We are the Star Citizen FPS Team, Ask us anything!

Will you be able to damage a ships systems from the inside intentionally or non-intentionally?

Absolutely!

Follow-Up: Would you be able to elaborate on how you see the details of that working?

Thanks for answering my question!

There are various systems in a ship, gravity, power, oxygen, various hazards, your engine, shields, etc. - when you start playing with power in the ship, for example, you can accidentally overload a system and have to run and fix it! or you could... 'accidentally' throw a grenade into an unprotected gravity generator :P

Exactly how many bears are we expected to see in the fps module? Also, when the space whale is finally implemented how quickly can we expect players to be digested?

Didn't you hear? There is a space bear at every security check point, at least one.... and it'll definitely maul your face off if you look at him in the eyes.

the space whale will be implemented at the end of days.

For ship boarding, what have you all come up with for actually entering other ships e.g. cutting through the hull, forcing hatches, shooting out the windows, etc.?

you can cut through the hull, sneak on board through many mischievous techniques, blasting hatches, etc. entry points are very carefully chosen, however. essentially they're 'vulnerable' points of a ship/station. Windows are generally extremely fortified.

What games are you drawing mechanical inspiration from?

A mixture of Counter-Strike, Rainbow Six, Arma, Delta Force, Kill Zone

Have you looked at DUST 514 and the Project Legion from CCP Games? Specifically the ideals they are going for, not what they currently have

No, but i am a huge fan of Planet Side 2 which has some similar concepts. I love large scale cause&effect gameplay!

Does anyone on the team have any experience whatsoever on games like Counter-Strike, Rainbow Six, Arma, Delta Force, Kill Zone?

yes we have a very experienced fps team here!

How do you mix those games, for example, some are "1 shot kill" with wounds. Others are "health bar." Some have tactics with distinct roles, others are homogenized where anyone can do anything...

I dunno, it sounds like you listed the 5 most successful tactical shooters while deliberately staying away from action shooters.

Which "rainbow 6," for example? The original was more about planning and tactics where the console-itis versions are about run and gun...

Its more about some core fundamentals and the overall theory of how they're played, not necessarily how your gun points at the screen and how fast you move. We reference that more as a, some elements here, some elements there... mix them together.... ???? .... profit!

When can we expect to see an alpha version of the FPS module released?

early next year!

Can you provide an example of the kind of gameplay experience you're looking for? Maybe a description of what an encounter between two players might be like in terms of lethality, weapons used, moves used, length of play, etc?

there are so many. lets just pull one randomly from the sky.

A Persistent Universe experience. I'm a stealthy, solo player. I find a wrecked ship, i know scavengers will be around soon. I find a crate and put myself in it. I let the scavengers take the crate and put me in their ship. When i'm on their ship, some time later, i get out of the crate. Very quietly, i rummage around and find some goodies i like. I steal those... now i can either - A) Jump out the airlock and call a ride or B) go to their engine room and self destruct their ship or C) quietly hunt and execute the entire staff and take their ship.... or Z) they could have scanned the crate properly before loading it, blasted it with their ship and me with it....

Are you aware that fixed FoV, headbob and motion blur can in combination or individually cause significant motion sickness in a large portion of the gaming population? If so, are you taking steps to make these settings user configurable?

The locked visual scope combined with the animations in the hangar are causing a lot of people who don't normally get motion sick to get motion sick in the hangar module, I would hate for that to affect the FPS as well.

This is an interesting area we are still exploring, the big thing is how the game is animation driven, the camera is where your eyes physically are. The hud is on the helmet, not on your face. there is no different 'first person arms' like in other fps games. because of this, we have to dial things to very specific settings but are observing it carefully and figuring out what we can expose.

Will people be able to bunny hop to avoid fire? Or will jumping be limited to prevent this?

People bunny hopping and constantly jumping all around has ruined a number of shooter games for me.

NO BUNNY HOPPING.

Will the death of a spaceman mechanic be addressed in fps gameplay itself, making the players inherently more cautious? For instance, some games allow characters to heal automatically, while others allow med kits to restore all health. Will there be more realistic approaches? Med kits only restoring to a certain point (80%) or only taking effect temporarily (boosting health for 5 minutes) or minor gunshots tearing holes in space suits so the vacuum of space can kill?

You are absolutely correct on all points, maybe not the tearing holes in space suits part but on other systems yes. the mechanics are built to discourage players from going ballistic and be very cautious while playing.

Is it fair to say then that you could expect to see people playing the FPS more like splinter cell, with lots of quick ambush type firefights?

yep, the stronger armors (TITAN armor and Heavy Armor) may have longer, face to face combat.

If an airlock is breached, will the vacuum in the ship begin pulling unrestrained items out of the airlock, including players?

you better believe it! This introduces many mechanics. If an attacking team doesn't want to deal with them, you can also latch onto a ship and create a tunnel between your ship and the enemies, which will allow for a smooth transition.

First and foremost, thank you for doing this; it's a wonderful thing to be able to directly interact with the people helping to make Star Citizen a reality.

Couple of basic questions, feel free to go into as much detail as you can:

1. What kind of improvements can we expect for player movement, both animation wise and as far as controls/feel? What options will be available to us as far as movement goes (prone, lean, slide to cover, etc.)?

2. How much weapon customization can we expect, both for the initial FPS module release and the final full game release? Something as simple as changing optics and such, or crazy advanced like being able to change any component (stocks, barrels, triggers, etc), or add any components (optics, grips, lights, etc.) to any available rail/mount?

3. What sort of character damage model can we expect? Get shot and there's some sparks/blood depending on armor/health, or get shot and have chunks of armor fly off to reveal clothing/flesh underneath? If someone gets hit with a rocket, do they get thrown back and fall over or are we going to be scraping them off the walls?

4. And for my final, and critically important question, what are the chances of getting a futuristic, but still recognizable, version of the venerable 1911 to add to my collection? :)

Thanks again, and I can't wait to see what you have in store for us at PAX Australia.

movement goes (prone, lean, slide to cover, etc.)?

hey there!

1) Everything is animation driven. What your character looks like he is doing, you are seeing. This brings us interesting challenges but we're ironing them out as i write this! Movement will have walk/run/sprint/crouch/prone/slide(on knees)/sidle/cover/leaning/peeking/climbing/etc. The movement is designed to discourage players going ballistic though, so its not super fast paced like COD games.

2) The initial offering will have a little customization but more will come into play down the road. lots of attachments and ammo types!

3) I don't think the gore detail will go super far, but who knows, maybe one day! for now it will mostly be animation and particle/decal focused.

4) I'm sure there'll be the 'classic' weapons that can be found somewhere in the universe, i don't know about that weapon in particular though!

What is the timeline for the FPS module release? Is it going to be upgraded incrementally?

The FPS module will be released early next year and receive continuous updates.

Will we be able to fight against AI? Can we play only as human or alien races? Will we be able to fight with enemy races?

Ships can have AI crew members if its a multi person ship and the player "hires" AI crew members to fill out the roles of their ship (alternatively your friends could do this).

I would imagine that those crew members would take up arms if your ship got boarded or if you boarded an enemy ship.

Humans only at launch but there are alien species in the game with their own ships, languages, commerce etc. and they are scheduled to become playable but not until X time after launch.

Correct ^{^} :)

My main concern with the FPS module is that realism will trump gameplay. One of the concerning things to me and many other people is that the POV of your character seems to be bound by some arbitrary animation that causes you, when turning, to reset your torso, causing a odd stutter like feeling. I understand that a person would need to to reset ones body when turning however it yanks the player out of the immersion, by attempting to create immersion. My question is how are you balancing issues such as this, where the fun is quite obviously being trumped by a clunky albeit realistic mechanic? I think many people would appreciate a more conventional mechanic to a mechanic that is intrusive.

This is definitely introducing challenges, to us as designers its important to nail down the right mixture to where it feels fluid and non-existent. This will be an ongoing polish but it feels great right now and will only get better over time

Can you give an insight on how the cover system will work? Will cover be destructible?

there will be some destruction but its not a key component as most of the environments are, well, solid metal :) cover has a smooth interpolation system that will allow players do all the various moves they would expect in cover (lean/peek/crouch/move in cover/etc.)

As you said, almost everything in a ship will be solid metal. So will there be a way that bullets (if any are still used 900 years into the future) or lasers (if possible) can bounce of those surfaces when they hit at the right angle?

There may be ricocheting bullets but its not currently a major focus.

How will damage be handled in the FPS mode? Are we looking at personal shields or just body armor?

Generally just body armor but you can get gadgets to give you boosts.

On top of this, what sort of health mechanic do you plan to use? And if the player is wounded, will the experience slower movement and greater weapon sway etc?

Absolutely, your limb damage will have severe impacts on how the mechanics work - and it is limb specific too, not just an overall of 'oh youre kind of hurt'. For example, if your left arm is hurt but you throw grenades with your right, your right throw won't really be impacted.

Will people be able to select their dominant hand? Or will everyone be presumed to be right-handed?

it is planned for players to choose their dominant hand it will have a direct impact resulting from limb damage.

What kind of gadgets will we have to work with?

tons, holograms, claymore like objects, personal healing, drills for doors/vents, shields, grenades, trip wires... the gadgets will really expand and offer a ton of ways to customize your strategy.

My brother is a huge fan of your game and he wanted me to ask the following:

Is the cover system a sticky cover like Killzone 2 and Crysis 2, or a free cover system like Far Cry 3?

Its more of a free cover system like Far Cry 3

I've been so excited about this game since I first saw the kickstarter, and it's only continued to keep my interest. How much will FPS gameplay be part of the finished game? Will it be optional, or something you'll wind up having to do during the game?

Squadron 42 has missions with FPS mechanics. The persistent universe and the fps module are 2 seperate things as well. I'd imagine you wouldn't have to do too much of it in the PU if you didn't want to.

Except when you're trying to board and take over a ship, right?

You could always hire other players and sit back in your ship drinking tea while they do the dirty work :)

Nice! I'm really looking forward to this part of Star Citizen. What kinds of unique weaponry will there be? Also, will there be an option to play in Third person as well?

Tons of weapons, ballistics, energy based, air based, radiation based, you name it! there won't be any third person though, the fps mechanics are very intense and tactical, third person gameplay allows players to look around corners and stuff without the danger of revealing themselves.

Are you developing a special "netcode" for FPS, and how will this relate with the prediction-heavy code used in space combat?

yes the fps netcode is very different than the space combat. Prediction is a lot lower to ensure there is very little rubber banding.

How do you feel about being [REDACTED]? Are you looking forward to finally being revealed?

We're kind of getting used to it!!!

Hey there! Welcome! While mindlessly blasting away enemies can be fun, team-based and objective-based gameplay (think BF2142 titan mode) has always been much more rewarding to me in the long run. What plans (if any) do you currently have to support these aspects?

The FPS Module has tons of predefined game modes and levels that are designed around perfecting your skill on a mechanic in the game. There will be lots of scenarios that explore cooperative/team based mechanics. Of course, in the PU there will be almost endless possibilities. it is best to train yourself up in as many different situations as possible!

Hi [REDACTED]. What kind of modularity will weapons (Pistols, Rifles, ect) have? Can we customize them inside and out, or just externally? Extreme customization details like stacking different types of the same caliber rounds in a magazine, or adding a longer/heavier barrel?

There will be attachments for weapons and different ammo types, the amount of customization will vary based on the weapon.

[deleted]

There'll be tons of gadgets, grenades and weapons for your boarding adventures. the anxiety of not knowing what an attacking force might have when they blast a hole in will be intense!

Ships have shields, but will there be man portable shields? (Wearable, or as portable, deployable cover.)

There absolutely will be portable shields!

How will the transition from flying to FPS work?
I'm asking because ideally you want to fly with hotas and switch to KB/mouse for the FPS.
Also, will the FOV be adjustable?
Some of us play close to a huge screen and a small/wrong FOV will make you sick.

Generally if you are playing with a peripheral for flying you would just reach over to your mouse and keyboard when it comes time for FPS but you can certainly play fps with other peripherals, it just may not be the best input method available. The FOV is something dialed in for now but we'll explore options with it down the road. there are just many variables that come in to play with how the camera is set and how the hud is displayed that makes this tricky.

Hello team! Very excited about the fps side of SC. The space boarding, station assaults, how does the physics of chemical weapons type function in space, since the lack of air?

(we'll be needing to put the weapon inside an air filled space suit just like in Firefly?)

there are some changes based on your atmosphere but its limited! We don't want to make it overbearing, but things like oxygen, radiation, temperature and gravity impact a lot of systems.

In the recent 'Sneak Peek' showed a shop containing old earth weapons. Will they be in-game or just placeholders? https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B0ucIIkCUAA9HO5.png

There'll certainly be the 'classics' but they'll be rare and generally - not very effective unless you're not wearing armor.

Will the cybernetic limb replacements from previous injuries affect ability during combat (whether adverse or favourable)?

There certainly will be some gains to having a cybernetic limb for certain elements. This puts you at risk in other areas too, especially from EMP type damage or radiation/laser weaponry.

[deleted]

We me the SC initially to possibly do some space ships, but the relationship quickly turned into a shared desire to do something really amazing with FPS. We worked closely with Chris to make sure it was what he envisioned and really created a radical new approach to fps.

Is REDACTED a misspelling of Illfonic?

i can't really rearrange those letters to justify it as a typo ;)

Aside from all the criticism you will be seeing upon release, how anxious are you about getting this into the hands of us players?

There are radically new FPS mechanics in the FPS Module, because of that, we'll need to be vigilante with balancing and making sure players aren't exploiting certain features. Rest assured, we're going to stay on top of it like crazy!

Will limb severing be possible? What level of realism in terms of gore should we expect?

I dont know about limb severing as that enters gore territory but your limbs will certainly be 'ruined' and therefore useless and need to be replaced with a fake limb.

Will weapon recoil affect player momentum in ZeroG scenarios?

Generally no, some weapons will though. The amount of recoil from most weapons won't have an impact intense enough to really change the way you're moving.

If I'm fighting on a ship and a bullet pierces the hull or an explosion goes of causing a hull breach, can everyone be sucked into space? Also if that happens, will there be an emergency lock-down that shuts doors to the breached section so the whole ship does not depressurize?

yes everyone will be sucked out unless you turn on your boots to suction to a surface in time! Most rooms that are near a hull will have 2 airlock doors that automatically shut in case of decompression.

Thanks for doing this AMA!

Can you tell us more about player's "health"? Is it going to be like in older FPS titles where you have a set amount of hit points (take 100 damage and you die)?
Is it going to be specific to body parts, like in Fallout for example?
Or is it going to be like in Arma/DayZ, where you don't take damage but "bleed out", so even if you're shot down and unconscious, someone can come to you and fix you up?

Basically, how difficult is it going to be to die? Does it happen with one sniper shot, with one shotgun blast, one stray bullet, or will dying be a lengthy process during which other players can drag you to safety, fix you up (or at least stabilize you) even after you're knocked out?

It's a mixture of all 3, your limbs all equal a total health but those limb states will have an impact on how quickly your overall health dwindles and bleeding out is a state that can happen if any limb is 'ruined', which can make you die rather quickly.

How has Star Citizen compared to other current or past project REDACTED has worked on? Are there are specific difficulties or challenges that you face on SC that you have not faced on other projects before?

The animation driven system is the most challenging aspect of the development. It means the first/third person are the same and what your character does is what you see. we've implemented many mechanics to counter-balance certain things and will continue to polish and smooth out kinks as a result of this system.

Will the bullets of the weapons go through the ship walls and affect the gravity of the ship in outer space?

Certain walls (that can be breached) have integrity levels that can be destroyed in various way - through weapon fire and other devices. if you breach the hull of a room, it decompresses and everything thats not bolted down will come flying out!

How many different gun types are y'all going to have? There's generally a breakdown of pistols, rifles, shotguns and machine guns; how will that translate to SC?

We'll have your standard weapons like pistols, shotguns, smgs, assault rifles, sniper rifles - as well as more exotic weapons, that dive into various other types of ammunition and powers.

1.) What kinds of FPS missions/events/etc will there be besides on board player ships?

2.) Will there be social hubs on stations or planets within the FPS module?

1) There will be lots of styles of gameplays and levels, like tdm style, seek and destroy, capture and hold, etc. they will vary depending on the style of the level. Scenarios is a special type of game mode, that allows players to really define what they want to do. 2) The FPS Module is like Arena Commander, its very specific maps/modes only, the FPS mechanics in the Persistent Universe is a lot different, which allows full freedom of players, exploration of social hubs/etc.

Is it more run and gun or tactical cover?

Is it one/two shot (CS) kill or many shots (halo)

what kind of "down time" is a player who gets shot looking at. Do we just sit there while our teammates either save us or leave us for dead?

Can a wounded player still fight ie: Get shot in the leg unable to walk but still shoot and provide cover?

What kind of scale is the armour going up to are we talking taking a couple extra shots, master chief-esque or full on gundam suit?

tactical, more like 1/2 shots, the down time varies on what you're doing. if you're bleeding out you'll die fast. if you're in the PU the penalty is steep. but if you're playing within the fps module only you just wait untill the next round.

if a limb is ruined you cant fight, this is assuming the pain is so unbearable you're pretty much dead unless someone stops the bleeding. if the limb is ruined you can't get it healed until after the fight has ended. If the limb is just hurt a lot, you may be limping and fighting can be really difficult, but you can still fight.

armor scales from no armor/light armor/medium armor/heavy armor/titan armor. titan is like a mini-mech. Each has their own pluses and minuses. Heavy Armor would be more like a master chief armor, yes, with serious multipliers against head shots though. Heavy armor is clunky, loud, slow and limits your mobility though. Titan armor is even more restrictive (and expensive) but demands presence on the battlefield.

Will we see a parkour system for climbing over obstacles smoothly?

Its very limited, we don't want players to be these amazing gymanstic performers, it goes against the immersive feel of the world!

Can we expect more tactical gameplay (Rainbow Six, etc) or more like run and gun (call of duty)?

Absolutely, the core of the FPS mechanics is very tactical

Hi FPS team, I am trying to figure out what kind of aesthetic design you guys have written.

Care to elaborate your aesthetics goals for the FPS part of the game ?

making a world that feels like every inch has a purpose, has been used/can be used is really important to us. the inch by inch detail is critical and we maintain constant focus on that. The overall style is always to achieve the fiction behind what you are experiencing. If its worn down, clean, military or other it will radically alter the aesthetics of the environment.

What has been the best thing about working on Star Citizen?

The reaction from the fans and watching our team push itself to never before seen levels!

What would you say is your biggest challenge in making an FPS for a new property like Star Citizen?

it has to be different, not for the sake of being different, but because the vision of Star Citizen is to introduce players to an immersive world that challenges everything they've known about playing in a game world.

Will the FPS camera be fixed? It's really awkward in the Hangar Module and I don't want to hear that it's like that by design.

IIRC, the current first person mechanics are placeholder until the FPS stuff gets integrated and replaces it.

yeah the current camera is different then what we're doing and they'll merge eventually.

Hi, and welcome to Reddit! I would like to ask if you guys are planning on changing how the player movement feels. A lot of games have different takes on this, such as how most Source engine games feel instant, quick, and more responding, but other games like Arma 2/3 are sluggish, slow, but realistic. In order to make the FPS portion more playable and enjoyable, are you willing to change the movement that the player has, or keep it the same as how we walk around in our hangar?

The current movement is a lot different than the hangar. the challenge is finding the balance, we feel that moving smoothly and having control is the most important but it should still feel immersive and "realistic". We'll constantly be ironing this out to ensure its a smooth experience.

What kind of difficulties are you having in adapting a spaceflight-sim engine to produce solid FPS gameplay and control?

Its not a space fight sim engine. It's CRYEngine (which is FPS) that's being adapted for spaceflight

True, however, almost all mechanics the cryengine had for FPS we had to rewrite to achieve what we're trying to do. Its very challenging!

With this big social media push you guys are doing today, it seems like you guys are really excited to finally show off. Does the team feel like it's ready to present next weekend, or are they in crunch mode?

We're ready and we're in crunch mode! It's always like that before presentations, we want things to be awesome-r and awesome-r. Of course, theres a cut off point, but we're super excited to really show off what we've been doing!

How long the FPS development is initially planned? How many people is working on the module now and in the future?

The FPS is being developed primarily here at [redacted], however other aspects are being developed at other studios too. Our team here is around 30. We'll be working on this for a long time and continue to update and add features!

Wow this is great! Thanks for doing this!

I'm wondering about the overall workflow for all the different components of Star Citizen. So, you guys are doing lots of character creation and animation for the FPS module.

Will your animations and characters now pushed back out in to the rest of the game (Hangar, SQ42, ..everything?)

And if so, are you doing character animations or modeling for other parts of SC not directly "FPS" related, such as entering ships?

What about the character creation component for the PU?

Thanks and keep up the good work!

Its all one big package and not one studio is working on one thing exclusively. We don't do character models here, for example, but we do a lot of animation work (but still not all of it). its a giant effort across all of our studios. All the mechanics we're doing will be used with everything else in the game! But primarily, we are focused on FPS mechanics and balance.

we're not handling the character creation stuff.