Hi everyone!
Three million dollars! It’s hard to believe we’re already here, far above our initial objective and well into some of the stretch goals, with still 10 days left in the campaign. It’s all thanks to you, our incredible fans. I am impressed every single day when I see the dedication you have already given this project, spreading the word and building a great and supporting community. It’s going to be a daunting—and rewarding—task for the team to continue to build the game knowing how much this community believes in us. And it’s a task I’m proud to say we’re up to.
Sorry to have been quiet for the past few days. I just got back from Montreal, Canada, which is likely to be one of the locations where we will build Star Citizen, along with Austin, Texas and Los Angeles, California. It may seem inefficient to have the team spread out but I’m actually a big fan of distributed development. The tech prototype was built by a small team spread out between Austin, Frankfurt (Germany), Los Angeles, Montreal, Monterey (Mexico) and San Francisco
The concept is to focus on where the talent is and not try to fit the talent to the location. So a lot of my old Origin and Digital Anvil compatriots will be based in Austin, in LA the focus will be some of the high end conceptual design (leaning heavily on the deep pool of talent from film like Ryan Church and Jim Martin) and some engineering. In Montreal we’re likely to be building some of the backend persistent server infrastructure and web front end. I’ll be spending time in each location and heavily using Skype! The idea is to break the various components of Star Citizen into discrete parts that are the responsibility of focused “tiger” teams – dogfighting, shipboard FPS, planet side buying / selling / chatting / mission acquisition, persistent server backend and so on. This way it keeps the various elements of the project manageable and the responsibility of small, tight teams. It’s always been my experience that small teams tend to be the most effective, so the idea is to utilize the small team concept in such a way that it can scale for a project with the ambition of Star Citizen. Think of it as taking the multi-core / threading approach to development as opposed to the old way of just increasing the speed and size of one big processor.
Enlist your Friends Update
There have been a few updates while I’ve been off working on the development and hiring plan. And a couple of them have caused some discussion amongst you, so I wanted to set the record straight.
The pledge referral program was actually something that was part of the spec of the custom crowd funding plug in we built and was meant to launch day 1. Unfortunately, due to our launch issues it was never deployed and it has taken this long to get up and running.
Before we started the campaign we had talked to Alienware, NVIDIA and Logitech, who were all very excited by what Star Citizen represented for PC gaming and were eager to help out with some free swag to give away with some of the pledge tiers. We thought it would be much more fun, and allow a wider range of the community to participate if everyone had the chance of winning the bad ass Alienware gaming rig, rather than bundling it with some custom $15,000 pledge level. So we thought that tying it to rounding up as many friends to play with you would be a great way, especially as we want to encourage co-op play and building up your squadron (which is another feature we will roll out once vBulletin is active)
We know that a lot of you are concerned that you won’t be credited for everyone you encouraged to join the fight for high end PC gaming and space sims. Don’t worry! We’re building a referral input to the My Account screen on the RSI site that will give you the ability to retroactively specify if someone has referred you, so everyone can get credit even from the very beginning of the campaign.
We hope you like it. It was designed for fun, and to give everyone a chance to win some cool swag (who doesn’t want an Alienware desktop, Oculus Rift or a GTX680?).
I’ve also had a few questions about the contests we’ve run previously. For legal reasons we’re not allowed to identify the winners unless they give us permission… but if you won a signed Wing Commander or an Anvil Gladiator bomber, you have been contacted by our staff, so make sure to check your spam filters in case there’s a surprise stuck out of view!
Ship Concept Art
We know this high on everyone’s list. Both Ryan Church and Jim Martin are working away on this and have been for many weeks. I hope to have the first set, which will be Ryan’s RSI Constellation work, be in a state to share by the start of next week. When you see the work you will understand why it is not something that can be done in a day. All Star Citizen ships are designed to a level of detail, ergonomics and functionality that no one has ever attempted before in a space game. It’s not just about a pretty drawing – if it was I could have shared something weeks ago. It’s about fully designing the interior and exterior, how weapons and missiles are deployed, where the engines and various thrusters are located, how they articulate, where you would sleep, how the P52 fighter launches and re-docks, where you eat your meal and where you shower. The plan is to share a full RSI brochure on each ship, with exterior and interior renderings, not unlike you would see from Boeing or Lockheed Martin in today’s world. I can tell you the work in progress is very cool and I think you will all be excited once you see the first set. But please bear with us all five ships can’t be done in the next two weeks – it is a multi-month process. But that’s part of the fun of backing Star Citizen; you’re going to take the journey with the development team, see work as it happens and be constantly engaged. It’s not just about the initial campaign – we will be updating and sharing during the whole development process.
Stretch Goals
We’ve just hit $1,000,000 and the Corvette on Kickstarter and $3,000,000 on the main site. I can’t begin to tell you how excited this makes me… but I really want to get to at least $4,000,000 overall as this will allow us to do more sooner, especially on things like the modding tools. It may seem like a stretch but if you look at other Kickstarter’s they all had a huge surge in the last few days. When it comes to game projects, we’re definitely the leader in amount of dollars pledged per backer, thanks to you. Some of the stretch goals can be covered by upgrading, but we need to also get new backers in. I know you’ve all been spreading the word. Keep it up and we can get there!
Future Updates
We’ve already given you a preview of the base Citizen Card and will be sharing the others over the coming days. I also plan to do a few write ups for you – I always get a lot of questions about instancing, so I’m going to try and describe the process in one concise update. There will be some more video from the prototype in the near future… And of course a ship brochure!
Sweet!!
Congrats! And I haven’t even pledged yet, but I will.
@deHeemskerker
Please use the link http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/star-citizen/?rid=39993
It will benefit the both of us
I know from day 1 where to go. Just relax, it will happen within the next 10 days.
He just wants a recruit for a chance for some free stuff, can’t blame him
Lol
Awesome!!
Excellent job guys. I am excited and looking forward to the updates going forward. I’m hoping that we can hit another couple stretch goals in the next ten days.
I sincerely thank you for the update Chris!
Incredible, what you all did. I still hope for the 5 Million.
And: Wooohoooo, can’t wait for the Ship Art
Thanks for all the hard work, Chris! Am REALLY excited about SC.
Yes, it was a hard time. Not knowing if we even get close to 3 million. I really hope we all can get it to 4 million in the last days. Naaaar and where´s the 1k guy that get it over 3 million before me. I was sitting, heart beating with the button to upgrade to The Man @ 2.999.625.
Congratulations. 
Yes i upgraded.
I was trying tonight to be the $2 million man (from the main site, non kickstarter). Put my credentials in, paid, verification – refreshed the main page and it was at $1,999,000. Doh! Need to get my eyes checked!
Hahaha, lol
Awesome news!
Awesome, thanks for the update Chris
Well, that explains the delay in concept art. I was expecting a few pretty color sketches of the overall look of the ships, not a full sales brochure!
Congrats! Onwards and upwards!
Neat O_O. Thanks for the update CR.
Great news, thanks
Great!!
Thank you for the update Chris! Glad to see the excitement is spreading!
I for one agree with you on reaching the $4 goal, I would love to see the modding tools also!!
Awesome sauce.
Great work and thanks for the updates! I am excited to see some of the concept art. Brochures!!!! – I don’t think any of us were expecting that much detail and immersion.
Nice!
Brilliant ! Thank you Chris and Team ! Will I ever sleep again ?
Whoooo! Yes. And there goes another million.
Great update, thanks CR.
“I also plan to do a few write ups for you – I always get a lot of questions about instancing, so I’m going to try and describe the process in one concise update.”
YES. Thank you very much, some of us are losing their minds over this, because it ties with all game mechanics in space. The autopilot/warp privateer-like gameplay makes very little sense for economy, if you can warp from one base to another instantly.
Good to hear a video is coming, don’t see the real problem in giving away early concept art even if its not finally designed. BUt I’m okay with it and looking forward to all the updates.
This is fantastic! I haven’t been this excited about a game in years. Great work Chris and the rest of the team!
I would love to throw more $$$ at this project
I love being a fly on the wall during the development process. Every time I read an update from Chris I get more excited about this game.
Very dense information pattern. Thank you Chris!
Congratulations everyone:-) Now head straight for the $4M and Mod Tools to make this game immortal.
I really like this update. I understand that we can not get everything we want right now, but I am really glad that developers listen to us and that they are working both on wonderful game and updating the community with news. It is really amazing and make me proud to be part of this awesome community.
“Now head straight for the $4M and Mod Tools to make this game immortal.”
Well said!
ModdingTools = immortality? Agreed!
+1
Okay the sound of the brochure type Artwork has just made me lose control…been keeping cool as best as possible for a while now…Just went POP!!! The detail about where you would eat etc sounds like the detail is going to be exactly how I wanted it….ROCK ON RSI
I hope I don’t have to shower in my spacesuit though
LOL, months later RSI realises a design flaw whereby the Lancers side port hole existed into the shower cubical at crotch level.
Congratulations on getting this far.
Do you have any thoughts about offering the Star Citizen Novella written by Dave Haddock as a hardback bound book for higher tier addon to get more crowdfunding ?
“Ryan Church and Jim Martin…” Game sold
.
A link would be great to their site for people who don’t know them. KS guys are lazy and under informed.
Can’t wait to see the Constellation. Too bad I’m going abroad next week so I wont get to see it until December
If some of you are interested in, here you have the chance to spread the word out:
We (Fenthik and me) created flyers in A6 paper format and in German and English language.
We created some different versions, so you can choose those you like the most.
We also created a German fan page (with English text too) where everyone can download the PDF files to print it.
German Fan Page:
http://werde-star-citizen.de
Check the flyers here:
http://werde-star-citizen.de/media
Maybe helps…
Whats up with digital higher pledges…
I feel stupid to pledge and then not to get all that physical items…
Can you make us pledges that are a little cheaper (by the price of that physical items) and don’t have physical items???
Congrats to you and your team, Chris! For many of us you were as big a part of our youth as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, just a different media, so of course we’ve got your back. Frankly I’m more excited about Star Citizen than the recent Episode 7 announcement. Even more than David Braben’s recent Kickstarter.
Have you considered a ship design contest at some point during development? Maybe not for a launch ship but a later add-on. It got a lot of people excited for STO (which I never played) and could really engage the community.
Thanks again for fighting the good fight!
PS can I get my Constellation with factory leather? It’s such a pain to get it put in later. Custom ship interior micro transactions all the way…
Leather in a space ship? Naw, naugahyde all the way, baby! (Velour is another OK option)
Chris,
Big time contrats to you and the team.
The hype is huge but as long as you keep communicating with the fans as you go I don’t think expectations will get out of line with reality.
We’ve been looking forward to this game for over a decade. Try to enjoy yourself a little, even with all the pressure.
Good luck, and LETS GET TO THE 4MIL MARK! WE NEED MOD TOOLS TO MAKE THIS THING WHAT IT’S MEANT TO BE!
Thank you Chris, Pure Music to our ears <3
So…try it a second time…think first I posted the Website has swallod it:
If some of you are interested in, here you have the chance to spread the word out:
We (Fenthik and me) created flyers in A6 paper format and in German and English language.
We created some different versions, so you can choose those you like the most.
We also created a German fan page (with English text too) where everyone can download the PDF files to print it.
German Fan Page:
http://werde-star-citizen.de
Check the flyers here:
http://werde-star-citizen.de/media
Maybe helps…
All excellent news. The idea of having a team spread out around the world is daunting, but its actually something quite manageble. I worked on some games with teams in studios at Brazil, Argentina and the USA, so I have an idea that it works. Skype and Conf rooms for the win
Btw, if you guys want to have some of SC or S42 built and maintained in Brazil, just let me know
BTW you could update this page, if you have some free time
http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/comprehensive-stretch-goals/
Thanks Chris awesome news.
I have one thing only to say: Chris Roberts and team. You are the Masters of the Universe! You got the power!
Awesome, thanks Chris. We are trying hard to promote the game on this end too. Well some of us do. But we are all definitely excited about the upcoming months of development of SC!
Awesome!
Whoa! The complete render of Constellation?!!
Guys, you REALLY rock!
I’ve been hanging on ‘Star Legends’ MMO forums for a year and a half (got some reputation there) and all that time i was asking devs to share/discuss their thoughts and concepts with the community.. Tough luck on me lol.. But now i feel rewarded for all those efforts!
Thanx for your approach, Chris!
Thank you very much Chris for this update!
Awesome!
Keep up the good work.
Yeah! Looking forward to it.
Releasing some cool stuff will just be the right thing to get the 4 Million Dollars.
It will be hard though. That’s a lot of people spending a lot of money.
Chris, the community has always been here.
From the Wing Commander Aces and the CIC to Lancer’s Reactor and the Starport. We”ve just been waiting in faith, doing our best to pass the time. You’ve seen and even played many of our fanmods and that was just the foundation to the cake. PBM and mIRC kept us playing even if not in a cockpit.
Can’t wait to hear more great news. We can do it people!
What great news indeed. Congrats to CR and his Team and my Fellow Star Citizens which make this happen. Waiting eagerly on more to come.
Love you guys.. Keep it coming !
what’s to keep people from “gaming the system” regarding referrals? like, you could just get an e-mail from someone and say “the referred me” (even though they didn’t) just to get 250 extra credits and a chance to win some swag.
You can only have one referrer. So yes, someone could round up a bunch of people and get them to nominate them as the referrer, even though that wouldn’t be true, but there isn’t a good way to police this if you want to allow people to get credit for past referrals.
So we just have to rely on the honor system. Maybe naive, but we don’t know a better way.
Oh man The ships sound like they are going to be awsome!
Wonderfulllllllllll!!!!!
Congrats all, great news Chris! Excellent work so far and hoping we can hit that 4 mil target!
Thanks for the update Chris and i still believe that 4mio+ could be possible
I’m so happy that so many fans pledged already so we can play a real space sim again!
Now I really want to see the consept art! Btw, an update on how you will handle multiple players in one big ship and the owner/pilot logging of would be grate!
Wow Chris. Great update. You’re basically adressing each and every point brought by the community. Ship art, new footage, instancing, mod tools and so on. Thank you very much for updating us on all of this. (trows money at the monitor)
Thx Chris for the update! Congrats to you and all the team. This is an amazing event which will never stop. I’m just glad as we all are to be part of the journey.
Well done! to all the SC as well we could never have done it with out our collective effort. Keep on upgrading & pledging!!!!
Thank you Chris!! for all…
Awesome and Max !
Only thing I don’t like is the 3.5 mil stretch goal. I mean it seems a waste of money and time to shell half mill. for some decoration stuff instead of focusing to make more immersive game and making sure the servers will perform smootthly with no lags and errors. I would better see some goals like – to buy super duper mega server, ensuring we will have no lags on big fights. Or a goal like – flyable carrier ship and etc.
Seriously Ake1aLT?
What is it about personalized customization of anything does not say “immerse” to you? This is focus on immersing the player.
Thank you for all this information Chris !
And about the Constellation brochure next, all I can say is : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AWFf7EAc4
“Next week”, forgot a word, too excited, hehe.
Great update, thanks!
But for the concept art, I have to say: a pretty drawing would’ve worked wonders already! I don’t mind for myself, I’ve already pledged, but the current gamecommunity is VERY visual. Really, don’t underestimate the power of just a pretty drawing! People buy games these days just because the graphics are (supposedly) good, and rave about it even if the gameplay itself turns out horrible or immature. Box art has always been one of the major selling points for games.
So yes, I am saying: send out a few pretty pictures, you can always post the details later in a developers update or something like that.
Awesome ChrisRoberts, most likely we may reach 3.5M, its nice to have decoration on your spaceship!
Thank you Mr. Roberts!
Awesome update!!
Hi Chris
me and other international fun of you and Wing Commander series can upgrade our pledge only if Star Citizen support other Languages (for me ITALIAN)…I hope in this…
Bye
Thank you Chris we love you;)
This is the 2nd backer type game I’m now behind, and i must say your doing a much better job with keeping us up to date and just generally posting this!(I’m not going to name names). Keep up the great work, and don’t forget us!(Sure you wont)
Ship brochures! Oh my GOD!
I remember how excited I was in my youth when I used to go round car dealerships picking up new car brochures!
This is all getting pretty darn exciting … just can’t wait!
Thanks for the update Chris!
Keep up the good work everyone!
Cool, the servers will be in Montreal:-) The latency will be good for me:-)
We believe in you Chris!
Apart from everything else, give us Malcom, Mark, Clive, and Maniac of course, and we will give you the Throne of Online Sci-Fi Gaming!