The developers answer fan questions on backer events needing Citizen cards, second-display support and Chris Roberts' hands-on role. They also cover hangar contents and customization, the hangar module as the base for later alphas, and protecting your ship from crew.
TL;DRAll-digital backers need a Citizen card for backer events in principle, though the answer wavers and ends by suggesting they bring a printout of their account, since every backer is welcome.
No. I'm sorry. You've got to have a Citizen card to get into the backer events. That's part of the deal. That's part of the reason to have one. You know what? We might need some bartenders and maybe some people that can park cars, though. That would be a real good thing. All right, come on. Now, of course you can get in the events. The Citizen cards are there for us to show off and have fun with and show your neighbors. But every fan that's backed this game is important. You're all just as important as the last. So for any of the backer events, I would suggest just maybe getting a printout of what's in your account and bringing it in with you, because you're welcome. We're all citizens here in the verse, right? Car parking. That's probably where I'll be after Chris sees that answer.
That's a really good question. That's one of those things that we're looking into, but when you're doing development, you have a list of things you definitely are going to get to and support when you get to that point. And then you have a list of things that you'd like to get to. That's one of those things that's probably on the wish list that we'd like to get to. So I don't think that'll be there day one, but it is on the list of things we want to support in the future.
Make it so, Number One. Yeah, Chris is involved in everything. I mean, day-to-day operations, everything involved in the game, Chris is there. This is his vision, make no mistake. This game, we're in charge of executing Chris Roberts' vision. He's all over everything from coding — he's actually coding some in the game too — from coding, art direction, design direction. This is a Chris Roberts production. I've done it before with him. Love it. The guy is amazing. We're all happy and lucky to be part of it. So make no mistake, Chris is involved in everything, every single thing.
Ah, flow pets. Good old flow pets. Well, while flow pets may be illegal in some quadrants, there is a rampant desire for them across the verse. If you take them as cargo, make sure they don't cause you any trouble. I mean, trouble. Yeah, flow pets.
Yeah. The goods you buy for your hangar are going to show up and appear. The hangar is supposed to be like a digital account. So anything you've purchased that has a physical presence will be in your hangar. You'll be able to see it. There'll be missile racks. There'll be all kinds of stuff that you've put. Maybe lasers. Maybe you've got different ones you want to switch in and out on your thing. They'll all be there. You'll be able to see all that stuff. That's supposed to be what your hangar is. Whatever you can outfit your ship with, you'll be able to see it in the hangar. Think of a World War II hangar where you saw all the bombs and stuff laying on the side, or the guns, the .50 cals, or whatever guns laying on the side, .30 cals. They'll all be there. Yes, they'll be there.
Yeah, that is the idea. We're building the game as a set of components. You start with the hangar module, then you go to the dogfighting, which you enter from the hangar module, and then maybe planetside, you might have a door that opens up and you get a visit with your friends in a bar kind of thing. So it's all going to be tinker-toyed together off the hangar module. The hangar is the first thing, until we get to Squadron 42 and the rest, which will be the bigger releases.
TL;DRThe first hangar version won't be complete; it will get constant updates with new items, and lists of available components are being created, with some upgrades earned in the campaign.
Well, you've earned some of the upgrades, like a repair bot, during the campaign, and there's going to be a lot more available in the future. You've got to look at it this way, right? The hangar comes out version one, but it's not the complete be-all and end-all. That hangar will be constantly updated throughout the course of the development process with items and things of that nature. So we are now in the process of creating those lists. We know we have thousands and thousands of objects to make, just for the ships themselves. So if you think about that, it'll literally be what is going to be available at the time of the launch for the hangar. We've got that figured out. But then there'll be a constant influx of new stuff to put in there all along the way. And we'll be making that hangar a lot more fun. Version 1 is going to be cool. You're going to love it. But then there's going to be a version 2, 3, 4 going on. This is a totally different way of doing it. It's modular development. We hope you like it. We think it's kind of cool.
Unsavory pilots, huh? I don't know what you're talking about there, man. Yeah, Kinshadow, I love your videos. I love what you and Legante have going on. I don't know if we're going to let you seal yourself in, per se, but it is going to be your ship. And we don't want people coming in, calling people to man the turrets, and then coming in, backstabbing you and trying to steal the ship. We'll have things in place to stop that. Maybe it won't be a cone of silence that shuts down. But we'll have some way to protect yourself.
TL;DRPeter Mackey says the job is his dream job and matches reality, though after long work on a game it's hard to enjoy playing it; the team is working on object lists, engines and economy and hiring another designer.
Oh, man. I love this. Not only was it my dream job, but it is exactly what I always thought my dream job would be. Sometimes the dream doesn't match up with reality, and in this case it totally has. Being involved with the discussions and everything is just great. One of the things that is kind of weird is once you are on the side of creating something, you're not on the side of consuming it and enjoying it from that side.
Yeah, it's a different thing. And so I've found anyway, especially on Starhawk, that after working on something for so long, it's hard to enjoy it from the play side. On the flip side of this, getting to contribute to that totally outweighs the other side of that.
Yeah, because actually when you joined us in customer service, you started out and Chris had asked you to do some stuff and you took a crack at it and he was impressed with it and we were all impressed with it. You're doing all kinds of stuff now. You're building lists for objects, you're designing engines, you're doing economy stuff. You guys are all over it. It's the triumvirate of the design team along with Chris that are cranking it out.