The new “Item 2.0 System” promises interesting gameplay mechanics for the space MMO Star Citizen – but the development team now has to revise and adjust many elements of the game.
With the “Item 2.0 System”, things become possible in Star Citizen that ensure more realism. A door that opens to outer space causes the system to recognize that the air from this area of the spaceship or space station needs to be evacuated.
If you turn off the lights in a room, the power supply is reduced. If you fly through the atmosphere of a planet, the fuel consumption increases accordingly. Through a new interface, you distribute energy to various systems of your ship.
Cool system = even more work
This system sounds fantastic and will surely make Star Citizen feel much more realistic. However, the introduction of Item 2.0 also has disadvantages. The developers have to adapt large parts of the ships in the game to this new system. Even small details like doors need to be adjusted in ships, which means that the artists and the programmers of the physics system have a lot of work ahead of them.
Especially in terms of coordination, this is a very large effort according to producer Ashram Kain. Everyone in the approximately 400-man strong team must be aware of what is being worked on and what implications this has. It must not happen that existing systems no longer function and then a part of the team cannot continue working.
AI must respond to the player
Moreover, every part of the work must be forwarded to the AI team, which must ensure that NPCs can respond accordingly. This is very complex, as nobody knows in advance what items a player will bring to their ship, how they will react, what they will do, and how the AI must then react. Whether this work will further delay the still unknown release date of Star Citizen is unclear.
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Star Citizen: 148 million $ – crowdfunding millions came unexpectedly
