Star Citizen addresses alpha 3.13, stability, delays, bugs, and communication

    
6

As is tradition with CIG, the devs are looking back at the release of alpha 3.13 and the Invictus Launch Week event of Star Citizen and offering some thoughts on updates that worked, things that fell short, and lessons learned with each feature’s release.

The post offers some acknowledgment of missteps such as problems with volatile cargo containers, problems using trolleys with certain ships due to ramp shapes and positions, the reputation system not having a lot of time to implement fully, a poor reception for the two-seater ROC Greycat DS mining buggy, and a “deceptively complex” AI service used to map live positions of mission-spawned NPCs among other things. As for what will change, the devs are working on making hover trolleys to alleviate problems with wheels not hitting ramps; providing better communication for cross-team features like the reputation system, mission systems, and dangerous cargo; and updating inventory behavior, the cargo system, and cave setups to help the Greycat DS hit the purpose it was built for.

Regarding Invictus Launch Week, CIG says the event went smoothly overall, while the event also let the team introduce dynamic shop modifiers that change the inventory of a shop dynamically based on in-game events and triggers that spawn missions when shop inventories hitting designated levels. That said, the workflow scale to make changes to these dynamic systems meant adjustments couldn’t be done quickly, so CIG is once again promising better coordination between teams to manage events like Invictus and related large-scale features.

Longtime MMORPG gamers will know that Star Citizen was originally Kickstarted for over $2M back in 2012 with a planned launch for 2014. As of 2021, it still lingers in an incomplete but playable alpha, having raised around $350M from gamers over years of continuing crowdfunding and sales of in-game ships and other assets. It is currently the highest-crowdfunded video game ever and has endured both indefatigable loyalty from advocates and immense skepticism from critics. A co-developed single-player title, Squadron 42, has also been repeatedly delayed.
Advertisement
Previous articleLost Ark shares breakdowns of advanced mage and warrior classes
Next articlePlayers sound the alarm over faction balance in World of Warcraft: Classic

No posts to display

6 Comments
newest
oldest most liked
Inline Feedback
View all comments