Star Citizen: Developers respond to accusations

Fans of the upcoming space game Star Citizen are worried about the game. However, according to the developers, these concerns are unfounded.

Ben Lesnik is the Community Manager at Roberts Space Industries, the developer studio behind Star Citizen. In recent days, accusations have arisen where Derek Smart, developer of the Battlecruiser series, claimed that Star Citizen would never be released in the form it was announced. In response, Lesnik has now elaborated extensively in the official forum of the game.

Accusations are baseless

Initially, Lesnik explained that the shooter module Star Marine has not been postponed indefinitely. This wording has been circulating the internet, but it is not correct.

During testing of the module, the team encountered some issues. They want to address these before releasing Star Marine. Among the problems are some “boring” elements that they are now spicing up, as well as animations that they want to revise. The delay is only a matter of weeks and not months or years. However, there is currently no set date.

Star Marine is not “Call of Duty in space”

Additionally, Star Marine is not “Call of Duty in space”. While both titles are first-person shooters, the similarities end there. Star Marine has been designed as an important part of Star Citizen and is part of the overall game. The module cannot simply be omitted as it serves as a link between space battles, ground combat, and boarding missions.

Too much polish, too many features?

Another accusation was that too much time is wasted on polishing the game. However, this is not the case. Polishing only begins at the end of the development cycle. Currently, they are focused on the actual development of the game, fixing bugs, and addressing issues. Of course, they also make some improvements to existing modules here and there, but that is simply part of the development process.

Moreover, the accusation that too many features are being crammed into the game is unfounded. They have not announced any new features in a long time. They are implementing those that have been on the to-do list for some time. This leads to the vision for the game: a Privateer-like online component and a Wing Commander-like single-player component – paired with first-person elements such as boarding missions.

Concept art is important, not a waste of money

Moreover, they are not throwing away money on concept art. Concept art is necessary to get a feel for how certain elements of the game will look and come across. Concept art is also necessary for the modelers to know how the models should look.

Another accusation was that they are selling ships that cannot be used. Lesnik responded: They will make the ships that currently cannot be flown functional as soon as possible.

However, they are proceeding according to a priority list. The ships that can be flown in the single-player component Squadron 42 take precedence. Simply because Squadron 42 will be released before Star Citizen. Next, they will implement new ships for the Arena Commander module. For some – especially very large ships – it currently makes no sense to equip them with functionality just yet.

The team is not worried

That sales have declined is also not dramatic. A similar trend was already observed last year. Afterwards, the numbers picked up again. The team is therefore not worried. However, Lesnik understands the accusation that they are currently lagging behind with the promised web features. They are still working on the star map, but they have encountered some problems that they must resolve before they can further address these features.

Lesnik cannot understand the accusation that Chris Roberts spends all his time directing the motion capture scenes. On the one hand, it has been communicated from the beginning that Chris Roberts would take on this work due to his experience as a director, and on the other hand, Roberts remains involved in all processes of the game. Even when a new ship is being developed, Roberts is involved.

About staff who have left

As for the departure of some team members, it is unfortunate but simply a process that occurs in every company. They will miss the team members, but it is not right to speculate wildly about why they left the team. That is solely their business. And while they miss them greatly, their work will be taken over by others.

Since it primarily involved the positions of producers, this does not affect the vision of the game. A producer has nothing to do with design but would manage the organization.

In response to the accusation that Star Citizen is not an open development, Lesnik stated that open development does not mean that backers receive every single build of the game. There is not even a definition of what open development is. They are working on many things that they will show to the backers at a time when it makes sense. Nevertheless, feedback from testers is always very important.

Communication is being improved

Communication between the developers and the community has also been criticized. Lesnik explains that they will probably never find common ground here. Because there are always people whom they cannot please. Nevertheless, they will continue to work on improving communication. They would naturally tell much more about the game than they can show. Because every video they create takes time. Time that a developer has to carve out somewhere.

For the most part, the detailed letter from Community Manager Ben Lesnik received positive feedback from the community. However, some remain skeptical. Star Citizen is a vast game, as has never been attempted before in this way. Perhaps a little skepticism is warranted, but so is trust. You can read the complete forum post on robertsspaceindustries.com.