Star Citizen News – 3.6.x Progress & New Tech
Welcome to some more Star Citizen looking at the latest News from the Project from the week ending the 18th of August 2019. Looking at Roadmap Updates & the likely hood of 3.6.x coming anytime soon, Signed Distance Field Effects in Game & what might we expect from the Aegis Event next week!
It’s your last chance to secure a spot at this year’s CitizenCon event (at time of recording there are 20 tickets left). There’s no better place to celebrate all things Star Citizen with developers and fellow fans, and there’s only a few tickets remaining, so get them while you still can.
Also this week: we traipse through the Hadrian system and try not to get blown up by space mines, catch some serious ‘tude courtesy of subscriber in-game novelty tees, and find out if we have chemistry with Inside Star Citizen.
If any of that sounds interesting there are links in the description below.
This Week’s Sneak Peek appears to be a Champagne Bucket and Bottle that should appear as a prop on the 890 Jump.
Alpha 3.6.x – The 890 Jump has seen 39 tasks completed this week BUT 52 new one’s added, there are currently 60 left to be completed. Though I’ve talked to devs and a task can be as little as checking the collision in a room, finishing off a single prop like a spoon or towel CONVERSELY some can be larger like a full lighting pass BUT tasks may have both a lighting pass for each room/area listed, it is dependant on the actual feature or ship in question. Ship Rentals still require a single task to be finished for it’s completion. It looks like it’s at least 2 weeks away from being in our hands & that’s optimistically. Some people are expecting this to all be pushed back to 3.7 as it’s planned for the end of September (and only 6 weeks away) which is possible BUT not confirmed.
Alpha 3.7 – Rest Stop Interiors & Space Station Variations are almost completed now sitting at 49 of 53 tasks complete.
Bartender NPCs, Kronig FL-33 Laser Cannon & the Vanguard Variants (Harbinger & Sentinel) have all seen a little bit of progress too.
Alpha 3.8 – The moons of microTech Calliope, Clio & Euterpe have been upgraded from scheduled straight to around 50% completion by task collectively having 18 of 40 complete already.
Planet microTech itself is sitting at 3 of 12 tasks complete BUT it’s New Babbage the Major Landing Zone here that needs the most attention it’s made a small amount of progress sitting at 44 of 263 tasks complete.
For Alpha 3.9 – Crusader’s Landing Zone Orison has seen good progress (with 16 additional tasks completed) now sitting at 124 of 164 tasks completed.
Something else that’s also pretty cool is the start of SDFs being used in Game, 3.6 saw the underlying tech for it and shields get a bit of a rebalance but soon we should have SDFs used for Shields & Particles.
Signed Distance field tech can be used in a number of ways including having particles react to different environments.
Previously particles have been very static and flat compared to what they can do now, with SDF particles are now able to collide with hulls and shields accurately. This includes accurate physics, drag, friction, bounce, slides.
We can have projectiles from weapons creating sparks and vfx as they hit an object or ricotet that then has those particles colliding with the world as well. It’s these layers of particles and detail that help bring the game to life. Though sometimes in testing they can be a bit over the top!
In April 2019 sound engineers from CIG went to a lab in Sweden and recorded various chemical reaction sounds to be used in SQ42 and SC.
Banu Defender
The Banu Defenders progress was shown off as well. It’s planned for Alpha 3.7 after being delayed from 3.5 to 3.6 to 3.7. It is looking pretty great though, truly alien.
Talked with Pedro Commacho who composed all of the Star Citizen PU Music.
He wants the feel of each individual area to be different and to vary at different times of the day. The music for the game is pretty complex and will continue to expand.
I am also a massive fan of Pedro!
Aegis Concierge Event
There is a Ticketed Concierge Event on the 24th August in Frankfurt at 6pm Local Time which is UTC+2.
It’s expected there will be a new concept ship unveiled here more precisely it’s worded in the media as “a first looks at an exciting new project from the masterly minds here at Aegis”.
The actual attendees can also expect an intimate Q&A with Chris Roberts and Key Members of the Dev Team for Star Citizen.
Again in the media for the event they also say “there will be fun activities, and drinks as you mingle with the devs and your fellow concierge members to get a rare front row seat for a special Aegis Announcement.
I am not going myself BUT there are a few people I know going and they will report back with anything that’s not NDA’d.
I would expect a concept sale around the same time though as that’s probably what the “project” is. There are rumors it’s a Capital Ship potentially something to compete with the Kraken. Some people are expecting the Aegis Redeemer Reconcept BUT last we heard about this, it wasn’t even confirmed that the Redeemer was staying as an Aegis Ship.
Subscriber perks are evolving, this month it’s some interesting in game t-shirts and a promo with the Vanguard Warden. You can also test drive all the cyclones if your are an RSI sub this month. In the future there will be some cool interesting flair and more ship promotions.
I have a video delving quite deep into RSI Subscriptions and pretty much everything else we have talked about on my channel, so please check those out to find out more.