Reverse the Verse: June 10th, 2016

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Probably not in the form it's in right now. Just in this build, there's been significant changes to the control and how the game does all sorts of things, so it will probably be a largely different tutorial when we get back to it.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

This is a thing we've been talking about internally for months.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

We have. There was a big outcry on Reddit, which I think is probably why it got put up in the meeting this week.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

And not just Reddit, but forums.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Yeah, forums. And it's true. We want to put the best face of the game forward, and we're going to do a free fly for E3. So it makes sense to do it right now. No tutorial on the menu.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

We've had so many conversations about it. I even had a conversation in Chris's office, just he and I. And we wanted to make sure that fixing it first wasn't the best option.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Yeah, we looked at how much it would take to get it up to the current standard.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

There will be an additional Sabre model where we want to do a different livery. So it's separate from the other, like we did with the RR.

Alexis Lesnick · Subscription Manager

We've done it a few times. So if you bought the Sabre during the concept sale and have a model in your pledge that's coming later, you'll get a variant of the Subscriber Flare.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

We can't give a time frame, because we would love to do it later today. If everything comes together, if this fix fixes the last blocker and we don't introduce any new problems today, it's entirely possible. Or we'll get it back today and it's like, okay, the fix didn't work, it broke seven other things. So it's a process, we'll keep walking through it, but fingers crossed.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

I believe it's the same as it was at the Hangar Ready sale, which was, I think it's $300 for the Starfarer, $340 for the Gemini, and $65 for the Reliant Kore.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

That is a good idea. I don't think we'd ever thought about that. But we could have Benoit and Benjamin F.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

Let me get back to you on that. If they're willing to do it, I think it'd be great. Basically, we don't force anybody to ever be on a video. So I will float the idea, and we'll see what happens.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

No, there are not. This was something we promised very, very early in the campaign because there are two different Idrises. There's the military patrol one and there's the more civilianized one. But we don't want to just sell you, here's a better Idris. You want to make it something you do in the game.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

And Idrises shouldn't be around every corner. We want that moment when you see an Idris. Because it can be bigger.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

I promise nothing.

Alexis Lesnick · Subscription Manager

Pictures are easier to judge than written entries.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

That was a lot of reading, and most of what I do all day is reading.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

The 2.4 sale is just the two Starfarers and the Reliant.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Yes. That's the 2.4 sale. And the new gun.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

Now, it's possible the 2.4 sale will be going on at the same time as our Dragonfly sale. So in that case, the Dragonfly will also be on sale. But those are two bespoke events.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

I can't promise. We are not code locked on 2.5 yet. Almost certainly, but I can't say what they are or whether or not they're going to break at some point in the next couple of weeks.

Alexis Lesnick · Subscription Manager

Did you just say 2.5 would be out in a couple of weeks?

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

No, I said we're probably going to break whatever's in it in the next couple of weeks.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Some ships have them and some ships don't. I don't want to address this specific question, which is why do Drake ships not have them? Because that's a design decision. I want them to figure out their system and be the ones who make that call. But no, they're not 100% essential. There's different systems for different ships. And we want it to be a trade-off. Survivability ups the cost of a ship. Seat survivability ups the cost of a ship. It should be a spectrum, not every ship has everything.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

Not all ships are meant to be all things.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

As for specific ships with ejection or not, I'm leaving all that to design, and it's their bailiwick.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

It's the light fighter for Squadron.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

I actually saw it on Patrick Salerno's screen. He was doing a tech setup for it.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

We, meaning community, don't track the Vanduul ships so much because they're all going into Squadron and we don't get a chance to show them off. If there's not someone doing it right now, there was yesterday.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

I'm asking this question because I know the face is one of the things that's not final on that model. The face that's in those pictures is placeholder. They're still working on the faces, they mentioned in the Shotgun notes.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

And I have no idea whose face it is.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

Yeah, we have no idea whose face it is, but that's not the final face. That won't be the face that's going in game.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

That'll be one of those scans we did. Probably modified significantly.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

No, that'll have to come later. The Starliner is scheduled out, so it's on our production plan. We don't have a person on it right now, but as for doing variants, let's wait until we get the first ship done before we sell some others.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

Yeah, with a handful of exceptions, we are trying to do the base ships before we do the variants.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

I'm going to take a long nap. No, we're all going to play Star Citizen for a bit, I think, and just enjoy ourselves. Not even for us specifically, but the whole team, I think, they'll be very, very happy to have it out.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

Well, it's the basis of a lot of systems that are coming later. So once that's in, the work can continue on all kinds of stuff. Fleshing out the stores, fleshing out the character, clothing, all that good stuff. So the Item Port system is big for the upcoming component revamp, or the continuing component revamp.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Yeah, it's like building a deck and now we can put anything we want on it.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

There is an Ask a Dev for the website. It's up there now. And I was just talking to UK programmer Ben Parry this morning, who took some time out of his day yesterday to answer quite a few questions in the Ask a Dev section. So Ben Parry, thank you a lot for taking the time out of your day to post in the Ask a Dev.

Alexis Lesnick · Subscription Manager

Well, we just shipped the last one that we did. So maybe end of summer, fall. We're working on some shirts right now. So we'll get those sorted out and then move into some new stuff in the fall.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Real darn soon. In fact, I think we'll be sharing some of the Caterpillar stuff with the Dragonfly. So expect to hear a little bit next week.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

And there might even be a neat video as part of our ATV 100 celebration. The teams all over the world are amazing, but getting to watch them work on the Caterpillar daily here, it's really a treat.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

The Fast Forward, basically, I talked a little bit about this in a very long wall-of-text forum post maybe a week or two ago. Basically, it's not going to be gravy every week. You can't serve steak for every meal. Some are always going to be better than others. This one was highlighting continuing work that Frankfurt is doing on the movement animations. You'll notice that it was quite a bit smoother. And some of that is because they're not playing in a live environment. EVA's not done. They're still refining it. They're still tweaking the movement and the slide and the sort of decoupled fly. I don't know if that's what we're calling it. But it's just continued development. We've got some stuff down the line here still to show. Sometimes it's going to be steak. Sometimes it's going to be meatloaf. Some people like meatloaf better. That's basically what the deal with that is.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

We are pretty hyped. We're probably reverse hyped to some degree because it's looming now. And there's this, oh, by the way, you have to fly 16 hours across the ocean and change planes in London and you'll be in a foreign country for three weeks. And so it's a mix of terror and excitement.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

If you read the weekly comm-link schedule we put up, I talked a little bit about our Gamescom plans there this week. We're having our first big show floor booth that we've ever done, partnering with some great people to help us put that together. I think if it comes together like we're envisioning it, it'll be very cool. We're going to be on the show floor all five days. I think the first day is only open to the press, and then four days publicly. But we'll be there all five of those days. And then we'll have announcements later on down the line. We'll be doing gatherings and meetups in the evenings and stuff.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

In fact, yeah, we were just talking with Sandi about some of those. At least one of them you're definitely going to want to be at.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

So lots of opportunity to meet everybody instead of a single event where everybody's packed in like sardines. We'll have lots of opportunity to come and meet Chris.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

We're going to unveil a ship in person at one of them.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Because they're different ships. There will be an opportunity for a bulk discount, if we're going to sell a two-pack, if people want more than one Dragonfly.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

I think it will be more apparent when you see the utility of the thing and what it can do.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

And definitely one thing we're finding as we get closer to everything actually being in the game and making sense is that the prices are much more regimented than some of the early ones.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

And the price is not necessarily always just the value of the thing. It's also the work that goes into creating it and stuff like that.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Many factors.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

We've talked in the past about doing a segment. So maybe we'll do a segment at some point that dives into some of the reasons behind that kind of stuff.

Matt Sherman · Technical Designer

I didn't talk about it. I think last time I was here on RTV we've mentioned it before, possibly bringing it back, but that would definitely be outside of design.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Stay tuned, we'll say to that.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

No, no update on them. Carracks, once we're done with the Caterpillar, I think we're still looking at the Carrack next, so stay tuned again.

Matt Sherman · Technical Designer

So for anything involving a rescue type mechanic, a lot of that stuff is still being sorted out, so there's definitely things that we want to explore to make sure that that feels good, and stuff like beacons, black boxes, distress calls. It's just about getting all the specifics of it hashed out. So in some form, yeah, we're going to have some kind of rescue assist for alerts, distress, all that. The exacts of how that's going to take shape is still a work in progress.

Matt Sherman · Technical Designer

It is definitely something that we're looking at. I think if you guys go back to some of the old concepts, when we had the whole series sale last year, that was also very much one of the things that we want to explore. Again, it's something that we want to try and deliver on, but we're still determining what shape it'll take. But yeah, we want there to be somewhere where you can crate up a handful of ships. They wouldn't be something you could immediately scramble, but then you can move it cleanly from point A to point B.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

Check the Turbulent section of the monthly report that just came out a week ago. That's the latest info we have on the launcher. Still being developed. But I think there might be one or two more details in the monthly report.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Not anytime soon, but who knows, someday.

Matt Sherman · Technical Designer

Well, just from the design side, that would probably be something we might want to explore more as a different module for something like the Caterpillar. It's not something that's hard on the table right now, but it would be in that kind of...

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Like a pod or something you just load into the Caterpillar.

Matt Sherman · Technical Designer

Yeah, because we want that versatility to really come through on the Caterpillar. But again, not a sure thing, but probably where we would try and explore that.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

This weekend. He'll be back in LA next week, Monday.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

People have asked a couple of times about the tour of the LA office. We'll put Chris on that. Probably not when he gets right off the plane, but we'll let him get settled. As his time allows.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

As we discussed earlier, we're not doing the bespoke event like we've done in years past. We're on the show floor all five days, so you can come and visit us on the show floor. And if you don't want to buy a ticket to Gamescom, we will be doing impromptu gatherings.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Yes, some of them are going to be bigger type things like the beer garden we did last time. Some of them will be like, hey, we're all going to dinner, anybody who wants to can come hang out with us. All sorts of cool stuff will happen.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

So it might behoove you to check social media and stuff during that time, since we won't have a lot of communication options when we're there.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

We'll put up a nice Gamescom guide.

Matt Sherman · Technical Designer

So last Friday, when the second part of the Buccaneer Q&A went out, there are definitely going to be some changes with weapon hardpoints, one of those including the eventuality of some ships having some fixed twin-link mounts. So first off, it isn't going to be that every single hardpoint can run all of those modifiers. In that same post, manned turrets and gimbals were also noted, but we've even said in the past, because a manned turret has to have a cutout into a ship, it's not going to be every single hardpoint can do this, but it's just one of the considerations that we have for mapping out the ships, mapping out their potency. So in that case, would the Glaive have four fixed replacing its two size fives? Probably not. More so just because right now the Vanduul ships are sort of in their own tuning set and tuning bracket, where they're not as interchangeable with a lot of human parts.

Alexis Lesnick · Subscription Manager

Yes, kind of. When we have a clearer window, I'll give an update on the website, but it was kind of getting tossed around with legal and David Ladyman. So we had some changes, and it is now with our printer. So hopefully in a few weeks' time, those will start shipping. But like I said, when I have a better time frame, I will give everybody an official update.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

It is most certainly not off the menu. It's just part of a much larger rollout that affects our entire website. It'll be a new set of forums, a new way to chat, all kinds of cool stuff that we've mentioned we're calling Spectrum. Turbulent is hard at work on it.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

We've seen the design.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

The design is really cool. It's pretty incredible. We're no longer going to be beholden to XMPP chat and Vanilla forums. Very excited about it. It's Org 2.0, but it affects everything.

Matt Sherman · Technical Designer

So that is something that actually needs a bit more of the Item 2.0 stuff that we've been working on to be implemented, to bring back. It is absolutely something that's in the pipeline, in consideration, it just needs more tech to get set back up.

Alexis Lesnick · Subscription Manager

Probably looking more like July. They're in production right now, though. It takes a couple weeks. We had many orders this time.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

Those are one of the more intricate things to produce because they have different rings.

Alexis Lesnick · Subscription Manager

They are, yes. Every single one is personalized.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

And it's like they spend forever. It's always like, where are they? Oh, it's in polishing, in polishing, in polishing.

Alexis Lesnick · Subscription Manager

And it's literal polishing. There's many steps, yes. And we had some ones made up that are some of our Squadron characters also, for handouts and such.

Matt Sherman · Technical Designer

Not all the specifics, so it's more something that we're going to still be going through each ship. Right now the safest bets for what those twin-link fixed are going to be applicable for would be underslung canards on different ships. So ideally the Hornet, the Mustang, Vanguard, not sure about the Avenger or the Gladius. It's still again going to be one of those: go through it, see what fits, see what looks right, because also part of this is making sure that the visual looks right. And part of why some of that new sizing happened is because the hardpoint post we made last year was before we realized we have to redo some physical volumes on these weapons, and when we got those rebalanced, size ones on, like, the Hornet ball turret just look ridiculous, like it's toothpicks. So making sure that the look and feel hold up both in terms of the potency and the art.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

I know they're going to tie it into the web work they've done, but I'm not sure where it is right now.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community Manager

I remember some conversations a while back about getting the star map in the game, so it's all the same, so we don't have to duplicate work. We don't have to make the whole thing in game and make the whole thing on the web. So maybe we can ask Turbulent to include that in next month's monthly report, see if there's any update.

Ben Lesnick · Director of Community Engagement

Or if we do their 10 for the Developers with them.