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Comment by ocdtrekkie | Hacker News Reader

This is only partially accurate. Elite: Dangerous definitely focused on getting that "release" 1.0 version ASAP. But Star Citizen has been playable for years as well, it just doesn't presume to call itself "done". Star Citizen is currently on version 3.3.7, and a decent amount of playable features have been around a long time.

They're not that dissimilar, just the labels of what they've chosen to state of their status. Elite: Dangerous added planetary landing more or less around the same time Star Citizen did, for instance, but E:D called it an expansion and Star Citizen called it a new version for their alpha.

Also, you are confused Squadron 42, a single-player game, which has an alpha in 2020, and Star Citizen, which is more analogous to Elite: Dangerous, which is ongoingly available.

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That's not a good comparison either.

Elite: Dangerous had their alpha in 2013, playable beta mid-2014, with a 1.0 release end of 2014 that was a complete game.

Star citizen had a very scaled down version (Crusader) available end of 2015, as what amounts to an alpha.

I personally hope Star Citizen delivers, but there is really no equivalence here. Frontier delivered much faster.

What exactly was delivered? Physics based flight model? Procedually generated planets and cities? First person interactions with voice and face control? Large sandbox game environment based on comprehensive fictional world building?

What we are discussing has never been delivered before which might explain some of the perceived delays.

In terms of gameplay E:D didn't deliver. I ceased keeping track in mid-2017, but by then it was inferior to FFE.

What's FFE?

Whether or not you liked E:D, it's still a fully released game that felt polished, albeit shallow.

But that's besides the point. Parent poster was drawing equivalencies between the two games' release timings, and my point is those equivalencies aren't actually comparable.

I think it's Frontier: First Encounter, which is a 1995 game that's the precursor to E:D in the Elite series.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier:_First_Encounters

I don't see how E:D is inferior to it, but YMMV.

Sure, it's a playable demo but it's barely a full fledged game.

Don't get me wrong, their development cycle is fine if they can keep with it and releasing content is awesome from them. However, I wouldn't recommend anyone that isn't a Space Citizen enthusiast to get their hands on Squadron 42.

didn't the original Star Citizen kickstarter promise the single player mode for delivery in 2014? It definitely seems that way from reading the page at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cig/star-citizen

Again with your "promise" claim, which is false!

After they got funding they promised, repeatedly, that it would be out in 2016.

https://www.pcgamer.com/roberts-space-industries-denies-squa...

"Squadron 42, the single-player portion of Star Citizen, doesn't have a hard release date, but it was expected to be ready sometime this year. There's even a little “2016” over the “Answer the Call” logo on the Squadron 42 web page. However, that came into question when German site Gamestar reported that, in an interview at PAX West, Cloud Imperium Games boss Chris Roberts said the game probably wouldn't be out until mid-to-late 2017."

A fun reddit thread from Jan 2016:

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/40fsop/do_you_...

'Yeah, I can fix your car. I estimate about a week.'

...one year later.

'Well, I never promised!'

Yes, you're right, it's stronger than promise, it's "sold as".

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