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Chris Roberts says on his site that the game will be bought once with no subscription fee and yet there will be a large persistent server hosted by him.How will they afford maintenance?
About Star Citizen persistent server.
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Chris Roberts says on his site that the game will be bought once with no subscription fee and yet there will be a large persistent server hosted by him.How will they afford maintenance?
Guild Wars does the same thing, and is supported via expansion packs and in-game purchases.
Star Citizen: "Some in-game items may be available as microtransactions, but we will NEVER sell anything that can’t be acquired through honest (and fun!) gameplay."
The information concerning ship insurance is interesting also. Plus, since you can buy a $225 ship and already raised over $7 million, I don't think he'll exactly be hurting for money.
Overall, server costs and bandwidth aren't the biggest costs for MMOs* - it's the players' continual hunger for more content that costs MMOs money (in producing more). I don't know anything about Star Citizen, but if the planets are procedurally generated, it won't cost him much to create dozens of new planets when he needs - just some customized content for the planet (new textures, models, music, etc...), some time modifying the procedural algorithms, and there ya go. I'm over simplifying, but it'll cost alot less than a new World of Warcraft expansion which needs to be crafted by hand (but by being hand-crafted, is likely more creative and better designed).
*Or so I hear - I'm not in the game industry.
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btw on a side note,do you think they use some kind of megatextures for the big ships?I mean they say that carrier is like a kilometer in length and it's texture looks pretty good with some greenish-rusty parts(doesn't seem to be tiled)
btw on a side note,do you think they use some kind of megatextures for the big ships?I mean they say that carrier is like a kilometer in length and it's texture looks pretty good with some greenish-rusty parts(doesn't seem to be tiled)
It's possible, but the texture doesn't look like it's complex enough to warrant that. Remember "a kilometer in length" is totally arbitrary in the computer.
On the server, I was under the impression that it was more like mechwarrior online or chromehounds in that you did missions that were standard that might affect the world/your character in a persistent way. Not sure if that makes sense or not.
I was under the impression that the game was mostly all client side based, and the persistent server aspect was more of a social website hub. Users could drop in on other user's games, but the 'server' wouldn't actually be doing the major number crunching as in an MMO. The company's support of it would be closer to Game Lobbies for traditional multiplayer games that have been around for ages. Or was there something posted to suggest it was a far different setup?
I was under the impression that the game was mostly all client side based, and the persistent server aspect was more of a social website hub. Users could drop in on other user's games, but the 'server' wouldn't actually be doing the major number crunching as in an MMO. The company's support of it would be closer to Game Lobbies for traditional multiplayer games that have been around for ages. Or was there something posted to suggest it was a far different setup?
That wasn't the impression I got.
From the Star Citizen site
There will be public servers that we host for the main universe/game. The universe is going to be a persistent living entity, where your actions, (discovering a jump point and successfully navigating its jump for the first time, designing a ship for sale in the online shops, winning a key in-game battle etc.), will be woven into the history and lore of the game. We really want the universe to be shaped, both by your actions and created user content… to really embrace the passion and creativity of the core fans. A central server system for the persistent universe will be required to assure security, prevent cheating and other bad behavior. We also plan to provide a version that allows private servers similar to Freelancer to be maintained and run by the pilot communities. These would support single and multiplayer space combat battles where teams could hone their skills without having to use the public servers.
That wasn't the impression I got.It's roughly what I got out of the passage you quoted.
My reading of that passage is that the central server is basically a persistent world map, which everybody shares. As you chart new star systems/planets/stations, or trigger world events, they get added to the shared world map, and everyone will see them.
It's only if you join a (privately run) multiplayer instance that you can actually interact with other players.
[quote name='swiftcoder' timestamp='1358371707' post='5022311']
It's only if you join a (privately run) multiplayer instance that you can actually interact with other players.
[/quote]
I could be way off base here, but I believe that you can join a privately run multiplayer server if you just want to mess around and your actions there won't effect the main universes, but you don't have to to interact with other players.
Eh, you may be right. From elsewhere on the RSI site:
Is Star Citizen an MMO?
No! Star Citizen will take the best of all possible worlds, ranging from a permanent, persistent world similar to those found in MMOs to an offline, single player campaign like those found in the Wing Commander series. The game will include the option for private servers, like Freelancer, and will offer plenty of opportunities for players who are interested in modding the content. Unlike many games, none of these aspects is an afterthought: they all combine to form the core of the Star Citizen experience.
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