10 Things You Never Didn’t Know about Star Citizen

Star Citizen is a multiplayer sci-fi game that is being made for Microsoft Windows by Cloud Imperium Games. Genre-wise, it is supposed to be a first-person shooter crossed with a space flight simulation game with a particular emphasis on space combat as well as space trading. It is interesting to note that Star Citizen has turned seven, though it is still very far from the point when interested individuals can expect to see a full release. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Star Citizen:

1. Headed Up By Chris Roberts

One of the main reasons that people were willing to fund Star Citizen was because of the involvement of Chris Roberts. In short, Roberts was the one who created the Wing Commander franchise, which was centered on the Wing Commander video games but featured a movie, an animated TV show, and a wide range of other merchandise as well. Even now, there are a lot of people who remember the franchise with fondness, thus encouraging them to lend their support to Star Citizen.

2. One of the Most Crowd-Funded Projects Ever

Star Citizen has the honor of being one of the most crowd-funded projects ever. For those who are curious, it managed to raise an initial sum of more than $9 million through Kickstarter as well as Roberts’s own website. However, that wasn’t the end of it because Roberts and his team have continued to fund-raise ever since, with the result that the project has now raised more than $235 million and counting.

3. Long Development

The initial estimate was that Star Citizen would see its full release in 2014. However, the project is still far from completion in 2019, meaning that there is no telling when interested individuals can expect to see the full release. As for how this state of affairs came to be, that is no great mystery. Simply put, Star Citizen has seen a classic case of scope creep, thus pushing back the project’s schedule. On top of this, there have been accusations of incredible project mismanagement.

4. Sometimes Called a Scam

There are those who call Star Citizen a scam. In part, this is based on the sheer length of its development. However, it should also be noted that the project continues to raise funds by selling virtual ships as well as other virtual goods in exchange for considerable amounts of real world money. Technically, Star Citizen doesn’t count as a scam because progress is being made on the project’s objectives. However, it should be mentioned that incredible project mismanagement isn’t that much better as an explanation for the project’s woes.

5. The Project Couldn’t Continue without the Further Fundraising

Forbes reporting states that the project couldn’t continue without the further fundraising that it is engaged in. Apparently, this project has already used up most of the funding that has been raised, meaning that it couldn’t continue without new sources of funding. Fortunately for Star Citizen, it is clear that there are still people willing to throw money at it, which speaks of outstanding marketing if nothing else.

6, Chaotic Work Environment

Given the scope creep, it is perhaps unsurprising to learn that some of the people involved with Star Citizen’s development in the past have mentioned a chaotic work environment. Generally speaking, this is not considered to be a good idea because a lack of clarity because frequent changes in what needs to be done creates confusion about what needs to be done, thus eating into employee efficiency like hot water through snow.

7. Excessive Micromanagement

Even worse, there have been claims of excessive micromanagement on Roberts’s part, meaning that the project mismanagement can be traced to the very top. For example, one claim features Roberts forcing one of the senior graphics engineers to spend months getting the look of the ship shields just right. Likewise, another claim features Roberts reversing his character approvals on a regular basis, with the result that the lead character artist David Jennison managed to get just five characters done over the course of 17 months. Apparently, this wasn’t particularly unusual because Roberts was very involved with every aspect of the game, thus that the excessive micromanagement was the rule rather than the exception to the rule.

8. Has Been Separated Into Two Projects

Currently, Star Citizen has been separated into two projects. One would be Star Citizen itself. The other would be Squadron 42, which is supposed to be a much more story-focused single-player experience in the same setting as Star Citizen. For those who are curious, Squadron 42 is supposed to be a spiritual successor to the Wing Commander series, which made Roberts famous in the first place.

9. Squadron 42 Features Some Well-Known Names

Not that long ago, it was revealed that Squadron 42 would be featuring some well-known names such as Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman, and Gillian Anderson. There were those who were very excited about the whole thing. In contrast, others were much less positive, not least because as far as they were concerned, high-profile cast members meant high expenditures that could have been put to what they considered to be more productive purposes elsewhere.

10. Latest Update Introduced Manual Mining

As stated earlier, progress is being made on Star Citizen. This can be seen in the updates that have been released for interested individuals on a semi-regular basis. One of the features introduced in the latest update called alpha 3.7 is the ability to use handheld tools to mine, which can be carried out in cave systems on asteroids, moons, and planets. Before this, mining was available to players who had purchased specialized ships capable of mining these celestial objects and no one but them. Other features introduced in the update ranged from the ability to drag ships out of faster than light travel to the ability to rent ships.