Cloud Imperium has announced that the single-player mode for Star Citizen, Squadron 42, is set to release its beta in Q2 2020 as part of a larger development roadmap.
Unlike the Persistent Universe Roadmap for the main game Star Citizen, Squadron 42 is aiming to release only when, “[Cloud Imperium] have achieved our final, polished, creative vision.” In a Caveats list on the roadmap the developer lists several differences in development between it and the mutliplayer version. Features in Squadron 42 may take less development time than the multiplayer features, the roadmap was created with hiring goals being met which may not happen, chapters are not the same as missions and vary in work needed and gameplay time. Quality is a priority meaning delays will occur to extend timelines or re-do features, the roadmap is not an exhaustive list, merely lays out the larger features planned. The roadmap list also pulls directly from Cloud Imperium’s internal database which will keep the public version updated every week. Everything is just an estimate and subject to change, internal schedules have aggressive dates to try and get it accomplished early, and the roadmap only represents development on Squadron 42 and nothing else about Star Citizen.
We are currently in Q4 2018 with player vault and player mantle in development nearing completion, and “performance improvements to video-comms rendering” completed. Multiple Q1 2019 features are already in the midst of development. All content should be complete by 2020 allowing the developer to focus on final balances, technical fixes, and polish before launching the beta. Cloud Imperium recently received a $46 million minority investment with 10% of the studio being sold to investors. These funds are to be used for marketing purposes only, as Star Citizen is a crowd funded game, having begun as a Kickstarter in 2012 raising $2.1 million but nearly $50 million came from Cloud Imperium’s Star Citizen website.
Squadron 42 features many famous actors such as Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson, Mark Strong, Andy Serkis, and Mark Hamill, whose character model was recently shown at CitizenCon 2018 to show the improvements in visuals compared to the old version. If you want to see more on Squadron 42, you can watch a recent trailer. If you’re interested in the whole Star Citizen project, you can also enjoy more impressive videos and trailers from CitizenCon. You can also read our interview with Global Head of Development and Foundry 42 Studio Director Erin Roberts.
The post Star Citizen’s Single-Player Campaign Squadron 42 Releasing Beta in Q2 2020 by Steven Santana appeared first on DualShockers.