After its usual quarterly hiatus, Star Citizen is back once more with its latest Inside Star Citizen episode, and this one is all about something that up to this point wasn’t a thing in the game’s alpha: loot, and the finding thereof.
CIG is building a loot generation system that will let the devs set up locations all around the game’s universe that will be filled with dynamically generated loot. These locations are generated via a “loot archetype” system, which uses a set of on-the-fly tags that allow the devs to list together item tags to include or exclude from a location’s loot pool. Each individual tag type can also be assigned a “weight” that will determine how likely a certain item will be found. Eventually, this system will link to the Quantum background simulation, with loot container contents changing based on local events.
The system is currently in internal testing with a loose release window of later this year, and primarily has weapon and armor loot items, though the devs are working on expanding the system to include other items.
The second half of the video is a self-described “Oops! All VFX edition” of a sprint report, with a new look at thruster dust generation tech, piled debris like cherry blossom leaves being disturbed by player feet, hit sparks flying away from ship surfaces, improved lightning effects, and a “cinematic” look at fire propagation.
