Hello there fellow Citizens! Check here for our coverage of the 50th(!) episode of Around the ‘Verse!

Around the ‘Verse

Sneak Peek

Kruger Intergalactic P-52 Merlin HUD

Which Glitch





More Images/GIFs

Transcript by Erris

Empire Report

– Outlaw in Court – will she try to trade names for leniency?

– Happiest systems – Where does your home system rank?

– Murray Cup racing

1:10

Sandi and Ben

– Welcome to Episode 50, and welcome back Sandi!

– Sandi won’t be back in Europe till Gamescom.

– Three weeks left in the shooting for SQ42, and it’s looking amazing.

– Sandi had a great time acting alongside actors like ‘mmmrrmr’ (Ben)

– She has lots of stories she can’t share right now.

– She also visited the Manchester offices while she was there.

– All AC ready ships are unlocked for this week’s free-fly week.

– Last week there was a Vanduul Scythe Q&A – they’ll take more questions in the comments if there are more questions about the Scythe.

News from the Spectrum

3:25 – Santa Monica – Travis Day and Darian Vorlick

– Producers from the UK and Austin are meeting in Santa Monica, working on streamlining a lot of planning stuff. Getting responsibilities planned out, figuring out how they’ll proceed for the rest of the year.

– They’re also moving to a more unified production process with JIRA and such. It’ll result in higher output.

– Resident graphics programmer has been working on character shading tech. THey’ve revised the character pipeline, allowed them to do some very cool things, but there’ll be a more formal update on this later with pictures and video etc…

– Forrest and Omar will be going to Austin and the UK to outline the new pipeline.

5:20 – Illfonic – David Langeliers

– Worked on Grenades – EMP grenades can now disable all other gadgets, such as personal shields and holograms.

– Can now cook grenades as well.

– Continuing work on the jukes system. All the starts and stops are in, so when you’re running and stopping, it plays a weighted animation. Work now is going on jukes, which is when you’re shifting direction.

– All those juke animations are going in today, hopefully in by the end of the day, and that should be all the pieces they need for that system, and from then on just polishing and tweaking it.

7:00 – Austin – Jake Ross

– Working on wrapping up the shader and texture phase of the Nyx/Delemar/Levsky zone. Behaviour are doing a fantastic job, as usual.

– Implementing bartender, bar patron, wall lean, etc… animations for background NPC’s, people working together to get those in, have the NPC’s start to come to life.

– Designers are talking with Tony back and forth about more occupations for the PU i.e. Mercenary, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Piracy, Passenger Transport, Escort, etc…

– We’ll have features on those throughout the rest of the year and next, so look forward to design docs on those eventually.

8:50 – UK – Paul Jones

– Ships.

– Idris is looking awesome, working on the exterior; panel lines, doodads, widgets. Working on getting interiors textured, lit, etc… It will look amazing and is a good test case.

– Retaliator is being made flight – ready

– Mining Bot – One of the original vehicles, it’s gone into production, it’s getting more concept art done to solidify its heavy-duty feel

– Xi’An cargo ship – beautiful vertical ship. First pass on mesh work, getting more concept art, should be a sweet ship.

– Bengal bridge – Taking Ryan Church’s work, asked Chris what he wants, and added more on top. That’s been built, now they’re moving onto the upper, main, and lower hangars.

– Weapons.

– Behring shotgun is in production.

11:00 – Fan Video – Cutlass Golfing.

11:30

Ship Shape

– Ship layout design – how they match up the interior and exterior of ships. For today, how they did it for the Genesis.

– Start with a design brief that takes into account the functionality of the ship, special needs it might have, as well as overall esthetic it should have.

– First art is usually of the exterior. Give it to design artists, they’ll decide all of the things it’ll need. They’ll come up with images of the exterior.

– For some ships such as larger ships, there’ll be a high-level ‘layout’ for design approval that suggests where each room will fall in the ship.

– Went into more detail than usual for the Genesis, to account for everything it’ll need.

– Made the cockpit bigger – crew will live there.

– Increased cargo storage area – passengers need enough room for luggage for passengers, but also for supplies needed for the ship.

– They do an X-ray image, laying out a rough design of the interior over a rough design of the exterior, just to confirm that things line up and look modular. Ensures that segments, as the various versions are designed, will be able to be easily picked up, replaced, etc…

15:05

Which Glitch

– With Tyler Witkin, Melissa Estrada, Andrew Hesse, Jeffrey Bearded Pease

– Glitch #5 – Treadmill. With gravity boots on, one of the terraformers would spin while the character stood still.

– Glitch 4 – Space Tornado – The character ejected just as it self destructed, and got thrown all over the place.

– Glitch 3 – Crab Crawl – They got a bit more advanced from the Roomba bug from last week. Now it has legs. Ish.

– Glitch 2 – Helicopter – character has the SATAball – (also shows some UI in FPS, which is cool) and is… windmilling its arms constantly.

– Glitch 1 – You’ve got a friend. A hologram was set off while still being attached to players utility belt, so it looks like the player is carrying around another player.

– Probably some FPS and Social mod bugs next time!

19:06

Ben and Sandi

– Ben’s favourite glitch was #4.

19:20

James Pugh with Randy Vasquez

JP – Hey guys I’m here with Randy Vasquez, hey Randy, how you doing?

RV – I’m doing good man.

JP – Good, thanks for coming on. Alright we’re going to do something differently this time guys, we’re going to give you a sneak peak at the whiteboxing of the Genesis Starliner, Randy’s been working on that for a while now, so we’re just going to hand it over to him.

RV – Alright so basically I have some iterations of the Starliner, where it started, and this is where it started here. You don’t see much happening, is just blocked out, and then as the iterations went on we started figuring out what the Starliner was, and kind of what was happening, so then more detailed started going, started adding more components, started shifting seats around, doing a lot of things with it, so let me just show you what’s going on. So, this is the first iteration as I said. Not much happening. It’s the mixed version that’s actually going to be on sale. So, we have like luxury seating, luxury sleep pods, we have the seats, we have a lounge for them, and then we have economy. If you look at the economy sleeps, these little pods, and then if you look at the luxury ones, they have a little more space. So, this ship was actually interesting in that it challenged a lot of our designs. So, I’m going to move over to another iteration of it, a little more complete than that one. So, this one right here is one of the other ones. As you see, the seating was changed, some bathrooms were added, the cockpit’s a little more situated out, but again, we were looking at it and this didn’t really have what we needed. And we started thinking about the different features that were going into the ship itself, for instance we didn’t think about safety features, we didn’t think about how long it’d take to travel from one planet to another, there’s just so many questions that we just didn’t have answered, so we’ve been working with the guys in Austin, ‘cause they’ve been taking care of the PU, and taking over the ships, and doing ship work here, so we’ve been collaborating

JP – Yeah, on design elements and stuff

RV – It’s actually been really really interesting on a lot of the different things, so again, this one right here has a bunch of different types of seats, but again, what’s the gameplay there? And also the space, it’s like… the spacing wasn’t really what we needed. Going through FPS standards to make sure the spacing is there, level design for all of our things are consistent, then other designs started coming across, so we have this one here, which again, this is more the same, but more the spacing. So as you see here, there’s more space for the legs, more space for people to run around and jump around, but still wasn’t really enough. So I had to make another version. Yeah, there’s so many versions dude, it’s crazy.

JP – It’s an iterative process, right?

RV – That’s the thing, and I’ve kept all the iterations, so we can see where we started.

JP – That’s cool

RV – And kind of go from there. Just cause it’s cool to see what was there, like if you look at the first version, the sleeping arrangements were actually up top. That was changed, so we can have all this space for people to have like, personal storage, make it more like a, kind of like a passenger liner is now, where you have the storage overhead, the seating just, we’re looking at tons of different airplanes that are used today, and then looking at the Hindenburg, looking at different things like trains, cruise liners, kind of everything, getting inspiration for that.

JP – What was the main inspiration for the Starliner? Or your version of it?

RV – My version has always been looking like the, I think someone told me it was like the ship from Fifth Element, how it had that cruiseliner feel, where people would go into sleep pods and just pass out, well we kind of mixed that with today’s version, so passengers are going to be sitting in their seats for a bit, if they want to get up they can go to their sleep pods, chill, hang out, maybe sleep for a bit, so we’ve added extra airlocks for things, we’ve added more safety features and right here we’re seeing things where people sit down, and the seats will actually launch up and, this is all work in progress. Right now it’s all still very conceptual and we’re still figuring everything out. Once we figure everything out we can go from there, I even added steward stations so people can work the ships, we added a kitchen, a mess and lounge area, a lounge up here so there can be an observation deck. We were thinking of opening it up right here so people can actually look at it, and can see things like they can see the stars while they’re travelling, they can read a book, going more for that simulation and kind of feeding into that. So yeah, added more bathrooms, added more causeways

JP – More bathrooms alright!

RV – So this is all, yeah, more bathrooms, we need more bathrooms.

JP – What types of different starliners are you looking at?

RV – So, we’re looking at multiple variants right now, and this is the dual class one, so it has first class, it has economy, and then the other one, actually… lets see if I don’t get in trouble too much, but lets see if we can look at some of the other variants real quick.

JP – Ok yeah lets do that.

RV – Ok, lets go look at some of the luxury stuff happening. Here’s the first version of Luxury, and then we’ll move back over to this one real quick. So, this one right here, the luxury version actually was nothing but a few seats up here, and then the sleeping arrangements down here were like, full state rooms, where if you were to like rent out a full portion of the train, so it’s more like a suite. So, tons of space, everyone has their own private bathrooms and private storage space, but there wasn’t much storage space actually for people to bring vehicles and stuff like that, the Starliner’s massive, it’s really really big, it’s bigger than the constellation, so it’s something people could fit vehicles on, even an M50 or something like that could probably go on there for storage. You can’t drop from it like a dropship, but you can at least fit, so if you purchase some of the other toys we’ve been coming up with and designing, then you can fit them in the ship. There’s definitely good enough space. But yeah, the first edition, I had a bar down here for lounging, then I had another bar for other lounge up here, so I had two things, a business meeting just in case, I was trying to go a mix of Airforce 1 / that luxury business private plane. So then feedback, they were like alright, change a few things, change this, so, the version we ended up with right now, and there’ll be more iterations as feedback comes through ‘cause we know what we want to do with the ship, but once the community gets their hands on things, they’re gonna do what they want, so we want to make sure we’re creating things that they can play around with everything they want to do, cause this game is ultimately about them, and we’re trying to give them toys they can play with and stuff, so this one right here as you see I’ve added the kitchen and the dining room, I’ve added in the lounge up here, and then I have a spa type thing up here, so we can have a space jacuzzi,

JP – I’ve always wanted a space jacuzzi!

RV – Who doesn’t want a space jacuzzi, right?

JP – I was three years old, and I said I want a space jacuzzi.

RV – I can see that happening. I’ve also added a different type of lounge with sofas, comfortable chairs, little tables so people can meet up and play cards or something like that, so they can entertain themselves, then more bathrooms

JP – You’re really proud of those bathrooms, I can tell.

RV – Gotta have bathrooms. Little space for a long time, you gotta go. The first class area stayed similar to the mixed one, and then the state rooms has been reduced also, the number of rooms, but the space there, and then we have actual storage space now, so we can actually put vehicles and everything, and they can go up the ramp right here loading and everything.

JP – Interesting.

RV – I’ve also added in the elevator to go to all three floors, so that way they can go here, they have causeways on the sides, and they have causeways up here.

JP – It’s faster than the Mass Effect elevator right?

RV – I don’t know I kinda like it, you have time to relax, chill

JP – And be angry

RV – we have another elevator here for the crew, so the crew can get in and out, EVA, and we’ve also increased the crew size here, so originally crew size was going to be around 4 people, but with a ship this big we needed stewards, mechanic, co-pilot, captain, gunner, chef, I don’t really know what PU is going to be doing, but we’re giving again, those options are there for when we want to do things.

JP – Nice.

RV – But again, this is the luxury version, and I think I have

JP – Lets say, I like luxury, lets say we want a little more power. What’ve you got?

RV – Lets check it out real quick, let me go ahead and show you the troop variant. So, troop variant will be a little more heavily armored probably, probably a little bit bigger guns, but for the most part it’s all about passengers, so. The first iteration, I actually did an old-school briefing room from anytime you see an old school military movie, they have these tiered seatings and, battlestar galactica, they had those rooms and stuff, and everyone can pile in, and of course, if you’re the last one to the meeting then you’re coming through the elevator here or the stairs here, right in the front. Gotta have hazing, it’s military, right? Even a hologram display right here so when people are going it can display everything. We have a little meeting room so if you get called into this office, probably not… not detention, but you know.

JP – Not good.

RV – Sleep quarters are troops, we have a bunch of sleep quarters, so they’re right up here and right next to the kitchen.

JP – They’re just normal racks?

RV – Normal racks they can jump on depending on how many troops they want to fit in, they can hotbunk if they need to. You know what hotbunking is right?

JP – Yeah.

RV – Alright. we need to have the seats arranged differently, just because it’d be easier for hte soldiers to line in and out, and they can go in and out of the airlocks right here if they need it, there’s two. They have storage for the weapons and the rucksacks up top, and then they have ways they can go down, so the constellation again, I did some more inspiration off that, so if you want to load up vehicles, or personnel, you can drop them down with the causeways, and these things will drop down, so when you land on a planet you can load gear on and off

JP – Got you, makes sense.

RV – I’ve also moved the sleeping quarters for the crew down here, into the compartments, that way this is where all the main things, the engines, the shield generators, thing about starliners, they’re all about safety and redundancy, so if one part of the ship gets damaged, another part can kick in, it’s all about just that safety, making sure it can keep on going. As you can see here, the bridge is built up a little more, I added some consoles, added a hologram table for planning, added some comm stations, some servers back here, gun racks, and then, one of the feedback I got was we need more gun racks, we need an armoury, we need a bunch of other things so, I’ll show you the last iteration I’ve been playing with lately. As you can see here, more storage for vehicles, can pop in like, dune buggies or whatever else,

JP – Dune buggies confirmed.

RV – Yeah, don’t say that. Aw shit we just did.

JP – And you said the S word.

RV – Sorry, my bad.

JP – Someone’ll bleep it out, we’re good.

RV – So yeah, I got feedback for an armoury, whether we have suits for people to jump into and wear, they can come down here, and we’re going to be removing one of these things, so over here we still have the loading and unloading, and then this will be another one, another area where they can load in and load out vehicles. Mess hall is still there, kitchen’s still there, now I added a quick medbay, we still have this office over here, people can still chat in there, a little fitness area over here, people can do on long travels,

JP – Gotta work out.

RV – Yup, got to.

JP – Got to lift.

RV – Elevator is moved to the side, I increased the amount of space so people can have space to move in and out, so two people can come in and out of here. And then sleep racks are about the same, but I’ve actually moved the seating around a little bit more so we have more space in between to move around, and we’ll put gun racks in between here, so when soldiers sit down they basically stow their gear, and they’re able to put their rucks up top, stow their weapons in front of them, so in case anything happens EVA ing or anything like that, they can go ahead and grab their stuff real quick, grab their weapon, and go out the door, so it’s all about trying to make it more, easier for them to go through things. We’ve also added in ladders so soldiers can get in and out real quick. We have two on this side, three on this side, and another over here, in case you need to get to a different compartment. The crew stuff is staying about the same for right now, now I’m just waiting for some feedback from some Directors, from designers and stuff, and Chris Roberts has had his eye on this ship as well, giving feedback, so it’s been really interesting.

JP – Well, it looks like we’re starting to get pushed out around here, it’s starting to fill up, so thank you for giving up this sneak peak for the whiteboxing phase for the Genesis starliner, check back tomorrow when you can actually pledge for the ship, and Randy Vasquez, thanks for coming on man.

RV – Thank you

JP – Back to you guys.

24:27

Ben and Sandi

– What’s with the postcards Ben? – For the starliner, we wanted to show off not just cool pictures of the ship, but we wanted to show more, so we created Meridian Transit, which is a futuristic space airline, and we created some of the ads for their different destinations. You’ll be reading a bit more about Meridian in an interactive fiction experience the folks at Turbulent have put together for the sale tomorrow. They also let us have a little bit of free reign and osme extra material for this sale, so you’ll see some more esoteric images, some what does a flight attendant look like, what’s the interior cabin for first class look like, we’ll have more to share tomorrow!

35:20

Sneak Peek

– Dread Pirate Roberts and Pete Mackay on a UI of some sort. One in a Scythe, one in a Merlin?

– Tune in to RtV tomorrow to find out what the Sneak Peek is.

36:00

Star Citizen Photo Montage – In honour of the 50th episode.

– That’s not everybody, but check out the forums for more.

Next week, on Sandi’s makeup…