Can We All Read This Please?

Geers · October 1, 2014

So recently Star Citizen reached another funding goal, and as you may or may not know, Chris Roberts writes a "letter" every time this happens. The most recent one talked about Star Citizen's crowdfunding and I feel like what he's said should be considered and applied to other projects, I've highlighted a few key sentences:

Chris Roberts said:

I sometimes get asked why continue to raise money. Haven’t you already raised enough to make the game? The answer is that Star Citizen isn't a normal game. It’s not being developed like a normal game and it’s not being funded like a normal game. I've had to toss aside a lot of my knowledge from the old way of developing and embrace a completely new world. There is no publisher. There is no venture capitalist wanting a massive return in three years. There is no need to cram the game onto a disc and hope we got it all right. Star Citizen is not the type of game that will be played for a few weeks, then put on a shelf to gather dust. Instead of building a game in secrecy we can be fully open with you as a community who have made this game possible. We can involve the future player base in the creative feedback loop as we develop and iterate core systems. As a group we are all involved and united in our quest to make the best game possible.

I have a lot of industry friends pat me on the back and say, “Wow, it must be so great to be operating in profit even before you ship!” Their look usually turns to incredulity when I explain that my intention is for all the money we bring in before launch to be spent on development. It is the community, from the existing backers who continue to support the game, to new members who join every day who are setting the level of ambition and budget for Star Citizen. Every effort is about enriching the game’s vision. Funding to date has allowed us to go so far beyond what I thought was possible in 2012. You’re still getting that game, no question, but it will be all the richer and so much more immersive because of the additional funding.

I know some people are afraid of “feature creep” and the game never being finished as we keep adding functionality and content to the mix with increased funding. I would say that this would be fair criticism if we were delivering this game at retail and on disc. However, we are online and already pushing out builds, well before Star Citizen reaches what anyone would consider a “finished” stage. Just because we haven’t implemented a planned feature or built a certain asset yet doesn’t prevent us from sharing the game with everyone right now. It’s this evolved process which gives us the Hangar and Arena Commander and so many modules yet to come. We’re sharing the game as it’s being built and it’s an amazing opportunity for everyone who has backed, to have input on the direction the game is going. You just don’t get this in the traditional game business.
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Full letter:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14184-Letter-From-The-Chairman

brianpurkiss · October 1, 2014

Wow. That's some fantastic stuff. No wonder Star Citizen has such a rabid fanbase.

Geers · October 1, 2014

brianpurkiss said: ↑

Wow. That's some fantastic stuff. No wonder Star Citizen has such a rabid fanbase.
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Well there's that. And then there's:

Sorry. Couldn't resist. I have no interest in salvage operations but christ look at it! It's so big! And Industrial!

igncom1 · October 1, 2014

Would make a good air transport.

kvalheim · October 2, 2014

Smells a lot like most other Early Access spiels tbh. Pardon me if I'm still cynical. Developing a game in public, crowdfunding, and early releases of builds aren't exactly unique traits in the market anymore and they have an iffy return rate at best. Most of your bolded text can easily also be applied to stuff like, hell, Planetary Annihilation.

Excuse the pessimism, but honestly I'm kinda switching back to favouring games that are developed on privately and then released as a 100% complete solid package. Maybe it's because I'm having to work on my own games now and the last thing I want is the internet judging everything before it's done

Geers · October 2, 2014

kvalheim said: ↑

Most of your bolded text can easily also be applied to stuff like, hell, Planetary Annihilation.
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That's literally the whole point of this thread.

igncom1 said: ↑

Would make a good air transport.
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Maybe if you replaced the salvage arm with a unit cannon.

Can We All Read This Please?

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