"bUt WhErE iS tHe GaMe?!?!"

[Montoya]

I always address this in every video reaction to the doofuses who slam Star Citizen asking "Its vaporware! Where is the game?"

Due to the open development nature of Star Citizen, what we are seeing here is rarely ever seen by the gaming community.

Typically, all we see in a normal game release is a teaser a few months before the official release, maybe some small gameplay by a dev or industry insider being shown the game so they can get it viral on social media, then the game gets released.

In alpha development, slices of the game are still being made. Progress is slow when the game engine is being developed at the same time, it is not typical to see 10yr development cycles, but nothing about Star Citizen is typical.

As more and more features are introduced and the game engine itself is polished, the rate and speed of new game loops and functions will increase in a non-linear rate. So the stupid argument of taking 8yrs to make one star system, does not mean it will take 8yrs to make the next one.

I want to put this in writing so I can add more to this post as we near the final years of the alpha stage.

---begin---

So you have hangars to look at your ship, but where is the game?

So you have Arena Commander for practicing dogfights, but where is the game?

So you have Star Marine for practicing FPS, but where is the game?

So you have a space station called Port Olisar where you can spawn and land ships, but where is the game?

So you have Grim Hex, an impressive asteroid base where criminals go to buy devices to hack security consoles to wipe their crime stat, but where is the game?

So you have highly detailed moons, each with their own unique topography, weather systems, atmosphere and gravity, with outposts for trading legal and illicit goods, which are then sold at other outposts and space stations in an extensive and ever developing trading game loop to earn money to buy more impressive ships and equipment in-game, but where is the game?

So you have bounty and mercenary missions, and bunkers which need clearing of hostile NPCs which you can do with your friends, but where is the game?

So you have an entire planet covered by a city, which has no loading screens, but where is the game?

So you have mining of rocks on planets by specialized mining ships, whose cargo of precious ore is sold on space stations or outposts, but where is the game?

So you have hand held mining apparatus and huge intertwining subsurface cave systems, but where is the game?

So you have a massive prison complex where players who get infractions have to serve time by mining, or can attempt to escape, resulting in bounties being placed on them and other players chasing down said bounties, but where is the game?

---tbc---

More and more slices are being added in every patch, I will continue to update this post.

 

[vahadar]

OMG this game its like early access... This sucks i want refund, but where is the game...

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Thank you, Glorious Leader!

I see this as an issue of two halves:

Half 1: Every single explanation during pledging for a game package is ignored by quite a lot of new backers, they boot up and are like "WTF I 'aint helping you alpha test this what shit is this?" despite ticking every single box saying they acknowledge and accept that this is a work in progress.

Half 2: Many backers who pledged early on got a picture in their minds eye of what the game was going to be... and there are now two million backers each with their own slightly different unique opinion of what the game it going to eventually be, and with every patch release that isn't exactly that, they are blind to it and ask "But where is my game?!"

I think Sq42 is going to help put some of the second half straight, but I don't think you'll ever get people who don't read to start reading... perhaps have a video segment in the pledge system instead where you spell it out.

 

[vahadar]

perhaps have a video segment in the pledge system instead where you spell it out.

This is becoming an habit with EA (early access, aka alpha/beta) on Steam. People whine, despite perfectly knowing what they paid for. Then they vent their frustration (if desilusioned fan e.g.) and want attention to their game damaging threads, then they refund game and loudly display that information in other ranting posts, and after some even have the guts to buy the game back just to whine some more (M&B Bannerlord2 is a great exemple of that recently on Steam).

I guess that now since EA is becoming quite the norm for many small studios, people are throwing their dollars at those games knowing that they can refund it after. And they come on Starcitizen with the same behaviour.

 

[Sraika]

neat
:p

but where is the game tho

 

[DirectorGunner]

All those cry babies... gah!
Must keep them at a safe distance... at least 5 feet required.

 

[Mich Angel]

Reason, for the crybabies is they don't have imagination, if the game don't tell them what to do their brain go "error doesn't compute".

Reason, the crybabies whine is if they have a map wider or more than 5 block radius and some bushes, their brain go "error doesn't compute".

Reason, crybabies whine about where is the game, is cause if a game is larger then GTA5 or COD their brain go "error doesn't compute".

Reason, crybabies can't handle a game like Star Citizen is, if a game have a map that's not square flat so you can actually end up on the other side
(planet/moon )their brain go "error doesn't compute".

Reason. Most game have a path a guide so the crybabies know what to do next one reach a dead end,
in Star Citizen you need to figure it out by your self so their brain go "error doesn't compute".

"error doesn't compute"
"..error doesn't compute"
"...error doesn't compute"
"....error doesn't compute"
"...error doesn't compute"
"..error doesn't compute"
".error error error error error err or err ore rrore rror err orer ror error error error errerrerrerrerrrrrreeeerreeereeeeereeereeerrerrreeooooo.......!



Where is the... the.. the BEER?

CHEERS!

 

[Blind Owl]

Can't complain about it if you never play it. Just sayin'...

 

[Mich Angel]

Can't complain about it if you never play it. Just sayin'...

BULLSEYE.!

And every time I hear a whining gamer I think...

Maybe they should just stick with a game they can handle... (thinking out loud)
Like....

Then on the other hand maybe they should....


.....naa they gonna whine about that to....


Such a amusing group of characters those Entitled gamer are.It's worth a laugh.

I know you'll have a jumping laugh about it to......

 

[CosmicTrader]

to the doofuses

I always wondered how that was spelt.......Wait a minute, how come you know how to spell it? LOL

 

[Talonsbane]

Do I love everything about SC currently? No, there's a few things I'm hoping will improve as it develops, such as the glitches & the limited server populations, but we all know that CIG is aware of those & looking to find solutions for them. However, most of the rest of SC I do find incredible & look forward to TESTing out & experiencing when possible. I'm hoping that as CIG refines & makes the game more stable as well as I improve my ability to play it on my end, that the experiences will improve in kind.

 

[Blind Owl]

BULLSEYE.!

And every time I hear a whining gamer I think...

Maybe they should just stick with a game they can handle... (thinking out loud)
Like....

Then on the other hand maybe they should....


.....naa they gonna whine about that to....


Such a amusing group of characters those Entitled gamer are.It's worth a laugh.

I know you'll have a jumping laugh about it to......
View attachment 15676

Haha, about sums it up, yup

 

[AntiSqueaker]

I think it's also important to note that criticism of CIG is allowed, and dare I say should be encouraged at times. Yes the game is coming together, and what we have now is really cool, but sometimes you need to keep the pressure on and hold their feet to the fire.

Let's be real: 3.9 had some very serious content cuts from it. We're looking at no new gameplay loops being added all this year, with the last loop being mining added in 2018. Salvage was cut for seemingly the third time off of the Q4 2019 Roadmap. We are almost about to have our first complete system, with Pyro uh.....maybe.....sometime this year maybe?

I never have a problem with the quality of CIG's work (obvious bugs like 30ks and crashes aside) it's literally industry leading. I just have an issue with the timeliness and propensity to stack the Roadmaps chock full of goodies and then cut them or delay them until the next patch.

But there is a large difference between going WhErE gAmE? ScAM CitZen and critiquing CIG for ubiquitous delays and shuffling content around.


Not anything about this post in particular, or even TEST in general. I just see a lot of SC backers that seem to think anything less than 100% happiness rate with CIG is equivalent to being a salty hater.

 

[BUTUZ]

I tend to waver between being an over entitled, spoiled, annoyed redit/youtube commenter, wanting to hold them to account....OR.,...... being genuinely in awe of this game, and that they are going to change the gaming industry forever.

I think the problem is, we expect stuff in done and working every 3 months and sometimes this is unrealistic for building a large "chunk" of a game. In a normal game with a normal publisher - we just would have had absolute nothingness for 8 years. And then BOOM here is a game!

But - how many games have taken 8 years and then launched with a shit load of bugs some of them game breaking? Answer: Probably most of them.

We've become too used monthly, bi monthly, quarterly, yearly.. progress and I don't think CIG can keep it up. Maybe they need to have a good long think about exactly what they promise us.

They should have said for this year - "look we are not gonna work on any new gameplay loops at all. We're not gonna promise any/many new ships or reworks. We're not gonna spend every 3 months fixing a hundred little niggly silly little bugs when a patch that comes out. What we are gonna do is take this entire year to smash the fuck out of the really important stuff, OCS server side stuff, planetary development, performance optimisation, server meshing etc."

I'd be happier if they started working more on the bigger picture than the smaller stuff.

 

[Phil]

I totally get both sides of the issue, but lets be frank here, CIG has created a whole new level of production gaming, until CIG and Star Citizen we were used to a very standard Alpha stage in general when it comes to most games, CIG has managed to put pre-production, production and testing into a single phase and most people just don't understand this because, well, its never been done before, not on this scale anyways.

More and more games are starting to do this though after seeing the success of CIG, also many games are abusing it to, how many games lately have put out E3 videos 2 years before its release and then gut the game at launch? Division 1? Anthem? Fallout76? All culprits of abusing and manipulating the consumers, all promised and deceived the consumers with video of in game footage only to gut it or remove much of it before its release, many of these games took a year after the games release to deliver the broken promises. I think this contributes to some of the negativity that the general gaming community has, they have been abused so many times, they just see companies as abusers these days, look at EA's reputation, BioWare, Ubisoft, their all being trashed and deservedly so, I don't think its fair for CIG to be lumped into this but I think it happens.

I don't have huge issues with the game development myself, I worry about funding, I worry about falling to far behind and the pressure it creates, I also am disappointed lately at the road map and still to this day bugs that haven't been addressed for years, ships that have not even been touched after 5 years of players backing those ships, I think I disagree with some of their priorities, I think its fair to have constructive criticism as long as its based on facts and not the typical anti SC youtuber hate bandwagon BS.

In the end most of us, the long time backers all have criticism's as well as positive feedback, we see both sides of it, I love the game, I think its beautiful and the stuff they have done in the past two years has blown me away, that being said, I am frustrated I cant log in without suffering a 30k at least once or twice sometimes more in my limited time to actually play, again by criticising this I don't mean the game is shit or bad, its just frustration, I always try and voice positive and negative about the game, but most people focus on the negative because they feel their game is being attacked, its not being attacked its simply being criticized and there is a difference.

But ya, where is the damn game already!

 

[Tei]

[...]

More and more slices are being added in every patch, I will continue to update this post.

More and more slices are being broken in every patch, I will continue to update this post.

Here, I corrected you.

3.9 is dog shit.
Heaps of new bugs, loads of previously working systems and mechanics are now broken, new op ship introduced to boost sales before they nerf firepower and capability, hidden (breaking) changes to AC....
So where is the game?!

 

[SullyQuindarius]

I think it's also important to note that criticism of CIG is allowed, and dare I say should be encouraged at times. Yes the game is coming together, and what we have now is really cool, but sometimes you need to keep the pressure on and hold their feet to the fire.

Let's be real: 3.9 had some very serious content cuts from it. We're looking at no new gameplay loops being added all this year, with the last loop being mining added in 2018. Salvage was cut for seemingly the third time off of the Q4 2019 Roadmap. We are almost about to have our first complete system, with Pyro uh.....maybe.....sometime this year maybe?

I never have a problem with the quality of CIG's work (obvious bugs like 30ks and crashes aside) it's literally industry leading. I just have an issue with the timeliness and propensity to stack the Roadmaps chock full of goodies and then cut them or delay them until the next patch.

But there is a large difference between going WhErE gAmE? ScAM CitZen and critiquing CIG for ubiquitous delays and shuffling content around.


Not anything about this post in particular, or even TEST in general. I just see a lot of SC backers that seem to think anything less than 100% happiness rate with CIG is equivalent to being a salty hater.

I'd just like it if they were way more conservative with the roadmap. It would take a lot of pressure off them, stop these silly x.1 x.2 x.3 patches where they add in the content they couldn't squeeze into the main patch, result in better quality content, no more disappointed backers when something gets pushed back another patch for some random reason...

 

[Blind Owl]

Not anything about this post in particular, or even TEST in general. I just see a lot of SC backers that seem to think anything less than 100% happiness rate with CIG is equivalent to being a salty hater.

Yeah man. There has to be balance; accountability, but also praise for the work CIG is doing. It's awe inspiring.

"look we are not gonna work on any new gameplay loops at all. We're not gonna promise any/many new ships or reworks. We're not gonna spend every 3 months fixing a hundred little niggly silly little bugs when a patch that comes out. What we are gonna do is take this entire year to smash the fuck out of the really important stuff, OCS server side stuff, planetary development, performance optimisation, server meshing etc."

I'd be on board with this. 100%. Once this stuff is good to go, then add in things, stuff, mechanics, etc.

 

[Phil]

I tend to waver between being an over entitled, spoiled, annoyed redit/youtube commenter, wanting to hold them to account....OR.,...... being genuinely in awe of this game, and that they are going to change the gaming industry forever.

I think the problem is, we expect stuff in done and working every 3 months and sometimes this is unrealistic for building a large "chunk" of a game. In a normal game with a normal publisher - we just would have had absolute nothingness for 8 years. And then BOOM here is a game!

But - how many games have taken 8 years and then launched with a shit load of bugs some of them game breaking? Answer: Probably most of them.

We've become too used monthly, bi monthly, quarterly, yearly.. progress and I don't think CIG can keep it up. Maybe they need to have a good long think about exactly what they promise us.

They should have said for this year - "look we are not gonna work on any new gameplay loops at all. We're not gonna promise any/many new ships or reworks. We're not gonna spend every 3 months fixing a hundred little niggly silly little bugs when a patch that comes out. What we are gonna do is take this entire year to smash the fuck out of the really important stuff, OCS server side stuff, planetary development, performance optimisation, server meshing etc."

I'd be happier if they started working more on the bigger picture than the smaller stuff.

The problem with this idea is funding, this game is basically funded on a per year basis, that basis is mainly focused on concept ship sales, if you remove this the game dies its first year without it, they make tens of millions a year on concept ship sales and when ships become flyable, simply selling ships. Not only that, the subscriptions as well, people will unsubscribe if the game doesn't add new features, they will quit out of boredom in the first year. The entire idea of a pledge package will also die, people will not pledge nearly as much if the game is stale and broken and unproductive in the same sense it has been. They have to keep this up, without it the funding dries up, maybe not all of it, but certainly far to much for CIG to remain operational.

The problem is this style of production, the style CIG created, only works if you create stuff people will spend money on, without it the game loses its funding, they are already scraping by as far as cost and revenue go annually, this would be a very bad idea imo.

 

[Montoya]

I just see a lot of SC backers that seem to think anything less than 100% happiness rate with CIG is equivalent to being a salty hater.

Mostly newish backers probably.

Most of us here have been through the honeymoon phase already.