A massive number of space sim fans have generated nearly $US34 million in crowdfunding for Chris Roberts’ Star Citizen. Now they’re all just milling about, waiting for the game to be finished. Soon they’ll be able to mill about in large groups, thanks to the impending launch of the game’s Organisation System.
Organisations are just like guilds, only in the future. Players with similar temperaments, dreams, hopes, goals, maturity levels and interest in role-playing, banding together to share their voyage into this strange new galaxy. When the Organisation System launches, players will be able to formally form-up around their leaders as Corporations, PMCs, Crime Syndicates, Faith-based groups or just generic, boring Organisations (boo).
Players will be able to join Organisations by either applying or being invited. Once they’re in, they’ll be able to communicate via a chat tool on the Roberts Space Industries website (which can be integrated into outside applications). I imagine there’ll be a lot of “I can’t wait for the game to come out!” going on in those chat rooms.
Oh, and good news for the uncreative — duplicate Organisation names are possible, with a 10-digit alphanumeric designation identifying different groups sharing the same name. I can’t wait to join The Rebel Alliance DHF842HS9!
With plenty of future updates planned for the system, including guild forms and blogs, it sounds like Star Citizen’s is going to be fully-formed long before the full game is released. Good for them.
All About Organisations [Roberts Space Industries]
Comments
10 responses to “It’s Time For Star Citizen To Get Organised”
More like time for SC to release a playable demo – one that shows the game’s core mechanic, so we can see if it’s actually any fun. I applaud SC’s ambition but can’t help but wonder if they have bitten off a bit more than they can chew. A fully fledged single player campaign AND an MMO inside 2 years? Come on. Game production has changed a wee bit since wing commander days, and with their $34 million already pledged, I would not be surprised if two or three years go by and they’re like ‘sorry guys, we burnt all the money, but you can still keep playing in the hangar sim’
A separate company (Foundry 42) run by Chris Roberts brother Eric is making the single player experience – they have all the writers and designers needed for that.
California Office is building and designing ships and the dogfighting part of the game and balancing the ships and weapons.
Austin is building the Hangar and intergrating the other offices work into the base program.
What this means is – they are building the game modular – so when something is finished by a satellite office it can be merged into the full game when they are happy with it. This means Chris can keep tabs on the offices and because he has people he has worked with before and they have set up a very indepth design document he can trust them to work on what he needs while he oversees 1 section at a time meaning nothing is held up waiting for him to get involved in it.
Now if this was some random 2D project or just a single player FPS I’d be with you demanding some form of playable feature by now – but its going to be very expansive so I don’t mind waiting especially when he shows you each week that they are doing more and more. This is I think the first AAA funding style game to be so open about what they are doing.
I also think the fact they’re open about the development is the reason they’re getting the backing they are. Based on what I’ve seen, people don’t care for the normal publisher style of “we’re working on it”, “it’ll soon be here”, “just a few more months, have a screenshot” and would rather be kept in the loop.
I know I’m more inclined to support a developer who’s open and honest about development.
I wonder how much of the 34 million went to taxes, so what is the actual development budget?
Actually they get tax breaks at certain studios in the states they are at because they are spending money locally hiring talent and living there and such.
I think if I remember correctly if they had been given a budget of 24million they would have had to kept more than half aside for advertising. GTA5 cost 100million – a lot of that was advertising worldwide with big commercials and plastering the posters on every corner. They dont tell you how much went into the game itself.
What will they do with $34 mil?
Looks like Australian Rules is being incorporated into the game:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/13416-LORE-BUILDER-SEVEN-FINAL-SATABALL-VOTE-PIRATES-GALORE
It’s got to be better than X:Stillbirth™
Like that’s going to be hard.. it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.
(No, don’t quote Mythbusters here, I’ve seen the episode too 🙂 )
Does anyone else hate the green colour pallete on the ships? They look all mossy and remind me on the bad old days of EGA graphics.