Welcome to the July 2022 Star Citizen Progress Report
This is the 13th progress report about Star Citizen & Squadron 42 in the series.
Information for this report comes from the SC FOCUS features completion page which has been updated again here: https://scfocus.org/star-citizen-s42-features-complete/
Stretch Goal Completion Scoring
Completion for Star Citizen & Squardon 42 is scored based on a total of 104 features that were chosen to represent major gameplay milestones for both projects.
Previous Star Citizen & S42 reports:
Progress in this reporting period
Only one tracked feature was marked as in-game this report:
- Alien Languages (SC)
Many years of work have gone into developing fully functional alien languages and recent events have involved the community translating some alien texts. Since this article tracks development progress on features Alien Languages are being changed to playable. There are even tutorials on for Star Citizens to learn to read and write. Here is a tutorial to learn the Xi'An language (YouTube). While there is no doubt a long road ahead to add alien languages to the game there are already some alien texts in game that can be translated. This feature is being marked as Playable.
Star Citizen & Squadron 42 Report Conclusion
Star Citizen is roughly 51% complete as of July 2022 (Alpha 3.17.2).
The pace of progress from the 104 tracked features in this article is not the slowest it has been but close to it.
Progress has been made in areas outside of these tracked features such as stability, performance and graphics. The alpha is running with significantly higher framerates than before and there have been improvements (small but noticeable) to desynch.
Playability Score
Playability Score: 4/5 - Somewhat Playable
- Player Count (1/5)
- The Economy (3/5)
- Flight Model (4/5)
- Dogfighting (4/5)
- FPS Combat (4/5)
- AI (3/5)
Playability - How Playable is Star Citizen Alpha 3.17.2?
Previous reports predicted and noted improvements in gameplay and stability and this trend continues. Even though the experience is starting to feel more like a game the bugs still remind us that we are in Alpha development cycle.
Bugs and Instability
Star Citizen Alpha 3.17.2 still has the Alpha label. As such instability is expected as the game is still some time away from feature complete.
Overall playability score for Star Citizen was increased in this report to 4/5. There is enough of a game here that quite a few players are playing it like a released game even though they should not. Bugs are still prevalent but there are times when stability is good enough to enjoy some epic moments.
Players are backing Star Citizen at an increased rate with the total number of accounts passing 4M and the total funds raised on the official funding page are just $12M away from $500M. The progress is visible and the game is becoming more playable and this has brought many new players.
The game continues to be for testers due to bugs and fast development cycle (including resets) but the proportion of non-testers looking just to play the game as it is continues to increase.
Again SCFOCS predicts that gameplay experience improvements will continue as that is what has been stated officially and what some of the major coming updates include as some of their features. This does not mean that Star Citizen will be a smooth experience for non-testers and new backers but the trend to refining the game is expected to continue.
4/5
Player Count
Player counts are still 50 players per server. Far from anything that can be considered an MMO. This shows the infancy of the Alpha still.
This is constantly the area of the project with the least progress again.
Important Update (July 18 2022): Shortly after publishing this report the player caps were increased to 100 players in PTU (Source). While this test isn't staying for Alpha 3.17.2 LIVE it does show some progress could be coming soon with the player caps.
Another Update (July 26 2022): Player caps were increased in testing up to 120 players. Additionally, the increased caps are now set to be staying for Alpha 3.17.2 LIVE. Early playtests show little performance difference between 50 players and 100 players.
1/5
The Economy
Alpha 3.17.2 economy feels a bit less stale due to the ability to sell items (now working better than when it first came out in 3.17). While cargo running is still a bit unstable and the supply and demand is more annoying than a working feature it is a slightly better experience than the last report.
The score from the last report was not increased as the changes have not been enough to warrant it.
3/5
Flight Model
Flight model score from last report unchanged. Atmospheric control surfaces and a few other things are still missing.
4/5
Dogfighting
Dogfighting has continued to be in a better state for regular play. More changes to dogfighting have been announced. This rating is unchanged at 4/5.
Fighting ships against ships (players or NPCs) is a playable experience though still unfinished.
4/5
FPS Combat
In the last report this was increased to 4/5. Recent improvements to desynch have made the experience even better. Certainly playable.
4/5
AI
AI work continues with AI now having the ability to fly down to planets and land. AI improvements are severely limited by desynch so tangible progress (in game experience) on this is expected to stagnate until after some major patches improve the networking structure and major bugs in the new architecture have been squashed. This score stays at 3/5 and is expected to stay for a while to come.
3/5
July 2022 Report Conclusion
Optimization continues to be a central theme of the latest progress reports. Some big features are expected soon (Such as Salvage).
Only one feature was marked as complete this report and it was for Star Citizen but in retrospect should have been a feature listed as for S42 and SC.
Progress has slowed down as some underlying tech is being added in upcoming patches to overcome some of the current limitations.
This brings the total completion for both games to 51%.
In the last progress report it was said progress was speeding up, however, it has actually slowed down on the 104 tracked features as the focus has been more towards optimization and quality enhancement over the addition of tracked features.
Release Date Estimate Changes
NOT BEFORE release date estimates for both games remain unchanged. There is enough to suggest Squadron 42 is very close to containing all required essential features. The Bengal carrier is a good example. Last seen in flight in the game expo although it did not have a working interior. However, the Javelin seemed further along and some of it could be toured. It could still be a few years away but there is not enough confidence to set a significant NOT BEFORE date like there was before. As such it is being left as SOON.
There is a significant discrepancy between the 65% progress in Squadron 42 that is claimed in these reports and the SOON release date. However, this is due to the features that were tracked as Squadron 42 specific being not really accurate. For example, Signature Spoofing, Hacking, Character Aging, Persistent Wreckage, Playable Hangars, Factories, and Selling Ships are all features that in retrospect probably should not have been placed in the S42 category. This would place S42 completion much closer to 100% than the 65% shown currently.
For Star Citizen the NOT BEFORE date is still
NO SOONER THAN 2025
Caveats
The list of 104 features used to track "progress" in this report are listed at the Star Citizen Completion Features Percentage Page. This is a highly simplified list of features out of thousands of technical, art and gameplay features that the game(s) will end up having. 104 features were chosen as a simplified average set of gameplay features that the author guesses are plausibly required in the final games to be considered "complete".
The data is gathered as objectively as possible and is non-promotional in nature. This information is purely speculative based on personal criteria. Opinion can and should vary. It is provided for free and actually costs time and money to maintain.
Disclaimer
As always, this article does not represent the official views of Star Citizen. It is provided as speculation to help SC FOCUS org plan the strategy going forward. This information is provided to readers openly and freely and each reader is free to form their own opinion.