Today Cloud Imperium Games is hosting the first day of its CitizenCon 2954 event, revealing what’s coming down the line for its space simulator Star Citizen.
The first day of livestreamed panels started with the Brave New Worlds presentation, introducing the Genesis Tool, designed to create better planets compared to what already exists in the game, and not affected by the same limitations.
Planets created with the Genesis Tools are data-driven and based on physics, with emergent biomes that appear across the planet to create much greater variety. This is achieved with much greater density compared to what is already available in the game and much faster rendering at the same time.
Perhaps the most impressive part of this all is that the transition from ground to space promises to be truly seamless with “zero pop-in.”
Examples showcased of emergent biomes are swamps, jungles, and redwood forests.
Of course, planets can be inhabited, so the panel also included populated areas. The current systems are limited because Server Meshing will bring much higher player population counts, and with them, more need for points of interest.
The current planets are pretty barren and don’t encourage exploration gameplay as much as they should. This requires a change in the workflow.
The new system needs to ensure quality, and create locations with unique personalities without repetition. Locations discovered by players need to be shareable with other players, and the density needs to have at least a point of interest every 100 km. It also needs to improve the mission experience.
This new toolkit is based on modularizing all existing locations and assets, creating a library of buildings and layouts that can be iterated and tested in the editor to ensure “fun gameplay and interactive sandbox activities” including all the mission elements.
The toolkit includes elements to create locations with different style (frontier, high-tech, or utilitarian), different functions (mining, farming, or homestead), and different factions (lawful, unlawful, and unoccupied).
The tool to enable artists to build thousands of locations is called “Starchitect.” It’s capable of scattering all the elements above on a planetary scale by following logical rulesets similar to the emergent biomes, while still giving the artists full control over the data used.
This is complemented by a system that allows the creation of clusters with specific identities on a planetary scale so that the locations found are coherent with each other and tell a story not only one by one but also in relation to each other. Interestingly, the example provided involved a planet with over 3,000 locations.
The next step is to make locations lively, including emergent environments, locations created by players or manually by developers, interior locations, and the addition of the day/night cycle.
Another relevant element is dynamic cover generation, generating areas that can be walked on and areas players and enemies can take cover behind.
We then move on to visuals with how the system handles generating lighting, with a new Global Illumination system that creates more contrast between light and darkness.
It’s worth mentioning that the system isn’t just about creating development automation, but the developers claim (and showcased) that it will improve the looks of environments, on top of players and environments. On top of that, light and shadow will move naturally with the sun.
Moving on to sound, we hear about Staraudio, which is driven by Genesis data to drive the soundscape in the game. Interestingly, the system is capable to add the Doppler effect systematically.
The system promises to provide a better sense of distance, improve the sense of speed, and support cinematic moments.
We also see new cloud improvements with cloud formations that can form and dissipate impacted by each planet’s physical data set. On top of that, a new shading model simulates the light scattering multiple times within the clouds themselves and the atmosphere.
This determines changing visibility on the ground and weather generated by the data that governs the atmosphere. The developers showcased heavy rain, the interaction of the wind with objects in the game, lightning strikes affecting and damaging ships and affecting avionics, and dynamic turbulence.
Some storms will be localized and brief, while other storms will be permanent, potentially creating gameplay situations in which players need to use ground vehicles to explore.
The next panel, titled “A Social Universe” focused on large improvements in social interaction between players.
This includes a new friend list and block list, and a new party list with search functionality, info, a ship and seat breakdown showing what vehicle party members are in and what seat they’re manning.
A new party finder app will help players find a party to do what they want to in the game without having to shout around.
The chat window will be heavily customizable with slash commands and even links for contracts, locations, items, and players.
Speaking of communication, we saw a demo of improvements to VOIP (voice-over IP) and FOIP (face-over IP). The systems have not been updated much since 2019. Remember the funny video of Star Citizen players making extremely weird (but at times extremely impressive) expressions? We’re talking about that.
Specifically, FOIP is getting head rotation tracking, range of motion from the mouth, secondary motions, and tracking stabilization, which should greatly improve its quality.
Next, we take a look at the newly overhauled Beacons, including Guide Beacons to ask for information and help other players, trust scores, and proficiency ratings from Bronze to Gold, on top of Platinum which only the best will be able to receive.
Players can see the results of the latest 5 beacons another player handled to get an idea of whether they’re trustworthy or up to no good.
Even more tools will be introduced for Organizations (or Orgs, which are basically Star Citizen’s guilds). Interestingly, Orgs will be able to align with NPC guilds.
Players will be able to represent only one Org at any given time, but they can switch (freezing the contribution to the orgs that are not active). Representing an org and doing things that benefit it increases personal loyalty, which in turn increases the benefits of belonging to that org.
Orgs can form alliances with each other or rivalries, basically going to war with each other.
The next panel was “Dress to Kill” focusing on Fashion. The most relevant element showcased is the concept of “specialization.”
They’re a series of attributes applied to every piece of clothing and armor that basically indicate its purpose. They’re not a class system, and they’re not designed to limit what the player can wear. You can do almost everything with any outfit and specialization.
Players will specialize by determining their playstyle (this can be done whenever they want. They’re not locked into it), hunting for specialized gear, which isn’t sold in normal shops, and selecting the combination of armor and clothing that fits the specialization they want. Incidentally, players will be able to mix armor and clothing.
We then hear about the Starwear system, which lets players combine armor and clothing with much more freedom. That being said, some gameplay implications are still true. If you go into the vacuum of space without a space-worthy undersuit and helmet you’ll die. On certain planets, you’ll need certain equipment to survive in their environment.
To enable these systems, the developers are assigning purpose and intent for each piece of armor and clothing. Some clothing will be getting modest armor values, and many armor sets will be given specific uses.
Interestingly some clothes will let you bring weapons into restricted areas, while armor will influence how you can fly starships depending on its bulk. Flying a ship in heavy armor will be less precise.
Some helmets will have pilot visors broadcasting the ship’s MFD data directly in your field of view. Driver suits will have unmatched G-force resistance but will have less EVA capabilities and protection compared to a pilot suit.
Another example is sniper armor will make players undetectable on active scans, but it’ll also have minimal protection.
The panel also showcased a demo of players with different specializations working together to bring down a massive sandworm on Monox in the upcoming Pyro System.
Incidentally, the Sandworm is called “Apex Valakkar” and will be 300 meters long. It can be baited with ground vehicles. There will also be different variations of it, like the Swamp Valakkar and the Cave Valakkar.
When Star Citizen hits version 1.0 (the formal release version) ensuring diverse ecosystems with fauna characterized by different looks and behaviors.
The last panel of the day dedicated to Star Citizen’s online persistent Universe goes “Beyond Pyro,” focusing on the system that will come after 4.0 and the implementation of Pyro.
That’s Nyx, which includes a black dust cloud severely hampering visibility and scanners. It borders with hostile Vanduul space, so encountering Vanduul raiding parties is a possibility.
It also features the return of Delamar, the Asteroid that was implemented in earlier versions of Star Citizen but was then removed because it simply isn’t in the Stanton system. Of course, the settlement of Levski also makes a comeback. It’ll have specialized zero-G freight elevators. The giant sinkhole also goes all the way through the asteroid.
The same specialized Zero-G freight elevators are coming to space stations in Stanton and Pyro. The interior of Levski is being updated too.
The UEE doesn’t protect the system, so Star Citizen players will be on their own.
Speaking of the existing system (Stanton) landing zones will get new gameplay-focused areas. For instance, Arcorp will get the “Minicipal Works” which is an open-world sandbox area, and the “Lower Municipal Works” also known as “the Depths” which will include several instanced levels.
In The Depths, Star Citizen players will be able to do missions. After achieving a certain amount of progression, their access level will be upgraded, going deeper and deeper. this will unlock more challenging areas and better loot. It’ll be one form of progression-based content.
The fourth system after Nyx will be Castra. It’s a system on the former Perry Line bordering with Xi’an Empire.
Castra includes the dead and coreless planet Castra I. It’s used by the UEE for target practice which gives it the nickname “Bullseye.” It’s full of craters, its atmosphere is toxic, and there are raging storms.
Castra II, also known as Cascom was the location of a military staging area during the cold war against the Xi’an and is now a center of trade and tourism. It’ll feature mountain ranges, great lakes, and forest and its landing zone is called Sherman, also known as the “Island in the Sky.” It’s currently in pre-production but we get to see a sneak peek.
If you’re unfamiliar with Star Citizen, it’s a crowdfunded multiplayer open-world sandbox space simulator that has been in development for several years. It’s directed by Chris Roberts of Wing Commander fame.
The game has just passed $729 million in crowdfunding ($729,095,235 at the moment of this writing) and counts 5,365,354 registered users. Of course, many of them aren’t paying customers, as they register accounts to enjoy Free Fly Events.
Besides its online persistent universe, Star Citizen will also have a single-player campaign named Squadron 42 starring an exceptional cast of famous actors including Mark Hamill, Henry Cavill, Gary Oldman, Liam Cunningham, Gillian Anderson, and more.
New gameplay of Squadron 42 has been presented live today, alongside the announcement of a release window.
Full disclosure: the author of this article has backed Star Citizen’s crowdfunding campaign.
