Home Gaming Star Citizen may get procedurally generated systems

Star Citizen may get procedurally generated systems

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SCPL

The crowd-funded game that just won’t stop getting more and more cash thrown at it, Star Citizen has now amassed over $39 million of your money. It reached that lofty goal this weekend, unlocking a stretch goal for the  "penultimate user-chosen star system." That’s not nearly as interesting as the $41 million stretch goal,w, which could make the game infinitely playable.

Star Citizen "isn’t just about the game we launch with," Roberts Space Industries’ Chairman said on the site.

"We’re going into this building not only an immersive launch experience, but the platforms and the tools to let us keep expanding the game to meet the available technology," Roberts wrote. "The game won’t be a static experience: we want to build Star Citizen in a way that the experience will be fresh in five years, ten years and into the foreseeable future."

To that end, the $41 million stretch goal is to start getting procedurally generated planets and star systems up and running.

"Advanced procedural generation will be necessary for creating entire planets worth of exploration and development content," Roberts said. "A special strike team of procedural generation-oriented developers will be assembled to make this technology a reality."

I have…mixed feelings about this. I have no doubt that Star Citizen will keep on rolling and hit that target, meaning procedural generation is an inevitability; it’s just that computer-generated worlds can become dull, dreary and tedious -  and end up feeling lifeless. Plus, with the scope of this thing just snowballing, it may end up never actually being finished.

Saying that, I’m actually still keen for Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky, which is also a procedurally generated exploration-heavy space sim – just with a very different aesthetic. And a much smaller budget.

Last Updated: February 24, 2014

39 Comments

  1. Alien Emperor Trevor

    February 24, 2014 at 13:42

    SHUT YOUR FACE GEOFF! It’ll be the bestest thing everest! *froth froth*

    I’m actually not a big fan of procedural generation either. One of the things I like about SC compared to Elite Dangerous or No Man’s Sky is that the content is handmade. I guess a lot will depend on how it’s implemented. It’s something that’ll affect long-range explorers mostly I’m guessing.

    Reply

    • RinceandLeSIGH

      February 24, 2014 at 14:06

      Where is Foxhound ,you two would get on like a house on fire…

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        February 24, 2014 at 14:11

        I’m a real boy!

        Reply

    • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

      February 24, 2014 at 14:06

      Easy there man. Here, wipe that off *hands Trev a tissue*

      Reply

      • RinceandLeSIGH

        February 24, 2014 at 14:06

        Shit just got weird very quickly 0-O

        Reply

        • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

          February 24, 2014 at 14:06

          He was frothing at the mouth man. He needs to clean that up….

          Reply

          • RinceandLeSIGH

            February 24, 2014 at 14:07

            0-O

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            February 24, 2014 at 14:07

            Don’t look at me. I just found him like that

          • RinceandLeSIGH

            February 24, 2014 at 14:08

            STOP!

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            February 24, 2014 at 14:09

            He looked like he was exhausted from all the frothing! I’m just trying to do something nice for the guy 🙁

          • RinceandLeSIGH

            February 24, 2014 at 14:10

            0-O 0-O

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            February 24, 2014 at 14:12

            It was starting to dribble down his chin. I felt sorry for him

          • RinceandLeSIGH

            February 24, 2014 at 14:12

            !!!!!!!!!!! @disqus_DoEH3TsffU:disqus run!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            February 24, 2014 at 14:15

            Why? It’s not like he’s some Hell’s Angel… *runs*

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            February 24, 2014 at 14:12

            Don’t listen to that bitter old man. I’m grateful for your help.

          • RinceandLeSIGH

            February 24, 2014 at 14:13

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            February 24, 2014 at 14:13

            See @rincethis:disqus? He liked it

  2. Skoobaz

    February 24, 2014 at 13:47

    But what does it mean??

    Reply

  3. Rags

    February 24, 2014 at 13:48

    $250 of my money to be exact 🙁

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in Vegas

      February 24, 2014 at 13:56

      O_O

      Reply

  4. Admiral Chief in Vegas

    February 24, 2014 at 13:56

    • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

      February 24, 2014 at 13:59

      Hahahahaha nice

      Reply

    • Rags

      February 24, 2014 at 14:00

      ROFL!

      Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      February 24, 2014 at 14:09

      Yeah GTAV does not belong on PC 😛

      Reply

      • RinceandLeSIGH

        February 24, 2014 at 14:19

        Ouch 🙂

        Reply

  5. Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

    February 24, 2014 at 13:57

    this is sounding awesome. Although I am with you on proceduraly generated planets. They end up being too random to make sense. It’s all fine and good for forests and the like. But what about human made structures? Procedural buildings generally end up feeling mismatched and outa place.

    However, who knows, maybe this team can pull it off right?

    Reply

  6. Unavengedavo

    February 24, 2014 at 14:11

    I say they should add light sabers and release it as a new Star Wars MMO 😛

    Reply

  7. UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

    February 24, 2014 at 14:11

    I am scared of buying this and then seeing it is so much effort that I never actually play it…

    Reply

    • Rags

      February 24, 2014 at 14:43

      It’s not eve. Its a twitch based flight sim in space.

      Reply

      • UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

        February 24, 2014 at 14:45

        I just don’t know… I think I will wait to buy it. Check out some proper game play etc and then see what I think.

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          February 24, 2014 at 14:53

          Well it’s not like you have to rush, it’s only being released next year. And you’ll get tons of feedback on how it plays before that.

          Reply

          • ToshZA

            February 24, 2014 at 22:43

            Next year, or the year after that. Depends on how many more stretch goals they can stretch their deadline with.

  8. ChaosPixy

    February 24, 2014 at 14:21

    I don’t envision there will be procedurally generated areas as in Elite or no mans sky, i.e. the system is generated every-time you enter it. What I do believe will happen is they will generate a system or planet in studio and take it though some post processing cycles to get that human touch. That way they can churn out fully interactive planets with well designed hotspots with a hand crafted feel at a relatively quick rate.

    Reply

  9. Ultimo_Cleric N7

    February 24, 2014 at 14:58

    I am so jealous of those who can afford to upgrade their rig to play this. Really. Man I wish I could……
    That said……I have this little voice at the back of my head saying that Chris Roberts is just going to take all the money and run. He is talking such a big game here and I’m excited, but also a little hesitant.

    Reply

    • RinceandLeSIGH

      February 24, 2014 at 15:14

      Hey bro. Want to join us on Saturday at the River Club? Usual crowd joining 🙂

      Reply

      • Ultimo_Cleric N7

        February 24, 2014 at 16:04

        Sorry man, got a chruch social in the afternoon and sushi with mates in the evening 🙁 Bummed that I still havent had a chance to hang…..

        Reply

  10. CrasH

    February 24, 2014 at 15:07

    I think that Crowd funding should have a cut off point on strech targets…

    They got a lot of money for something people wanted and paid and went well past the original strech targets and now they just keep adding more… whihc makes the game take longer to release and also gives them more time to rake in more cash and “develop” more and take even more time… see the vicious cycle starting…

    People (me included) early cause we want a proper space sim and i dont mind if they add more as more people buy the game (which is the same as streched targets…) but 1st i want what i paid for and i dont want it 2 years after i was told i was going to get it…

    Reply

    • MVW

      February 24, 2014 at 18:04

      Very unlikely that procedurally generated planets will be added before the first true release of the game.

      Reply

  11. ToshZA

    February 24, 2014 at 22:41

    Personally I do think this game will never be finished. They just keep adding new features to the game. Why not save some shit for later in a free DLC, and release an amazing core game so long? That might happen still,, but how big is their core getting? When does it stop being core, and start being “we can add this in later”?

    Reply

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