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Pets in Star Citizen - Letter from the Chairman - Nov. 26th, 2014


VoA

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Greetings Citizens

Letter from the Chairman - Nov. 26th, 2014

Congratulations on helping us get to $63 million in crowd funding! Many backers have picked up limited or wave two ships during the anniversary sale, and I’m truly grateful. We’ve always stressed that you don’t need anything beyond a basic starter ship to be able to earn anything or go anywhere in the Star Citizen universe, but we acknowledge that the support the community gives by investing in bigger or additional ships allows Star Citizen to deliver a deeper, richer experience much sooner than we could otherwise. In addition your continued support is allowing us to make some smart investments in the world wide team and technology that will safeguard the future of the game.

I’ve had a number of backers ask me why I don’t ‘stock pile’ letters and have them ready to go immediately… especially during an event like this. My answer is that I don’t feel right assuming things like that when it comes to backers providing the project with millions of dollars! The letters may take a few extra days now, but they’re always from the heart.

The $62 million stretch goal was the penultimate ‘wave four’ ship design:

 

  • Genesis-class Starliner – The Genesis is yet another landmark in Crusader Industries’ proud history of transport designs. This ship utilizes award-winning manufacturing techniques and the highest quality parts to create one thing; a next-generation passenger ship at a price that won’t break your budget. Crusader Industries’ proprietary NeoG engine technology offers some of the most efficient flight for a ship of its size. The Genesis line has been cited in Whitley’s as “one of the most reliable and safe public transport ships on the market.” Genesis Starliners are available in a number of stock configurations, focusing on everything from passenger capacity to freight to overall comfort. The UEE military operates multiple Genesis conversions for support roles, including SWACS and starflight test operations.
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I love options like this, because they’re more than just fighting ships. They help us populate a living breathing universe… after all, most people are more likely to encounter 737s than F-22s in their daily lives! For the next goal, a whopping 50% of the vote went to the MISC Reliant to be the third starter ship:

 

  • MISC Reliant – With the success of the Freelancer “Built for Life” campaign, MISC has moved to join RSI and Consolidated in the single-seat introductory starship arena. Their silver bullet? A starter ship with more than one seat… and their ace in the hole: Xi’An technology. Where the Aurora is a pure utilitarian platform and the Mustang is a delicate, maneuverable personal transport, the Reliant is MISC’s most Xi’An tech-heavy ship to date. Featuring impossibly sleek lines, two separate crew seats and a vertical fuselage design, the Reliant’s streamlined cockpits glow with some of the finest xenotechnology available!
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And since we’ve already hit $63 million, the Reliant is in the bag! It sounds like backers are interested in seeing more alien technology! That’s one thing Star Citizen will deliver on. As I said last time, never say never for the other concepts… I especially liked the Drake ‘space motorcycle.’

We’ve added a lot of ships lately, and so we’re making the $64 million goal a fun one.

 

  • Pets – We have repair bots, we have fish… but we haven’t implemented a traditional pet system in Star Citizen yet. At $64 million, that changes. From Jones the Cat in Alien to the Battlestar Galactica’s Daggit, pets have a place onboard starships… and we want to give you that option in Star Citizen. Expect traditional terrestrial options, plus anything exotic we can dream up in the Star Citizen universe! (Those Torshu Grey crabs that keep escaping are just the start.) This stretch goal is in honor of Paddington, Strike Dog of the UEES Paul Steed. In one of our first videos Paddington helped us get to $4 million back in the initial campaign, and sadly passed away recently.
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For those looking ahead to $65 million, we have a major feature we’re investigating as an option. Suffice it to say, we’ve heard a lot of your feedback about modular ships and we want to expand our plan for how to do them… so check back next letter for more information!

I can’t say it enough: thank you. I often finding myself sitting down to play Arena Commander and just admiring what we’ve made together. Sure, we could have done this behind closed doors… but it wouldn’t have had the same heart and soul, and it wouldn’t be coming together in the same way. Arena Commander is a microcosm of Star Citizen: your backing made it possible, your feedback is making it work the way we imagined together… and your belief in what we’re doing here (and patience with real software development!) is going to push us to continuously iterate and improve. As we deliver more aspects of Star Citizen, from first person combat, to planetside exploration to a gripping single player narrative story to planets and star systems you can fly between, I think it will dawn on all of us just how groundbreaking and unprecedented the journey that we are all taking together is. Nothing of this scope has ever been attempted, and never in this fashion.

See you in the ‘Verse!

— Chris Roberts

Edited by VoA
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PETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

sorry i'm kinda exited :P who doesn't want to captain a ship with your pet on your lap 

 

Pet's are a HUGE  $$$$ money maker for MMO's now like Guild Wars 2.  It is a great way to sell something to players  (after the Verse or PU is live) that they want without impacting game play.... besides who can resist a cute pet :wub:

 

KD4YJpt.gif

^^^   :P

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Just wait until that Rare Crab you got in your fish-tank wants a quiet spot to breed and escapes. Then the Hangar is infested with crabs scurrying around like roaches. Needlessly explaining over and over again How you got the crabs is just the first phase.

Ultimately, Phase Two comes into play, whereby you are denied a landing berth because your ship is infested with life forms of unknown origin.

Disclaimer: no Tribbles were damaged or killed in the making of this statement.

 

Joking aside, Pets, Costumes, and Hats seem to accumulate a lot of funding for many games. Seems like a natural progression to me. The Gamers love them and are willing to spend funds to acquire a collection of them, even when they are released without stats or perks.

 

Just because Star Citizen is going to be different than anything currently out there does not mean they should scrap something innocuous like Hats, Pets and Costumes, which are proven money makers. - DRUM out

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Sorry SC has always been MMOFPSRPGSIMETCETCETC.

 

Or in short, BDSSE. :)

 

True. The only complaints that make sense is that funding goals will ruin Star Citizen/never let it finish. They keep adding things when they can barely keep up with the older goals.

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i believe they would have a minimum requirement for SC to release it. so I have no worries about the game being pushed back by additional features. we can call them, expansions or add-ons.

 

the worst thing that can happen is ceasing to have goals. no goals additional goals? it'd be a dead game sooner than you think. 

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I was reading the letter at work during lunch, and was mind-blown when I was reading the letter and left my mouth wide open ...

 

hells yes!! so excited. I will literally get a doggie-army for my hangar/ships :)

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Pet's are a HUGE  $$$$ money maker for MMO's now like Guild Wars 2.  It is a great way to sell something to players  (after the Verse or PU is live) that they want without impacting game play.... besides who can resist a cute pet :wub:

 

KD4YJpt.gif

^^^   :P

 

 

I was reading the letter at work during lunch, and was mind-blown when I was reading the letter and left my mouth wide open ...

 

hells yes!! so excited. I will literally get a doggie-army for my hangar/ships :)

 

Who can resist a Doggy Army?  :P .... :wub:

 

Seriously though... I know many people are concerned that pet's will "cheapen" the game .... or make it "silly"...... however...... after playing Guild Wars 2 as a competitive PvPer (where you can't use pets in PvP).... I really see why many MMOs are allowing pets / mini's / etc...

 

Will I get a pet - probably... is a pet needed for play or will it give you any advantage in-game - NO.

 

GW2 and the newer MMO's have realized that cosmetics / pets / mini's / bling / hangar decorations / etc.... are a great way to "sell" players stuff in game (through the in-game store - for SC it would be VD).... and make a HUGE amount of $$$ so the game doesn't require a subscription fee... which I think is a great trade off since it alleviates any P2W concerns then (since they don't affect game play).

 

Also see this RSI thread and VOTE !  PETS CONFIRMED!!! 64 Million stretch goal - Vote for your favorite!

 

Here is Ben's post below...... as it relates to Eating (but also applies to Pets) they are NOT required for game play (just a nice cosmetic addition).

 

 

CIG Ben Lesnickwcloaf

 
Posted: November 26
 
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Posted: November 26
 
I can confirm this is something we're playing around with, but it's not something we intend to make the point of Star Citizen. I think a game that REQUIRES you to eat would be pretty frustrating... but one that lets you drill down to that level if you so desire is pretty cool! We'll have more details on the design once we have it planned out.
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I don't see a problem with pets added.  In fact, it just adds depth to the game.  Same with various outfits and accessories for the characters.  I certainly would get bored of seeing the same clad people everywhere I went.  I hope they have people on different planets dressed differently, so you at least feel like you are on a unique world.  That's the idea, and people having various pets just adds to the universe we are all trying to make awesome.  Some of these goals probably will not be available in the initial release of the game, and I am fine with that.  Add-ons and expansions allow us to continue to enjoy the game far past its initial release.

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Pets are fine but I think they should be isolated to non public areas. I.e just your ship/home.

 

I don't want to see ground zones flooded with funky colours pooches bumping into each other and jumping about.

I disagree... if you limit where pets can go then people won't buy them.

 

I think every player wants other people to buy them (and if you like them you want to buy one - or more - yourself)....... while at the same time I don't want to see everyone walking around with a little fur-ball following them or on there shoulders.   The reason why we want them is not just because they are "cute" but because they bring more $$$ to the on-going live game (after launch)..... without affecting game-play balance..... so we don't have to pay for subscription fees per month (outfits / posters / models / and other cosmetic items fit into this theme).

 

I think the key to not having too many pets in the Verse is to price them fairly high (but not too high where no one buys one)...... and another solution would be to have "predator pets" that go around and eat all the little "fur-ball" pets..... j/k ... :P  (the price solution is the way to go - joking about the "predators")

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65 million stretch goal = redo all the ships so that the interiors are actually modular?

 

Oh yes and Yey pets! As long as they don't shed in my ship :P

Exactly, I'm way more excited that they go this route with modular interiors. This will be huge for SC, making your ship more like your home.

 

Not to mention that it will vex boarders a bit when they find you don't have an easy standard layout.

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  • 7 months later...

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