A Blue Perspective
By pokinatchapunx & Blue
In our Citizen Spotlight series we’ll be giving fans an
opportunity to voice their opinions on Star Citizen. Star
Citizen has an incredible range of backers from all careers
and corners of the globe, and we hope you’ll find their what
they have to say thought provoking. For our first issue we
interviewed Blue, a veteran of the gaming industry who had
some great insights on game design and how CIG have been
managing development and the community.
PULSE: Can you share a bit about your background as a tabletop game developer and gamer?
NUEBLUE: As a gamer, I started with playing D&D with young
people from Birmingham and a group from Auburn University
in 1975-76. Started my first game “Metamorphosis Alpha”
and went on to running several other games. Joined TSR as a
designer and after TSR went into receivership, helped found
Pacesetter Games. New company so served as designer
and office manager. I started my online gaming with EQ and
on to EQ2. Played number of OL games including WOW for
years. After retirement I have had OL gaming as a hobby. My
published game work can be found under the name of Garry
Spiegle.
PULSE: What excites you about Star Citizen?
NUEBLUE: To be perfectly honest, my interest in SC surprises
me - a lot! I started playing with an online ‘guild’ in the
MechWarrior Online game more than a year ago. Until then
I had NO interest in realistic ‘sims’, FPS or PVP. However my
love of Battletech from early days of gaming got me into
MWO. One of my Guildmates mentioned Star Citizen so I went
to check out his link. As I read about it I became more and
more interested. Stretch goals and forums made me realize
that SC was more than a simple ‘sim’ type game. Strong
elements of MMORPG play and even RTS elements were being
planned or worked on.
Most important was the actual fan involvement in
development and the extent of communication between Chris
and his team with the fans. Far too many design teams and
suits have little or no understanding of the value of Concept
6
Testing. I capitalized those words because Chris and his
teams are using this vital tool to develop the game from the
beginning. As I mentioned, stretch goals and fan involvement
caught me, a PVE player, like a hooked fish. I pledged about
June of last year. I have ‘bet’ $350 so far and have plans for
more so I am in for the long haul. No regrets.
PULSE: There has been heated debate over various issues on
the forum. As a developer, what is it like to see these issues
crop up and be debated?
NUEBLUE: Seeing the issues on the Forums in the first place
is absolutely of immense value. As I have mentioned earlier,
Concept Testing is an invaluable tool in game development.
When you see the following type of statement...
1) “Can I do this....”
2) “I wanna be able to....”
3) “Why can’t we....”
4) “This must be in the game....”
5) “What are you thinking...”
6) “This won’t work because...”
7) “Change this or else...”
Please believe me, as an experienced game designer, this is
VALUABLE feedback. Future players are testing the basic
concepts and playability of your game. They are asking the
very questions you either are asking or more important,
should be asking before assigning resources and manpower.
Let them search out all the tiny corners of the proposed
game and bring out any questions and complaints. Remember,
even the most avid complaints are about single issues. The
complainers are interested in what you are doing. Chris and
teams have kept both positive and negative folks on the
forums interested and engaged. A remarkable achievement in
my opinion.