[serg_chernata]

I'm a backer and I have no problem with this. Many AAA titles take a decade or more from start to finish. For example, between Diablo 2 and 3. I want the best space sim and I like what RSI is doing. I'm not holding my breath, just living my life and when the game is finished I will be happy to play it. Although, I also did not drop 5 grand on this game.

[macspoofing]

> Many AAA titles take a decade or more from start to finish.

AAA titles that take a decade or more to develop are usually stuck in some sort of development hell.

>I want the best space sim and I like what RSI is doing.

You like that instead of making the best space sim, they are adding focusing on adding an first person combat? It's clear as day that Roberts and Co. lack any sort of discipline. It's a perfect example why sometimes constraints on creative freedom (usually forced by eviiiil publishers) are a good thing.

[serg_chernata]

Unfortunately, I do like it. To each his own.

[macspoofing]

To each his own indeed, but I think it would be a good idea for them to release a kick-ass space sim, and then refine and expand gameplay in Star Citizen 2.

[kowdermeister]

Constraints on creative freedom is always a good thing. But let me rephrase that. If you introduce limitations to the creative process, then the outcome will be more creative than a process without any limitation.

[danso]

The argument that far less ambitious AAA games have taken a long time has seemed to me to be a double-edged sword. It does give SC some leeway in expected timeline. But there’s also the concern that if a reasonably-experienced studio like Blizzard could be stalled for 10 years to iterate on Diablo 2, then it seems very likely that CIG, an entirely new studio, is going to stumble hard when trying to solve multiple challenges in gaming that have yet never been solved. Chris Roberts is rightly a legend for the WC series, but that doesn’t suggest he can pull off a dynamic game of SC’s scope.

I’ve been paying attention to SC because its ambition is fascinating. I’m especially interested in what innovations they’ll bring to AI when it comes to populating a game world. But I would’ve thought by now — especially based on Roberts’ confident prediction of a 2016 release — that the single-player SQ42 would be in beta form by now. But it seems like they don’t have any kind of game loop, or a stable/fun flight model.

Nevermind the never-before done innovations — I think that SC, whenever it releases, is going to have a hell of a time with more mundane things, such as game balancing. I think of how much work Blizzard has to constantly put into Overwatch, a team FPS with very few innovations, to find the right mix of balance with <30 characters in 3 classes. SC has what looks like dozens of ships that have to be designed well for human and AI alike. Some of these ships cost hundreds of dollars and yet have to be tweaked so that SC doesn’t feel like a pay-to-win game, where whales dominate the galaxy with AI-controlled fleets. It’ll be an interesting project to follow over the decade but the challenges seem daunting.

[Cthulhu_]

Except the existence of D3 wasn't even announced until 2008, releasing four years later - and they didn't rely on the donations of backers, nor did they promise it'd be out in 2-3 years or bolt on feature after feature (and a FPS), nor did they push the limits of graphics cards and whatnot and design it for two generations over.

I could go on, not sure though, I think it's a moot comparison.

[aldanor]

    > nor did they push the limits of graphics cards and whatnot and design it for two generations over.

Moreover, it ran just fine on a decent 2011 laptop.

[serg_chernata]

Announcement of existence doesn't mean the project wasn't worked on for many years prior. Either way, this was just a quick example off the top of my head. Nothing will be a proper comparison because, as the headline states, SC is the first to raise this much and take this long to deliver.

[Shivetya]

Battletech The Game went to kick starter to get additional funds to deliver their game and it pretty much ranks up there as a AAA title. They went on to get picked up by Paradox Games who will give the access to resources they did not have before.

Having watched Star Citizen for years it is just obvious this whole process suffers from feature creep. They went in with one game and now have what? three?

It reminds me of Battle Cruiser 3000AD at this point, though to be fair they have delivered more content but at the same time not when or what people who got into it expected

[Cthulhu_]

Three tech demoes and a team making advertising videos for ships you can buy for a premium which you can play in a video game that still doesn't exist yet.

[shusson]

| Many AAA titles take a decade or more from start to finish.

Yes but no AAA title has been crowed-funded to the tune of 200m before.

[wavefunction]

That seems like a non-sequitur. How does the crowdfunding aspect change how long an AAA title takes to develop?

[s73v3r_]

"I'm a backer and I have no problem with this"

That's fine that you're happy with what they're doing. Other people aren't, and they should be able to get their money back when the direction went somewhere else.

[Thaxll]

Most AAA do a game in 2-3years, a decade is not the norm, and for game that took 10years it's not a team that work on that for that long but just a couple of people.

[serg_chernata]

Should I have given another example? Red Dead Redemption series can be another[1]. Not quite a decade, but close to. Also, I never said "most".

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dead

[Quinner]

They weren't working on development for a decade though. It was a decade between games, with a large amount of time between them when no development took place. Same with Diablo.

[duhi88]

I'm not a backer, but your sentiment seems right. It always seemed like a game that wanted to be "the best space sim", and that is going to take a while. All the demos have looked incredible, a the features are extremely ambitious, but cool.

I think that all backers should just feel lucky the project hasn't burned through all their cash and shut down yet.

[serg_chernata]

I agree with this too. It's all about your general outlook on things. Plenty Kickstarters have failed and vanished. Will this project do the same? I don't know, but I don't think so. When I contributed, I parted with the amount of money I was comfortable never seeing again.