I actually think it's a brillant marketing campaign, it adds ships in game while giving em more money. it cost em 50000$ to make this last ship in but will rake in 2 million. Pretty awesome return on investment. They would still have to design those ships no matter what, it's not like the original 4-5 ships would of been enough.
Yeah they are eager to make stuff that gives them immediate profit. I wonder why
When does it count as greed though?
As for them having enough money a long time ago .. what are you basing this on ? They had enough to make the first iteration of the game maybe, but it is now a much bigger project. More money doesn't always mean the game gets made faster, but expectation certainly do.
I don't think 50 million is that much money to begin with anyway, we have seen 2 games in the last years that are rumored to have cost over 200 million and look how they turned.
When they break the 50mil mark, they're going to be in the top 30 most expensive games of all time.
We've seen hundreds of awesome games for dev costs a fraction of that.
They even bought the engine they're basing it on ffs.
As for where they are on the build of the game we have no idea. Maybe they have planets fully fleshed out already, they don't have to show us that. There are still a lot of work to do, it is still early in developement. Diablo 3 was in developement for 10 years, how much of that game did you see before the first beta ? EQ Next, been in the making for how long ? What did they show us ?
CIG never fails to remind us how transparent and unique their development of the game is. So showing us what we've been paying for is something they feel they NEED to do. Which is commendable.
The results of what they've been working on all these years isn't. That's my problem.
I don't want a finished game a few years after development starts (even if they bought the engine to speed up development) but I did expect more from the AC considering how they have the nerve to ask for MORE money every time they release a new ship.
It is greed from day 1, the same way I go to work everyday, cause I want my paycheck. Should WoW have stopped asking for subs after 5 years just because they had made enough money out of the game already ? Those are business with the only purpose of making money. Now I don't think SC will have a sub and backer get the game free, so they have to make the money on it now since they won't make much after the release except from new buyer.
There's a difference from getting income to survive comfortably and getting so much money you run out of ideas to add to the game... and yet you still try to make more money
I been gaming for 25 years, and I don't think I have seen hundreds of awesome games... maybe 20 max. Around 100 good games and a ton more bad games. I expect SC to be in the top 20 games from the features list and the dedication of CR.
This statement is quite strange. 25 years of gaming and you can only think of 20 awesome games, yet a game that's nothing but a list of features convinces you to add it to the top 20.
Also if you can only think of 20 awesome games, you've probably dedicated your time to playing certain games for a rather long time, ignoring the release of other games. Or maybe you game under a rock? (it's a joke)
The AC module is a pre alpha and a test bed. It is exactly what I was expecting, we test it and give feedback on it, they take that feedback and adjust it. When beta launch in 2 years all the flying and combat mechanics should be ironed out. And I am pretty sure they will have the sound right by then ...
It's not pre-alpha. Also according to CR, the flight mechanics are not going to be changing that much since they are so awesome some people think they are bad
Being open about progress doesn't mean they have to show us everything they are doing, there is competition out there and giving away all that makes your game special would be a bad idea. I don't know how far they are in development but even the AC modules looks really good to me.
Again, they claim they are the most transparent developer out there, yet you have games like Elite : Dangerous or Limit Theory that release weekly/monthly updates about every feature they are working on. The excuse that someone will steal their ideas so that's why they aren't showing us anything is at least laughable ;/
Features have already been announced... and CIG has already said how they're going to be implementing features that are years away.
We will see how it turns out, for now I am happy that I can already test some part of the game that early in development, it means that there is more time to make changes if something doesn't work.
Early in development? They bought a ready engine and have spent years working on it. They delayed the AC something like SIX times and released what we have now.
The result makes you happy yet you have only played 20 awesome games in 25 years of gaming.
Thats about your "they had MORE than enough dev money aeons ago"... sometimes i would wish that people with no whatsoever clue would rather shut up, instead of spreading bullshit.
So how much money do you think they needed to make the AC ? The Hangar module?
How much did the CryEngine cost them?
How much do you think they need to develop a game they can sell?
You also mentioned that Wildstar had a 100mil budget, I thought they had around 50-70 million.
So much development cash, years of development time.. and what have we got to see for it?
A half-baked space dogfighting demo and lots and lots of ships that are for sale (and more coming) for a game you'll be able to play in the future.
I'd love for it to be successful and them implementing all those pages and pages of features they've promised... but please allow me to be cautious.
They'll have to pull a miracle to not cause a shitstorm when the game is released (or spend years and years delaying the game).
Money doesn't speed up time, expanding a dev team can help but only goes so far, either way you're left with the same iterative process. Getting those little things working you mention over and over again with disgust, takes getting some of the big things working as well. The game isn't due out until at least the end of 2015 that's best case, who knows what they have developed for infrastructure thus far? You're bashing a company based on releasing pre-alpha components without even acknowledging the benefits of such a process. Sorry you're not giving them a fair shake here.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I actually think it's a brillant marketing campaign, it adds ships in game while giving em more money. it cost em 50000$ to make this last ship in but will rake in 2 million. Pretty awesome return on investment. They would still have to design those ships no matter what, it's not like the original 4-5 ships would of been enough.
Yeah they are eager to make stuff that gives them immediate profit. I wonder why
When does it count as greed though?
As for them having enough money a long time ago .. what are you basing this on ? They had enough to make the first iteration of the game maybe, but it is now a much bigger project. More money doesn't always mean the game gets made faster, but expectation certainly do.
I don't think 50 million is that much money to begin with anyway, we have seen 2 games in the last years that are rumored to have cost over 200 million and look how they turned.
When they break the 50mil mark, they're going to be in the top 30 most expensive games of all time.
We've seen hundreds of awesome games for dev costs a fraction of that.
They even bought the engine they're basing it on ffs.
As for where they are on the build of the game we have no idea. Maybe they have planets fully fleshed out already, they don't have to show us that. There are still a lot of work to do, it is still early in developement. Diablo 3 was in developement for 10 years, how much of that game did you see before the first beta ? EQ Next, been in the making for how long ? What did they show us ?
CIG never fails to remind us how transparent and unique their development of the game is. So showing us what we've been paying for is something they feel they NEED to do. Which is commendable.
The results of what they've been working on all these years isn't. That's my problem.
I don't want a finished game a few years after development starts (even if they bought the engine to speed up development) but I did expect more from the AC considering how they have the nerve to ask for MORE money every time they release a new ship.
It is greed from day 1, the same way I go to work everyday, cause I want my paycheck. Should WoW have stopped asking for subs after 5 years just because they had made enough money out of the game already ? Those are business with the only purpose of making money. Now I don't think SC will have a sub and backer get the game free, so they have to make the money on it now since they won't make much after the release except from new buyer.
There's a difference from getting income to survive comfortably and getting so much money you run out of ideas to add to the game... and yet you still try to make more money
I been gaming for 25 years, and I don't think I have seen hundreds of awesome games... maybe 20 max. Around 100 good games and a ton more bad games. I expect SC to be in the top 20 games from the features list and the dedication of CR.
This statement is quite strange. 25 years of gaming and you can only think of 20 awesome games, yet a game that's nothing but a list of features convinces you to add it to the top 20.
Also if you can only think of 20 awesome games, you've probably dedicated your time to playing certain games for a rather long time, ignoring the release of other games. Or maybe you game under a rock? (it's a joke)
The AC module is a pre alpha and a test bed. It is exactly what I was expecting, we test it and give feedback on it, they take that feedback and adjust it. When beta launch in 2 years all the flying and combat mechanics should be ironed out. And I am pretty sure they will have the sound right by then ...
It's not pre-alpha. Also according to CR, the flight mechanics are not going to be changing that much since they are so awesome some people think they are bad
Being open about progress doesn't mean they have to show us everything they are doing, there is competition out there and giving away all that makes your game special would be a bad idea. I don't know how far they are in development but even the AC modules looks really good to me.
Again, they claim they are the most transparent developer out there, yet you have games like Elite : Dangerous or Limit Theory that release weekly/monthly updates about every feature they are working on. The excuse that someone will steal their ideas so that's why they aren't showing us anything is at least laughable ;/
Features have already been announced... and CIG has already said how they're going to be implementing features that are years away.
We will see how it turns out, for now I am happy that I can already test some part of the game that early in development, it means that there is more time to make changes if something doesn't work.
Early in development? They bought a ready engine and have spent years working on it. They delayed the AC something like SIX times and released what we have now.
The result makes you happy yet you have only played 20 awesome games in 25 years of gaming.
*ahem*
I have probably played around 2k games in my life, and ya .. not more than 20 were awesome. I said I expect SC to be in that top 20, but I had that expectation for a lot of game that never delivered. Living comfortable .. wtf does that mean, it's a business, the more they bring in the better. As long as they don't lie or scam anyone, everything is fair game. They are pretty transparent with the pledges so far. If you are gonna regret giving away 200$, then don't do it.
The people complaining about the AC flight are people that are lifelong flight sim addicts and wanted a more plane in space flight model, I don't agree with em. The turreting complaint is a valid one tho and that is already being adressed so yea things will change.
Elite dangerous is farther along in development with a shorter feature list, they are in beta now so yes they have more to show ... I wonder why.
2 years of development is NOT a long time, I don't know why you keep bringing this up. If you are not happy with the way it is going or the progress made ask for a refund and move along. There is no point in all your speculation, we don't have every pieces of the puzzle to even start to find reason why they show us or don't show us anything more. One thing is certain tho, they do a shit load of podcast/videos talking about the game. So they are giving way more than any other project I ever seen for something that early in.
In my opinion, if you think professional game developers are in it just for the joy of creating a game you're delusional.
I've got no doubt that they want to create a good game, but they're also greedy people who take all the money they can get just like about every other business on this planet. If they can create a game with 2 million and sell ships for 50 million then it's 48 million dollars to their pockets and they'd be stupid not to take it.
sorry but that comment is a plain joke.
didn't you read what the OPs said? 40 million? "for fun"?
get your facts straight.
my main worry about the game is that there might be actually 2 low lvl ships i will be able to fly in the end, because i didn't pump 150$ for a freaking poligon collection.
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
I actually think it's a brillant marketing campaign, it adds ships in game while giving em more money. it cost em 50000$ to make this last ship in but will rake in 2 million. Pretty awesome return on investment. They would still have to design those ships no matter what, it's not like the original 4-5 ships would of been enough.
Yeah they are eager to make stuff that gives them immediate profit. I wonder why
When does it count as greed though?
As for them having enough money a long time ago .. what are you basing this on ? They had enough to make the first iteration of the game maybe, but it is now a much bigger project. More money doesn't always mean the game gets made faster, but expectation certainly do.
I don't think 50 million is that much money to begin with anyway, we have seen 2 games in the last years that are rumored to have cost over 200 million and look how they turned.
When they break the 50mil mark, they're going to be in the top 30 most expensive games of all time.
We've seen hundreds of awesome games for dev costs a fraction of that.
They even bought the engine they're basing it on ffs.
As for where they are on the build of the game we have no idea. Maybe they have planets fully fleshed out already, they don't have to show us that. There are still a lot of work to do, it is still early in developement. Diablo 3 was in developement for 10 years, how much of that game did you see before the first beta ? EQ Next, been in the making for how long ? What did they show us ?
CIG never fails to remind us how transparent and unique their development of the game is. So showing us what we've been paying for is something they feel they NEED to do. Which is commendable.
The results of what they've been working on all these years isn't. That's my problem.
I don't want a finished game a few years after development starts (even if they bought the engine to speed up development) but I did expect more from the AC considering how they have the nerve to ask for MORE money every time they release a new ship.
It is greed from day 1, the same way I go to work everyday, cause I want my paycheck. Should WoW have stopped asking for subs after 5 years just because they had made enough money out of the game already ? Those are business with the only purpose of making money. Now I don't think SC will have a sub and backer get the game free, so they have to make the money on it now since they won't make much after the release except from new buyer.
There's a difference from getting income to survive comfortably and getting so much money you run out of ideas to add to the game... and yet you still try to make more money
I been gaming for 25 years, and I don't think I have seen hundreds of awesome games... maybe 20 max. Around 100 good games and a ton more bad games. I expect SC to be in the top 20 games from the features list and the dedication of CR.
This statement is quite strange. 25 years of gaming and you can only think of 20 awesome games, yet a game that's nothing but a list of features convinces you to add it to the top 20.
Also if you can only think of 20 awesome games, you've probably dedicated your time to playing certain games for a rather long time, ignoring the release of other games. Or maybe you game under a rock? (it's a joke)
The AC module is a pre alpha and a test bed. It is exactly what I was expecting, we test it and give feedback on it, they take that feedback and adjust it. When beta launch in 2 years all the flying and combat mechanics should be ironed out. And I am pretty sure they will have the sound right by then ...
It's not pre-alpha. Also according to CR, the flight mechanics are not going to be changing that much since they are so awesome some people think they are bad
Being open about progress doesn't mean they have to show us everything they are doing, there is competition out there and giving away all that makes your game special would be a bad idea. I don't know how far they are in development but even the AC modules looks really good to me.
Again, they claim they are the most transparent developer out there, yet you have games like Elite : Dangerous or Limit Theory that release weekly/monthly updates about every feature they are working on. The excuse that someone will steal their ideas so that's why they aren't showing us anything is at least laughable ;/
Features have already been announced... and CIG has already said how they're going to be implementing features that are years away.
We will see how it turns out, for now I am happy that I can already test some part of the game that early in development, it means that there is more time to make changes if something doesn't work.
Early in development? They bought a ready engine and have spent years working on it. They delayed the AC something like SIX times and released what we have now.
The result makes you happy yet you have only played 20 awesome games in 25 years of gaming.
*ahem*
I have probably played around 2k games in my life, and ya .. not more than 20 were awesome. I said I expect SC to be in that top 20, but I had that expectation for a lot of game that never delivered. Living comfortable .. wtf does that mean, it's a business, the more they bring in the better. As long as they don't lie or scam anyone, everything is fair game. They are pretty transparent with the pledges so far. If you are gonna regret giving away 200$, then don't do it.
The people complaining about the AC flight are people that are lifelong flight sim addicts and wanted a more plane in space flight model, I don't agree with em. The turreting complaint is a valid one tho and that is already being adressed so yea things will change.
Elite dangerous is farther along in development with a shorter feature list, they are in beta now so yes they have more to show ... I wonder why.
2 years of development is NOT a long time, I don't know why you keep bringing this up. If you are not happy with the way it is going or the progress made ask for a refund and move along. There is no point in all your speculation, we don't have every pieces of the puzzle to even start to find reason why they show us or don't show us anything more. One thing is certain tho, they do a shit load of podcast/videos talking about the game. So they are giving way more than any other project I ever seen for something that early in.
Again you contradict yourself. Yes they spend a lot on podcasts and video shows to show what they are doing, yet you still claim we don't have enough information to judge their development process? Do you honestly think they're going to come out one day and announce the PU is playable ?
Elite started development around the same time, they have a shorter feature list (as does every other game in existence) but still enough to compete with SC, they have much more to show now as playable content, will be released sooner and all this with building their own engine. They also had amazing sound engineering from their alpha version
Watching Elite development is part of my reason why I critisize CIG this much. They're development progress is dwarfed compared. I honestly want both games to be good.. which is another reason why I'm critisizing CIG's methods.
In my opinion, if you think professional game developers are in it just for the joy of creating a game you're delusional.
I've got no doubt that they want to create a good game, but they're also greedy people who take all the money they can get just like about every other business on this planet. If they can create a game with 2 million and sell ships for 50 million then it's 48 million dollars to their pockets and they'd be stupid not to take it.
sorry but that comment is a plain joke.
didn't you read what the OPs said? 40 million? "for fun"?
get your facts straight.
my main worry about the game is that there might be actually 2 low lvl ships i will be able to fly in the end, because i didn't pump 150$ for a freaking poligon collection.
You don't have to put any money in .. you can just buy the game at release and buy ships in game. You are worried that you won't have the biggest ship on release day ?
For those pledged for a ship it will be free at launch. All others have to buy it later with ingame money.
Btw. you can do exactly that in EvE. Buy with real money from their cash shop.. or with ingame money. I don't know if those ships will be available at a cash shop later on, too for SC.
you CANNOT BUY ANYTHING like a ship from any cash shop in eve, yes you can buy a skin, so different color but NO item in the cash shop has any impact in any game, no stats changing and damn sure no ship
Its funny considering in the post you go on about people spreading bullshit and yet this at the end, the term "practice what you preach" comes to mind.
I have probably played around 2k games in my life, and ya .. not more than 20 were awesome. I said I expect SC to be in that top 20, but I had that expectation for a lot of game that never delivered. Living comfortable .. wtf does that mean, it's a business, the more they bring in the better. As long as they don't lie or scam anyone, everything is fair game. They are pretty transparent with the pledges so far. If you are gonna regret giving away 200$, then don't do it.
The people complaining about the AC flight are people that are lifelong flight sim addicts and wanted a more plane in space flight model, I don't agree with em. The turreting complaint is a valid one tho and that is already being adressed so yea things will change.
Elite dangerous is farther along in development with a shorter feature list, they are in beta now so yes they have more to show ... I wonder why.
2 years of development is NOT a long time, I don't know why you keep bringing this up. If you are not happy with the way it is going or the progress made ask for a refund and move along. There is no point in all your speculation, we don't have every pieces of the puzzle to even start to find reason why they show us or don't show us anything more. One thing is certain tho, they do a shit load of podcast/videos talking about the game. So they are giving way more than any other project I ever seen for something that early in.
Again you contradict yourself. Yes they spend a lot on podcasts and video shows to show what they are doing, yet you still claim we don't have enough information to judge their development process? Do you honestly think they're going to come out one day and announce the PU is playable ?
Elite started development around the same time, they have a shorter feature list (as does every other game in existence) but still enough to compete with SC, they have much more to show now as playable content, will be released sooner and all this with building their own engine. They also had amazing sound engineering from their alpha version
Watching Elite development is part of my reason why I critisize CIG this much. They're development progress is dwarfed compared. I honestly want both games to be good.. which is another reason why I'm critisizing CIG's methods.
I also don't like ridiculous greed.
I don't think those podcast cost a lot .. but yea they give info about what they are wiling to give info. The rest is speculation.
Wasn't elite already in a playable state when they started the kickstarter campaign ? I didn't follow it much but I will buy the game and I agree the sound in the game is pretty amazing.
As for greed I don't care, no one is forcing me to give money, and everyone need to learn some self control eventually, if they do it by dropping too much money on a game, I think it's not a bad way to learn. There are worst ways to loose money and some ways less healthy too.
I wonder if people realise if they take their $150 ship out of the hanger and it gets blown up, its the same as setting fire to your money?
They have an insurance feature, somewhat like what you have in EVE, as long as you dont forget to pay for it you wont loose much if anything. There is a delay before you get your new ship but thats it.
For those pledged for a ship it will be free at launch. All others have to buy it later with ingame money.
Btw. you can do exactly that in EvE. Buy with real money from their cash shop.. or with ingame money. I don't know if those ships will be available at a cash shop later on, too for SC.
you CANNOT BUY ANYTHING like a ship from any cash shop in eve, yes you can buy a skin, so different color but NO item in the cash shop has any impact in any game, no stats changing and damn sure no ship
Its funny considering in the post you go on about people spreading bullshit and yet this at the end, the term "practice what you preach" comes to mind.
You can sell and trade your monthly subs(PLEX). for ingame money in EvE. With other words, you can buy more or less as much ingame money as you want.. and therefore you can buy everything in EvE with real cash.
The more suckers that buy virtual ships, the better Star Citizen will be when it's released. Win for me.
Only thing is: What makes you think that any significant part of the money they are milking this for at this point is actually going towards maeking the game better, and not just making the producers and investors richer?
Yeah, they are self producing, but that does not mean there is no producer. And part of the original funding was through investors, so they do have those as well...
The more suckers that buy virtual ships, the better Star Citizen will be when it's released. Win for me.
Only thing is: What makes you think that any significant part of the money they are milking this for at this point is actually going towards maeking the game better, and not just making the producers and investors richer?
Yeah, they are self producing, but that does not mean there is no producer. And part of the original funding was through investors, so they do have those as well...
Why always expect the worst when you can hope for better ? Anything could happen, they could use the money to go to space, they could just make a bonfire with all the money, they could cash out and quit the country or they could use the money to work on the game and implement more features than what was initially planned.
What is the point of speculating about anything that could happen. Comment on what we know and leave the rest out please.
Again you contradict yourself. Yes they spend a lot on podcasts and video shows to show what they are doing, yet you still claim we don't have enough information to judge their development process? Do you honestly think they're going to come out one day and announce the PU is playable ?
Elite started development around the same time, they have a shorter feature list (as does every other game in existence) but still enough to compete with SC, they have much more to show now as playable content, will be released sooner and all this with building their own engine. They also had amazing sound engineering from their alpha version
Watching Elite development is part of my reason why I critisize CIG this much. They're development progress is dwarfed compared. I honestly want both games to be good.. which is another reason why I'm critisizing CIG's methods.
I also don't like ridiculous greed.
Well you assume a lot here. First of all the podcasts and "video shows" are funded by subscribers not backers. It's a separate thing, nothing to do with the budget of the game. Here's some info for you something I thought you would have read before you posted just so you wouldn't look like you didn't know what you are talking about.
You are correct about Elite, they are moving along quickly it's awesome. Mind you, they are an established studio with a tight team that has been together for years, no one came along and gave them 50x their original budget, so the scope, size and features of the game hasn't really changed from the beginning. They also didn't have to contend with hiring 250 extra people, opening 2 more studios in different countries, and working out the sheer logistics of such an operation. It's like you think companies form magically overnight or something.
As for the greed factor. Well, I was always running under the assumption that backer money was development money. I have no idea if they have a profit margin in there at all. Unless some forensic accountant raids their books we will never know. I'm just going to assume that pocketing development money is probably bad for business. I mean we aren't talking about Brad McQuaid here. CR is already a pretty wealthy guy from his movie days. I honestly think he just wants a good game to play. So I'm willing to give him the benefit of doubt until he proves otherwise. You of course, can assume the worse, nothing wrong with that. Leaves room to be pleasantly surprised if your wrong and you can run around yelling "I told you so!" if you're right.
The more suckers that buy virtual ships, the better Star Citizen will be when it's released. Win for me.
More $$$ =/= a better game. Have a look at the most expensive video games ever produced. How many of them are near to your heart? For me, the answer is none. For me, games like Darwinia, Escape Velocity, The Ancient Art of War at Sea, and Vendetta Online are the ones that stay with me and leave a lasting impression. Whatever Star Citizen is, remains to be seen.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Authored 139 missions in VendettaOnline and 6 tracks in Distance
They wont be selling the ships on launch and do not have third party investors other than the crowd funding so I am not sure what you expect from them, but this is how games are made when you dont have investors.
Originally posted by Geebus80 This is how games are made when you dont have investors.
..... they have 50 million in the bank! The amount of money is proportional to the stretch goal commitment they made.
If they cant do it with the funding allowed then they should be more realistic about making promises they cannot keep!.
The amount the get from pledges(funding) at the moment are all covert with stretch goals, and with that additional features, content, improved quality of existent content or whatever.
However.. they add up to now stretch goals for any amount they earn now with those additional ship solds(or pledging, because basicly it is nothing else)
The early game, they considered with the starting target from $2 mil(and for that case they had planned to bring in another $10 mil from investors), is extremely different what they want to make now.
The link above provides all of the stretch goals and withit all of the added feature list.
Just a few examples:
"Procedural Generation R&D Team – This stretch goal will allocate funding for Cloud Imperium to develop procedural generation technology for future iterations of Star Citizen. Advanced procedural generation will be necessary for creating entire planets worth of exploration and development content. A special strike team of procedural generation-oriented developers will be assembled to make this technology a reality."
This one was for stretch goal $41 million.. from $40 million.
or
"First person combat on select lawless planets. Don’t just battle on space stations and platforms… take the fight to the ground!"
that one was the $19 to $20 mil goal from.
of course some stretch goals are more intensive, some not so much.. and i personally think it is rather hard if $1 mil is enough to really realize some of those.. however the real financing will most probably the mix of previous stretch goals, or not so heavy ones.
With other words up to now all of the pledged money will be used for development, and every single extra money have expanded the scope of the development.. and withit will enhance the development time. Sure they can increase their development team.. and they already did.. but increase the size of your team will you help only so much to decrease the development time.. especially as larger your team gets as larger is your overhead.. work investment for coordinating, bring things together, which are not really go into the development, but more to manage such a huge team. That is absolutely unavoidable.. and a given for anyone with the knowledge of project management. It becomes less and less efficient as bigger your team gets. Another thing is, that you can not do everything parallel.. which will ultimately make it even more inefficent and the development time will increase.
Again you contradict yourself. Yes they spend a lot on podcasts and video shows to show what they are doing, yet you still claim we don't have enough information to judge their development process? Do you honestly think they're going to come out one day and announce the PU is playable ?
Elite started development around the same time, they have a shorter feature list (as does every other game in existence) but still enough to compete with SC, they have much more to show now as playable content, will be released sooner and all this with building their own engine. They also had amazing sound engineering from their alpha version
Watching Elite development is part of my reason why I critisize CIG this much. They're development progress is dwarfed compared. I honestly want both games to be good.. which is another reason why I'm critisizing CIG's methods.
I also don't like ridiculous greed.
Well you assume a lot here. First of all the podcasts and "video shows" are funded by subscribers not backers. It's a separate thing, nothing to do with the budget of the game. Here's some info for you something I thought you would have read before you posted just so you wouldn't look like you didn't know what you are talking about.
So are you saying that because they dedicated subscriber money to something completely unrelated with the development of the game, they couldn't have used it to improve or speed-up the development of their game?
It's still money, it can still be used for something that isn't completely superficial.
You are correct about Elite, they are moving along quickly it's awesome. Mind you, they are an established studio with a tight team that has been together for years, no one came along and gave them 50x their original budget, so the scope, size and features of the game hasn't really changed from the beginning. They also didn't have to contend with hiring 250 extra people, opening 2 more studios in different countries, and working out the sheer logistics of such an operation. It's like you think companies form magically overnight or something.
You make it sound as if growing big actually slows development
It's not like existing developers sit around waiting for other developers to get hired.
As for the greed factor. Well, I was always running under the assumption that backer money was development money. I have no idea if they have a profit margin in there at all. Unless some forensic accountant raids their books we will never know. I'm just going to assume that pocketing development money is probably bad for business. I mean we aren't talking about Brad McQuaid here. CR is already a pretty wealthy guy from his movie days. I honestly think he just wants a good game to play. So I'm willing to give him the benefit of doubt until he proves otherwise.
Oh come on.. they've invented so many creative ways to get enthusiasts to pay them for something they're going to deliver in a few years time. 150$ for a ship you can't even see yet. Monthly subscriptions for subscriber-exclusive perks and merchandise! (Those perks btw are as sleazy as greedy companies get).
You of course, can assume the worse, nothing wrong with that. Leaves room to be pleasantly surprised if your wrong and you can run around yelling "I told you so!" if you're right.
Oh I'm eager to be pleasantly surprised, just waiting on anything released that would point in that direction. Sadly the quality of the AC indicates nothing of the sort.
Comments
There's a difference from getting income to survive comfortably and getting so much money you run out of ideas to add to the game... and yet you still try to make more money
This statement is quite strange. 25 years of gaming and you can only think of 20 awesome games, yet a game that's nothing but a list of features convinces you to add it to the top 20.
Also if you can only think of 20 awesome games, you've probably dedicated your time to playing certain games for a rather long time, ignoring the release of other games. Or maybe you game under a rock?
(it's a joke)
It's not pre-alpha. Also according to CR, the flight mechanics are not going to be changing that much since they are so awesome some people think they are bad
Again, they claim they are the most transparent developer out there, yet you have games like Elite : Dangerous or Limit Theory that release weekly/monthly updates about every feature they are working on. The excuse that someone will steal their ideas so that's why they aren't showing us anything is at least laughable ;/
Features have already been announced... and CIG has already said how they're going to be implementing features that are years away.
Early in development? They bought a ready engine and have spent years working on it. They delayed the AC something like SIX times and released what we have now.
The result makes you happy yet you have only played 20 awesome games in 25 years of gaming.
*ahem*
..Cake..
So how much money do you think they needed to make the AC ? The Hangar module?
How much did the CryEngine cost them?
How much do you think they need to develop a game they can sell?
You also mentioned that Wildstar had a 100mil budget, I thought they had around 50-70 million.
..Cake..
"I should have got into the space game business"
-Brad McQuaid
Money doesn't speed up time, expanding a dev team can help but only goes so far, either way you're left with the same iterative process. Getting those little things working you mention over and over again with disgust, takes getting some of the big things working as well. The game isn't due out until at least the end of 2015 that's best case, who knows what they have developed for infrastructure thus far? You're bashing a company based on releasing pre-alpha components without even acknowledging the benefits of such a process. Sorry you're not giving them a fair shake here.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Its a win for us suckers tooNo matter how cynical you become, its never enough to keep up - Lily Tomlin
I have probably played around 2k games in my life, and ya .. not more than 20 were awesome. I said I expect SC to be in that top 20, but I had that expectation for a lot of game that never delivered. Living comfortable .. wtf does that mean, it's a business, the more they bring in the better. As long as they don't lie or scam anyone, everything is fair game. They are pretty transparent with the pledges so far. If you are gonna regret giving away 200$, then don't do it.
The people complaining about the AC flight are people that are lifelong flight sim addicts and wanted a more plane in space flight model, I don't agree with em. The turreting complaint is a valid one tho and that is already being adressed so yea things will change.
Elite dangerous is farther along in development with a shorter feature list, they are in beta now so yes they have more to show ... I wonder why.
2 years of development is NOT a long time, I don't know why you keep bringing this up. If you are not happy with the way it is going or the progress made ask for a refund and move along. There is no point in all your speculation, we don't have every pieces of the puzzle to even start to find reason why they show us or don't show us anything more. One thing is certain tho, they do a shit load of podcast/videos talking about the game. So they are giving way more than any other project I ever seen for something that early in.
sorry but that comment is a plain joke.
didn't you read what the OPs said? 40 million? "for fun"?
get your facts straight.
my main worry about the game is that there might be actually 2 low lvl ships i will be able to fly in the end, because i didn't pump 150$ for a freaking poligon collection.
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
Again you contradict yourself. Yes they spend a lot on podcasts and video shows to show what they are doing, yet you still claim we don't have enough information to judge their development process? Do you honestly think they're going to come out one day and announce the PU is playable ?
Elite started development around the same time, they have a shorter feature list (as does every other game in existence) but still enough to compete with SC, they have much more to show now as playable content, will be released sooner and all this with building their own engine. They also had amazing sound engineering from their alpha version
Watching Elite development is part of my reason why I critisize CIG this much. They're development progress is dwarfed compared. I honestly want both games to be good.. which is another reason why I'm critisizing CIG's methods.
I also don't like ridiculous greed.
..Cake..
You don't have to put any money in .. you can just buy the game at release and buy ships in game. You are worried that you won't have the biggest ship on release day ?
you CANNOT BUY ANYTHING like a ship from any cash shop in eve, yes you can buy a skin, so different color but NO item in the cash shop has any impact in any game, no stats changing and damn sure no ship
Its funny considering in the post you go on about people spreading bullshit and yet this at the end, the term "practice what you preach" comes to mind.
This post is all my opinion, but I welcome debate on anything i have put, however, personal slander / name calling belongs in game
where of course you're welcome to call me names im often found lounging about in EvE online.
Use this code for 21days trial in eve online https://secure.eveonline.com/trial/?invc=d385aff2-794a-44a4-96f1-3967ccf6d720&action=buddy
I don't think those podcast cost a lot .. but yea they give info about what they are wiling to give info. The rest is speculation.
Wasn't elite already in a playable state when they started the kickstarter campaign ? I didn't follow it much but I will buy the game and I agree the sound in the game is pretty amazing.
As for greed I don't care, no one is forcing me to give money, and everyone need to learn some self control eventually, if they do it by dropping too much money on a game, I think it's not a bad way to learn. There are worst ways to loose money and some ways less healthy too.
Only Chris is won here , we are all suckers
not even 50 million, the budget is still crap for triple A
I say go for 100 Million to kick EA a tiny little bit in the butt
200 people working for content the next 4-6 years, bring up your calculator
I wonder if people realise if they take their $150 ship out of the hanger and it gets blown up, its the same as setting fire to your money?
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
They have an insurance feature, somewhat like what you have in EVE, as long as you dont forget to pay for it you wont loose much if anything. There is a delay before you get your new ship but thats it.
You can sell and trade your monthly subs(PLEX). for ingame money in EvE. With other words, you can buy more or less as much ingame money as you want.. and therefore you can buy everything in EvE with real cash.
Only thing is: What makes you think that any significant part of the money they are milking this for at this point is actually going towards maeking the game better, and not just making the producers and investors richer?
Yeah, they are self producing, but that does not mean there is no producer. And part of the original funding was through investors, so they do have those as well...
Why always expect the worst when you can hope for better ? Anything could happen, they could use the money to go to space, they could just make a bonfire with all the money, they could cash out and quit the country or they could use the money to work on the game and implement more features than what was initially planned.
What is the point of speculating about anything that could happen. Comment on what we know and leave the rest out please.
Well you assume a lot here. First of all the podcasts and "video shows" are funded by subscribers not backers. It's a separate thing, nothing to do with the budget of the game. Here's some info for you something I thought you would have read before you posted just so you wouldn't look like you didn't know what you are talking about.
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/faq/subscriptions
You are correct about Elite, they are moving along quickly it's awesome. Mind you, they are an established studio with a tight team that has been together for years, no one came along and gave them 50x their original budget, so the scope, size and features of the game hasn't really changed from the beginning. They also didn't have to contend with hiring 250 extra people, opening 2 more studios in different countries, and working out the sheer logistics of such an operation. It's like you think companies form magically overnight or something.
As for the greed factor. Well, I was always running under the assumption that backer money was development money. I have no idea if they have a profit margin in there at all. Unless some forensic accountant raids their books we will never know. I'm just going to assume that pocketing development money is probably bad for business. I mean we aren't talking about Brad McQuaid here. CR is already a pretty wealthy guy from his movie days. I honestly think he just wants a good game to play. So I'm willing to give him the benefit of doubt until he proves otherwise. You of course, can assume the worse, nothing wrong with that. Leaves room to be pleasantly surprised if your wrong and you can run around yelling "I told you so!" if you're right.
More $$$ =/= a better game. Have a look at the most expensive video games ever produced. How many of them are near to your heart? For me, the answer is none. For me, games like Darwinia, Escape Velocity, The Ancient Art of War at Sea, and Vendetta Online are the ones that stay with me and leave a lasting impression. Whatever Star Citizen is, remains to be seen."The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
They wont be selling the ships on launch and do not have third party investors other than the crowd funding so I am not sure what you expect from them, but this is how games are made when you dont have investors.
You should be more realistic.
..... they have 50 million in the bank!
The amount of money is proportional to the stretch goal commitment they made.
If they cant do it with the funding allowed then they should be more realistic about making promises they cannot keep!.
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
The amount the get from pledges(funding) at the moment are all covert with stretch goals, and with that additional features, content, improved quality of existent content or whatever.
However.. they add up to now stretch goals for any amount they earn now with those additional ship solds(or pledging, because basicly it is nothing else)
The early game, they considered with the starting target from $2 mil(and for that case they had planned to bring in another $10 mil from investors), is extremely different what they want to make now.
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/funding-goals
The link above provides all of the stretch goals and withit all of the added feature list.
Just a few examples:
"Procedural Generation R&D Team – This stretch goal will allocate funding for Cloud Imperium to develop procedural generation technology for future iterations of Star Citizen. Advanced procedural generation will be necessary for creating entire planets worth of exploration and development content. A special strike team of procedural generation-oriented developers will be assembled to make this technology a reality."
This one was for stretch goal $41 million.. from $40 million.
or
"First person combat on select lawless planets. Don’t just battle on space stations and platforms… take the fight to the ground!"
that one was the $19 to $20 mil goal from.
of course some stretch goals are more intensive, some not so much.. and i personally think it is rather hard if $1 mil is enough to really realize some of those.. however the real financing will most probably the mix of previous stretch goals, or not so heavy ones.
With other words up to now all of the pledged money will be used for development, and every single extra money have expanded the scope of the development.. and withit will enhance the development time. Sure they can increase their development team.. and they already did.. but increase the size of your team will you help only so much to decrease the development time.. especially as larger your team gets as larger is your overhead.. work investment for coordinating, bring things together, which are not really go into the development, but more to manage such a huge team. That is absolutely unavoidable.. and a given for anyone with the knowledge of project management. It becomes less and less efficient as bigger your team gets. Another thing is, that you can not do everything parallel.. which will ultimately make it even more inefficent and the development time will increase.
So are you saying that because they dedicated subscriber money to something completely unrelated with the development of the game, they couldn't have used it to improve or speed-up the development of their game?
It's still money, it can still be used for something that isn't completely superficial.
You make it sound as if growing big actually slows development
It's not like existing developers sit around waiting for other developers to get hired.
Oh come on.. they've invented so many creative ways to get enthusiasts to pay them for something they're going to deliver in a few years time. 150$ for a ship you can't even see yet. Monthly subscriptions for subscriber-exclusive perks and merchandise! (Those perks btw are as sleazy as greedy companies get).
Oh I'm eager to be pleasantly surprised, just waiting on anything released that would point in that direction. Sadly the quality of the AC indicates nothing of the sort.
..Cake..