Star Citizen dev shares new update on the long-awaited Squadron 42

Star Citizen’s Cloud Imperium has new information on the space MMO’s much-anticipated Squadron 42 campaign, as Citizencon draws closer.

Unless you’re a long-time Star Citizen player, you can be forgiven for finding the space MMO a little confusing. Vast, complex, and with its own digital economy and politics, Star Citizen needs to offer more players an easier way in. This is the job of Squadron 42. Fronted by a cadre of A-list acting talent, including Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill, and Gillian Anderson, the long-awaited Star Citizen campaign mode will be a contained single-player experience that serves also as a foothold on the rest of the game proper. Cloud Imperium previously confirmed it was feature complete. Now, with Citizencon around the corner, the developer shares some more insight into how Squadron 42 is shaping up.

The annual Star Citizen convention, Citizencon runs from Saturday October 19 to Sunday October 20. We’re anticipating some pretty significant reveals, particularly in connection to the big new update, alpha 4.0, but Cloud Imperium has already shared a closer look into the development of Squadron 42. One of the most anticipated features in the space MMO, the narrative, animations, and environmental details have apparently come a long way in recent weeks.

According to Cloud Imperium, Squadron 42’s zero-gravity combat has been adjusted to improve interaction with the world, reload animations, and general flow. Facial animations for Squadron 42 are “nearing completion,” and destruction effects and levels of detail within populated, planetside environments have been “fleshed out.”

Using motion capture, the Squadron 42 team has “significantly improved” a number of cutscenes and key moments in the campaign. Narrative has been a core focus overall – during the last month, Cloud Imperium “had several meetings to perform a moment-by-moment analysis of one of the more narratively intense levels to refine the dialogue, environmental storytelling, and enemy behaviors to ensure that they all work together.”

Squadron 42’s visual effects team is also working on optimization and adjustments have been made to the various systems governing NPCs so that they are more responsive. Of course, what we really want to know is when Squadron 42 is being released. But it sounds like it’s coming along, and maybe we’ll hear more this weekend.

In the meantime, try some of the other best space games, or maybe the best free MMORPGs available today.

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