CITIZEN SPOTLIGHT: SHIPSPECS
by Feylan and MasonGrimm
This week we interviewed Mason Grimm from ShipSpecs
to talk about a new website he, Phil (Smurfy) and
Bolththrower have recently unveiled. Pulse would like
to thank Grimm for taking the time to answer our
questions! You may know of Grimm’s work from the
website MechSpecs, a website designed to help players
of the online BattleMech (‘Mech) simulator MechWarrior
Online design their own BattleMechs, or giant war
machines.
PULSE: For those who ha ven’t used them before, could
you tell us a little about MechSpecs and Smurfy’s
Mechlab? What are they, and how did they come about?
GRIMM: First, allow me to be clear, I founded, and
maintain, MechSpecs. Smurfy’s [Mechlab] was founded
by Phil, AKA Smurfy. We are two separate entities that
teamed up to deliver a really neat symbiotic community
resource. As for what MechSpecs is? I would say a
central resource for mech-heads, people that want to
tune and min/max their rides to make them the most
powerful, and effective, that they can. A lot of people
come to MechSpecs to learn what the current “meta”
is in terms of chassis and/or mech build and they rely
on the rating system to help guide them around what
works and what doesn’t. Some come to post their builds
and get bragging rights
and some come to watch
video breakdowns of
specific mechs/chassis to
help them decide whether
they want to purchase
them (for real money or
for cbills).
PULSE: Why did you
decide to make ShipSpecs
for Star Citizen? Were
there any other games
you considered before
deciding on SC?
GRIMM: *laughs* Peer pressure? MechSpecs grew to
be pretty successful, with over 150,000 unique visits per
month, and with Star Citizen being the massively open
and complex universe [that it is], a few of my friends
decided that Star Citizen needed a place like ShipSpecs;
not just a forum, not just a min/max site, but also an
integrated ShipLab. After speaking with Smurfy and my
other partner Bolt, we all agreed that this was a project
we could really sink our teeth in to. This time we would
do it together and deliver an integrated community
resource that would be scalable as well as fun.
PULSE: Will you continue to maintain MechSpecs and
Smurfy’s Mechlab, or are you planning on shifting your
focus to ShipSpecs?
GRIMM: I will continue to maintain MechSpecs. I’ve
always been a fan of Battletech since I was a kid and
having played every iteration of MechWarrior out there I
can say that I will remain with MechSpecs for as long as
MWO keeps the doors open.
PULSE: What features are planned for ShipSpecs? Why
should Star Citizen fans be excited about it?
GRIMM: We have the basics in place: forums, news
feeds to Twitter etc. Soon we will set up the Facebook
page and get that running as well. We have the rating
system in place for when we are actually able to modify/
build our ships. This is the same ratings system used
on MechSpecs in the builds area. In the future we plan
on delivering some content via YouTube (we have the
YouTube channel, just haven’t activated it yet) as well
as [offering] a fully comprehensive and intuitive Shiplab
which will allow complete customization, much like
Smurfy does today for MWO.
PULSE: Is there a planned
launch date?
GRIMM: Technically
we’ve already launched
although it has been
pretty low key. We’ve
just had some friends
over sort of stress testing
things here and there.
The site is open for
anyone who wishes to
head over and participate
in discussion or grab
official news there etc.
I’m sure once EVERYTHING is in place, stress tested, and
cleared for “go time,” we will make an announcement.
(EDIT: Too late, we launched. You missed it!)
PULSE: With Star Citizen still in a pre-alpha phase, and
the Dog Fighting Module (DFM) still to come out, are
you worried that ShipSpecs might be superseded by the
in-game holotable once it’s more fully developed?
GRIMM: Nope, not at all. There may be times where
people are at work, not that I condone this mind you,
and they want to work on their newest starship build for
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