The future of Star Citizen, pour your foundations to reach a beta version

To become a reality, the space simulation Star Citizen still has to complete its fundamentals, the technologies essential to continue its development. Among the different aspects of development addressed, this is the key point of the last edition of the letter to the community of Chris Roberts , the creator with the maneuver of a project - very long - who This year will reach $ 500 million in crowdfunding. Cloud Imperium Games currently has 780 employees, plus 130 in the turbulent partner who are in work on Star Citizen and Squadron 42 , the solo campaign developed in parallel.

These dizzying figures are up to the ambitions of Chris Roberts, but also to his excess for his detractors. "Always more" is the red thread of the development of Star Citizen, like a crucial functionality having to emerge this year: the persistence of each dynamic object in the game, which are no longer linked to the character but universe. In the idea, a weapon deposited on the ground will remain present as long as a player will not pick it up. Each action of a player must thus repercussions persistently for all other players. If you crush your ship on a planet, each pilot passing by there will be the accident. It is an unprecedented level of immersion, the raison d'être of improbable spatialos technologies that have never succeeded.

It is necessary for Cloud Imperium to achieve this technology to work viable on the management of STAR CITIZEN servers, which must form a dynamic network to respond to the loading climbs, without the servers being linked to a Location in play. The installation of the server network is scheduled for the end of 2022 for subscribers, followed by an outing during the first quarter of 2023. This is the moment when we send the water after having connected the whole Piping, the famous moment when an online game during development checks if it holds up. The number of players that can cross is the glass ceiling that Elite Dangerous - with fewer ambitions but also means- has touched too quickly, while the studio * Frontier Developments * The task was much more simplified, like the transition necessary to get into a ship.

Once the network infrastructure has been proven, it will then be a question of switching to version 4.0, because the foundations of Star Citizen will then be sufficient to consider getting out of the alpha and heading for a beta test. In parallel, the studio works on the full replacement of the graphics engine with version 3.18, the price to pay when a development goes slower than the evolution of technologies.

We understand it, the development of Star Citizen is at a key step, when we can consider a future or confront the limits of our time. While anticipating probable delays, the technologies allowing to switch Star Citizen in beta will have to be mastered in 2023, accompanying the arrival of a second stellar system with Pyro. Without igniting, this is the moment when this creation can truly take off, or continue to maintain a persistent fog about its viability.

All the vessels and all gameplay of Star Citizen shown until today will be able to simulate a universe - and therefore a real game - that being united to form a coherent, persistent and well served whole. In the meantime, this remains only promises not yet held.