Star Marine, the FPS component of the upcoming Star Citizen, was promised to us earlier this year. At PAX East, game director Chris Roberts said that it would only take them a few more weeks to turn out this component for everyone to start trying out, but there isn’t much trace of it, save for what was shown during PAX.
In a recent Letter from the Chairman, Roberts explains that the dev team has run into some problems, mostly of the building-from-the-ground-up type. They’re trying to cram so much detail into this project, and though they’re not gunning for perfection, it’s still not quite up to snuff. Those few weeks they mentioned they needed have turned into two months, and some backers are worried that this might push back the entire Star Citizen project.
Roberts assures us that this is not the case. “I can’t stress enough that two additional months spent on Star Marine are not the same thing as two months of a delay for Star Citizen.” Separate teams are working on Star Marine, the environment, the ships, and the single-player experience, ensuring that delays in one component will not necessarily hold everything back. They’re even considering releasing a build with the Star Marine component disabled, just so backers can get a feel of the other progressions in development.
Star Marine being delayed is a letdown, but Roberts assures backers that he and his teams know what they have to do to turn Star Citizen into the best possible game it can be.
