The developers cover 2.4 status (feature lock, QA testing), PTU selection via the Issue Council, the new Evocati testing group, and the Constellation Aquila variant plan. They also discuss Polaris design, a military ship sale, the Prospector, VR priority, AI-driven flare lighting from the Starfire video, and star map shipping.
Ben LesnickDirector of Community Engagement, Online Strategy and Spaceships
We can't tell people what's in 2.4 yet because we don't know what's going to be in 2.4 by the time it comes out yet. But work continues is pretty much the update.
QA's been testing 2.4. It is on feature lock, but that doesn't mean that features can't be taken out. It just means features won't be added in. It really depends on the stability and how things are running with it. So they've been full force with all of their new team members, too. So they've got a pretty decent sized team here in Austin, at least, which I can speak for, hammering on it, and they're making a lot of progress. It looks better and better every day. And I really wish I could tell you more about that.
There's a lot of different factors that go into PTU selection. Will Leverett's ironed out a lot of it, gotten really into the analytics of it. But honestly, participation on the Issue Council is definitely a big thing, which, just because you can't participate in the PTU doesn't mean you can't participate on live. There's still a live Issue Council. So I would say that's probably a good way. There's a lot of other factors that come into play that I don't know if he wants it to be all forward facing. But if you're active and you're contributing, chances are you'll get invited.
There's also quality feedback. If your bug reports are detailed, if they're easily replicable because they're so detailed, stuff like that. It is a test environment, not a look-at-things-early environment.
TL;DRVariant scheduling is in progress and the Constellation Aquila will probably be addressed first, by swapping the base ship's cockpit and some interior for the Aquila's rounded cockpit.
BL
Ben LesnickDirector of Community Engagement, Online Strategy and Spaceships
I'm not sure what that question is. Maybe Connie Aquila? We were talking about our plan for that this week, swapping out the front cockpit and some of the interior stuff. So we're working on scheduling the variants in general, but that will probably be the very first variant that gets addressed.
Now, because I can already see the 50 questions that are going to come, you said swapping out the cockpit. Does that mean getting rid of the Aquila cockpit?
BL
Ben LesnickDirector of Community Engagement, Online Strategy and Spaceships
No, no, it's swapping out the cockpit on the base Aurora [Constellation]. Because Chris Smith spent all this time making the ultimate base Aurora [Constellation]. So now we have to get it to an artist and say, OK, take this off and put the new rounded cockpit on.
This week's Fast Forward was a look at the continuing work the audio team is doing on EVA thrusters. Obviously, for the purpose of highlighting audio in a segment, the volume on that is raised quite a bit. But they're doing some great work with AI-controlled thruster vector sounds and stuff. I don't claim to understand it all. They're all very busy working on the soundtrack right now, so it might be hard to ask them to explain it. But I'll check in with them and see if they can give me a paragraph worth of more material about what it was. But it was very cool.
Ben LesnickDirector of Community Engagement, Online Strategy and Spaceships
It's coming together. The Polaris is coming together. We got a bunch of different directions from the artist, and we picked the one we liked, so we're eagerly anticipating additional... We have the basic shape of it now. We're going to do the details and work out how it works with the specs and so on.
It's an interesting shape. There's really no other word. I like it. It's not what I would have thought. It's one of those things where it's not what I would have done, and then I sit and go, all right, that's actually pretty cool. I think this one's going to surprise people.
BL
Ben LesnickDirector of Community Engagement, Online Strategy and Spaceships
We're hiring for many departments in all of our studios right now. So if you're interested in a job at Cloud Imperium Games, you should go to cloudimperiumgames.com/jobs and see what job postings are available for each of our studios.
BL
Ben LesnickDirector of Community Engagement, Online Strategy and Spaceships
I think we had two QA guys start in the last week in Austin.
Ben LesnickDirector of Community Engagement, Online Strategy and Spaceships
I don't know that the MISC Prospector will go in before the Orion, because it's a concept sale next week for the Prospector. Orion is still being developed too. So in a theoretical future scenario where we have the Prospector available and the Orion not, we'd certainly give you a sample.
TL;DRThe Evocati is a small NDA-bound strike team that tests earlier, less stable builds before the usual internal milestones and PTU, adding a step without changing what the public gets.
BL
Ben LesnickDirector of Community Engagement, Online Strategy and Spaceships
That's our new very small NDA-clad strike team. They're going to be looking at some of our less stable, earlier builds, stuff that we don't necessarily want to get into the world. As we get closer to Squadron 42, we're going to have stuff we want to test without everybody seeing it at once. It doesn't really change the process of what we've been doing. We wait until a patch gets to a lot of internal milestones before we put it out to the public. And that stays the same. You'll still be getting the same PTU patches at the same time you normally would. What we're looking to do is add another step that's even before that. So it doesn't change anything that you've had access to. It's totally additive.
It's a tool the folks in QA asked for, and we are happy to give it to them. It's one of the great things about game development. You get to try things. Iteration.
I think maybe, I'm not sure, maybe we had some new ones available last week. They're now sold out. So maybe that's what they're referencing. And then we do have another design planned as well. But that's coming.
Ben LesnickDirector of Community Engagement, Online Strategy and Spaceships
It's tax day. We figured that's what the UEE spends their tax money on and that's what folks here can do. But no, we thought it would be fun to bring back a couple of military ships that are flyable right now. We get a bunch of requests for Retaliators especially. And I think everybody forgot the Gladiator exists, so get a Gladiator. And the Gladius, which is normally ready, is just there to be like, hey, look, the Gladius is a cool ship.
Ben LesnickDirector of Community Engagement, Online Strategy and Spaceships
We brought back three, and then we added the Gladius thing, because it's like, hey, it's the Gladius. It's cool. We like it. Plus, our CMS puts SKUs in a grid.
That was distributed last week, but it's not going to show up on your account as an item in your hangar. It won't be listed in your hangar contents. It'll just be in your hangar when you go in. So anybody, if you have the Concierge badge, which you get automatically when you reach that level, you get the flare automatically at that point.
BL
Ben LesnickDirector of Community Engagement, Online Strategy and Spaceships
We should get some photos of where they are in each hangar.
TL;DRVR remains on the list with people and technology available, but it isn't the top priority since it affects fewer players and would add to the testing workload.
We had a nice bit from Brian Chambers in Around the Verse two weeks ago. No work on VR at the time. But the short answer on the VR thing, as Brian Chambers shared, is that it's a priority thing. VR affects this much of the community. Everything else in the game affects a much wider thing, so we work on the stuff that affects the most people first. So it's still on the list. It's still something we have people very interested in doing. We have the people, we have the technology, we have the answers. It's just not the top priority at the moment.
BL
Ben LesnickDirector of Community Engagement, Online Strategy and Spaceships
Another aspect is what VR adds to the testing matrix. It makes a lot more sense to add it further on down the line and then not have to redo it over and over again and test it with everything we do until then.
I actually talked to Nathan Dearsley. That video was done by Nathan Dearsley, who led the charge on the team that worked on Starfire, which is a great team of many people working on Starfire. But one of the things that was implemented for that video was an AI-based flare system. The AI itself determined where the flares and the brightness and the darkness and all that stuff should go. And it's really cool. And yes, it's something that we're working on implementing into the game as a whole. It's one of those things we're looking at. I don't know when. I don't know if. But it's something they're working with. And it was very cool. The results were impressive.
We're actually working out trying to find better quality tubes to ship them in. We were not too keen on the first round that we looked at. So that's what we're working out now. We also got the finished samples this week. They look really good. They've got a cool RSI logo printed on the back. But we'll know closer to the end of the month. I'm thinking it'll probably be sometime in May that they'll actually ship. We don't want smashed posters arriving.
No updates on the HOTAS. As we've said several times in the past, just waiting on that production prototype. It's not a process whose status changes week to week.
All of the collector's boxes have a folded star map inside. It is different from the rolled star map that we're going to be shipping soon. That was an item that was sold separately. But if you have a collector's box, you get a folded star map included.