Calling All Devs

• Weapon System 2.0 is helping the dev team move forward with things. The system streamlines and assists in setting up future development by moving things from xml files to DataForge. This helps avoid bespoke setups on weapons. The new setup will also make it far easier for Developers to make new and exotic damage types or variations of weapon fire modes and other things. FPS weapon recoil will also be moved over to DataForge as part of the system, which will allow weapons to be made to feel more ‘punchy’. With the new system attachments will eventually come into play allowing you to customise a weapon more to your preference. Ship weapon performance can also be tied into other systems such as: heat, power etc. This can then have an effect on the overall weapon performance. There is no definitive date for when this will be completed but progress is being made.

• In-game lore will be accessible within mobiGlas and hopefully in the future the ARK museum could be featured as an actual location that the player can go to and learn about the lore of Star Citizen, though this is only a ‘would be nice to have’ at the moment and may not come to fruition.

• Currently the player is able to use Quantum Travel through asteroid fields, this is due at the moment, to the way the tech works with optimisations. Eventually the way this is done will be changed and environmental hazards will come into play when navigating.

AtV

• Progress on legacy armour sets along with some new mission giver and shopkeeper animations are wrapping up

• Shopping kiosks continue to be tweaked

• Audio continues testing sound design for mining to eventually “strike gold” along with the efforts of VFX

• VFX is now able to use high particle counts for ideal visual clarity while working on Xi'An ship R&D **Ship Teams are working on several ships to be flyable in 3.2 as well as the EMP of the Warlock and a final art pass of the Phoenix including its fish tank and hot tub

• The Props Team continues to create a sense of realism in hangars and blue collar settings with their new additions

• Lighting and set dressing is still being tweaked in hangars and space stations

• Environment Art is implementing CR's notes on Rest Stop and station changes making them feel lived in and abuzz with activity

• Environment Art is also testing visuals and procedural generations for the new biomes found on Hurston and its moons including forests

• A placement tool and a footprint validates tool has been implemented to aid designers in populating environs

• Foundational core tech continues to be enhanced to allow for more complex biomes and mining entities among other improvements

• Service beacons are player generated missions

• Service beacons enhance and supplement the game content while inserting unpredictability for unique gameplay

• Service beacons will foster relationships of all flavours through player interaction

• The service beacon system is in a very basic form currently

• Service beacons are accessed through one's mission manager via your mobiGlas

• Contract parameters are fairly straight forward with combat assistance being paid by the minute or a personal transport by a lump sum

• Making the UI on the beacon screen self-apparent was the goal with type of beacon dictating the following needed parameters which can include price, reputation and location

• Drop downs were organized in such a way that no tutorial was needed and to feel intuitive while allowing for quick future development adaptability and changes

• Reputation is separated into provider and executor as well as the type of beacon/mission and rated on a five star system

• Once a beacon is broadcast it will show up on the mission system screen like any other mission simplifying interaction

• Notification is rudimentary at this time, but plans include push notifications that require an accept/decline action, mission timers, different notifications presented differently, and interaction with other HUD elements like an objective list

• Care is being taken in the formation of these service beacon formats to eliminate the exploitation and trolling seen in other MMOs

• Service beacons are being built along with a new class of features into the backend to allow gameplay and gameflow across multiple server nodes, across a mesh of servers

• Service beacon evolution will become diegetic to not break immersion, hot keys will aid in quick dispatch and response, as well as allowing players to limit interactions to only friends and members of organizations desired

• Future reputation will provide performance tracking such as hit ratio and kill percentage or elapsed time and average speed as well as other factors

• Future expansion to the system will enable multiple providers with each being an independent contractor towards the service beacon's common goal

• NPCs will interface with the service beacon calculating whether its offer is profitable and thus provide competition for jobs with players in the future

• Escort service beacons will be the next in the queue and will include quantum linking to enable group travel

• Other interesting service beacons include assassination with multiple providers competing for the payday, mining or salvaging beacons centered on location, and a bit later refuel and repair as well as others