video content ; new website UX, new player guide, etc… This is the beginning of a long process to try to distill the Star Citizen universe for new players but we hope to bring this plan to fruition in bite size pieces as they get ready.

We’ve been able to have a design review on the Organization Forums functionality that was designed earlier this month, a first step in validating our hypothesis before continuing the design process.

UX also compiled a list of add-on features we want to develop for the Holo-Viewer on the site. Some examples are the addition of a “Scale HUD” (to show relative ship sizes with units), a global “Ship Explorer” not tied to the different store pages where you could swap between manufacturers and ship without leaving the viewer giving a more prominent place for the viewer in the site.

Last but not least, the content and design effort for the Starmap are under way! Sorry, no more details yet!


MOON COLLIDER




Greetings Citizens,
This has been a really solid month of developing infrastructure and core features for our AI systems, with a particular focus on FPS combat and persistent universe AI. A lot of design and implementation work took place this month to get these systems feature-rich enough that the designers at the other studios can really start going to town and doing cool stuff with the AI. There’s still plenty more to do, but we’re really happy with the progress we’ve made so far.

Design
A large part of our recent work has been on a deep and significant refactoring of how designers give AI tasks to perform, trying to find a good balance between flexibility and robustness. We think the AI in Star Citizen will be much more interesting if designers can be specific with what they want the AI to do at certain times, but the rest of the time can rely on the AI to be smart and sensible. We’ve all played games where AI do crazy things, and designers work hard to stop this from happening, so we’ve been designing a system to streamline this as much as we can. Squadron 42, in particular, should see a real benefit from this.

We’ve been working on this for a while, but this month we made some serious progress implementing it, and as part of this we spent a lot of time figuring out the details, from the high level tasks that the AI are assigned, through the mid-level behaviors that they run, right down to the low level actions. And a key part of this design is iterating over ideas with the designers to make sure what we’re coming up with is easy and intuitive for them to use.

There was also a lot of design work this month fleshing out details of the persistent universe, with a particular focus on making sure our design is in step with the other teams doing persistent universe work. There are lots of little details to figure out, from the way AI do interesting and lifelike things in the world, through to what the tools should look like that designers will use to create this world.

Engineering
As mentioned above, we did a lot of work this month implementing core architecture for the way AI are controlled. This work affects all of the AI in Star Citizen, including the dogfighting AI you’re already using. We’ve been converting everything to a new behavior system that will allow us to create complex and interesting behaviors much more easily. There was a lot of work to be done here, but we were successful and as a result we look forward to doing some interesting things with AI next month, which will be revealed in due course, so keep an eye out for that!

On the FPS AI front, we’ve had for a while now characters that can see, but it was finally time to give them the ability to hear as well. Gunfire, bullets whizzing past their heads, footsteps of a player trying unsuccessfully to be sneaky; these are all things that a good AI should be aware of, and now they are. And now that the AI know more about the world, we can give them more interesting behaviors, which we’ve started doing using our new behavior systems.

Finally, for the persistent universe, we’ve been doing some work on allowing AI to use items in the world. We implemented a system that allows designers to start setting up objects in the world and make the AI use them. There are more complex interactions to come, but already we can make the world feel more alive, and it will be exciting to see this develop further over the coming months.