Monthly Report: April 2014
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English
Greetings Citizens,
It’s time for April’s Star Citizen development report! As we have done previously, we’ve asked the people in charge of each CIG studio and outsource group to report on what they have been up to in the previous month. (Please note that this also replaces the Arena Commander Weekly Report for May 2nd, since it includes everything done on AC this week.)
Travis Day, Dogfight Producer
As April comes to a close it is time again for us to reflect upon, and share, the major developments of the month! There is much to discuss so let’s get straight to it!
At the beginning of this month we revealed Arena Commander (AKA – DFM) to all the backers who were able to attend our pre-PAX East event in Boston and to the world via livestream. We also had the privilege of having Arena Commander playable on the show floor of PAX East for citizens and interested passerby alike in the Logitech booth. Of course we weren’t able to show everything we wanted to that night in Boston so we put together a video showing off some of the additional features we’ve been working on that didn’t make the demo level which you can see below if you missed it.
While showing off all our team’s hard work is very gratifying, the real treat is being able to interact with everyone in the community in person. Words cannot express how humbling and inspiring it is to be able to meet with so many people who are so passionate about the universe we are creating. It is incredibly motivating for all of us who were in attendance and while it isn’t truly possible to capture those indelible feelings we were able to share at least some of that with the team upon our return.
Speaking of the team, let’s move on to what they’ve been up to! Similar to many of the other studios, we here in Santa Monica are finishing up new feature implementation as we approach our branch date and code lock and move into final polish, tweaking, and bug fixing. To this end there has been a lot of planning and communication going on amongst all the studios to synchronize our finishing of feature development and finalizing our polish and rollout strategy. This will allow us to focus on finishing and stabilizing the planned features we’ve implemented and lower the risk of introducing new issues as we prepare for the launch of Arena Commander.
Whilst Production, Operations, and Network Engineering have been planning and executing the above strategy, our visual effects team has been finishing its final passes on effects and hooking them up to all the parts and states of the Aurora, 300i, Scythe, and Hornet and all of their possible item combinations. Our planning on this from Forrest and Casey has panned out quite well. In creating the effects for the Hornet and the Scythe along with all their weapons and items we’ve established a good starting point for an effects library for both UEE and Vanduul craft. Obviously these libraries will grow and change over time but it has us well positioned to rapidly iterate and hook up new ships and items in the future.
Speaking of ships breaking apart… This month has seen the completion of hooking up all of the damage pieces, LODs, particle effect nodes, etc. for the Scythe, 300i, Aurora, and Hornet. Not only do they all now explode, break, and LOD properly but we’ve also got them all flying properly this month. They’ve all been converted to PBR and as mentioned in a previous post the 300i has also undergone a major uprez and detail pass as it was being converted to PBR. All of the ships (which already looked great) are now looking absolutely fantastic. This is another case where our early work both in the way we approached it and focusing on the Hornet first has paid of dividends. By spending the time to R&D ship mechanics with the Hornet and locking down the process and documentation it has allowed us to blaze through the Scythe, Aurora, and 300i much more quickly and each ship has progressed more quickly than the last as we improve our technique, which is great to see.
On the engineering front the team has been focusing on finishing off some changes to the pipe system (framework which manages per ship and per part CPU, power, cooling, and fuel) to allow players to manipulate settings dynamically on a per item basis or on a global level for the ship which will affect all attached parts. This was a stretch goal for us going into the first release so we’re pleased that we’ve been able to fit this in as it will improve the dynamism of ships greatly and we think player’s will really enjoy it.
The pipe system wasn’t the only one to get a bit of an upgrade. Radar/detection system too has undergone an overhaul to expand its functionality both to improve its current features and to create the foundation for future features that designers can play with. It has also undergone an optimization both in parallel to this which has greatly increased its performance per frame. To expand upon the improvements to the radar system, it has been moved into a centralized system hosted by the vehicle that can be shared by multiple items and only get called once. That doesn’t sound very sexy but what it allows is for much more realistic simulation of missiles for example. Where you can feed your ships primary radar data to the missile for acquiring lock and then later switch to the missiles radar only once it has left the ship. It also paves the way for slaving radar from one ship to another or things like centralized command and control which is a feature we know a lot of our community is looking forward to. Lastly, we’ve adjusted the way the signal to noise ratio system works and expanded its functionality quite a bit to allow designers to play with different types of chaff, armor, nebulas, flares, etc. and have them impact the radar/detection system in entirely new ways.
On the graphics engineering side Okka Kyaw has been very busy working on many improvements to the HUD’s look and feel to make sure that the curvature shader works perfectly in a multitude of resolutions and has a projected holographic feel. He’s also created the redout effect to match his stellar g-force induced blackout effect and is now working on the interstitial effects such as blackout recovery to provide a more realistic and filmic return to consciousness. Overall we believe that folks will be really happy with the graphics effects and immersive feel that his work accomplishes.
Our headcount has increased by 1, with the addition of our new Human Resources specialist. We do have some exciting new hires coming up and we look forward to updating you about them next month!
We would like to close this month by taking a moment to thank you, each and every backer, for all of their support on this project. From backing the game, to fan fiction, to late night chatroll, ‘Ask a Dev’ threads, to fan gifts, to meeting everyone at events like the Arena Commander reveal. We are all truly humbled by all that you do for us and genuinely appreciate you making it possible for us to create this universe for us to share in together.
As always, feel free to post any comments or questions in our “Ask a Dev” threads and until next time… See you in the ‘verse!
Eric Peterson, Studio Director
Hello Citizens!
Here in Austin, we’ve been working on the integration of all the various studios’ code drops, in order to get the Dogfighting M… I mean Arena Commander… ready for launch. What that means is taking all the work done in places like Santa Monica, Manchester, Montreal and [Redacted], putting it together and making sure it all works the way it’s supposed to. We’re also knee deep in planning for the delivery of AC through the client side launcher/patcher; you know, that thing you log in to every time you visit your Hangar! Our other big dogfighting job is getting the backend server code stable for the release.
Outside of dogfighting, we’re working on the long-term planning and scheduling for both the planetside module and the eventual persistent universe. Launching Arena Commander is going to teach us a lot that we’ll need to know for both these future releases! We also hosted a cinematics and motion capture summit where teams from around the company plotted out the cinematic for both Squadron 42 and Star Citizen. Essentially, we sat down and blocked out the entire script so we’ll know what needs to be shot for our game!
Engineering:
The engineering team has been focusing on Dog Fighting v1 tasks including hangar, ship and other bugs that need to be fixed prior to launching. This also includes zSupervisor work for starting up game server processes, working to get the matchmaking services integrated and monitoring server issues during play tests. We are continuing integration of CryEngine 3.6 and should be complete by the end of next week 5/2/2014 barring any unforeseen issues.
Engineering has also been working on fixing build system issues as they come up and working with IT to migrate the old build system to the newly configured build system cluster. Phase I of this should be completed next week and we will continue to upgrade the system as needs arise.
Cinematics/Mocap:
In addition to the big cinematics summit, we concluded the facilities search for a mocap location (more on that soon!) and have made good progress on crew, vendor and process planning. That is the who and how of the massive motion capture shoot needed for Squadron 42. We’re working to finish tests and evaluations on several software options for facial and body mocap solutions. We’ve also generated the first budget for the shoot and we’re working with Foundry 42 on what assets are going to be needed in terms of ships and virtual sets before we start putting actors in their rigs.
Animation:
Our biggest priority this month was supporting the dogfighting launch with animations. You’d be surprised how much goes into Arena Commander, beyond just flipping your helmet around as you board your ship! We’re also cleaning up the existing Hangar animations and supporting some needs for the upcoming ship commercials.
Animation is on the grow: we’ve hired a new senior animator who starts soon, and we’re getting ready to do some mocapping for the First Person Shooter module launch. Another major priority going forward is to complete the male and weapon locomotion sets as we move into supporting Foundry 42’s needs for Squadron 42 cinematics… and then, eventually, the persistent universe! Finally, we’ve received new rigged heads, which we are now integrating into the game.
Art:
Art is assisting animation in getting the scanned heads fitted onto our in-game bodies. It’s more difficult than it sounds! The process involves adjusting base model sculpts to work better with heads. We’re also working on the bodies and costumes needed for Squadron 42 and several upcoming ship videos, while fleshing out a more exact list of what’s going to be needed in the long run for the persistent universe.
Meanwhile, art in Austin is exploring head customization and NPC generation options; we’re confident that we’re going to have something very cool in the end. We are finishing up LODs and damage states for all the ships in the Arena Commander V1 release (Hornet, Aurora, 300i and Scythe) and we’re continuing development of Star Citizen’s alien races.
Production:
The production team is primarily focused on the release of Dog Fighting v1. In addition, the production team is working on a Persistent Universe schedule and updating our ship schedule. Up next, we will be fleshing out the character schedules as well as the weapons and items schedule. All of this in tandem with keeping the teams on task, generating the rollout plan for the DFMV1 release, and generally keeping up with all the other production groups at each studio to keep the machine humming along.
Video Production:
Shot various video b-roll and interviews for PAX East DFM reveal. Also, produced, wrote, directed, shot and edited episodes 62-66 of “Wingman’s Hangar”. Shot and edited a sequence of humorous reviews of HP Envy laptop for AMD partnership. Shot video of fan visits and edited them into a video package. Designed and specified power, lighting, sound control of sound stage for Wingman’s hangar and future mocap sessions. Continued to expand upon our video production standards and procedures for commonly used assets for video production. Assisted with technical planning for PAX East as well as future live events.
Design:
In addition to supporting the dogfighting release, we have been forging ahead with persistent universe work. With a staff that has doubled in the past month, we’re drilling into topics like jump point running, bounty hunting, salvaging, and our massive reputation system. Design continues to put a heavy focus on bringing our economy system into a testable state, so we’re neck-deep in spreadsheets about how things are put together, where they’re found, and what they’re worth.
We also continue to push forward with the future of the hangar, with an improved shooting range and an early look at overclocking on the near horizon.
Good news for the web junkies: an update to the ship stats page is coming soon!
Audio:
In April, the entire audio department has been focusing on the needs of the Dogfight Module, beginning with the PAX East reveal and continuing on to the first release. Martin Galway has been hard at work wrangling the many facets of audio production – here is a look at what is going on with his team.
Pedro has been delivering interactive music clips that have been implemented so far by Jens Lind. Mason Fisher has been generating WAVs for [REDACTED] EVA work; Bill Munyon has spent most of his time on spacecraft sound design & implementation; Jason Cobb has concentrated on fixing existing audio, creating new implementation hooks and playtesting; Stefan was hired in mid-April and is still ramping up, starting with dialogue work for the Dogfighting module. Ian Chuprun has been working on environmental audio for the two multiplayer maps (in addition to asteroid hangar and general hangar upkeep).
IT:
April has been one of the busiest months of this year for the IT team. Between new user support and the PAX East event every member has been busy in their respective studios. With all dev teams working nearly around the clock on DFM Hassan, Dennis, and Chris have been working hard to keep up with upgrades and repairs resulting in virtually zero down time. Our Austin team spent some additional time preparing equipment for the PAX East event as well as wrapping up work on a new build server cluster which will help all dev teams speed up development and testing.
The IT team feels really good about our showing at PAX East and proud of our role in that event.
That is it from Texas – where the weather is getting warmer… and the dogfights getting more heated. And here’s a tip: if you see Rob Irving in the ‘verse, you might want to run… he is getting deadly accurate with his flight stick!
Thanks for your continued support!
Eric
Erin Roberts, Studio Director
Hi from Manchester again,
Another month has passed and it’s time to update you all on what we’ve been up to at Foundry 42. In short, there’s been a lot of work on both Arena Commander and Squadron 42. It’s a real pleasure to see both of these projects start to come together. I’d also like to add that I was personally revved up by getting to see our backers get their hands on the game for the first time at PAX East. It’s truly thrilling to see how quickly everyone ‘gets it’ and understands that Star Citizen is the real deal. Here are details on this month’s work from Foundry 42’s internal teams:
Design: (Nick Elms – Design Director)
What have we been doing? Building ships, of course! One of our most important tasks at the moment is designing the interiors of capital ships and space stations, because we’re going to need those as set pieces for some of Squadron 42’s earliest missions. Work on the Idris is continuing well, working alongside CGBot to deal with the few remaining uncertainties. The Javelin Destroyer has made a lot of progress since the concept art you saw; we have its internals mostly “grey boxed” now, with the exception of the bridge (coming soon!) The Panther-class Escort Carrier is almost “white-box” complete: an artist is tracing the pre-fab pieces, of which there are 146! Expect this stage to be complete by the end of the week. The venerable Bengal carrier is also in our shipyards, with white-boxing work being done on the hangar and the briefing room, as well as prototype work being done for methods of transport through the ship (trust me, you don’t want to walk a kilometre to get to your fighter before every mission.) The Shubin Mining Platform is making good progress in the same stage, with significant detailing on the monorail and landing pad sections. We’ve also detailed the refinery rooms, which have some serious machinery! We’re filling void areas with engineering ducts and hidden crannies, and are starting to populate rooms with placeholder props. Finally, some initial block-out has been done on the Xi’An Transport… but you’ll be hearing more about that later!
Seat actions may not be as exciting as fleet actions, but they’re also a necessary part of starship design: figuring out what station controls what in a capital ship, and how to make all of this fun for players. Our seat action plan is almost ready for signoff! On the specs side of things, we’re working on detailing the Vanduul fleet, with the Kingship, medium fighter, heavy fighter and destroyer on the bench at the moment. Next up is the “Void” bomber. The good guys are getting more hardware, too: the UEE dropship is in the works. Lastly, AI and profile work are being done on the Scythe to make sure it fights properly in Arena Commander.
Development of the conversation system is ongoing, with regular meetings to pin down the finer detail required to make the system work the way Chris Roberts imagines. There’s also been more work on the “Bitching Betty” and “Sim Announcer” conversation paths that will be relevant for Arena Commander’s evolution. We’ve also spent quite a bit of time on the multiplayer and Arena Commander V1 game modes. We’ve developed the “Capture the Core” mode from the ground up and it will be getting some final polish in the next few days. “Conquest,” which may not be in V1 but should be ready soon, is getting more development, especially in terms of code hook up. The hoard mode in “Vanduul Swarm” has made a great deal of progress, especially now that the Scythe is flying realistically!
Programming: (Derek Senior – Programming Director)
The main focus this month has been on Arena Commander. We’ve implemented 3D targeting reticules, the 3D HUD radar, scoring, the ITTS, HUD messaging (scoring feedback, join/leave notifications, boundary warnings, etc.), updated the missile launch sequence and refactored the targeting code. We’ve implemented new game rules for three modes, Squadron Battle, Capture the Core and Conquest. A lot of the work we’re doing boils down to bug squashing, especially for the multiplayer modes; now that we’re playing across studios, we can really identify and fix issues! A fair amount of this has been related to player re-spawning, which is now much more reliable. We’ve also done some work implementing HUD sound effects and the dynamic music system, and have polished the targeting panel’s functionality. One thing that I know is hotly debated among Star Citizen fans is controller functionality: we’ve been working on input maps for all types of controllers, from the keyboard to specific HOTAS setups. We’ve had feedback from players and designers across the company on this, and we’re dedicated to making sure Star Citizen is fun no matter what type of control mechanism you choose.
Art and Animation: (Paul Jones – Art Director)
The dogfighting module has been a true cross-company effort… but we’ll proudly take credit for the environment assets and map creation for Dying Star and Broken Moon! Our team went into the CryEngine running and the results speak for themselves. We have also been doing some assorted VFX work for the module and we’ve been helping with future game mode effect types. In April we’ve been perfecting everything from the terraforming stations to the landing platforms to the destructible platforms. We’ve also been working with design on the white-boxing and tiering of the Javelin, Panther and Bengal class warships. The exterior of the Retaliator is also looking great!
On the User Interface side of things, we’ve been nailing down the look and feel of the engineering seat action. Design has figured out what you need to do at a seat… now it’s up to us to figure out how the player should control things like power distribution, cooling, CPU load and the like!
Our concept artists have been doing plenty of 3D work, too! Functional models have been created for the Gladius light fighter (seen in a recent post), the Idris’ recovery ship and belly dock, the Javelin destroyer’s turret (interior and exterior) and the Panther escort carrier. Animation has been hard at work too, working on the dogfighting ejection and g-loc sequences, plus preparing the initial cinematic mocap tests for Squadron 42, the Vanduul pilot rigging and coutless ship weapon animations.
We’ve had another good month of getting through a bunch of needed concept, production and polish work in all departments. Next month (as we have pretty much finished all our Dog Fight Module tasks in the UK) we will be almost totally focussing on bringing capital ship systems online, as well as breaking down our mo-cap shoot needs for S42, as well as continuing to block out the first missions for S42 and everything that entails.
As always, thanks for all your support in allowing us to make this the best damn space sim ever… Without your commitment, support and belief we would not be where we are. I look forward to everyone checking out all the hard work that has gone into the game as we go live with Arena Commander, and maybe taking you guys on in the verse… :)
Cheers,
Erin
Mathieu Beaulieu, Producer
April went by so fast, yet a lot was accomplished. As far as programming goes, a good portion of the team has been working on Dogfighting related features. Our highest priority has been to complete the implementation and polish various user interface functionalities. We’ve made some great progress towards the completion of the framework that works towards building the Visor HUD, the Shield and Power Management UI, in-game Scoreboards as well as the Matchmaking UI.
We are also continuously working on creating the core of the economic simulation, working actively on both the backend simulation services as well as the frontend tools that will allow us to drive the economy.
Spring has finally arrived in Montreal and the Discount, Business and Deluxe Hangars are getting ready for some spring cleaning. Once they have been revamped, we will be able to add expansions and specialty rooms (like the shooting range) to all hangars, including the Asteroid Hangar.
And that’s not all! Work is well underway for the UI/UX design of the mobiGlas OS. Step by step, we are developing a solid global view of what the entire system will look like and how it will work, which will allow us to develop future functionalities faster and keep a consistent look throughout all its applications. We are also working on the avatar customization system which is now better defined, and we are working closely with CIG to make sure we keep the PU characters at the highest level of detail while allowing for maximum customization.
Tara Decker, Producer
April in Monterrey has been all.about.ships. And dogfighting. Cool ships & dogfighting….that’s been our spring. Pretty cool.
Our crew has spent the last month getting the Hornet, Aurora and the 300i (with Mr. Chris Smith) looking beautiful and ready to go into space. Getting the damage, LOD and PBR conversion done for each ship was often challenging as the approach on how to do each is newly defined. But, the ships are looking great & break up really well when hit, so dogfighting is going to be really, really fun.
Artists were also continuing work on the Idris with Erin’s studio. Great group of guys to work with…and incredibly high standards! The ship layout is basically finalized and work on the various rooms and areas (bridge, brig, reactor room, etc…) is in progress. This is a massive ship and work will continue for quite a bit.
The Freelancer and all of it’s variants are almost complete. As is the Avenger. Additional work for damage states and LOD’s will be needed, but the modeling phases are wrapping up nicely.
Next up for us: the ship Chris Roberts says he’s most excited to own: the Constellation. No pressure. ;)
So, I said April was all ships, but we also tackled character work as well. Updating the Male Explorer character. And doing helmet work. It’s crazy to note that as much time is going into modeling & texturing the interior of the helmet as the exterior. Nice.
Sean Murphy, Outsource Manager
Our external contractors have been focusing heavily on ship art this cycle – Eddie del Rio has created some great concepts for the Xi’an Scout ship, Stephan Martiniere is working on bridge interiors, Jan Urschel is designing the Xi’an bomber, and Emmanuel Shiu is exploring the Banu Merchantman. Ryan Church is continuing to develop the Panther Escort Carrier and Jim Martin is creating concepts for variants of the Cutlass, while Gavin Rothery is solidifying the design of the Gladius Light Fighter. And Stefano Tsai is blazing on the M50!
In addition we have Rob McKinnon working on Marine Armor concepts and various other military outfits; Clint Schultz and Dave Scott are working on corporation logos, David Brochard and Justin Sweet are doing some alien character explorations, and Atey Ghailan and Ed Lee are helping refine environments.
Finally, we’re in discussions with another exciting concept artist who has approached us about working with us – but we can’t say anything yet!
[Redacted]
Here at [Redacted] in the land of [Redacted] we have been enjoying the [Redacted] weather while hard at work on the FPS module!
The artists have been cranking away creating some amazing looking environments for you Citizens to kill each other in. As more props, detail and polish get implemented, it’s becoming apparent that Star Citizen will not only be one of the best looking games in the depths of space, but also planet-side… or within the corridors of a massive space station.
Our engineers and animators continued tweaking and polishing EVA and Zero-G movement, while the visual FX team came up with some awesome looking thruster jet effects. And while floating around and zooming through levels using thrusters is a blast, the big hit around the office has been Magnetic Boots! These marvels of modern technology let you stomp around on any metal surface in Zero-G… floors, walls, ceilings, ship exteriors, you name it! Coupled with Zero-G, we think it is going to add a very unique twist to the combat.
Speaking of combat, we have also been implementing a cover system. Soon, Citizens will be able to hunker down behind objects or lean in from behind a wall to take shots at the enemy. All of these actions combined with the variety of weapons means that there is an absolutely huge amount of animation that needs to be motion captured… and it just so happens that we are doing motion capture this week.
Moving forward with the FPS module, the team is about to begin a heavy amount play-testing to ensure everything is coming together in a way that is fun, engaging and hopefully nothing quite like anything you’ve ever seen or played before. We can’t wait to show it off and we hope that you Citizens are just as excited as we are!
Currently [Redacted] has a total of 24 talented people working on Star Citizen. Nine artists, six programmers, 4 animators, a creative director, a level designer, a contractor for sound effects, a senior producer and a gameplay producer.
Mark Day, Studio Director
Sherman was the new planet-side location announced in the latest edition of the Observist, and voidALPHA is focused on making it as spectacular as can be! Concept artist Emmanuel Shiu has painted the first 2 establishing shots and is now crafting the look and feel of the shop interiors. Design is building the rough level layout based on those concept shots, ensuring that the white box version accurately represents the architectural style and mood established for this demilitarized UEE base. Environment art has finished a majority of the geometry for The Blocks (Terra: Prime) and has now focused efforts on a basic material pass, getting us that much closer to completing one of the most foul and disreputable planet-side locations you will ever step foot on. Finally, our Centermass “Beautiful Corner” is…well…beautiful! We are in the final stretch of this shop interior, pending a few final lighting and material adjustments that are needed to make this shop a sight to behold!
Benoit Beauséjour, Founder
The platform team at Turbulent has been focused this month on finalizing Multi-Orgs membership. This is a feature we wanted to release while diving deeper into the second drop of Orgs in which we add significant structure and command upgrades to Orgs. This process is going well as we are now developing the artwork for the viewers and control interface for your Org structure.
A serious amount of time was spent building the Arena Commander leaderboard system which will carry pilot and org stats for the module. The presence of game stats on the site also brings about a revamp of the Citizen Dossier to allow you to show off your simulator pilot skills! (And also maybe review a pilot skill before you recruit him?)
Work has continued on revamping the store experience and bringing about more details on the ship variants and equipment. We now have a full control model on the platform to allow us to update and display ship related stats. Expect more in the upcoming weeks!
The team has made great headway on the multi-factor authentication , another big platform improvement we want to get to the community to improve the security of your accounts and the platform across the board. Many under-the-hood features are also developed to help dealing with account security and other tools for your amazing CS team!
Matthew Jack, Founder
April began with intensity for the three developers of the core Kythera team, as we were in the thick of things iterating on gameplay for the PAX East demo. This was especially exciting for us because it represented the first public playtest of Kythera, in Star Citizen’s Vanduul Swarm mode. There’s footage from that build on our website.
Since PAX we’ve been working towards the Dogfighting v1 release itself. The biggest change for us is the move to the Scythe. Kythera has been flying Hornets thus far but the Scythe is needed for Vanduul Swarm mode and those ships handle very differently and use different maneuvers.
A key feature this month is the improvement of avoidance to better handle some large and complex pieces of geometry in the Vanduul Swarm levels, in particular the Terraformer in Broken Moon. We’re also extending our Inspector debugging tool to give much more powerful feedback to programmers and designers as they craft Vanduul Swarm mode’s gameplay.
It’s time for April’s Star Citizen development report! As we have done previously, we’ve asked the people in charge of each CIG studio and outsource group to report on what they have been up to in the previous month. (Please note that this also replaces the Arena Commander Weekly Report for May 2nd, since it includes everything done on AC this week.)
Travis Day, Dogfight Producer
As April comes to a close it is time again for us to reflect upon, and share, the major developments of the month! There is much to discuss so let’s get straight to it!
At the beginning of this month we revealed Arena Commander (AKA – DFM) to all the backers who were able to attend our pre-PAX East event in Boston and to the world via livestream. We also had the privilege of having Arena Commander playable on the show floor of PAX East for citizens and interested passerby alike in the Logitech booth. Of course we weren’t able to show everything we wanted to that night in Boston so we put together a video showing off some of the additional features we’ve been working on that didn’t make the demo level which you can see below if you missed it.
While showing off all our team’s hard work is very gratifying, the real treat is being able to interact with everyone in the community in person. Words cannot express how humbling and inspiring it is to be able to meet with so many people who are so passionate about the universe we are creating. It is incredibly motivating for all of us who were in attendance and while it isn’t truly possible to capture those indelible feelings we were able to share at least some of that with the team upon our return.
Speaking of the team, let’s move on to what they’ve been up to! Similar to many of the other studios, we here in Santa Monica are finishing up new feature implementation as we approach our branch date and code lock and move into final polish, tweaking, and bug fixing. To this end there has been a lot of planning and communication going on amongst all the studios to synchronize our finishing of feature development and finalizing our polish and rollout strategy. This will allow us to focus on finishing and stabilizing the planned features we’ve implemented and lower the risk of introducing new issues as we prepare for the launch of Arena Commander.
Whilst Production, Operations, and Network Engineering have been planning and executing the above strategy, our visual effects team has been finishing its final passes on effects and hooking them up to all the parts and states of the Aurora, 300i, Scythe, and Hornet and all of their possible item combinations. Our planning on this from Forrest and Casey has panned out quite well. In creating the effects for the Hornet and the Scythe along with all their weapons and items we’ve established a good starting point for an effects library for both UEE and Vanduul craft. Obviously these libraries will grow and change over time but it has us well positioned to rapidly iterate and hook up new ships and items in the future.
Speaking of ships breaking apart… This month has seen the completion of hooking up all of the damage pieces, LODs, particle effect nodes, etc. for the Scythe, 300i, Aurora, and Hornet. Not only do they all now explode, break, and LOD properly but we’ve also got them all flying properly this month. They’ve all been converted to PBR and as mentioned in a previous post the 300i has also undergone a major uprez and detail pass as it was being converted to PBR. All of the ships (which already looked great) are now looking absolutely fantastic. This is another case where our early work both in the way we approached it and focusing on the Hornet first has paid of dividends. By spending the time to R&D ship mechanics with the Hornet and locking down the process and documentation it has allowed us to blaze through the Scythe, Aurora, and 300i much more quickly and each ship has progressed more quickly than the last as we improve our technique, which is great to see.
On the engineering front the team has been focusing on finishing off some changes to the pipe system (framework which manages per ship and per part CPU, power, cooling, and fuel) to allow players to manipulate settings dynamically on a per item basis or on a global level for the ship which will affect all attached parts. This was a stretch goal for us going into the first release so we’re pleased that we’ve been able to fit this in as it will improve the dynamism of ships greatly and we think player’s will really enjoy it.
The pipe system wasn’t the only one to get a bit of an upgrade. Radar/detection system too has undergone an overhaul to expand its functionality both to improve its current features and to create the foundation for future features that designers can play with. It has also undergone an optimization both in parallel to this which has greatly increased its performance per frame. To expand upon the improvements to the radar system, it has been moved into a centralized system hosted by the vehicle that can be shared by multiple items and only get called once. That doesn’t sound very sexy but what it allows is for much more realistic simulation of missiles for example. Where you can feed your ships primary radar data to the missile for acquiring lock and then later switch to the missiles radar only once it has left the ship. It also paves the way for slaving radar from one ship to another or things like centralized command and control which is a feature we know a lot of our community is looking forward to. Lastly, we’ve adjusted the way the signal to noise ratio system works and expanded its functionality quite a bit to allow designers to play with different types of chaff, armor, nebulas, flares, etc. and have them impact the radar/detection system in entirely new ways.
On the graphics engineering side Okka Kyaw has been very busy working on many improvements to the HUD’s look and feel to make sure that the curvature shader works perfectly in a multitude of resolutions and has a projected holographic feel. He’s also created the redout effect to match his stellar g-force induced blackout effect and is now working on the interstitial effects such as blackout recovery to provide a more realistic and filmic return to consciousness. Overall we believe that folks will be really happy with the graphics effects and immersive feel that his work accomplishes.
Our headcount has increased by 1, with the addition of our new Human Resources specialist. We do have some exciting new hires coming up and we look forward to updating you about them next month!
We would like to close this month by taking a moment to thank you, each and every backer, for all of their support on this project. From backing the game, to fan fiction, to late night chatroll, ‘Ask a Dev’ threads, to fan gifts, to meeting everyone at events like the Arena Commander reveal. We are all truly humbled by all that you do for us and genuinely appreciate you making it possible for us to create this universe for us to share in together.
As always, feel free to post any comments or questions in our “Ask a Dev” threads and until next time… See you in the ‘verse!
Eric Peterson, Studio Director
Hello Citizens!
Here in Austin, we’ve been working on the integration of all the various studios’ code drops, in order to get the Dogfighting M… I mean Arena Commander… ready for launch. What that means is taking all the work done in places like Santa Monica, Manchester, Montreal and [Redacted], putting it together and making sure it all works the way it’s supposed to. We’re also knee deep in planning for the delivery of AC through the client side launcher/patcher; you know, that thing you log in to every time you visit your Hangar! Our other big dogfighting job is getting the backend server code stable for the release.
Outside of dogfighting, we’re working on the long-term planning and scheduling for both the planetside module and the eventual persistent universe. Launching Arena Commander is going to teach us a lot that we’ll need to know for both these future releases! We also hosted a cinematics and motion capture summit where teams from around the company plotted out the cinematic for both Squadron 42 and Star Citizen. Essentially, we sat down and blocked out the entire script so we’ll know what needs to be shot for our game!
Engineering:
The engineering team has been focusing on Dog Fighting v1 tasks including hangar, ship and other bugs that need to be fixed prior to launching. This also includes zSupervisor work for starting up game server processes, working to get the matchmaking services integrated and monitoring server issues during play tests. We are continuing integration of CryEngine 3.6 and should be complete by the end of next week 5/2/2014 barring any unforeseen issues.
Engineering has also been working on fixing build system issues as they come up and working with IT to migrate the old build system to the newly configured build system cluster. Phase I of this should be completed next week and we will continue to upgrade the system as needs arise.
Cinematics/Mocap:
In addition to the big cinematics summit, we concluded the facilities search for a mocap location (more on that soon!) and have made good progress on crew, vendor and process planning. That is the who and how of the massive motion capture shoot needed for Squadron 42. We’re working to finish tests and evaluations on several software options for facial and body mocap solutions. We’ve also generated the first budget for the shoot and we’re working with Foundry 42 on what assets are going to be needed in terms of ships and virtual sets before we start putting actors in their rigs.
Animation:
Our biggest priority this month was supporting the dogfighting launch with animations. You’d be surprised how much goes into Arena Commander, beyond just flipping your helmet around as you board your ship! We’re also cleaning up the existing Hangar animations and supporting some needs for the upcoming ship commercials.
Animation is on the grow: we’ve hired a new senior animator who starts soon, and we’re getting ready to do some mocapping for the First Person Shooter module launch. Another major priority going forward is to complete the male and weapon locomotion sets as we move into supporting Foundry 42’s needs for Squadron 42 cinematics… and then, eventually, the persistent universe! Finally, we’ve received new rigged heads, which we are now integrating into the game.
Art:
Art is assisting animation in getting the scanned heads fitted onto our in-game bodies. It’s more difficult than it sounds! The process involves adjusting base model sculpts to work better with heads. We’re also working on the bodies and costumes needed for Squadron 42 and several upcoming ship videos, while fleshing out a more exact list of what’s going to be needed in the long run for the persistent universe.
Meanwhile, art in Austin is exploring head customization and NPC generation options; we’re confident that we’re going to have something very cool in the end. We are finishing up LODs and damage states for all the ships in the Arena Commander V1 release (Hornet, Aurora, 300i and Scythe) and we’re continuing development of Star Citizen’s alien races.
Production:
The production team is primarily focused on the release of Dog Fighting v1. In addition, the production team is working on a Persistent Universe schedule and updating our ship schedule. Up next, we will be fleshing out the character schedules as well as the weapons and items schedule. All of this in tandem with keeping the teams on task, generating the rollout plan for the DFMV1 release, and generally keeping up with all the other production groups at each studio to keep the machine humming along.
Video Production:
Shot various video b-roll and interviews for PAX East DFM reveal. Also, produced, wrote, directed, shot and edited episodes 62-66 of “Wingman’s Hangar”. Shot and edited a sequence of humorous reviews of HP Envy laptop for AMD partnership. Shot video of fan visits and edited them into a video package. Designed and specified power, lighting, sound control of sound stage for Wingman’s hangar and future mocap sessions. Continued to expand upon our video production standards and procedures for commonly used assets for video production. Assisted with technical planning for PAX East as well as future live events.
Design:
In addition to supporting the dogfighting release, we have been forging ahead with persistent universe work. With a staff that has doubled in the past month, we’re drilling into topics like jump point running, bounty hunting, salvaging, and our massive reputation system. Design continues to put a heavy focus on bringing our economy system into a testable state, so we’re neck-deep in spreadsheets about how things are put together, where they’re found, and what they’re worth.
We also continue to push forward with the future of the hangar, with an improved shooting range and an early look at overclocking on the near horizon.
Good news for the web junkies: an update to the ship stats page is coming soon!
Audio:
In April, the entire audio department has been focusing on the needs of the Dogfight Module, beginning with the PAX East reveal and continuing on to the first release. Martin Galway has been hard at work wrangling the many facets of audio production – here is a look at what is going on with his team.
Pedro has been delivering interactive music clips that have been implemented so far by Jens Lind. Mason Fisher has been generating WAVs for [REDACTED] EVA work; Bill Munyon has spent most of his time on spacecraft sound design & implementation; Jason Cobb has concentrated on fixing existing audio, creating new implementation hooks and playtesting; Stefan was hired in mid-April and is still ramping up, starting with dialogue work for the Dogfighting module. Ian Chuprun has been working on environmental audio for the two multiplayer maps (in addition to asteroid hangar and general hangar upkeep).
IT:
April has been one of the busiest months of this year for the IT team. Between new user support and the PAX East event every member has been busy in their respective studios. With all dev teams working nearly around the clock on DFM Hassan, Dennis, and Chris have been working hard to keep up with upgrades and repairs resulting in virtually zero down time. Our Austin team spent some additional time preparing equipment for the PAX East event as well as wrapping up work on a new build server cluster which will help all dev teams speed up development and testing.
The IT team feels really good about our showing at PAX East and proud of our role in that event.
That is it from Texas – where the weather is getting warmer… and the dogfights getting more heated. And here’s a tip: if you see Rob Irving in the ‘verse, you might want to run… he is getting deadly accurate with his flight stick!
Thanks for your continued support!
Eric
Erin Roberts, Studio Director
Hi from Manchester again,
Another month has passed and it’s time to update you all on what we’ve been up to at Foundry 42. In short, there’s been a lot of work on both Arena Commander and Squadron 42. It’s a real pleasure to see both of these projects start to come together. I’d also like to add that I was personally revved up by getting to see our backers get their hands on the game for the first time at PAX East. It’s truly thrilling to see how quickly everyone ‘gets it’ and understands that Star Citizen is the real deal. Here are details on this month’s work from Foundry 42’s internal teams:
Design: (Nick Elms – Design Director)
What have we been doing? Building ships, of course! One of our most important tasks at the moment is designing the interiors of capital ships and space stations, because we’re going to need those as set pieces for some of Squadron 42’s earliest missions. Work on the Idris is continuing well, working alongside CGBot to deal with the few remaining uncertainties. The Javelin Destroyer has made a lot of progress since the concept art you saw; we have its internals mostly “grey boxed” now, with the exception of the bridge (coming soon!) The Panther-class Escort Carrier is almost “white-box” complete: an artist is tracing the pre-fab pieces, of which there are 146! Expect this stage to be complete by the end of the week. The venerable Bengal carrier is also in our shipyards, with white-boxing work being done on the hangar and the briefing room, as well as prototype work being done for methods of transport through the ship (trust me, you don’t want to walk a kilometre to get to your fighter before every mission.) The Shubin Mining Platform is making good progress in the same stage, with significant detailing on the monorail and landing pad sections. We’ve also detailed the refinery rooms, which have some serious machinery! We’re filling void areas with engineering ducts and hidden crannies, and are starting to populate rooms with placeholder props. Finally, some initial block-out has been done on the Xi’An Transport… but you’ll be hearing more about that later!
Seat actions may not be as exciting as fleet actions, but they’re also a necessary part of starship design: figuring out what station controls what in a capital ship, and how to make all of this fun for players. Our seat action plan is almost ready for signoff! On the specs side of things, we’re working on detailing the Vanduul fleet, with the Kingship, medium fighter, heavy fighter and destroyer on the bench at the moment. Next up is the “Void” bomber. The good guys are getting more hardware, too: the UEE dropship is in the works. Lastly, AI and profile work are being done on the Scythe to make sure it fights properly in Arena Commander.
Development of the conversation system is ongoing, with regular meetings to pin down the finer detail required to make the system work the way Chris Roberts imagines. There’s also been more work on the “Bitching Betty” and “Sim Announcer” conversation paths that will be relevant for Arena Commander’s evolution. We’ve also spent quite a bit of time on the multiplayer and Arena Commander V1 game modes. We’ve developed the “Capture the Core” mode from the ground up and it will be getting some final polish in the next few days. “Conquest,” which may not be in V1 but should be ready soon, is getting more development, especially in terms of code hook up. The hoard mode in “Vanduul Swarm” has made a great deal of progress, especially now that the Scythe is flying realistically!
Programming: (Derek Senior – Programming Director)
The main focus this month has been on Arena Commander. We’ve implemented 3D targeting reticules, the 3D HUD radar, scoring, the ITTS, HUD messaging (scoring feedback, join/leave notifications, boundary warnings, etc.), updated the missile launch sequence and refactored the targeting code. We’ve implemented new game rules for three modes, Squadron Battle, Capture the Core and Conquest. A lot of the work we’re doing boils down to bug squashing, especially for the multiplayer modes; now that we’re playing across studios, we can really identify and fix issues! A fair amount of this has been related to player re-spawning, which is now much more reliable. We’ve also done some work implementing HUD sound effects and the dynamic music system, and have polished the targeting panel’s functionality. One thing that I know is hotly debated among Star Citizen fans is controller functionality: we’ve been working on input maps for all types of controllers, from the keyboard to specific HOTAS setups. We’ve had feedback from players and designers across the company on this, and we’re dedicated to making sure Star Citizen is fun no matter what type of control mechanism you choose.
Art and Animation: (Paul Jones – Art Director)
The dogfighting module has been a true cross-company effort… but we’ll proudly take credit for the environment assets and map creation for Dying Star and Broken Moon! Our team went into the CryEngine running and the results speak for themselves. We have also been doing some assorted VFX work for the module and we’ve been helping with future game mode effect types. In April we’ve been perfecting everything from the terraforming stations to the landing platforms to the destructible platforms. We’ve also been working with design on the white-boxing and tiering of the Javelin, Panther and Bengal class warships. The exterior of the Retaliator is also looking great!
On the User Interface side of things, we’ve been nailing down the look and feel of the engineering seat action. Design has figured out what you need to do at a seat… now it’s up to us to figure out how the player should control things like power distribution, cooling, CPU load and the like!
Our concept artists have been doing plenty of 3D work, too! Functional models have been created for the Gladius light fighter (seen in a recent post), the Idris’ recovery ship and belly dock, the Javelin destroyer’s turret (interior and exterior) and the Panther escort carrier. Animation has been hard at work too, working on the dogfighting ejection and g-loc sequences, plus preparing the initial cinematic mocap tests for Squadron 42, the Vanduul pilot rigging and coutless ship weapon animations.
We’ve had another good month of getting through a bunch of needed concept, production and polish work in all departments. Next month (as we have pretty much finished all our Dog Fight Module tasks in the UK) we will be almost totally focussing on bringing capital ship systems online, as well as breaking down our mo-cap shoot needs for S42, as well as continuing to block out the first missions for S42 and everything that entails.
As always, thanks for all your support in allowing us to make this the best damn space sim ever… Without your commitment, support and belief we would not be where we are. I look forward to everyone checking out all the hard work that has gone into the game as we go live with Arena Commander, and maybe taking you guys on in the verse… :)
Cheers,
Erin
Mathieu Beaulieu, Producer
April went by so fast, yet a lot was accomplished. As far as programming goes, a good portion of the team has been working on Dogfighting related features. Our highest priority has been to complete the implementation and polish various user interface functionalities. We’ve made some great progress towards the completion of the framework that works towards building the Visor HUD, the Shield and Power Management UI, in-game Scoreboards as well as the Matchmaking UI.
We are also continuously working on creating the core of the economic simulation, working actively on both the backend simulation services as well as the frontend tools that will allow us to drive the economy.
Spring has finally arrived in Montreal and the Discount, Business and Deluxe Hangars are getting ready for some spring cleaning. Once they have been revamped, we will be able to add expansions and specialty rooms (like the shooting range) to all hangars, including the Asteroid Hangar.
And that’s not all! Work is well underway for the UI/UX design of the mobiGlas OS. Step by step, we are developing a solid global view of what the entire system will look like and how it will work, which will allow us to develop future functionalities faster and keep a consistent look throughout all its applications. We are also working on the avatar customization system which is now better defined, and we are working closely with CIG to make sure we keep the PU characters at the highest level of detail while allowing for maximum customization.
Tara Decker, Producer
April in Monterrey has been all.about.ships. And dogfighting. Cool ships & dogfighting….that’s been our spring. Pretty cool.
Our crew has spent the last month getting the Hornet, Aurora and the 300i (with Mr. Chris Smith) looking beautiful and ready to go into space. Getting the damage, LOD and PBR conversion done for each ship was often challenging as the approach on how to do each is newly defined. But, the ships are looking great & break up really well when hit, so dogfighting is going to be really, really fun.
Artists were also continuing work on the Idris with Erin’s studio. Great group of guys to work with…and incredibly high standards! The ship layout is basically finalized and work on the various rooms and areas (bridge, brig, reactor room, etc…) is in progress. This is a massive ship and work will continue for quite a bit.
The Freelancer and all of it’s variants are almost complete. As is the Avenger. Additional work for damage states and LOD’s will be needed, but the modeling phases are wrapping up nicely.
Next up for us: the ship Chris Roberts says he’s most excited to own: the Constellation. No pressure. ;)
So, I said April was all ships, but we also tackled character work as well. Updating the Male Explorer character. And doing helmet work. It’s crazy to note that as much time is going into modeling & texturing the interior of the helmet as the exterior. Nice.
Sean Murphy, Outsource Manager
Our external contractors have been focusing heavily on ship art this cycle – Eddie del Rio has created some great concepts for the Xi’an Scout ship, Stephan Martiniere is working on bridge interiors, Jan Urschel is designing the Xi’an bomber, and Emmanuel Shiu is exploring the Banu Merchantman. Ryan Church is continuing to develop the Panther Escort Carrier and Jim Martin is creating concepts for variants of the Cutlass, while Gavin Rothery is solidifying the design of the Gladius Light Fighter. And Stefano Tsai is blazing on the M50!
In addition we have Rob McKinnon working on Marine Armor concepts and various other military outfits; Clint Schultz and Dave Scott are working on corporation logos, David Brochard and Justin Sweet are doing some alien character explorations, and Atey Ghailan and Ed Lee are helping refine environments.
Finally, we’re in discussions with another exciting concept artist who has approached us about working with us – but we can’t say anything yet!
[Redacted]
Here at [Redacted] in the land of [Redacted] we have been enjoying the [Redacted] weather while hard at work on the FPS module!
The artists have been cranking away creating some amazing looking environments for you Citizens to kill each other in. As more props, detail and polish get implemented, it’s becoming apparent that Star Citizen will not only be one of the best looking games in the depths of space, but also planet-side… or within the corridors of a massive space station.
Our engineers and animators continued tweaking and polishing EVA and Zero-G movement, while the visual FX team came up with some awesome looking thruster jet effects. And while floating around and zooming through levels using thrusters is a blast, the big hit around the office has been Magnetic Boots! These marvels of modern technology let you stomp around on any metal surface in Zero-G… floors, walls, ceilings, ship exteriors, you name it! Coupled with Zero-G, we think it is going to add a very unique twist to the combat.
Speaking of combat, we have also been implementing a cover system. Soon, Citizens will be able to hunker down behind objects or lean in from behind a wall to take shots at the enemy. All of these actions combined with the variety of weapons means that there is an absolutely huge amount of animation that needs to be motion captured… and it just so happens that we are doing motion capture this week.
Moving forward with the FPS module, the team is about to begin a heavy amount play-testing to ensure everything is coming together in a way that is fun, engaging and hopefully nothing quite like anything you’ve ever seen or played before. We can’t wait to show it off and we hope that you Citizens are just as excited as we are!
Currently [Redacted] has a total of 24 talented people working on Star Citizen. Nine artists, six programmers, 4 animators, a creative director, a level designer, a contractor for sound effects, a senior producer and a gameplay producer.
Mark Day, Studio Director
Sherman was the new planet-side location announced in the latest edition of the Observist, and voidALPHA is focused on making it as spectacular as can be! Concept artist Emmanuel Shiu has painted the first 2 establishing shots and is now crafting the look and feel of the shop interiors. Design is building the rough level layout based on those concept shots, ensuring that the white box version accurately represents the architectural style and mood established for this demilitarized UEE base. Environment art has finished a majority of the geometry for The Blocks (Terra: Prime) and has now focused efforts on a basic material pass, getting us that much closer to completing one of the most foul and disreputable planet-side locations you will ever step foot on. Finally, our Centermass “Beautiful Corner” is…well…beautiful! We are in the final stretch of this shop interior, pending a few final lighting and material adjustments that are needed to make this shop a sight to behold!
Benoit Beauséjour, Founder
The platform team at Turbulent has been focused this month on finalizing Multi-Orgs membership. This is a feature we wanted to release while diving deeper into the second drop of Orgs in which we add significant structure and command upgrades to Orgs. This process is going well as we are now developing the artwork for the viewers and control interface for your Org structure.
A serious amount of time was spent building the Arena Commander leaderboard system which will carry pilot and org stats for the module. The presence of game stats on the site also brings about a revamp of the Citizen Dossier to allow you to show off your simulator pilot skills! (And also maybe review a pilot skill before you recruit him?)
Work has continued on revamping the store experience and bringing about more details on the ship variants and equipment. We now have a full control model on the platform to allow us to update and display ship related stats. Expect more in the upcoming weeks!
The team has made great headway on the multi-factor authentication , another big platform improvement we want to get to the community to improve the security of your accounts and the platform across the board. Many under-the-hood features are also developed to help dealing with account security and other tools for your amazing CS team!
Matthew Jack, Founder
April began with intensity for the three developers of the core Kythera team, as we were in the thick of things iterating on gameplay for the PAX East demo. This was especially exciting for us because it represented the first public playtest of Kythera, in Star Citizen’s Vanduul Swarm mode. There’s footage from that build on our website.
Since PAX we’ve been working towards the Dogfighting v1 release itself. The biggest change for us is the move to the Scythe. Kythera has been flying Hornets thus far but the Scythe is needed for Vanduul Swarm mode and those ships handle very differently and use different maneuvers.
A key feature this month is the improvement of avoidance to better handle some large and complex pieces of geometry in the Vanduul Swarm levels, in particular the Terraformer in Broken Moon. We’re also extending our Inspector debugging tool to give much more powerful feedback to programmers and designers as they craft Vanduul Swarm mode’s gameplay.
German
Grüße Bürger,
Es ist Zeit für den Entwicklungsbericht von April's Star Citizen! Wie bereits erwähnt, haben wir die Verantwortlichen der einzelnen CIG-Studios und Outsource-Gruppen gebeten, darüber zu berichten, was sie im Vormonat gemacht haben. (Bitte beachten Sie, dass dies auch den Arena Commander Weekly Report für den 2. Mai ersetzt, da er alles beinhaltet, was diese Woche an AC gemacht wurde.)
Travis Day, Dogfight Producer, Dogfight Producer
Wenn der April zu Ende geht, ist es wieder an der Zeit, über die wichtigsten Entwicklungen des Monats nachzudenken und zu teilen! Es gibt viel zu besprechen, also lasst uns gleich zur Sache kommen!
Anfang dieses Monats haben wir Arena Commander (AKA - DFM) allen Geldgebern vorgestellt, die an unserem Pre-PAX East Event in Boston und der Welt per Livestream teilnehmen konnten. Wir hatten auch das Privileg, den Arena Commander auf der Ausstellungsfläche der PAX East für Bürger und interessierte Passanten am Logitech-Stand spielen zu lassen. Natürlich konnten wir nicht alles zeigen, was wir an diesem Abend in Boston wollten, also haben wir ein Video zusammengestellt, das einige der zusätzlichen Features zeigt, an denen wir gearbeitet haben, die nicht das Demo-Level erreicht haben, das Sie unten sehen können, wenn Sie es verpasst haben.
Während die harte Arbeit unseres Teams sehr erfreulich ist, ist es der wahre Leckerbissen, mit jedem in der Gemeinschaft persönlich interagieren zu können. Worte können nicht ausdrücken, wie demütigend und inspirierend es ist, so viele Menschen treffen zu können, die so leidenschaftlich für das Universum sind, das wir erschaffen. Es ist unglaublich motivierend für uns alle, die wir dabei waren, und obwohl es nicht wirklich möglich ist, diese unauslöschlichen Gefühle festzuhalten, konnten wir zumindest einen Teil davon nach unserer Rückkehr mit dem Team teilen.
Apropos Team, kommen wir zu dem, was sie vorhaben! Ähnlich wie viele der anderen Studios schließen wir hier in Santa Monica die Implementierung neuer Funktionen ab, während wir uns unserem Zweigstellendatum und der Codeverriegelung nähern und in die Endbearbeitung, das Optimieren und die Fehlerbehebung einsteigen. Zu diesem Zweck wurde zwischen allen Studios viel geplant und kommuniziert, um den Abschluss der Feature-Entwicklung mit dem Abschluss unserer Polier- und Rollout-Strategie zu synchronisieren. Dies wird es uns ermöglichen, uns auf die Fertigstellung und Stabilisierung der geplanten Funktionen zu konzentrieren, die wir implementiert haben, und das Risiko der Einführung neuer Probleme zu verringern, während wir uns auf den Start von Arena Commander vorbereiten.
Während Produktions-, Betriebs- und Netzwerktechnik die oben genannte Strategie geplant und ausgeführt haben, hat unser Visual-Effects-Team die letzten Übergaben der Effekte fertiggestellt und sie mit allen Teilen und Zuständen der Aurora, 300i, Scythe und Hornet und all ihren möglichen Artikelkombinationen verbunden. Unsere Planung dazu von Forrest und Casey hat sich recht gut entwickelt. Mit der Erstellung der Effekte für die Hornet und die Scythe mit all ihren Waffen und Gegenständen haben wir einen guten Ausgangspunkt für eine Effektbibliothek für UEE- und Vanduulfahrzeuge geschaffen. Natürlich werden diese Bibliotheken im Laufe der Zeit wachsen und sich ändern, aber sie haben uns gut positioniert, um in Zukunft schnell neue Schiffe und Gegenstände zu iterieren und anzulegen.
Apropos auseinanderbrechende Schiffe.... Dieser Monat hat die Fertigstellung aller Schadensteile, LODs, Partikeleffektknoten usw. für die Scythe, 300i, Aurora und Hornet gesehen. Nicht nur, dass sie jetzt alle richtig explodieren, brechen und LOD machen, sondern wir haben sie auch diesen Monat alle richtig fliegen lassen. Sie sind alle in PBR umgewandelt worden und wie in einem früheren Beitrag erwähnt, hat der 300i auch einen großen Uprez und Detailpass durchgemacht, als er in PBR umgewandelt wurde. Alle Schiffe (die schon gut aussahen) sehen jetzt absolut fantastisch aus. Dies ist ein weiterer Fall, in dem unsere frühe Arbeit sowohl in der Art und Weise, wie wir es angegangen sind, als auch in der Fokussierung auf die Hornet, sich zuerst ausgezahlt hat. Indem wir die Zeit mit der Hornet für die Forschung und Entwicklung von Schiffsmechanikern verbrachten und den Prozess und die Dokumentation abschlossen, konnten wir viel schneller durch die Scythe, Aurora und 300i flammen und jedes Schiff ist schneller vorangekommen als das letzte, während wir unsere Technik verbesserten, was großartig zu sehen ist.
Auf der technischen Seite konzentrierte sich das Team darauf, einige Änderungen am Rohrsystem (Framework, das pro Schiff und pro Teil CPU, Strom, Kühlung und Kraftstoff verwaltet) abzuschließen, damit die Spieler die Einstellungen dynamisch pro Element oder auf globaler Ebene für das Schiff manipulieren können, was sich auf alle Anbauteile auswirkt. Dies war ein Stretch-Ziel für uns, in die erste Version zu gehen, also freuen wir uns, dass wir in der Lage waren, dies einzubauen, da es die Dynamik der Schiffe erheblich verbessern wird und wir denken, dass es den Spielern wirklich gefallen wird.
Das Rohrsystem war nicht das einzige, das ein kleines Upgrade erhalten hat. Auch das Radar-/Detektionssystem wurde überarbeitet, um seine Funktionalität zu erweitern, um sowohl seine aktuellen Funktionen zu verbessern als auch die Grundlage für zukünftige Funktionen zu schaffen, mit denen Designer spielen können. Parallel dazu wurde auch eine Optimierung durchgeführt, die die Leistung pro Frame deutlich erhöht hat. Um die Verbesserungen des Radarsystems zu erweitern, wurde es in ein zentrales, vom Fahrzeug gehostetes System verschoben, das von mehreren Elementen gemeinsam genutzt werden kann und nur einmal aufgerufen wird. Das klingt nicht sehr sexy, aber was es ermöglicht, ist eine viel realistischere Simulation von Raketen zum Beispiel. Hier können Sie der Rakete primäre Radardaten für die Erfassung der Schleuse zuführen und später erst dann auf das Raketenradar umschalten, wenn es das Schiff verlassen hat. Es ebnet auch den Weg für die Sklaverei des Radars von einem Schiff zum anderen oder für Dinge wie die zentralisierte Führung, von der wir wissen, dass viele unserer Mitmenschen sich darauf freuen. Schließlich haben wir die Funktionsweise des Signal-Rausch-Verhältnis-Systems angepasst und seine Funktionalität erheblich erweitert, so dass Designer mit verschiedenen Arten von Spreu, Rüstung, Nebeln, Leuchtfeuer usw. spielen und das Radar-/Detektionssystem auf völlig neue Weise beeinflussen können.
Auf der grafischen Seite war Okka Kyaw sehr damit beschäftigt, an vielen Verbesserungen des Aussehens und Gefühls des HUD zu arbeiten, um sicherzustellen, dass der Krümmungs-Shader in einer Vielzahl von Auflösungen perfekt funktioniert und ein projiziertes holografisches Gefühl hat. Er hat auch den Redout-Effekt entwickelt, um seinem stellaren g-force-induzierten Blackout-Effekt gerecht zu werden, und arbeitet nun an den interstitiellen Effekten wie der Blackout-Recovery, um eine realistischere und filmischere Rückkehr zum Bewusstsein zu ermöglichen. Insgesamt glauben wir, dass die Leute mit den grafischen Effekten sehr zufrieden sein werden und das Gefühl haben, dass seine Arbeit erfolgreich ist.
Unsere Mitarbeiterzahl hat sich um 1 erhöht, hinzugekommen ist unser neuer Personalverantwortlicher. Wir haben einige spannende Neueinstellungen vor uns und freuen uns darauf, Sie nächsten Monat darüber zu informieren!
Zum Abschluss dieses Monats möchten wir uns einen Moment Zeit nehmen, um Ihnen, jedem einzelnen Geldgeber, für Ihre Unterstützung bei diesem Projekt zu danken. Von der Unterstützung des Spiels über Fan-Fiction bis hin zum späten Chatroll, Ask a Dev-Threads, Fan-Geschenke und Treffen mit allen bei Veranstaltungen, wie der Arena Commander verrät. Wir alle sind wahrhaftig gedemütigt von allem, was ihr für uns tut, und schätzen es wirklich, dass ihr es uns ermöglicht, dieses Universum zu erschaffen, an dem wir gemeinsam teilhaben können.
Wie immer, zögere nicht, Kommentare oder Fragen in unseren "Ask a Dev"-Threads zu posten und bis zum nächsten Mal.... Wir sehen uns im "Vers"!
Eric Peterson, Studio-Direktor
Hallo Bürger!
Hier in Austin haben wir an der Integration aller Code-Drops der verschiedenen Studios gearbeitet, um den Dogfighting M... Ich meine Arena Commander.... startbereit zu machen. Das bedeutet, dass man die ganze Arbeit, die an Orten wie Santa Monica, Manchester, Montreal und[Redacted] geleistet wird, zusammenfügt und sicherstellt, dass alles so funktioniert, wie es soll. Wir sind auch sehr tief in der Planung für die Lieferung von AC durch den kundenseitigen Launcher/Patcher; Sie wissen schon, das, woran Sie sich jedes Mal anmelden, wenn Sie Ihren Hangar besuchen! Unser anderer großer Dogfighting-Auftrag ist es, den Backend-Servercode für die Veröffentlichung stabil zu halten.
Außerhalb des Luftkampfes arbeiten wir an der langfristigen Planung und Terminierung sowohl für das Planetenmodul als auch für das eventuell anhaltende Universum. Der Start von Arena Commander wird uns viel beibringen, was wir für diese beiden zukünftigen Versionen wissen müssen! Wir veranstalteten auch einen Film- und Motion-Capture-Gipfel, bei dem Teams aus dem gesamten Unternehmen die Filmmaterial für Staffel 42 und Star Citizen aufzeichneten. Im Wesentlichen haben wir uns hingesetzt und das gesamte Drehbuch blockiert, damit wir wissen, was für unser Spiel gedreht werden muss!
Ingenieurwesen:
Das Entwicklungsteam hat sich auf Dog Fighting v1 Aufgaben konzentriert, einschließlich Hangar, Schiff und andere Fehler, die vor dem Start behoben werden müssen. Dazu gehört auch die Arbeit des zSupervisors zum Starten von Spielserverprozessen, zur Integration der Matchmaking-Services und zur Überwachung von Serverproblemen während der Spieltests. Wir setzen die Integration von CryEngine 3.6 fort und sollten bis Ende nächster Woche, 5.2.2014, abgeschlossen sein, sofern keine unvorhergesehenen Probleme auftreten.
Das Engineering hat auch an der Behebung von Problemen mit dem Build-System gearbeitet, wenn sie auftauchen, und mit der IT zusammengearbeitet, um das alte Build-System in den neu konfigurierten Build-Systemcluster zu migrieren. Phase I davon sollte nächste Woche abgeschlossen sein, und wir werden das System bei Bedarf weiter ausbauen.
Kinofilme/Mocap:
Neben dem großen Kino-Gipfel haben wir die Suche nach einem Mocap-Standort abgeschlossen (mehr dazu in Kürze!) und gute Fortschritte bei der Crew-, Lieferanten- und Prozessplanung gemacht. Das ist das Wer und Wie des massiven Motion Capture Shoot, der für die Staffel 42 benötigt wird. Wir arbeiten daran, Tests und Auswertungen an verschiedenen Softwareoptionen für Gesichts- und Körper-Mocap-Lösungen abzuschließen. Wir haben auch das erste Budget für den Dreh erstellt und arbeiten mit der Gießerei 42 zusammen, welche Vermögenswerte in Form von Schiffen und virtuellen Sets benötigt werden, bevor wir anfangen, Schauspieler in ihre Rigs einzusetzen.
Animation:
Unsere größte Priorität in diesem Monat war die Unterstützung der Einführung des Luftkampfes mit Animationen. Du wärst überrascht, wie viel in Arena Commander steckt, außer dass du deinen Helm umdrehst, während du an Bord deines Schiffes gehst! Wir bereinigen auch die bestehenden Hangar-Animationen und unterstützen einige Bedürfnisse für die kommenden Schiffswerbungen.
Die Animation wächst weiter: Wir haben einen neuen Senior-Animator eingestellt, der bald anfängt, und wir bereiten uns darauf vor, etwas Mocapping für den Start des First Person Shooter Moduls zu machen. Eine weitere wichtige Priorität für die Zukunft ist die Fertigstellung der Männer- und Waffenbewegungssätze, während wir die Bedürfnisse der Gießerei 42 nach Geschwader 42-Kinematiken unterstützen.... und dann, irgendwann, das anhaltende Universum! Schließlich haben wir neue manipulierte Köpfe erhalten, die wir nun in das Spiel integrieren.
Art:
Art unterstützt die Animation dabei, die gescannten Köpfe auf unsere Körper im Spiel zu montieren. Es ist schwieriger, als es klingt! Der Prozess beinhaltet die Anpassung von Basismodellskulpturen, um besser mit Köpfen zu arbeiten. Wir arbeiten auch an den Körpern und Kostümen, die für Staffel 42 und mehrere kommende Schiffsvideos benötigt werden, während wir eine genauere Liste ausarbeiten, was langfristig für das persistente Universum benötigt wird.
In der Zwischenzeit erforscht Art in Austin die Möglichkeiten der Kopfanpassung und der NSC-Generierung; wir sind zuversichtlich, dass wir am Ende etwas sehr Cooles haben werden. Wir beenden die LODs und Schadenszustände für alle Schiffe in der Arena Commander V1 Version (Hornet, Aurora, 300i und Scythe) und entwickeln die Alien-Rassen von Star Citizen weiter.
Produktion:
Das Produktionsteam konzentriert sich hauptsächlich auf die Veröffentlichung von Dog Fighting v1, außerdem arbeitet das Produktionsteam an einem Persistent Universe Zeitplan und aktualisiert unseren Schiffsplan. Als nächstes werden wir die Charakterpläne sowie die Waffen- und Gegenstandspläne ausarbeiten. All dies zusammen mit dem Halten der Teams am Laufen, dem Erstellen des Rollout-Plans für das DFMV1-Release und dem allgemeinen Informieren über alle anderen Produktionsgruppen in jedem Studio, um die Maschine am Laufen zu halten.
Videoproduktion:
Verschiedene Video-B-Rollen und Interviews für PAX East DFM enthüllen. Außerdem wurden die Episoden 62-66 von "Wingman's Hangar" produziert, geschrieben, inszeniert, gedreht und geschnitten. Aufnahme und Bearbeitung einer Reihe von humorvollen Rezensionen von HP Envy Laptop für die AMD-Partnerschaft. Aufnahme von Videos von Fanbesuchen und deren Bearbeitung zu einem Videopaket. Entwurf und Spezifizierung von Leistung, Beleuchtung und Klangsteuerung der Bühne für den Hangar von Wingman und zukünftige Mocap-Sessions. Wir haben unsere Videoproduktionsstandards und -verfahren für häufig verwendete Anlagen für die Videoproduktion weiter ausgebaut. Unterstützung bei der technischen Planung der PAX East sowie zukünftiger Live-Events.
Design:
Zusätzlich zur Unterstützung der Freigabe des Luftkampfes haben wir die hartnäckige Arbeit am Universum vorangetrieben. Mit einem Personal, das sich im letzten Monat verdoppelt hat, bohren wir in Themen wie Jump Point Running, Kopfgeldjagd, Bergung und unser massives Reputationssystem. Das Design legt weiterhin großen Wert darauf, unser Wirtschaftssystem in einen testbaren Zustand zu versetzen, also sind wir halshoch in Tabellenkalkulationen darüber, wie die Dinge zusammengesetzt werden, wo sie gefunden werden und was sie wert sind.
Auch die Zukunft des Hangars wird weiter vorangetrieben, mit einem verbesserten Schießstand und einem frühen Blick auf die Übertaktung am nahen Horizont.
Gute Nachrichten für die Web-Junkies: Ein Update der Schiffsstatistik-Seite kommt bald!
Audio:
Im April hat sich die gesamte Audioabteilung auf die Bedürfnisse des Dogfight Moduls konzentriert, angefangen bei der PAX East Enthüllung bis hin zum ersten Release. Martin Galway hat hart daran gearbeitet, die vielen Facetten der Audioproduktion zu verarbeiten - hier ist ein Blick darauf, was mit seinem Team los ist.
Pedro liefert interaktive Musikclips, die bisher von Jens Lind umgesetzt wurden. Mason Fisher hat WAVs für die Arbeit mit[REDACTED] EVA generiert; Bill Munyon hat die meiste Zeit mit Sounddesign und Implementierung von Raumfahrzeugen verbracht; Jason Cobb hat sich auf die Reparatur von vorhandenem Audio, die Erstellung neuer Implementierungshaken und Playtests konzentriert; Stefan wurde Mitte April eingestellt und läuft immer noch hoch, beginnend mit der Dialogarbeit für das Dogfighting-Modul. Ian Chuprun hat an Umweltaudio für die beiden Multiplayer-Karten gearbeitet (zusätzlich zum Asteroidenhangar und der allgemeinen Hangarpflege).
IT:
Der April war für das IT-Team einer der arbeitsreichsten Monate dieses Jahres. Zwischen dem Support für neue Benutzer und dem PAX East Event war jedes Mitglied in seinen jeweiligen Studios beschäftigt. Da alle Entwicklungsteams fast rund um die Uhr an DFM Hassan, Dennis und Chris gearbeitet haben, haben sie hart daran gearbeitet, mit Upgrades und Reparaturen Schritt zu halten, was zu praktisch keinen Ausfallzeiten führte. Unser Austin-Team verbrachte einige zusätzliche Zeit damit, die Ausrüstung für das PAX East Event vorzubereiten und die Arbeit an einem neu gebauten Servercluster abzuschließen, der allen Entwicklungsteams helfen wird, die Entwicklung und das Testen zu beschleunigen.
Das IT-Team fühlt sich sehr wohl bei unserem Auftritt auf der PAX East und ist stolz auf unsere Rolle bei diesem Event.
Das ist es aus Texas - wo das Wetter wärmer wird.... und die Luftkämpfe heftiger werden. Und hier ist ein Tipp: Wenn Sie Rob Irving im Vers sehen, sollten Sie vielleicht laufen wollen.... er wird mit seinem Flugstick tödlich genau!
Vielen Dank für Ihre weitere Unterstützung!
Eric
Erin Roberts, Studioleiterin
Hallo wieder aus Manchester,
Ein weiterer Monat ist vergangen und es ist an der Zeit, Sie alle über das zu informieren, was wir in der Gießerei 42 gemacht haben. Kurz gesagt, es gab viel Arbeit sowohl an Arena Commander als auch an Squadron 42. Es ist eine große Freude zu sehen, wie diese beiden Projekte zusammenkommen. Ich möchte auch hinzufügen, dass ich persönlich begeistert war, als ich sah, wie unsere Geldgeber das Spiel zum ersten Mal auf der PAX East in die Finger bekamen. Es ist wirklich spannend zu sehen, wie schnell jeder es "bekommt" und versteht, dass Star Citizen das einzig Wahre ist. Hier finden Sie Details zur Arbeit der internen Teams von Foundry 42 in diesem Monat:
Design: (Nick Elms - Design Director)
Was haben wir gemacht? Schiffe bauen, natürlich! Eine unserer wichtigsten Aufgaben im Moment ist die Gestaltung der Innenräume von Großschiffen und Raumstationen, denn wir werden diese als Set-ups für einige der frühesten Missionen der Staffel 42 benötigen. Die Arbeiten an der Idris gehen gut voran und arbeiten gemeinsam mit CGBot daran, die wenigen verbleibenden Unsicherheiten zu beseitigen. Der Speerwerfer Zerstörer hat seit der Konzeptkunst, die Sie gesehen haben, große Fortschritte gemacht; wir haben seine Einbauten jetzt größtenteils "grau eingepackt", mit Ausnahme der Brücke (kommt bald!) Der Eskorte Träger der Panther-Klasse ist fast "weiß" komplett: Ein Künstler verfolgt die Fertigteile, von denen es 146 gibt! Erwarten Sie, dass diese Phase bis zum Ende der Woche abgeschlossen ist. Der ehrwürdige bengalische Träger ist auch in unseren Werften, mit White-Boxing-Arbeiten im Hangar und im Briefing-Raum sowie Prototyparbeiten für Transportmethoden durch das Schiff (vertrauen Sie mir, Sie wollen keinen Kilometer laufen, um vor jeder Mission zu Ihrem Jäger zu gelangen.) Die Shubin Mining Platform macht in der gleichen Phase gute Fortschritte, wobei die Abschnitte Monorail und Landungssteg ausführlich beschrieben werden. Wir haben auch die Raffinerieräume detailliert, die über einige ernsthafte Maschinen verfügen! Wir füllen leere Bereiche mit technischen Kanälen und versteckten Ritzen und beginnen, Räume mit Platzhalterstützen zu füllen. Schließlich wurde ein erster Block-Out auf dem Xi'An Transport durchgeführt.... aber Sie werden später mehr darüber erfahren!
Sitzaktionen sind vielleicht nicht so spannend wie Flottenaktionen, aber sie sind auch ein notwendiger Bestandteil des Raumschiffdesigns: herauszufinden, welche Station was in einem Hauptschiff steuert und wie man all dies den Spielern Spaß macht. Unser Sitzaktionsplan ist fast fertig für die Unterzeichnung! Auf der Spezifikationsseite arbeiten wir daran, die Vanduul-Flotte zu detaillieren, mit dem Königtum, dem mittleren Jäger, dem schweren Jäger und dem Zerstörer auf der Bank. Als nächstes kommt der "Void"-Bomber. Die Guten bekommen auch mehr Hardware: Das UEE Dropship ist in Arbeit. Schließlich werden KI- und Profilarbeiten an der Scythe durchgeführt, um sicherzustellen, dass sie im Arena Commander richtig kämpft.
Die Entwicklung des Konversationssystems ist im Gange, mit regelmäßigen Treffen, um die Feinheiten festzulegen, die erforderlich sind, damit das System so funktioniert, wie Chris Roberts es sich vorstellt. Es gibt auch weitere Arbeiten zu den Gesprächspfaden "Bitching Betty" und "Sim Announcer", die für die Entwicklung von Arena Commander relevant sein werden. Wir haben auch viel Zeit mit den Spielmodi Multiplayer und Arena Commander V1 verbracht. Wir haben den "Capture the Core"-Modus von Grund auf entwickelt und er wird in den nächsten Tagen den letzten Schliff erhalten. "Eroberung", die vielleicht nicht in V1 enthalten ist, aber bald fertig sein sollte, wird immer weiter entwickelt, insbesondere im Hinblick auf den Code-Anschluss. Der Horten-Modus in "Vanduul Swarm" hat große Fortschritte gemacht, besonders jetzt, da die Scythe realistisch fliegt!
Programmierung: (Derek Senior - Programmdirektor)
Der Schwerpunkt dieses Monats lag auf dem Arena Commander. Wir haben 3D-Targeting-Retikula, das 3D-HUD-Radar, Scoring, ITTS, HUD-Messaging (Scoring-Feedback, Join/Leave-Benachrichtigungen, Randwarnungen, etc.) implementiert, die Raketenstartsequenz aktualisiert und den Targeting-Code neu gestaltet. Wir haben neue Spielregeln für drei Modi eingeführt, Staffelkampf, Eroberung des Kerns und Eroberung. Ein Großteil der Arbeit, die wir leisten, läuft auf Bug-Squashing hinaus, insbesondere für den Multiplayer-Modus; jetzt, da wir in verschiedenen Studios spielen, können wir Probleme wirklich identifizieren und beheben! Ein beträchtlicher Teil davon hängt mit dem Wieder-Laichen der Spieler zusammen, das jetzt viel zuverlässiger ist. Wir haben auch einige Arbeiten zur Implementierung von HUD-Soundeffekten und dem dynamischen Musiksystem durchgeführt und die Funktionalität des Targeting Panels verbessert. Eine Sache, von der ich weiß, dass sie unter den Star Citizen-Fans heftig diskutiert wird, ist die Controller-Funktionalität: Wir haben an Input Maps für alle Arten von Controllern gearbeitet, von der Tastatur bis hin zu spezifischen HOTAS-Setups. Wir haben dazu Feedback von Spielern und Designern aus dem gesamten Unternehmen erhalten, und wir setzen uns dafür ein, dass Star Citizen Spaß macht, egal welche Art von Steuermechanismus Sie wählen.
Kunst und Animation: (Paul Jones - Art Director)
Das Dogfighting-Modul war eine echte unternehmensübergreifende Leistung.... aber wir werden stolz darauf sein, dass wir die Umweltgüter und die Kartenerstellung für Dying Star und Broken Moon anerkennen werden! Unser Team ging in den Betrieb der CryEngine und die Ergebnisse sprechen für sich. Wir haben auch einige verschiedene VFX-Arbeiten für das Modul durchgeführt und bei zukünftigen Effekttypen im Spielmodus geholfen. Im April haben wir alles perfektioniert, von den Terraforming-Stationen über die Landeplattformen bis hin zu den zerstörbaren Plattformen. Wir haben auch mit dem Design für das White-Boxing und Tiering der Kriegsschiffe der Javelin-, Panther- und Bengalklasse gearbeitet. Auch das Äußere des Vergelters sieht großartig aus!
Auf der Seite der Benutzeroberfläche haben wir uns mit dem Look and Feel der technischen Sitzaktion beschäftigt. Das Design hat herausgefunden, was du an einem Sitz tun musst.... jetzt liegt es an uns herauszufinden, wie der Spieler Dinge wie Stromverteilung, Kühlung, CPU-Last und dergleichen steuern soll!
Unsere Konzeptkünstler haben auch viel 3D-Arbeit geleistet! Funktionsmodelle wurden für das leichte Jagdflugzeug Gladius (siehe aktueller Beitrag), das Bergungsschiff und das Bauchdock der Idris, den Turm des Speerjägers (innen und außen) und den Panther-Eskortträger erstellt. Die Animation war ebenfalls sehr arbeitsintensiv, arbeitete an der Ausstoßung des Luftkampfes und den G-Loc-Sequenzen und bereitete die ersten filmischen Mocap-Tests für Staffel 42, das Vanduul-Pilotrigging und die Animationen der Schiffswaffen vor.
Wir hatten einen weiteren guten Monat, in dem wir eine Reihe von notwendigen Konzept-, Produktions- und Polierarbeiten in allen Abteilungen durchgeführt haben. Nächsten Monat (da wir so gut wie alle unsere Dog Fight Module Aufgaben in Großbritannien abgeschlossen haben) werden wir uns fast ausschließlich darauf konzentrieren, Kapitalschiffsysteme online zu bringen, unseren Bedarf an Mo-Cap-Shootings für S42 zu decken und die ersten Missionen für S42 und alles, was damit verbunden ist, weiter zu blockieren.
Wie immer, vielen Dank für all deine Unterstützung, die es uns ermöglicht hat, dies zur besten verdammten Weltraumsimulation aller Zeiten zu machen.... Ohne dein Engagement, deine Unterstützung und deinen Glauben wären wir nicht da, wo wir sind. Ich freue mich darauf, dass jeder die ganze harte Arbeit, die in das Spiel gesteckt wurde, ausprobiert, während wir mit Arena Commander live gehen, und euch vielleicht in den Versen weiterbringt.... :)
Prost,
Erin
Mathieu Beaulieu, Produzentin
Der April verging so schnell, aber es wurde viel erreicht. Was die Programmierung betrifft, so hat ein großer Teil des Teams an den Funktionen des Dogfighting gearbeitet. Unsere oberste Priorität war es, die Implementierung abzuschließen und verschiedene Funktionalitäten der Benutzeroberfläche zu verbessern. Wir haben einige große Fortschritte bei der Fertigstellung des Frameworks gemacht, das für den Aufbau des Visor HUD, des Shield and Power Management UI, der In-Game Scoreboards sowie des Matchmaking UI arbeitet.
Wir arbeiten auch kontinuierlich an der Schaffung des Kerns der Wirtschaftssimulation und arbeiten sowohl an den Dienstleistungen der Backend-Simulation als auch an den Frontend-Tools, die es uns ermöglichen, die Wirtschaft voranzutreiben.
Der Frühling ist endlich in Montreal angekommen und die Discount-, Geschäfts- und Deluxe-Hangars bereiten sich auf den Frühjahrsputz vor. Nach der Modernisierung können wir alle Hangars, einschließlich des Asteroid-Hangars, um Erweiterungen und Spezialräume (wie den Schießstand) erweitern.
Und das ist noch nicht alles! Die Arbeiten für das UI/UX-Design des mobiGlas OS sind in vollem Gange. Schritt für Schritt entwickeln wir eine solide globale Sichtweise darauf, wie das Gesamtsystem aussehen und wie es funktionieren wird, die es uns ermöglicht, zukünftige Funktionalitäten schneller zu entwickeln und ein einheitliches Erscheinungsbild in allen Anwendungen zu erhalten. Wir arbeiten auch an dem Avatar-Anpassungssystem, das jetzt besser definiert ist, und wir arbeiten eng mit CIG zusammen, um sicherzustellen, dass wir die PU-Charaktere auf dem höchsten Detaillierungsgrad halten und gleichzeitig eine maximale Anpassung ermöglichen.
Tara Decker, Produzentin
Im April in Monterrey drehte sich alles um Schiffe. Und Luftkämpfe. Coole Schiffe & Luftkämpfe.... das war unser Frühling. Ziemlich cool.
Unsere Crew hat den letzten Monat damit verbracht, die Hornet, Aurora und die 300i (mit Herrn Chris Smith) schön und bereit zu machen, ins All zu fliegen. Die Behebung des Schadens, die LOD- und PBR-Umbauarbeiten für jedes Schiff waren oft eine Herausforderung, da der Ansatz für die Vorgehensweise neu definiert wurde. Aber, die Schiffe sehen großartig aus und trennen sich wirklich gut, wenn sie getroffen werden, also wird der Luftkampf wirklich, wirklich Spaß machen.
Auch mit Erins Atelier setzten die Künstler die Arbeit am Idris fort. Tolle Gruppe von Jungs, mit denen man arbeiten kann.... und unglaublich hohe Standards! Das Schiffslayout ist im Wesentlichen fertig gestellt und die Arbeiten an den verschiedenen Räumen und Bereichen (Brücke, Brigg, Reaktorraum, etc....) sind im Gange. Dies ist ein riesiges Schiff und die Arbeit wird noch eine ganze Weile dauern.
Der Freelancer und alle seine Varianten sind fast vollständig. Genau wie der Rächer. Zusätzliche Arbeiten für Schadenszustände und LOD's sind erforderlich, aber die Modellierungsphasen sind gut abgeschlossen.
Als nächstes für uns: Das Schiff Chris Roberts sagt, dass er am meisten begeistert ist von seinem Besitz: die Constellation. Kein Druck. ;)
Also, ich sagte, dass April alle Schiffe waren, aber wir haben auch die Charakterarbeit angegangen. Aktualisieren des männlichen Explorer-Charakters. Und macht Helmarbeit. Es ist verrückt zu bemerken, dass genauso viel Zeit in die Modellierung und Texturierung des Innenraums des Helmes wie des Außenbereichs investiert wird. Schön.
Sean Murphy, Outsourcing Manager
Unsere externen Auftragnehmer haben sich in diesem Zyklus stark auf die Schiffskunst konzentriert - Eddie del Rio hat einige großartige Konzepte für das Xi'an Scout-Schiff entwickelt, Stephan Martiniere arbeitet an Brückeninnenräumen, Jan Urschel entwirft den Bomber Xi'an und Emmanuel Shiu erkundet den Banu Merchantman. Ryan Church entwickelt den Panther Escort Carrier weiter und Jim Martin entwickelt Konzepte für Varianten des Entermessers, während Gavin Rothery das Design des Gladius Light Fighters festigt. Und Stefano Tsai brennt auf der M50!
Darüber hinaus haben wir Rob McKinnon, der an Marine Armor-Konzepten und verschiedenen anderen militärischen Outfits arbeitet; Clint Schultz und Dave Scott arbeiten an Firmenlogos, David Brochard und Justin Sweet machen einige außerirdische Charakteruntersuchungen, und Atey Ghailan und Ed Lee helfen bei der Verfeinerung von Umgebungen.
Schließlich sind wir im Gespräch mit einem anderen spannenden Konzeptkünstler, der uns über die Zusammenarbeit mit uns angesprochen hat - aber wir können noch nichts sagen!
(Redigiert)
Hier bei [Redacted] im Land von[Redacted] haben wir das[Redacted] Wetter genossen, während wir hart an der Arbeit am FPS-Modul waren!
Die Künstler haben sich auf den Weg gemacht, um einige erstaunlich aussehende Umgebungen für euch Bürger zu schaffen, in denen ihr euch gegenseitig töten könnt. Wenn mehr Requisiten, Details und Politur umgesetzt werden, wird deutlich, dass Star Citizen nicht nur eines der am besten aussehenden Spiele in den Tiefen des Weltraums sein wird, sondern auch auf der Planetenseite... oder in den Fluren einer riesigen Raumstation.
Unsere Ingenieure und Animatoren optimierten und polierten weiterhin EVA- und Zero-G-Bewegungen, während das visuelle FX-Team einige fantastisch aussehende Thruster-Jet-Effekte entwickelte. Und während das Herumtreiben und das Zoomen durch die Ebenen mit Hilfe von Triebwerken eine Explosion ist, war der große Hit im Büro Magnetic Boots! Diese Wunderwerke moderner Technologie lassen Sie auf jeder Metalloberfläche in Zero-G herumstampfen.... Böden, Wände, Decken, Schiffsaußenseiten, was auch immer! Zusammen mit Zero-G denken wir, dass es dem Kampf eine sehr einzigartige Wendung verleihen wird.
Apropos Kampf, wir haben auch ein Deckungssystem eingeführt. Bald werden die Bürger in der Lage sein, sich hinter Objekten zu verstecken oder sich von hinten an eine Wand zu lehnen, um Schüsse auf den Feind zu machen. All diese Aktionen in Kombination mit der Vielfalt der Waffen bedeutet, dass es eine absolut große Menge an Animationen gibt, die in Bewegung aufgenommen werden müssen.... und es ist so, dass wir diese Woche Bewegungsaufnahmen machen.
Mit dem FPS-Modul beginnt das Team nun mit einem umfangreichen Spieltest, um sicherzustellen, dass alles auf eine Weise zusammenkommt, die Spaß macht, fesselnd ist und hoffentlich nichts mit allem zu tun hat, was Sie je zuvor gesehen oder gespielt haben. Wir können es kaum erwarten, es zu zeigen und hoffen, dass ihr Bürger genauso begeistert seid wie wir!
Derzeit arbeiten bei[Redacted] insgesamt 24 talentierte Menschen an Star Citizen. Neun Künstler, sechs Programmierer, vier Animatoren, ein Creative Director, ein Level-Designer, ein Auftragnehmer für Soundeffekte, ein Senior Producer und ein Gameplay-Produzent.
Mark Day, Studioleiterin
Sherman war der neue planetarische Standort, der in der neuesten Ausgabe des Observist angekündigt wurde, und voidALPHA konzentriert sich darauf, ihn so spektakulär wie möglich zu machen! Der Konzeptkünstler Emmanuel Shiu hat die ersten beiden etablierten Aufnahmen gemalt und gestaltet nun das Look and Feel der Ladeneinrichtungen. Design erstellt das grobe Layout auf der Grundlage dieser Konzeptfotos und stellt sicher, dass die White Box-Version den Architekturstil und die Stimmung, die für diese entmilitarisierte UEE-Basis etabliert wurden, genau wiedergibt. Die Umweltkunst hat einen Großteil der Geometrie für The Blocks (Terra: Prime) fertiggestellt und sich nun auf einen Basismaterialpass konzentriert, der uns dem Abschluss einer der übelsten und anrüchigsten Positionen auf der Planetenseite, die Sie je betreten werden, ein großes Stück näher bringt. Schließlich ist unsere Centermass "Beautiful Corner"...naja...schön! Wir befinden uns im letzten Abschnitt dieses Ladeninneren, bis ein paar endgültige Beleuchtungs- und Materialanpassungen vorgenommen wurden, die notwendig sind, um diesen Laden zu einem Anblick zu machen!
Benoit Beauséjour, Gründer und Gründer
Das Plattformteam von Turbulent hat sich diesen Monat darauf konzentriert, die Mitgliedschaft bei Multi-Orgs abzuschließen. Dies ist eine Funktion, die wir freigeben wollten, während wir tiefer in den zweiten Tropfen von Orgs eintauchen, in dem wir bedeutende Struktur- und Befehlserweiterungen zu Orgs hinzufügen. Dieser Prozess läuft gut, da wir nun das Artwork für die Zuschauer und die Bedienoberfläche für Ihre Org-Struktur entwickeln.
Eine Menge Zeit wurde mit dem Aufbau des Arena Commander Ranglistensystems verbracht, das Piloten- und Organisationsstatistiken für das Modul enthalten wird. Das Vorhandensein von Spielstatistiken auf der Website führt auch zu einer Überarbeitung des Bürgerdossiers, damit Sie Ihre Fähigkeiten als Simulatorpilot unter Beweis stellen können! (Und vielleicht auch eine Pilotenfähigkeit überprüfen, bevor du ihn rekrutierst?)
Die Arbeit an der Neugestaltung des Geschäftserlebnisses und an weiteren Details wurde fortgesetzt. auf den Schiffsvarianten und -ausrüstungen. Wir haben nun ein vollständiges Kontrollmodell auf der Plattform, das es uns ermöglicht, schiffsbezogene Statistiken zu aktualisieren und anzuzeigen. Erwarten Sie mehr in den kommenden Wochen!
Das Team hat große Fortschritte bei der Multi-Faktor-Authentifizierung gemacht, einer weiteren großen Plattformverbesserung, die wir an die Community weitergeben wollen, um die Sicherheit Ihrer Konten und der Plattform auf breiter Front zu verbessern. Viele Funktionen unter der Kapuze wurden auch entwickelt, um den Umgang mit der Kontosicherheit und anderen Tools für Ihr tolles CS-Team zu erleichtern!
Matthew Jack, Gründer und Gründer
Der April begann mit Intensität für die drei Entwickler des Kythera-Kernteams, denn wir befanden uns im Zentrum der Dinge, die im Gameplay für die PAX East Demo ablaufen. Das war für uns besonders aufregend, denn es war der erste öffentliche Spieltest von Kythera, im Vanduul Swarm-Modus von Star Citizen. Es gibt Filmmaterial von diesem Build auf unserer Website.
Seit PAX haben wir an der Entwicklung der Dogfighting v1 Version selbst gearbeitet. Die größte Veränderung für uns ist der Umzug zur Scythe. Kythera hat bisher Hornissen geflogen, aber die Scythe wird für den Vanduul-Schwarmmodus benötigt und diese Schiffe handhaben sehr unterschiedlich und verwenden unterschiedliche Manöver.
Ein wesentliches Merkmal dieses Monats ist die Verbesserung der Vermeidung, um einige große und komplexe Geometrien in den Vanduul-Schwarmstufen besser zu handhaben, insbesondere den Terraformer in Broken Moon. Wir erweitern auch unser Inspector Debugging-Tool, um Programmierern und Designern ein viel besseres Feedback zu geben, wenn sie das Gameplay des Vanduul Swarm-Modus gestalten.
Es ist Zeit für den Entwicklungsbericht von April's Star Citizen! Wie bereits erwähnt, haben wir die Verantwortlichen der einzelnen CIG-Studios und Outsource-Gruppen gebeten, darüber zu berichten, was sie im Vormonat gemacht haben. (Bitte beachten Sie, dass dies auch den Arena Commander Weekly Report für den 2. Mai ersetzt, da er alles beinhaltet, was diese Woche an AC gemacht wurde.)
Travis Day, Dogfight Producer, Dogfight Producer
Wenn der April zu Ende geht, ist es wieder an der Zeit, über die wichtigsten Entwicklungen des Monats nachzudenken und zu teilen! Es gibt viel zu besprechen, also lasst uns gleich zur Sache kommen!
Anfang dieses Monats haben wir Arena Commander (AKA - DFM) allen Geldgebern vorgestellt, die an unserem Pre-PAX East Event in Boston und der Welt per Livestream teilnehmen konnten. Wir hatten auch das Privileg, den Arena Commander auf der Ausstellungsfläche der PAX East für Bürger und interessierte Passanten am Logitech-Stand spielen zu lassen. Natürlich konnten wir nicht alles zeigen, was wir an diesem Abend in Boston wollten, also haben wir ein Video zusammengestellt, das einige der zusätzlichen Features zeigt, an denen wir gearbeitet haben, die nicht das Demo-Level erreicht haben, das Sie unten sehen können, wenn Sie es verpasst haben.
Während die harte Arbeit unseres Teams sehr erfreulich ist, ist es der wahre Leckerbissen, mit jedem in der Gemeinschaft persönlich interagieren zu können. Worte können nicht ausdrücken, wie demütigend und inspirierend es ist, so viele Menschen treffen zu können, die so leidenschaftlich für das Universum sind, das wir erschaffen. Es ist unglaublich motivierend für uns alle, die wir dabei waren, und obwohl es nicht wirklich möglich ist, diese unauslöschlichen Gefühle festzuhalten, konnten wir zumindest einen Teil davon nach unserer Rückkehr mit dem Team teilen.
Apropos Team, kommen wir zu dem, was sie vorhaben! Ähnlich wie viele der anderen Studios schließen wir hier in Santa Monica die Implementierung neuer Funktionen ab, während wir uns unserem Zweigstellendatum und der Codeverriegelung nähern und in die Endbearbeitung, das Optimieren und die Fehlerbehebung einsteigen. Zu diesem Zweck wurde zwischen allen Studios viel geplant und kommuniziert, um den Abschluss der Feature-Entwicklung mit dem Abschluss unserer Polier- und Rollout-Strategie zu synchronisieren. Dies wird es uns ermöglichen, uns auf die Fertigstellung und Stabilisierung der geplanten Funktionen zu konzentrieren, die wir implementiert haben, und das Risiko der Einführung neuer Probleme zu verringern, während wir uns auf den Start von Arena Commander vorbereiten.
Während Produktions-, Betriebs- und Netzwerktechnik die oben genannte Strategie geplant und ausgeführt haben, hat unser Visual-Effects-Team die letzten Übergaben der Effekte fertiggestellt und sie mit allen Teilen und Zuständen der Aurora, 300i, Scythe und Hornet und all ihren möglichen Artikelkombinationen verbunden. Unsere Planung dazu von Forrest und Casey hat sich recht gut entwickelt. Mit der Erstellung der Effekte für die Hornet und die Scythe mit all ihren Waffen und Gegenständen haben wir einen guten Ausgangspunkt für eine Effektbibliothek für UEE- und Vanduulfahrzeuge geschaffen. Natürlich werden diese Bibliotheken im Laufe der Zeit wachsen und sich ändern, aber sie haben uns gut positioniert, um in Zukunft schnell neue Schiffe und Gegenstände zu iterieren und anzulegen.
Apropos auseinanderbrechende Schiffe.... Dieser Monat hat die Fertigstellung aller Schadensteile, LODs, Partikeleffektknoten usw. für die Scythe, 300i, Aurora und Hornet gesehen. Nicht nur, dass sie jetzt alle richtig explodieren, brechen und LOD machen, sondern wir haben sie auch diesen Monat alle richtig fliegen lassen. Sie sind alle in PBR umgewandelt worden und wie in einem früheren Beitrag erwähnt, hat der 300i auch einen großen Uprez und Detailpass durchgemacht, als er in PBR umgewandelt wurde. Alle Schiffe (die schon gut aussahen) sehen jetzt absolut fantastisch aus. Dies ist ein weiterer Fall, in dem unsere frühe Arbeit sowohl in der Art und Weise, wie wir es angegangen sind, als auch in der Fokussierung auf die Hornet, sich zuerst ausgezahlt hat. Indem wir die Zeit mit der Hornet für die Forschung und Entwicklung von Schiffsmechanikern verbrachten und den Prozess und die Dokumentation abschlossen, konnten wir viel schneller durch die Scythe, Aurora und 300i flammen und jedes Schiff ist schneller vorangekommen als das letzte, während wir unsere Technik verbesserten, was großartig zu sehen ist.
Auf der technischen Seite konzentrierte sich das Team darauf, einige Änderungen am Rohrsystem (Framework, das pro Schiff und pro Teil CPU, Strom, Kühlung und Kraftstoff verwaltet) abzuschließen, damit die Spieler die Einstellungen dynamisch pro Element oder auf globaler Ebene für das Schiff manipulieren können, was sich auf alle Anbauteile auswirkt. Dies war ein Stretch-Ziel für uns, in die erste Version zu gehen, also freuen wir uns, dass wir in der Lage waren, dies einzubauen, da es die Dynamik der Schiffe erheblich verbessern wird und wir denken, dass es den Spielern wirklich gefallen wird.
Das Rohrsystem war nicht das einzige, das ein kleines Upgrade erhalten hat. Auch das Radar-/Detektionssystem wurde überarbeitet, um seine Funktionalität zu erweitern, um sowohl seine aktuellen Funktionen zu verbessern als auch die Grundlage für zukünftige Funktionen zu schaffen, mit denen Designer spielen können. Parallel dazu wurde auch eine Optimierung durchgeführt, die die Leistung pro Frame deutlich erhöht hat. Um die Verbesserungen des Radarsystems zu erweitern, wurde es in ein zentrales, vom Fahrzeug gehostetes System verschoben, das von mehreren Elementen gemeinsam genutzt werden kann und nur einmal aufgerufen wird. Das klingt nicht sehr sexy, aber was es ermöglicht, ist eine viel realistischere Simulation von Raketen zum Beispiel. Hier können Sie der Rakete primäre Radardaten für die Erfassung der Schleuse zuführen und später erst dann auf das Raketenradar umschalten, wenn es das Schiff verlassen hat. Es ebnet auch den Weg für die Sklaverei des Radars von einem Schiff zum anderen oder für Dinge wie die zentralisierte Führung, von der wir wissen, dass viele unserer Mitmenschen sich darauf freuen. Schließlich haben wir die Funktionsweise des Signal-Rausch-Verhältnis-Systems angepasst und seine Funktionalität erheblich erweitert, so dass Designer mit verschiedenen Arten von Spreu, Rüstung, Nebeln, Leuchtfeuer usw. spielen und das Radar-/Detektionssystem auf völlig neue Weise beeinflussen können.
Auf der grafischen Seite war Okka Kyaw sehr damit beschäftigt, an vielen Verbesserungen des Aussehens und Gefühls des HUD zu arbeiten, um sicherzustellen, dass der Krümmungs-Shader in einer Vielzahl von Auflösungen perfekt funktioniert und ein projiziertes holografisches Gefühl hat. Er hat auch den Redout-Effekt entwickelt, um seinem stellaren g-force-induzierten Blackout-Effekt gerecht zu werden, und arbeitet nun an den interstitiellen Effekten wie der Blackout-Recovery, um eine realistischere und filmischere Rückkehr zum Bewusstsein zu ermöglichen. Insgesamt glauben wir, dass die Leute mit den grafischen Effekten sehr zufrieden sein werden und das Gefühl haben, dass seine Arbeit erfolgreich ist.
Unsere Mitarbeiterzahl hat sich um 1 erhöht, hinzugekommen ist unser neuer Personalverantwortlicher. Wir haben einige spannende Neueinstellungen vor uns und freuen uns darauf, Sie nächsten Monat darüber zu informieren!
Zum Abschluss dieses Monats möchten wir uns einen Moment Zeit nehmen, um Ihnen, jedem einzelnen Geldgeber, für Ihre Unterstützung bei diesem Projekt zu danken. Von der Unterstützung des Spiels über Fan-Fiction bis hin zum späten Chatroll, Ask a Dev-Threads, Fan-Geschenke und Treffen mit allen bei Veranstaltungen, wie der Arena Commander verrät. Wir alle sind wahrhaftig gedemütigt von allem, was ihr für uns tut, und schätzen es wirklich, dass ihr es uns ermöglicht, dieses Universum zu erschaffen, an dem wir gemeinsam teilhaben können.
Wie immer, zögere nicht, Kommentare oder Fragen in unseren "Ask a Dev"-Threads zu posten und bis zum nächsten Mal.... Wir sehen uns im "Vers"!
Eric Peterson, Studio-Direktor
Hallo Bürger!
Hier in Austin haben wir an der Integration aller Code-Drops der verschiedenen Studios gearbeitet, um den Dogfighting M... Ich meine Arena Commander.... startbereit zu machen. Das bedeutet, dass man die ganze Arbeit, die an Orten wie Santa Monica, Manchester, Montreal und[Redacted] geleistet wird, zusammenfügt und sicherstellt, dass alles so funktioniert, wie es soll. Wir sind auch sehr tief in der Planung für die Lieferung von AC durch den kundenseitigen Launcher/Patcher; Sie wissen schon, das, woran Sie sich jedes Mal anmelden, wenn Sie Ihren Hangar besuchen! Unser anderer großer Dogfighting-Auftrag ist es, den Backend-Servercode für die Veröffentlichung stabil zu halten.
Außerhalb des Luftkampfes arbeiten wir an der langfristigen Planung und Terminierung sowohl für das Planetenmodul als auch für das eventuell anhaltende Universum. Der Start von Arena Commander wird uns viel beibringen, was wir für diese beiden zukünftigen Versionen wissen müssen! Wir veranstalteten auch einen Film- und Motion-Capture-Gipfel, bei dem Teams aus dem gesamten Unternehmen die Filmmaterial für Staffel 42 und Star Citizen aufzeichneten. Im Wesentlichen haben wir uns hingesetzt und das gesamte Drehbuch blockiert, damit wir wissen, was für unser Spiel gedreht werden muss!
Ingenieurwesen:
Das Entwicklungsteam hat sich auf Dog Fighting v1 Aufgaben konzentriert, einschließlich Hangar, Schiff und andere Fehler, die vor dem Start behoben werden müssen. Dazu gehört auch die Arbeit des zSupervisors zum Starten von Spielserverprozessen, zur Integration der Matchmaking-Services und zur Überwachung von Serverproblemen während der Spieltests. Wir setzen die Integration von CryEngine 3.6 fort und sollten bis Ende nächster Woche, 5.2.2014, abgeschlossen sein, sofern keine unvorhergesehenen Probleme auftreten.
Das Engineering hat auch an der Behebung von Problemen mit dem Build-System gearbeitet, wenn sie auftauchen, und mit der IT zusammengearbeitet, um das alte Build-System in den neu konfigurierten Build-Systemcluster zu migrieren. Phase I davon sollte nächste Woche abgeschlossen sein, und wir werden das System bei Bedarf weiter ausbauen.
Kinofilme/Mocap:
Neben dem großen Kino-Gipfel haben wir die Suche nach einem Mocap-Standort abgeschlossen (mehr dazu in Kürze!) und gute Fortschritte bei der Crew-, Lieferanten- und Prozessplanung gemacht. Das ist das Wer und Wie des massiven Motion Capture Shoot, der für die Staffel 42 benötigt wird. Wir arbeiten daran, Tests und Auswertungen an verschiedenen Softwareoptionen für Gesichts- und Körper-Mocap-Lösungen abzuschließen. Wir haben auch das erste Budget für den Dreh erstellt und arbeiten mit der Gießerei 42 zusammen, welche Vermögenswerte in Form von Schiffen und virtuellen Sets benötigt werden, bevor wir anfangen, Schauspieler in ihre Rigs einzusetzen.
Animation:
Unsere größte Priorität in diesem Monat war die Unterstützung der Einführung des Luftkampfes mit Animationen. Du wärst überrascht, wie viel in Arena Commander steckt, außer dass du deinen Helm umdrehst, während du an Bord deines Schiffes gehst! Wir bereinigen auch die bestehenden Hangar-Animationen und unterstützen einige Bedürfnisse für die kommenden Schiffswerbungen.
Die Animation wächst weiter: Wir haben einen neuen Senior-Animator eingestellt, der bald anfängt, und wir bereiten uns darauf vor, etwas Mocapping für den Start des First Person Shooter Moduls zu machen. Eine weitere wichtige Priorität für die Zukunft ist die Fertigstellung der Männer- und Waffenbewegungssätze, während wir die Bedürfnisse der Gießerei 42 nach Geschwader 42-Kinematiken unterstützen.... und dann, irgendwann, das anhaltende Universum! Schließlich haben wir neue manipulierte Köpfe erhalten, die wir nun in das Spiel integrieren.
Art:
Art unterstützt die Animation dabei, die gescannten Köpfe auf unsere Körper im Spiel zu montieren. Es ist schwieriger, als es klingt! Der Prozess beinhaltet die Anpassung von Basismodellskulpturen, um besser mit Köpfen zu arbeiten. Wir arbeiten auch an den Körpern und Kostümen, die für Staffel 42 und mehrere kommende Schiffsvideos benötigt werden, während wir eine genauere Liste ausarbeiten, was langfristig für das persistente Universum benötigt wird.
In der Zwischenzeit erforscht Art in Austin die Möglichkeiten der Kopfanpassung und der NSC-Generierung; wir sind zuversichtlich, dass wir am Ende etwas sehr Cooles haben werden. Wir beenden die LODs und Schadenszustände für alle Schiffe in der Arena Commander V1 Version (Hornet, Aurora, 300i und Scythe) und entwickeln die Alien-Rassen von Star Citizen weiter.
Produktion:
Das Produktionsteam konzentriert sich hauptsächlich auf die Veröffentlichung von Dog Fighting v1, außerdem arbeitet das Produktionsteam an einem Persistent Universe Zeitplan und aktualisiert unseren Schiffsplan. Als nächstes werden wir die Charakterpläne sowie die Waffen- und Gegenstandspläne ausarbeiten. All dies zusammen mit dem Halten der Teams am Laufen, dem Erstellen des Rollout-Plans für das DFMV1-Release und dem allgemeinen Informieren über alle anderen Produktionsgruppen in jedem Studio, um die Maschine am Laufen zu halten.
Videoproduktion:
Verschiedene Video-B-Rollen und Interviews für PAX East DFM enthüllen. Außerdem wurden die Episoden 62-66 von "Wingman's Hangar" produziert, geschrieben, inszeniert, gedreht und geschnitten. Aufnahme und Bearbeitung einer Reihe von humorvollen Rezensionen von HP Envy Laptop für die AMD-Partnerschaft. Aufnahme von Videos von Fanbesuchen und deren Bearbeitung zu einem Videopaket. Entwurf und Spezifizierung von Leistung, Beleuchtung und Klangsteuerung der Bühne für den Hangar von Wingman und zukünftige Mocap-Sessions. Wir haben unsere Videoproduktionsstandards und -verfahren für häufig verwendete Anlagen für die Videoproduktion weiter ausgebaut. Unterstützung bei der technischen Planung der PAX East sowie zukünftiger Live-Events.
Design:
Zusätzlich zur Unterstützung der Freigabe des Luftkampfes haben wir die hartnäckige Arbeit am Universum vorangetrieben. Mit einem Personal, das sich im letzten Monat verdoppelt hat, bohren wir in Themen wie Jump Point Running, Kopfgeldjagd, Bergung und unser massives Reputationssystem. Das Design legt weiterhin großen Wert darauf, unser Wirtschaftssystem in einen testbaren Zustand zu versetzen, also sind wir halshoch in Tabellenkalkulationen darüber, wie die Dinge zusammengesetzt werden, wo sie gefunden werden und was sie wert sind.
Auch die Zukunft des Hangars wird weiter vorangetrieben, mit einem verbesserten Schießstand und einem frühen Blick auf die Übertaktung am nahen Horizont.
Gute Nachrichten für die Web-Junkies: Ein Update der Schiffsstatistik-Seite kommt bald!
Audio:
Im April hat sich die gesamte Audioabteilung auf die Bedürfnisse des Dogfight Moduls konzentriert, angefangen bei der PAX East Enthüllung bis hin zum ersten Release. Martin Galway hat hart daran gearbeitet, die vielen Facetten der Audioproduktion zu verarbeiten - hier ist ein Blick darauf, was mit seinem Team los ist.
Pedro liefert interaktive Musikclips, die bisher von Jens Lind umgesetzt wurden. Mason Fisher hat WAVs für die Arbeit mit[REDACTED] EVA generiert; Bill Munyon hat die meiste Zeit mit Sounddesign und Implementierung von Raumfahrzeugen verbracht; Jason Cobb hat sich auf die Reparatur von vorhandenem Audio, die Erstellung neuer Implementierungshaken und Playtests konzentriert; Stefan wurde Mitte April eingestellt und läuft immer noch hoch, beginnend mit der Dialogarbeit für das Dogfighting-Modul. Ian Chuprun hat an Umweltaudio für die beiden Multiplayer-Karten gearbeitet (zusätzlich zum Asteroidenhangar und der allgemeinen Hangarpflege).
IT:
Der April war für das IT-Team einer der arbeitsreichsten Monate dieses Jahres. Zwischen dem Support für neue Benutzer und dem PAX East Event war jedes Mitglied in seinen jeweiligen Studios beschäftigt. Da alle Entwicklungsteams fast rund um die Uhr an DFM Hassan, Dennis und Chris gearbeitet haben, haben sie hart daran gearbeitet, mit Upgrades und Reparaturen Schritt zu halten, was zu praktisch keinen Ausfallzeiten führte. Unser Austin-Team verbrachte einige zusätzliche Zeit damit, die Ausrüstung für das PAX East Event vorzubereiten und die Arbeit an einem neu gebauten Servercluster abzuschließen, der allen Entwicklungsteams helfen wird, die Entwicklung und das Testen zu beschleunigen.
Das IT-Team fühlt sich sehr wohl bei unserem Auftritt auf der PAX East und ist stolz auf unsere Rolle bei diesem Event.
Das ist es aus Texas - wo das Wetter wärmer wird.... und die Luftkämpfe heftiger werden. Und hier ist ein Tipp: Wenn Sie Rob Irving im Vers sehen, sollten Sie vielleicht laufen wollen.... er wird mit seinem Flugstick tödlich genau!
Vielen Dank für Ihre weitere Unterstützung!
Eric
Erin Roberts, Studioleiterin
Hallo wieder aus Manchester,
Ein weiterer Monat ist vergangen und es ist an der Zeit, Sie alle über das zu informieren, was wir in der Gießerei 42 gemacht haben. Kurz gesagt, es gab viel Arbeit sowohl an Arena Commander als auch an Squadron 42. Es ist eine große Freude zu sehen, wie diese beiden Projekte zusammenkommen. Ich möchte auch hinzufügen, dass ich persönlich begeistert war, als ich sah, wie unsere Geldgeber das Spiel zum ersten Mal auf der PAX East in die Finger bekamen. Es ist wirklich spannend zu sehen, wie schnell jeder es "bekommt" und versteht, dass Star Citizen das einzig Wahre ist. Hier finden Sie Details zur Arbeit der internen Teams von Foundry 42 in diesem Monat:
Design: (Nick Elms - Design Director)
Was haben wir gemacht? Schiffe bauen, natürlich! Eine unserer wichtigsten Aufgaben im Moment ist die Gestaltung der Innenräume von Großschiffen und Raumstationen, denn wir werden diese als Set-ups für einige der frühesten Missionen der Staffel 42 benötigen. Die Arbeiten an der Idris gehen gut voran und arbeiten gemeinsam mit CGBot daran, die wenigen verbleibenden Unsicherheiten zu beseitigen. Der Speerwerfer Zerstörer hat seit der Konzeptkunst, die Sie gesehen haben, große Fortschritte gemacht; wir haben seine Einbauten jetzt größtenteils "grau eingepackt", mit Ausnahme der Brücke (kommt bald!) Der Eskorte Träger der Panther-Klasse ist fast "weiß" komplett: Ein Künstler verfolgt die Fertigteile, von denen es 146 gibt! Erwarten Sie, dass diese Phase bis zum Ende der Woche abgeschlossen ist. Der ehrwürdige bengalische Träger ist auch in unseren Werften, mit White-Boxing-Arbeiten im Hangar und im Briefing-Raum sowie Prototyparbeiten für Transportmethoden durch das Schiff (vertrauen Sie mir, Sie wollen keinen Kilometer laufen, um vor jeder Mission zu Ihrem Jäger zu gelangen.) Die Shubin Mining Platform macht in der gleichen Phase gute Fortschritte, wobei die Abschnitte Monorail und Landungssteg ausführlich beschrieben werden. Wir haben auch die Raffinerieräume detailliert, die über einige ernsthafte Maschinen verfügen! Wir füllen leere Bereiche mit technischen Kanälen und versteckten Ritzen und beginnen, Räume mit Platzhalterstützen zu füllen. Schließlich wurde ein erster Block-Out auf dem Xi'An Transport durchgeführt.... aber Sie werden später mehr darüber erfahren!
Sitzaktionen sind vielleicht nicht so spannend wie Flottenaktionen, aber sie sind auch ein notwendiger Bestandteil des Raumschiffdesigns: herauszufinden, welche Station was in einem Hauptschiff steuert und wie man all dies den Spielern Spaß macht. Unser Sitzaktionsplan ist fast fertig für die Unterzeichnung! Auf der Spezifikationsseite arbeiten wir daran, die Vanduul-Flotte zu detaillieren, mit dem Königtum, dem mittleren Jäger, dem schweren Jäger und dem Zerstörer auf der Bank. Als nächstes kommt der "Void"-Bomber. Die Guten bekommen auch mehr Hardware: Das UEE Dropship ist in Arbeit. Schließlich werden KI- und Profilarbeiten an der Scythe durchgeführt, um sicherzustellen, dass sie im Arena Commander richtig kämpft.
Die Entwicklung des Konversationssystems ist im Gange, mit regelmäßigen Treffen, um die Feinheiten festzulegen, die erforderlich sind, damit das System so funktioniert, wie Chris Roberts es sich vorstellt. Es gibt auch weitere Arbeiten zu den Gesprächspfaden "Bitching Betty" und "Sim Announcer", die für die Entwicklung von Arena Commander relevant sein werden. Wir haben auch viel Zeit mit den Spielmodi Multiplayer und Arena Commander V1 verbracht. Wir haben den "Capture the Core"-Modus von Grund auf entwickelt und er wird in den nächsten Tagen den letzten Schliff erhalten. "Eroberung", die vielleicht nicht in V1 enthalten ist, aber bald fertig sein sollte, wird immer weiter entwickelt, insbesondere im Hinblick auf den Code-Anschluss. Der Horten-Modus in "Vanduul Swarm" hat große Fortschritte gemacht, besonders jetzt, da die Scythe realistisch fliegt!
Programmierung: (Derek Senior - Programmdirektor)
Der Schwerpunkt dieses Monats lag auf dem Arena Commander. Wir haben 3D-Targeting-Retikula, das 3D-HUD-Radar, Scoring, ITTS, HUD-Messaging (Scoring-Feedback, Join/Leave-Benachrichtigungen, Randwarnungen, etc.) implementiert, die Raketenstartsequenz aktualisiert und den Targeting-Code neu gestaltet. Wir haben neue Spielregeln für drei Modi eingeführt, Staffelkampf, Eroberung des Kerns und Eroberung. Ein Großteil der Arbeit, die wir leisten, läuft auf Bug-Squashing hinaus, insbesondere für den Multiplayer-Modus; jetzt, da wir in verschiedenen Studios spielen, können wir Probleme wirklich identifizieren und beheben! Ein beträchtlicher Teil davon hängt mit dem Wieder-Laichen der Spieler zusammen, das jetzt viel zuverlässiger ist. Wir haben auch einige Arbeiten zur Implementierung von HUD-Soundeffekten und dem dynamischen Musiksystem durchgeführt und die Funktionalität des Targeting Panels verbessert. Eine Sache, von der ich weiß, dass sie unter den Star Citizen-Fans heftig diskutiert wird, ist die Controller-Funktionalität: Wir haben an Input Maps für alle Arten von Controllern gearbeitet, von der Tastatur bis hin zu spezifischen HOTAS-Setups. Wir haben dazu Feedback von Spielern und Designern aus dem gesamten Unternehmen erhalten, und wir setzen uns dafür ein, dass Star Citizen Spaß macht, egal welche Art von Steuermechanismus Sie wählen.
Kunst und Animation: (Paul Jones - Art Director)
Das Dogfighting-Modul war eine echte unternehmensübergreifende Leistung.... aber wir werden stolz darauf sein, dass wir die Umweltgüter und die Kartenerstellung für Dying Star und Broken Moon anerkennen werden! Unser Team ging in den Betrieb der CryEngine und die Ergebnisse sprechen für sich. Wir haben auch einige verschiedene VFX-Arbeiten für das Modul durchgeführt und bei zukünftigen Effekttypen im Spielmodus geholfen. Im April haben wir alles perfektioniert, von den Terraforming-Stationen über die Landeplattformen bis hin zu den zerstörbaren Plattformen. Wir haben auch mit dem Design für das White-Boxing und Tiering der Kriegsschiffe der Javelin-, Panther- und Bengalklasse gearbeitet. Auch das Äußere des Vergelters sieht großartig aus!
Auf der Seite der Benutzeroberfläche haben wir uns mit dem Look and Feel der technischen Sitzaktion beschäftigt. Das Design hat herausgefunden, was du an einem Sitz tun musst.... jetzt liegt es an uns herauszufinden, wie der Spieler Dinge wie Stromverteilung, Kühlung, CPU-Last und dergleichen steuern soll!
Unsere Konzeptkünstler haben auch viel 3D-Arbeit geleistet! Funktionsmodelle wurden für das leichte Jagdflugzeug Gladius (siehe aktueller Beitrag), das Bergungsschiff und das Bauchdock der Idris, den Turm des Speerjägers (innen und außen) und den Panther-Eskortträger erstellt. Die Animation war ebenfalls sehr arbeitsintensiv, arbeitete an der Ausstoßung des Luftkampfes und den G-Loc-Sequenzen und bereitete die ersten filmischen Mocap-Tests für Staffel 42, das Vanduul-Pilotrigging und die Animationen der Schiffswaffen vor.
Wir hatten einen weiteren guten Monat, in dem wir eine Reihe von notwendigen Konzept-, Produktions- und Polierarbeiten in allen Abteilungen durchgeführt haben. Nächsten Monat (da wir so gut wie alle unsere Dog Fight Module Aufgaben in Großbritannien abgeschlossen haben) werden wir uns fast ausschließlich darauf konzentrieren, Kapitalschiffsysteme online zu bringen, unseren Bedarf an Mo-Cap-Shootings für S42 zu decken und die ersten Missionen für S42 und alles, was damit verbunden ist, weiter zu blockieren.
Wie immer, vielen Dank für all deine Unterstützung, die es uns ermöglicht hat, dies zur besten verdammten Weltraumsimulation aller Zeiten zu machen.... Ohne dein Engagement, deine Unterstützung und deinen Glauben wären wir nicht da, wo wir sind. Ich freue mich darauf, dass jeder die ganze harte Arbeit, die in das Spiel gesteckt wurde, ausprobiert, während wir mit Arena Commander live gehen, und euch vielleicht in den Versen weiterbringt.... :)
Prost,
Erin
Mathieu Beaulieu, Produzentin
Der April verging so schnell, aber es wurde viel erreicht. Was die Programmierung betrifft, so hat ein großer Teil des Teams an den Funktionen des Dogfighting gearbeitet. Unsere oberste Priorität war es, die Implementierung abzuschließen und verschiedene Funktionalitäten der Benutzeroberfläche zu verbessern. Wir haben einige große Fortschritte bei der Fertigstellung des Frameworks gemacht, das für den Aufbau des Visor HUD, des Shield and Power Management UI, der In-Game Scoreboards sowie des Matchmaking UI arbeitet.
Wir arbeiten auch kontinuierlich an der Schaffung des Kerns der Wirtschaftssimulation und arbeiten sowohl an den Dienstleistungen der Backend-Simulation als auch an den Frontend-Tools, die es uns ermöglichen, die Wirtschaft voranzutreiben.
Der Frühling ist endlich in Montreal angekommen und die Discount-, Geschäfts- und Deluxe-Hangars bereiten sich auf den Frühjahrsputz vor. Nach der Modernisierung können wir alle Hangars, einschließlich des Asteroid-Hangars, um Erweiterungen und Spezialräume (wie den Schießstand) erweitern.
Und das ist noch nicht alles! Die Arbeiten für das UI/UX-Design des mobiGlas OS sind in vollem Gange. Schritt für Schritt entwickeln wir eine solide globale Sichtweise darauf, wie das Gesamtsystem aussehen und wie es funktionieren wird, die es uns ermöglicht, zukünftige Funktionalitäten schneller zu entwickeln und ein einheitliches Erscheinungsbild in allen Anwendungen zu erhalten. Wir arbeiten auch an dem Avatar-Anpassungssystem, das jetzt besser definiert ist, und wir arbeiten eng mit CIG zusammen, um sicherzustellen, dass wir die PU-Charaktere auf dem höchsten Detaillierungsgrad halten und gleichzeitig eine maximale Anpassung ermöglichen.
Tara Decker, Produzentin
Im April in Monterrey drehte sich alles um Schiffe. Und Luftkämpfe. Coole Schiffe & Luftkämpfe.... das war unser Frühling. Ziemlich cool.
Unsere Crew hat den letzten Monat damit verbracht, die Hornet, Aurora und die 300i (mit Herrn Chris Smith) schön und bereit zu machen, ins All zu fliegen. Die Behebung des Schadens, die LOD- und PBR-Umbauarbeiten für jedes Schiff waren oft eine Herausforderung, da der Ansatz für die Vorgehensweise neu definiert wurde. Aber, die Schiffe sehen großartig aus und trennen sich wirklich gut, wenn sie getroffen werden, also wird der Luftkampf wirklich, wirklich Spaß machen.
Auch mit Erins Atelier setzten die Künstler die Arbeit am Idris fort. Tolle Gruppe von Jungs, mit denen man arbeiten kann.... und unglaublich hohe Standards! Das Schiffslayout ist im Wesentlichen fertig gestellt und die Arbeiten an den verschiedenen Räumen und Bereichen (Brücke, Brigg, Reaktorraum, etc....) sind im Gange. Dies ist ein riesiges Schiff und die Arbeit wird noch eine ganze Weile dauern.
Der Freelancer und alle seine Varianten sind fast vollständig. Genau wie der Rächer. Zusätzliche Arbeiten für Schadenszustände und LOD's sind erforderlich, aber die Modellierungsphasen sind gut abgeschlossen.
Als nächstes für uns: Das Schiff Chris Roberts sagt, dass er am meisten begeistert ist von seinem Besitz: die Constellation. Kein Druck. ;)
Also, ich sagte, dass April alle Schiffe waren, aber wir haben auch die Charakterarbeit angegangen. Aktualisieren des männlichen Explorer-Charakters. Und macht Helmarbeit. Es ist verrückt zu bemerken, dass genauso viel Zeit in die Modellierung und Texturierung des Innenraums des Helmes wie des Außenbereichs investiert wird. Schön.
Sean Murphy, Outsourcing Manager
Unsere externen Auftragnehmer haben sich in diesem Zyklus stark auf die Schiffskunst konzentriert - Eddie del Rio hat einige großartige Konzepte für das Xi'an Scout-Schiff entwickelt, Stephan Martiniere arbeitet an Brückeninnenräumen, Jan Urschel entwirft den Bomber Xi'an und Emmanuel Shiu erkundet den Banu Merchantman. Ryan Church entwickelt den Panther Escort Carrier weiter und Jim Martin entwickelt Konzepte für Varianten des Entermessers, während Gavin Rothery das Design des Gladius Light Fighters festigt. Und Stefano Tsai brennt auf der M50!
Darüber hinaus haben wir Rob McKinnon, der an Marine Armor-Konzepten und verschiedenen anderen militärischen Outfits arbeitet; Clint Schultz und Dave Scott arbeiten an Firmenlogos, David Brochard und Justin Sweet machen einige außerirdische Charakteruntersuchungen, und Atey Ghailan und Ed Lee helfen bei der Verfeinerung von Umgebungen.
Schließlich sind wir im Gespräch mit einem anderen spannenden Konzeptkünstler, der uns über die Zusammenarbeit mit uns angesprochen hat - aber wir können noch nichts sagen!
(Redigiert)
Hier bei [Redacted] im Land von[Redacted] haben wir das[Redacted] Wetter genossen, während wir hart an der Arbeit am FPS-Modul waren!
Die Künstler haben sich auf den Weg gemacht, um einige erstaunlich aussehende Umgebungen für euch Bürger zu schaffen, in denen ihr euch gegenseitig töten könnt. Wenn mehr Requisiten, Details und Politur umgesetzt werden, wird deutlich, dass Star Citizen nicht nur eines der am besten aussehenden Spiele in den Tiefen des Weltraums sein wird, sondern auch auf der Planetenseite... oder in den Fluren einer riesigen Raumstation.
Unsere Ingenieure und Animatoren optimierten und polierten weiterhin EVA- und Zero-G-Bewegungen, während das visuelle FX-Team einige fantastisch aussehende Thruster-Jet-Effekte entwickelte. Und während das Herumtreiben und das Zoomen durch die Ebenen mit Hilfe von Triebwerken eine Explosion ist, war der große Hit im Büro Magnetic Boots! Diese Wunderwerke moderner Technologie lassen Sie auf jeder Metalloberfläche in Zero-G herumstampfen.... Böden, Wände, Decken, Schiffsaußenseiten, was auch immer! Zusammen mit Zero-G denken wir, dass es dem Kampf eine sehr einzigartige Wendung verleihen wird.
Apropos Kampf, wir haben auch ein Deckungssystem eingeführt. Bald werden die Bürger in der Lage sein, sich hinter Objekten zu verstecken oder sich von hinten an eine Wand zu lehnen, um Schüsse auf den Feind zu machen. All diese Aktionen in Kombination mit der Vielfalt der Waffen bedeutet, dass es eine absolut große Menge an Animationen gibt, die in Bewegung aufgenommen werden müssen.... und es ist so, dass wir diese Woche Bewegungsaufnahmen machen.
Mit dem FPS-Modul beginnt das Team nun mit einem umfangreichen Spieltest, um sicherzustellen, dass alles auf eine Weise zusammenkommt, die Spaß macht, fesselnd ist und hoffentlich nichts mit allem zu tun hat, was Sie je zuvor gesehen oder gespielt haben. Wir können es kaum erwarten, es zu zeigen und hoffen, dass ihr Bürger genauso begeistert seid wie wir!
Derzeit arbeiten bei[Redacted] insgesamt 24 talentierte Menschen an Star Citizen. Neun Künstler, sechs Programmierer, vier Animatoren, ein Creative Director, ein Level-Designer, ein Auftragnehmer für Soundeffekte, ein Senior Producer und ein Gameplay-Produzent.
Mark Day, Studioleiterin
Sherman war der neue planetarische Standort, der in der neuesten Ausgabe des Observist angekündigt wurde, und voidALPHA konzentriert sich darauf, ihn so spektakulär wie möglich zu machen! Der Konzeptkünstler Emmanuel Shiu hat die ersten beiden etablierten Aufnahmen gemalt und gestaltet nun das Look and Feel der Ladeneinrichtungen. Design erstellt das grobe Layout auf der Grundlage dieser Konzeptfotos und stellt sicher, dass die White Box-Version den Architekturstil und die Stimmung, die für diese entmilitarisierte UEE-Basis etabliert wurden, genau wiedergibt. Die Umweltkunst hat einen Großteil der Geometrie für The Blocks (Terra: Prime) fertiggestellt und sich nun auf einen Basismaterialpass konzentriert, der uns dem Abschluss einer der übelsten und anrüchigsten Positionen auf der Planetenseite, die Sie je betreten werden, ein großes Stück näher bringt. Schließlich ist unsere Centermass "Beautiful Corner"...naja...schön! Wir befinden uns im letzten Abschnitt dieses Ladeninneren, bis ein paar endgültige Beleuchtungs- und Materialanpassungen vorgenommen wurden, die notwendig sind, um diesen Laden zu einem Anblick zu machen!
Benoit Beauséjour, Gründer und Gründer
Das Plattformteam von Turbulent hat sich diesen Monat darauf konzentriert, die Mitgliedschaft bei Multi-Orgs abzuschließen. Dies ist eine Funktion, die wir freigeben wollten, während wir tiefer in den zweiten Tropfen von Orgs eintauchen, in dem wir bedeutende Struktur- und Befehlserweiterungen zu Orgs hinzufügen. Dieser Prozess läuft gut, da wir nun das Artwork für die Zuschauer und die Bedienoberfläche für Ihre Org-Struktur entwickeln.
Eine Menge Zeit wurde mit dem Aufbau des Arena Commander Ranglistensystems verbracht, das Piloten- und Organisationsstatistiken für das Modul enthalten wird. Das Vorhandensein von Spielstatistiken auf der Website führt auch zu einer Überarbeitung des Bürgerdossiers, damit Sie Ihre Fähigkeiten als Simulatorpilot unter Beweis stellen können! (Und vielleicht auch eine Pilotenfähigkeit überprüfen, bevor du ihn rekrutierst?)
Die Arbeit an der Neugestaltung des Geschäftserlebnisses und an weiteren Details wurde fortgesetzt. auf den Schiffsvarianten und -ausrüstungen. Wir haben nun ein vollständiges Kontrollmodell auf der Plattform, das es uns ermöglicht, schiffsbezogene Statistiken zu aktualisieren und anzuzeigen. Erwarten Sie mehr in den kommenden Wochen!
Das Team hat große Fortschritte bei der Multi-Faktor-Authentifizierung gemacht, einer weiteren großen Plattformverbesserung, die wir an die Community weitergeben wollen, um die Sicherheit Ihrer Konten und der Plattform auf breiter Front zu verbessern. Viele Funktionen unter der Kapuze wurden auch entwickelt, um den Umgang mit der Kontosicherheit und anderen Tools für Ihr tolles CS-Team zu erleichtern!
Matthew Jack, Gründer und Gründer
Der April begann mit Intensität für die drei Entwickler des Kythera-Kernteams, denn wir befanden uns im Zentrum der Dinge, die im Gameplay für die PAX East Demo ablaufen. Das war für uns besonders aufregend, denn es war der erste öffentliche Spieltest von Kythera, im Vanduul Swarm-Modus von Star Citizen. Es gibt Filmmaterial von diesem Build auf unserer Website.
Seit PAX haben wir an der Entwicklung der Dogfighting v1 Version selbst gearbeitet. Die größte Veränderung für uns ist der Umzug zur Scythe. Kythera hat bisher Hornissen geflogen, aber die Scythe wird für den Vanduul-Schwarmmodus benötigt und diese Schiffe handhaben sehr unterschiedlich und verwenden unterschiedliche Manöver.
Ein wesentliches Merkmal dieses Monats ist die Verbesserung der Vermeidung, um einige große und komplexe Geometrien in den Vanduul-Schwarmstufen besser zu handhaben, insbesondere den Terraformer in Broken Moon. Wir erweitern auch unser Inspector Debugging-Tool, um Programmierern und Designern ein viel besseres Feedback zu geben, wenn sie das Gameplay des Vanduul Swarm-Modus gestalten.
Chinese
Greetings Citizens,
It’s time for April’s Star Citizen development report! As we have done previously, we’ve asked the people in charge of each CIG studio and outsource group to report on what they have been up to in the previous month. (Please note that this also replaces the Arena Commander Weekly Report for May 2nd, since it includes everything done on AC this week.)
Travis Day, Dogfight Producer
As April comes to a close it is time again for us to reflect upon, and share, the major developments of the month! There is much to discuss so let’s get straight to it!
At the beginning of this month we revealed Arena Commander (AKA – DFM) to all the backers who were able to attend our pre-PAX East event in Boston and to the world via livestream. We also had the privilege of having Arena Commander playable on the show floor of PAX East for citizens and interested passerby alike in the Logitech booth. Of course we weren’t able to show everything we wanted to that night in Boston so we put together a video showing off some of the additional features we’ve been working on that didn’t make the demo level which you can see below if you missed it.
While showing off all our team’s hard work is very gratifying, the real treat is being able to interact with everyone in the community in person. Words cannot express how humbling and inspiring it is to be able to meet with so many people who are so passionate about the universe we are creating. It is incredibly motivating for all of us who were in attendance and while it isn’t truly possible to capture those indelible feelings we were able to share at least some of that with the team upon our return.
Speaking of the team, let’s move on to what they’ve been up to! Similar to many of the other studios, we here in Santa Monica are finishing up new feature implementation as we approach our branch date and code lock and move into final polish, tweaking, and bug fixing. To this end there has been a lot of planning and communication going on amongst all the studios to synchronize our finishing of feature development and finalizing our polish and rollout strategy. This will allow us to focus on finishing and stabilizing the planned features we’ve implemented and lower the risk of introducing new issues as we prepare for the launch of Arena Commander.
Whilst Production, Operations, and Network Engineering have been planning and executing the above strategy, our visual effects team has been finishing its final passes on effects and hooking them up to all the parts and states of the Aurora, 300i, Scythe, and Hornet and all of their possible item combinations. Our planning on this from Forrest and Casey has panned out quite well. In creating the effects for the Hornet and the Scythe along with all their weapons and items we’ve established a good starting point for an effects library for both UEE and Vanduul craft. Obviously these libraries will grow and change over time but it has us well positioned to rapidly iterate and hook up new ships and items in the future.
Speaking of ships breaking apart… This month has seen the completion of hooking up all of the damage pieces, LODs, particle effect nodes, etc. for the Scythe, 300i, Aurora, and Hornet. Not only do they all now explode, break, and LOD properly but we’ve also got them all flying properly this month. They’ve all been converted to PBR and as mentioned in a previous post the 300i has also undergone a major uprez and detail pass as it was being converted to PBR. All of the ships (which already looked great) are now looking absolutely fantastic. This is another case where our early work both in the way we approached it and focusing on the Hornet first has paid of dividends. By spending the time to R&D ship mechanics with the Hornet and locking down the process and documentation it has allowed us to blaze through the Scythe, Aurora, and 300i much more quickly and each ship has progressed more quickly than the last as we improve our technique, which is great to see.
On the engineering front the team has been focusing on finishing off some changes to the pipe system (framework which manages per ship and per part CPU, power, cooling, and fuel) to allow players to manipulate settings dynamically on a per item basis or on a global level for the ship which will affect all attached parts. This was a stretch goal for us going into the first release so we’re pleased that we’ve been able to fit this in as it will improve the dynamism of ships greatly and we think player’s will really enjoy it.
The pipe system wasn’t the only one to get a bit of an upgrade. Radar/detection system too has undergone an overhaul to expand its functionality both to improve its current features and to create the foundation for future features that designers can play with. It has also undergone an optimization both in parallel to this which has greatly increased its performance per frame. To expand upon the improvements to the radar system, it has been moved into a centralized system hosted by the vehicle that can be shared by multiple items and only get called once. That doesn’t sound very sexy but what it allows is for much more realistic simulation of missiles for example. Where you can feed your ships primary radar data to the missile for acquiring lock and then later switch to the missiles radar only once it has left the ship. It also paves the way for slaving radar from one ship to another or things like centralized command and control which is a feature we know a lot of our community is looking forward to. Lastly, we’ve adjusted the way the signal to noise ratio system works and expanded its functionality quite a bit to allow designers to play with different types of chaff, armor, nebulas, flares, etc. and have them impact the radar/detection system in entirely new ways.
On the graphics engineering side Okka Kyaw has been very busy working on many improvements to the HUD’s look and feel to make sure that the curvature shader works perfectly in a multitude of resolutions and has a projected holographic feel. He’s also created the redout effect to match his stellar g-force induced blackout effect and is now working on the interstitial effects such as blackout recovery to provide a more realistic and filmic return to consciousness. Overall we believe that folks will be really happy with the graphics effects and immersive feel that his work accomplishes.
Our headcount has increased by 1, with the addition of our new Human Resources specialist. We do have some exciting new hires coming up and we look forward to updating you about them next month!
We would like to close this month by taking a moment to thank you, each and every backer, for all of their support on this project. From backing the game, to fan fiction, to late night chatroll, ‘Ask a Dev’ threads, to fan gifts, to meeting everyone at events like the Arena Commander reveal. We are all truly humbled by all that you do for us and genuinely appreciate you making it possible for us to create this universe for us to share in together.
As always, feel free to post any comments or questions in our “Ask a Dev” threads and until next time… See you in the ‘verse!
Eric Peterson, Studio Director
Hello Citizens!
Here in Austin, we’ve been working on the integration of all the various studios’ code drops, in order to get the Dogfighting M… I mean Arena Commander… ready for launch. What that means is taking all the work done in places like Santa Monica, Manchester, Montreal and [Redacted], putting it together and making sure it all works the way it’s supposed to. We’re also knee deep in planning for the delivery of AC through the client side launcher/patcher; you know, that thing you log in to every time you visit your Hangar! Our other big dogfighting job is getting the backend server code stable for the release.
Outside of dogfighting, we’re working on the long-term planning and scheduling for both the planetside module and the eventual persistent universe. Launching Arena Commander is going to teach us a lot that we’ll need to know for both these future releases! We also hosted a cinematics and motion capture summit where teams from around the company plotted out the cinematic for both Squadron 42 and Star Citizen. Essentially, we sat down and blocked out the entire script so we’ll know what needs to be shot for our game!
Engineering:
The engineering team has been focusing on Dog Fighting v1 tasks including hangar, ship and other bugs that need to be fixed prior to launching. This also includes zSupervisor work for starting up game server processes, working to get the matchmaking services integrated and monitoring server issues during play tests. We are continuing integration of CryEngine 3.6 and should be complete by the end of next week 5/2/2014 barring any unforeseen issues.
Engineering has also been working on fixing build system issues as they come up and working with IT to migrate the old build system to the newly configured build system cluster. Phase I of this should be completed next week and we will continue to upgrade the system as needs arise.
Cinematics/Mocap:
In addition to the big cinematics summit, we concluded the facilities search for a mocap location (more on that soon!) and have made good progress on crew, vendor and process planning. That is the who and how of the massive motion capture shoot needed for Squadron 42. We’re working to finish tests and evaluations on several software options for facial and body mocap solutions. We’ve also generated the first budget for the shoot and we’re working with Foundry 42 on what assets are going to be needed in terms of ships and virtual sets before we start putting actors in their rigs.
Animation:
Our biggest priority this month was supporting the dogfighting launch with animations. You’d be surprised how much goes into Arena Commander, beyond just flipping your helmet around as you board your ship! We’re also cleaning up the existing Hangar animations and supporting some needs for the upcoming ship commercials.
Animation is on the grow: we’ve hired a new senior animator who starts soon, and we’re getting ready to do some mocapping for the First Person Shooter module launch. Another major priority going forward is to complete the male and weapon locomotion sets as we move into supporting Foundry 42’s needs for Squadron 42 cinematics… and then, eventually, the persistent universe! Finally, we’ve received new rigged heads, which we are now integrating into the game.
Art:
Art is assisting animation in getting the scanned heads fitted onto our in-game bodies. It’s more difficult than it sounds! The process involves adjusting base model sculpts to work better with heads. We’re also working on the bodies and costumes needed for Squadron 42 and several upcoming ship videos, while fleshing out a more exact list of what’s going to be needed in the long run for the persistent universe.
Meanwhile, art in Austin is exploring head customization and NPC generation options; we’re confident that we’re going to have something very cool in the end. We are finishing up LODs and damage states for all the ships in the Arena Commander V1 release (Hornet, Aurora, 300i and Scythe) and we’re continuing development of Star Citizen’s alien races.
Production:
The production team is primarily focused on the release of Dog Fighting v1. In addition, the production team is working on a Persistent Universe schedule and updating our ship schedule. Up next, we will be fleshing out the character schedules as well as the weapons and items schedule. All of this in tandem with keeping the teams on task, generating the rollout plan for the DFMV1 release, and generally keeping up with all the other production groups at each studio to keep the machine humming along.
Video Production:
Shot various video b-roll and interviews for PAX East DFM reveal. Also, produced, wrote, directed, shot and edited episodes 62-66 of “Wingman’s Hangar”. Shot and edited a sequence of humorous reviews of HP Envy laptop for AMD partnership. Shot video of fan visits and edited them into a video package. Designed and specified power, lighting, sound control of sound stage for Wingman’s hangar and future mocap sessions. Continued to expand upon our video production standards and procedures for commonly used assets for video production. Assisted with technical planning for PAX East as well as future live events.
Design:
In addition to supporting the dogfighting release, we have been forging ahead with persistent universe work. With a staff that has doubled in the past month, we’re drilling into topics like jump point running, bounty hunting, salvaging, and our massive reputation system. Design continues to put a heavy focus on bringing our economy system into a testable state, so we’re neck-deep in spreadsheets about how things are put together, where they’re found, and what they’re worth.
We also continue to push forward with the future of the hangar, with an improved shooting range and an early look at overclocking on the near horizon.
Good news for the web junkies: an update to the ship stats page is coming soon!
Audio:
In April, the entire audio department has been focusing on the needs of the Dogfight Module, beginning with the PAX East reveal and continuing on to the first release. Martin Galway has been hard at work wrangling the many facets of audio production – here is a look at what is going on with his team.
Pedro has been delivering interactive music clips that have been implemented so far by Jens Lind. Mason Fisher has been generating WAVs for [REDACTED] EVA work; Bill Munyon has spent most of his time on spacecraft sound design & implementation; Jason Cobb has concentrated on fixing existing audio, creating new implementation hooks and playtesting; Stefan was hired in mid-April and is still ramping up, starting with dialogue work for the Dogfighting module. Ian Chuprun has been working on environmental audio for the two multiplayer maps (in addition to asteroid hangar and general hangar upkeep).
IT:
April has been one of the busiest months of this year for the IT team. Between new user support and the PAX East event every member has been busy in their respective studios. With all dev teams working nearly around the clock on DFM Hassan, Dennis, and Chris have been working hard to keep up with upgrades and repairs resulting in virtually zero down time. Our Austin team spent some additional time preparing equipment for the PAX East event as well as wrapping up work on a new build server cluster which will help all dev teams speed up development and testing.
The IT team feels really good about our showing at PAX East and proud of our role in that event.
That is it from Texas – where the weather is getting warmer… and the dogfights getting more heated. And here’s a tip: if you see Rob Irving in the ‘verse, you might want to run… he is getting deadly accurate with his flight stick!
Thanks for your continued support!
Eric
Erin Roberts, Studio Director
Hi from Manchester again,
Another month has passed and it’s time to update you all on what we’ve been up to at Foundry 42. In short, there’s been a lot of work on both Arena Commander and Squadron 42. It’s a real pleasure to see both of these projects start to come together. I’d also like to add that I was personally revved up by getting to see our backers get their hands on the game for the first time at PAX East. It’s truly thrilling to see how quickly everyone ‘gets it’ and understands that Star Citizen is the real deal. Here are details on this month’s work from Foundry 42’s internal teams:
Design: (Nick Elms – Design Director)
What have we been doing? Building ships, of course! One of our most important tasks at the moment is designing the interiors of capital ships and space stations, because we’re going to need those as set pieces for some of Squadron 42’s earliest missions. Work on the Idris is continuing well, working alongside CGBot to deal with the few remaining uncertainties. The Javelin Destroyer has made a lot of progress since the concept art you saw; we have its internals mostly “grey boxed” now, with the exception of the bridge (coming soon!) The Panther-class Escort Carrier is almost “white-box” complete: an artist is tracing the pre-fab pieces, of which there are 146! Expect this stage to be complete by the end of the week. The venerable Bengal carrier is also in our shipyards, with white-boxing work being done on the hangar and the briefing room, as well as prototype work being done for methods of transport through the ship (trust me, you don’t want to walk a kilometre to get to your fighter before every mission.) The Shubin Mining Platform is making good progress in the same stage, with significant detailing on the monorail and landing pad sections. We’ve also detailed the refinery rooms, which have some serious machinery! We’re filling void areas with engineering ducts and hidden crannies, and are starting to populate rooms with placeholder props. Finally, some initial block-out has been done on the Xi’An Transport… but you’ll be hearing more about that later!
Seat actions may not be as exciting as fleet actions, but they’re also a necessary part of starship design: figuring out what station controls what in a capital ship, and how to make all of this fun for players. Our seat action plan is almost ready for signoff! On the specs side of things, we’re working on detailing the Vanduul fleet, with the Kingship, medium fighter, heavy fighter and destroyer on the bench at the moment. Next up is the “Void” bomber. The good guys are getting more hardware, too: the UEE dropship is in the works. Lastly, AI and profile work are being done on the Scythe to make sure it fights properly in Arena Commander.
Development of the conversation system is ongoing, with regular meetings to pin down the finer detail required to make the system work the way Chris Roberts imagines. There’s also been more work on the “Bitching Betty” and “Sim Announcer” conversation paths that will be relevant for Arena Commander’s evolution. We’ve also spent quite a bit of time on the multiplayer and Arena Commander V1 game modes. We’ve developed the “Capture the Core” mode from the ground up and it will be getting some final polish in the next few days. “Conquest,” which may not be in V1 but should be ready soon, is getting more development, especially in terms of code hook up. The hoard mode in “Vanduul Swarm” has made a great deal of progress, especially now that the Scythe is flying realistically!
Programming: (Derek Senior – Programming Director)
The main focus this month has been on Arena Commander. We’ve implemented 3D targeting reticules, the 3D HUD radar, scoring, the ITTS, HUD messaging (scoring feedback, join/leave notifications, boundary warnings, etc.), updated the missile launch sequence and refactored the targeting code. We’ve implemented new game rules for three modes, Squadron Battle, Capture the Core and Conquest. A lot of the work we’re doing boils down to bug squashing, especially for the multiplayer modes; now that we’re playing across studios, we can really identify and fix issues! A fair amount of this has been related to player re-spawning, which is now much more reliable. We’ve also done some work implementing HUD sound effects and the dynamic music system, and have polished the targeting panel’s functionality. One thing that I know is hotly debated among Star Citizen fans is controller functionality: we’ve been working on input maps for all types of controllers, from the keyboard to specific HOTAS setups. We’ve had feedback from players and designers across the company on this, and we’re dedicated to making sure Star Citizen is fun no matter what type of control mechanism you choose.
Art and Animation: (Paul Jones – Art Director)
The dogfighting module has been a true cross-company effort… but we’ll proudly take credit for the environment assets and map creation for Dying Star and Broken Moon! Our team went into the CryEngine running and the results speak for themselves. We have also been doing some assorted VFX work for the module and we’ve been helping with future game mode effect types. In April we’ve been perfecting everything from the terraforming stations to the landing platforms to the destructible platforms. We’ve also been working with design on the white-boxing and tiering of the Javelin, Panther and Bengal class warships. The exterior of the Retaliator is also looking great!
On the User Interface side of things, we’ve been nailing down the look and feel of the engineering seat action. Design has figured out what you need to do at a seat… now it’s up to us to figure out how the player should control things like power distribution, cooling, CPU load and the like!
Our concept artists have been doing plenty of 3D work, too! Functional models have been created for the Gladius light fighter (seen in a recent post), the Idris’ recovery ship and belly dock, the Javelin destroyer’s turret (interior and exterior) and the Panther escort carrier. Animation has been hard at work too, working on the dogfighting ejection and g-loc sequences, plus preparing the initial cinematic mocap tests for Squadron 42, the Vanduul pilot rigging and coutless ship weapon animations.
We’ve had another good month of getting through a bunch of needed concept, production and polish work in all departments. Next month (as we have pretty much finished all our Dog Fight Module tasks in the UK) we will be almost totally focussing on bringing capital ship systems online, as well as breaking down our mo-cap shoot needs for S42, as well as continuing to block out the first missions for S42 and everything that entails.
As always, thanks for all your support in allowing us to make this the best damn space sim ever… Without your commitment, support and belief we would not be where we are. I look forward to everyone checking out all the hard work that has gone into the game as we go live with Arena Commander, and maybe taking you guys on in the verse… :)
Cheers,
Erin
Mathieu Beaulieu, Producer
April went by so fast, yet a lot was accomplished. As far as programming goes, a good portion of the team has been working on Dogfighting related features. Our highest priority has been to complete the implementation and polish various user interface functionalities. We’ve made some great progress towards the completion of the framework that works towards building the Visor HUD, the Shield and Power Management UI, in-game Scoreboards as well as the Matchmaking UI.
We are also continuously working on creating the core of the economic simulation, working actively on both the backend simulation services as well as the frontend tools that will allow us to drive the economy.
Spring has finally arrived in Montreal and the Discount, Business and Deluxe Hangars are getting ready for some spring cleaning. Once they have been revamped, we will be able to add expansions and specialty rooms (like the shooting range) to all hangars, including the Asteroid Hangar.
And that’s not all! Work is well underway for the UI/UX design of the mobiGlas OS. Step by step, we are developing a solid global view of what the entire system will look like and how it will work, which will allow us to develop future functionalities faster and keep a consistent look throughout all its applications. We are also working on the avatar customization system which is now better defined, and we are working closely with CIG to make sure we keep the PU characters at the highest level of detail while allowing for maximum customization.
Tara Decker, Producer
April in Monterrey has been all.about.ships. And dogfighting. Cool ships & dogfighting….that’s been our spring. Pretty cool.
Our crew has spent the last month getting the Hornet, Aurora and the 300i (with Mr. Chris Smith) looking beautiful and ready to go into space. Getting the damage, LOD and PBR conversion done for each ship was often challenging as the approach on how to do each is newly defined. But, the ships are looking great & break up really well when hit, so dogfighting is going to be really, really fun.
Artists were also continuing work on the Idris with Erin’s studio. Great group of guys to work with…and incredibly high standards! The ship layout is basically finalized and work on the various rooms and areas (bridge, brig, reactor room, etc…) is in progress. This is a massive ship and work will continue for quite a bit.
The Freelancer and all of it’s variants are almost complete. As is the Avenger. Additional work for damage states and LOD’s will be needed, but the modeling phases are wrapping up nicely.
Next up for us: the ship Chris Roberts says he’s most excited to own: the Constellation. No pressure. ;)
So, I said April was all ships, but we also tackled character work as well. Updating the Male Explorer character. And doing helmet work. It’s crazy to note that as much time is going into modeling & texturing the interior of the helmet as the exterior. Nice.
Sean Murphy, Outsource Manager
Our external contractors have been focusing heavily on ship art this cycle – Eddie del Rio has created some great concepts for the Xi’an Scout ship, Stephan Martiniere is working on bridge interiors, Jan Urschel is designing the Xi’an bomber, and Emmanuel Shiu is exploring the Banu Merchantman. Ryan Church is continuing to develop the Panther Escort Carrier and Jim Martin is creating concepts for variants of the Cutlass, while Gavin Rothery is solidifying the design of the Gladius Light Fighter. And Stefano Tsai is blazing on the M50!
In addition we have Rob McKinnon working on Marine Armor concepts and various other military outfits; Clint Schultz and Dave Scott are working on corporation logos, David Brochard and Justin Sweet are doing some alien character explorations, and Atey Ghailan and Ed Lee are helping refine environments.
Finally, we’re in discussions with another exciting concept artist who has approached us about working with us – but we can’t say anything yet!
[Redacted]
Here at [Redacted] in the land of [Redacted] we have been enjoying the [Redacted] weather while hard at work on the FPS module!
The artists have been cranking away creating some amazing looking environments for you Citizens to kill each other in. As more props, detail and polish get implemented, it’s becoming apparent that Star Citizen will not only be one of the best looking games in the depths of space, but also planet-side… or within the corridors of a massive space station.
Our engineers and animators continued tweaking and polishing EVA and Zero-G movement, while the visual FX team came up with some awesome looking thruster jet effects. And while floating around and zooming through levels using thrusters is a blast, the big hit around the office has been Magnetic Boots! These marvels of modern technology let you stomp around on any metal surface in Zero-G… floors, walls, ceilings, ship exteriors, you name it! Coupled with Zero-G, we think it is going to add a very unique twist to the combat.
Speaking of combat, we have also been implementing a cover system. Soon, Citizens will be able to hunker down behind objects or lean in from behind a wall to take shots at the enemy. All of these actions combined with the variety of weapons means that there is an absolutely huge amount of animation that needs to be motion captured… and it just so happens that we are doing motion capture this week.
Moving forward with the FPS module, the team is about to begin a heavy amount play-testing to ensure everything is coming together in a way that is fun, engaging and hopefully nothing quite like anything you’ve ever seen or played before. We can’t wait to show it off and we hope that you Citizens are just as excited as we are!
Currently [Redacted] has a total of 24 talented people working on Star Citizen. Nine artists, six programmers, 4 animators, a creative director, a level designer, a contractor for sound effects, a senior producer and a gameplay producer.
Mark Day, Studio Director
Sherman was the new planet-side location announced in the latest edition of the Observist, and voidALPHA is focused on making it as spectacular as can be! Concept artist Emmanuel Shiu has painted the first 2 establishing shots and is now crafting the look and feel of the shop interiors. Design is building the rough level layout based on those concept shots, ensuring that the white box version accurately represents the architectural style and mood established for this demilitarized UEE base. Environment art has finished a majority of the geometry for The Blocks (Terra: Prime) and has now focused efforts on a basic material pass, getting us that much closer to completing one of the most foul and disreputable planet-side locations you will ever step foot on. Finally, our Centermass “Beautiful Corner” is…well…beautiful! We are in the final stretch of this shop interior, pending a few final lighting and material adjustments that are needed to make this shop a sight to behold!
Benoit Beauséjour, Founder
The platform team at Turbulent has been focused this month on finalizing Multi-Orgs membership. This is a feature we wanted to release while diving deeper into the second drop of Orgs in which we add significant structure and command upgrades to Orgs. This process is going well as we are now developing the artwork for the viewers and control interface for your Org structure.
A serious amount of time was spent building the Arena Commander leaderboard system which will carry pilot and org stats for the module. The presence of game stats on the site also brings about a revamp of the Citizen Dossier to allow you to show off your simulator pilot skills! (And also maybe review a pilot skill before you recruit him?)
Work has continued on revamping the store experience and bringing about more details on the ship variants and equipment. We now have a full control model on the platform to allow us to update and display ship related stats. Expect more in the upcoming weeks!
The team has made great headway on the multi-factor authentication , another big platform improvement we want to get to the community to improve the security of your accounts and the platform across the board. Many under-the-hood features are also developed to help dealing with account security and other tools for your amazing CS team!
Matthew Jack, Founder
April began with intensity for the three developers of the core Kythera team, as we were in the thick of things iterating on gameplay for the PAX East demo. This was especially exciting for us because it represented the first public playtest of Kythera, in Star Citizen’s Vanduul Swarm mode. There’s footage from that build on our website.
Since PAX we’ve been working towards the Dogfighting v1 release itself. The biggest change for us is the move to the Scythe. Kythera has been flying Hornets thus far but the Scythe is needed for Vanduul Swarm mode and those ships handle very differently and use different maneuvers.
A key feature this month is the improvement of avoidance to better handle some large and complex pieces of geometry in the Vanduul Swarm levels, in particular the Terraformer in Broken Moon. We’re also extending our Inspector debugging tool to give much more powerful feedback to programmers and designers as they craft Vanduul Swarm mode’s gameplay.
It’s time for April’s Star Citizen development report! As we have done previously, we’ve asked the people in charge of each CIG studio and outsource group to report on what they have been up to in the previous month. (Please note that this also replaces the Arena Commander Weekly Report for May 2nd, since it includes everything done on AC this week.)
Travis Day, Dogfight Producer
As April comes to a close it is time again for us to reflect upon, and share, the major developments of the month! There is much to discuss so let’s get straight to it!
At the beginning of this month we revealed Arena Commander (AKA – DFM) to all the backers who were able to attend our pre-PAX East event in Boston and to the world via livestream. We also had the privilege of having Arena Commander playable on the show floor of PAX East for citizens and interested passerby alike in the Logitech booth. Of course we weren’t able to show everything we wanted to that night in Boston so we put together a video showing off some of the additional features we’ve been working on that didn’t make the demo level which you can see below if you missed it.
While showing off all our team’s hard work is very gratifying, the real treat is being able to interact with everyone in the community in person. Words cannot express how humbling and inspiring it is to be able to meet with so many people who are so passionate about the universe we are creating. It is incredibly motivating for all of us who were in attendance and while it isn’t truly possible to capture those indelible feelings we were able to share at least some of that with the team upon our return.
Speaking of the team, let’s move on to what they’ve been up to! Similar to many of the other studios, we here in Santa Monica are finishing up new feature implementation as we approach our branch date and code lock and move into final polish, tweaking, and bug fixing. To this end there has been a lot of planning and communication going on amongst all the studios to synchronize our finishing of feature development and finalizing our polish and rollout strategy. This will allow us to focus on finishing and stabilizing the planned features we’ve implemented and lower the risk of introducing new issues as we prepare for the launch of Arena Commander.
Whilst Production, Operations, and Network Engineering have been planning and executing the above strategy, our visual effects team has been finishing its final passes on effects and hooking them up to all the parts and states of the Aurora, 300i, Scythe, and Hornet and all of their possible item combinations. Our planning on this from Forrest and Casey has panned out quite well. In creating the effects for the Hornet and the Scythe along with all their weapons and items we’ve established a good starting point for an effects library for both UEE and Vanduul craft. Obviously these libraries will grow and change over time but it has us well positioned to rapidly iterate and hook up new ships and items in the future.
Speaking of ships breaking apart… This month has seen the completion of hooking up all of the damage pieces, LODs, particle effect nodes, etc. for the Scythe, 300i, Aurora, and Hornet. Not only do they all now explode, break, and LOD properly but we’ve also got them all flying properly this month. They’ve all been converted to PBR and as mentioned in a previous post the 300i has also undergone a major uprez and detail pass as it was being converted to PBR. All of the ships (which already looked great) are now looking absolutely fantastic. This is another case where our early work both in the way we approached it and focusing on the Hornet first has paid of dividends. By spending the time to R&D ship mechanics with the Hornet and locking down the process and documentation it has allowed us to blaze through the Scythe, Aurora, and 300i much more quickly and each ship has progressed more quickly than the last as we improve our technique, which is great to see.
On the engineering front the team has been focusing on finishing off some changes to the pipe system (framework which manages per ship and per part CPU, power, cooling, and fuel) to allow players to manipulate settings dynamically on a per item basis or on a global level for the ship which will affect all attached parts. This was a stretch goal for us going into the first release so we’re pleased that we’ve been able to fit this in as it will improve the dynamism of ships greatly and we think player’s will really enjoy it.
The pipe system wasn’t the only one to get a bit of an upgrade. Radar/detection system too has undergone an overhaul to expand its functionality both to improve its current features and to create the foundation for future features that designers can play with. It has also undergone an optimization both in parallel to this which has greatly increased its performance per frame. To expand upon the improvements to the radar system, it has been moved into a centralized system hosted by the vehicle that can be shared by multiple items and only get called once. That doesn’t sound very sexy but what it allows is for much more realistic simulation of missiles for example. Where you can feed your ships primary radar data to the missile for acquiring lock and then later switch to the missiles radar only once it has left the ship. It also paves the way for slaving radar from one ship to another or things like centralized command and control which is a feature we know a lot of our community is looking forward to. Lastly, we’ve adjusted the way the signal to noise ratio system works and expanded its functionality quite a bit to allow designers to play with different types of chaff, armor, nebulas, flares, etc. and have them impact the radar/detection system in entirely new ways.
On the graphics engineering side Okka Kyaw has been very busy working on many improvements to the HUD’s look and feel to make sure that the curvature shader works perfectly in a multitude of resolutions and has a projected holographic feel. He’s also created the redout effect to match his stellar g-force induced blackout effect and is now working on the interstitial effects such as blackout recovery to provide a more realistic and filmic return to consciousness. Overall we believe that folks will be really happy with the graphics effects and immersive feel that his work accomplishes.
Our headcount has increased by 1, with the addition of our new Human Resources specialist. We do have some exciting new hires coming up and we look forward to updating you about them next month!
We would like to close this month by taking a moment to thank you, each and every backer, for all of their support on this project. From backing the game, to fan fiction, to late night chatroll, ‘Ask a Dev’ threads, to fan gifts, to meeting everyone at events like the Arena Commander reveal. We are all truly humbled by all that you do for us and genuinely appreciate you making it possible for us to create this universe for us to share in together.
As always, feel free to post any comments or questions in our “Ask a Dev” threads and until next time… See you in the ‘verse!
Eric Peterson, Studio Director
Hello Citizens!
Here in Austin, we’ve been working on the integration of all the various studios’ code drops, in order to get the Dogfighting M… I mean Arena Commander… ready for launch. What that means is taking all the work done in places like Santa Monica, Manchester, Montreal and [Redacted], putting it together and making sure it all works the way it’s supposed to. We’re also knee deep in planning for the delivery of AC through the client side launcher/patcher; you know, that thing you log in to every time you visit your Hangar! Our other big dogfighting job is getting the backend server code stable for the release.
Outside of dogfighting, we’re working on the long-term planning and scheduling for both the planetside module and the eventual persistent universe. Launching Arena Commander is going to teach us a lot that we’ll need to know for both these future releases! We also hosted a cinematics and motion capture summit where teams from around the company plotted out the cinematic for both Squadron 42 and Star Citizen. Essentially, we sat down and blocked out the entire script so we’ll know what needs to be shot for our game!
Engineering:
The engineering team has been focusing on Dog Fighting v1 tasks including hangar, ship and other bugs that need to be fixed prior to launching. This also includes zSupervisor work for starting up game server processes, working to get the matchmaking services integrated and monitoring server issues during play tests. We are continuing integration of CryEngine 3.6 and should be complete by the end of next week 5/2/2014 barring any unforeseen issues.
Engineering has also been working on fixing build system issues as they come up and working with IT to migrate the old build system to the newly configured build system cluster. Phase I of this should be completed next week and we will continue to upgrade the system as needs arise.
Cinematics/Mocap:
In addition to the big cinematics summit, we concluded the facilities search for a mocap location (more on that soon!) and have made good progress on crew, vendor and process planning. That is the who and how of the massive motion capture shoot needed for Squadron 42. We’re working to finish tests and evaluations on several software options for facial and body mocap solutions. We’ve also generated the first budget for the shoot and we’re working with Foundry 42 on what assets are going to be needed in terms of ships and virtual sets before we start putting actors in their rigs.
Animation:
Our biggest priority this month was supporting the dogfighting launch with animations. You’d be surprised how much goes into Arena Commander, beyond just flipping your helmet around as you board your ship! We’re also cleaning up the existing Hangar animations and supporting some needs for the upcoming ship commercials.
Animation is on the grow: we’ve hired a new senior animator who starts soon, and we’re getting ready to do some mocapping for the First Person Shooter module launch. Another major priority going forward is to complete the male and weapon locomotion sets as we move into supporting Foundry 42’s needs for Squadron 42 cinematics… and then, eventually, the persistent universe! Finally, we’ve received new rigged heads, which we are now integrating into the game.
Art:
Art is assisting animation in getting the scanned heads fitted onto our in-game bodies. It’s more difficult than it sounds! The process involves adjusting base model sculpts to work better with heads. We’re also working on the bodies and costumes needed for Squadron 42 and several upcoming ship videos, while fleshing out a more exact list of what’s going to be needed in the long run for the persistent universe.
Meanwhile, art in Austin is exploring head customization and NPC generation options; we’re confident that we’re going to have something very cool in the end. We are finishing up LODs and damage states for all the ships in the Arena Commander V1 release (Hornet, Aurora, 300i and Scythe) and we’re continuing development of Star Citizen’s alien races.
Production:
The production team is primarily focused on the release of Dog Fighting v1. In addition, the production team is working on a Persistent Universe schedule and updating our ship schedule. Up next, we will be fleshing out the character schedules as well as the weapons and items schedule. All of this in tandem with keeping the teams on task, generating the rollout plan for the DFMV1 release, and generally keeping up with all the other production groups at each studio to keep the machine humming along.
Video Production:
Shot various video b-roll and interviews for PAX East DFM reveal. Also, produced, wrote, directed, shot and edited episodes 62-66 of “Wingman’s Hangar”. Shot and edited a sequence of humorous reviews of HP Envy laptop for AMD partnership. Shot video of fan visits and edited them into a video package. Designed and specified power, lighting, sound control of sound stage for Wingman’s hangar and future mocap sessions. Continued to expand upon our video production standards and procedures for commonly used assets for video production. Assisted with technical planning for PAX East as well as future live events.
Design:
In addition to supporting the dogfighting release, we have been forging ahead with persistent universe work. With a staff that has doubled in the past month, we’re drilling into topics like jump point running, bounty hunting, salvaging, and our massive reputation system. Design continues to put a heavy focus on bringing our economy system into a testable state, so we’re neck-deep in spreadsheets about how things are put together, where they’re found, and what they’re worth.
We also continue to push forward with the future of the hangar, with an improved shooting range and an early look at overclocking on the near horizon.
Good news for the web junkies: an update to the ship stats page is coming soon!
Audio:
In April, the entire audio department has been focusing on the needs of the Dogfight Module, beginning with the PAX East reveal and continuing on to the first release. Martin Galway has been hard at work wrangling the many facets of audio production – here is a look at what is going on with his team.
Pedro has been delivering interactive music clips that have been implemented so far by Jens Lind. Mason Fisher has been generating WAVs for [REDACTED] EVA work; Bill Munyon has spent most of his time on spacecraft sound design & implementation; Jason Cobb has concentrated on fixing existing audio, creating new implementation hooks and playtesting; Stefan was hired in mid-April and is still ramping up, starting with dialogue work for the Dogfighting module. Ian Chuprun has been working on environmental audio for the two multiplayer maps (in addition to asteroid hangar and general hangar upkeep).
IT:
April has been one of the busiest months of this year for the IT team. Between new user support and the PAX East event every member has been busy in their respective studios. With all dev teams working nearly around the clock on DFM Hassan, Dennis, and Chris have been working hard to keep up with upgrades and repairs resulting in virtually zero down time. Our Austin team spent some additional time preparing equipment for the PAX East event as well as wrapping up work on a new build server cluster which will help all dev teams speed up development and testing.
The IT team feels really good about our showing at PAX East and proud of our role in that event.
That is it from Texas – where the weather is getting warmer… and the dogfights getting more heated. And here’s a tip: if you see Rob Irving in the ‘verse, you might want to run… he is getting deadly accurate with his flight stick!
Thanks for your continued support!
Eric
Erin Roberts, Studio Director
Hi from Manchester again,
Another month has passed and it’s time to update you all on what we’ve been up to at Foundry 42. In short, there’s been a lot of work on both Arena Commander and Squadron 42. It’s a real pleasure to see both of these projects start to come together. I’d also like to add that I was personally revved up by getting to see our backers get their hands on the game for the first time at PAX East. It’s truly thrilling to see how quickly everyone ‘gets it’ and understands that Star Citizen is the real deal. Here are details on this month’s work from Foundry 42’s internal teams:
Design: (Nick Elms – Design Director)
What have we been doing? Building ships, of course! One of our most important tasks at the moment is designing the interiors of capital ships and space stations, because we’re going to need those as set pieces for some of Squadron 42’s earliest missions. Work on the Idris is continuing well, working alongside CGBot to deal with the few remaining uncertainties. The Javelin Destroyer has made a lot of progress since the concept art you saw; we have its internals mostly “grey boxed” now, with the exception of the bridge (coming soon!) The Panther-class Escort Carrier is almost “white-box” complete: an artist is tracing the pre-fab pieces, of which there are 146! Expect this stage to be complete by the end of the week. The venerable Bengal carrier is also in our shipyards, with white-boxing work being done on the hangar and the briefing room, as well as prototype work being done for methods of transport through the ship (trust me, you don’t want to walk a kilometre to get to your fighter before every mission.) The Shubin Mining Platform is making good progress in the same stage, with significant detailing on the monorail and landing pad sections. We’ve also detailed the refinery rooms, which have some serious machinery! We’re filling void areas with engineering ducts and hidden crannies, and are starting to populate rooms with placeholder props. Finally, some initial block-out has been done on the Xi’An Transport… but you’ll be hearing more about that later!
Seat actions may not be as exciting as fleet actions, but they’re also a necessary part of starship design: figuring out what station controls what in a capital ship, and how to make all of this fun for players. Our seat action plan is almost ready for signoff! On the specs side of things, we’re working on detailing the Vanduul fleet, with the Kingship, medium fighter, heavy fighter and destroyer on the bench at the moment. Next up is the “Void” bomber. The good guys are getting more hardware, too: the UEE dropship is in the works. Lastly, AI and profile work are being done on the Scythe to make sure it fights properly in Arena Commander.
Development of the conversation system is ongoing, with regular meetings to pin down the finer detail required to make the system work the way Chris Roberts imagines. There’s also been more work on the “Bitching Betty” and “Sim Announcer” conversation paths that will be relevant for Arena Commander’s evolution. We’ve also spent quite a bit of time on the multiplayer and Arena Commander V1 game modes. We’ve developed the “Capture the Core” mode from the ground up and it will be getting some final polish in the next few days. “Conquest,” which may not be in V1 but should be ready soon, is getting more development, especially in terms of code hook up. The hoard mode in “Vanduul Swarm” has made a great deal of progress, especially now that the Scythe is flying realistically!
Programming: (Derek Senior – Programming Director)
The main focus this month has been on Arena Commander. We’ve implemented 3D targeting reticules, the 3D HUD radar, scoring, the ITTS, HUD messaging (scoring feedback, join/leave notifications, boundary warnings, etc.), updated the missile launch sequence and refactored the targeting code. We’ve implemented new game rules for three modes, Squadron Battle, Capture the Core and Conquest. A lot of the work we’re doing boils down to bug squashing, especially for the multiplayer modes; now that we’re playing across studios, we can really identify and fix issues! A fair amount of this has been related to player re-spawning, which is now much more reliable. We’ve also done some work implementing HUD sound effects and the dynamic music system, and have polished the targeting panel’s functionality. One thing that I know is hotly debated among Star Citizen fans is controller functionality: we’ve been working on input maps for all types of controllers, from the keyboard to specific HOTAS setups. We’ve had feedback from players and designers across the company on this, and we’re dedicated to making sure Star Citizen is fun no matter what type of control mechanism you choose.
Art and Animation: (Paul Jones – Art Director)
The dogfighting module has been a true cross-company effort… but we’ll proudly take credit for the environment assets and map creation for Dying Star and Broken Moon! Our team went into the CryEngine running and the results speak for themselves. We have also been doing some assorted VFX work for the module and we’ve been helping with future game mode effect types. In April we’ve been perfecting everything from the terraforming stations to the landing platforms to the destructible platforms. We’ve also been working with design on the white-boxing and tiering of the Javelin, Panther and Bengal class warships. The exterior of the Retaliator is also looking great!
On the User Interface side of things, we’ve been nailing down the look and feel of the engineering seat action. Design has figured out what you need to do at a seat… now it’s up to us to figure out how the player should control things like power distribution, cooling, CPU load and the like!
Our concept artists have been doing plenty of 3D work, too! Functional models have been created for the Gladius light fighter (seen in a recent post), the Idris’ recovery ship and belly dock, the Javelin destroyer’s turret (interior and exterior) and the Panther escort carrier. Animation has been hard at work too, working on the dogfighting ejection and g-loc sequences, plus preparing the initial cinematic mocap tests for Squadron 42, the Vanduul pilot rigging and coutless ship weapon animations.
We’ve had another good month of getting through a bunch of needed concept, production and polish work in all departments. Next month (as we have pretty much finished all our Dog Fight Module tasks in the UK) we will be almost totally focussing on bringing capital ship systems online, as well as breaking down our mo-cap shoot needs for S42, as well as continuing to block out the first missions for S42 and everything that entails.
As always, thanks for all your support in allowing us to make this the best damn space sim ever… Without your commitment, support and belief we would not be where we are. I look forward to everyone checking out all the hard work that has gone into the game as we go live with Arena Commander, and maybe taking you guys on in the verse… :)
Cheers,
Erin
Mathieu Beaulieu, Producer
April went by so fast, yet a lot was accomplished. As far as programming goes, a good portion of the team has been working on Dogfighting related features. Our highest priority has been to complete the implementation and polish various user interface functionalities. We’ve made some great progress towards the completion of the framework that works towards building the Visor HUD, the Shield and Power Management UI, in-game Scoreboards as well as the Matchmaking UI.
We are also continuously working on creating the core of the economic simulation, working actively on both the backend simulation services as well as the frontend tools that will allow us to drive the economy.
Spring has finally arrived in Montreal and the Discount, Business and Deluxe Hangars are getting ready for some spring cleaning. Once they have been revamped, we will be able to add expansions and specialty rooms (like the shooting range) to all hangars, including the Asteroid Hangar.
And that’s not all! Work is well underway for the UI/UX design of the mobiGlas OS. Step by step, we are developing a solid global view of what the entire system will look like and how it will work, which will allow us to develop future functionalities faster and keep a consistent look throughout all its applications. We are also working on the avatar customization system which is now better defined, and we are working closely with CIG to make sure we keep the PU characters at the highest level of detail while allowing for maximum customization.
Tara Decker, Producer
April in Monterrey has been all.about.ships. And dogfighting. Cool ships & dogfighting….that’s been our spring. Pretty cool.
Our crew has spent the last month getting the Hornet, Aurora and the 300i (with Mr. Chris Smith) looking beautiful and ready to go into space. Getting the damage, LOD and PBR conversion done for each ship was often challenging as the approach on how to do each is newly defined. But, the ships are looking great & break up really well when hit, so dogfighting is going to be really, really fun.
Artists were also continuing work on the Idris with Erin’s studio. Great group of guys to work with…and incredibly high standards! The ship layout is basically finalized and work on the various rooms and areas (bridge, brig, reactor room, etc…) is in progress. This is a massive ship and work will continue for quite a bit.
The Freelancer and all of it’s variants are almost complete. As is the Avenger. Additional work for damage states and LOD’s will be needed, but the modeling phases are wrapping up nicely.
Next up for us: the ship Chris Roberts says he’s most excited to own: the Constellation. No pressure. ;)
So, I said April was all ships, but we also tackled character work as well. Updating the Male Explorer character. And doing helmet work. It’s crazy to note that as much time is going into modeling & texturing the interior of the helmet as the exterior. Nice.
Sean Murphy, Outsource Manager
Our external contractors have been focusing heavily on ship art this cycle – Eddie del Rio has created some great concepts for the Xi’an Scout ship, Stephan Martiniere is working on bridge interiors, Jan Urschel is designing the Xi’an bomber, and Emmanuel Shiu is exploring the Banu Merchantman. Ryan Church is continuing to develop the Panther Escort Carrier and Jim Martin is creating concepts for variants of the Cutlass, while Gavin Rothery is solidifying the design of the Gladius Light Fighter. And Stefano Tsai is blazing on the M50!
In addition we have Rob McKinnon working on Marine Armor concepts and various other military outfits; Clint Schultz and Dave Scott are working on corporation logos, David Brochard and Justin Sweet are doing some alien character explorations, and Atey Ghailan and Ed Lee are helping refine environments.
Finally, we’re in discussions with another exciting concept artist who has approached us about working with us – but we can’t say anything yet!
[Redacted]
Here at [Redacted] in the land of [Redacted] we have been enjoying the [Redacted] weather while hard at work on the FPS module!
The artists have been cranking away creating some amazing looking environments for you Citizens to kill each other in. As more props, detail and polish get implemented, it’s becoming apparent that Star Citizen will not only be one of the best looking games in the depths of space, but also planet-side… or within the corridors of a massive space station.
Our engineers and animators continued tweaking and polishing EVA and Zero-G movement, while the visual FX team came up with some awesome looking thruster jet effects. And while floating around and zooming through levels using thrusters is a blast, the big hit around the office has been Magnetic Boots! These marvels of modern technology let you stomp around on any metal surface in Zero-G… floors, walls, ceilings, ship exteriors, you name it! Coupled with Zero-G, we think it is going to add a very unique twist to the combat.
Speaking of combat, we have also been implementing a cover system. Soon, Citizens will be able to hunker down behind objects or lean in from behind a wall to take shots at the enemy. All of these actions combined with the variety of weapons means that there is an absolutely huge amount of animation that needs to be motion captured… and it just so happens that we are doing motion capture this week.
Moving forward with the FPS module, the team is about to begin a heavy amount play-testing to ensure everything is coming together in a way that is fun, engaging and hopefully nothing quite like anything you’ve ever seen or played before. We can’t wait to show it off and we hope that you Citizens are just as excited as we are!
Currently [Redacted] has a total of 24 talented people working on Star Citizen. Nine artists, six programmers, 4 animators, a creative director, a level designer, a contractor for sound effects, a senior producer and a gameplay producer.
Mark Day, Studio Director
Sherman was the new planet-side location announced in the latest edition of the Observist, and voidALPHA is focused on making it as spectacular as can be! Concept artist Emmanuel Shiu has painted the first 2 establishing shots and is now crafting the look and feel of the shop interiors. Design is building the rough level layout based on those concept shots, ensuring that the white box version accurately represents the architectural style and mood established for this demilitarized UEE base. Environment art has finished a majority of the geometry for The Blocks (Terra: Prime) and has now focused efforts on a basic material pass, getting us that much closer to completing one of the most foul and disreputable planet-side locations you will ever step foot on. Finally, our Centermass “Beautiful Corner” is…well…beautiful! We are in the final stretch of this shop interior, pending a few final lighting and material adjustments that are needed to make this shop a sight to behold!
Benoit Beauséjour, Founder
The platform team at Turbulent has been focused this month on finalizing Multi-Orgs membership. This is a feature we wanted to release while diving deeper into the second drop of Orgs in which we add significant structure and command upgrades to Orgs. This process is going well as we are now developing the artwork for the viewers and control interface for your Org structure.
A serious amount of time was spent building the Arena Commander leaderboard system which will carry pilot and org stats for the module. The presence of game stats on the site also brings about a revamp of the Citizen Dossier to allow you to show off your simulator pilot skills! (And also maybe review a pilot skill before you recruit him?)
Work has continued on revamping the store experience and bringing about more details on the ship variants and equipment. We now have a full control model on the platform to allow us to update and display ship related stats. Expect more in the upcoming weeks!
The team has made great headway on the multi-factor authentication , another big platform improvement we want to get to the community to improve the security of your accounts and the platform across the board. Many under-the-hood features are also developed to help dealing with account security and other tools for your amazing CS team!
Matthew Jack, Founder
April began with intensity for the three developers of the core Kythera team, as we were in the thick of things iterating on gameplay for the PAX East demo. This was especially exciting for us because it represented the first public playtest of Kythera, in Star Citizen’s Vanduul Swarm mode. There’s footage from that build on our website.
Since PAX we’ve been working towards the Dogfighting v1 release itself. The biggest change for us is the move to the Scythe. Kythera has been flying Hornets thus far but the Scythe is needed for Vanduul Swarm mode and those ships handle very differently and use different maneuvers.
A key feature this month is the improvement of avoidance to better handle some large and complex pieces of geometry in the Vanduul Swarm levels, in particular the Terraformer in Broken Moon. We’re also extending our Inspector debugging tool to give much more powerful feedback to programmers and designers as they craft Vanduul Swarm mode’s gameplay.
Links
| Text | URL |
|---|---|
| on our website | http://kythera.ai/news/2014/04/22/first-public-playtest-kythera-ai-star-citizen-pax-east |
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Metadata
- CIG ID
- 13848
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- Undefined
- Category
- Undefined
- Series
- Monthly Reports
- Comments
- 249
- Published
- 11 years ago (2014-05-01T00:00:00+00:00)