Mystic Worlds: Star Citizen - Casual Citizen Episode 1

First episode in a new bi-weekly series that will discuss all things Star Citizen for the casual gamer and/or observer. Keeping up with Star Citizen could be a part-time job! Cloud Imperium Games' open development strategy pumps out a metric ton of information each week. Additionally, there are weekly vidcasts and frequent lore related content from the writing team. Staying somewhat in the know for casual players and followers can be a tough job.

I'm going to start a series of shows, more like conversations aimed at getting people caught up with those of us who've been following the game closely, as well as delve into the massive amount of content already available for consumption. I won't be providing tutorial style content. However, when a topic is gameplay related, I will provide sources for a deeper dive in the show notes. This first episode is short and designed for people who have only recently become aware of the game and want to know what all the hubbub is about.

If you sign up for Star Citizen and feel this information was helpful, you can earn 5,000 UEC points to in-game by using a referral code. Here's mine: STAR-QSVR-JFTR.

Casual Citizen Episode 1 - What is Star Citizen

SoundCloud audio-only version
Show Notes:
- BoredGamer | History of Star Citizen
- BoredGamer | What is Squadron 42
- Star Citizen Imagine Trailer

Full Show Transcript

Welcome to the first episode of Casual Citizen, an on-going dialog about Star Citizen and eventually, Squadron 42. I'm your host Alysianah from the Mystic Worlds Gaming Blog

My goal for this series is to have bi-weekly, down to earth conversations about Star Citizen to help people with a casual interest and/or limited time, learn about the features, lore, news, community and current state of the game. Let's get going with our first episode. Please sit back, relax and enjoy…

What is Star Citizen? It's only fair that I start at the beginning when covering a topic for casuals. For those of you already familiar with the game, this epoxide isn't for you.

Star Citizen is many things, some of which are different to different people. The game itself is the brainchild of veteran game developer Chris Roberts, who is most widely known for his Wing Commander game series and the movie. Under the banner of Cloud Imperium Games, he's now developing his dream space sim and first person universe, Star Citizen. The development costs are being covered using a crowdfunding model and to date, Star Citizen has raised a record breaking 103 million dollars and counting.

What is so compelling about the planned content for Star Citizen that people are willing to fund it to such an unprecedented amount? Let's begin with a quote from the official game site for star Citizen, RobertsSpaceIndustries.com…

From the mind of Chris Roberts, acclaimed creator of Wing Commander and Freelancer, comes STAR CITIZEN. 100% crowd funded, Star Citizen aims to create a living, breathing science fiction universe with unparalleled immersion… and you’re invited to follow every step of development!

More than a space combat sim, more than a first person shooter and more than an MMO: Star Citizen is the First Person Universe that will allow for unlimited gameplay.

Based on that blurb you come away with an understanding that Star Citizen has a massively multiplayer persistent universe that contains space combat, first person shooter combat and open-ended game play mechanics, where the player decides what role to assume and how they will interact with others and world around them. The latter is often referred to as sandbox. However, in addition to the "make your own fun" of a sandbox game, there will also be a robust questing system, trade professions and a dynamic and responsive in-game economy. That alone is a whole lot of game! But there’s more.

Because that's not enough to wrap your mind around, Star Citizen is also incorporating never before seen game mechanics such as multi-crew ships, a completely seamless universe from deep space down to planet side landing zones, high definition streaming tech of procedurally generated planets and space combat using Newtonian physics. Cuz you know, the other stuff wasn't quite enough. Just sayin’.

If I had to put Star Citizen into the narrow context of other games you may know it's like combining bits of EVE Online + Destiny + basic MMO tropes. Okay, hold on to all that, cuz that’s Star Citizen and only one of the games being developed.

In parallel, Cloud Imperium games is also building Squadron 42 using the same funding and resource pool. At its core, Squadron 42 is a triple A RPG campaign that takes place in the same universe and lore as Star Citizen. It's a hero's journey look at the world where the storyline is all about YOU - your decisions and actions, and this version of YOU, has an impact on your character in the Star Citizen persistent universe. Think single player campaign of Halo with top casting talent such as Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman and Gillian Anderson, using nextgen animation technology. Squadron 42 is being designed as episodic journey, where the first set of episodes is scheduled to release in 2016.

These two games combined - Star Citizen and Squadron 42 are what Could Imperium Games is working to develop and deliver, using their record-breaking crowd funding campaign that began in 2012. So when someone speaks of Star Citizen, oftentimes they are lumping both games into that conversation. And to date, that's also how the game packages being sold to fund the development have worked. That's a lot of game, features, content and promises, and clearly, there are people who want what's being promised enough to risk funding it. For like Chris Roberts himself, it's a game straight out of our sweetest dreams.

Thank you for listening in. I hope you enjoyed the episode and found it valuable.

Please check out the show notes which include links to content related to today's topic from a few of my favorite Star Citizen content creators. Be well and fly safe until next time. This is

Alysianah signing off.