tagged for later

Star Citizen has $160,000 in pledges from 3,000 backers

The website for Star Citizen, Chris Roberts’ new game, is offline due to the “overwhelming response” to the game’s campaign launch. A mirror site is handling web-based duties for Roberts Space Industries for the time being. Last we were able to access the page, the game already received 3,000 pledges in the amount of $160,000. The funding goal is $2 million, and the team hopes to bring more angel investors on board to fully fund the game. It is slated for release in 2014. 

http://www.vg247.com/2012/10/10/star-citizen-has-160000-in-pledges-from-3000-backers/

That is a high average pledge

FAQ is up - http://starcitizen.robertsspaceindustries.com/

some good bits

What's Your Online Revenue Model?

Not a subscription but not free-to-play; rather a hybrid of these two business models. Much like ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2, you will purchase the PC game and pay no recurring subscription charges. Your purchase of the game will allow you to play in the universe for free, forever! The game will offer a variety of virtual items for purchase with in-game credits allowing you to spend money on items that offer more ways to express yourself, provide convenience, and customize your experience. But the cardinal rule regarding "in-game purchases" is: Players who spend money purchasing in-game credits will have no advantage over players who spend time!

Everything is bought with in-game credits. These purchases won't offer any advantage over someone who puts in the "game-time" to earn the same amount of credits. You might ask, why have "in-game" purchases at all? This allows us the resources to support the game on an ongoing basis as well as continually add content.

(To be hones this bit is the most questionable bit, but in the presentation he mentioned going offline and playing singleplayer, and if micro transactions means I can get a constantly expanding universe I will take it)

Why Not Kickstarter?

We love Kickstarter. We've backed projects on their site and believe

everyone in the development community owes a debt to Kickstarter for putting crowd funding on the map, and making it legitimate. But for us the ultimate goal of crowd funding is about connecting the "crowd" directly with the creators with as little friction as possible. By building a crowd funding component directly into our site we can insure everyone who wants to back the game can - we provide multiple payment options to make sure that wherever in the world you are there is an option that can work for you. It means you just have one destination to support the project, read updates, and most importantly participate with other members of the community! All on a site that's designed around the game universe being created, providing the least friction possible. Kickstarter, as great as it is, can't deliver this experience, which is why we've decided to go it alone.

Will The Servers Be Public Or Private?

There will be public servers that we host for the main universe/game. The universe is going to be a persistent living entity, where your actions, (discovering a jump point and successfully navigating its jump for the first time, designing a ship for sale in the online shops, winning a key in-game battle etc.), will be woven into the history and lore of the game. We really want the universe to be shaped, both by your actions and created user content... to really embrace the passion and creativity of the core fans. A central server system for the persistent universe will be required to assure security, prevent cheating and other bad behavior. We also plan to provide a version that allows private servers similar to Freelancer to be maintained and run by the pilot communities. These would support single and multiplayer space combat battles where teams could hone their skills without having to use the public servers.

Constantly expanding and evolving universe

We're committed to making Star Citizen a living, breathing universe that is its own entity. It will be a constantly shifting and evolving place for players to explore and affect.

Fully dynamic economy driven by player actions

If too many people fly iron ore to the smelting plants of New Pittsburg, steel prices will drop. Buy low... sell high... you hope.

Bigger ships offer bigger multi-player action

On larger ships, friends can join you to man turrets, repair systems, or switch with you on the pilot's chair. Think the Millennium Falcon with Han-Solo piloting and Luke on the turret.

Range of scale never seen before in a game

From a vast 1km long carrier to a 27m fighter, to your 1.8M tall pilot,

everything is rendered and to the same level of detail. Zoom in to the paneling of the carrier and its texel density is the same as the 27M fighter. All without a load screen or loss of visual fidelity.

10X the detail of current AAA games

Most current gen "AAA" games have around 10,000 polygons for a character and 30,000 or so for a vehicle. In Star Citizen, the characters are detailed at 100,000 polygons, the fighter at 300,000 and the Space Carrier 7 million! This allows unparalleled detail, making the visuals more immersive than has ever been achieved before.

Fly the way YOU want

Joystick, gamepad, mouse, keyboard are all supported.

We've all got our preferences, so why be forced to choose?

Advanced peripheral support

As part of commitment to high end gaming we are dedicated to supporting the more exotic enthusiast peripherals; HOTAS, flight chair, rudder pedals. It's all about the immersion and if you've got the equipment we want to support it!

I only found out about this today, but I'm very much looking forward to it.

Wing Commander was one of the first games I ever came to really love, so seeing Chris Roberts going with this has me hyped beyond belief. So paying in when I get the chance to.

I hope they are getting the counter back up soon .. I like numbers ..

"Roberts Space Industries can't even set up a simple counter - bitter irony or bad omen?" headlines confirmed.

Is this a strategy game like Homeworld or is it in first person you flying a spacecraft?

first/third person, think Privateer or Freelancer

I'm not familiar with those games. Obviously I've heard about them innumerous times, but I haven't played almost any space games in my gaming career.

if it was announced for nextbox or ps4 it would be much better.. If I somehow get a new PC I will get this game, it looks amazing, but my current wouldn't run it and $600 for a new PC isn't happening