Star Citizen ’s latest Around The Verse is officially live, and it focuses primarily on character development, new ships and derelict ship design. The latter seems to be very much in the conceptual phases of creation, but passion for the idea is certainly present.
The clip begins, however, with a quick update from the project’s senior producer, Eric Kieron Davis. In terms of new content, he describes advancements to the cargo system that allow players to sell their finds as soon as they’re obtained. Ships now also land with a natural spring effect that accurately demonstrates the player’s skill or failure as a pilot. When it comes to characters, the largest development here is the implementation of a customized tattoo system. You can check out a glimpse of the basic designs below.
Moving on to fully functioning ships, the main feature this week is the Anvil Hurricane. It’s progressed to the Whitebox phase of the pipeline, which means its temporary interiors and exteriors are complete with placeholder lighting, animations cockpit design and more.
The true star of the show, though, is the concept of derelict ships. For those who missed some of Star Citizen’s demos last year, these ships are the wrecks you’ll find while exploring Cloud Imperium Games’ persistent universe. Some of them may contain valuable cargo, others may be teeming with enemy players. Regardless of purpose, every single ship in Star Citizen is being designed with a derelict layout in mind. Just like discovering interesting finds in the real world, players may make an approach at their own rish.
3D artist Jay Malhotra elaborates on the derelict vision rather poignantly:
“We want to explore the idea of these derelict sites being a character within themselves, so when you approach a derelict site you can then just by looking at it seeing what it offered, whether it's hostile, whether it was something that was a severe crash, whether it's a place that's been taken over by bandits, and so with that we wanted to create these little pockets in space where players could go and fill like they were part of history and there was a bit of story behind them and a bit of growth behind them.”
In order to accomplish that ambitious goal, the team involved must not only have the proper tools to break down existing ships but also a keen attention to detail to sell that story. Procedural algorithms essentially place the pieces on the ground, and then designers return with a finer comb to position each wreck in a unique way. The amount of environmental weathering, type of corrosion and lighting around the craft are all considered to create a truly cinematic scene.
In terms of practicality in game, the goal is to use these wrecks for a variety of purposes including item collection, story beats and even multiplayer combat maps.
Star Citizen is in playable alpha for Kickstarter backers on PC.
What do you think of Star Citizen’s latest progress report? Will derelict ships make the game feel more alive? Tell us in the comments section!
