14 DAY TRIAL // Cloud Imperium Games released the Arena Commander dogfighting module for their upcoming space sandbox game Star Citizen, but the much sought-after update was not without a hitch.
Fortunately, the development team was on duty, and the lock-up issue that made the game freeze between the Hangar and Arena Commander that popped up was readily tackled.
Unfortunately, there have been quite a few negative comments regarding the development process of Star Citizen, especially relating to the dogfighting module, which was pushed back several times until finally seeing the light of day, several months overdue.
Arena Commander is currently in version V0.8 and enables all qualified backers to access the Vanduul Swarm and Freeflight modes. There is also multiplayer functionality for the Battle Royale and Team modes, but they are currently only available to a very limited pool of testers, in order for the developers to blast lag and synch issues out of the sky before opening access to more players over the following weeks.
Chris Roberts, creator of the Wing Commander series and helmsman of the intrepid Cloud Imperium Games, trying to imagine a place for us in space ahead of time, has discussed some of the issues regarding the development process of Star Citizen, taking the time to also respond to the project's critics.
"Remember: V0.8 is just the beginning. It's the start of a hard push for the development team as we head towards V0.9 and finally V1.0, at which point Arena Commander will be 'feature complete' with the modes, maps and options promised at PAX. By the time V1.0 drops, we aim for the entire community to have access to the multiplayer game modes," chief developer Chris Roberts writes on the Roberts Space Industries website.
Roberts has also highlighted how the team has always tried to make the development process as open and transparent as possible, releasing monthly reports for their supporters, from all the various studios that are currently at work on the game.
He has pointed out that there are currently over 250 people working on Star Citizen, revealing the massive scope of the entire affair.
"The level of ambition with Star Citizen is unprecedented in the independent world and has only been made possible by your commitment and excitement. Not everything will go smoothly or on time, as a project of this size and complexity will always present unforeseen issues, which is why we have been endeavouring to share information with you that anyone in the traditional publishing model would not," Roberts explains.
The project holds the record for the most successful crowdfunding campaign in the world so far, vastly surpassing any other video game by a rather large factor, and as such it's prone to attacks from various parties that put into question the speed at which the progress is achieved in relation to the amount of money the developer raised.
"I'm given pause not by internal criticism from frustrated backers who really just want to get into space (which we completely understand!) but by sensationalistic headlines that imply we're not working hard or that the game is some sort of scam. I can assure you that the whole team is committed to making the best game possible, so it is disheartening when our attempts at transparency are used against us to paint a negative picture of this amazing project," Roberts says.
As such, highlighting the fact that the game creation process is driven by the community, the designer has announced a poll, leaving to Star Citizen's backers to decide whether they still want the same level of visibility when it comes to actual dates and estimates, or whether they would rather just be given some hard, long-term dates, in the way publishers usually deal with such things.