User:Seadoubleyoujay/sandbox/Star Citizen

(Any topic header with [r] in front of it is not complete, with an [a] is has been added to the live article) Star Citizen is an upcoming multiplayer space trading and combat simulator developed and published by Cloud Imperium Games for Microsoft Windows. A spiritual successor to 2003's Freelancer, Star Citizen is being led by director Chris Roberts and has become highly controversial during its production. Development of the game began in 2011 and was announced in 2013 through a successful Kickstarter campaign which drew in over US$2 million. While its launch was originally anticipated for 2014, significant expansion of gameplay features and scope have led to repeated delays. In 2013, Cloud Imperium Games began releasing parts of the game, known as "modules", to provide players with the opportunity to experience gameplay features prior to release. The latest of these modules, known as the "Persistent Universe", was released in 2015 and continues to receive updates.

Promised gameplay features for the game are extensive, including space and atmospheric flight, first person combat, trading, mining, bounty hunting, and exploration. The Persistent Universe module takes place over 900 years in the future, after Earth has become an interstellar empire with numerous star systems under its control. While over 100 star systems have been promised, a single system, called Stanton, has been made available for players to explore.

The game is noted for being the highest crowdfunded video game and one of the highest-funded crowdfunding projects overall. Cloud Imperium Games' methods of generating crowdfunded revenue has led to criticisms and legal issues surrounding the project, though the company still actively campaigns for funding through the sale of ships, land claims, and other in-game items.

Squadron 42, a single-player game set in the same universe, was initially announced as an included campaign in Star Citizen 's Kickstarter announcement, but has since been separated into a standalone release.

Premise
The game will be set in a 30th-century Milky Way, centered on the fictional United Empire of Earth (UEE). A central theme of the game is citizenship – or lack thereof – in the UEE, which developers claim must be earned through player actions such as completing a period of military service.

Squadron 42
Squadron 42 is a story-based single-player game set in the Star Citizen fictional universe described by the developers as a "spiritual successor to Wing Commander". It was originally announced as an included mode to be released alongside Star Citizen in 2014 during the Kickstarter campaign, but significant expansion of gameplay features have led to postponement. After missing both its 2014 and 2015 projected release dates, the game was separated into a standalone release in 2016. In mid-2019 CIG stated that a beta release was planned for Q3 2020.

In addition to space combat simulation and first-person shooter elements, reported features include a conversation system that affects relationships with non-player pilots. An optional co-operative mode was initially proposed in the Kickstarter, but later changed to be a separate mode added after release. The game is planned to be released in multiple episodes, and according to the developers will be offering an estimated of 20 hours of gameplay for SQ42 Episode 1 with about 70 missions worth of game play, "Squadron 42 Episode Two: Behind Enemy Lines" and "Episode 3," will launch later.

Cast
In the initial Star Citizen Kickstarter campaign, a goal was met to include celebrity voice acting for its Squadron 42 mode. In 2015, it was announced that Mark Hamill would feature in the game as "Old Man" Colton. Additional cast members include Gary Oldman as Admiral Bishop, Ben Mendelsohn as Julian Wexler, Liam Cunningham as Commander Noah White, and other characters voiced by Gillian Anderson, Mark Strong, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, and Jack Huston. Motion capture performances for Squadron 42 were captured at The Imaginarium.

[a] Reactions from the press
In a Polygon opinion article, Charlie Hall compared Star Citizen to No Man's Sky and Elite: Dangerous, writing that "Last time I checked, Star Citizen writ large was a hope wrapped inside a dream buried inside a few layers of controversy", while stating that each game has something different to offer within the space sim genre. PC Gamer writer Luke Winkie also compared Star Citizen to No Man's Sky, describing Star Citizen as "the other super ambitious, controversial space sim on the horizon", and indicating that fans of the genre, disappointed in No Man's Sky were turning to the as-yet-unfinished Star Citizen, while sometimes expressing concerns should the latter fail to deliver.

The game's developers have attracted criticism for continuing to raise funds enthusiastically while failing to meet project deadlines, as well as the technical feasibility and the ability of the developers to finish the game.

Between September and October 2015, The Escapist magazine wrote a pair of highly controversial articles citing various sources who claimed that the project was in trouble. After Roberts wrote a scathing response to the articles, Cloud Imperium Games threatened the site and its owners with legal action which never materialized. In March 2017, Smart wrote that both parties had settled the matter out of court. The statement from Defy Media reads "In response to your request for comment, I can share that CIG and The Escapist have mutually agreed to delete their comments about each other. We wish each other well and look forward to better relations in 2017". The article later came in third (tied) for an award by the Society of Professional Journalists.

In September 2016, Kotaku wrote a five-part series about the various controversies surrounding the project. One article in the series was related to a long-rumored feud between Smart and Roberts. In December 2016, Star Citizen was the recipient of Wired 2016 Vaporware Awards. Massively OP awarded the game its "Most Likely to Flop" award for both 2016 and 2017.

[a] Reactions from the public
Ongoing online disputes exist over the scope of the project, the project's funding, as well as the project's ability to eventually deliver on promises. Some writers have been the subject of e-mail attacks for their coverage of the project. At least one popular YouTube personality was allegedly sent death threats by a fan of the game. Various articles regarding the controversy surrounding the project also focus on both sides of the argument.

In July 2015, independent game designer Derek Smart, one of the original early backers of the project in 2012, wrote a blog in which he claimed that due to the project's increased scope and lack of adequate technology, that it could never be completed as pitched. Following the publishing of the blog and widespread news coverage, Cloud Imperium Games refunded him and canceled his account. In August 2015 via his attorneys, Smart sent a demand letter to Cloud Imperium Games asking for the promised accounting records for backer money, a release date, and a refund option for all backers no longer willing to support the game. CIG's co-founder and general counsel Ortwin Freyermuth characterized Smart's claims as "defamatory" and "entirely without merit". Smart has continued to be critical of the project following his refund.

Virtual land claims, a feature that had not yet been implemented in the game, were announced for sale in 2017, which attracted criticism from both the press and the public. Concerns regarding the mechanic's lack of availability and potential pay-to-win advantages were raised. In response, Cloud Imperium Games wrote, "People that own claim licenses now, during the anniversary sale to support development, and people that earn the money in-game to buy one will be on equal footing assuming they have enough UEC, especially as there will be millions of locations for people to explore and claim within the Universe over the lifetime of the game."

In August 2018, Cloud Imperium Games attempted to monetize the live stream broadcast of the project's annual CitizenCon event, eventually backing down due to online protestations. Later on, they removed a cap on in-game currency, resulting in renewed criticism over the game's pay-to-win mechanics.

[r] Early Access reactions
Discuss reception following the release of the Persistent Universe as these involve decent coverage

To incorporate: https://www.pcinvasion.com/star-citizen-star-marine-impressions/

To incorporate: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/12/17/star-citizen-2-0-review/

Future plans
Cloud Imperium Games has stated that Star Citizen will continue to develop after commercial release via a combination of emergent gameplay generated by players and new content which will be developed by Cloud Imperium Games on an ongoing basis.

The developers state that players will not be separated by different game servers. A matchmaking and instancing mechanic will handle how players connect to each other. Due to the expansive nature of the game, traditional methods of combining player instances wasn't feasible, but the developers have claimed that a technology called "server meshing" will allow them to achieve this result. The developers plan to allow players to determine their own level of exposure to other players.

In 2013, Chris Roberts described a non-player character-driven economy, where players could gradually take on a greater role over time. In accordance with the $50 million stretch goal of the game's crowdfunding campaign, developers partnered with linguists to create distinctive fictional languages for the three most prominent alien races, the Banu, the Vanduul and the Xi'An.