Press

The team is building a simulation-style world where players can do what they expect, with webcam-driven avatar faces and processed voice to boost immersion and social interaction, still being improved.

Players can explore planets, cities and fully realized ships of many sizes, and freely choose roles such as criminal, law enforcer, bounty hunter or trader, on a scale like Grand Theft Auto but larger.

Procedural tools are used to paint detail at scale, but planets are artist-directed rather than randomly generated, to fit the game's specific universe and deep lore.

Roberts says the five years have been fun and a lot of work, with a large company and a direct connection to a supportive community, though developing in public can have drawbacks.

Roberts says Star Citizen is the game he has always wanted to make, letting players pick professions, fly ships, and walk around ships and planets in detail beyond what was possible before.

The plan is roughly 100 star systems with far denser content than other space games, driven by a universe simulation and a world that reacts to players, though not all of it works yet.

Roberts says he is certain the game he envisions will be delivered, admits dates will not always be met, and that quality and community support matter most.

Roberts says CryEngine is powerful, visually top-class and full-featured, letting artists and designers make content quickly, with the team building on top of it and supporting AMD's Mantle.

Roberts says optimization efforts include merging simple meshes that share a material, supporting Mantle to bypass DirectX bottlenecks, and standard techniques like level of detail, funded by R&D money.