Cloud Imperium Games Unveils Star Citizen 4.1: Orbital Assault - A Major Step Forward in Space Simulation Technology

[TheLostSwede]

Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) is excited to announce the recent release of Star Citizen Alpha 4.1: Orbital Assault, a significant milestone in the continued evolution of a shared, physicalized Universe of endless possibilities. Packed with immersive new gameplay elements and revolutionary technological advancements, Alpha 4.1 solidifies Star Citizen's position as the most ambitious and immersive space simulation in gaming today.

Fight from Planet to the Stars in Alpha 4.1: Orbital Assault

• Laser Quest: A brand-new multi-stage sandbox event will challenge players like never before. Seamlessly battle new fauna in the sands of Daymar before carving a path to an orbital platform for an epic combined-arms showdown.
• A Curious Collector: An enigmatic new NPC has arrived in the Stanton system, in search of rare minerals and discoverable, rumor has it he offers the highest tier loot and rewards to those with the goods.
• Crossroads of Crime: A brand-new Arena Commander 'Crossroads of Crime' map featuring three major bases and interconnected playscapes. Supporting game modes such as Free Flight, Elimination, Team Elimination, Gun Rush, Single Weapon Elimination, and Tank Royale, this map adds fresh competitive depth to Arena Commander.
• Quality of Life Enhancements: Improved kiosk interactions, enhanced item recovery mechanics, and significant backend optimizations ensure smoother gameplay.

Immersion through Technology: Pushing the Boundaries of Character Customization
One of the defining milestones within Star Citizen Alpha 4.1: Orbital Assault is the completion of the major content expansion of the Character Creator's gene pool through photogrammetric data, which now incorporates 60 newly scanned heads. This initiative, spanning a year and a half, has resulted in a fully inclusive set of options for players to use to represent themselves in the Star Citizen universe. This fully integrated Character Creator allows for player control over avatar design, using cutting-edge technology to achieve lifelike genetic inheritance, enhanced facial animation fidelity, and deeper personalization options.

Sean Tracy: A Driving Force Behind Star Citizen's Core Technology and Tools
One of the key architects behind Star Citizen's ongoing technological advancements is Sean Tracy, Senior Tools and Tech Director at Cloud Imperium Games. Tracy has played a pivotal role in shaping the Core Technology Group (CTG) and ensuring that Star Citizen remains at the forefront of game development innovation.

Tracy's recent technical contributions to Star Citizen's Alpha 4.1 release include:

• Character gene-pool expansion through photogrammetric data, incorporating 60 newly scanned heads, dramatically expanding character creation possibilities.
• Enhancing the Character Creation pipeline, refining facial realism, and improving performance.
• Directing the release of Crossroads of Crime into Arena Commander, a significant content addition that expands competitive multiplayer gameplay.
• Developed and recently updating the first-of-its-kind Face Over Internet Protocol (FOIP) technology, which introduced real-time facial tracking for player avatars, setting a new standard in player immersion.
• Innovating content creation tools and pipelines, streamlining the development process to enable faster iteration and higher-fidelity assets across Star Citizen's expanding universe.

Raising the Bar for the Industry: The Future of Star Citizen
Thanks to these advancements, Star Citizen's player base has surged past 1 million unique players in 2024, logging over 32 million hours of gameplay.

With Squadron 42 in development and continuous enhancements to Star Citizen's Persistent Universe, Tracy remains a key architect of the game's future, ensuring Cloud Imperium Games continues to lead the industry in game technology and immersive experiences.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[cinemaware]

"Physicalized Universe" (huh?)..."genetic inheritance"...."photogrammetric data".... wow, the mumbo jumbo is strong with this one.

tl;dr: we scanned some heads in.

 

[Assimilator]

The grift continues.

 

[Onasi]

Juuuust several more Jesus-techs to go and this thing will totally release. Totally. I swear, guys. It’s only has been, oh, 13 years now.

 

[L'Eliminateur]

Scam Shitizens is still a thing?, why don't they let it die for once as the biggest scam in the history of gaming and be done with it

 

[the54thvoid]

It's like thirty-plus years ago, when I used to do paper and dice roleplay games. I was a gamesmaster (posh title for guy who bought the rulebook), but I had more fun designing the 'adventure' and drawing maps and shit.

That is Chris Roberts right there. Perpetually stuck in 'design' mode with no observable will to move on. I think he might actually have died at his PC, and he came back as some sort of tortured ghoul, forever destined to create his perfect, unachievable game. I spent $75 on it way back, and after a few years, I ran about a hangar and thought, this is some real bullshit. I know folk like what he's done so far, but come on. Make a playable, full release game. Then poor old Chris can fade to the pixelated halls of game Valhalla.

 

[TheLostSwede]

The grift continues.

The comment I was waiting for.
It's amazing that they have alpha versions, I don't know of any other game that has ever had public alpha versions, even less so for this many years.

Scam Shitizens is still a thing?, why don't they let it die for once as the biggest scam in the history of gaming and be done with it

I'm so glad I didn't get onboard when they had it up on Kickstarter, I was really close, but decided it wasn't for me.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

Scam Shitizens is still a thing?, why don't they let it die for once as the biggest scam in the history of gaming and be done with it

Because, despite the fact that it's getting old enough to be able to get a driving permit in the US, it's still making money off of people. I was waiting for the...let's rip the band-aid, Duke Nukem...reference.

The sunk cost fallacy is strong. People dropped $100 a decade ago, then another $50...then another $50. Now they're getting the advertisements for the super premium $20k packs...and that little stupid part of their brain that thinks the best of things tells them that to finish the game they need just a little more money. I mean, there are absolutely no genes in a wireframe mesh, and textures having different colors for different levels of melanin and the like aren't genetic...but they can still try and sell you that crap.


@TheLostSwede
Also...Warframe celebrates its 11th year this month...or last. It's a game that is perpetually nearly alpha levels of jank. It...competes well with the trashiest things I've seen from CIG...but it also has good playable parts.

 

[Jeager]

Scam Shitizens is still a thing?, why don't they let it die for once as the biggest scam in the history of gaming and be done with it

Why would they ? They are still a shitloads of scrubs to milk

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

There might actually be disappointment if it ever gets released, because I think they found a paying audience that doesn’t like closure.

 

[R-T-B]

It's amazing that they have alpha versions, I don't know of any other game that has ever had public alpha versions, even less so for this many years.

7DTD did, but then they went straight from alpha to release, so clearly weren't using the term in industry standard styling.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Like I wrote on Techspot:

You gotta hand it to him, he found his mark - millions of "gamurz" willing to throw their wallet at a project founded on hopes and wishes. He gets to live in his mega mansion, drive a lambo, and never have to work a day in his life while those with sunk cost fallacy fight tooth and nail to defend $20000 digital starship NFTs.

In two years we'll be looking at the first BILLION dollar game in history. Adjusted for inflation, that's more then two entire HALO trilogies, and taken longer to boot. It's more expensive then 5 "Marvel's Spider Man" titles. That's almost 4x the cost of both development and marketing of GTA V. Everspace 2 cost $15 million to make, and many compare it to star citizen's ship combat and gameplay. We've had entire console generations during this games' dev time. And was it worth it?

Because, despite the fact that it's getting old enough to be able to get a driving permit in the US, it's still making money off of people. I was waiting for the...let's rip the band-aid, Duke Nukem...reference.

The sunk cost fallacy is strong. People dropped $100 a decade ago, then another $50...then another $50. Now they're getting the advertisements for the super premium $20k packs...and that little stupid part of their brain that thinks the best of things tells them that to finish the game they need just a little more money. I mean, there are absolutely no genes in a wireframe mesh, and textures having different colors for different levels of melanin and the like aren't genetic...but they can still try and sell you that crap.

The biggest difference is Apogee went bankrupt trying to fund George Broussard's vision. Robert figured out how to dupe hundreds of thousands of people into funding his retirement early.

There might actually be disappointment if it ever gets released, because I think they found a paying audience that doesn’t like closure.

I'm amazed that SQ42 is now almost a decade late. how hard can it POSSIBLY be to make a single player campaign?

 

[Vayra86]

It's like thirty-plus years ago, when I used to do paper and dice roleplay games. I was a gamesmaster (posh title for guy who bought the rulebook), but I had more fun designing the 'adventure' and drawing maps and shit.

That is Chris Roberts right there. Perpetually stuck in 'design' mode with no observable will to move on. I think he might actually have died at his PC, and he came back as some sort of tortured ghoul, forever destined to create his perfect, unachievable game. I spent $75 on it way back, and after a few years, I ran about a hangar and thought, this is some real bullshit. I know folk like what he's done so far, but come on. Make a playable, full release game. Then poor old Chris can fade to the pixelated halls of game Valhalla.

So much this. Im that guy too. Just let me imagine things, the rest, oh well.

You might even be right, Chris might prolong this to and beyond his grave...

 

[capdauntless]

I had some fun playing around in this but was quite surprised when I went to uninstall it that it had no uninstaller at the time. Just about to build my new system so maybe I'll jump in and check it out again.

 

[Athlonite]

If the goal posts weren't being continually moved further and further away from the finish line this game would have been out 6~7 years ago and they could have just done a bunch of updates and DLC's.

But no lets just milk 800 million out of gullible people over 13 years and never actually intend on putting out a finished game ever or until we're taken to court and sued for fraud

 

[L'Eliminateur]

I'm so glad I didn't get onboard when they had it up on Kickstarter, I was really close, but decided it wasn't for me.

You dodged a Bernie Madoff-sized bullet there.

Roberts somehow has even managed to outdo the perpetual liar and snake oil salesman supreme Todd Howard, at least howard releases ""full"" games....

Imagine if all the people that threw a LOT of money at scam shitizen instead had instead bought BTC at that time...., they'd be driving a ferrari by now

 

[Prima.Vera]

15 years in development, 8 years in Alpha mode....
The saga continues.

 

[netrunnervt]

Relative to older versions of the game, 4.1 actually works well enough sometimes.
Yeah the game's technical state is bad, but there is a game. You can play it, and it sometimes even works.
Do I recommend people part ways with $45 right now? Absolutely not, not for most people and absolutely not for features that aren't in the game yet.
That being said... Behind the jank there's a really nice game here, and even if I only take into account the playtime where everything worked and I got to enjoy it, I still got a pretty good price/hrs of fun ratio.