Earlier this month, we learned that Star Citizen studio Cloud Imperium Games were mandating overtime for employees in the lead-up to their fan convention, Citizencon, which was held this past weekend. Additionally, this TOIL (time off in lieu) wouldn’t be made available until the release of space game Star Citizen’s accompanying single player campaign, Squadron 42.
At CitizenCon over the weekend, CIG head promiser Chris Roberts said that he’s “confident” that Sqorty-two will release in 2026, via Ian Games. CIG also released a video of the entire first hour and fifteen of the game, which you can watch below.
]]>There's a quote about early computer animation, which I can't track down now, that before Pixar came along everyone was using it to swoop cameras through outerspace and up a gnat's ass. Or perhaps it was a fly's butt?
I'm glad Pixar used computer animation to tell great stories, but in watching the 24-minute trailer for the technology underpinning Star Citizen, I have come to realise: swooping the camera through outerspace and up to a man's sweaty brow, at least, is actually pretty cool, too.
]]>It's been 11 long years since the unveiling of Squadron 42, Star Citizen's singleplayer campaign, seven years since developer Cloud Imperium Games broke Squadron 42 off into a standalone purchase, five years since Crytek took them to court for allegedly breaching their CryEngine license, three years since Crytek and Cloud Imperium settled that lawsuit, and three years since director Chris Roberts sought to justify the game's mammoth development time to Kickstarter backers, declaring that "it would be doing a huge disservice to everyone working really hard on the project and all of you that are looking forward to it to deliver something that isn't great." Well, all that waiting has finally paid off, as Squadron 42 is now officially... "feature-complete" and "into the polishing phase", meaning that the Wing Commander-inspired space sim is almost guaranteed to release before the death of our sun.
Cloud Imperium have released a new trailer walkthrough to celebrate, which does admittedly look spaceworthy. It's a whistle-stop tour of Squadron 42 gameplay and story materials - from dogfights in asteroid belts that use a new precision targeting feature, through "OMG my CO is Gillian Anderson" cinematics, to physics-based puzzling malarkey involving a Half-Life Gravity Gun-adjacent gizmo. If I were, say, Starfield developer Bethesda, I'd be particularly worried about those planetary surface flyovers. Mind you, by the time Squadron 42 launches we'll probably be playing Starfield 2. I kid, Roberts, I kid!
]]>Nine years and over $434,000,000 (£320m) after starting crowdfunding, space sim Star Citizen and its singleplayer spin-off Squadron 42 are still very far from completion. They're sustained by fans' hopes and dreams of what the games might one day become but this is a double-edged sword. The developers, Cloud Imperium Games have now decided to make their public development roadmap for future updates more vague, because some players get dead narked about delays. I can see that happening after nine years.
]]>How do you celebrate the eighth birthday of an MMO that technically still hasn't been fully released? Why, you hold a Q&A to let fans know that its singleplayer spin-off is nowhere near coming out either, of course.
Over the weekend, the Star Citizen devs, Cloud Imperium, held a Q&A over on their forums as part of its birthday celebrations. Despite rules on the thread saying fans weren't allowed to ask about "timelines or schedules", that is exactly what they did. As it turns out, the story game set in its universe, Squadron 42, is still a long ways off.
]]>Cloud Imperium's space-em-up MMO, Star Citizen, has got a new alpha build for players to muck around in, with changes that'll let you do more PvP. The Alpha 3.11 High Impact update is doing away with a load of the game's safe Armistice Zones, and is adding new spaceships, as well as a Halloween event running throughout October. It doesn't end there though, because on top of all that they've released a little teaser trailer for the upcoming singleplayer story game, Squadron 42, as well.
]]>Chris Roberts, the director of Star Citizen, took to the sandbox space game's forum this weekend to address recent complaints on how long it's taking to implement certain features. It comes as a response to a fan's YouTube video questioning why the perpetually-in-development MMO doesn't yet have certain aspects of the "atmospheric room systems", which were first shown by developers Cloud Imperium four years ago.
]]>Eight years and a few hundreds of millions of dollars in crowdfunding into development, and Star Citizen's star-studded Squadron 42 campaign is still nowhere on our scanners. After plans for more regular updates seemed to fizzle out, Cloud Imperium today filed the paperwork to acquire planning permission to post an entirely new development roadmap for the revised roadmap they announced earlier this year.
]]>Forget dogfighting, first-person shooting and interstellar exploration. For the last few years, Star Citizen has looked increasingly like those bits in the Star Wars prequels where muppets sit on big steel dodgems to discuss trade agreements. 2020 looks to be no different, with a long-standing dispute between Cloud Imperium Games and Crysis/CryEngine-maker Crytek coming to a head once again. This month, Crytek asked for their long-fought lawsuit against Cloud Imperium to be dismissed. They're not done with Star Citizen: rather, Crytek would prefer to take a fresh stab at the space sim at a later date. Responding on Friday, Cloud Imperium isn't having any of it.
]]>Just as 2019 was being put to bed, Cloud Imperium delivered a couple of Xmas gifts to its Star Citizen players. They released version 3.8 of their space-faring money blackhole, adding new planet tech, new worlds, and PvP punching. They also released a “visual teaser” for Squadron 42, which is their shooting-heavy Star Citizen spin-off and is probably too far into development to be teased like this.
]]>Everything-but-the-kitchen-sink space sim dream Star Citizen has taken another step closer to reality with the launch of a new alpha for backers, including adding NPC enemies to first-person shooter bits for your face-shooting pleasure. It also boosts performance and... lets you use your webcam to motion-capture your own expressions for your character's face? I think my face would start to hurt after an hour of waggling my eyebrows and doing my Elvis lip. Back on the less concrete side of things, hey, a new trailer for standalone singleplayer companion game Squadron 42 shows a neat digital Gillian Anderson. Wotcha!
]]>The makers of Star Citizen have declared that the lawsuit against them by CryEngine makers Crytek "sacrifices legal sufficiency for loud publicity", and asked the court to dismiss it. Crytek have claimed that Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) broke the contract under which they licensed CryEngine to build their space sim upon. CIG say these claims are tosh, mostly disproved by a simple look at the agreement - a text they claim Crytek had concealed from the court, and so have shared themselves. I prefer my legal drama to have jokes, songs, and closing arguments to the jury which are actually a metaphor for their failed marriage with the opposing lawyer who--oh god!--they've only just realised they never stopped loving, but let's get stuck in.
]]>Despite reports of a brewing legal struggle between Star Citizen studio Cloud Imperium Games and one-time engine partners Crytek, the enormously crowdfunded studio have released another big chunk of gameplay footage, this time focused solely on Squadron 42, the story-driven singleplayer campaign mode. It's a broad mix of gameplay styles, showing off everything from dialogue to dogfighting, some zero-G EVA exploration and a chunk of planetary on-foot stealthy action.
If nothing else, it features an eerily accurate digital recreation of Liam Cunningham - the tip of a star-studded iceberg - looking a little less crispy around the edges than he did in Game of Thrones, although no less world-weary.
]]>It wouldn't be 2012-2018 (and who knows how much longer) without a Star Citizen controversy. Chris Robert's mega-crowdfunded space-everything game has been subject to a great deal of scrutiny about what it's spent its half-decade and its $173 million dollars on, but a brand new curveball is that his studios Cloud Imperium Games and Roberts Space Industries are being sued by Crysis and CryEngine makers Crytek.
Up until last year, Star Citizen was built using CryEngine, but now Crytek are arguing there's been a breach of contract and copyright infringement. They're after an injunction which, if successful, wouldn't mean good things for that release date we've been holding out for.
]]>It wasn’t until developer Cloud Imperium began showing off Star Citizen's alpha 3.0 that I started to get interested in Chris Roberts’ baby. Sure, the ambitious plans have always sounded impressive, but only recently has it started to look like there’s a hint of cohesion, that there’s a game in there I might like to play.
In August, Roberts and co showcased all manner of exciting things, from co-op missions to plummeting down towards a planet’s surface with nothing but a hoverbike and a space suit. But now we’re able to see what the most recent version looks like outside of a controlled environment, from the perspective of a player.
]]>Los Angeles was all Star Citizen [official site] a-go-go last weekend, hosting the spaceship game's annual CitizenCon celebration. Cloud Imperium Games took to the stage to update fans on what they've been up to, and show off future work-in-progress versions. Bad news: this does include a delay for the singleplayer companion game Squadron 42, now pushed out of 2016 into... who knows? On the flipside, Cloud Imperium did show some pretty planets and a honking great sandworm rising to snap at hoverbikes and aircraft so, y'know, that's certainly a bonus.
]]>If you're interested in crowdfunded space sandbox Star Citizen [official site], do set aside 45 minutes to settle down with a cup of tea and read Kotaku UK's mega-feature on the game's troubled development. Julian Benson has spent seven months talking with people who've been working on it, from displeased devs who wish to remain anonymous up to the big cheese himself, Chris Roberts. It's a cracking look inside and a fine bit of work. Recommended!
]]>This Sunday will see crowdfunded space 'em up Star Citizen [official site] split into two games, the MMO-y sandbox Star Citizen and the singleplayer campaign Squadron 42. Sort of. Not really. It's two separate 'packages', at least. As this has evidently surprised some, developers Cloud Imperium Games have explained more about what it is, saying they'd "like to clear up some confusion about exactly what's happening!"
In short, if you already own Star Citizen you're fine. By which I mean the whole game previously sold as 'Star Citizen'. Not the module/package/game/thing 'Star Citizen'. Oh yes, I see where this can get confusing.
]]>You might hear a lot about Star Citizen [official site], about its grand visions for a sandbox universe and about its $107 million crowdfunded by selling virtual spaceships, but what's the game actually like now? Is it worth paying for? Well, you can read Alec's thoughts or you can now go see for yourself. For another few days, a 'Free Fly' event lets all and sundry sign up and play at exploring, shooting, questing, and socialising in Alpha 2.1.2.
]]>Hollywood actors including Harry Potter's Gary Oldman, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back's Mark Hamill, Sliders' John Rhys-Davies, Volume's Andy Serkis, Eastenders' Craig Fairbrass, and GILLIAN CHUFFING ANDERSON are lending their voices and faces to Squardron 42, the single-player side of Star Citizen [official site].
Creator Chris Roberts's years in Hollywood may not have produced much of note, but his crowdfunded space 'em up has let him pull together a pret-ty swish cast. Fresh from his debut at the CitizenCon shindig over the weekend, here's an eerie virtual Gary Oldman spouting jingoism as a space-American:
]]>As surely as the Earth keeps on spinning and the sun looms precariously, waiting for the day when our brittle atmosphere crumbles away so it can boil us all into bleeding scabs that scar the planet's skin, Star Citizen keeps on pulling in millions of dollars. It's now jumped all the way past the $31 million mark, which means a) Star Citizen gets an "interstellar super yacht," b) Chris Roberts and co have enough money to buy a real interstellar super yacht, and c) single-player story-based Wing Commander successor Squadron 42 gets some serious upgrades. Details and video below.
]]>Star Citizen this, Star Citizen that. It's in the news significantly more often than any real space program, and it's probably better funded at this point too. Personally, I still can't help but question Chris Roberts' and co's ability to pull it off, but I'm now much less doubtful that their aspirations are sincere. I recently lobbed all the skepticism I could at each of Roberts' claims, and he backed them up with dates, times, and plans to prove he's not just blasting hot air into the empty blackness of our bank accounts. Look for that mammoth back-and-forth very soon. First, though, Squadron 42. The single-player story-based spin-off kind of disappeared after Star Citizen's initial announcement, but apparently it's benefiting from Roberts' lightspeed jump into the Implausible Wealth Nebula just as much as its big brother. According to Roberts, it's now just as big as anything he could've done working with EA to make a new Wing Commander.
]]>(To the tune of Carmina Burana): SPAAAAAAAAAAAAACE! SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE! SPPaaAAaaAAAAACE!
Earlier today we already revealed and talked about the new excursion into space, Star Citizen, but we wanted to make sure you had seen see spaceships flying and shooting in the single-player game, Squadron 42. It's the same video from earlier, but it's looking so good. It's looking all in-engine game footage, below. Mmmhmm! SppppppppppaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAACEE!
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