{"data":{"id":14937,"title":"Monthly Studio Report: August 2015","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/transmission\/14937-Monthly-Studio-Report-August-2015","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/14937","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/14937","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"Monthly 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Citizens,\nWhat a month! It\u2019s hard to believe that August saw both our live Gamescom multicrew demo AND the release of the social module\u2026 and a heck of a lot of work in-between! From building new starships to designing new landing zones to teaching the Vanduul to fly, we\u2019ve been doing a little bit of everything, and it\u2019s finally adding up to things you can see live! You can read on to find out what our teams around the world worked on in August below.\n\nHi everyone! In August, the team had their heads down creating functionality and content for the upcoming MultiCrew release of which we showed an early iteration of at Gamescom. We\u2019ve had a great time working on implementing several major elements of Star Citizen and are looking forward to finishing more. Like always, we love sharing with everyone what we\u2019ve been working on so check it out and let us know if you have any questions.\n\nEngineering\nWhat a month! We started off delivering some major systems you saw debut at GamesCom and are ending with full game implementation, high priority bug fixing, and major code clean up and more. We can\u2019t believe another month has gone by in the blink of an eye so here\u2019s what we knocked out during that blink.\n\nWe\u2019ve been hard at work on the Pilot AI module and to support that module, we\u2019ve needed to do some work on the item system. Our resident UI pro, Zane Bien, has been working to finish up the massive amount of UI for some of our bigger ships while working hand in hand with all the UI stakeholders to close down the base UI systems used all over Star Citizen.\nNow that we\u2019re merging everything back up in to our main stream we\u2019ve had a lot of integration and stability issues to address. We\u2019re really happy to get everything back in to one stream (we\u2019ve been working in multiple streams for several months). We did find a memory leak issue that we knocked out quickly (memory leak issues are a leading cause of many slowdowns and crashes in software of any kind, so catching these things is really important). We also worked to clean up a lot of the large world core types to get ready for the future elements in the game. We are digging further in to the physicalized damage for our ships to get that done as soon as possible.\n\nWe worked with our global team on some Quantum Travel tasks and are really proud of what we we\u2019re going to be able to accomplish for the multi-crew release. Since we\u2019re finishing elements of the game and supporting the live content we always have normal bug fixing to complete. Some examples are head rotation for EVA as well as camera snapping and bounding box bugs which we had to address. We had a strange Constellation firing bug that we had to iron out as well as a control transfer bug. Also, a visor position bug, HUD bugs, EVA gas giant bug, flare bugs, character helmet bugs and many more that we tracked down and squashed!\n\nToward the end of the month we started tying down shadow and area light fixes with forward tiled shading, cleaned up leaking decal render nodes on level unload, finished up initial implementation of multilayer material work and integrated them into the correct stream. We added thread-safe loading interfaces for textures, materials and character models as well as set up the testbed for async (asynchronous) batch loading. We also figured out the workflow of bullet pierceability, prototyped upcoming flight control modes, and chased down IFCS (Inertial Flight Control System, one of the major features that makes our game a leading-edge \u2018sim\u2019) bugs and issues for release versions. Having said all that, we\u2019ve still got a lot of work ahead of us so stay tuned for next month.\n\nDesign\nWe\u2019ve has such a successful month! Not only did we complete some major milestones for multi-crew but are making leaps and bounds toward improved Arena Commander all while working alongside our global partners on their respective aspects of the game. The highest priority is finishing up the last minute items for the multi-crew release for you to enjoy!\n\nTo dig in deeper, we\u2019re working tirelessly to get the Drake Herald flyable to iron out everything we need to do to make sure it\u2019s balanced and fits well within the game. We also worked hard on general balance for our 1.2.0 patch and future patches as well by listening to your feedback and evaluating what\u2019s needed for improvement. Now, we\u2019re clearly laying out the ranks and hierarchy for multi-crew stations to provide what\u2019s needed for proper controls to encourage healthy teamwork within our multi-crew ships. We\u2019ve also been designing more physically based damage alongside engineering to get that system online as soon as possible.\n\nGOST rear door and state groups were worked on extensively to improve this system. We also fixed a lot of bugs such as the missile rack bug, flying into space, and Gladius weapon bugs as well as a Constellation character bugs. We also fixed the Glaive hangar bug and we did Glaive blade Mannequin clean up. The Retaliator power plant transition was really fun to work on and we\u2019re glad we finished it. We also setup the Cutlass Blue interior doors chrparams and the Constellation destruction was fun to work on because it had a lot of technical challenges. Another system we\u2019re working hard on improving and preparing for the long term is our component implementation through prototyping and retro-fitting ships. We also did worked hard on Glaive flight balance through-out the month for the release of the ship and beyond.\n\nIt\u2019s going to be a great upcoming month and can\u2019t wait to show you everything we\u2019re doing.\n\nArt\nAnother month down, and what a busy month it was. We worked hard on all the art needed for the Multi-crew release, Squadron 42 and FPS characters, as well as concepts for the next great ships.\n\nTo dig into the nitty gritty, some of the tasks we worked on in concept included the Male UEE Marine concepts, the Vanguard variants, Marine armor concepts, and the Shubin exterior Miner. For characters, we modeled several helmets such as those used by UEEN Deck Crews. We completed art for Star Marine such as helmet interior line work, the Marine Helmet, and the Light Marine Helmet. We also fixed some of the female textures, the human skin shader, and an issue with multi-light visibility, the eye shader, and finished some loadout screen renders to get ready for Star Marine. On the rigging side, we fixed the base male character model weight simulation issues, and player skin exposure issues for not only Star Marine, but the Social Module as well.\n\nOn the ship side, we modeled the white box and the grey box of the Drake Herald to get them to a flyable state as soon as possible. We also completed the Constellation LODs (Level of Detail), the Cutlass Blue LODs, added Scythe burn marks, Retaliator damage, and addressed Merlin bugs, Freelancer z-fighting bug, Cutlass Blue texture bug, Merlin thruster bug, Retaliator shield hookup, mesh and proxy, Constellation shield fitting bug, and general art bugs as they arose. We worked on the Vanduul Glaive materials vertex colors, Aurora clipping bug, ship shield meshes, Constellation grey box lighting pass and began working on the white box for the Reliant by our own Elwin Bachiller.\n\nAlso, we\u2019ve working hand in hand with design to finish standardizing our components for all ships within the game, through proper pipeline documentation, component orthographic images, component placement, and cleaning up the overall component files. We\u2019ve been working hard and excited about what next month holds.\n\nWriting\nComing off the rush of production, it\u2019s been a much calmer month than the last few. Our collective sights have shifted more to the PU while the data from Squadron 42 gets crunched to be implemented into the game. That isn\u2019t saying that there hasn\u2019t been S42 work, we have been helping the Editorial department by compiling first passes of the NPC Character wildlines (essentially going through the raw footage and editing out pauses and any line flubs) to present them to Chris for review.\n\nOtherwise, we\u2019ve been pushing forward on Star Systems, organizing the current star systems and preparing them to be vetted by scientific consultants while delving into the remaining un-lored systems to sketch out their character and how they fit in the universe. This information is important, not just for the Galactapedia, but also for reference by the developers who will be building the actual large-scale game environments for the persistent universe. This kind of data is also one of the many things we do to add deeper simulation elements to the game, instead of just doing things by fiat. While science fiction can of course contain unexplained or strange artifacts and circumstances that add elements of mystery and wonder to your exploration of the universe, we want the rest of it to make enough conventional sense for you to fully immerse yourself in a setting conducive to suspension of disbelief.\n\nNext, we\u2019ve been talking with Matthew Sherman, Elwin and Mark Skelton to further consolidate the list of corporations that manufacture the individual ship components. Part of these discussions involve art and design determining the standardized size\/shape of each component (what elements do all power plants have, for example). The ultimate goal is to establish a brand identity (indicating the quality or type of product the company makes), so that not only can the artists can develop a consistent form language for the parts (what is the company\u2019s visual trademark\/stamp of the standardized component), but also so that the designers can begin to assign how the company\u2019s design philosophy affects the individual part. In short you will not only be able to look at an individual part and potentially be able to identify who manufactures it, but you can also intuitively gauge how a particular company makes their products, and what the strengths, weaknesses and quirks of their construction does to that particular component\u2019s performance characteristics to help inform your purchasing decision.\n\nProbably the coolest thing we\u2019ve been working on is REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED.\n\nIt\u2019s really exciting.\n\nThat about does it for Santa Monica. We had another fun and busy month here at the studio as we work every day to close down the tasks necessary to bring Arena Commander 2.0 to your computers. As always, we appreciate you taking the time to read through our list of work and if you want to know more please don\u2019t hesitate to ask! Thank you again for everything and remember, we always value your feedback.\n\nWhat a month! The team in Austin has been working non-stop to support a variety of efforts for around the company, most dear to our hearts being the release of Social Module to the PTU and then to Public release in the same month! The team is so excited to be able to share this module with you, and so exhausted from all the work that has taken place in the leadup to this release. We\u2019ve got big plans to release new features on a regular schedule and to continue to expand this module over time. Here are some detailed updates from the team leaders in Austin.\n\nPersistent Universe Team\nArt\nThe Art Team this month spent much of its time helping to ship Social Module v0 out with the release of Alpha 1.2.0. The PU Environment Team spent most of the month supporting BHVR in creating the awesome ArcCorp landing zone environment. Patrick Thomas, Lead Environment Artist, helped Mark Skelton review and provide feedback on a daily basis to get ArcCorp looking as polished as it could be. Lee Amarakoon did multiple VFX passes on ArcCorp to get it looking nice and grimy with steam effects, atmospherics, animating graphics on screens and monitors, and he even had a hand in getting our ships ready for use in the traffic patterns in the skies above Area18. Lee also created the fire effect in the incinerator you can see in one of the back alleys of Area18. Emre Switzer completely revamped the lighting in the environment, so that the courtyard was more impressive, the alleyways were properly dingy, and all the shops each had their own flavor. Cort Soest, Global Environment Tech Lead, spent much of his time this month monitoring the optimization of the assets used in creating the environment, so you can thank him for helping to get the environment to run smoothly on your computer! We also had a new addition to the PU Environment Team this month. Ali Seffouri, Environment Tech Artist, joins us from EA Tiburon in Orlando and has been helping out with creating some much needed tools to support the art team in making more amazing environments.\n\nThe PU Concept Team has been working hard to flesh out some of the look and feel of more upcoming planetside locations. Ted Beargeon has been doing work on making style guides for Crusader and MicroTech so that each landing zone has its own unique aesthetic. (For those of you who might not remember offhand, ArcCorp, Crusader, and MicroTech are all located in the Stanton system, so being able to travel between these planets and see all of these locations in the same solar system even if you don\u2019t have a jump drive on your ship is something we\u2019re all really looking forward to.) Ken Fairclough has then been taking these style guides and drilling down into the nitty gritty of what makes each location stand out. Megan Cheever continues to expand the wardrobe of our game. We now have one of our clothing line\u2019s aesthetic pretty well-defined, the Terra-influenced Fashion Casual line. We\u2019ve also been in discussions with BHVR and supporting them on streamlining and improving the chat interface.\n\nOur Animation Team this month has been helping in several areas. For Social Module, Vanessa Landeros has been implementing all of the emotes you see in game. We\u2019ve got more coming down the pipe so look forward to those soon! On the ship side of things, we\u2019ve been doing a lot of bug fixing to get rid of some of our animation debt, so to speak, so that ship interactions don\u2019t appear to be distractingly broken in our next release. We\u2019ve also wrapped up establishing templates for ship enter\/exit animations so that our modelers have something to follow for future work. This will reduce our animation footprint for future ships. We\u2019ve also been updating our ship cockpit animations to match the brand new templates. Lastly, our Animation Lead Bryan Brewer has been working alongside our Rigger to test and implement new custom skeletons to match some of the proportions of our actors we had on set at the mocap shoot at Imaginarium. We\u2019ve come up with an efficient way to create new skeletons quickly and efficiently, and it has been working pretty well so far.\n\nLast but not least, our character artist Billy Lord has been doing some R&D on creating some new hairstyles for our characters. Pretty soon we\u2019ll be able to see these in game, which in turn will allow our characters to have a little more variety in the cranial region. I know everyone is looking forward to finally seeing some flowing locks in game!\n\nDesign\nAll this month has been spent supporting the effort to get Social Module out the door and into your hands! Time and effort were spent on several aspects of Social Module, including setting up NPC\u2019s in ArcCorp (activity around the landing pad outside Customs and Jobwell), hooking up emotes to play in game (all through DataForge), and setting up ship traffic in the sky above Area18 (I dare you to find a pattern!). In the coming weeks we will be spending more time fleshing out ArcCorp even more, including setting up the buying\/selling functionality of our shops and NPC daily routines.\n\nLooking toward the future, designer Pete Mackay has been spending some time on setting up the \u201cPeriodic Table of Elements\u201d for Star Citizen. This will be the first step in defining our commodities and recipes. This will also help to establish what elements can be found while mining asteroids, how rare and valuable certain commodities are, and laying the groundwork for how trading will work in the PU.\n\nLastly, Tony Zurovec has been spending time this month thinking over the top-down layouts of upcoming Planetside locations. Specifically, the Orison landing on Crusader and the New Babbage landing zone on MicroTech. Area18 went through a number of revisions over the past few months to get the first release just right, and we learned a lot that will help make the initial layouts of these landing zones much easier to accomplish. We\u2019ve also recruited a few designers in the UK to help out with an additional landing zone design, the Lorville landing zone on Hurston, so we will be overseeing that as well in the coming months. Before you know it our designers will have their hands full breathing life into not only the locations above, but also Levski landing zone in the Nyx system.\n\nEngineering\nThe Engineering Team was excited to play a big role in shipping our first iteration of the Social Module in August! They helped ship and support a couple of pushes to the PTU and have been providing continuing support behind the scenes on improvements for the live release since it went out in late August. The Server Team in particular is continuing to work on backend code that will be pushed out to continue to improve the experience of this first Social Module release.\n\nWorking on the Social Module was a great team effort\u2026a lot of eager blood, sweat and tears went into putting this module together. Engineering worked very closely with our DevOps and QA teams daily here in Austin for many weeks, which led to improvements in our communications and workflow as well as in increase in team bonding. Together, and with support for various other disciplines, they were able to run a few very successful large cross-studio playtests in prep for the release. We\u2019ve had our top guys analyzing both network and client profiles of playtests and identifying areas where we need to make improvements. This process included adding new analytical tools to further diagnose everything going on under the hood.\n\nA lot of other work, not specific only to this Social Module release, progressed throughout the month of August as well. Improvements have been being made to the network optimizations for our characters, as we will be working towards adding more and more players and NPCs to game modes and maps as we go forward. As always, work continues on our various backend services and memory issues, including the juggling of new feature work with various bugs that get raised on our live game or by QA. In Austin we\u2019re also continuing to share our engineering expertise for other features being developed outside of Austin, including support for the Frankfurt and UK studios.\n\nA group of engineers continues to work closely with out design team to build out Subsumption Tools, which will allow our designers to create AI behavior for our NPCs. Yes\u2026NPCs in ArcCorp will be coming, and the team is excited to be making progress on reaching that goal! The team has been chugging away at creating new Subsumption Tool functionality as well as implementing new types of behaviors and tasks that can be assigned toNPCs. Nevertheless, other tools have not been suffering from lack of attention and we continue to make improvements and fix bugs for such tools as the Sandbox Editor, Dataforge and the Asset Validation Tool.\n\nOther engineers\u2026our unsung heroes\u2026have been focused on crucial super-behind-the-scenes laborious work in getting our various development streams integrated with each other. With feature work for various releases such as our recent Gamescom demo, Social Module and upcoming FPS release, as well as the integration of an updated version of CryEngine, our experts have been working to keep the correct content in the correct stream at the correct times to coincide with our release schedule, all the while working to ensure that the streams diverge only as much as is absolutely needed to support our stream workflow. While it takes attention and effort to split off different projects into different development streams and merge back together later, this process enables parallelization of work assignments and frees us to deliver content at a pace that is more satisfying to backers who are interested in sampling our work in progress. Without the effort being put into separate streams, there would be far fewer releases and a much longer wait between patches of any kind, because all of the features \u2013 as well as all of their bugs \u2013 would be tied together.\n\nLive Operations\nQA\nQA met the month of August in a full swing crunch for the content we were debuting at Gamescom. Our focus was squarely set on the multi crew functionality. Each day QA would play through the demo in which we were prepping to show off our new features multiple times verifying fixes and reporting new issues. The day would conclude with a play through with the developers in LA. We found this very valuable as the developers\u2019 in depth understanding of their systems helped to identify additional issues. We were incredibly happy with how well received the team\u2019s efforts were at the Gamescom presentation. It was a hard crunch but in the end it was all worth it to see the overwhelming positive feedback from everyone. This has energized us to work even harder to get Social Module, Multi-Crew and Star Marine out to everyone as soon as possible.\n\nAfter Gamescom, our focus shifted to testing the ArcCorp\/Area18 Social module in preparation for its release to the Public Test Universe and eventually the live environment. Our Social Module Specialist Todd Raffray has been very effective in ensuring each feature is properly tested. Because of this, we were able to identify a hand full of critical issues that were promptly fixed. In addition to these we have found and fixed multiple issues related to our back-end Generic Instance Manager but will be standing by to identify and address any new issues that arise from a large influx of curious citizens eager to explore Area18.\n\nTyler Witkin and Andrew Rexroth have been comprehensively testing Star Marine, a process which included an analysis of the cover system, how projectiles interact with the environment, as well as weapon zeroing improvements. Tyler has also helped to provide videos and screenshots of Star Marine and Social Module which have been used on the website, the latest issue of Jump Point and shared through social media.\n\nThe focus on Multicrew testing was a boon for our overall development but did result in some things being pushed aside temporarily. One of which is our automated testing development. However we are now in a position to significantly move forward on this particular front. Melissa Estrada is our resident engine specialist and has been working to train others in her in depth knowledge of proper testing of the Cryengine Sandbox Editor. She has done an amazing job training our other QA team in Manchester. She is now free to work full time on our automation framework to get it running as soon as possible.\n\nThis month we welcome our newest addition to the QA team, Marissa Meissner! Marissa is filling the role of QA Information Specialist. The QA Information Specialist is tasked with ensuring all of our documentation is recorded and maintained as well as compiling our release patch notes. She is also the liaison to Customer Service, ensuring they are kept up to date on the latest issues affecting the game. She immediately hit the ground running and is already doing a great job in this very important position.\n\nThanks to Marissa\u2019s efforts, Jeffrey Pease is now free to focus on the DevOps side of QA. He has become very knowledgeable in how our back-end services function and how to effectively monitor them. As soon as an issue is encountered, Jeffrey will log the issue and notify our engineers with all the needed information. He is also documenting these efforts which is laying the foundation for an eventual Network Operations Center.\n\nFor the month of September QA will be heavily focusing on Arena Commander 2.0 testing including, among many other things, multi-crew functionality and significantly larger areas.\n\nGame Support\nGame Support was all in for a big month in the history of Star Citizen. We first ran a public playtest to profile some of the larger Arena Commander issues of the day, worked on 1.1.6 and a brand new launcher, then pulled some double duty by creating the Gamescom multicrew demo videos, then moved straight into testing and preparing for the launch of Star Citizen 1.2, aka Social Module.\n\nOur playtest was important because it again demonstrated the helpfulness of our backers, particularly those with a more technical or design-based aptitude. With that in mind, we\u2019re still very keen to create our special \u201ctest group\u201d which will assist in the nitty gritty details of playtesting changes to the Star Citizen service. This isn\u2019t very glamorous duty; quite the opposite. But we need to test things such as network improvements, client optimizations, launcher updates, game balance changes, etc\u2026 anything that needs to hit a scaled test group or needs feedback before we roll it out.\n\nWe\u2019re going to be announcing this in conjunction with the Issue Council this month, our brand new bug reporting system. We\u2019ll be moving away from ticket and forum based bug reports into this official bug reporting system so that you can see and weigh in on the popularity of development issues with Star Citizen (we\u2019re still in Alpha, after all!). This helps us as a development studio in understanding what\u2019s important to the community.\n\nWe pulled a little side duty in helping create the Gamescom Multicrew demo videos as well (with a little help from Alex in DevOps). We hope that you enjoyed them as much as we did creating them!\n\nWe also worked with DevOps in releasing Launcher 2.0. As with any new product release, it\u2019s not without faults, and the release unfortunately coincided with an unusually high adoption rate of Windows 10 (where most of our issues lie). But we\u2019re seeing drastically improved download speeds and success rates, and we\u2019ll continue working with DevOps to make this a completely seamless experience.\n\nBut our crown jewel for everyone at Cloud Imperium Games this month was rolling out the Social Module. What a great moment for backers, for the CIG team, for everyone involved! Game Support was heavily involved by organizing the testing groups for each phase of the rollout, as well as communicating with players along the way. We had to admit that seeing players run through the elevator for the first time was one of the coolest moments ever.\n\nFor September, we\u2019ve got some cleanup to do. So much of our time was taken on other tasks that we\u2019ve got a bit of a ticket backlog to work through, though we will be making the transition of bug reports into Issue Council. Once caught up, we\u2019ll refocus our efforts towards getting Arena Commander 2.0 tested and out the door.\n\nIT\/Operations\nGamesCom was incredible! Thanks to all the community members who volunteered to help us and it was especially great seeing everyone at the E-werk event and on the show floor. This month the IT department put a primary focus on preparing for the amazing content we wanted to show at GamesCom and the new build systems.\n\nGamesCom work began early in the month with Paul joining Hassan & Kyle in our UK office to help with setup, testing, and tuning of 24 demo machines which would be used in Cologne. On site, Paul and Hassan met with some of our super supportive backers and many others during the week-long event. While this was going on, the development team keeps on working. IT continued to work closely with DevOps on the new build system and optimizing performance of other key systems supporting the delivery of assets throughout the company. At some points working around the clock we managed to keep up with everything even though a good portion of our team was deployed to Germany.\n\nIt seems like we\u2019re always reporting on performance improvements or the need for more speed. And it seems as if the more performance we find the more this incredible project requires of us. This month we were especially hard on our network infrastructure. We moved more builds and aggregate data across the wires than we\u2019ve moved in the last three months combined. There\u2019s just more of everything; more publishes to PTU and live service, more patches, more builds in general and more builds to replicate to each studio, more testing, more automation, just more and it\u2019s exciting to see all this progress. By the time GamesCom got started we had pushed well beyond the capabilities of our core network infrastructure and it became noticeable to the company. Considering everything else going on, we couldn\u2019t risk taking anything down and waiting for parts was out of the question as well. Mike \u201cSniper\u201d Pickett quickly identified the hardest hit areas in our network and designed an overhaul of both our virtual and physical environments in the Texas office which increased our capacity and redundancy (in delivery terms, that\u2019s a good thing \u2013 it means that some glitches that would otherwise crash your session have backup behind them and so you wouldn\u2019t experience an interruption in service) by a factor of 2x without the need for additional hardware. This substantial upgrade was also done without downtime which is just how we like it.\n\nAugust was a super exciting month and we can\u2019t wait for what comes next. We\u2019re preparing for Citizencon already and looking forward to meeting more of the community there.\n\nDev Ops\nThis month the DevOps team has been focusing on getting the new build system online and used by QA and developers. In addition we started work on the enormous amount of Automation testing that the company needs as a force multiplier, continuing to improve the Launcher, and rolled out a patch and several hotfixes to the live environment. We also lent a hand in supporting the roll out of all the GamesCom demo builds and helping create a Multicrew teaser video.\n\nAs part of the new build server roll out we have built a webpage visualizer to give developers an easy way to view and kick off builds. In addition work has been continuing on automatic integration\/merge code to help us manage the changes between our many development branches. This ensures that builds have all the most up to date, compatible, changes in the builds we roll out to the public.\n\nWork has continued on improving the game launcher; handling more error cases, improving the logging, adding analytic stats reporting, and of course attempting to eke out more speed for downloads. Expect another launcher patch iteration soon with more improvements.\n\nFor GamesCom the team split up into shifts to work with the IT team 24hrs a day for the week of the convention making sure builds and digital media being created were handed off to our support staff on the ground at GameCom. Though we ended the week quite exhausted, I think everyone was happy to see the fruits of the company\u2019s labor in front of the backers. Plus we drank a bunch on that Friday to relax and enjoy the show.\n\nThe team has also been working quite closely with the server team looking at the performance of our Game Servers, General Instance Manager, and other Universe Services. This has led to creating and rolling out 12 hotfixes to improve crashes, memory leaks, deadlocks and performance over the last few weeks. In addition, work on setting up the game database has begun in earnest, and a couple of engineers from the DevOps team have already begun writing code for the interface layer to the eventual Persistence Server.\n\nFinally, we began our four month automation project. This project will encompass work from the DevOps team in Germany as well as in Austin, and will cover the four major areas of automation; Perforce Tools, Game Client, Game Server, and Build Server. While we are still at the very beginning of this effort, the road map we have outlined promises to help QA reduce monotonous repetitive testing, ensure that checkins into the branches will not crash the build before they go in, enable engineers to see server load and performance without the need to organize massive playtests, and will fire off an array of build checks at the end of the build creation process. Obviously, the gritty part is getting all the coding done and then bug free!\n\nLooking Ahead\nAs with every month here at CIG we\u2019re working each and every day to bring you the next iterations of the Social Module and push onward towards the Persistent Universe proper. Select developers across the project are working on bug fixing for a subsequent patch to 1.2.0, but the majority of us have shifted focus to working towards the release of Social Module v1. Social Module v0 saw the release of features like Multiplayer functionality on our first planetside landing zone (ArcCorp\u2019s Area18), the Chat System, and Emotes. Now that we\u2019ve got some core backend technology as a foundation, we can start to build upon it to make the BDSSE!\n\nSome features that are in active development at this present moment include improving the chat interface and functionality (hooray for private channels!), adding at LEAST 25 more emotes to choose from (now with audio!), updating the shop facades to make them absolutely unmistakable from across the Area18 courtyard, and something to do with\u2026buggies??\nWe know you guys are looking forward to seeing the next landing zone, Levski in the Nyx system, and we are too! Levski is in Final Art stages and now we are looking at scheduling in time for optimization using some new tech called the Compound Render Node. This will significantly increase performance across all environments and will allow them to run smooth as butter while traipsing around these amazing locales.\n\nIt\u2019s always scary to put something that you\u2019ve worked so hard on out in the hands of people to render their judgment. We were hoping that you guys would like what we delivered, and the positive feedback has been overwhelming. Thank you for all of your support, we can\u2019t wait to knock off your socks once again in the near future!\n\nGreetings Citizens,\n\nAs always, plenty of work happened in Manchester this month! Members of the team here were thrilled to meet thousands of Citizens live at Gamescom, and we\u2019re excited about introducing you to the entire team at Citizencon in October! Meanwhile, here\u2019s the department-by-department review of what we did in August\u2026\n\nEngineering\nAnother busy month has passed in the F42 coding department, with the start of the month seeing both the release of 1.1.6 and the Gamescom live demo we\u2019ve been hammering away at our keyboards to help fix up some of the core large-world and multi-crew ship features that went on show, as well as the usual bug smashing! The features included work on the Quantum-drive mechanic which has been amazing to see in action as it not only looks cool but allows us to actually traverse the new large 64bit worlds we\u2019ve created in a reasonable time. A highlight Q-Drive bug that got fixed along the way was your ship losing control at distances a long way from the origin, it turns out this was due to Cry Engine\u2019s default ocean water level of z = -1000000 being now easily within reach, which would subsequently flood your engine!\n\nWork has also been done towards various game modules. The FPS visor now includes new hit and grenade proximity warning markers and has had polish on its health display and ammo counter. There\u2019s been fixes on med-packs, doors and ladders; nice touches for example include the ability to change speed on a ladder and new animations for holstering your weapon as you mount them to smooth and speed up transitions on to them. While a lot of FPS work happens at other studios, Foundry 42 does take some of that development onto its own plate, particularly for things that are integral to the Squadron 42 experience that we hope to deliver. Squadron 42 has seen work started on the Sidling (wall shuffling) mechanic as well as further work on looting, save game and security networks, plus the conversation system has started hooking in audio data that was previously recorded on the live shoot. Ships-wise we\u2019ve started looking at a new ship-scanning feature that allows you to scan a targeted ship and over number of seconds it will gather information about each of the ship\u2019s components (weapons, shields, cargo, engines, etc) and then allow you to cycle through that info.\n\nMore time is now being allocated towards cleaning up pre-existing in-game systems, we now have a \u201cClean-up Friday\u201d that sees us look at tasks such as moving our in-game item .xmls into our new DataForge tool .xml format, which makes them easier to edit and validate going forwards. It also covers refactoring of systems such as the input backend, which thanks to this can now support an unlimited number of connected joysticks, all with separate keybindings. It also sees the cleaning up of stale code that we no longer use and the fixing of non-game breaking errors and warnings in our logs, this improves the overall state of the game as well as our overall visibility on what is wrong under the hood, thus speeding up our workflow for future releases.\n\nAnimation\nThe team has continued working on some of the AI systemic cover animations now that we\u2019re fully moved over to the v7 rig. As well as that we have synced up with our Frankfurt team on the first batch of performance capture animations and started making progress getting them synced up with the audio tracks and engine ready. Our resident tech animator has been making good progress in getting facial animation in to game and we\u2019re really looking forward to completing some vignettes and seeing it all come together for the first time. The new few weeks we\u2019ll be busy supporting the teams\u2019 needs for Citizencon.\n\nGraphics\n\u201cThis month the graphics team have mainly been focussed on character shaders, the first of which is a new shader we\u2019ve developed for clothing, armour, items and weapons. Rather than uniquely baking individual textures for every asset, this shader uses a pool of generic textures for base materials such as steel\/leather\/denim, and combines these in the shader to determine the properties of the surface. This allows us to support quickly change the properties of an object without having to modify the underlying textures, which is a huge benefit for customising and items in the PU. It also allows us to support dynamic changes such as dirt or damage building up over time, or allowing the art director to tweak the look of say a specific metals from one manufacturer without having to find all the items created by that manufacturer. This shader has taken some time to develop but we\u2019re expecting it to open many possibilities in the PU in the coming months.\n\nThe other character shaders we\u2019ve been working on relate to human skin. We\u2019ve extended CryEngine\u2019s skin-wrinkle technology which is used to show wrinkles and creases in the skin on certain facial poses, and we now support four times as many wrinkle-poses as before. We\u2019ve also added support for blood-flow maps, which capture unique colour variations on the skin on certain facial poses caused by changing blood-flow and the stretching and compression of the skin. These extensions resulting in a significant improvement in the quality and believability of our characters facial animations.\n\nThe rest of the graphics team have been investigating improvements to shadow system and continuing work on the damage system for multi-crew ships.\u201d\n\nArt\nIt\u2019s been another whirl wind this month, starting with the glorious Gamescom demo, the team worked super hard to bring everything for the unveiling and are now pushing on with advancing the play space and areas of interest.\n\nWe have been tasked with concepting a new ship, all very exciting and Gavin Rothery is doing a Sterling job of bringing it to life (can\u2019t say more!) Overall concept work has been focusing on picking up a lot of pieces, working out areas that have slipped through the net, redefining areas as the Design dept makes updates and lending support to cinematics in Frankfurt.\n\nEnvironments\nThe environment team has been busy with the map for the Arena Commander 2.0 release for CitizenCon. We have three main stations with interiors whiteboxed out now, along with one planet, three moons, three smaller satellites and a set of small asteroids. We have also been taking a new Low Tech Alpha set up to greybox that will allow us to build our station interiors more sensibly and to a grander scale than originally planned. The last POI to go in will be Asteroid Gainey and its sister set of large asteroids which are currently being prototyped.\n\nAll these points of interest have gone into the new map.\n\nNext we\u2019ll be continuing refinement on the large world map, getting lighting, mood and atmosphere locked down for each of the three stations, along with extensive testing on the physical limits we can push for Asteroid Gainey and the large asteroids.\n\nVFX\nThis month was dominated by CG tasks covering GOST, Quantum drive implementation and ship destruction. With the integration of 3.7 into game-dev we got lots of new features and lots of new bugs which have all been documented and prioritized. Adam joined the VFX team and has been tackling the Blade thrusters and weapon effects, as well as learning our tools.\n\nA big push has gone into cleaning up all the old assets and bugs that affect the whole game with some very good progress made. Work has also begun on implementing the ship damage effects into multicrew ships using the full systemic damage system as well as getting the destruction pipeline nicely streamlined.\n\nProps\nThe new pipeline has been locked down and is now being rolled out to all new props created, improving the legacy props is still in the planning phase.\n\nAfter the Gamescom work was complete focus was shifted onto the upcoming CitizenCon event. The CitizenCon work covers a wide variety of props, high tech, low tech and also a lot of universal props both for environments and ships.\n\nThis work will help to prove out the new pipeline works across the board but will also help test our new production workflow that should improve communication between the different teams and ultimately mean we see more props with audio, animation and VFX seeing their way into game.\n\nShips\nA large amount of work went into getting the Retaliator ready for the Gamescom demo, getting GOST states ready and fixing all the new issues that came to light as the systems were implemented. We have had a slight reprioritisation and the vehicle team has temporarily grown (some artists have moved from Environments) and now we are tackling a hefty bunch of work (more in next months report). The Starfarer is happily motoring along, the guys are now working on the key areas (the archetypes) that make up the ship, once we have the textures and materials for this MISC ship defined we\u2019ll be able to roll out a lot more assets faster and also use them for the updates on the Freelancer. Some extra work has gone into the Mining Bot, it\u2019s looking in good shape but it will be on hold for the foreseeable future until we have engineering resources to work out a four legged walker \u2013 as you can imagine, we have a lot of other areas that are higher priority but this is one \u2018ship\u2019 I\u2019m really looking forward to see in the universe.\n\nIdris \u2013 c\u2019mon \u2013what about the Idris, I hear you say \u2013 well, for those that have bought one, you can\u2019t be disappointed with what your money is buying, this ship will be epic \u2013 it is complex, believe me, even with all the art and tech experience we have it\u2019s still a highly challenging asset (level) but it will help define medium size craft and how they are ultimately put together.\n\nUI\nThe AEGIS themed UI work took a big chunk of time, working out all the new systems needed for Multicrew and the demo, this work is ongoing, now we have a style we\u2019ll be able to start making more and more elements to be used around the ship.\n\nFPS UI has been worked up, slight nip and tuck \u2013 tweaking placement and the look of Health, ammo and prompt systems along with additional work to the Conversation system, Use and looting systems \u2013 it\u2019s all coming together!\n\nAudio\nOur big push early this month was to ensure that the Gamescom demo and related material was done to the required standard. Sadly some technical issues with the live stream meant that certain peaks (literally!) didn\u2019t quite come across as intended, but thankfully these didn\u2019t carry over to the offline rendering of the same material so it won\u2019t have affected most people. As well as the sound design team\u2019s work, we also had some excellent music from Pedro Macedo Camacho in there which never fails to please.\n\nQuickly following on from Gamescom we had a hugely productive session recording weapons sound effects, with an emphasis on interior\/environmental reflections, which will benefit Squadron 42 (as well as the general FPS aspect of Star Citizen) greatly. We hope to release a dev-diary\/work-in-progress video focusing on the process behind this, Stefan\u2019s put a great video together showing what went down. Special mention to our very own Sian Crewe who also was a huge help on this session.\n\nTalking of Squadron 42, we had a shoot to support in terms of dialogue, Phil and Bob both went down to cover that on the same day as the gun recording by sheer coincidence.\n\nThe release of 1.1.5 and subsequent releases have crystallised our requirements for coping with the sheer scale of our game, our audio coders have been ironing out some bugs before moving onto what we\u2019re terming \u2018Large World Audio\u2019. We want to ensure we have a high detail level at a local level for players, which we don\u2019t sacrifice for the scale and scope of the grander universe. All very modular systems-led stuff, and we\u2019re hoping that\u2019ll continue to improve performance within Wwise and CryEngine so that we can keep on emphasising audio detail and quality.\n\nOtherwise we\u2019ve been working hard on the audio for the Social Module, other FPS work, and preparing for CitizenCon. We\u2019ve also refining how we handle audio for ships as we sincerely want to take that up a notch compared to what we\u2019ve done already.\n\nAs always, thanks for listening and please feel free to ask any audio related questions on the Ask A Developer section of the forums!\n\nQA\nSo August for UK QA was all about the whirlwind of activity that was Gamescom and the recovery process that followed its culmination.\n\nLiam Guest, Glenn Kneale, Ben Parr and myself were lucky enough to be involved in the event and the livestream for the multicrew demo. A stressful and of course deeply satisfying experience! A big thanks to all in the community that helped us make it through the 4 days in one piece, although Red1 could have done with a towel on stage\u2026\n\nMeanwhile, back at base camp, Geoff Coffin, Steven Brennon and the rest of the team were holding things together superbly \u2013 Geoff earning himself MVP and the most esoterically German medal (with cows and milkmen) that I could find in Cologne. The UK QA team spent a lot of time meticulously practicing the demo \u2013 giving those of us in Germany all the pointers required to pull of the presentation \u2013 if only we\u2019d read them! ;)\n\nAfter the event, we were able to ease up on some of the long shifts we had been doing in the build-up and get back to a semi-normal routine. That included getting stuck into supporting the ATX studio on the development of the ArcCorp social module, something which, as you can imagine, turned into something of an all-hands-on-deck sort of affair.\n\nRoll on September \u2013 in which we\u2019ll have two new starters in the department \u2013 much needed for testing the upcoming release of sc_alpha_2.0!\u201d\n\nDesign\nGamescom came and went, but there is still plenty left to do that we are working frantically on to get the \u201cLarge World\u201d demo into your hands. The designers are populating and optimizing the system (can\u2019t really say level anymore as it is so big). We are tidying up the gameplay and working flat out to get as much functionality into the multi-crew systems as possible. We have new FPS environments that are being worked on with a view to getting them into the next major release if possible.\n\nAs I mentioned in last month\u2019s report all the various systems that had designs that were light or out of date are still being revamped and we are making good progress on things like radar, scanning, ship signatures, the conversation system and repair.\n\nThere is also a huge push on getting as many ships as possible hangar ready by Christmas and that has meant we have had a lot of meeting and sanity checks on some of the older ships that are very much due some love. I hope when you get your hands on them that you will agree they have been worth the wait. Thanks again for the awesome support, we couldn\u2019t do this without you!\n\nIt\u2019s been a busy month for the office as usual. Most of the team helped out with the Gamescom presentation to some extent. It\u2019s really cool to see different components start coming together within the same game space, and the reactions and excitement of the fans and community helps drive us.\n\nWe\u2019ve had a steady stream of candidates come through for our open positions, and the Frankfurt team is slowly growing to help out with various areas of Squadron 42.\n\nWe did our first segment for Around the Verse last week, we look forward shooting something each week to give everyone more insight into what we\u2019re doing here. Below is a breakdown from the leads or directors of each department on the main things they tackled over the last month.\n\nEngineering\nDuring August, Frankfurt engineering has mostly been dealing with several Gamescom and post-Gamescom engine related items. As most of subsystems are moving over to the Zone system, there have been several medium and long term items being discussed, tackled and reviewed such as streaming, loading times, memory usage etc. The learnings from Gamescom with regards to large world map and multicrew are being applied to the new Large World maps that, as expected, are going to be larger and larger\u2026 other items are being worked on for Citizen Con and for the upcoming releases.\n\nWe continued with removal of legacy engine code (mostly renderer) in preparation for major engine and render refactor (long term task) to better utilize modern APIs and multi core systems. We fixed several client side (rendering) issues for arena commander. While we previously looked into memory efficiency on content side, this month we looked into client and server side memory performance of the SC code base. As a result several leaks were fixed that caused stability issues and crashes. This process is ongoing and we hope to further improve stability and optimize memory performance. There\u2019s work items already scheduled \/ in progress which tie into this goal.\n\nOn the animation and physics side we developed a new method to drive ragdolls with animation data. The goal was to get accurate and fast pose matching between animation and permanently driven ragdolls. Along the way, we improved the blending in and out of ragdolls, created a new ragdoll setup with correct mass distribution of human body parts and improved the tools to setup springs and joint-limits for natural body poses. To speed up the turnaround time when building ragdolls, the whole setup of the physical parameters was moved from Maya into an XML-file.\n\nAI\nAugust has been a month busy with some of the low level work needed for Subsumption and the simulation of the persistent universe.\n\nFrancesco has traveled to Austin to work directly next to the Social Module team. Main focus has been the optimization of the NPC movement and the synchronization of the playing of the animations across the multiplayer infrastructure.\n\nOn the first point we have worked with Wyrmbyte to analyse the current network usage during the movement of a character, and we laid out a plan to test a first optimization for NPCs characters: compared to normal players, we can assume that the AI controlled entities are much more predictable and will require a smaller amount of data sent to correctly move into the world.\n\nRegarding the animation synchronization, all our characters use Mannequin to organize the animation database and select the proper animation to play. This month we made a first version of an animation component that gets informed when animations are queued on the server so that the clients can also correctly queue the same Mannequin fragment, wait for the selection of the random option to happen on the server and then start the same animation with the same starting time of the server. Our implementation also takes care of state replication, so that clients that will join the game mid-way through the animation playing will also have the correct visual representation of what\u2019s happening on the server. This implementation allows us to make full usage of Mannequin without making big changes on the current game code and that\u2019s a big win!\n\nAnd not to forget to mention, all the animation functionalities are shared between AI and player characters!\n\nWe have also started collecting requirements for the re-design of the spawning mechanics, we want to have a centralized system that can be customizable and that can take care of the all the needs of Squadron 42, which then can also be used for Arena Commander and Social Module.\n\nWe have progressed further into using the Usables system as navigation links, that will allow us to place links in the world (manually or procedurally) with specific properties to mark-up specific locations of the world where the NPCs can move using specified animations and causing specific gameplay interactions (for example an NPC needs to press the elevator button before entering it).\n\nLast but not least we have just started to fully integrate the navigation mesh and the characters\u2019 paths into the Zone System and we are continuing refactoring the code into more portable\/combinable components (for example we isolated the functionalities for controlling the NPC aiming and looking into two separated components that can be controlled independently).\n\nIn addition to all of that, the Frankfurt office has continued coordinating the work made by Moon Collider on the improvements of the DataForge\/Behavior tree connection, the new functionalities like the personal log, the task system refactoring, the improvements of the ships behavior and the ships movement.\n\nBuild System\nWorking on code validation, automation and tools to make dev\u2019s life easier. Also this month we\u2019ve been visited by Jeremy and Joseph from ATX, both part of the Dev-Ops team. Needless to say we have plenty of meeting where many things were discussed and are going to be worked on. Without going into details, build reliability, the ongoing switching towards a new build framework, paks and patch creation were discussed. Lot of work ahead.\n\nDesign Department\nOne of the big things at the beginning of this month for us was finishing up the setup of the interior of the Retaliator for the GamesCom demo. It was a bit of a mad rush but the final result was well worth it and the feedback and appreciation we received from you guys at the live show, Twitch and YouTube channels was amazing and humbling at the same time.\n\nOnce we finished with the Retaliator demo we sat down and tried to figure out what needs to be documented and replicated in order for all the other ship setups to go smoothly in the future. And believe me, there\u2019s a lot of things we did not initially know as this is the first ship to unite so many of the systems we want to have in Star Citizen.\n\nOur level design department, while still continuing to build two of the Squadron 42 levels, they are also working hard on bringing a new multiplayer game mode to life for the FPS module. The guys are working together with the programmers from Illfonic to get this ready in time for the FPS release.\n\nOn another, a bit more less exciting note, both the level and system design departments have been working on improving our recruiting pipeline and candidate testing to ensure we get the best of the available talent pool.\n\nThe work on AI and AI-building tools continues and it looks like as soon as the new character rig goes in with the new cover animation set we\u2019ll be able to quickly adjust our behaviours to start making use of all these goodies. Right now we\u2019re running our new AI behaviours in more of an experimental\/debug mode in which we can test and prototype their thinking and their logic without being able to see much of the fruits of our labour in actual game but once the rig and the assets are in, everything should just fall into place.\n\nHacking and electronic warfare are also systems that were given a lot of attention this month but more details will come on that once we feel they are solid enough to show to you guys.\n\nAt the same time we are supporting our tech department with their work on prototyping planetary procedural generation. Sadly, we were informed by them that if we give away any details about this before it\u2019s properly ready to show, we will be skinned alive. We take our programmers\u2019 threats very seriously around here!\n\nCinematics\nIn August we were busy on multiple different fronts regarding the cinematic side of things.\n\nAdditional p-cap shoot\nOur main shoot for performance capture for S42 ended beginning of July, but we went back to Imaginarium Studios in London for 2 days to wrap up capture on some crucial story elements we hadn\u2019t shot during the main shoot due to actor availability. Can\u2019t wait to reveal our cast to the fans out there! It was nice to be back in the volume, reunited with the crew that worked with during the months earlier in the year.\n\nEnvironment Art\nWe were also continuing work on several cinematic environments, namely a construction dock for a capital ship that will be featured in S42\u2019s story, a UEE Navy hospital facility and a UEE administrative building.\n\nOur initial prototype environment for the Vanduul Kingship bridge interior was cleaned and lifted up a few notches. Still not final by any means but progress!\n\nA smaller part of S42\u2019s opening will actually be shown at CitizenCon in October so we are also working hard on the environment for this scene which will also be perfect to show the progress we have made in facial animation quality.\n\nFacial Animation\nWe recently got the first full performance of body+face of one of our main actors working in sync in engine. Saying we are quite happy with the level of facial fidelity we can now achieve would be a tremendous understatement. Can\u2019t wait to show it to the community at CitizenCon. Coming from earlier tests like the Constellation Commercial last year there has been a dramatic push in quality for what we will be able to show on our characters faces. Exciting!\n\nCinematics\nHigh end character performance is just one part of SC\u2019s cinematic equation though, the other big chunk will be space dogfight\/cap ship battle scenes. For those we are currently planning some more tools like a spline corridor so we can film our ships fully articulated but also in a 100% repeatable and reliable way. For that our IFCS needs to be taking a backseat as we will have to be able to override ship functions to make sure that a cinematic will not break if e.g. a ship\u2019s in-engine thruster power gets adjusted later on during development.\n\nWe also found some smaller issues related to certain cinematic tools\/cameras coming from the recent move to the LargeWorldSystem but overall the move has been quite smooth. Quite a thing to see world coordinates in the millions of kilometres range in-engine, compared to just 4-8 kilometres before.\n\nAudio\nThis month there was a lot of tool and pipeline work. Updated the audio asset build tools, which should improve the sound designers\u2019 iteration times and lower the load we put on the P4 (that\u2019s Perforce, our codebase version control system) servers, made lots of small fixes and tweaks post-3.7 integration in game-dev to get the new tools and systems to work properly with the CIG audio setup, tweaked the standard Sandbox audio tools to improve their performance when handling the large number of audio assets already accumulated by our project. Also finally started the work on moving the audio system to using listener-relative audio rendering required for the proper Large World support.\n\nFX\nThis past month we have been working on the quantum drive effect for the ships. This required a fair amount of R&D before we achieved the look that was desired. We also had to work closely with the graphics programmers to create the custom shaders and backend systems required to bring it all together.\n\nThe final effect combines elements from VFX, code and audio in order to bring the quantum drive to life!\n\nAs you will be able to read below, all my team put in double effort this month to bring you the first iteration of the Social Module. We were hyped by how the demo was received at Gamescom and this gave us the energy to push our limits so that the Social Module would hit your computers before the end of August. Working with Austin to deliver it on time was a phenomenal effort. We are really glad you can enjoy it now and we are looking forward to give you major improvement over the next couple of weeks.\n\nUI\nThis month the UI team has been working hard on various features for the first release of the Social Module: The chat UI has undergone a lot of changes, for both design and art. The contact list got a couple of art upgrades, AR mode got some love, and we have been doing a lot of bug fixing.\n\nWe also flew out to meet up with our friends at Foundry 42 as well as some folks from L.A. for a UI summit. Together we have started to get a clearer overall view of all the different types of interfaces in the game, and are working to unify and improve upon the interaction design as well as the graphic design across all modules.\n\nDesign\nA big month on the design side, with the coming release of Social Module V0 before the end of the month. Lots of bugs to fix and small improvements here and there to make sure your visit to ArcCorp goes without a hitch. We can\u2019t wait for you to explore every shops and back alleys with your friends.\n\nWe are also hard at work on the Million Mile High Club, more details about it are coming soon.\n\nFinally, we have delivered the August Subscriber Flair in your hangar: the Takuetsu Starfarer ship model.\n\nArt\nOn the Environment side, we have been working on putting Area 18 together for the PU release. Mainly optimization and bug fixing.\n\nWe\u2019ve also started polishing one of the building sets to include the new specs that will make the maps run faster and look better.\n\nOn the flair side, we\u2019ve completed all the trophies for Gamescom and CitizenCon and as usual preparing next month flair.\n\nProgramming\nAugust has been a very productive month here at Behaviour. We focused a lot of our efforts in the Social Module Demo that was shown at Gamescom on August 7th 2015 and then continued to polish the experience for the Live Release of the Social Module. We\u2019ve done a lot of polish to the new In-Game Chat UI, and made it so the transition between talking on the chat and playing the game is very smooth and intuitive. We\u2019ve also made sure that other players viewing you doing emote animation from a chat command will see the same animation as you do on your side. We\u2019ve added a functionality that allows a player to easily switch between a few predefined Player Loadouts in his Private Hangar before going outside to meet the world.\n\nSpeaking of Area 18, we\u2019ve worked on making sure that all interactable objects (i.e. Elevator Console, Doors) present in ArcCorp\u2019s Area 18 work as intended in a multiplayer Environment. You\u2019ll also be able to appreciate the work we did regarding the Augmented Reality (AR) functionality of the mobiGlas. We\u2019ve optimized the way we detect AR-enabled objects and also the way the system will choose to display AR information on screen. This is also valid for when looking at other players; you\u2019ll now be able to see the name of the players you are playing\/chatting with.\n\nWe\u2019ve added more UI feedback in the Transport Elevator Console to inform players of the status of the transition between two different areas. We\u2019ve also added a search functionality to the In-Game Contact List and fixed some existing Issues with adding and removing contacts. We\u2019ve also reworked the way we integrate Loading Screens into our game so that we can quickly add new Loading Screen Art per Level in the future.\n\nWhat\u2019s up mah Citizens?! Coming straight outta Denver, it\u2019s the monthly IllFonic studio report! I\u2019m sure you all have probably heard the news, that the team here has been scaled back as Star Marine transitions to be internally developed at CIG. This is true, and was always the plan. However, we do still have a smaller, lighter team working on the FPS module to help wrap things up. Read below for the nitty gritty details.\n\nArt\nOn the art side, we have been making a polish pass on each of the FPS weapon based on feedback from Chris and the Art Directors at CIG. We have also been creating clean and dirty version materials of each weapon. This will be used to show wear and tear on a weapon as it ages and sees some heavy usage.\n\nAnimation\nThe animators spent most of the month cranking away on retargeting all of the FPS animations over to the new rig. They have also been re-rigging the weapons to accommodate the system change of the weapon being parented to the hand instead of the spine. New animations have also been created for juking\/stepping while in a crouched state. Magazine check animations were also created to support a new reloading mechanic that will intelligently check the magazine currently in the gun against the other ones the player is carrying and either replace the mag with a fresh one or pop it back in. Lastly, they have been going over the remaining mocap data, cleaning it up, and prepping it for implementation. This includes things like vaulting, mantling, sidling, injured locomotion sets, etc\u2026\n\nEngineering\nThe engineering team has mostly been focused on fixing bugs. They also spent time on implementing the new mag check system mentioned above and creating the rules for a new game mode similar to Headquarters or King of the Hill. Over the last week or so, the majority of their time has been spent helping out CIG with the large merging process that has been going on. Taking the work from each of the different release branches, and consolidating them all back in to one.\n\nThat\u2019s about it for this month Citizens, until next time!\n\nHello and bonjour from Montreal! Here\u2019s what we\u2019ve been up to in this last month:\n\nJump Point \u2013 The Producers\nOur very own Grand Poobah, Benoit Beausejour, was featured in the August issue of Jump Point Magazine, in the \u201cProducers\u201d section. He and other Producers (from CIG and partner studios) were interviewed about their roles and responsibilities, challenges, and mission. Several Producers took part in this in-depth (15-page) article, so if you\u2019re interested in learning about the inner workings of a gaming company, you should definitely check it out. Thanks to David Ladyman for putting it all together!\n\nStarmap\nThis month, our main focus has been the element that we have code-named \u201cControl Disc\u201d, which allows you to retrieve information about a particular celestial object. Not only did we revise the design to fit smaller screen resolutions, but we also explored different animation effects on the disc itself. As complex as the Starmap project has been, the Control Disc is perhaps the most complicated element since it requires integration of WebGL, static HTML elements and the Starmap database.\n\nAlthough we will continue tweaking until the very end, the current WebGL viewer looks amazing. We refined the Galaxy and System views, and developed a \u201cconsole\u201d so that we can easily adjust color and animated effects for each celestial body. Next month, we will improve the transition effects, i.e. from Galaxy to System view, and from System to System.\n\nWork continues on the 3D animated versions of the celestial objects \u2013 for example, planets, stars and space station.\n\nAlso this month, we began discussions about the audio component of the Starmap. We would like to add some sound effects to enhance the experience, without being distracting. For those who like to browse the web in complete silence, we will also offer a toggle option.\n\nIssue Council\nWe are now in the final stretch. We\u2019ve cleared the majority of critical bugs and are now working on the FAQ and Help pages. We\u2019re working with CIG to set a launch date. We plan to start rolling out the Issue Council in the coming weeks. Keep an eye out for it in the \u201cCommunity\u201d submenu!\n\nCommunity Hub\nThe hub is ready! Soon, it will be accessible to a select few Star Citizen members so that they can contribute some starting content to the Hub (artwork, videos, external links, podcast feeds, and livestream feeds). Once we have received some submissions, we will be ready to open it up to all Community backers. The presence of the hub on our staging servers has already spun many other ideas on how we can use this to power other parts of the community (10 FtC questions, game feedback and others).\n\nShip Happens\nThis month\u2019s Star Citizen presentation at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, was accompanied by the sale of several limited ships, such as the Merchantman, the Reclaimer, the Carrack and many more. There was also a surprise flash sale on the website for those who could not attend the event in person. During the presentation a competition in Vanduul Swarm was announced, allowing the first 1,000 people who completed wave 18 to buy the Esperia Glaive, a reproduction of the feared Vanduul fighter. Toward the end of the month, the highly popular Vanguard Warden went back on sale, flanked by its new siblings the Sentinel (an E-War focused variant) and the Harbinger (a bomber focused variant). This sale also saw the introduction of the new Battlefield Upgrade Kits for the three variants, allowing you to hot-swap your Vanguard\u2019s equipment between that of a Warden, Sentinel or Harbinger, to suit your next mission.\n\nWhat you didn\u2019t see\nWe completed the migration to Google\u2019s GCE this month, resulting in a 20 to 25% increase in performance across our infrastructure, and also significantly reducing the monthly cost for CIG. This move is also significant in that we finally moved away from the original hosting provider that we\u2019ve had since the original crowdfunding campaign. We\u2019re leaving the family nest because we\u2019re all grown up now, sniff! On the technical front, our GCE environment is fully based around \u201ccontainers\u201d (docker). This major advancement makes operating the site servers and processes more integrated and really helps in streamlining how we get code updates to production.\n\nSome months we find ourselves focused on two or three big features, but August was one of those months where we found ourselves doing lots of small tasks: bug fixes, feature improvements, responding to feedback from designers. They were all important and useful, but they don\u2019t always make for exciting reading for you, the backers. So we\u2019ll spare you the talk of merge conflicts and build configuration bugs, and stick to the cool stuff!\n\nDesign\nAn interesting piece of design work we\u2019ve been doing is a refactoring of the Kythera perception system for characters. Now that designers have spent a reasonable amount of time building behavior trees in Kythera and using our perception system, they\u2019ve found that they want some aspects of the perception system and the way it interacts with behaviors to work a bit differently. In particular, they want behavior trees to have more control over how AIs respond to certain events in the world such as hearing weapon fire or some unexpected noise, and to also control when AIs look for better targets and when they stick to their current one.\n\nRight now the Kythera perception system will take in stimuli from different sources (vision, sound, and tactile events for characters; radar signatures for ships), perform calculations on whether enough stimuli have been received for an AI to have noticed something, and then pass this information through to the target selection system, which will look for the best target at any point in time. There are various parameters that each AI can set to affect how both their perception and target selection work, but from the behavior\u2019s point of view, it is just told what the current best target is.\n\nThis setup allows for simpler behavior trees, and has worked really nicely for ships, but for characters we\u2019ve found that the behavior trees tend to be set up quite differently from ships. In human behaviors, where the acting element is so complex and vital, more control is needed, so it\u2019s desirable to move some of the logic of the perception system into the behaviors, even though this can make them more complicated. So we\u2019ve been working on a design for an improved perception system that will allow behavior trees to be authored with the control that designers want to have. We\u2019re also looking at whether we can improve ship behaviors as well by making similar changes to their behaviors, and that\u2019s something that will be ongoing in the next few months.\n\nEngineering\nWe made quite a few good improvements to ships this month, particularly with regard to improving their behaviors for Pirate Swarm. Some of the highlights are improvements to approach and retreat behaviors that better take into account max weapon range and current shield levels; changes to make AI missile usage less predictable; and some improvements to avoidance so AI are less likely to crash into other ships.\n\nWe also fixed an interesting bug where AI would sometimes behave strangely when going to fly on a spline in scripted situations such as the tutorial. We use the reported thrust values from IFCS (Intelligent Flight Control System) in order to plan out ship movement, but sometimes IFCS wasn\u2019t fully online when we were planning, and so we weren\u2019t working with correct values. So we added a way for a ship behavior to make sure IFCS is fully online before doing something that depends on it.\n\nOne nice change we made to character visual perception is to allow them to see things at greater than 180 degrees if desired. Our visual perception system had both a primary and a secondary vision cone, where the primary cone mimics regular vision abilities, while the secondary cone is intended to mimic peripheral vision. That means targets in the primary cone will generally be detected fast by the AI, while the secondary cone takes longer.\n\nThe problem is, AI often seem stupid when their peripheral vision is less than 180 degrees, so the obvious solution is to increase the field of view of the peripheral vision. The issue there, though, is that the primary and secondary vision cones are precisely that: cones. The mathematics of the view cones completely breaks if you try to go above 180 degrees. So to fix this, we needed to change the geometric shape that defines the vision space of an AI from a cone to a more appropriate shape when the field of view is 180 degrees or more (which is basically a sphere with a cone cut out of the back of it).\n\nWe also continued to make some improvements to the behavior tree editor in DataForge. We added the ability to now specify inputs to BT nodes as a dropdown list of predefined values when this makes sense, such as when telling a character to change to a new stance. Behavior trees can now also embed other trees within them, which allows designers to put a common piece of behavior in its own tree and then add that to their trees in multiple places as needed. As the trees get bigger and more complex, this will be invaluable for keeping them readable and avoiding duplication.\n\nFinally, we made some great performance improvements to the Kythera Recording Server, which is the system that allows designers and programmers to record AI behavior and then play it back with detailed debug information to help figure out bugs or look for ways to improve behaviors. There is potentially a lot of debugging information that needs to be saved for this system to be useful, so we improved the system to be better at detecting what data has changed since the last update and what hasn\u2019t, which means it can better compress the recordings. This is both good for disk space and for making it easier to export recordings to give to other developers.\n\nRed One, Jared. Red One, Jared. Red One, Jared\u2026\n\nHey guys, Community Manager Jared \u201cDisco Lando\u201d Huckaby here. August was a big month for the Community Team, starting with the realization of Gamescom 2015. Just about everyone on the Community Team played a part in making this event perhaps our best yet, and it was a terrific opportunity for the staff in Santa Monica to meet the CS staff in Manchester in person for the very first time, as well as many of our European backers.\n\nWe\u2019d also challenged ourselves to really spruce up our live events. To this end, we undertook many initiatives such as sending the bulk of the Community Team, adding the on-site \u201cConcierge Store\u201d (not to be confused with Concierge backing services generally \u2013 this is special in-person functionality for live events), and improving the overall quality of the items presented to our attendees.\n\nOur first order of business was to create a new, protracted series of collectable ship pins. Something that could be collected from each event a person goes to. Since we knew Gamescom was going to feature multi-crew predominantly, the Constellation became the logical choice for our first pin. I discovered existing artwork used for a patch series and was able to repurpose that for our needs.\n\nA free fly promotion had become a staple, but we wanted something more than just a card with a code. Working with Ryan Archer in Austin, we developed a foam version of the Gladius that was just as much collectable as it was a way for potential fans to discover the game. While we can\u2019t say it \u201cflies,\u201d we can certainly refer to it as, \u201cthrowable.\u201d\n\nIn years past, posters had become a Gamescom tradition, but in our efforts to increase the quality of overall presentation, we commissioned BHVR to imagine K\u00f6ln, Germany in the year 2945. Working with art from Nicholas Ferrand, we designed the limited edition poster that we gave out to attendees, complete with the signatures of our studio heads and members of the Community Team.\n\nComing from the community, I have an affinity for the truly great works that our fans create, and one of the finest creations is the Hunter web comic by Adi Nitisor. Working with Adi, I was able to point him in the right direction and get the necessary clearances to print up physical copies of his first issue for our attendees. Our fans truly make Star Citizen, and it seemed right to include a little piece of their work along with our own this Gamescom.\n\nFinally, when decorating the E-Werk event space, I wanted something that would truly evoke the sense of what multi-crew gaming could look like. To that end, I worked with fan content creator FiendishFeather for nearly a month to create the giant banner that hung over the heads of our fans in the venue. Rendered entirely in the game engine, and using 100% Star Citizen Assets as a single scene with zero compositing, it measured out at a whopping 27325\u00d77200 at 100dpi. I have to thank Feather for trusting in me that he could do this, and that the crazy things I was asking him to do would work out. It\u2019s just another example of how working with our fans allows us to create something greater than either of us could alone. (You can see it in the banner image above this section.)\n\nWith Gamescom we wanted to return to livestreaming. Gamescom has always been special to the history of Star Citizen thus far. To that end, Thomas Hennessy, Alyssa Delhotal and I worked to ensure that we\u2019d have a plan in place that would address many of the issues from our past livestreams, principle of which were available bandwidth and the proper configuration and use of our in-house streaming equipment.\n\nOnce the curtain opened, Hennessy worked the controls for the livestream and both directed and operated the switching between cameras, while I worked with the A\/V company who was responsible for the camera operation, the demo switching for the presentation screen and livestream, and the audio.\n\nAfter the presentation, because we know not everyone can watch it live, Hennessy and I stayed in the Crow\u2019s Nest until 3am editing the demo segments and posting everything to YouTube as quickly as technology would allow. Challenges aside, we consider the entire event a tremendous success.\n\nIn addition to Gamescom, we continued our efforts providing an unparalleled amount of information to our backers through weekly webseries, comm-links and more. Of course, we get to do all that because of the continued contributions of our Subscribers. Thank you for enabling us to share as much content as we do, you guys are awesome, and we\u2019ll never stop thanking you all for that. With that in mind, we started our #IMASTARCITIZEN social media initiative, with Digital Info Cards you can create for yourself at www.imastarcitizen.com and retro trading cards that are released every day on our Instagram account.\n\nFinally, a special welcome to all our new backers who joined us in August. If you would like to follow our development on social media, here\u2019s a page full of resources for everyone to enjoy.\n\nStar Citizen on Social Media","de_DE":"y als Kraftmultiplikator ben\u00f6tigt, der den Launcher weiter verbessert und einen Patch und mehrere Hotfixes in der Live-Umgebung ausf\u00fchrt. Wir haben auch die Einf\u00fchrung aller GamesCom-Demobuilds unterst\u00fctzt und bei der Erstellung eines Multicrew-Teaser-Videos mitgewirkt.\n\nAls Teil des neuen Build-Server-Rollouts haben wir einen Webpage-Visualisierer entwickelt, der Entwicklern eine einfache M\u00f6glichkeit bietet, Builds anzuzeigen und zu starten. Dar\u00fcber hinaus wurde die Arbeit an automatischem Integrations-\/Merge-Code fortgesetzt, um uns zu helfen, die \u00c4nderungen zwischen unseren vielen Entwicklungszweigen zu bew\u00e4ltigen. Dies stellt sicher, dass Builds die aktuellsten und kompatibelsten \u00c4nderungen an den Builds aufweisen, die wir der \u00d6ffentlichkeit zur Verf\u00fcgung stellen.\n\nDie Arbeit an der Verbesserung des Spielstarts, der Behandlung von mehr Fehlerf\u00e4llen, der Verbesserung der Protokollierung, dem Hinzuf\u00fcgen von analytischen Statistiken und nat\u00fcrlich dem Versuch, mehr Geschwindigkeit f\u00fcr Downloads zu erreichen, wurde fortgesetzt. Erwarten Sie bald eine weitere Launcher-Patch-Iteration mit weiteren Verbesserungen.\n\nF\u00fcr GamesCom teilte sich das Team in Schichten auf, um mit dem IT-Team 24 Stunden am Tag f\u00fcr die Woche der Convention zusammenzuarbeiten und sicherzustellen, dass die erstellten Builds und digitalen Medien an unsere Supportmitarbeiter vor Ort bei GameCom \u00fcbergeben wurden. Obwohl wir die Woche ziemlich ersch\u00f6pft beendet haben, denke ich, dass alle gl\u00fccklich waren, die Fr\u00fcchte der Arbeit des Unternehmens vor den Hinterm\u00e4nnern zu sehen. Au\u00dferdem haben wir an diesem Freitag einen Haufen getrunken, um uns zu entspannen und die Show zu genie\u00dfen.\n\nDas Team hat auch ziemlich eng mit dem Server-Team zusammengearbeitet, um die Leistung unserer Game-Server, des General Instance Managers und anderer Universe Services zu untersuchen. Dies f\u00fchrte in den letzten Wochen zur Erstellung und Einf\u00fchrung von 12 Hotfixes zur Verbesserung von Abst\u00fcrzen, Speicherlecks, Deadlocks und Performance. Dar\u00fcber hinaus haben die Arbeiten zum Aufbau der Spieldatenbank begonnen, und einige Ingenieure des DevOps-Teams haben bereits damit begonnen, Code f\u00fcr die Schnittstellenschicht auf den sp\u00e4teren Persistenz-Server zu schreiben.\n\nSchlie\u00dflich begannen wir unser viermonatiges Automatisierungsprojekt. Dieses Projekt umfasst die Arbeit des DevOps-Teams in Deutschland und Austin und deckt die vier Hauptbereiche der Automatisierung ab: Perforce Tools, Game Client, Game Server und Build Server. W\u00e4hrend wir noch ganz am Anfang dieser Bem\u00fchungen stehen, verspricht die von uns skizzierte Roadmap, QA dabei zu helfen, monotone, wiederholte Tests zu reduzieren, sicherzustellen, dass Checkins in den Zweigen den Build nicht zum Absturz bringen, bevor sie in Kraft treten, Ingenieuren zu erm\u00f6glichen, die Serverauslastung und -leistung zu sehen, ohne massive Playtests organisieren zu m\u00fcssen, und eine Reihe von Build Checks am Ende des Build-Erstellungsprozesses abzufeuern. Offensichtlich ist der kiesige Teil, der die gesamte Programmierung erledigt und dann fehlerfrei ist!\n\nVorausschauend\nWie jeden Monat hier bei der CIG arbeiten wir jeden Tag daran, Ihnen die n\u00e4chsten Iterationen des Sozialmoduls zu pr\u00e4sentieren und auf dem Weg zum Persistent Universe selbst voranzukommen. Ausgew\u00e4hlte Entwickler im gesamten Projekt arbeiten an der Fehlerbehebung f\u00fcr einen sp\u00e4teren Patch auf 1.2.0, aber die Mehrheit von uns hat sich auf die Ver\u00f6ffentlichung von Social Module v1 konzentriert. Social Module v0 hat die Ver\u00f6ffentlichung von Funktionen wie Multiplayer-Funktionalit\u00e4t auf unserer ersten Landezone am Planeten (ArcCorp's Area18), dem Chat-System und Emotes erm\u00f6glicht. Jetzt, da wir eine Kern-Backend-Technologie als Grundlage haben, k\u00f6nnen wir anfangen, darauf aufzubauen, um den BDSSE! zu entwickeln.\n\nEinige Funktionen, die sich derzeit in der aktiven Entwicklung befinden, sind die Verbesserung der Chat-Schnittstelle und -Funktionalit\u00e4t (Hurra f\u00fcr private Kan\u00e4le!), das Hinzuf\u00fcgen von mindestens 25 weiteren Emotes zur Auswahl (jetzt mit Audio!), die Aktualisierung der Ladenfassaden, um sie vom gesamten Area18-Innenhof aus absolut unverwechselbar zu machen, und etwas, das mit....Buggies??? zu tun hat.\nWir wissen, dass ihr euch auf die n\u00e4chste Landezone, Levski im Nyx-System, freut, und wir auch! Levski befindet sich in der Phase der Endbearbeitung und jetzt betrachten wir die rechtzeitige Planung zur Optimierung mit Hilfe einer neuen Technologie namens Compound Render Node. Dies wird die Leistung in allen Umgebungen deutlich steigern und es ihnen erm\u00f6glichen, butterweich zu laufen, w\u00e4hrend sie durch diese erstaunlichen Orte streifen.\n\nEs ist immer be\u00e4ngstigend, etwas, woran man so hart gearbeitet hat, in die H\u00e4nde von Menschen zu legen, um ihr Urteil zu f\u00e4llen. Wir hatten gehofft, dass euch gef\u00e4llt, was wir geliefert haben, und das positive Feedback war \u00fcberw\u00e4ltigend. Vielen Dank f\u00fcr Ihre Unterst\u00fctzung, wir k\u00f6nnen es kaum erwarten, Ihre Socken in naher Zukunft wieder auszuziehen!\n\nGr\u00fc\u00dfe B\u00fcrger,\n\nWie immer gab es auch in diesem Monat viel Arbeit in Manchester! Die Mitglieder des Teams hier waren begeistert, Tausende von B\u00fcrgern live auf der Gamescom zu treffen, und wir freuen uns, Ihnen das gesamte Team auf der Citizencon im Oktober vorzustellen! In der Zwischenzeit gibt es hier die \u00dcberpr\u00fcfung dessen, was wir im August gemacht haben.....\n\nIngenieurwesen\nEin weiterer arbeitsreicher Monat ist in der F42-Codierabteilung vergangen, mit Anfang des Monats, als wir sowohl die Ver\u00f6ffentlichung von 1.1.6 als auch die Gamescom-Live-Demo sahen, die wir an unseren Tastaturen geh\u00e4mmert haben, um zu helfen, einige der wichtigsten Features der gro\u00dfen Welt und der Multi-Crew-Schiffe, die gezeigt wurden, sowie die \u00fcblichen Bug-Smashing! Zu den Features geh\u00f6rte die Arbeit an der Quantum-Drive-Mechanik, die erstaunlich gut in Aktion zu sehen war, da sie nicht nur cool aussieht, sondern es uns auch erm\u00f6glicht, die neuen gro\u00dfen 64-Bit-Welten, die wir in einer angemessenen Zeit geschaffen haben, tats\u00e4chlich zu durchqueren. Ein Highlight des Q-Drive-Fehlers, der unterwegs behoben wurde, war, dass Ihr Schiff die Kontrolle \u00fcber die Entfernungen weit weg vom Ursprung verlor, was darauf zur\u00fcckzuf\u00fchren ist, dass der Standard-Seewasserstand der Cry Engine von z = -100000000 jetzt leicht erreichbar ist, was Ihren Motor sp\u00e4ter \u00fcberfluten w\u00fcrde!\n\nAuch an verschiedenen Spielmodulen wurde gearbeitet. Das FPS-Visier beinhaltet jetzt neue Treffer- und Granatenwarnmarker und wurde auf der Gesundheitsanzeige und dem Munitionsz\u00e4hler poliert. Es gab Fixes an Med-Packs, T\u00fcren und Leitern; nette Details sind zum Beispiel die M\u00f6glichkeit, die Geschwindigkeit auf einer Leiter zu \u00e4ndern und neue Animationen f\u00fcr das Holstern Ihrer Waffe, w\u00e4hrend Sie sie montieren, um \u00dcberg\u00e4nge auf sie zu gl\u00e4tten und zu beschleunigen. W\u00e4hrend in anderen Studios viel FPS-Arbeit geleistet wird, nimmt Foundry 42 einen Teil dieser Entwicklung auf den eigenen Teller, insbesondere f\u00fcr Dinge, die f\u00fcr die Erfahrung von Squadron 42, die wir hoffentlich liefern k\u00f6nnen, von wesentlicher Bedeutung sind. Die Staffel 42 hat die Arbeit am Sidling-Mechaniker (Wall Shuffling) sowie weitere Arbeiten an Pl\u00fcnderungs-, Speicherspiel- und Sicherheitsnetzwerken aufgenommen, und das Konversationssystem hat begonnen, Audiodaten einzuspielen, die zuvor bei der Live-Aufnahme aufgenommen wurden. Schiffsbezogen haben wir mit der Suche nach einer neuen Schiffsscan-Funktion begonnen, die es Ihnen erm\u00f6glicht, ein bestimmtes Schiff zu scannen, und \u00fcber eine Zeitspanne von Sekunden hinweg Informationen \u00fcber jede einzelne Schiffskomponente (Waffen, Schilde, Ladung, Motoren usw.) sammelt und es Ihnen dann erm\u00f6glicht, diese Informationen zu durchlaufen.\n\nWir haben jetzt einen \"Clean-up Friday\", bei dem wir uns Aufgaben wie das Verschieben unseres In-Game-Objekts .xmls in unser neues DataForge-Tool.xml-Format ansehen, was die Bearbeitung und Validierung nach vorne erleichtert. Es umfasst auch das Refactoring von Systemen wie dem Input-Backend, das dadurch nun eine unbegrenzte Anzahl von angeschlossenen Joysticks mit separater Tastaturbelegung unterst\u00fctzen kann. Es sieht auch die Bereinigung von veraltetem Code, den wir nicht mehr verwenden, und die Behebung von Fehlern und Warnungen, die nicht mit dem Spiel brechen, in unseren Protokollen, dies verbessert den allgemeinen Zustand des Spiels sowie unsere allgemeine Transparenz dar\u00fcber, was unter der Haube falsch ist, und beschleunigt so unseren Workflow f\u00fcr zuk\u00fcnftige Versionen.\n\nAnimation\nDas Team hat die Arbeit an einigen der systemischen KI Cover-Animationen fortgesetzt, nachdem wir nun vollst\u00e4ndig auf das v7-Rigg umgestiegen sind. Dar\u00fcber hinaus haben wir uns mit unserem Frankfurter Team bei der ersten Reihe von Performance Capture-Animationen synchronisiert und begonnen, Fortschritte zu machen, indem wir sie mit den Audiospuren und der Engine synchronisiert haben. Unser hauseigener Tech-Animator hat gute Fortschritte gemacht, um Gesichtsanimationen ins Spiel zu bringen, und wir freuen uns wirklich darauf, einige Vignetten fertigzustellen und zu sehen, wie alles zum ersten Mal zusammenkommt. In den neuen Wochen werden wir damit besch\u00e4ftigt sein, die Bed\u00fcrfnisse der Teams nach Citizencon zu unterst\u00fctzen.\n\nGrafiken\n\"In diesem Monat hat sich das Grafikteam haupts\u00e4chlich auf Charakter-Shader konzentriert, von denen der erste ein neuer Shader ist, den wir f\u00fcr Kleidung, R\u00fcstungen, Gegenst\u00e4nde und Waffen entwickelt haben. Anstatt f\u00fcr jedes Objekt individuelle Texturen zu backen, verwendet dieser Shader einen Pool von generischen Texturen f\u00fcr Basismaterialien wie Stahl\/Leder\/Denim und kombiniert diese im Shader, um die Eigenschaften der Oberfl\u00e4che zu bestimmen. Dies erm\u00f6glicht es uns, die Eigenschaften eines Objekts schnell zu \u00e4ndern, ohne die zugrunde liegenden Texturen \u00e4ndern zu m\u00fcssen, was ein gro\u00dfer Vorteil f\u00fcr das Customizing und die Elemente in der PU ist. Es erm\u00f6glicht uns auch, dynamische Ver\u00e4nderungen wie Schmutz oder Besch\u00e4digungen, die sich im Laufe der Zeit ansammeln, zu unterst\u00fctzen, oder dem Art Director zu erm\u00f6glichen, das Aussehen eines bestimmten Metalls von einem Hersteller zu optimieren, ohne alle von diesem Hersteller entworfenen Artikel finden zu m\u00fcssen. Die Entwicklung dieses Shaders hat einige Zeit gedauert, aber wir erwarten, dass er in den kommenden Monaten viele M\u00f6glichkeiten in der PU er\u00f6ffnen wird.\n\nDie anderen Charakter-Shader, an denen wir gearbeitet haben, beziehen sich auf die menschliche Haut. Wir haben die Hautfaltentechnologie von CryEngine erweitert, mit der Falten und Knicke in der Haut in bestimmten Gesichtspositionen sichtbar werden, und wir unterst\u00fctzen nun viermal so viele Faltenpositionen wie bisher. Wir haben auch die Unterst\u00fctzung f\u00fcr Blutflusskarten hinzugef\u00fcgt, die einzigartige Farbvariationen auf der Haut in bestimmten Gesichtspositionen erfassen, die durch ver\u00e4nderten Blutfluss und die Dehnung und Kompression der Haut verursacht werden. Diese Erweiterungen f\u00fchren zu einer signifikanten Verbesserung der Qualit\u00e4t und Glaubw\u00fcrdigkeit der Gesichtsanimationen unserer Charaktere.\n\nDer Rest des Grafikteams hat Verbesserungen am Schattensystem untersucht und die Arbeiten am Schadenssystem f\u00fcr mehrk\u00f6pfige Schiffe fortgesetzt.\"\n\nKunst\nEs war ein weiterer Wirbelwind in diesem Monat, beginnend mit der glorreichen Gamescom-Demo, das Team hat super hart gearbeitet, um alles f\u00fcr die Enth\u00fcllung zu bringen und treibt nun die Weiterentwicklung des Spielraums und der Interessengebiete voran.\n\nWir wurden mit der Konzeption eines neuen Schiffes beauftragt, alles sehr spannend und Gavin Rothery leistet eine hervorragende Arbeit, um es zum Leben zu erwecken (mehr kann ich nicht sagen!) Die Gesamtkonzeptarbeit konzentriert sich auf das Sammeln vieler Teile, das Ausarbeiten von Bereichen, die durch das Netz geschl\u00fcpft sind, das Neudefinieren von Bereichen, w\u00e4hrend die Designabteilung Updates durchf\u00fchrt und die Kinematographie in Frankfurt unterst\u00fctzt.\n\nUmgebungen\nDas Umweltteam war mit der Karte f\u00fcr die Freigabe von Arena Commander 2.0 f\u00fcr CitizenCon besch\u00e4ftigt. Wir haben drei Hauptstationen mit Innenr\u00e4umen, die jetzt wei\u00df gestrichen sind, zusammen mit einem Planeten, drei Monden, drei kleineren Satelliten und einer Reihe kleinerer Asteroiden. Wir haben auch einen neuen Low Tech Alpha in der Greybox installiert, der es uns erm\u00f6glichen wird, unsere Stationsinnenr\u00e4ume sinnvoller und gro\u00dfz\u00fcgiger zu gestalten als urspr\u00fcnglich geplant. Der letzte POI, der eingef\u00fchrt wird, ist Asteroid Gainey und seine Schwestergruppe von gro\u00dfen Asteroiden, die sich derzeit im Prototypenbau befinden.\n\nAlle diese Sehensw\u00fcrdigkeiten sind in die neue Karte aufgenommen worden.\n\nAls n\u00e4chstes werden wir die Verfeinerung der gro\u00dfen Weltkarte fortsetzen und Beleuchtung, Stimmung und Atmosph\u00e4re f\u00fcr jede der drei Stationen festlegen, zusammen mit umfangreichen Tests \u00fcber die physischen Grenzen, die wir f\u00fcr Asteroid Gainey und die gro\u00dfen Asteroiden setzen k\u00f6nnen.\n\nVFX\nDieser Monat war gepr\u00e4gt von CG-Aufgaben, die GOST, Quantum Drive-Implementierung und Schiffszerst\u00f6rung abdeckten. Mit der Integration von 3.7 in die Spieleentwicklung haben wir viele neue Features und viele neue Fehler erhalten, die alle dokumentiert und priorisiert wurden. Adam kam zum VFX-Team und hat sich mit den Blade Thrustern und Waffeneffekten besch\u00e4ftigt und unsere Werkzeuge erlernt.\n\nEin gro\u00dfer Schub ist in die Bereinigung aller alten Assets und Bugs gegangen, die das ganze Spiel betreffen, mit einigen sehr guten Fortschritten. Die Arbeiten zur Umsetzung der Schiffsschadenseffekte in Mehrbesatzungsschiffe mit dem kompletten systemischen Schadenssystem sowie zur Straffung der Zerst\u00f6rungspipeline haben ebenfalls begonnen.\n\nRequisiten\nDie neue Rohrleitung wurde gesperrt und wird nun auf alle neu erstellten St\u00fctzen \u00fcbertragen, die Verbesserung der alten St\u00fctzen befindet sich noch in der Planungsphase.\n\nNach Abschluss der Gamescom wurde der Fokus auf die bevorstehende CitizenCon-Veranstaltung gelegt. Die CitizenCon-Arbeit umfasst eine Vielzahl von Requisiten, High-Tech, Low-Tech und auch viele universelle Requisiten f\u00fcr Umgebungen und Schiffe.\n\nDiese Arbeit wird dazu beitragen, die neuen Pipeline-Funktionen auf breiter Front zu testen, aber auch unseren neuen Produktionsablauf zu testen, der die Kommunikation zwischen den verschiedenen Teams verbessern soll und letztlich bedeutet, dass mehr Requisiten mit Audio, Animation und VFX ihren Weg ins Spiel finden.\n\nSchiffe\nEs wurde viel Arbeit geleistet, um den Retaliator f\u00fcr die Gamescom-Demo vorzubereiten, GOST-Zust\u00e4nde vorzubereiten und alle neuen Probleme zu beheben, die bei der Implementierung der Systeme aufgetreten sind. Wir haben eine leichte Repriorisierung erfahren und das Fahrzeugteam ist vor\u00fcbergehend gewachsen (einige K\u00fcnstler sind aus dem Umfeld gezogen), und jetzt gehen wir an einen kr\u00e4ftigen Haufen Arbeit (mehr im Bericht der n\u00e4chsten Monate). Der Starfarer f\u00e4hrt gerne weiter, die Jungs arbeiten jetzt an den Schl\u00fcsselbereichen (den Archetypen), aus denen das Schiff besteht, sobald wir die Texturen und Materialien f\u00fcr dieses MISC-Schiff definiert haben, k\u00f6nnen wir viel mehr Assets schneller ausrollen und auch f\u00fcr die Updates auf dem Freelancer verwenden. Einige zus\u00e4tzliche Arbeiten sind in den Mining Bot eingeflossen, er sieht in guter Verfassung aus, aber er wird auf absehbare Zeit auf Eis gelegt, bis wir \u00fcber technische Ressourcen verf\u00fcgen, um einen vierbeinigen Walker zu entwickeln - wie Sie sich vorstellen k\u00f6nnen, haben wir viele andere Bereiche, die h\u00f6here Priorit\u00e4t haben, aber dies ist ein Schiff, auf das ich mich wirklich freue, es im Universum zu sehen.\n\nIdris - c'mon - was ist mit den Idris, h\u00f6re ich Sie sagen - nun, f\u00fcr diejenigen, die ein Schiff gekauft haben, k\u00f6nnen Sie nicht entt\u00e4uscht sein von dem, was Ihr Geld kauft, dieses Schiff wird episch sein - es ist komplex, glauben Sie mir, trotz all der Kunst- und Technologieerfahrung, die wir haben, es ist immer noch ein sehr herausforderndes Gut (Level), aber es wird helfen, mittelgro\u00dfe Schiffe zu definieren und wie sie letztendlich zusammengesetzt werden.\n\nUI\nDie AEGIS thematische UI-Arbeit dauerte einen gro\u00dfen Teil der Zeit, die Ausarbeitung aller neuen Systeme, die f\u00fcr Multicrew und die Demo ben\u00f6tigt werden, diese Arbeit ist im Gange, jetzt haben wir einen Stil, den wir in der Lage sein werden, mehr und mehr Elemente f\u00fcr den Einsatz auf dem Schiff herzustellen.\n\nDie FPS-Benutzeroberfl\u00e4che wurde \u00fcberarbeitet, leichter Nip und Tuck - die Platzierung und das Aussehen von Gesundheits-, Munitions- und Promptsystemen sowie zus\u00e4tzliche Arbeiten am Konversationssystem, Nutzungs- und Pl\u00fcnderungssystemen - es kommt alles zusammen!\n\nAudio\nUnser gro\u00dfer Vorsto\u00df Anfang dieses Monats war es, sicherzustellen, dass die Gamescom-Demo und das dazugeh\u00f6rige Material dem erforderlichen Standard entsprechen. Leider f\u00fchrten einige technische Probleme mit dem Live-Stream dazu, dass bestimmte Peaks (buchst\u00e4blich!) nicht ganz so aussahen, wie beabsichtigt, aber zum Gl\u00fcck wurden diese nicht auf das Offline-Rendering des gleichen Materials \u00fcbertragen, so dass es die meisten Menschen nicht betroffen haben wird. Neben der Arbeit des Sound Design Teams hatten wir auch einige exzellente Musik von Pedro Macedo Camacho dabei, die immer wieder gef\u00e4llt.\n\nIm Anschluss an die Gamescom hatten wir eine \u00e4u\u00dferst produktive Session, in der Waffen-Soundeffekte aufgenommen wurden, mit Schwerpunkt auf Innen- und Au\u00dfenreflexionen, was der Staffel 42 (sowie dem allgemeinen FPS-Aspekt von Star Citizen) sehr zugute kommen wird. Wir hoffen, ein Dev-Tagebuch\/ Work-in-Progress-Video zu ver\u00f6ffentlichen, das sich auf den Prozess dahinter konzentriert, Stefan's hat ein gro\u00dfartiges Video zusammengestellt, das zeigt, was passiert ist. Besondere Erw\u00e4hnung verdient unsere eigene Sian Crewe, die auch bei dieser Sitzung eine gro\u00dfe Hilfe war.\n\nApropos Geschwader 42, wir hatten einen Schuss, den wir dialogisch unterst\u00fctzen mussten, Phil und Bob gingen beide hinunter, um das am selben Tag wie die Waffenaufnahme durch puren Zufall zu decken.\n\nDie Ver\u00f6ffentlichung von 1.1.5 und nachfolgenden Versionen haben unsere Anforderungen an die Bew\u00e4ltigung der schieren Gr\u00f6\u00dfe unseres Spiels verdeutlicht, unsere Audiocodierer haben einige Fehler behoben, bevor sie zu dem \u00fcbergingen, was wir als \"Large World Audio\" bezeichnen. Wir wollen sicherstellen, dass wir eine hohe Detaillierungsstufe auf lokaler Ebene f\u00fcr die Spieler haben, die wir nicht f\u00fcr das Ausma\u00df und den Umfang des gr\u00f6\u00dferen Universums opfern. Alles sehr modulare, systemgest\u00fctzte Dinge, und wir hoffen, dass dies die Leistung von Wwise und CryEngine weiter verbessern wird, so dass wir weiterhin Wert auf Audiodetails und Qualit\u00e4t legen k\u00f6nnen.\n\nAnsonsten haben wir hart am Audio f\u00fcr das Sozialmodul, an anderen FPS-Arbeiten und an der Vorbereitung von CitizenCon gearbeitet. Wir haben auch verfeinert, wie wir mit Audio f\u00fcr Schiffe umgehen, da wir das im Vergleich zu dem, was wir bereits getan haben, aufrichtig verbessern wollen.\n\nWie immer, danke f\u00fcrs Zuh\u00f6ren und bitte z\u00f6gern Sie nicht, Fragen zu Audio im Ask A Developer-Bereich des Forums zu stellen!\n\nQA\nSo drehte sich im August f\u00fcr die britische QA alles um den Wirbelwind der Aktivit\u00e4ten, der die Gamescom war, und den Erholungsprozess, der auf ihren H\u00f6hepunkt folgte.\n\nLiam Guest, Glenn Kneale, Ben Parr und ich hatten das Gl\u00fcck, an der Veranstaltung und dem Livestream f\u00fcr die Multicrew-Demo beteiligt zu sein. Eine anstrengende und nat\u00fcrlich sehr befriedigende Erfahrung! Ein gro\u00dfes Dankesch\u00f6n an alle in der Community, die uns geholfen haben, die 4 Tage in einem St\u00fcck zu \u00fcberstehen, obwohl Red1 es mit einem Handtuch auf der B\u00fchne geschafft h\u00e4tte.....\n\nZur\u00fcck im Basislager hielten Geoff Coffin, Steven Brennon und der Rest des Teams die Dinge hervorragend zusammen - Geoff verdiente sich MVP und die esoterischste deutsche Medaille (mit K\u00fchen und Milchm\u00e4nnern), die ich in K\u00f6ln finden konnte. Das britische QA-Team verbrachte viel Zeit damit, die Demo akribisch zu \u00fcben - und gab denen von uns in Deutschland alle notwendigen Hinweise, um die Pr\u00e4sentation zu erstellen - wenn wir sie nur lesen w\u00fcrden! ;)\n\nNach dem Event konnten wir einige der langen Schichten, die wir im Aufbau gemacht hatten, nachlassen und zu einer halbnormalen Routine zur\u00fcckkehren. Dazu geh\u00f6rte auch die Unterst\u00fctzung des ATX-Studios bei der Entwicklung des ArcCorp-Sozialmoduls, das, wie Sie sich vorstellen k\u00f6nnen, zu einer Art All-Hands-on-Deck-Aff\u00e4re wurde.\n\nRoll im September - in dem wir zwei neue Starter in der Abteilung haben werden - dringend ben\u00f6tigt, um die bevorstehende Version von sc_alpha_2.0 zu testen!\"\n\nDesign\nDie Gamescom kam und ging, aber es gibt noch viel zu tun, an dem wir hektisch arbeiten, um die \"Large World\" Demo in Ihre H\u00e4nde zu bekommen. Die Designer bev\u00f6lkern und optimieren das System (kann nicht mehr wirklich Level sagen, da es so gro\u00df ist). Wir r\u00e4umen das Gameplay auf und arbeiten mit Hochdruck daran, so viel Funktionalit\u00e4t wie m\u00f6glich in die Multi-Crew-Systeme zu bekommen. Wir haben neue FPS-Umgebungen, an denen gearbeitet wird, um sie nach M\u00f6glichkeit in die n\u00e4chste Hauptversion zu bringen.\n\nWie ich bereits im Bericht vom letzten Monat erw\u00e4hnt habe, werden alle verschiedenen Systeme, die Konstruktionen hatten, die leicht oder veraltet waren, immer noch \u00fcberarbeitet, und wir machen gute Fortschritte bei Dingen wie Radar, Scannen, Schiffssignaturen, dem Konversationssystem und Reparatur.\n\nEs gibt auch einen gro\u00dfen Schub, bis Weihnachten so viele Schiffe wie m\u00f6glich in den Hangar zu bringen, und das hat dazu gef\u00fchrt, dass wir viele Meetings und Vernunftskontrollen auf einigen der \u00e4lteren Schiffe hatten, die sehr viel Liebe haben. Ich hoffe, wenn du sie in die Finger bekommst, dass du zustimmen wirst, dass sie das Warten wert waren. Nochmals vielen Dank f\u00fcr die tolle Unterst\u00fctzung, ohne dich k\u00f6nnten wir das nicht machen!\n\nEs war ein arbeitsreicher Monat f\u00fcr das B\u00fcro wie immer. Der gr\u00f6\u00dfte Teil des Teams hat bei der Pr\u00e4sentation der Gamescom teilweise geholfen. Es ist wirklich cool zu sehen, wie verschiedene Komponenten im selben Spielraum zusammenkommen, und die Reaktionen und Begeisterung der Fans und der Community helfen uns dabei.\n\nWir haben einen stetigen Strom von Kandidaten f\u00fcr unsere offenen Stellen durchlaufen, und das Frankfurter Team w\u00e4chst langsam, um bei verschiedenen Bereichen der Staffel 42 zu helfen.\n\nWir haben unser erstes Segment f\u00fcr Around the Vers letzte Woche gemacht, wir freuen uns darauf, jede Woche etwas zu drehen, um jedem mehr Einblick in das zu geben, was wir hier tun. Nachfolgend finden Sie eine Aufschl\u00fcsselung der Leiter oder Direktoren der einzelnen Abteilungen \u00fcber die wichtigsten Dinge, die sie im letzten Monat angegangen sind.\n\nIngenieurwesen\nIm August besch\u00e4ftigte sich das Frankfurter Ingenieurwesen haupts\u00e4chlich mit mehreren Artikeln rund um die Gamescom und die Post-Gamescom-Engine. Da die meisten Subsysteme auf das Zonensystem umgestellt werden, gab es mehrere mittel- und langfristige Themen, die diskutiert, angegangen und \u00fcberpr\u00fcft wurden, wie z.B. Streaming, Ladezeiten, Speicherverbrauch usw. Die Erkenntnisse von Gamescom in Bezug auf gro\u00dfe Weltkarte und Multicrew werden auf die neuen gro\u00dfen Weltkarten \u00fcbertragen, die erwartungsgem\u00e4\u00df immer gr\u00f6\u00dfer und gr\u00f6\u00dfer werden.... weitere Themen werden f\u00fcr Citizen Con und die kommenden Releases bearbeitet.\n\nWir setzten die Entfernung von Legacy-Engine-Code (haupts\u00e4chlich Renderer) zur Vorbereitung auf die Hauptmaschine und den Render-Refaktor (Langzeitaufgabe) fort, um moderne APIs und Multicore-Systeme besser nutzen zu k\u00f6nnen. Wir haben mehrere clientseitige (Rendering-)Probleme f\u00fcr den Arenakommandanten behoben. W\u00e4hrend wir uns zuvor mit der Speichereffizienz auf der Inhaltsseite besch\u00e4ftigt haben, haben wir uns diesen Monat mit der Client- und Server-seitigen Speicherleistung der SC-Codebasis besch\u00e4ftigt. Infolgedessen wurden mehrere Lecks behoben, die zu Stabilit\u00e4tsproblemen und Abst\u00fcrzen f\u00fchrten. Dieser Prozess l\u00e4uft weiter und wir hoffen, die Stabilit\u00e4t weiter zu verbessern und die Speicherleistung zu optimieren. Es gibt bereits geplante \/ laufende Workitems, die an dieses Ziel ankn\u00fcpfen.\n\nAuf der Animations- und Physikseite haben wir eine neue Methode entwickelt, um Ragdolls mit Animationsdaten zu betreiben. Das Ziel war es, eine genaue und schnelle Posenabgleichung zwischen Animation und permanent betriebenen Ragdolls zu erreichen. Auf dem Weg dorthin haben wir das Ein- und Ausblenden von Ragdolls verbessert, ein neues Ragdoll-Setup mit korrekter Massenverteilung der menschlichen K\u00f6rperteile erstellt und die Werkzeuge zum Einrichten von Federn und Gelenken f\u00fcr nat\u00fcrliche K\u00f6rperhaltungen verbessert. Um die Bearbeitungszeit beim Bau von Ragdolls zu verk\u00fcrzen, wurde das gesamte Setup der physikalischen Parameter von Maya in eine XML-Datei verschoben.\n\nKI\nAugust war ein Monat lang mit einigen der Arbeiten auf niedriger Ebene besch\u00e4ftigt, die f\u00fcr die Aufnahme und die Simulation des persistenten Universums erforderlich sind.\n\nFrancesco ist nach Austin gereist, um direkt neben dem Social Module Team zu arbeiten. Der Schwerpunkt lag auf der Optimierung der NSC-Bewegung und der Synchronisation der Wiedergabe der Animationen \u00fcber die Multiplayer-Infrastruktur.\n\nAm ersten Punkt haben wir mit Wyrmbyte zusammengearbeitet, um die aktuelle Netzwerknutzung w\u00e4hrend der Bewegung eines Charakters zu analysieren, und wir haben einen Plan erstellt, um eine erste Optimierung f\u00fcr NSCs-Charaktere zu testen: Im Vergleich zu normalen Spielern k\u00f6nnen wir davon ausgehen, dass die von der KI kontrollierten Einheiten viel berechenbarer sind und eine geringere Menge an Daten ben\u00f6tigen, um sich korrekt in die Welt zu bewegen.\n\nWas die Synchronisation der Animation betrifft, so verwenden alle unsere Charaktere Mannequin, um die Animationsdatenbank zu organisieren und die richtige Animation zum Abspielen auszuw\u00e4hlen. Diesen Monat haben wir eine erste Version einer Animationskomponente erstellt, die informiert wird, wenn Animationen auf dem Server in die Warteschlange gestellt werden, so dass die Clients auch das gleiche Mannequin-Fragment korrekt in die Warteschlange stellen k\u00f6nnen, auf die Auswahl der zuf\u00e4lligen Option auf dem Server warten und dann die gleiche Animation mit der gleichen Startzeit des Servers starten. Unsere Implementierung k\u00fcmmert sich auch um die Zustandsreplikation, so dass Clients, die mitten in der Animationsspiele am Spiel teilnehmen, auch die richtige visuelle Darstellung dessen haben, was auf dem Server passiert. Diese Implementierung erm\u00f6glicht es uns, Mannequin vollst\u00e4ndig zu nutzen, ohne gro\u00dfe \u00c4nderungen am aktuellen Spiel-Code vorzunehmen, und das ist ein gro\u00dfer Gewinn!\n\nUnd nicht zu vergessen, dass alle Animationsfunktionen zwischen KI und Spielercharakteren geteilt werden!\n\nWir haben auch damit begonnen, Anforderungen f\u00fcr das Re-Design der Laichmechanik zu sammeln, wir wollen ein zentralisiertes System, das anpassbar ist und sich um alle Bed\u00fcrfnisse der Staffel 42 k\u00fcmmert, die dann auch f\u00fcr Arena Commander und Social Module verwendet werden kann.\n\nWir sind bei der Verwendung des Usables-Systems als Navigationslinks weitergekommen, die es uns erm\u00f6glichen, Links in der Welt (manuell oder prozedural) mit bestimmten Eigenschaften zu platzieren, um bestimmte Orte der Welt zu markieren, an denen sich die NSCs mit bestimmten Animationen bewegen k\u00f6nnen, und um bestimmte Spielinteraktionen zu verursachen (z.B. muss ein NSC vor dem Betreten des Aufzugs die Aufzugstaste dr\u00fccken).\n\nLast but not least haben wir gerade erst begonnen, das Navigationsnetz und die Pfade der Charaktere vollst\u00e4ndig in das Zonensystem zu integrieren, und wir setzen die \u00dcberarbeitung des Codes in tragbare\/kombinierbare Komponenten fort (z.B. haben wir die Funktionalit\u00e4ten zur Steuerung des NSC-Ziels isoliert und zwei separate Komponenten untersucht, die unabh\u00e4ngig voneinander gesteuert werden k\u00f6nnen).\n\nDar\u00fcber hinaus hat das Frankfurter B\u00fcro die Arbeit von Moon Collider an den Verbesserungen der DataForge\/Behavior Baumverbindung, den neuen Funktionalit\u00e4ten wie dem pers\u00f6nlichen Log, dem Task System Refactoring, der Verbesserung des Schiffsverhaltens und der Schiffsbewegung weiter koordiniert.\n\nSystem erstellen\nArbeit an Codevalidierung, Automatisierung und Tools, um das Leben der Entwickler zu erleichtern. Auch diesen Monat wurden wir von Jeremy und Joseph von ATX besucht, beide Teil des Dev-Ops-Teams. Es versteht sich von selbst, dass wir viele Meetings haben, in denen viele Dinge diskutiert wurden und bearbeitet werden. Ohne ins Detail zu gehen, wurden die Zuverl\u00e4ssigkeit des Builds, die laufende Umstellung auf ein neues Build-Framework, Paks und die Erstellung von Patches diskutiert. Noch viel Arbeit vor uns.\n\nKonstruktionsabteilung\nEines der gro\u00dfen Dinge zu Beginn dieses Monats f\u00fcr uns war die Fertigstellung des Innenausbaus des Vergelters f\u00fcr die GamesCom-Demo. Es war ein bisschen verr\u00fcckt, aber das Endergebnis hat sich gelohnt und das Feedback und die Anerkennung, die wir von euch Jungs bei der Live-Show, den Kan\u00e4len Twitch und YouTube erhielten, war erstaunlich und dem\u00fctigend zugleich.\n\nAls wir mit der Vergeltungsdemo fertig waren, setzten wir uns hin und versuchten herauszufinden, was dokumentiert und repliziert werden muss, damit alle anderen Schiffsaufbauten in Zukunft reibungslos funktionieren. Und glauben Sie mir, es gibt viele Dinge, die wir zun\u00e4chst nicht wussten, denn dies ist das erste Schiff, das so viele der Systeme, die wir in Star Citizen haben wollen, vereint.\n\nUnsere Abteilung f\u00fcr Leveldesign, die immer noch zwei der Staffel 42 Levels baut, arbeitet auch hart daran, einen neuen Mehrspieler-Modus f\u00fcr das FPS-Modul ins Leben zu rufen. Die Jungs arbeiten mit den Programmierern von Illfonic zusammen, um dies rechtzeitig vor der FPS-Ver\u00f6ffentlichung fertigzustellen.\n\nAuf einer anderen, etwas weniger spannenden Seite, haben sowohl die Level- als auch die Systemdesignabteilung an der Verbesserung unserer Rekrutierungspipeline und der Kandidatenpr\u00fcfung gearbeitet, um sicherzustellen, dass wir das Beste aus dem verf\u00fcgbaren Talentpool herausholen.\n\nDie Arbeit an KI- und KI-Building-Tools geht weiter und es sieht so aus, als ob wir, sobald das neue Charakter-Rig mit dem neuen Cover-Animationsset zusammenarbeitet, in der Lage sein werden, unser Verhalten schnell anzupassen, um all diese Vorteile zu nutzen. Im Moment betreiben wir unser neues KI-Verhalten eher in einem experimentellen\/Debug-Modus, in dem wir ihr Denken und ihre Logik testen und prototypisch umsetzen k\u00f6nnen, ohne viel von den Fr\u00fcchten unserer Arbeit im eigentlichen Spiel sehen zu k\u00f6nnen, aber sobald das Rigg und die Assets drin sind, sollte alles einfach an seinen Platz kommen.\n\nHacking und elektronische Kriegsf\u00fchrung sind auch Systeme, denen in diesem Monat viel Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt wurde, aber weitere Details werden dazu kommen, sobald wir das Gef\u00fchl haben, dass sie solide genug sind, um es euch zu zeigen.\n\nGleichzeitig unterst\u00fctzen wir unsere Technikabteilung bei ihrer Arbeit am Prototyping der planetarischen Prozesserzeugung. Leider wurden wir von ihnen dar\u00fcber informiert, dass wir lebendig geh\u00e4utet werden, wenn wir irgendwelche Details dar\u00fcber verraten, bevor es richtig bereit ist zu zeigen. Wir nehmen die Bedrohungen unserer Programmierer hier sehr ernst!\n\nKinematiken\nIm August waren wir an mehreren Fronten in Bezug auf die filmische Seite der Dinge besch\u00e4ftigt.\n\nZus\u00e4tzliches Schie\u00dfen der p-Kappe\nUnser Hauptshooting f\u00fcr Performance Capture f\u00fcr S42 endete Anfang Juli, aber wir gingen f\u00fcr 2 Tage zur\u00fcck zu den Imaginarium Studios in London, um einige wichtige Story-Elemente einzufangen, die wir aufgrund der Verf\u00fcgbarkeit von Schauspielern w\u00e4hrend des Hauptshootings nicht gedreht hatten. Ich kann es kaum erwarten, den Fans da drau\u00dfen unsere Darsteller zu zeigen! Es war sch\u00f6n, wieder in der Band zu sein, wieder mit der Crew zusammen zu sein, die in den Monaten zuvor im Jahr gearbeitet hat.\n\nUmwelt Kunst\nWir haben auch die Arbeiten an mehreren filmischen Umgebungen fortgesetzt, n\u00e4mlich an einem Baudock f\u00fcr ein Gro\u00dfschiff, das in der Geschichte von S42 zum Einsatz kommen wird, an einer UEE Navy Hospital Facility und einem UEE Verwaltungsgeb\u00e4ude.\n\nUnsere erste Prototyp-Umgebung f\u00fcr das Innere der Vanduul Kingship Br\u00fccke wurde gereinigt und um einige Kerben angehoben. Noch immer keineswegs endg\u00fcltig, sondern Fortschritt!\n\nEin kleinerer Teil der Er\u00f6ffnung von S42 wird tats\u00e4chlich auf der CitizenCon im Oktober gezeigt, so dass wir auch f\u00fcr diese Szene hart an der Umwelt arbeiten, was auch perfekt ist, um die Fortschritte zu zeigen, die wir bei der Qualit\u00e4t der Gesichtsanimation gemacht haben.\n\nGesichtsanimation\nWir haben vor kurzem die erste volle Leistung von body+face von einem unserer Hauptakteure erhalten, der synchron im Motor arbeitet. Zu sagen, dass wir mit dem Grad der Gesichtstreue, den wir jetzt erreichen k\u00f6nnen, sehr zufrieden sind, w\u00e4re eine ungeheure Untertreibung. Ich kann es kaum erwarten, es der Community auf der CitizenCon zu zeigen. Aus fr\u00fcheren Tests wie dem Constellation Commercial im letzten Jahr ist ein dramatischer Qualit\u00e4tssprung f\u00fcr das geworden, was wir auf unseren Charakteren zeigen k\u00f6nnen. Aufregend!\n\nKinematiken\nHigh-End-Charakterleistung ist jedoch nur ein Teil der filmischen Gleichung von SC, der andere gro\u00dfe Teil werden Space Dogfight\/Cap Ship Battle Szenen sein. F\u00fcr diese planen wir derzeit einige weitere Tools wie einen Spline-Korridor, damit wir unsere Schiffe vollst\u00e4ndig gegliedert, aber auch 100% reproduzierbar und zuverl\u00e4ssig filmen k\u00f6nnen. Dazu muss unser IFCS in den Hintergrund treten, da wir in der Lage sein m\u00fcssen, Schiffsfunktionen zu \u00fcbersteuern, um sicherzustellen, dass eine Filmkamera nicht kaputt geht, wenn z.B. die Leistung des Motortriebwerks eines Schiffes sp\u00e4ter w\u00e4hrend der Entwicklung angepasst wird.\n\nWir haben auch einige kleinere Probleme im Zusammenhang mit bestimmten filmischen Werkzeugen\/Kameras gefunden, die von der letzten Umstellung auf das LargeWorldSystem stammen, aber insgesamt war die Umstellung recht reibungslos. Es ist eine ziemliche Sache, die Weltkoordinaten in den Millionen von Kilometern im Motor zu sehen, verglichen mit nur 4-8 Kilometern zuvor.\n\nAudio\nDiesen Monat gab es eine Menge Werkzeug- und Rohrleitungsarbeiten. Aktualisiert die Audio-Asset-Build-Tools, die die Iterationszeiten der Sound-Designer verbessern und die Belastung der P4-Server (das ist Perforce, unser Codebasis-Versionskontrollsystem) verringern sollten, viele kleine Korrekturen vorgenommen und die Integration nach 3.7 in Game-Devices optimiert, um die neuen Tools und Systeme dazu zu bringen, ordnungsgem\u00e4\u00df mit dem CIG-Audio-Setup zu arbeiten, optimiert die Standard-Sandbox-Audiotools, um ihre Leistung bei der Verarbeitung der gro\u00dfen Anzahl von Audio-Assets zu verbessern, die bereits durch unser Projekt gesammelt wurden. Schlie\u00dflich begannen auch die Arbeiten zur Umstellung des Audiosystems auf die Verwendung von listener-relativem Audio-Rendering, das f\u00fcr die richtige Large World-Unterst\u00fctzung erforderlich ist.\n\nFX\nIm vergangenen Monat haben wir an dem Quantenantriebseffekt f\u00fcr die Schiffe gearbeitet. Dies erforderte ein hohes Ma\u00df an Forschung und Entwicklung, bevor wir den gew\u00fcnschten Look erreichten. Wir mussten auch eng mit den Grafikprogrammierern zusammenarbeiten, um die kundenspezifischen Shader und Backend-Systeme zu entwickeln, die erforderlich waren, um alles zusammenzubringen.\n\nDer finale Effekt kombiniert Elemente aus VFX, Code und Audio, um den Quantenantrieb zum Leben zu erwecken!\n\nWie Sie unten lesen k\u00f6nnen, hat sich mein ganzes Team diesen Monat doppelt bem\u00fcht, Ihnen die erste Iteration des Sozialmoduls zu pr\u00e4sentieren. Wir waren \u00fcberw\u00e4ltigt von der Art und Weise, wie die Demo bei der Gamescom aufgenommen wurde, und das gab uns die Energie, unsere Grenzen zu erweitern, so dass das Sozialmodul noch vor Ende August auf Ihre Computer treffen w\u00fcrde. Die Zusammenarbeit mit Austin, um es p\u00fcnktlich zu liefern, war eine ph\u00e4nomenale Leistung. Wir sind wirklich froh, dass Sie es jetzt genie\u00dfen k\u00f6nnen und freuen uns darauf, Ihnen in den n\u00e4chsten Wochen eine deutliche Verbesserung zu erm\u00f6glichen.\n\nUI\nIn diesem Monat hat das UI-Team hart an verschiedenen Funktionen f\u00fcr das erste Release des Social Module gearbeitet: Die Chat-Benutzeroberfl\u00e4che hat viele \u00c4nderungen erfahren, sowohl f\u00fcr Design als auch f\u00fcr Kunst. Die Kontaktliste hat ein paar Kunst-Upgrades erhalten, der AR-Modus hat etwas Liebe bekommen, und wir haben viele Fehler behoben.\n\nWir flogen auch hinaus, um unsere Freunde in der Gie\u00dferei 42 sowie einige Leute aus L.A. zu einem UI-Gipfel zu treffen. Gemeinsam haben wir begonnen, einen klareren \u00dcberblick \u00fcber alle Arten von Interfaces im Spiel zu bekommen und arbeiten daran, das Interaktionsdesign sowie das Grafikdesign \u00fcber alle Module hinweg zu vereinheitlichen und zu verbessern.\n\nDesign\nEin gro\u00dfer Monat auf der Designseite, mit der bevorstehenden Ver\u00f6ffentlichung des Social Module V0 vor Ende des Monats. Viele Fehler zu beheben und kleine Verbesserungen hier und da, um sicherzustellen, dass Ihr Besuch bei ArcCorp reibungslos verl\u00e4uft. Wir k\u00f6nnen es kaum erwarten, dass du mit deinen Freunden alle Gesch\u00e4fte und Hinterh\u00f6fe erkundest.\n\nWir arbeiten auch hart an dem Million Mile High Club, weitere Details dazu folgen in K\u00fcrze.\n\nEndlich haben wir das August Subscriber Flair in Ihrem Hangar ausgeliefert: das Takuetsu Starfarer Schiffsmodell.\n\nKunst\nAuf der Umweltseite haben wir daran gearbeitet, Area 18 f\u00fcr die PU-Freigabe zusammenzustellen. Haupts\u00e4chlich Optimierung und Fehlerbehebung.\n\nWir haben auch damit begonnen, einen der Baus\u00e4tze zu polieren, um die neuen Spezifikationen aufzunehmen, die die Karten schneller laufen lassen und besser aussehen lassen.\n\nAuf der Flair-Seite haben wir alle Troph\u00e4en f\u00fcr Gamescom und CitizenCon fertiggestellt und wie \u00fcblich das Flair des n\u00e4chsten Monats vorbereitet.\n\nProgrammierung\nAugust war ein sehr produktiver Monat hier bei Behaviour. Einen Gro\u00dfteil unserer Bem\u00fchungen haben wir in der Social Module Demo konzentriert, die am 7. August 2015 auf der Gamescom gezeigt wurde, und dann die Erfahrungen f\u00fcr das Live-Release des Social Moduls weiter verfeinert. Wir haben die neue In-Game-Chat-Benutzeroberfl\u00e4che viel verbessert, so dass der \u00dcbergang zwischen dem Sprechen im Chat und dem Spielen des Spiels sehr reibungslos und intuitiv ist. Wir haben auch sichergestellt, dass andere Spieler, die dich bei der Emote-Animation \u00fcber einen Chat-Befehl sehen, die gleiche Animation sehen wie du auf deiner Seite. Wir haben eine Funktionalit\u00e4t hinzugef\u00fcgt, die es einem Spieler erm\u00f6glicht, einfach zwischen einigen vordefinierten Spielerauslastungen in seinem privaten Hangar zu wechseln, bevor er nach drau\u00dfen geht, um die Welt zu treffen.\n\nApropos Area 18, wir haben daran gearbeitet, sicherzustellen, dass alle interagierbaren Objekte (z.B. Elevator Console, Doors), die in ArcCorp's Area 18 vorhanden sind, wie vorgesehen in einer Multiplayer-Umgebung funktionieren. Sie werden auch unsere Arbeit an der Augmented Reality (AR) Funktionalit\u00e4t des mobiGlas zu sch\u00e4tzen wissen. Wir haben die Art und Weise, wie wir AR-f\u00e4hige Objekte erkennen und wie das System sich daf\u00fcr entscheidet, AR-Informationen auf dem Bildschirm anzuzeigen, optimiert. Dies gilt auch f\u00fcr die Betrachtung anderer Spieler; Sie k\u00f6nnen nun den Namen der Spieler sehen, mit denen Sie spielen\/chatten.\n\nWir haben weitere UI-Feedback in der Transport Elevator Console hinzugef\u00fcgt, um die Spieler \u00fcber den Status des \u00dcbergangs zwischen zwei verschiedenen Bereichen zu informieren. Wir haben auch eine Suchfunktion in die In-Game-Kontaktliste aufgenommen und einige bestehende Probleme beim Hinzuf\u00fcgen und Entfernen von Kontakten behoben. Wir haben auch die Art und Weise, wie wir Loading Screens in unser Spiel integrieren, \u00fcberarbeitet, so dass wir in Zukunft schnell neue Loading Screen Art pro Level hinzuf\u00fcgen k\u00f6nnen.\n\nWas ist los, meine B\u00fcrger?! Direkt aus Denver kommend, ist es der monatliche IllFonic Studio Report! Ich bin sicher, dass Sie alle wahrscheinlich die Nachricht geh\u00f6rt haben, dass das Team hier zur\u00fcckgefahren wurde, als Star Marine \u00dcberg\u00e4nge, die intern bei CIG entwickelt werden sollen. Das ist wahr, und das war immer der Plan. Allerdings haben wir noch ein kleineres, leichteres Team, das an dem FPS-Modul arbeitet, um die Dinge zum Abschluss zu bringen. Nachfolgend findest du die detaillierten, k\u00f6rnigen Details.\n\nKunst\nAuf der Kunstseite haben wir auf der Grundlage des Feedbacks von Chris und den Art Directors der CIG einen polnischen Pass auf jede der FPS-Waffen gemacht. Wir haben auch saubere und schmutzige Versionsmaterialien f\u00fcr jede Waffe erstellt. Dies wird verwendet, um die Abnutzung einer Waffe zu zeigen, wenn sie altert und stark benutzt wird.\n\nAnimation\nDie Animatoren verbrachten den gr\u00f6\u00dften Teil des Monats damit, alle FPS-Animationen auf das neue Rig zu \u00fcbertragen. Sie haben auch die Waffen neu aufger\u00fcstet, um den Systemwechsel der Waffe, die der Hand anstelle der Wirbels\u00e4ule \u00fcbergeordnet ist, aufzunehmen. Neue Animationen wurden auch f\u00fcr das Juken\/Schreiten im geduckten Zustand erstellt. Magazin-Check-Animationen wurden auch erstellt, um einen neuen Nachlademechaniker zu unterst\u00fctzen, der das aktuell in der Waffe befindliche Magazin intelligent gegen die anderen, die der Spieler tr\u00e4gt, \u00fcberpr\u00fcft und entweder das Magazin durch ein neues ersetzt oder es wieder einf\u00fchrt. Schlie\u00dflich haben sie die verbleibenden Mocap-Daten \u00fcberpr\u00fcft, bereinigt und f\u00fcr die Implementierung vorbereitet. Dazu geh\u00f6ren Dinge wie Voltigieren, Umh\u00fcllen, Schleichen, verletzte Fortbewegungs-Sets, etc.....\n\nIngenieurwesen\nDas Engineering-Team hat sich haupts\u00e4chlich auf die Behebung von Fehlern konzentriert. Sie verbrachten auch Zeit mit der Implementierung des oben erw\u00e4hnten neuen Mag-Check-Systems und der Erstellung der Regeln f\u00fcr einen neuen Spielmodus \u00e4hnlich dem Headquarter oder King of the Hill. In den letzten Wochen oder so wurde der gr\u00f6\u00dfte Teil ihrer Zeit damit verbracht, der CIG bei dem gro\u00dfen Fusionsprozess zu helfen, der stattgefunden hat. Die Arbeit von jedem der verschiedenen Release-Zweige nehmen und sie alle wieder in einem zusammenf\u00fchren.\n\nDas war's f\u00fcr diesen Monat B\u00fcrger, bis zum n\u00e4chsten Mal!\n\nHallo und gute Reise aus Montreal! Hier ist, was wir letzten Monat in dieser Sache gemacht haben:\n\nSprungpunkt - Die Produzenten\nUnser eigener Grand Poobah, Benoit Beausejour, wurde in der August-Ausgabe des Jump Point Magazine in der Rubrik \"Produzenten\" vorgestellt. Er und andere Produzenten (von CIG und Partnerstudios) wurden \u00fcber ihre Rollen und Verantwortlichkeiten, Herausforderungen und Mission befragt. Mehrere Produzenten haben an diesem ausf\u00fchrlichen (15-seitigen) Artikel teilgenommen, wenn Sie also daran interessiert sind, mehr \u00fcber das Innenleben einer Spielfirma zu erfahren, sollten Sie sich das unbedingt ansehen. Vielen Dank an David Ladyman, dass er alles zusammengef\u00fcgt hat!\n\nStarmap\nIn diesem Monat lag unser Hauptaugenmerk auf dem Element, das wir mit dem Codenamen \"Control Disc\" versehen haben, mit dem Sie Informationen \u00fcber ein bestimmtes Himmelsobjekt abrufen k\u00f6nnen. Wir haben nicht nur das Design \u00fcberarbeitet, um es an kleinere Bildschirmaufl\u00f6sungen anzupassen, sondern auch verschiedene Animationseffekte auf der Disc selbst untersucht. So komplex das Starmap-Projekt auch war, die Control Disc ist vielleicht das komplizierteste Element, da sie die Integration von WebGL, statischen HTML-Elementen und der Starmap-Datenbank erfordert.\n\nObwohl wir bis zum Ende weiter optimieren werden, sieht der aktuelle WebGL-Viewer erstaunlich aus. Wir haben die Galaxie- und Systemansichten verfeinert und eine \"Konsole\" entwickelt, so dass wir Farben und animierte Effekte f\u00fcr jeden Himmelsk\u00f6rper leicht anpassen k\u00f6nnen. N\u00e4chsten Monat werden wir die \u00dcbergangseffekte verbessern, d.h. von der Galaxie zur Systemansicht und von System zu System.\n\nDie Arbeiten an den 3D-animierten Versionen der Himmelsobjekte - zum Beispiel Planeten, Sterne und Raumstation - gehen weiter.\n\nEbenfalls in diesem Monat begannen wir mit Diskussionen \u00fcber die Audiokomponente der Starmap. Wir m\u00f6chten einige Soundeffekte hinzuf\u00fcgen, um das Erlebnis zu verbessern, ohne abzulenken. F\u00fcr diejenigen, die das Web in aller Stille durchsuchen m\u00f6chten, bieten wir auch eine Umschaltm\u00f6glichkeit an.\n\nIssue Council\nWir befinden uns nun im Endspurt. Wir haben die meisten kritischen Fehler behoben und arbeiten nun an den FAQ- und Hilfeseiten. Wir arbeiten mit der CIG zusammen, um einen Starttermin festzulegen. Wir planen, mit der Einf\u00fchrung des Issue Council in den kommenden Wochen zu beginnen. Achten Sie darauf im Untermen\u00fc \"Community\"!\n\nCommunity Hub\nDie Nabe ist bereit! Bald wird es f\u00fcr einige ausgew\u00e4hlte Star Citizen-Mitglieder zug\u00e4nglich sein, so dass sie einige Ausgangsinhalte (Artwork, Videos, externe Links, Podcast-Feeds und Livestream-Feeds) in den Hub einbringen k\u00f6nnen. Sobald wir einige Einreichungen erhalten haben, werden wir bereit sein, diese f\u00fcr alle Geldgeber der Gemeinschaft zu \u00f6ffnen. Die Pr\u00e4senz des Hubs auf unseren Staging-Servern hat bereits viele andere Ideen hervorgebracht, wie wir dies nutzen k\u00f6nnen, um andere Teile der Community zu unterst\u00fctzen (10 FtC-Fragen, Spiel-Feedback und andere).\n\nSchiff passiert\nDie Pr\u00e4sentation von Star Citizen auf der Gamescom in K\u00f6ln in diesem Monat wurde von dem Verkauf mehrerer limitierter Schiffe begleitet, wie z.B. der Merchantman, der Reclaimer, die Carrack und viele mehr. Es gab auch einen \u00fcberraschenden Flash-Verkauf auf der Website f\u00fcr diejenigen, die nicht pers\u00f6nlich an der Veranstaltung teilnehmen konnten. W\u00e4hrend der Pr\u00e4sentation wurde ein Wettbewerb in Vanduul Swarm angek\u00fcndigt, bei dem die ersten 1.000 Personen, die die Welle 18 abgeschlossen hatten, die Esperia Glaive kaufen konnten, eine Nachbildung des gef\u00fcrchteten Vanduul-K\u00e4mpfers. Gegen Ende des Monats ging der beliebte Vanguard Warden wieder in den Verkauf, flankiert von seinen neuen Geschwistern Sentinel (eine E-War-fokussierte Variante) und Harbinger (eine bomberfokussierte Variante). In diesem Verkauf wurden auch die neuen Battlefield Upgrade Kits f\u00fcr die drei Varianten eingef\u00fchrt, mit denen Sie die Ausr\u00fcstung Ihrer Vanguard im laufenden Betrieb zwischen der eines Warden, Sentinel oder Harbinger austauschen k\u00f6nnen, um sie an Ihre n\u00e4chste Mission anzupassen.\n\nWas du nicht gesehen hast.\nWir haben die Migration auf Googles GCE in diesem Monat abgeschlossen, was zu einer Leistungssteigerung von 20 bis 25% in unserer gesamten Infrastruktur und einer deutlichen Senkung der monatlichen Kosten f\u00fcr CIG f\u00fchrte. Dieser Schritt ist auch insofern bedeutsam, als wir uns schlie\u00dflich vom urspr\u00fcnglichen Hosting-Provider entfernt haben, den wir seit der urspr\u00fcnglichen Crowdfunding-Kampagne hatten. Wir verlassen das Familiennest, weil wir jetzt alle erwachsen sind, schn\u00fcffeln Sie! Technisch basiert unsere GCE-Umgebung vollst\u00e4ndig auf \"Containern\" (Docker). Dieser wichtige Fortschritt macht den Betrieb der Standortserver und -prozesse integrierter und tr\u00e4gt wesentlich dazu bei, die Art und Weise, wie wir Code-Updates in die Produktion bringen, zu optimieren.\n\nEinige Monate lang konzentrierten wir uns auf zwei oder drei gro\u00dfe Features, aber August war einer jener Monate, in denen wir viele kleine Aufgaben erledigten: Bugfixes, Feature-Verbesserungen, Reaktionen auf Feedback von Designern. Sie waren alle wichtig und n\u00fctzlich, aber sie sind nicht immer eine spannende Lekt\u00fcre f\u00fcr Sie, die Geldgeber. So ersparen wir dir das Gerede von Merge-Konflikten, bauen Konfigurationsfehler und bleiben bei den coolen Sachen!\n\nDesign\nEine interessante Designarbeit, die wir geleistet haben, ist ein Refactoring des Kythera Wahrnehmungssystems f\u00fcr Charaktere. Nachdem Designer nun eine angemessene Zeit damit verbracht haben, Verhaltensb\u00e4ume in Kythera zu bauen und unser Wahrnehmungssystem zu verwenden, haben sie festgestellt, dass sie einige Aspekte des Wahrnehmungssystems und der Art und Weise, wie es mit dem Verhalten interagiert, etwas anders funktionieren sollen. Insbesondere wollen sie, dass Verhaltensb\u00e4ume mehr Kontrolle dar\u00fcber haben, wie KIs auf bestimmte Ereignisse in der Welt reagieren, wie z.B. Waffenfeuer oder unerwartete Ger\u00e4usche, und dass sie auch kontrollieren, wann KIs nach besseren Zielen suchen und wann sie bei ihrem aktuellen bleiben.\n\nIm Moment wird das Kythera-Wahrnehmungssystem Reize aus verschiedenen Quellen (Seh-, Klang- und Tastereignisse f\u00fcr Charaktere; Radarsignaturen f\u00fcr Schiffe) aufnehmen, Berechnungen durchf\u00fchren, ob gen\u00fcgend Reize empfangen wurden, damit eine KI etwas bemerkt hat, und diese Informationen dann an das Zielauswahlsystem weiterleiten, das zu jedem Zeitpunkt nach dem besten Ziel sucht. Es gibt verschiedene Parameter, die jede KI einstellen kann, um die Funktionsweise sowohl ihrer Wahrnehmung als auch ihrer Zielauswahl zu beeinflussen, aber aus Sicht des Verhaltens wird ihr einfach gesagt, was das aktuell beste Ziel ist.\n\nDiese Konfiguration erm\u00f6glicht einfachere Verhaltensb\u00e4ume und hat f\u00fcr Schiffe wirklich gut funktioniert, aber f\u00fcr Charaktere haben wir festgestellt, dass die Verhaltensb\u00e4ume in der Regel ganz anders eingerichtet sind als f\u00fcr Schiffe. In menschlichen Verhaltensweisen, in denen das handelnde Element so komplex und vital ist, ist mehr Kontrolle erforderlich, so dass es w\u00fcnschenswert ist, etwas von der Logik des Wahrnehmungssystems in das Verhalten zu \u00fcbertragen, auch wenn dies sie komplizierter machen kann. Deshalb haben wir an einem Design f\u00fcr ein verbessertes Wahrnehmungssystem gearbeitet, das es erm\u00f6glicht, Verhaltensb\u00e4ume mit der Kontrolle zu erstellen, die Designer haben wollen. Wir pr\u00fcfen auch, ob wir das Verhalten von Schiffen verbessern k\u00f6nnen, indem wir \u00e4hnliche \u00c4nderungen an ihrem Verhalten vornehmen, und das ist etwas, das in den n\u00e4chsten Monaten fortgesetzt wird.\n\nIngenieurwesen\nWir haben in diesem Monat einige gute Verbesserungen an den Schiffen vorgenommen, insbesondere im Hinblick auf die Verbesserung ihres Verhaltens f\u00fcr Piratenschwarm. Einige der Highlights sind Verbesserungen des Ann\u00e4herungs- und R\u00fcckzugsverhaltens, die die maximale Waffenreichweite und die aktuellen Schildebenen besser ber\u00fccksichtigen; \u00c4nderungen, die den Einsatz von KI-Raketen weniger vorhersehbar machen; und einige Verbesserungen bei der Vermeidung, so dass die KI weniger wahrscheinlich gegen andere Schiffe kracht.\n\nWir haben auch einen interessanten Fehler behoben, bei dem sich die KI manchmal seltsam verhielt, wenn sie in skriptgesteuerten Situationen wie dem Tutorial auf einem Spline fliegen wollte. Wir verwenden die berichteten Schubwerte von IFCS (Intelligent Flight Control System), um die Schiffsbewegung zu planen, aber manchmal war IFCS bei der Planung nicht vollst\u00e4ndig online, und so arbeiteten wir nicht mit korrekten Werten. Deshalb haben wir eine M\u00f6glichkeit f\u00fcr ein Schiffsverhalten hinzugef\u00fcgt, um sicherzustellen, dass IFCS vollst\u00e4ndig online ist, bevor wir etwas tun, das davon abh\u00e4ngt.\n\nEine sch\u00f6ne \u00c4nderung, die wir an der visuellen Wahrnehmung des Charakters vorgenommen haben, ist, dass er die Dinge auf Wunsch bei mehr als 180 Grad sehen kann. Unser visuelles Wahrnehmungssystem hatte sowohl einen prim\u00e4ren als auch einen sekund\u00e4ren Sichtkegel, wobei der prim\u00e4re Kegel regelm\u00e4\u00dfige Sehf\u00e4higkeiten nachahmt, w\u00e4hrend der sekund\u00e4re Kegel dazu bestimmt ist, peripheres Sehen nachzuahmen. Das bedeutet, dass Ziele im Prim\u00e4rkegel in der Regel schnell von der KI erkannt werden, w\u00e4hrend der Sekund\u00e4rkegel l\u00e4nger dauert.\n\nDas Problem ist, dass die KI oft dumm erscheint, wenn ihr peripheres Sehen weniger als 180 Grad betr\u00e4gt, so dass die naheliegende L\u00f6sung darin besteht, das Sichtfeld des peripheren Sehens zu vergr\u00f6\u00dfern. Das Problem dabei ist jedoch, dass die prim\u00e4ren und sekund\u00e4ren Sichtkegel genau das sind: Kegel. Die Mathematik der Sichtkegel bricht komplett zusammen, wenn man versucht, \u00fcber 180 Grad zu gehen. Um dies zu beheben, mussten wir die geometrische Form, die den Sichtbereich einer KI von einem Kegel definiert, in eine geeignetere Form \u00e4ndern, wenn das Sichtfeld 180 Grad oder mehr betr\u00e4gt (was im Grunde genommen eine Kugel mit einem Kegel ist, der auf der R\u00fcckseite ausgeschnitten ist).\n\nAuch am Behavior Tree Editor in DataForge haben wir einige Verbesserungen vorgenommen. Wir haben die M\u00f6glichkeit hinzugef\u00fcgt, Eingaben f\u00fcr BT-Knoten als Dropdown-Liste mit vordefinierten Werten anzugeben, wenn dies sinnvoll ist, z.B. wenn ein Zeichen aufgefordert wird, zu einer neuen Haltung zu wechseln. Verhaltensb\u00e4ume k\u00f6nnen nun auch andere B\u00e4ume in sich einbetten, was es Designern erm\u00f6glicht, ein gemeinsames Verhalten in ihren eigenen Baum zu integrieren und das dann an mehreren Stellen nach Bedarf zu ihren B\u00e4umen hinzuzuf\u00fcgen. Da die B\u00e4ume gr\u00f6\u00dfer und komplexer werden, wird dies von unsch\u00e4tzbarem Wert sein, um sie lesbar zu halten und Doppelarbeit zu vermeiden.\n\nSchlie\u00dflich haben wir einige gro\u00dfe Leistungssteigerungen am Kythera Recording Server vorgenommen, dem System, das es Designern und Programmierern erm\u00f6glicht, KI-Verhalten aufzuzeichnen und dann mit detaillierten Debug-Informationen wiederzugeben, um Fehler zu finden oder nach M\u00f6glichkeiten zur Verbesserung des Verhaltens zu suchen. Es gibt potenziell eine Menge Debugging-Informationen, die gespeichert werden m\u00fcssen, damit dieses System n\u00fctzlich ist, also haben wir das System verbessert, um besser zu erkennen, welche Daten sich seit dem letzten Update ge\u00e4ndert haben und welche nicht, was bedeutet, dass es die Aufnahmen besser komprimieren kann. Dies ist sowohl gut f\u00fcr den Speicherplatz als auch f\u00fcr den Export von Aufnahmen, die an andere Entwickler weitergegeben werden k\u00f6nnen.\n\nRed One, Jared. Red One, Jared. Red One, Jared.....\n\nHey Leute, Community Manager Jared \"Disco Lando\" Huckaby hier. August war ein gro\u00dfer Monat f\u00fcr das Community-Team, beginnend mit der Realisierung der Gamescom 2015. Fast jeder im Community-Team trug dazu bei, dass diese Veranstaltung vielleicht noch unsere beste war, und es war eine gro\u00dfartige Gelegenheit f\u00fcr die Mitarbeiter in Santa Monica, die CS-Mitarbeiter in Manchester zum ersten Mal pers\u00f6nlich zu treffen, ebenso wie viele unserer europ\u00e4ischen Geldgeber.\n\nWir hatten uns auch herausgefordert, unsere Live-Events richtig aufzupeppen. Zu diesem Zweck haben wir viele Initiativen ergriffen, wie z.B. die Entsendung des gr\u00f6\u00dften Teils des Community-Teams, den Einbau des \"Concierge Store\" vor Ort (nicht zu verwechseln mit den Concierge-Backing-Services im Allgemeinen - dies ist eine spezielle pers\u00f6nliche Funktionalit\u00e4t f\u00fcr Live-Veranstaltungen) und die Verbesserung der Gesamtqualit\u00e4t der den Teilnehmern pr\u00e4sentierten Artikel.\n\nUnser erster Gesch\u00e4ftszweig war die Entwicklung einer neuen, langwierigen Serie von sammelbaren Schiffspins. Etwas, das von jedem Ereignis, zu dem eine Person geht, gesammelt werden k\u00f6nnte. Da wir wussten, dass Gamescom \u00fcberwiegend mit mehreren Besetzungen ausgestattet sein w\u00fcrde, wurde die Constellation die logische Wahl f\u00fcr unseren ersten Pin. Ich entdeckte bestehende Artworks, die f\u00fcr eine Patch-Serie verwendet wurden, und konnte diese f\u00fcr unsere Bed\u00fcrfnisse wiederverwenden.\n\nEine Freiflug-Promotion war zu einer Grundausstattung geworden, aber wir wollten etwas mehr als nur eine Karte mit einem Code. In Zusammenarbeit mit Ryan Archer in Austin entwickelten wir eine Schaumversion des Gladius, die ebenso sammelbar war wie eine M\u00f6glichkeit f\u00fcr potenzielle Fans, das Spiel zu entdecken. Wir k\u00f6nnen es zwar nicht \"fliegen\" sagen, aber wir k\u00f6nnen es durchaus als \"warfbar\" bezeichnen.\n\nIn den vergangenen Jahren waren Plakate zur Tradition der Gamescom geworden, aber in unserem Bestreben, die Qualit\u00e4t der Gesamtpr\u00e4sentation zu erh\u00f6hen, haben wir BHVR beauftragt, sich im Jahr 2945 K\u00f6ln vorzustellen. In Zusammenarbeit mit Kunst von Nicholas Ferrand haben wir das Poster in limitierter Auflage entworfen, das wir den Teilnehmern zur Verf\u00fcgung gestellt haben, komplett mit den Unterschriften unserer Studioleiter und Mitglieder des Community-Teams.\n\nDa ich aus der Community komme, habe ich eine Affinit\u00e4t zu den wirklich gro\u00dfartigen Werken, die unsere Fans kreieren, und eine der besten Kreationen ist der Hunter Webcomic von Adi Nitisor. In Zusammenarbeit mit Adi konnte ich ihn in die richtige Richtung weisen und die notwendigen Genehmigungen erhalten, um physische Kopien seiner ersten Ausgabe f\u00fcr unsere Teilnehmer zu drucken. Unsere Fans machen Star Citizen wirklich zum Star Citizen, und es schien richtig, ein kleines St\u00fcck ihrer Arbeit zusammen mit unserer eigenen Gamescom zu integrieren.\n\nSchlie\u00dflich wollte ich bei der Gestaltung des Veranstaltungsraums des E-Werks etwas, das wirklich das Gef\u00fchl weckt, wie Multi-Crew-Gaming aussehen k\u00f6nnte. Zu diesem Zweck habe ich fast einen Monat lang mit dem Fan Content Creator FiendishFeather zusammengearbeitet, um das riesige Banner zu erstellen, das \u00fcber den K\u00f6pfen unserer Fans im Veranstaltungsort hing. Vollst\u00e4ndig in der Game-Engine wiedergegeben, und mit 100% Star Citizen Assets als einer einzigen Szene ohne Compositing, misst sie bei satten 27325\u00d77200 bei 100dpi. Ich muss Feather danken, dass sie mir vertraut hat, dass er das tun konnte und dass die verr\u00fcckten Dinge, um die ich ihn gebeten habe, funktionieren w\u00fcrden. Es ist nur ein weiteres Beispiel daf\u00fcr, wie die Zusammenarbeit mit unseren Fans es uns erm\u00f6glicht, etwas Gr\u00f6\u00dferes zu schaffen, als es jeder von uns allein k\u00f6nnte. (Du kannst es im Bannerbild \u00fcber diesem Abschnitt sehen.)\n\nMit Gamescom wollten wir zum Livestreaming zur\u00fcckkehren. Die Gamescom war bisher immer etwas Besonderes in der Geschichte von Star Citizen. Zu diesem Zweck arbeiteten Thomas Hennessy, Alyssa Delhotal und ich daran, sicherzustellen, dass wir einen Plan haben, der viele der Probleme unserer vergangenen Livestreams angeht, deren Prinzip die verf\u00fcgbare Bandbreite und die richtige Konfiguration und Nutzung unserer internen Streaming-Ausr\u00fcstung sind.\n\nNachdem der Vorhang ge\u00f6ffnet war, arbeitete Hennessy an der Steuerung des Livestreams und leitete und bediente sowohl die Umschaltung zwischen den Kameras, als auch die A\/V-Firma, die f\u00fcr die Kamerabedienung, die Demo-Umschaltung f\u00fcr den Pr\u00e4sentationsbildschirm und den Livestream und das Audio verantwortlich war.\n\nNach der Pr\u00e4sentation, weil wir wissen, dass nicht jeder sie live sehen kann, blieben Hennessy und ich bis 3 Uhr morgens im Crow's Nest, um die Demo-Segmente zu bearbeiten und alles so schnell wie m\u00f6glich auf YouTube zu ver\u00f6ffentlichen. Abgesehen von den Herausforderungen betrachten wir die gesamte Veranstaltung als gro\u00dfen Erfolg.\n\nNeben der Gamescom haben wir unsere Bem\u00fchungen fortgesetzt, unseren Geldgebern durch w\u00f6chentliche Webserien, Comm-Links und vieles mehr eine beispiellose Menge an Informationen zur Verf\u00fcgung zu stellen. Nat\u00fcrlich k\u00f6nnen wir das alles wegen der kontinuierlichen Beitr\u00e4ge unserer Abonnenten tun. Danke, dass ihr uns erm\u00f6glicht habt, so viele Inhalte wie wir zu teilen, ihr seid gro\u00dfartig, und wir werden nie aufh\u00f6ren, euch allen daf\u00fcr zu danken. In diesem Sinne haben wir unsere Social Media Initiative #IMASTARCITIZEN gestartet, mit Digital Info Cards, die Sie unter www.imastarcitizen.com selbst erstellen k\u00f6nnen, und Retro-Tauschkarten, die jeden Tag auf unserem Instagram-Konto ver\u00f6ffentlicht werden.\n\nAbschlie\u00dfend ein herzliches Willkommen an alle unsere neuen Geldgeber, die im August zu uns gesto\u00dfen sind. Wenn Sie unsere Entwicklung im Bereich Social Media verfolgen m\u00f6chten, finden Sie hier eine Seite voller Ressourcen, die jeder genie\u00dfen kann.\n\nSternenb\u00fcrger auf Social Media Gr\u00fc\u00dfe B\u00fcrger,\nWas f\u00fcr ein Monat! Es ist kaum zu glauben, dass im August sowohl unsere Live-Multicrew-Demo Gamescom als auch die Ver\u00f6ffentlichung des Sozialmoduls stattgefunden haben.... und eine Menge Arbeit dazwischen! Vom Bau neuer Raumschiffe \u00fcber das Entwerfen neuer Landepl\u00e4tze bis hin zum Unterrichten der Vanduul zum Fliegen, wir haben ein wenig von allem getan, und es summiert sich schlie\u00dflich zu Dingen, die man live sehen kann! Nachfolgend erfahren Sie, woran unsere Teams auf der ganzen Welt im August gearbeitet haben.\n\nHallo zusammen! Im August hatte das Team alle H\u00e4nde voll zu tun, um Funktionalit\u00e4t und Inhalte f\u00fcr das kommende MultiCrew-Release zu entwickeln, von dem wir eine fr\u00fche Wiederholung auf der Gamescom zeigten. Wir hatten eine gro\u00dfartige Zeit bei der Implementierung einiger wichtiger Elemente von Star Citizen und freuen uns darauf, noch mehr fertigzustellen. Wie immer teilen wir gerne mit allen, woran wir gearbeitet haben, also schaue es dir an und lass es uns wissen, wenn du irgendwelche Fragen hast.\n\nIngenieurwesen\nWas f\u00fcr ein Monat! Wir haben mit der Lieferung einiger wichtiger Systeme begonnen, die Sie bei GamesCom zum ersten Mal gesehen haben, und enden mit der vollst\u00e4ndigen Spieleinf\u00fchrung, der Behebung von Fehlern mit hoher Priorit\u00e4t, der Bereinigung von wichtigem Code und mehr. Wir k\u00f6nnen nicht glauben, dass ein weiterer Monat im Handumdrehen vergangen ist, also hier ist, was wir w\u00e4hrend dieses Blinzelns ausgeschlagen haben.\n\nWir haben hart an dem Pilot-KI-Modul gearbeitet und um dieses Modul zu unterst\u00fctzen, mussten wir einige Arbeiten am Elementsystem durchf\u00fchren. Unser residentes UI-Profi, Zane Bien, hat daran gearbeitet, die riesige Menge an UI f\u00fcr einige unserer gr\u00f6\u00dferen Schiffe fertigzustellen, w\u00e4hrend er gleichzeitig mit allen Interessengruppen der Benutzeroberfl\u00e4che zusammenarbeitete, um die Basis-UI-Systeme zu schlie\u00dfen, die \u00fcberall in Star Citizen verwendet werden.\nJetzt, da wir alles wieder in unserem Hauptstrom zusammenf\u00fchren, hatten wir viele Integrations- und Stabilit\u00e4tsprobleme zu l\u00f6sen. Wir sind wirklich froh, alles wieder in einem Stream zu haben (wir arbeiten seit einigen Monaten in mehreren Streams). Wir haben ein Memory-Leak-Problem gefunden, das wir schnell eliminiert haben (Memory-Leak-Probleme sind eine der Hauptursachen f\u00fcr viele Verlangsamungen und Abst\u00fcrze in Software jeglicher Art, so dass es wirklich wichtig ist, diese Dinge zu fangen). Wir haben auch daran gearbeitet, viele der gro\u00dfen Welt-Kernarten zu bereinigen, um uns auf die zuk\u00fcnftigen Elemente im Spiel vorzubereiten. Wir graben weiter in den physisierten Schaden f\u00fcr unsere Schiffe ein, um das so schnell wie m\u00f6glich zu erledigen.\n\nWir haben mit unserem globalen Team an einigen Quantum Travel-Aufgaben gearbeitet und sind sehr stolz auf das, was wir f\u00fcr das Multi-Crew-Release erreichen werden. Da wir die Elemente des Spiels fertigstellen und die Live-Inhalte unterst\u00fctzen, haben wir immer eine normale Fehlerbehebung durchzuf\u00fchren. Einige Beispiele sind die Kopfrotation f\u00fcr EVA sowie Kamera-Snap und Bounding Box Bugs, die wir beheben mussten. Wir hatten einen seltsamen Konstellationsfehler, den wir ausb\u00fcgeln mussten, sowie einen Kontrolltransferfehler. Auch ein Visierpositionsfehler, HUD-Fehler, EVA-Gasriesenfehler, Leuchtwanzen, Charakterhelm-Fehler und vieles mehr, das wir aufgesp\u00fcrt und zerquetscht haben!\n\nGegen Ende des Monats begannen wir damit, Schatten- und Fl\u00e4chenlichtfixes mit vorw\u00e4rts gekachelten Schattierungen zu fixieren, undichte Decal-Renderknoten beim Level-Entladen zu bereinigen, die erste Implementierung von mehrschichtigen Materialarbeiten abzuschlie\u00dfen und in den richtigen Strom zu integrieren. Wir haben threadsichere Ladeschnittstellen f\u00fcr Texturen, Materialien und Charaktermodelle hinzugef\u00fcgt sowie das Testbett f\u00fcr asynchrone (asynchrone) Batchladungen eingerichtet. Wir haben auch den Workflow der Durchschlagsicherheit herausgefunden, Prototypen f\u00fcr kommende Flugsteuerungsmodi erstellt und IFCS (Inertial Flight Control System, eines der wichtigsten Features, das unser Spiel zu einem der f\u00fchrenden 'sim' macht) Fehler und Probleme f\u00fcr Release-Versionen verfolgt. Nach all dem haben wir noch viel Arbeit vor uns, also bleibt dran f\u00fcr n\u00e4chsten Monat.\n\nDesign\nWir haben einen so erfolgreichen Monat hinter uns! Wir haben nicht nur einige wichtige Meilensteine f\u00fcr Multi-Crew erreicht, sondern machen auch Spr\u00fcnge in Richtung eines verbesserten Arena Commander, w\u00e4hrend wir mit unseren globalen Partnern an ihren jeweiligen Aspekten des Spiels zusammenarbeiten. Die h\u00f6chste Priorit\u00e4t ist die Fertigstellung der Last-Minute-Artikel f\u00fcr die Multi-Crew-Freigabe, die Sie genie\u00dfen k\u00f6nnen!\n\nUm tiefer einzudringen, arbeiten wir unerm\u00fcdlich daran, den Drake Herald flugf\u00e4hig zu machen, um alles zu b\u00fcgeln, was wir tun m\u00fcssen, um sicherzustellen, dass er ausgewogen ist und gut in das Spiel passt. Wir haben auch hart an der allgemeinen Ausgewogenheit unseres 1.2.0-Patches und zuk\u00fcnftiger Patches gearbeitet, indem wir uns Ihr Feedback angeh\u00f6rt und bewertet haben, was zur Verbesserung notwendig ist. Jetzt legen wir die R\u00e4nge und die Hierarchie f\u00fcr Multi-Crew-Stationen klar dar, um das bereitzustellen, was f\u00fcr angemessene Kontrollen erforderlich ist, um eine gesunde Teamarbeit innerhalb unserer Multi-Crew-Schiffe zu f\u00f6rdern. Wir haben auch mehr physisch basierte Sch\u00e4den neben der Technik entworfen, um dieses System so schnell wie m\u00f6glich online zu bringen.\n\nGOST Hintert\u00fcr und Zustandsgruppen wurden intensiv bearbeitet, um dieses System zu verbessern. Wir haben auch viele Fehler behoben, wie z.B. den Raketen-Rack-Bug, den Flug ins All, und Gladius-Waffen-Bugs sowie einen Constellation-Charakter-Bug. Wir haben auch den Glaive Hangar Bug behoben und die Glaive blade Mannequin gereinigt. Die Arbeit an der Umstellung des Vergeltungskraftwerks hat wirklich Spa\u00df gemacht und wir sind froh, dass wir sie abgeschlossen haben. Wir haben auch die Cutlass Blue Innent\u00fcren chrparams und die Constellation Zerst\u00f6rung hat Spa\u00df gemacht, weil sie viele technische Herausforderungen hatte. Ein weiteres System, an dessen Verbesserung und langfristiger Vorbereitung wir intensiv arbeiten, ist unsere Komponentenimplementierung durch Prototyping und Retrofit von Schiffen. Wir haben auch den ganzen Monat \u00fcber hart an der positiven Flugbilanz f\u00fcr die Freigabe des Schiffes und dar\u00fcber hinaus gearbeitet.\n\nEs wird ein gro\u00dfartiger kommender Monat und ich kann es kaum erwarten, dir alles zu zeigen, was wir tun.\n\nKunst\nNoch ein Monat tiefer, und was f\u00fcr ein arbeitsreicher Monat es war. Wir arbeiteten hart an der gesamten Kunst, die f\u00fcr den Multi-Crew-Release, die Charaktere von Squadron 42 und FPS sowie an Konzepten f\u00fcr die n\u00e4chsten gro\u00dfen Schiffe ben\u00f6tigt wurde.\n\nUm in das Wesentliche einzudringen, waren einige der Aufgaben, an denen wir im Konzept gearbeitet haben, die Male UEE Marine Konzepte, die Vanguard Varianten, Marine R\u00fcstungskonzepte und der Shubin exterior Miner. F\u00fcr Charaktere haben wir mehrere Helme modelliert, wie sie beispielsweise von UEEN Deck Crews verwendet werden. Wir haben die Kunst f\u00fcr Star Marine fertiggestellt, wie z.B. die Innenausstattung von Helmen, den Marinehelm und den Light Marine Helm. Wir haben auch einige der weiblichen Texturen, den menschlichen Haut-Shader und ein Problem mit Multi-Licht-Visibilit\u00e4t, den Eye-Shader, behoben und einige Loadout-Screen-Renderings beendet, um uns auf Star Marine vorzubereiten. Auf der Rigging-Seite haben wir die Probleme mit der Gewichtssimulation des m\u00e4nnlichen Basischaraktermodells und der Hautbelastung der Spieler nicht nur f\u00fcr Star Marine, sondern auch f\u00fcr das Sozialmodul behoben.\n\nAuf der Schiffsseite haben wir die wei\u00dfe Box und die graue Box des Drake Herald modelliert, um sie so schnell wie m\u00f6glich in einen fliegbaren Zustand zu bringen. Wir haben auch die Constellation LODs (Level of Detail), die Cutlass Blue LODs, Scythe Brandspuren, Vergeltungsschaden und Merlin-Bugs, Freelancer z-Fighting Bug, Cutlass Blue Textur-Bug, Merlin Thruster Bug, Retaliator Shield Hookup, Mesh und Proxy, Constellation Shield Fitting Bug und allgemeine Kunst-Bugs hinzugef\u00fcgt, als sie entstanden sind. Wir arbeiteten an den Vanduul Glaive Materialien Scheitelfarben, Aurora Clipping Bug, Schiffsschildmaschen, Constellation grey box lighting pass und begannen mit der Arbeit an der white box for the Reliant durch unseren eigenen Elwin Bachiller.\n\nAu\u00dferdem arbeiten wir Hand in Hand mit dem Design, um die Standardisierung unserer Komponenten f\u00fcr alle Schiffe innerhalb des Spiels abzuschlie\u00dfen, durch eine ordnungsgem\u00e4\u00dfe Pipeline-Dokumentation, orthographische Komponentenbilder, Komponentenplatzierung und die Bereinigung der gesamten Komponentendateien. Wir haben hart gearbeitet und sind gespannt, was der n\u00e4chste Monat bringt.\n\nSchreiben\nNach dem Produktionsansturm war es ein viel ruhigerer Monat als die letzten. Unsere gemeinsamen Ansichten haben sich mehr auf die PU verlagert, w\u00e4hrend die Daten von Staffel 42 geb\u00fcndelt und in das Spiel implementiert werden. Das hei\u00dft nicht, dass es keine S42-Arbeit gegeben hat, wir haben der Redaktion geholfen, indem wir erste Durchg\u00e4nge der NSC-Charaktere Wildlinien zusammengestellt haben (im Wesentlichen durchlaufen wir das Rohmaterial und bearbeiten Pausen und alle Zeilenfehler), um sie Chris zur \u00dcberpr\u00fcfung vorzulegen.\n\nAndernfalls haben wir Star Systems vorangetrieben, die aktuellen Sternensysteme organisiert und darauf vorbereitet, von wissenschaftlichen Beratern \u00fcberpr\u00fcft zu werden, w\u00e4hrend wir uns mit den verbleibenden ungelernten Systemen besch\u00e4ftigten, um ihren Charakter und ihre Integration in das Universum zu skizzieren. Diese Informationen sind wichtig, nicht nur f\u00fcr die Galactapedia, sondern auch f\u00fcr die Entwickler, die die eigentlichen gro\u00dfen Spielumgebungen f\u00fcr das persistente Universum aufbauen werden. Diese Art von Daten ist auch eines der vielen Dinge, die wir tun, um dem Spiel tiefere Simulationselemente hinzuzuf\u00fcgen, anstatt nur Dinge per Fiat zu tun. W\u00e4hrend Science Fiction nat\u00fcrlich unerkl\u00e4rliche oder seltsame Artefakte und Umst\u00e4nde enthalten kann, die Ihrer Erforschung des Universums Elemente des Mysteriums und des Staunens hinzuf\u00fcgen, wollen wir, dass der Rest des Universums so konventionell Sinn macht, dass Sie vollst\u00e4ndig in eine Umgebung eintauchen k\u00f6nnen, die der Aussetzung des Unglaubens f\u00f6rderlich ist.\n\nAls n\u00e4chstes haben wir mit Matthew Sherman, Elwin und Mark Skelton gesprochen, um die Liste der Unternehmen, die die einzelnen Schiffskomponenten herstellen, weiter zu konsolidieren. Teil dieser Diskussionen sind Kunst und Design, die die standardisierte Gr\u00f6\u00dfe\/Form jeder Komponente festlegen (welche Elemente haben beispielsweise alle Kraftwerke). Das ultimative Ziel ist es, eine Markenidentit\u00e4t zu etablieren (Angabe der Qualit\u00e4t oder Art des Produkts, das das Unternehmen herstellt), so dass die K\u00fcnstler nicht nur eine einheitliche Formensprache f\u00fcr die Teile entwickeln k\u00f6nnen (was ist das visuelle Markenzeichen des Unternehmens \/ Stempel der standardisierten Komponente), sondern auch, damit die Designer beginnen k\u00f6nnen, festzulegen, wie sich die Designphilosophie des Unternehmens auf das einzelne Teil auswirkt. Kurz gesagt, Sie k\u00f6nnen nicht nur ein einzelnes Teil betrachten und potenziell herausfinden, wer es herstellt, sondern Sie k\u00f6nnen auch intuitiv beurteilen, wie ein bestimmtes Unternehmen seine Produkte herstellt und was die St\u00e4rken, Schw\u00e4chen und Eigenheiten seiner Konstruktion mit den Leistungsmerkmalen dieser bestimmten Komponente bewirken, um Ihre Kaufentscheidung zu unterst\u00fctzen.\n\nWahrscheinlich ist das Coolste, woran wir gearbeitet haben, REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED.\n\nEs ist wirklich aufregend.\n\nDas war's dann auch schon f\u00fcr Santa Monica. Wir hatten einen weiteren unterhaltsamen und arbeitsreichen Monat hier im Studio, da wir jeden Tag daran arbeiten, die Aufgaben zu erledigen, die notwendig sind, um Arena Commander 2.0 auf Ihre Computer zu bringen. Wie immer freuen wir uns, dass Sie sich die Zeit nehmen, unsere Arbeitsliste durchzulesen, und wenn Sie mehr wissen m\u00f6chten, z\u00f6gern Sie nicht zu fragen! Nochmals vielen Dank f\u00fcr alles und denken Sie daran, wir sch\u00e4tzen immer Ihr Feedback.\n\nWas f\u00fcr ein Monat! Das Team in Austin hat ununterbrochen gearbeitet, um eine Vielzahl von Bem\u00fchungen f\u00fcr das gesamte Unternehmen zu unterst\u00fctzen, wobei uns die Ver\u00f6ffentlichung des Sozialmoduls an die PTU und dann an die \u00f6ffentliche Freigabe im selben Monat am Herzen liegt! Das Team ist so begeistert, dieses Modul mit Ihnen teilen zu k\u00f6nnen, und so ersch\u00f6pft von all der Arbeit, die im Vorfeld dieser Version geleistet wurde. Wir haben gro\u00dfe Pl\u00e4ne, neue Funktionen in regelm\u00e4\u00dfigen Abst\u00e4nden zu ver\u00f6ffentlichen und dieses Modul im Laufe der Zeit weiter auszubauen. Hier sind einige detaillierte Updates von den Teamleitern in Austin.\n\nHartn\u00e4ckiges Universumsteam\nKunst\nDas Art Team verbrachte diesen Monat einen Gro\u00dfteil seiner Zeit damit, beim Versand von Social Module v0 mit der Ver\u00f6ffentlichung von Alpha 1.2.0 zu helfen. Das PU-Umweltteam verbrachte den gr\u00f6\u00dften Teil des Monats damit, BHVR bei der Schaffung der gro\u00dfartigen ArcCorp Landezonenumgebung zu unterst\u00fctzen. Patrick Thomas, Lead Environment Artist, half Mark Skelton bei der \u00dcberpr\u00fcfung und gibt t\u00e4glich Feedback, damit ArcCorp so gut wie m\u00f6glich aussieht. Lee Amarakoon hat mehrere VFX-Passagen auf ArcCorp gemacht, um es sch\u00f6n und schmutzig mit Dampfeffekten, Atmosph\u00e4ren, animierten Grafiken auf Bildschirmen und Monitoren aussehen zu lassen, und er hatte sogar einen Anteil daran, dass unsere Schiffe f\u00fcr den Einsatz im Verkehrsmuster am Himmel \u00fcber Area18 vorbereitet wurden. Lee verursachte auch den Feuereffekt in der Verbrennungsanlage, den man in einer der Hintergassen von Area18 sehen kann. Emre Switzer hat die Beleuchtung der Umgebung komplett umgestaltet, so dass der Innenhof beeindruckender war, die Gassen richtig schmutzig waren und alle Gesch\u00e4fte jeweils ihren eigenen Geschmack hatten. Cort Soest, Global Environment Tech Lead, verbrachte einen Gro\u00dfteil seiner Zeit in diesem Monat damit, die Optimierung der bei der Erstellung der Umgebung verwendeten Assets zu \u00fcberwachen, so dass Sie ihm danken k\u00f6nnen, dass er dazu beigetragen hat, dass die Umgebung auf Ihrem Computer reibungslos l\u00e4uft! Wir haben diesen Monat auch eine Neuzugang im PU Environment Team bekommen. Ali Seffouri, Environment Tech Artist, kommt von EA Tiburon in Orlando und hat uns bei der Entwicklung einiger dringend ben\u00f6tigter Werkzeuge geholfen, um das Kunstteam bei der Gestaltung beeindruckenderer Umgebungen zu unterst\u00fctzen.\n\nDas PU-Konzeptteam hat hart daran gearbeitet, das Erscheinungsbild der kommenden Planetenstandorte zu verfeinern. Ted Beargeon hat daran gearbeitet, Style Guides f\u00fcr Crusader und MicroTech zu erstellen, so dass jede Landezone ihre eigene, einzigartige \u00c4sthetik hat. (F\u00fcr diejenigen von euch, die sich vielleicht nicht mehr auf Anhieb erinnern, befinden sich ArcCorp, Crusader und MicroTech alle im Stanton-System, so dass wir uns alle darauf freuen, zwischen diesen Planeten reisen und alle diese Orte im selben Sonnensystem sehen zu k\u00f6nnen, auch wenn ihr keinen Sprungantrieb auf eurem Schiff habt. Ken Fairclough hat dann diese Style Guides genommen und in den feinen Sand dessen gebohrt, was jeden Standort auszeichnet. Megan Cheever erweitert die Garderobe unseres Spiels weiter. Wir haben jetzt eine der \u00e4sthetisch sehr gut definierten Linien unserer Bekleidungslinie, die Terra-influenced Fashion Casual Linie. Wir haben auch mit BHVR diskutiert und sie bei der Optimierung und Verbesserung der Chatoberfl\u00e4che unterst\u00fctzt.\n\nUnser Animationsteam hat in diesem Monat in mehreren Bereichen geholfen. F\u00fcr das Sozialmodul hat Vanessa Landeros alle Emotes implementiert, die Sie im Spiel sehen. Wir haben noch mehr zu erledigen, also freuen Sie sich auf diese bald! Auf der Schiffsseite haben wir viele Fehler behoben, um einen Teil unserer Animationsschulden loszuwerden, sozusagen, so dass Schiffsinteraktionen in unserer n\u00e4chsten Version nicht ablenkend gebrochen zu sein scheinen. Wir haben auch Vorlagen f\u00fcr Schiffs-Enter-\/Exit-Animationen erstellt, damit unsere Modellierer etwas f\u00fcr die zuk\u00fcnftige Arbeit mitnehmen k\u00f6nnen. Dies wird unseren Animationsfu\u00dfabdruck f\u00fcr zuk\u00fcnftige Schiffe verringern. Wir haben auch unsere Schiffs-Cockpit-Animationen aktualisiert, um sie an die brandneuen Vorlagen anzupassen. Schlie\u00dflich hat unser Animation Lead Bryan Brewer zusammen mit unserem Rigger daran gearbeitet, neue benutzerdefinierte Skelette zu testen und zu implementieren, um einige der Proportionen unserer Darsteller, die wir beim Mocap-Shooting im Imaginarium am Set hatten, zu erf\u00fcllen. Wir haben eine effiziente Methode entwickelt, um schnell und effizient neue Skelette zu erstellen, und es hat bisher ziemlich gut funktioniert.\n\nLast but not least hat unser Charakterk\u00fcnstler Billy Lord einige Forschungsarbeiten durchgef\u00fchrt, um neue Frisuren f\u00fcr unsere Charaktere zu kreieren. Schon bald werden wir diese im Spiel sehen k\u00f6nnen, was wiederum unseren Charakteren eine etwas gr\u00f6\u00dfere Vielfalt im Sch\u00e4delbereich erm\u00f6glicht. Ich wei\u00df, dass sich jeder darauf freut, endlich ein paar flie\u00dfende Locken im Spiel zu sehen!\n\nDesign\nDer ganze Monat wurde damit verbracht, die Bem\u00fchungen zu unterst\u00fctzen, das Sozialmodul aus der T\u00fcr und in Ihre H\u00e4nde zu bekommen! Zeit und M\u00fche wurden auf mehrere Aspekte des Sozialmoduls verwendet, darunter die Einrichtung von NSCs in ArcCorp (Aktivit\u00e4ten rund um den Landeplatz vor dem Zoll und Jobwell), die Verbindung von Emotes zum Spielen im Spiel (\u00fcber DataForge) und die Einrichtung von Schiffsverkehr am Himmel \u00fcber Area18 (ich wage es, ein Muster zu finden!). In den kommenden Wochen werden wir mehr Zeit damit verbringen, ArcCorp noch weiter zu vertiefen, einschlie\u00dflich der Einrichtung der An- und Verkaufsfunktionalit\u00e4t unserer Gesch\u00e4fte und der t\u00e4glichen Abl\u00e4ufe der NSC.\n\nMit Blick auf die Zukunft hat der Designer Pete Mackay einige Zeit damit verbracht, das \"Periodensystem der Elemente\" f\u00fcr Star Citizen aufzubauen. Dies wird der erste Schritt bei der Definition unserer Rohstoffe und Rezepte sein. Dies wird auch dazu beitragen, festzustellen, welche Elemente beim Abbau von Asteroiden gefunden werden k\u00f6nnen, wie selten und wertvoll bestimmte Rohstoffe sind und die Grundlagen f\u00fcr den Handel in der PU zu schaffen.\n\nSchlie\u00dflich hat Tony Zurovec diesen Monat Zeit damit verbracht, \u00fcber die Top-Down-Layouts der kommenden Planetside-Standorte nachzudenken. Konkret geht die Orison auf Kreuzritter und die New Babbage Landezone auf MicroTech. Area18 hat in den letzten Monaten eine Reihe von \u00dcberarbeitungen durchgef\u00fchrt, um die erste Version genau richtig zu machen, und wir haben viel gelernt, was dazu beitragen wird, die ersten Layouts dieser Landezonen viel einfacher zu realisieren. Wir haben auch einige Designer in Gro\u00dfbritannien eingestellt, um bei einem zus\u00e4tzlichen Landezonendesign zu helfen, der Lorville Landezone auf Hurston, so dass wir das auch in den kommenden Monaten \u00fcberwachen werden. Bevor Sie sich versehen, werden unsere Designer nicht nur die oben genannten Orte, sondern auch die Levski Landezone im Nyx-System mit Leben erf\u00fcllen.\n\nIngenieurwesen\nDas Engineering-Team war begeistert, eine gro\u00dfe Rolle bei der Auslieferung unserer ersten Iteration des Sozialmoduls im August zu spielen! Sie halfen beim Versenden und Unterst\u00fctzen einiger Pushs an die PTU und unterst\u00fctzen die PTU seit ihrer Ver\u00f6ffentlichung Ende August kontinuierlich hinter den Kulissen bei Verbesserungen f\u00fcr das Live-Release. Insbesondere das Server-Team arbeitet weiterhin an Backend-Code, der ausgelagert werden soll, um die Erfahrungen mit dieser ersten Social Module-Version weiter zu verbessern.\n\nDie Arbeit am Sozialmodul war eine gro\u00dfartige Teamleistung....viel Blut, Schwei\u00df und Tr\u00e4nen flossen in die Zusammenstellung dieses Moduls. Das Engineering arbeitete viele Wochen lang t\u00e4glich hier in Austin sehr eng mit unseren DevOps- und QA-Teams zusammen, was zu Verbesserungen in der Kommunikation und im Workflow sowie zu einer Erh\u00f6hung der Teambindung f\u00fchrte. Gemeinsam und mit Unterst\u00fctzung verschiedener anderer Disziplinen konnten sie einige sehr erfolgreiche gro\u00dfe Cross-Studio Playtests zur Vorbereitung auf die Ver\u00f6ffentlichung durchf\u00fchren. Wir haben unsere besten Mitarbeiter, die sowohl Netzwerk- als auch Kundenprofile von Spieletests analysiert und Bereiche identifiziert haben, in denen wir Verbesserungen vornehmen m\u00fcssen. Dieser Prozess beinhaltete das Hinzuf\u00fcgen neuer Analysewerkzeuge, um alles, was unter der Haube vor sich geht, weiter zu diagnostizieren.\n\nViele andere Arbeiten, die nicht nur f\u00fcr diese Version des Sozialmoduls spezifisch sind, wurden auch im Laufe des Monats August durchgef\u00fchrt. Es wurden Verbesserungen an den Netzwerkoptimierungen f\u00fcr unsere Charaktere vorgenommen, da wir im Laufe der Zeit daran arbeiten werden, immer mehr Spieler und NSCs in die Spielmodi und Karten aufzunehmen. Wie immer wird an unseren verschiedenen Backend-Diensten und Speicherproblemen gearbeitet, einschlie\u00dflich der Jonglage von Arbeiten mit neuen Funktionen mit verschiedenen Fehlern, die in unserem Live-Spiel oder durch die Qualit\u00e4tssicherung auftauchen. In Austin teilen wir auch weiterhin unsere technische Expertise f\u00fcr andere Features, die au\u00dferhalb von Austin entwickelt werden, einschlie\u00dflich der Unterst\u00fctzung der Frankfurter und britischen Studios.\n\nEine Gruppe von Ingenieuren arbeitet weiterhin eng mit unserem Designteam zusammen, um Subsumption Tools zu entwickeln, die es unseren Designern erm\u00f6glichen, KI-Verhalten f\u00fcr unsere NSCs zu erstellen. Ja....NSCs von ArcCorp werden kommen, und das Team freut sich, Fortschritte bei der Erreichung dieses Ziels zu machen! Das Team hat sich bem\u00fcht, neue Funktionen des Submission Tools zu entwickeln und neue Verhaltensweisen und Aufgaben zu implementieren, die den NPCs zugewiesen werden k\u00f6nnen. Dennoch haben andere Tools nicht unter mangelnder Aufmerksamkeit gelitten und wir machen weiterhin Verbesserungen und beheben Fehler f\u00fcr Tools wie den Sandbox Editor, Dataforge und das Asset Validation Tool.\n\nAndere Ingenieure....unsere unbekannten Helden...haben sich auf die m\u00fchsame Arbeit konzentriert, unsere verschiedenen Entwicklungsstr\u00f6me miteinander zu integrieren. Mit Funktionen f\u00fcr verschiedene Versionen wie unsere aktuelle Gamescom-Demo, das Sozialmodul und das kommende FPS-Release sowie der Integration einer aktualisierten Version der CryEngine haben unsere Experten daran gearbeitet, die richtigen Inhalte zum richtigen Zeitpunkt im richtigen Stream zu halten, um mit unserem Release-Zeitplan \u00fcbereinzustimmen, wobei sie gleichzeitig sicherstellen, dass die Streams nur so weit voneinander abweichen, wie es zur Unterst\u00fctzung unseres Stream-Workflows unbedingt erforderlich ist. Dieser Prozess erm\u00f6glicht die Parallelisierung von Arbeitsauftr\u00e4gen und gibt uns die M\u00f6glichkeit, Inhalte in einem Tempo bereitzustellen, das f\u00fcr Geldgeber, die daran interessiert sind, unsere laufenden Arbeiten zu testen, zufriedenstellender ist. Ohne den Aufwand, der in separate Streams gesteckt wird, g\u00e4be es viel weniger Releases und ein viel l\u00e4ngeres Warten zwischen Patches jeglicher Art, da alle Features - und auch alle ihre Fehler - miteinander verbunden w\u00e4ren.\n\nLive-Betrieb\nQA\nQA traf den Monat August in einem vollen Schwung Crunch f\u00fcr die Inhalte, die wir auf der Gamescom deb\u00fctierten. Unser Fokus lag eindeutig auf der Multi-Crew-Funktionalit\u00e4t. Jeden Tag spielte QA die Demo durch, in der wir uns darauf vorbereiteten, unsere neuen Funktionen mehrmals zu zeigen, um Korrekturen zu \u00fcberpr\u00fcfen und neue Probleme zu melden. Der Tag endete mit einem Durchspielen mit den Entwicklern in LA. Wir fanden dies sehr wertvoll, da das tiefe Verst\u00e4ndnis der Entwickler f\u00fcr ihre Systeme dazu beitrug, zus\u00e4tzliche Probleme zu identifizieren. Wir waren unglaublich gl\u00fccklich dar\u00fcber, wie gut die Bem\u00fchungen des Teams bei der Pr\u00e4sentation der Gamescom aufgenommen wurden. Es war eine harte Krise, aber am Ende hat sich alles gelohnt, um das \u00fcberw\u00e4ltigende positive Feedback von allen zu sehen. Dies hat uns dazu veranlasst, noch h\u00e4rter zu arbeiten, um Social Module, Multi-Crew und Star Marine so schnell wie m\u00f6glich an alle weiterzugeben.\n\nNach der Gamescom verlagerte sich unser Fokus auf das Testen des ArcCorp\/Area18 Social Moduls zur Vorbereitung auf die Ver\u00f6ffentlichung im Public Test Universe und schlie\u00dflich in der Live-Umgebung. Unser Sozialmodul-Spezialist Todd Raffray hat sehr effektiv daf\u00fcr gesorgt, dass jedes Merkmal ordnungsgem\u00e4\u00df getestet wird. Aus diesem Grund konnten wir eine Hand voller kritischer Probleme identifizieren, die umgehend behoben wurden. Dar\u00fcber hinaus haben wir mehrere Probleme im Zusammenhang mit unserem Backend Generic Instance Manager gefunden und behoben, werden aber bereit stehen, um neue Probleme zu identifizieren und zu l\u00f6sen, die sich aus einem gro\u00dfen Zustrom von neugierigen B\u00fcrgern ergeben, die die Area18 erkunden m\u00f6chten.\n\nTyler Witkin und Andrew Rexroth haben Star Marine umfassend getestet, ein Prozess, der eine Analyse des Abdecksystems, die Interaktion von Geschossen mit der Umwelt sowie Verbesserungen beim Waffenabgleich beinhaltete. Tyler hat auch geholfen, Videos und Screenshots von Star Marine und Social Module zur Verf\u00fcgung zu stellen, die auf der Website verwendet wurden, die neueste Ausgabe von Jump Point und \u00fcber Social Media verbreitet wurden.\n\nDer Fokus auf Multicrew-Tests war ein Segen f\u00fcr unsere Gesamtentwicklung, f\u00fchrte aber dazu, dass einige Dinge vor\u00fcbergehend beiseite geschoben wurden. Eine davon ist unsere Entwicklung f\u00fcr automatisierte Tests. Allerdings sind wir jetzt in der Lage, gerade in dieser Hinsicht deutlich voranzukommen. Melissa Estrada ist unsere ans\u00e4ssige Motorspezialistin und hat daran gearbeitet, andere in ihrem fundierten Wissen \u00fcber das ordnungsgem\u00e4\u00dfe Testen des Cryengine Sandbox Editors zu schulen. Sie hat eine erstaunliche Arbeit geleistet, indem sie unser anderes QA-Team in Manchester ausgebildet hat. Sie ist nun frei, Vollzeit an unserem Automatisierungs-Framework zu arbeiten, um es so schnell wie m\u00f6glich zum Laufen zu bringen.\n\nDiesen Monat begr\u00fc\u00dfen wir unseren neuesten Mitarbeiter im QS-Team, Marissa Meissner! Marissa \u00fcbernimmt die Rolle der QA-Informationsspezialistin. Der QA-Informationsspezialist hat die Aufgabe, sicherzustellen, dass alle unsere Dokumentationen aufgezeichnet und gepflegt werden, sowie unsere Release-Patch-Notes zu erstellen. Sie ist auch die Verbindungsperson zum Kundenservice, um sicherzustellen, dass sie \u00fcber die neuesten Probleme, die das Spiel betreffen, auf dem Laufenden gehalten werden. Sie war sofort einsatzbereit und leistet in dieser sehr wichtigen Position bereits einen guten Job.\n\nDank Marissas Bem\u00fchungen kann sich Jeffrey Pease nun auf die DevOps-Seite der QA konzentrieren. Er hat sich sehr gut damit vertraut gemacht, wie unsere Backend-Services funktionieren und wie man sie effektiv \u00fcberwacht. Sobald ein Problem auftritt, wird Jeffrey das Problem protokollieren und unsere Ingenieure mit allen erforderlichen Informationen informieren. Er dokumentiert auch diese Bem\u00fchungen und legt damit den Grundstein f\u00fcr ein zuk\u00fcnftiges Network Operations Center.\n\nF\u00fcr den Monat September wird sich die QA stark auf die Tests von Arena Commander 2.0 konzentrieren, unter anderem mit Multi-Crew-Funktionalit\u00e4t und deutlich gr\u00f6\u00dferen Fl\u00e4chen.\n\nSpielunterst\u00fctzung\nDer Game Support war f\u00fcr einen gro\u00dfen Monat in der Geschichte von Star Citizen angesagt. Wir f\u00fchrten zuerst einen \u00f6ffentlichen Playtest durch, um einige der gr\u00f6\u00dferen Arena Commander-Themen des Tages zu pr\u00e4sentieren, arbeiteten an 1.1.6 und einem brandneuen Launcher, zogen dann eine doppelte Aufgabe durch, indem wir die Multicrew-Demovideos von Gamescom erstellten, dann begannen wir direkt mit dem Testen und der Vorbereitung auf die Einf\u00fchrung von Star Citizen 1.2, alias Social Module.\n\nUnser Spieltest war wichtig, weil er erneut die Hilfsbereitschaft unserer Geldgeber unter Beweis stellte, insbesondere derjenigen, die eher technisch oder designorientiert sind. Vor diesem Hintergrund sind wir nach wie vor sehr daran interessiert, unsere spezielle \"Testgruppe\" zu gr\u00fcnden, die uns bei den knackigen Details von \u00c4nderungen der Spieletests am Star Citizen-Service unterst\u00fctzt. Das ist keine sehr glamour\u00f6se Aufgabe, ganz im Gegenteil. Aber wir m\u00fcssen Dinge wie Netzwerkverbesserungen, Client-Optimierungen, Launcher-Updates, \u00c4nderungen an der Spielbalance usw. testen... alles, was eine skalierte Testgruppe treffen muss oder Feedback ben\u00f6tigt, bevor wir es ausrollen.\n\nWir werden dies in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Issue Council diesen Monat bekannt geben, unserem brandneuen Bug Reporting System. Wir werden von ticket- und forumsbasierten Bug-Reports in dieses offizielle Bug-Reporting-System wechseln, so dass Sie die Popularit\u00e4t von Entwicklungsproblemen mit Star Citizen sehen und einsch\u00e4tzen k\u00f6nnen (wir sind immer noch in Alpha!). Dies hilft uns als Entwicklungsstudio, zu verstehen, was f\u00fcr die Community wichtig ist.\n\nWir haben auch ein wenig Nebenarbeit bei der Erstellung der Gamescom Multicrew Demo-Videos geleistet (mit ein wenig Hilfe von Alex in DevOps). Wir hoffen, dass sie dir genauso viel Spa\u00df gemacht haben wie wir sie erstellt haben!\n\nWir haben auch mit DevOps bei der Ver\u00f6ffentlichung von Launcher 2.0 zusammengearbeitet. Wie bei jeder neuen Produktversion ist es nicht ohne Fehler, und die Ver\u00f6ffentlichung fiel leider mit einer ungew\u00f6hnlich hohen Akzeptanz von Windows 10 zusammen (wo die meisten unserer Probleme liegen). Aber wir sehen drastisch verbesserte Download-Geschwindigkeiten und Erfolgsraten, und wir werden weiterhin mit DevOps zusammenarbeiten, um dies zu einem v\u00f6llig reibungslosen Erlebnis zu machen.\n\nAber unser Kronjuwel f\u00fcr alle bei den Cloud Imperium Games in diesem Monat war die Einf\u00fchrung des Social Module. Was f\u00fcr ein gro\u00dfartiger Moment f\u00fcr die Geldgeber, f\u00fcr das CIG-Team, f\u00fcr alle Beteiligten! Der Game Support war stark involviert, indem er die Testgruppen f\u00fcr jede Phase des Rollouts organisierte und mit den Spielern auf diesem Weg kommunizierte. Wir mussten zugeben, dass es einer der coolsten Momente \u00fcberhaupt war, wenn Spieler zum ersten Mal durch den Aufzug rannten.\n\nF\u00fcr September haben wir einige Aufr\u00e4umarbeiten vor uns. So viel Zeit wurde f\u00fcr andere Aufgaben aufgewendet, dass wir einen kleinen Ticket-Backlog haben, den wir noch bearbeiten m\u00fcssen, obwohl wir den \u00dcbergang der Fehlerberichte in den Issue Council vornehmen werden. Sobald wir aufgeholt haben, werden wir uns wieder darauf konzentrieren, Arena Commander 2.0 zu testen und vor die T\u00fcr zu setzen.\n\nIT\/Betrieb\nGamesCom war unglaublich! Vielen Dank an alle Community-Mitglieder, die sich freiwillig gemeldet haben, um uns zu helfen, und es war besonders sch\u00f6n, alle beim E-werk-Event und auf der Ausstellungsfl\u00e4che zu sehen. In diesem Monat konzentrierte sich die IT-Abteilung vor allem auf die Vorbereitung der tollen Inhalte, die wir auf der GamesCom und den neuen Build-Systemen zeigen wollten.\n\nDie Arbeit von GamesCom begann Anfang des Monats mit Paul, der zu Hassan & Kyle in unserem britischen B\u00fcro kam, um bei der Einrichtung, dem Test und dem Tuning von 24 Demo-Maschinen zu helfen, die in K\u00f6ln eingesetzt werden sollten. Vor Ort trafen sich Paul und Hassan w\u00e4hrend der einw\u00f6chigen Veranstaltung mit einigen unserer superunterst\u00fctzenden Geldgeber und vielen anderen. W\u00e4hrend dies der Fall war, arbeitet das Entwicklungsteam weiter. Die IT-Abteilung arbeitete weiterhin eng mit DevOps zusammen, um das neue Build-System zu entwickeln und die Leistung anderer wichtiger Systeme zu optimieren, die die Bereitstellung von Assets im gesamten Unternehmen unterst\u00fctzen. An einigen Stellen, die rund um die Uhr arbeiteten, konnten wir mit allem Schritt halten, obwohl ein gro\u00dfer Teil unseres Teams nach Deutschland entsandt wurde.\n\nEs scheint, dass wir immer \u00fcber Leistungssteigerungen oder den Bedarf an mehr Geschwindigkeit berichten. Und es scheint, als ob je mehr Leistung wir finden, desto mehr verlangt dieses unglaubliche Projekt von uns. In diesem Monat waren wir besonders hart mit unserer Netzwerkinfrastruktur. Wir haben mehr Builds und aggregierte Daten \u00fcber die Kabel verschoben, als wir in den letzten drei Monaten zusammen bewegt haben. Es gibt einfach mehr von allem; mehr Ver\u00f6ffentlichungen f\u00fcr PTU und Live-Service, mehr Patches, mehr Builds im Allgemeinen und mehr Builds, die in jedes Studio repliziert werden m\u00fcssen, mehr Tests, mehr Automatisierung, einfach mehr und es ist spannend, all diesen Fortschritt zu sehen. Als GamesCom gestartet wurde, hatten wir die M\u00f6glichkeiten unserer Kernnetzwerkinfrastruktur weit \u00fcberschritten und das wurde f\u00fcr das Unternehmen sp\u00fcrbar. Bei allem anderen, was vor sich ging, konnten wir es nicht riskieren, etwas herunterzunehmen und auf Teile zu warten, kam ebenfalls nicht in Frage. Mike \"Sniper\" Pickett identifizierte schnell die am h\u00e4rtesten betroffenen Bereiche in unserem Netzwerk und entwarf eine \u00dcberholung unserer virtuellen und physischen Umgebungen im texanischen B\u00fcro, die unsere Kapazit\u00e4t und Redundanz erh\u00f6hte (in Bezug auf die Lieferung ist das eine gute Sache - es bedeutet, dass einige St\u00f6rungen, die sonst zu einem Absturz Ihrer Sitzung f\u00fchren w\u00fcrden, Backup hinter sich haben und Sie keine Unterbrechung des Betriebs erleben w\u00fcrden), um den Faktor 2 ohne die Notwendigkeit zus\u00e4tzlicher Hardware. Dieses umfangreiche Upgrade wurde auch ohne Ausfallzeiten durchgef\u00fchrt, was genau das ist, was uns gef\u00e4llt.\n\nAugust war ein super aufregender Monat und wir k\u00f6nnen es kaum erwarten, was als n\u00e4chstes kommt. Wir bereiten uns bereits auf Citizencon vor und freuen uns darauf, dort mehr von der Community zu treffen.\n\nDev Ops\nIn diesem Monat hat sich das DevOps-Team darauf konzentriert, das neue Build-System online zu bringen und von QA und Entwicklern genutzt zu werden. Dar\u00fcber hinaus haben wir mit der Arbeit an der enormen Menge an Automatisierungstests begonnen, die die Firma","zh_CN":"Greetings Citizens,\nWhat a month! It\u2019s hard to believe that August saw both our live Gamescom multicrew demo AND the release of the social module\u2026 and a heck of a lot of work in-between! From building new starships to designing new landing zones to teaching the Vanduul to fly, we\u2019ve been doing a little bit of everything, and it\u2019s finally adding up to things you can see live! You can read on to find out what our teams around the world worked on in August below.\n\nHi everyone! In August, the team had their heads down creating functionality and content for the upcoming MultiCrew release of which we showed an early iteration of at Gamescom. We\u2019ve had a great time working on implementing several major elements of Star Citizen and are looking forward to finishing more. Like always, we love sharing with everyone what we\u2019ve been working on so check it out and let us know if you have any questions.\n\nEngineering\nWhat a month! We started off delivering some major systems you saw debut at GamesCom and are ending with full game implementation, high priority bug fixing, and major code clean up and more. We can\u2019t believe another month has gone by in the blink of an eye so here\u2019s what we knocked out during that blink.\n\nWe\u2019ve been hard at work on the Pilot AI module and to support that module, we\u2019ve needed to do some work on the item system. Our resident UI pro, Zane Bien, has been working to finish up the massive amount of UI for some of our bigger ships while working hand in hand with all the UI stakeholders to close down the base UI systems used all over Star Citizen.\nNow that we\u2019re merging everything back up in to our main stream we\u2019ve had a lot of integration and stability issues to address. We\u2019re really happy to get everything back in to one stream (we\u2019ve been working in multiple streams for several months). We did find a memory leak issue that we knocked out quickly (memory leak issues are a leading cause of many slowdowns and crashes in software of any kind, so catching these things is really important). We also worked to clean up a lot of the large world core types to get ready for the future elements in the game. We are digging further in to the physicalized damage for our ships to get that done as soon as possible.\n\nWe worked with our global team on some Quantum Travel tasks and are really proud of what we we\u2019re going to be able to accomplish for the multi-crew release. Since we\u2019re finishing elements of the game and supporting the live content we always have normal bug fixing to complete. Some examples are head rotation for EVA as well as camera snapping and bounding box bugs which we had to address. We had a strange Constellation firing bug that we had to iron out as well as a control transfer bug. Also, a visor position bug, HUD bugs, EVA gas giant bug, flare bugs, character helmet bugs and many more that we tracked down and squashed!\n\nToward the end of the month we started tying down shadow and area light fixes with forward tiled shading, cleaned up leaking decal render nodes on level unload, finished up initial implementation of multilayer material work and integrated them into the correct stream. We added thread-safe loading interfaces for textures, materials and character models as well as set up the testbed for async (asynchronous) batch loading. We also figured out the workflow of bullet pierceability, prototyped upcoming flight control modes, and chased down IFCS (Inertial Flight Control System, one of the major features that makes our game a leading-edge \u2018sim\u2019) bugs and issues for release versions. Having said all that, we\u2019ve still got a lot of work ahead of us so stay tuned for next month.\n\nDesign\nWe\u2019ve has such a successful month! Not only did we complete some major milestones for multi-crew but are making leaps and bounds toward improved Arena Commander all while working alongside our global partners on their respective aspects of the game. The highest priority is finishing up the last minute items for the multi-crew release for you to enjoy!\n\nTo dig in deeper, we\u2019re working tirelessly to get the Drake Herald flyable to iron out everything we need to do to make sure it\u2019s balanced and fits well within the game. We also worked hard on general balance for our 1.2.0 patch and future patches as well by listening to your feedback and evaluating what\u2019s needed for improvement. Now, we\u2019re clearly laying out the ranks and hierarchy for multi-crew stations to provide what\u2019s needed for proper controls to encourage healthy teamwork within our multi-crew ships. We\u2019ve also been designing more physically based damage alongside engineering to get that system online as soon as possible.\n\nGOST rear door and state groups were worked on extensively to improve this system. We also fixed a lot of bugs such as the missile rack bug, flying into space, and Gladius weapon bugs as well as a Constellation character bugs. We also fixed the Glaive hangar bug and we did Glaive blade Mannequin clean up. The Retaliator power plant transition was really fun to work on and we\u2019re glad we finished it. We also setup the Cutlass Blue interior doors chrparams and the Constellation destruction was fun to work on because it had a lot of technical challenges. Another system we\u2019re working hard on improving and preparing for the long term is our component implementation through prototyping and retro-fitting ships. We also did worked hard on Glaive flight balance through-out the month for the release of the ship and beyond.\n\nIt\u2019s going to be a great upcoming month and can\u2019t wait to show you everything we\u2019re doing.\n\nArt\nAnother month down, and what a busy month it was. We worked hard on all the art needed for the Multi-crew release, Squadron 42 and FPS characters, as well as concepts for the next great ships.\n\nTo dig into the nitty gritty, some of the tasks we worked on in concept included the Male UEE Marine concepts, the Vanguard variants, Marine armor concepts, and the Shubin exterior Miner. For characters, we modeled several helmets such as those used by UEEN Deck Crews. We completed art for Star Marine such as helmet interior line work, the Marine Helmet, and the Light Marine Helmet. We also fixed some of the female textures, the human skin shader, and an issue with multi-light visibility, the eye shader, and finished some loadout screen renders to get ready for Star Marine. On the rigging side, we fixed the base male character model weight simulation issues, and player skin exposure issues for not only Star Marine, but the Social Module as well.\n\nOn the ship side, we modeled the white box and the grey box of the Drake Herald to get them to a flyable state as soon as possible. We also completed the Constellation LODs (Level of Detail), the Cutlass Blue LODs, added Scythe burn marks, Retaliator damage, and addressed Merlin bugs, Freelancer z-fighting bug, Cutlass Blue texture bug, Merlin thruster bug, Retaliator shield hookup, mesh and proxy, Constellation shield fitting bug, and general art bugs as they arose. We worked on the Vanduul Glaive materials vertex colors, Aurora clipping bug, ship shield meshes, Constellation grey box lighting pass and began working on the white box for the Reliant by our own Elwin Bachiller.\n\nAlso, we\u2019ve working hand in hand with design to finish standardizing our components for all ships within the game, through proper pipeline documentation, component orthographic images, component placement, and cleaning up the overall component files. We\u2019ve been working hard and excited about what next month holds.\n\nWriting\nComing off the rush of production, it\u2019s been a much calmer month than the last few. Our collective sights have shifted more to the PU while the data from Squadron 42 gets crunched to be implemented into the game. That isn\u2019t saying that there hasn\u2019t been S42 work, we have been helping the Editorial department by compiling first passes of the NPC Character wildlines (essentially going through the raw footage and editing out pauses and any line flubs) to present them to Chris for review.\n\nOtherwise, we\u2019ve been pushing forward on Star Systems, organizing the current star systems and preparing them to be vetted by scientific consultants while delving into the remaining un-lored systems to sketch out their character and how they fit in the universe. This information is important, not just for the Galactapedia, but also for reference by the developers who will be building the actual large-scale game environments for the persistent universe. This kind of data is also one of the many things we do to add deeper simulation elements to the game, instead of just doing things by fiat. While science fiction can of course contain unexplained or strange artifacts and circumstances that add elements of mystery and wonder to your exploration of the universe, we want the rest of it to make enough conventional sense for you to fully immerse yourself in a setting conducive to suspension of disbelief.\n\nNext, we\u2019ve been talking with Matthew Sherman, Elwin and Mark Skelton to further consolidate the list of corporations that manufacture the individual ship components. Part of these discussions involve art and design determining the standardized size\/shape of each component (what elements do all power plants have, for example). The ultimate goal is to establish a brand identity (indicating the quality or type of product the company makes), so that not only can the artists can develop a consistent form language for the parts (what is the company\u2019s visual trademark\/stamp of the standardized component), but also so that the designers can begin to assign how the company\u2019s design philosophy affects the individual part. In short you will not only be able to look at an individual part and potentially be able to identify who manufactures it, but you can also intuitively gauge how a particular company makes their products, and what the strengths, weaknesses and quirks of their construction does to that particular component\u2019s performance characteristics to help inform your purchasing decision.\n\nProbably the coolest thing we\u2019ve been working on is REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED.\n\nIt\u2019s really exciting.\n\nThat about does it for Santa Monica. We had another fun and busy month here at the studio as we work every day to close down the tasks necessary to bring Arena Commander 2.0 to your computers. As always, we appreciate you taking the time to read through our list of work and if you want to know more please don\u2019t hesitate to ask! Thank you again for everything and remember, we always value your feedback.\n\nWhat a month! The team in Austin has been working non-stop to support a variety of efforts for around the company, most dear to our hearts being the release of Social Module to the PTU and then to Public release in the same month! The team is so excited to be able to share this module with you, and so exhausted from all the work that has taken place in the leadup to this release. We\u2019ve got big plans to release new features on a regular schedule and to continue to expand this module over time. Here are some detailed updates from the team leaders in Austin.\n\nPersistent Universe Team\nArt\nThe Art Team this month spent much of its time helping to ship Social Module v0 out with the release of Alpha 1.2.0. The PU Environment Team spent most of the month supporting BHVR in creating the awesome ArcCorp landing zone environment. Patrick Thomas, Lead Environment Artist, helped Mark Skelton review and provide feedback on a daily basis to get ArcCorp looking as polished as it could be. Lee Amarakoon did multiple VFX passes on ArcCorp to get it looking nice and grimy with steam effects, atmospherics, animating graphics on screens and monitors, and he even had a hand in getting our ships ready for use in the traffic patterns in the skies above Area18. Lee also created the fire effect in the incinerator you can see in one of the back alleys of Area18. Emre Switzer completely revamped the lighting in the environment, so that the courtyard was more impressive, the alleyways were properly dingy, and all the shops each had their own flavor. Cort Soest, Global Environment Tech Lead, spent much of his time this month monitoring the optimization of the assets used in creating the environment, so you can thank him for helping to get the environment to run smoothly on your computer! We also had a new addition to the PU Environment Team this month. Ali Seffouri, Environment Tech Artist, joins us from EA Tiburon in Orlando and has been helping out with creating some much needed tools to support the art team in making more amazing environments.\n\nThe PU Concept Team has been working hard to flesh out some of the look and feel of more upcoming planetside locations. Ted Beargeon has been doing work on making style guides for Crusader and MicroTech so that each landing zone has its own unique aesthetic. (For those of you who might not remember offhand, ArcCorp, Crusader, and MicroTech are all located in the Stanton system, so being able to travel between these planets and see all of these locations in the same solar system even if you don\u2019t have a jump drive on your ship is something we\u2019re all really looking forward to.) Ken Fairclough has then been taking these style guides and drilling down into the nitty gritty of what makes each location stand out. Megan Cheever continues to expand the wardrobe of our game. We now have one of our clothing line\u2019s aesthetic pretty well-defined, the Terra-influenced Fashion Casual line. We\u2019ve also been in discussions with BHVR and supporting them on streamlining and improving the chat interface.\n\nOur Animation Team this month has been helping in several areas. For Social Module, Vanessa Landeros has been implementing all of the emotes you see in game. We\u2019ve got more coming down the pipe so look forward to those soon! On the ship side of things, we\u2019ve been doing a lot of bug fixing to get rid of some of our animation debt, so to speak, so that ship interactions don\u2019t appear to be distractingly broken in our next release. We\u2019ve also wrapped up establishing templates for ship enter\/exit animations so that our modelers have something to follow for future work. This will reduce our animation footprint for future ships. We\u2019ve also been updating our ship cockpit animations to match the brand new templates. Lastly, our Animation Lead Bryan Brewer has been working alongside our Rigger to test and implement new custom skeletons to match some of the proportions of our actors we had on set at the mocap shoot at Imaginarium. We\u2019ve come up with an efficient way to create new skeletons quickly and efficiently, and it has been working pretty well so far.\n\nLast but not least, our character artist Billy Lord has been doing some R&D on creating some new hairstyles for our characters. Pretty soon we\u2019ll be able to see these in game, which in turn will allow our characters to have a little more variety in the cranial region. I know everyone is looking forward to finally seeing some flowing locks in game!\n\nDesign\nAll this month has been spent supporting the effort to get Social Module out the door and into your hands! Time and effort were spent on several aspects of Social Module, including setting up NPC\u2019s in ArcCorp (activity around the landing pad outside Customs and Jobwell), hooking up emotes to play in game (all through DataForge), and setting up ship traffic in the sky above Area18 (I dare you to find a pattern!). In the coming weeks we will be spending more time fleshing out ArcCorp even more, including setting up the buying\/selling functionality of our shops and NPC daily routines.\n\nLooking toward the future, designer Pete Mackay has been spending some time on setting up the \u201cPeriodic Table of Elements\u201d for Star Citizen. This will be the first step in defining our commodities and recipes. This will also help to establish what elements can be found while mining asteroids, how rare and valuable certain commodities are, and laying the groundwork for how trading will work in the PU.\n\nLastly, Tony Zurovec has been spending time this month thinking over the top-down layouts of upcoming Planetside locations. Specifically, the Orison landing on Crusader and the New Babbage landing zone on MicroTech. Area18 went through a number of revisions over the past few months to get the first release just right, and we learned a lot that will help make the initial layouts of these landing zones much easier to accomplish. We\u2019ve also recruited a few designers in the UK to help out with an additional landing zone design, the Lorville landing zone on Hurston, so we will be overseeing that as well in the coming months. Before you know it our designers will have their hands full breathing life into not only the locations above, but also Levski landing zone in the Nyx system.\n\nEngineering\nThe Engineering Team was excited to play a big role in shipping our first iteration of the Social Module in August! They helped ship and support a couple of pushes to the PTU and have been providing continuing support behind the scenes on improvements for the live release since it went out in late August. The Server Team in particular is continuing to work on backend code that will be pushed out to continue to improve the experience of this first Social Module release.\n\nWorking on the Social Module was a great team effort\u2026a lot of eager blood, sweat and tears went into putting this module together. Engineering worked very closely with our DevOps and QA teams daily here in Austin for many weeks, which led to improvements in our communications and workflow as well as in increase in team bonding. Together, and with support for various other disciplines, they were able to run a few very successful large cross-studio playtests in prep for the release. We\u2019ve had our top guys analyzing both network and client profiles of playtests and identifying areas where we need to make improvements. This process included adding new analytical tools to further diagnose everything going on under the hood.\n\nA lot of other work, not specific only to this Social Module release, progressed throughout the month of August as well. Improvements have been being made to the network optimizations for our characters, as we will be working towards adding more and more players and NPCs to game modes and maps as we go forward. As always, work continues on our various backend services and memory issues, including the juggling of new feature work with various bugs that get raised on our live game or by QA. In Austin we\u2019re also continuing to share our engineering expertise for other features being developed outside of Austin, including support for the Frankfurt and UK studios.\n\nA group of engineers continues to work closely with out design team to build out Subsumption Tools, which will allow our designers to create AI behavior for our NPCs. Yes\u2026NPCs in ArcCorp will be coming, and the team is excited to be making progress on reaching that goal! The team has been chugging away at creating new Subsumption Tool functionality as well as implementing new types of behaviors and tasks that can be assigned toNPCs. Nevertheless, other tools have not been suffering from lack of attention and we continue to make improvements and fix bugs for such tools as the Sandbox Editor, Dataforge and the Asset Validation Tool.\n\nOther engineers\u2026our unsung heroes\u2026have been focused on crucial super-behind-the-scenes laborious work in getting our various development streams integrated with each other. With feature work for various releases such as our recent Gamescom demo, Social Module and upcoming FPS release, as well as the integration of an updated version of CryEngine, our experts have been working to keep the correct content in the correct stream at the correct times to coincide with our release schedule, all the while working to ensure that the streams diverge only as much as is absolutely needed to support our stream workflow. While it takes attention and effort to split off different projects into different development streams and merge back together later, this process enables parallelization of work assignments and frees us to deliver content at a pace that is more satisfying to backers who are interested in sampling our work in progress. Without the effort being put into separate streams, there would be far fewer releases and a much longer wait between patches of any kind, because all of the features \u2013 as well as all of their bugs \u2013 would be tied together.\n\nLive Operations\nQA\nQA met the month of August in a full swing crunch for the content we were debuting at Gamescom. Our focus was squarely set on the multi crew functionality. Each day QA would play through the demo in which we were prepping to show off our new features multiple times verifying fixes and reporting new issues. The day would conclude with a play through with the developers in LA. We found this very valuable as the developers\u2019 in depth understanding of their systems helped to identify additional issues. We were incredibly happy with how well received the team\u2019s efforts were at the Gamescom presentation. It was a hard crunch but in the end it was all worth it to see the overwhelming positive feedback from everyone. This has energized us to work even harder to get Social Module, Multi-Crew and Star Marine out to everyone as soon as possible.\n\nAfter Gamescom, our focus shifted to testing the ArcCorp\/Area18 Social module in preparation for its release to the Public Test Universe and eventually the live environment. Our Social Module Specialist Todd Raffray has been very effective in ensuring each feature is properly tested. Because of this, we were able to identify a hand full of critical issues that were promptly fixed. In addition to these we have found and fixed multiple issues related to our back-end Generic Instance Manager but will be standing by to identify and address any new issues that arise from a large influx of curious citizens eager to explore Area18.\n\nTyler Witkin and Andrew Rexroth have been comprehensively testing Star Marine, a process which included an analysis of the cover system, how projectiles interact with the environment, as well as weapon zeroing improvements. Tyler has also helped to provide videos and screenshots of Star Marine and Social Module which have been used on the website, the latest issue of Jump Point and shared through social media.\n\nThe focus on Multicrew testing was a boon for our overall development but did result in some things being pushed aside temporarily. One of which is our automated testing development. However we are now in a position to significantly move forward on this particular front. Melissa Estrada is our resident engine specialist and has been working to train others in her in depth knowledge of proper testing of the Cryengine Sandbox Editor. She has done an amazing job training our other QA team in Manchester. She is now free to work full time on our automation framework to get it running as soon as possible.\n\nThis month we welcome our newest addition to the QA team, Marissa Meissner! Marissa is filling the role of QA Information Specialist. The QA Information Specialist is tasked with ensuring all of our documentation is recorded and maintained as well as compiling our release patch notes. She is also the liaison to Customer Service, ensuring they are kept up to date on the latest issues affecting the game. She immediately hit the ground running and is already doing a great job in this very important position.\n\nThanks to Marissa\u2019s efforts, Jeffrey Pease is now free to focus on the DevOps side of QA. He has become very knowledgeable in how our back-end services function and how to effectively monitor them. As soon as an issue is encountered, Jeffrey will log the issue and notify our engineers with all the needed information. He is also documenting these efforts which is laying the foundation for an eventual Network Operations Center.\n\nFor the month of September QA will be heavily focusing on Arena Commander 2.0 testing including, among many other things, multi-crew functionality and significantly larger areas.\n\nGame Support\nGame Support was all in for a big month in the history of Star Citizen. We first ran a public playtest to profile some of the larger Arena Commander issues of the day, worked on 1.1.6 and a brand new launcher, then pulled some double duty by creating the Gamescom multicrew demo videos, then moved straight into testing and preparing for the launch of Star Citizen 1.2, aka Social Module.\n\nOur playtest was important because it again demonstrated the helpfulness of our backers, particularly those with a more technical or design-based aptitude. With that in mind, we\u2019re still very keen to create our special \u201ctest group\u201d which will assist in the nitty gritty details of playtesting changes to the Star Citizen service. This isn\u2019t very glamorous duty; quite the opposite. But we need to test things such as network improvements, client optimizations, launcher updates, game balance changes, etc\u2026 anything that needs to hit a scaled test group or needs feedback before we roll it out.\n\nWe\u2019re going to be announcing this in conjunction with the Issue Council this month, our brand new bug reporting system. We\u2019ll be moving away from ticket and forum based bug reports into this official bug reporting system so that you can see and weigh in on the popularity of development issues with Star Citizen (we\u2019re still in Alpha, after all!). This helps us as a development studio in understanding what\u2019s important to the community.\n\nWe pulled a little side duty in helping create the Gamescom Multicrew demo videos as well (with a little help from Alex in DevOps). We hope that you enjoyed them as much as we did creating them!\n\nWe also worked with DevOps in releasing Launcher 2.0. As with any new product release, it\u2019s not without faults, and the release unfortunately coincided with an unusually high adoption rate of Windows 10 (where most of our issues lie). But we\u2019re seeing drastically improved download speeds and success rates, and we\u2019ll continue working with DevOps to make this a completely seamless experience.\n\nBut our crown jewel for everyone at Cloud Imperium Games this month was rolling out the Social Module. What a great moment for backers, for the CIG team, for everyone involved! Game Support was heavily involved by organizing the testing groups for each phase of the rollout, as well as communicating with players along the way. We had to admit that seeing players run through the elevator for the first time was one of the coolest moments ever.\n\nFor September, we\u2019ve got some cleanup to do. So much of our time was taken on other tasks that we\u2019ve got a bit of a ticket backlog to work through, though we will be making the transition of bug reports into Issue Council. Once caught up, we\u2019ll refocus our efforts towards getting Arena Commander 2.0 tested and out the door.\n\nIT\/Operations\nGamesCom was incredible! Thanks to all the community members who volunteered to help us and it was especially great seeing everyone at the E-werk event and on the show floor. This month the IT department put a primary focus on preparing for the amazing content we wanted to show at GamesCom and the new build systems.\n\nGamesCom work began early in the month with Paul joining Hassan & Kyle in our UK office to help with setup, testing, and tuning of 24 demo machines which would be used in Cologne. On site, Paul and Hassan met with some of our super supportive backers and many others during the week-long event. While this was going on, the development team keeps on working. IT continued to work closely with DevOps on the new build system and optimizing performance of other key systems supporting the delivery of assets throughout the company. At some points working around the clock we managed to keep up with everything even though a good portion of our team was deployed to Germany.\n\nIt seems like we\u2019re always reporting on performance improvements or the need for more speed. And it seems as if the more performance we find the more this incredible project requires of us. This month we were especially hard on our network infrastructure. We moved more builds and aggregate data across the wires than we\u2019ve moved in the last three months combined. There\u2019s just more of everything; more publishes to PTU and live service, more patches, more builds in general and more builds to replicate to each studio, more testing, more automation, just more and it\u2019s exciting to see all this progress. By the time GamesCom got started we had pushed well beyond the capabilities of our core network infrastructure and it became noticeable to the company. Considering everything else going on, we couldn\u2019t risk taking anything down and waiting for parts was out of the question as well. Mike \u201cSniper\u201d Pickett quickly identified the hardest hit areas in our network and designed an overhaul of both our virtual and physical environments in the Texas office which increased our capacity and redundancy (in delivery terms, that\u2019s a good thing \u2013 it means that some glitches that would otherwise crash your session have backup behind them and so you wouldn\u2019t experience an interruption in service) by a factor of 2x without the need for additional hardware. This substantial upgrade was also done without downtime which is just how we like it.\n\nAugust was a super exciting month and we can\u2019t wait for what comes next. We\u2019re preparing for Citizencon already and looking forward to meeting more of the community there.\n\nDev Ops\nThis month the DevOps team has been focusing on getting the new build system online and used by QA and developers. In addition we started work on the enormous amount of Automation testing that the company needs as a force multiplier, continuing to improve the Launcher, and rolled out a patch and several hotfixes to the live environment. We also lent a hand in supporting the roll out of all the GamesCom demo builds and helping create a Multicrew teaser video.\n\nAs part of the new build server roll out we have built a webpage visualizer to give developers an easy way to view and kick off builds. In addition work has been continuing on automatic integration\/merge code to help us manage the changes between our many development branches. This ensures that builds have all the most up to date, compatible, changes in the builds we roll out to the public.\n\nWork has continued on improving the game launcher; handling more error cases, improving the logging, adding analytic stats reporting, and of course attempting to eke out more speed for downloads. Expect another launcher patch iteration soon with more improvements.\n\nFor GamesCom the team split up into shifts to work with the IT team 24hrs a day for the week of the convention making sure builds and digital media being created were handed off to our support staff on the ground at GameCom. Though we ended the week quite exhausted, I think everyone was happy to see the fruits of the company\u2019s labor in front of the backers. Plus we drank a bunch on that Friday to relax and enjoy the show.\n\nThe team has also been working quite closely with the server team looking at the performance of our Game Servers, General Instance Manager, and other Universe Services. This has led to creating and rolling out 12 hotfixes to improve crashes, memory leaks, deadlocks and performance over the last few weeks. In addition, work on setting up the game database has begun in earnest, and a couple of engineers from the DevOps team have already begun writing code for the interface layer to the eventual Persistence Server.\n\nFinally, we began our four month automation project. This project will encompass work from the DevOps team in Germany as well as in Austin, and will cover the four major areas of automation; Perforce Tools, Game Client, Game Server, and Build Server. While we are still at the very beginning of this effort, the road map we have outlined promises to help QA reduce monotonous repetitive testing, ensure that checkins into the branches will not crash the build before they go in, enable engineers to see server load and performance without the need to organize massive playtests, and will fire off an array of build checks at the end of the build creation process. Obviously, the gritty part is getting all the coding done and then bug free!\n\nLooking Ahead\nAs with every month here at CIG we\u2019re working each and every day to bring you the next iterations of the Social Module and push onward towards the Persistent Universe proper. Select developers across the project are working on bug fixing for a subsequent patch to 1.2.0, but the majority of us have shifted focus to working towards the release of Social Module v1. Social Module v0 saw the release of features like Multiplayer functionality on our first planetside landing zone (ArcCorp\u2019s Area18), the Chat System, and Emotes. Now that we\u2019ve got some core backend technology as a foundation, we can start to build upon it to make the BDSSE!\n\nSome features that are in active development at this present moment include improving the chat interface and functionality (hooray for private channels!), adding at LEAST 25 more emotes to choose from (now with audio!), updating the shop facades to make them absolutely unmistakable from across the Area18 courtyard, and something to do with\u2026buggies??\nWe know you guys are looking forward to seeing the next landing zone, Levski in the Nyx system, and we are too! Levski is in Final Art stages and now we are looking at scheduling in time for optimization using some new tech called the Compound Render Node. This will significantly increase performance across all environments and will allow them to run smooth as butter while traipsing around these amazing locales.\n\nIt\u2019s always scary to put something that you\u2019ve worked so hard on out in the hands of people to render their judgment. We were hoping that you guys would like what we delivered, and the positive feedback has been overwhelming. Thank you for all of your support, we can\u2019t wait to knock off your socks once again in the near future!\n\nGreetings Citizens,\n\nAs always, plenty of work happened in Manchester this month! Members of the team here were thrilled to meet thousands of Citizens live at Gamescom, and we\u2019re excited about introducing you to the entire team at Citizencon in October! Meanwhile, here\u2019s the department-by-department review of what we did in August\u2026\n\nEngineering\nAnother busy month has passed in the F42 coding department, with the start of the month seeing both the release of 1.1.6 and the Gamescom live demo we\u2019ve been hammering away at our keyboards to help fix up some of the core large-world and multi-crew ship features that went on show, as well as the usual bug smashing! The features included work on the Quantum-drive mechanic which has been amazing to see in action as it not only looks cool but allows us to actually traverse the new large 64bit worlds we\u2019ve created in a reasonable time. A highlight Q-Drive bug that got fixed along the way was your ship losing control at distances a long way from the origin, it turns out this was due to Cry Engine\u2019s default ocean water level of z = -1000000 being now easily within reach, which would subsequently flood your engine!\n\nWork has also been done towards various game modules. The FPS visor now includes new hit and grenade proximity warning markers and has had polish on its health display and ammo counter. There\u2019s been fixes on med-packs, doors and ladders; nice touches for example include the ability to change speed on a ladder and new animations for holstering your weapon as you mount them to smooth and speed up transitions on to them. While a lot of FPS work happens at other studios, Foundry 42 does take some of that development onto its own plate, particularly for things that are integral to the Squadron 42 experience that we hope to deliver. Squadron 42 has seen work started on the Sidling (wall shuffling) mechanic as well as further work on looting, save game and security networks, plus the conversation system has started hooking in audio data that was previously recorded on the live shoot. Ships-wise we\u2019ve started looking at a new ship-scanning feature that allows you to scan a targeted ship and over number of seconds it will gather information about each of the ship\u2019s components (weapons, shields, cargo, engines, etc) and then allow you to cycle through that info.\n\nMore time is now being allocated towards cleaning up pre-existing in-game systems, we now have a \u201cClean-up Friday\u201d that sees us look at tasks such as moving our in-game item .xmls into our new DataForge tool .xml format, which makes them easier to edit and validate going forwards. It also covers refactoring of systems such as the input backend, which thanks to this can now support an unlimited number of connected joysticks, all with separate keybindings. It also sees the cleaning up of stale code that we no longer use and the fixing of non-game breaking errors and warnings in our logs, this improves the overall state of the game as well as our overall visibility on what is wrong under the hood, thus speeding up our workflow for future releases.\n\nAnimation\nThe team has continued working on some of the AI systemic cover animations now that we\u2019re fully moved over to the v7 rig. As well as that we have synced up with our Frankfurt team on the first batch of performance capture animations and started making progress getting them synced up with the audio tracks and engine ready. Our resident tech animator has been making good progress in getting facial animation in to game and we\u2019re really looking forward to completing some vignettes and seeing it all come together for the first time. The new few weeks we\u2019ll be busy supporting the teams\u2019 needs for Citizencon.\n\nGraphics\n\u201cThis month the graphics team have mainly been focussed on character shaders, the first of which is a new shader we\u2019ve developed for clothing, armour, items and weapons. Rather than uniquely baking individual textures for every asset, this shader uses a pool of generic textures for base materials such as steel\/leather\/denim, and combines these in the shader to determine the properties of the surface. This allows us to support quickly change the properties of an object without having to modify the underlying textures, which is a huge benefit for customising and items in the PU. It also allows us to support dynamic changes such as dirt or damage building up over time, or allowing the art director to tweak the look of say a specific metals from one manufacturer without having to find all the items created by that manufacturer. This shader has taken some time to develop but we\u2019re expecting it to open many possibilities in the PU in the coming months.\n\nThe other character shaders we\u2019ve been working on relate to human skin. We\u2019ve extended CryEngine\u2019s skin-wrinkle technology which is used to show wrinkles and creases in the skin on certain facial poses, and we now support four times as many wrinkle-poses as before. We\u2019ve also added support for blood-flow maps, which capture unique colour variations on the skin on certain facial poses caused by changing blood-flow and the stretching and compression of the skin. These extensions resulting in a significant improvement in the quality and believability of our characters facial animations.\n\nThe rest of the graphics team have been investigating improvements to shadow system and continuing work on the damage system for multi-crew ships.\u201d\n\nArt\nIt\u2019s been another whirl wind this month, starting with the glorious Gamescom demo, the team worked super hard to bring everything for the unveiling and are now pushing on with advancing the play space and areas of interest.\n\nWe have been tasked with concepting a new ship, all very exciting and Gavin Rothery is doing a Sterling job of bringing it to life (can\u2019t say more!) Overall concept work has been focusing on picking up a lot of pieces, working out areas that have slipped through the net, redefining areas as the Design dept makes updates and lending support to cinematics in Frankfurt.\n\nEnvironments\nThe environment team has been busy with the map for the Arena Commander 2.0 release for CitizenCon. We have three main stations with interiors whiteboxed out now, along with one planet, three moons, three smaller satellites and a set of small asteroids. We have also been taking a new Low Tech Alpha set up to greybox that will allow us to build our station interiors more sensibly and to a grander scale than originally planned. The last POI to go in will be Asteroid Gainey and its sister set of large asteroids which are currently being prototyped.\n\nAll these points of interest have gone into the new map.\n\nNext we\u2019ll be continuing refinement on the large world map, getting lighting, mood and atmosphere locked down for each of the three stations, along with extensive testing on the physical limits we can push for Asteroid Gainey and the large asteroids.\n\nVFX\nThis month was dominated by CG tasks covering GOST, Quantum drive implementation and ship destruction. With the integration of 3.7 into game-dev we got lots of new features and lots of new bugs which have all been documented and prioritized. Adam joined the VFX team and has been tackling the Blade thrusters and weapon effects, as well as learning our tools.\n\nA big push has gone into cleaning up all the old assets and bugs that affect the whole game with some very good progress made. Work has also begun on implementing the ship damage effects into multicrew ships using the full systemic damage system as well as getting the destruction pipeline nicely streamlined.\n\nProps\nThe new pipeline has been locked down and is now being rolled out to all new props created, improving the legacy props is still in the planning phase.\n\nAfter the Gamescom work was complete focus was shifted onto the upcoming CitizenCon event. The CitizenCon work covers a wide variety of props, high tech, low tech and also a lot of universal props both for environments and ships.\n\nThis work will help to prove out the new pipeline works across the board but will also help test our new production workflow that should improve communication between the different teams and ultimately mean we see more props with audio, animation and VFX seeing their way into game.\n\nShips\nA large amount of work went into getting the Retaliator ready for the Gamescom demo, getting GOST states ready and fixing all the new issues that came to light as the systems were implemented. We have had a slight reprioritisation and the vehicle team has temporarily grown (some artists have moved from Environments) and now we are tackling a hefty bunch of work (more in next months report). The Starfarer is happily motoring along, the guys are now working on the key areas (the archetypes) that make up the ship, once we have the textures and materials for this MISC ship defined we\u2019ll be able to roll out a lot more assets faster and also use them for the updates on the Freelancer. Some extra work has gone into the Mining Bot, it\u2019s looking in good shape but it will be on hold for the foreseeable future until we have engineering resources to work out a four legged walker \u2013 as you can imagine, we have a lot of other areas that are higher priority but this is one \u2018ship\u2019 I\u2019m really looking forward to see in the universe.\n\nIdris \u2013 c\u2019mon \u2013what about the Idris, I hear you say \u2013 well, for those that have bought one, you can\u2019t be disappointed with what your money is buying, this ship will be epic \u2013 it is complex, believe me, even with all the art and tech experience we have it\u2019s still a highly challenging asset (level) but it will help define medium size craft and how they are ultimately put together.\n\nUI\nThe AEGIS themed UI work took a big chunk of time, working out all the new systems needed for Multicrew and the demo, this work is ongoing, now we have a style we\u2019ll be able to start making more and more elements to be used around the ship.\n\nFPS UI has been worked up, slight nip and tuck \u2013 tweaking placement and the look of Health, ammo and prompt systems along with additional work to the Conversation system, Use and looting systems \u2013 it\u2019s all coming together!\n\nAudio\nOur big push early this month was to ensure that the Gamescom demo and related material was done to the required standard. Sadly some technical issues with the live stream meant that certain peaks (literally!) didn\u2019t quite come across as intended, but thankfully these didn\u2019t carry over to the offline rendering of the same material so it won\u2019t have affected most people. As well as the sound design team\u2019s work, we also had some excellent music from Pedro Macedo Camacho in there which never fails to please.\n\nQuickly following on from Gamescom we had a hugely productive session recording weapons sound effects, with an emphasis on interior\/environmental reflections, which will benefit Squadron 42 (as well as the general FPS aspect of Star Citizen) greatly. We hope to release a dev-diary\/work-in-progress video focusing on the process behind this, Stefan\u2019s put a great video together showing what went down. Special mention to our very own Sian Crewe who also was a huge help on this session.\n\nTalking of Squadron 42, we had a shoot to support in terms of dialogue, Phil and Bob both went down to cover that on the same day as the gun recording by sheer coincidence.\n\nThe release of 1.1.5 and subsequent releases have crystallised our requirements for coping with the sheer scale of our game, our audio coders have been ironing out some bugs before moving onto what we\u2019re terming \u2018Large World Audio\u2019. We want to ensure we have a high detail level at a local level for players, which we don\u2019t sacrifice for the scale and scope of the grander universe. All very modular systems-led stuff, and we\u2019re hoping that\u2019ll continue to improve performance within Wwise and CryEngine so that we can keep on emphasising audio detail and quality.\n\nOtherwise we\u2019ve been working hard on the audio for the Social Module, other FPS work, and preparing for CitizenCon. We\u2019ve also refining how we handle audio for ships as we sincerely want to take that up a notch compared to what we\u2019ve done already.\n\nAs always, thanks for listening and please feel free to ask any audio related questions on the Ask A Developer section of the forums!\n\nQA\nSo August for UK QA was all about the whirlwind of activity that was Gamescom and the recovery process that followed its culmination.\n\nLiam Guest, Glenn Kneale, Ben Parr and myself were lucky enough to be involved in the event and the livestream for the multicrew demo. A stressful and of course deeply satisfying experience! A big thanks to all in the community that helped us make it through the 4 days in one piece, although Red1 could have done with a towel on stage\u2026\n\nMeanwhile, back at base camp, Geoff Coffin, Steven Brennon and the rest of the team were holding things together superbly \u2013 Geoff earning himself MVP and the most esoterically German medal (with cows and milkmen) that I could find in Cologne. The UK QA team spent a lot of time meticulously practicing the demo \u2013 giving those of us in Germany all the pointers required to pull of the presentation \u2013 if only we\u2019d read them! ;)\n\nAfter the event, we were able to ease up on some of the long shifts we had been doing in the build-up and get back to a semi-normal routine. That included getting stuck into supporting the ATX studio on the development of the ArcCorp social module, something which, as you can imagine, turned into something of an all-hands-on-deck sort of affair.\n\nRoll on September \u2013 in which we\u2019ll have two new starters in the department \u2013 much needed for testing the upcoming release of sc_alpha_2.0!\u201d\n\nDesign\nGamescom came and went, but there is still plenty left to do that we are working frantically on to get the \u201cLarge World\u201d demo into your hands. The designers are populating and optimizing the system (can\u2019t really say level anymore as it is so big). We are tidying up the gameplay and working flat out to get as much functionality into the multi-crew systems as possible. We have new FPS environments that are being worked on with a view to getting them into the next major release if possible.\n\nAs I mentioned in last month\u2019s report all the various systems that had designs that were light or out of date are still being revamped and we are making good progress on things like radar, scanning, ship signatures, the conversation system and repair.\n\nThere is also a huge push on getting as many ships as possible hangar ready by Christmas and that has meant we have had a lot of meeting and sanity checks on some of the older ships that are very much due some love. I hope when you get your hands on them that you will agree they have been worth the wait. Thanks again for the awesome support, we couldn\u2019t do this without you!\n\nIt\u2019s been a busy month for the office as usual. Most of the team helped out with the Gamescom presentation to some extent. It\u2019s really cool to see different components start coming together within the same game space, and the reactions and excitement of the fans and community helps drive us.\n\nWe\u2019ve had a steady stream of candidates come through for our open positions, and the Frankfurt team is slowly growing to help out with various areas of Squadron 42.\n\nWe did our first segment for Around the Verse last week, we look forward shooting something each week to give everyone more insight into what we\u2019re doing here. Below is a breakdown from the leads or directors of each department on the main things they tackled over the last month.\n\nEngineering\nDuring August, Frankfurt engineering has mostly been dealing with several Gamescom and post-Gamescom engine related items. As most of subsystems are moving over to the Zone system, there have been several medium and long term items being discussed, tackled and reviewed such as streaming, loading times, memory usage etc. The learnings from Gamescom with regards to large world map and multicrew are being applied to the new Large World maps that, as expected, are going to be larger and larger\u2026 other items are being worked on for Citizen Con and for the upcoming releases.\n\nWe continued with removal of legacy engine code (mostly renderer) in preparation for major engine and render refactor (long term task) to better utilize modern APIs and multi core systems. We fixed several client side (rendering) issues for arena commander. While we previously looked into memory efficiency on content side, this month we looked into client and server side memory performance of the SC code base. As a result several leaks were fixed that caused stability issues and crashes. This process is ongoing and we hope to further improve stability and optimize memory performance. There\u2019s work items already scheduled \/ in progress which tie into this goal.\n\nOn the animation and physics side we developed a new method to drive ragdolls with animation data. The goal was to get accurate and fast pose matching between animation and permanently driven ragdolls. Along the way, we improved the blending in and out of ragdolls, created a new ragdoll setup with correct mass distribution of human body parts and improved the tools to setup springs and joint-limits for natural body poses. To speed up the turnaround time when building ragdolls, the whole setup of the physical parameters was moved from Maya into an XML-file.\n\nAI\nAugust has been a month busy with some of the low level work needed for Subsumption and the simulation of the persistent universe.\n\nFrancesco has traveled to Austin to work directly next to the Social Module team. Main focus has been the optimization of the NPC movement and the synchronization of the playing of the animations across the multiplayer infrastructure.\n\nOn the first point we have worked with Wyrmbyte to analyse the current network usage during the movement of a character, and we laid out a plan to test a first optimization for NPCs characters: compared to normal players, we can assume that the AI controlled entities are much more predictable and will require a smaller amount of data sent to correctly move into the world.\n\nRegarding the animation synchronization, all our characters use Mannequin to organize the animation database and select the proper animation to play. This month we made a first version of an animation component that gets informed when animations are queued on the server so that the clients can also correctly queue the same Mannequin fragment, wait for the selection of the random option to happen on the server and then start the same animation with the same starting time of the server. Our implementation also takes care of state replication, so that clients that will join the game mid-way through the animation playing will also have the correct visual representation of what\u2019s happening on the server. This implementation allows us to make full usage of Mannequin without making big changes on the current game code and that\u2019s a big win!\n\nAnd not to forget to mention, all the animation functionalities are shared between AI and player characters!\n\nWe have also started collecting requirements for the re-design of the spawning mechanics, we want to have a centralized system that can be customizable and that can take care of the all the needs of Squadron 42, which then can also be used for Arena Commander and Social Module.\n\nWe have progressed further into using the Usables system as navigation links, that will allow us to place links in the world (manually or procedurally) with specific properties to mark-up specific locations of the world where the NPCs can move using specified animations and causing specific gameplay interactions (for example an NPC needs to press the elevator button before entering it).\n\nLast but not least we have just started to fully integrate the navigation mesh and the characters\u2019 paths into the Zone System and we are continuing refactoring the code into more portable\/combinable components (for example we isolated the functionalities for controlling the NPC aiming and looking into two separated components that can be controlled independently).\n\nIn addition to all of that, the Frankfurt office has continued coordinating the work made by Moon Collider on the improvements of the DataForge\/Behavior tree connection, the new functionalities like the personal log, the task system refactoring, the improvements of the ships behavior and the ships movement.\n\nBuild System\nWorking on code validation, automation and tools to make dev\u2019s life easier. Also this month we\u2019ve been visited by Jeremy and Joseph from ATX, both part of the Dev-Ops team. Needless to say we have plenty of meeting where many things were discussed and are going to be worked on. Without going into details, build reliability, the ongoing switching towards a new build framework, paks and patch creation were discussed. Lot of work ahead.\n\nDesign Department\nOne of the big things at the beginning of this month for us was finishing up the setup of the interior of the Retaliator for the GamesCom demo. It was a bit of a mad rush but the final result was well worth it and the feedback and appreciation we received from you guys at the live show, Twitch and YouTube channels was amazing and humbling at the same time.\n\nOnce we finished with the Retaliator demo we sat down and tried to figure out what needs to be documented and replicated in order for all the other ship setups to go smoothly in the future. And believe me, there\u2019s a lot of things we did not initially know as this is the first ship to unite so many of the systems we want to have in Star Citizen.\n\nOur level design department, while still continuing to build two of the Squadron 42 levels, they are also working hard on bringing a new multiplayer game mode to life for the FPS module. The guys are working together with the programmers from Illfonic to get this ready in time for the FPS release.\n\nOn another, a bit more less exciting note, both the level and system design departments have been working on improving our recruiting pipeline and candidate testing to ensure we get the best of the available talent pool.\n\nThe work on AI and AI-building tools continues and it looks like as soon as the new character rig goes in with the new cover animation set we\u2019ll be able to quickly adjust our behaviours to start making use of all these goodies. Right now we\u2019re running our new AI behaviours in more of an experimental\/debug mode in which we can test and prototype their thinking and their logic without being able to see much of the fruits of our labour in actual game but once the rig and the assets are in, everything should just fall into place.\n\nHacking and electronic warfare are also systems that were given a lot of attention this month but more details will come on that once we feel they are solid enough to show to you guys.\n\nAt the same time we are supporting our tech department with their work on prototyping planetary procedural generation. Sadly, we were informed by them that if we give away any details about this before it\u2019s properly ready to show, we will be skinned alive. We take our programmers\u2019 threats very seriously around here!\n\nCinematics\nIn August we were busy on multiple different fronts regarding the cinematic side of things.\n\nAdditional p-cap shoot\nOur main shoot for performance capture for S42 ended beginning of July, but we went back to Imaginarium Studios in London for 2 days to wrap up capture on some crucial story elements we hadn\u2019t shot during the main shoot due to actor availability. Can\u2019t wait to reveal our cast to the fans out there! It was nice to be back in the volume, reunited with the crew that worked with during the months earlier in the year.\n\nEnvironment Art\nWe were also continuing work on several cinematic environments, namely a construction dock for a capital ship that will be featured in S42\u2019s story, a UEE Navy hospital facility and a UEE administrative building.\n\nOur initial prototype environment for the Vanduul Kingship bridge interior was cleaned and lifted up a few notches. Still not final by any means but progress!\n\nA smaller part of S42\u2019s opening will actually be shown at CitizenCon in October so we are also working hard on the environment for this scene which will also be perfect to show the progress we have made in facial animation quality.\n\nFacial Animation\nWe recently got the first full performance of body+face of one of our main actors working in sync in engine. Saying we are quite happy with the level of facial fidelity we can now achieve would be a tremendous understatement. Can\u2019t wait to show it to the community at CitizenCon. Coming from earlier tests like the Constellation Commercial last year there has been a dramatic push in quality for what we will be able to show on our characters faces. Exciting!\n\nCinematics\nHigh end character performance is just one part of SC\u2019s cinematic equation though, the other big chunk will be space dogfight\/cap ship battle scenes. For those we are currently planning some more tools like a spline corridor so we can film our ships fully articulated but also in a 100% repeatable and reliable way. For that our IFCS needs to be taking a backseat as we will have to be able to override ship functions to make sure that a cinematic will not break if e.g. a ship\u2019s in-engine thruster power gets adjusted later on during development.\n\nWe also found some smaller issues related to certain cinematic tools\/cameras coming from the recent move to the LargeWorldSystem but overall the move has been quite smooth. Quite a thing to see world coordinates in the millions of kilometres range in-engine, compared to just 4-8 kilometres before.\n\nAudio\nThis month there was a lot of tool and pipeline work. Updated the audio asset build tools, which should improve the sound designers\u2019 iteration times and lower the load we put on the P4 (that\u2019s Perforce, our codebase version control system) servers, made lots of small fixes and tweaks post-3.7 integration in game-dev to get the new tools and systems to work properly with the CIG audio setup, tweaked the standard Sandbox audio tools to improve their performance when handling the large number of audio assets already accumulated by our project. Also finally started the work on moving the audio system to using listener-relative audio rendering required for the proper Large World support.\n\nFX\nThis past month we have been working on the quantum drive effect for the ships. This required a fair amount of R&D before we achieved the look that was desired. We also had to work closely with the graphics programmers to create the custom shaders and backend systems required to bring it all together.\n\nThe final effect combines elements from VFX, code and audio in order to bring the quantum drive to life!\n\nAs you will be able to read below, all my team put in double effort this month to bring you the first iteration of the Social Module. We were hyped by how the demo was received at Gamescom and this gave us the energy to push our limits so that the Social Module would hit your computers before the end of August. Working with Austin to deliver it on time was a phenomenal effort. We are really glad you can enjoy it now and we are looking forward to give you major improvement over the next couple of weeks.\n\nUI\nThis month the UI team has been working hard on various features for the first release of the Social Module: The chat UI has undergone a lot of changes, for both design and art. The contact list got a couple of art upgrades, AR mode got some love, and we have been doing a lot of bug fixing.\n\nWe also flew out to meet up with our friends at Foundry 42 as well as some folks from L.A. for a UI summit. Together we have started to get a clearer overall view of all the different types of interfaces in the game, and are working to unify and improve upon the interaction design as well as the graphic design across all modules.\n\nDesign\nA big month on the design side, with the coming release of Social Module V0 before the end of the month. Lots of bugs to fix and small improvements here and there to make sure your visit to ArcCorp goes without a hitch. We can\u2019t wait for you to explore every shops and back alleys with your friends.\n\nWe are also hard at work on the Million Mile High Club, more details about it are coming soon.\n\nFinally, we have delivered the August Subscriber Flair in your hangar: the Takuetsu Starfarer ship model.\n\nArt\nOn the Environment side, we have been working on putting Area 18 together for the PU release. Mainly optimization and bug fixing.\n\nWe\u2019ve also started polishing one of the building sets to include the new specs that will make the maps run faster and look better.\n\nOn the flair side, we\u2019ve completed all the trophies for Gamescom and CitizenCon and as usual preparing next month flair.\n\nProgramming\nAugust has been a very productive month here at Behaviour. We focused a lot of our efforts in the Social Module Demo that was shown at Gamescom on August 7th 2015 and then continued to polish the experience for the Live Release of the Social Module. We\u2019ve done a lot of polish to the new In-Game Chat UI, and made it so the transition between talking on the chat and playing the game is very smooth and intuitive. We\u2019ve also made sure that other players viewing you doing emote animation from a chat command will see the same animation as you do on your side. We\u2019ve added a functionality that allows a player to easily switch between a few predefined Player Loadouts in his Private Hangar before going outside to meet the world.\n\nSpeaking of Area 18, we\u2019ve worked on making sure that all interactable objects (i.e. Elevator Console, Doors) present in ArcCorp\u2019s Area 18 work as intended in a multiplayer Environment. You\u2019ll also be able to appreciate the work we did regarding the Augmented Reality (AR) functionality of the mobiGlas. We\u2019ve optimized the way we detect AR-enabled objects and also the way the system will choose to display AR information on screen. This is also valid for when looking at other players; you\u2019ll now be able to see the name of the players you are playing\/chatting with.\n\nWe\u2019ve added more UI feedback in the Transport Elevator Console to inform players of the status of the transition between two different areas. We\u2019ve also added a search functionality to the In-Game Contact List and fixed some existing Issues with adding and removing contacts. We\u2019ve also reworked the way we integrate Loading Screens into our game so that we can quickly add new Loading Screen Art per Level in the future.\n\nWhat\u2019s up mah Citizens?! Coming straight outta Denver, it\u2019s the monthly IllFonic studio report! I\u2019m sure you all have probably heard the news, that the team here has been scaled back as Star Marine transitions to be internally developed at CIG. This is true, and was always the plan. However, we do still have a smaller, lighter team working on the FPS module to help wrap things up. Read below for the nitty gritty details.\n\nArt\nOn the art side, we have been making a polish pass on each of the FPS weapon based on feedback from Chris and the Art Directors at CIG. We have also been creating clean and dirty version materials of each weapon. This will be used to show wear and tear on a weapon as it ages and sees some heavy usage.\n\nAnimation\nThe animators spent most of the month cranking away on retargeting all of the FPS animations over to the new rig. They have also been re-rigging the weapons to accommodate the system change of the weapon being parented to the hand instead of the spine. New animations have also been created for juking\/stepping while in a crouched state. Magazine check animations were also created to support a new reloading mechanic that will intelligently check the magazine currently in the gun against the other ones the player is carrying and either replace the mag with a fresh one or pop it back in. Lastly, they have been going over the remaining mocap data, cleaning it up, and prepping it for implementation. This includes things like vaulting, mantling, sidling, injured locomotion sets, etc\u2026\n\nEngineering\nThe engineering team has mostly been focused on fixing bugs. They also spent time on implementing the new mag check system mentioned above and creating the rules for a new game mode similar to Headquarters or King of the Hill. Over the last week or so, the majority of their time has been spent helping out CIG with the large merging process that has been going on. Taking the work from each of the different release branches, and consolidating them all back in to one.\n\nThat\u2019s about it for this month Citizens, until next time!\n\nHello and bonjour from Montreal! Here\u2019s what we\u2019ve been up to in this last month:\n\nJump Point \u2013 The Producers\nOur very own Grand Poobah, Benoit Beausejour, was featured in the August issue of Jump Point Magazine, in the \u201cProducers\u201d section. He and other Producers (from CIG and partner studios) were interviewed about their roles and responsibilities, challenges, and mission. Several Producers took part in this in-depth (15-page) article, so if you\u2019re interested in learning about the inner workings of a gaming company, you should definitely check it out. Thanks to David Ladyman for putting it all together!\n\nStarmap\nThis month, our main focus has been the element that we have code-named \u201cControl Disc\u201d, which allows you to retrieve information about a particular celestial object. Not only did we revise the design to fit smaller screen resolutions, but we also explored different animation effects on the disc itself. As complex as the Starmap project has been, the Control Disc is perhaps the most complicated element since it requires integration of WebGL, static HTML elements and the Starmap database.\n\nAlthough we will continue tweaking until the very end, the current WebGL viewer looks amazing. We refined the Galaxy and System views, and developed a \u201cconsole\u201d so that we can easily adjust color and animated effects for each celestial body. Next month, we will improve the transition effects, i.e. from Galaxy to System view, and from System to System.\n\nWork continues on the 3D animated versions of the celestial objects \u2013 for example, planets, stars and space station.\n\nAlso this month, we began discussions about the audio component of the Starmap. We would like to add some sound effects to enhance the experience, without being distracting. For those who like to browse the web in complete silence, we will also offer a toggle option.\n\nIssue Council\nWe are now in the final stretch. We\u2019ve cleared the majority of critical bugs and are now working on the FAQ and Help pages. We\u2019re working with CIG to set a launch date. We plan to start rolling out the Issue Council in the coming weeks. Keep an eye out for it in the \u201cCommunity\u201d submenu!\n\nCommunity Hub\nThe hub is ready! Soon, it will be accessible to a select few Star Citizen members so that they can contribute some starting content to the Hub (artwork, videos, external links, podcast feeds, and livestream feeds). Once we have received some submissions, we will be ready to open it up to all Community backers. The presence of the hub on our staging servers has already spun many other ideas on how we can use this to power other parts of the community (10 FtC questions, game feedback and others).\n\nShip Happens\nThis month\u2019s Star Citizen presentation at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, was accompanied by the sale of several limited ships, such as the Merchantman, the Reclaimer, the Carrack and many more. There was also a surprise flash sale on the website for those who could not attend the event in person. During the presentation a competition in Vanduul Swarm was announced, allowing the first 1,000 people who completed wave 18 to buy the Esperia Glaive, a reproduction of the feared Vanduul fighter. Toward the end of the month, the highly popular Vanguard Warden went back on sale, flanked by its new siblings the Sentinel (an E-War focused variant) and the Harbinger (a bomber focused variant). This sale also saw the introduction of the new Battlefield Upgrade Kits for the three variants, allowing you to hot-swap your Vanguard\u2019s equipment between that of a Warden, Sentinel or Harbinger, to suit your next mission.\n\nWhat you didn\u2019t see\nWe completed the migration to Google\u2019s GCE this month, resulting in a 20 to 25% increase in performance across our infrastructure, and also significantly reducing the monthly cost for CIG. This move is also significant in that we finally moved away from the original hosting provider that we\u2019ve had since the original crowdfunding campaign. We\u2019re leaving the family nest because we\u2019re all grown up now, sniff! On the technical front, our GCE environment is fully based around \u201ccontainers\u201d (docker). This major advancement makes operating the site servers and processes more integrated and really helps in streamlining how we get code updates to production.\n\nSome months we find ourselves focused on two or three big features, but August was one of those months where we found ourselves doing lots of small tasks: bug fixes, feature improvements, responding to feedback from designers. They were all important and useful, but they don\u2019t always make for exciting reading for you, the backers. So we\u2019ll spare you the talk of merge conflicts and build configuration bugs, and stick to the cool stuff!\n\nDesign\nAn interesting piece of design work we\u2019ve been doing is a refactoring of the Kythera perception system for characters. Now that designers have spent a reasonable amount of time building behavior trees in Kythera and using our perception system, they\u2019ve found that they want some aspects of the perception system and the way it interacts with behaviors to work a bit differently. In particular, they want behavior trees to have more control over how AIs respond to certain events in the world such as hearing weapon fire or some unexpected noise, and to also control when AIs look for better targets and when they stick to their current one.\n\nRight now the Kythera perception system will take in stimuli from different sources (vision, sound, and tactile events for characters; radar signatures for ships), perform calculations on whether enough stimuli have been received for an AI to have noticed something, and then pass this information through to the target selection system, which will look for the best target at any point in time. There are various parameters that each AI can set to affect how both their perception and target selection work, but from the behavior\u2019s point of view, it is just told what the current best target is.\n\nThis setup allows for simpler behavior trees, and has worked really nicely for ships, but for characters we\u2019ve found that the behavior trees tend to be set up quite differently from ships. In human behaviors, where the acting element is so complex and vital, more control is needed, so it\u2019s desirable to move some of the logic of the perception system into the behaviors, even though this can make them more complicated. So we\u2019ve been working on a design for an improved perception system that will allow behavior trees to be authored with the control that designers want to have. We\u2019re also looking at whether we can improve ship behaviors as well by making similar changes to their behaviors, and that\u2019s something that will be ongoing in the next few months.\n\nEngineering\nWe made quite a few good improvements to ships this month, particularly with regard to improving their behaviors for Pirate Swarm. Some of the highlights are improvements to approach and retreat behaviors that better take into account max weapon range and current shield levels; changes to make AI missile usage less predictable; and some improvements to avoidance so AI are less likely to crash into other ships.\n\nWe also fixed an interesting bug where AI would sometimes behave strangely when going to fly on a spline in scripted situations such as the tutorial. We use the reported thrust values from IFCS (Intelligent Flight Control System) in order to plan out ship movement, but sometimes IFCS wasn\u2019t fully online when we were planning, and so we weren\u2019t working with correct values. So we added a way for a ship behavior to make sure IFCS is fully online before doing something that depends on it.\n\nOne nice change we made to character visual perception is to allow them to see things at greater than 180 degrees if desired. Our visual perception system had both a primary and a secondary vision cone, where the primary cone mimics regular vision abilities, while the secondary cone is intended to mimic peripheral vision. That means targets in the primary cone will generally be detected fast by the AI, while the secondary cone takes longer.\n\nThe problem is, AI often seem stupid when their peripheral vision is less than 180 degrees, so the obvious solution is to increase the field of view of the peripheral vision. The issue there, though, is that the primary and secondary vision cones are precisely that: cones. The mathematics of the view cones completely breaks if you try to go above 180 degrees. So to fix this, we needed to change the geometric shape that defines the vision space of an AI from a cone to a more appropriate shape when the field of view is 180 degrees or more (which is basically a sphere with a cone cut out of the back of it).\n\nWe also continued to make some improvements to the behavior tree editor in DataForge. We added the ability to now specify inputs to BT nodes as a dropdown list of predefined values when this makes sense, such as when telling a character to change to a new stance. Behavior trees can now also embed other trees within them, which allows designers to put a common piece of behavior in its own tree and then add that to their trees in multiple places as needed. As the trees get bigger and more complex, this will be invaluable for keeping them readable and avoiding duplication.\n\nFinally, we made some great performance improvements to the Kythera Recording Server, which is the system that allows designers and programmers to record AI behavior and then play it back with detailed debug information to help figure out bugs or look for ways to improve behaviors. There is potentially a lot of debugging information that needs to be saved for this system to be useful, so we improved the system to be better at detecting what data has changed since the last update and what hasn\u2019t, which means it can better compress the recordings. This is both good for disk space and for making it easier to export recordings to give to other developers.\n\nRed One, Jared. Red One, Jared. Red One, Jared\u2026\n\nHey guys, Community Manager Jared \u201cDisco Lando\u201d Huckaby here. August was a big month for the Community Team, starting with the realization of Gamescom 2015. Just about everyone on the Community Team played a part in making this event perhaps our best yet, and it was a terrific opportunity for the staff in Santa Monica to meet the CS staff in Manchester in person for the very first time, as well as many of our European backers.\n\nWe\u2019d also challenged ourselves to really spruce up our live events. To this end, we undertook many initiatives such as sending the bulk of the Community Team, adding the on-site \u201cConcierge Store\u201d (not to be confused with Concierge backing services generally \u2013 this is special in-person functionality for live events), and improving the overall quality of the items presented to our attendees.\n\nOur first order of business was to create a new, protracted series of collectable ship pins. Something that could be collected from each event a person goes to. Since we knew Gamescom was going to feature multi-crew predominantly, the Constellation became the logical choice for our first pin. I discovered existing artwork used for a patch series and was able to repurpose that for our needs.\n\nA free fly promotion had become a staple, but we wanted something more than just a card with a code. Working with Ryan Archer in Austin, we developed a foam version of the Gladius that was just as much collectable as it was a way for potential fans to discover the game. While we can\u2019t say it \u201cflies,\u201d we can certainly refer to it as, \u201cthrowable.\u201d\n\nIn years past, posters had become a Gamescom tradition, but in our efforts to increase the quality of overall presentation, we commissioned BHVR to imagine K\u00f6ln, Germany in the year 2945. Working with art from Nicholas Ferrand, we designed the limited edition poster that we gave out to attendees, complete with the signatures of our studio heads and members of the Community Team.\n\nComing from the community, I have an affinity for the truly great works that our fans create, and one of the finest creations is the Hunter web comic by Adi Nitisor. Working with Adi, I was able to point him in the right direction and get the necessary clearances to print up physical copies of his first issue for our attendees. Our fans truly make Star Citizen, and it seemed right to include a little piece of their work along with our own this Gamescom.\n\nFinally, when decorating the E-Werk event space, I wanted something that would truly evoke the sense of what multi-crew gaming could look like. To that end, I worked with fan content creator FiendishFeather for nearly a month to create the giant banner that hung over the heads of our fans in the venue. Rendered entirely in the game engine, and using 100% Star Citizen Assets as a single scene with zero compositing, it measured out at a whopping 27325\u00d77200 at 100dpi. I have to thank Feather for trusting in me that he could do this, and that the crazy things I was asking him to do would work out. It\u2019s just another example of how working with our fans allows us to create something greater than either of us could alone. (You can see it in the banner image above this section.)\n\nWith Gamescom we wanted to return to livestreaming. Gamescom has always been special to the history of Star Citizen thus far. To that end, Thomas Hennessy, Alyssa Delhotal and I worked to ensure that we\u2019d have a plan in place that would address many of the issues from our past livestreams, principle of which were available bandwidth and the proper configuration and use of our in-house streaming equipment.\n\nOnce the curtain opened, Hennessy worked the controls for the livestream and both directed and operated the switching between cameras, while I worked with the A\/V company who was responsible for the camera operation, the demo switching for the presentation screen and livestream, and the audio.\n\nAfter the presentation, because we know not everyone can watch it live, Hennessy and I stayed in the Crow\u2019s Nest until 3am editing the demo segments and posting everything to YouTube as quickly as technology would allow. Challenges aside, we consider the entire event a tremendous success.\n\nIn addition to Gamescom, we continued our efforts providing an unparalleled amount of information to our backers through weekly webseries, comm-links and more. Of course, we get to do all that because of the continued contributions of our Subscribers. Thank you for enabling us to share as much content as we do, you guys are awesome, and we\u2019ll never stop thanking you all for that. With that in mind, we started our #IMASTARCITIZEN social media initiative, with Digital Info Cards you can create for yourself at www.imastarcitizen.com and retro trading cards that are released every day on our Instagram account.\n\nFinally, a special welcome to all our new backers who joined us in August. If you would like to follow our development on social media, here\u2019s a page full of resources for everyone to enjoy.\n\nStar Citizen on Social Media"},"links_count":2,"comment_count":99,"created_at":"2015-09-05T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"10 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-08 06:56:52","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":14935,"next_id":14938}}