Star Citizen Monthly Report: May 2019

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In May 2019, the teams working on Star Citizen made significant progress across multiple areas of development. From new landing zones and weapons to improved AI and gameplay systems, the month saw advancements that will shape the future of the Persistent Universe.

Environment Art Pushes Forward on New Locations

The Landing Zone team continued work on Orison, the cloud city landing zone on Crusader. The basic layout is now running in-game, with the team refining on-foot areas in collaboration with the Design department. Progress was also made on the "hi-tech" hangars, including garages, security, transit, and habitation areas ready for implementation.

Pre-production began on New Babbage, the landing zone for the icy planet microTech. This location aims to offer a unique experience centered around corporate espionage, hacking, and high-tech industry.

The Modular Team advanced work on new space station exteriors, entering the "final art" phase. Defining the various libraries, rule sets, and filters for procedural generation has been challenging but is producing promising results. Development of procedural cave systems is also progressing well.

Ships and Weapons Receive Attention

The Ship team focused on wrapping up the final art phase for the massive Origin 890 Jump luxury vessel. Areas completed include the landing gear, hangar doors, master suite, engineering deck corridors, and crew areas. Work continues on lighting states, exterior materials, turrets, main rear thrusters, and large integrated components.

Refinements were made to the Aegis Vanguard Warden and Hoplite exteriors to bring them closer to their original concept designs. Interior work on these ships will follow soon.

The Weapons Art team finished modeling and texturing several new firearms slated for Alpha 3.7, including the Behring S38 pistol, Klaus & Werner Lumin V SMG, and Apocalypse Arms Animus missile launcher. Production also began on the Hedeby Gunworks Salvo frag pistol and Behring GP33 'MOD' grenade launcher.

AI Improvements Enhance NPC Behaviors

The AI team exposed new Subsumption nodes to support missions involving NPC-player interactions. This allows tying AI character positions to others, enabling NPCs to join various flying formations. The team also continued developing different pilot skills, changing how they affect dogfighting by influencing maneuver choices and parameters.

Work began on improving AI pilots' spatial perception, aiming to create a system that adapts to different contexts like open space, asteroid fields, and planetary environments. The team also started adding areas where players and NPCs can interact with usables without needing exact positioning.

Optimization efforts continued across the board, including refining FPS combat tactics, shooting from cover, fighting in open areas, and improving AI reactions. The Posture Manager system used for combat visibility and shooting direction also saw enhancements.

Audio Brings New Depth to the Game World

The Audio team pushed forward on improvements to ship weapons, vibration, and thruster components. New systems will allow internal ship ambiance to be directly affected by the flight model, creating subtle audio changes as ships maneuver.

Foley audio received attention to provide more nuanced feedback for character movement and combat animations. Front-end UI sounds were replaced with more subtle and polished assets. The team also began work on realistic wind and weather audio to complement the new VFX particle systems.

Backend Services Prepare for Server-Side OCS

The Backend Services team spent May adjusting various services in the new diffusion network and completing tasks for the persistent item cache. Work progressed on server-side object container streaming (OCS), with several bugs discovered and addressed during testing. These efforts pave the way for more extensive testing of the new diffusion network.

Design Refines Gameplay Systems

The Design team held a motion capture session to gather animations for the bartender archetype, which will form the basis for various NPC behaviors. Work continued on environmental missions and updates to NPC combat assist service beacons.

As Orison advances through the whitebox stage, the team is blocking out tier-zero shops. They are moving towards using shop templates rather than hand-crafting layouts for each landing zone, which will allow for greater variety in franchises and brands as more locations are added.

The Economy team prepared the new Ship Customizer for release with the Origin 300 series. They also began developing a better methodology for valuing ships based on performance rather than scaling prices exponentially.

Engineering Enhances Core Technologies

The Engine team provided support for procedural tools, improving automated object layouts and ground layer generation. Rendering saw major quality improvements to Screen Space Directional Occlusion shadowing and enhanced temporal dithering for various effects.

Work continued on entity component updates, server-side OCS implementation, and establishing a debug GUI framework. Physics tasks included geometry instancing to reduce memory requirements and improvements to asteroid physicalization.

Looking Ahead

As development progresses towards Alpha 3.6 and beyond, the Star Citizen teams are laying important groundwork for future features and content. From new locations like Orison and New Babbage to foundational tech like server-side OCS, May's efforts will help shape the evolving Persistent Universe. With continued refinements to AI, audio, gameplay systems and more, the ambitious vision for Star Citizen inches closer to reality.

A Stellar Misadventure

Captain Jax Starwind leaned back in his pilot's seat, eyeing the swirling gases of Crusader through the cockpit of his trusty Cutlass Black. He'd heard whispers of a new cloud city called Orison being built somewhere in that gaseous expanse. As he pondered the potential for new adventures, his comm system crackled to life.

"Attention unidentified vessel," a stern voice announced. "This is Port Olisar security. Your ship has been flagged for inspection. Prepare to be boarded."

Jax groaned. He'd been hoping to avoid any unwanted attention from the authorities. As he contemplated his options, his eye caught the blinking light of an incoming transmission. Curious, he opened the message:

"Need a hand, pilot? For some extra fun in the face of bugs, consider joining the Star Citizen Referral Code Club. We're always looking for new recruits to share in the chaos!"

Jax chuckled. He'd heard of the 30K.fun group before – a band of misfits who embraced the unpredictable nature of life in the 'verse. As security ships closed in, he made a split-second decision.

"Sorry, officers," he called out over the comms. "I've got a pressing engagement with some new friends. Catch you on the flip side!"

With that, Jax punched the throttle and his Cutlass rocketed away from Port Olisar. As alarms blared and security vessels gave chase, he couldn't help but grin. He had a feeling his adventures were about to get a lot more interesting.

"Now," he mused, plotting a course for parts unknown, "I wonder what code to use when I meet up with these 30K folks..."

As Jax's ship vanished into quantum travel, leaving frustrated security forces in his wake, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd just stumbled into something bigger than himself. Little did he know, his impromptu escape was about to lead him straight into the chaotic heart of the Star Citizen Referral Code Club.

The stars of Stanton twinkled, as if laughing at the absurdity of it all. Whatever came next, Jax was sure it would be one hell of a ride.

Another Star Citizen Fan Fiction from 30KFUN Accessible Gaming Community!