The development of Star Citizen is ongoing; beginning with the start of crowdfunding and continuing today.
The following sections show the features and mechanics added to Star Citizen in each year and month, as well as the major tasks undertaken by the different studios.
Early thoughts
In 2011 Chris Roberts wanted to do another game, possibly under the Wing Commander brand which he had created, and to push the boundaries in terms of narrative and cinematic storytelling again. He was looking at games that had been done and in his eyes they were falling short not because of the technology but because of how they were done.[1][2][3]
He was scoping out game development trends and thinking about doing a big console game, with funding from a publisher.[2][3]
However he felt that wasn’t so interesting and he wanted to control his own destiny, not work for a major publisher. He eventually focused on the PC, where technology is moving far ahead of consoles and where the game would be free of considerations towards console generations.[2][3]
He felt that technology had caught up with his vision and the resources were now available. He also felt it was good timing and that there was a lack of large scale space sim titles in the past decade at the time.[4]
The original pitch was made with the option of being a Wing Commander game but the idea that it could work as its own IP was there from the start, too.[5]
As Chief Creative Officer of Bl!nk Media International, he was planning a Wing Commander video game by Wing Commander Productions, which had already been used for the Wing Commander movie, but got certified in Michigan in 2011.[6][7] The casting came later, though, through the strength of Chris’ relationship with the Wing Commnander actors.[5] This video game project would have been starring past actors from Wing Commander.[8] Wing Commander Productions got dissolved in 2012.[6] In 2012 Mariano Diaz shared WIng Commander concept art featuring Kilrathis which is likely linked to this project.[9]
Concept art shared in 2011 by Rob McKinnon and later rebranded for Star Citizen also points to an initially Wing Commander themed game.[10][11][12]
Pre-Production
Starting towards the end of 2011, Chris Roberts and a few other people spent over a year building the game's backstory, experimenting with game engines and creating a prototype in CryEngine that could be presented at campaign launch to show what the game would be like using in-game footage. Using their own funds, Cloud Imperium Games engaged a small group of writers, designers, and engineers to assist in this process.[13][14][15]
Sean Tracy from Crytek, who had previously convinced Chris Roberts to go with CryEngine, along with Paul Reindell and others, were among the first people working on Star Citizen.[16] Crytek had Wing Commander fans who were helping to create the prototype even after hours.[16]
A teaser trailer for Chris Roberts untitled project was released in September 2012.[17]
Production
2012
| October | Game reveal at GDC on the 10th, start of the crowdfunding campaign and the game production. |
| November | End of Kickstarter campaign |
2013
| August |
|
| September |
|
| October |
|
| December |
|
2014
2014 is marked by the release of Arena Commander and other mechanics
2015
2016
2017
| February |
|
| March |
|
| April |
|
| May | |
| June | |
| July | |
| August | |
| September | |
| October |
|
| November |
|
| December |
|
2018
2019
2020
2021
| January |
|
| February |
|
| April |
|
| May |
|
| June | |
| August |
|
| October |
|
| November | |
| December |
|
2022
| January |
|
| February |
|
| April |
|
| May |
|
| July |
|
| October |
|
| November |
|
| December |
2023
| January |
|
| March |
|
| April |
|
| May | |
| June |
|
| September |
|
| October |
|
| November | |
| December |
|
2024
References
- ↑ Back On The Flight Deck: An Interview With Wing Commander’s Chris Roberts, g4tv, August 12, 2011, archived
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Star Citizen: "We'll compete with any AAA game out there", gamesindustry.biz, Dec. 13, 2012
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts returns to gaming with Star Citizen online game universe, VentureBeat, October 10, 2012
- ↑ Chris Roberts talks Star Citizen funding on TV – He’s also “no George Clooney”, pcinvasion.com, November 6, 2014
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "I guess it’s most fair to say the original pitch was made with the option of being a Wing Commander game… the idea that it could work as its own IP was there from the start, too. The casting came later, though, through the strength of Chris’ relationship with the WC actors.", @banditloaf, Twitter, May 29, 2024
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Wing Commander Productions, Inc, Summary, Michigan Corporations Online Filing System, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, ID Number: 800739221
- ↑ Semi-Annual Project Report, Michigan Film Office, July 15, 2011
- ↑ Breaking News: Is a New Wing Commander Already In the Works?, Wing Commander Combat Information Center, September 8, 2011
- ↑ Mariano A. Diaz Concept Art, marianoadiaz.blogspot.com, 2012
- ↑ UEE armor illustration, Death of a Spaceman comm-link, February 5th 2013
- ↑ Suit up!, Rob McKinnon Concept Art, July 25, 2011
- ↑ Confederation marine concept art by Rob McKinnon, krop.com, Rob McKinnon
- ↑ "Basically I’ve been working with a small team over the course of the past year to get the early prototyping and production done. The team has varied in scale from just me, essentially, to about 10 people. That’s just the actual work though.", Exclusive Interview: Star Citizen's Chris Roberts, themittani.com, 2012-10-19, archived
- ↑ "When I was first prototyping Star Citizen back in 2011 I did a lot of research on various LOD processes", Cloud Imperium games chooses Simplygon, simplygon.com, 28th April 2014, archived
- ↑ How indie film financing could shape the future of games, Ortwin Freyermuth, gamesindustry.biz, June 23, 2014
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Star Citizen CitizenCon 2014 Complete Show, Star Citizen, YouTube, 14 Oct 2014
- ↑ Creator of Wing Commander, Chris Roberts Untitled Project Teaser Trailer, Gamespot, YouTube, 2 Oct 2012