Just pulling this out as a general theme when comparing AAA franchise titles to Star Citizen as an example.Chips wrote:It's also fair to point out that GTA probably had infrastructure to start with,..
GTA knew where it was going.
"It" knew what the theme was going to be, knew the primary sort of gameplay the player was going to engage in, knew how the player would interact with the environment and also had several previous test-beds it could draw on for improvements and additions. It also had a plan for new features and, having the knowledge gained from previous development, already had a handle on how to shoehorn things together.
SC had an "idea."
None of the archaic, but revolutionary at the time, gameplay mechanics of previous games would be remarkable and the "experience" of implementing them would be practically worthless, if even anyone remembered. In short - All they can draw on from previous examples is creating a game that generates the same enthusiasm in players, perhaps marginally capitalizing on some general themes that fans enjoyed.
But... Star Citizen is now nothing at all like "Wing Commander," the original inspiration. It's "Elite" on steroids or much more like "Privateer" in theme. That's not a bad thing, really, since those are also great games.
The point is that they started out with an idea, added a much larger element to it, and are now continuing to "supersize" all the way, much like they did with the original idea.
"Make it biggerer!"
From an outsider, that's what I hear them saying with all the additions. Why? That's the phrase that got them so much attention, so, in their possible minds, that's what has given them some "success." If that is true, why not just "make it biggerer," right? That's what the public wants and they want to make a game people want to play.
But, in the quest to "Make it Biggerer," they seemed to have abandoned the idea that their goal is to actually make a game that is worthy of being released. Why?
People continue to buy into the process and they continue to reward them.
"Look at the cute monkey! It's throwing poo! Give it a peanut, it's so cute! Oh, look, it's throwing poo again! Isn't that just hilarious? Give it another peanut!"
The game will get released when, in the next budget review, they realize that they're going to run out of money and that continued primary development is no longer sustainable. Until then, they will continue to throw poo until people stop rewarding them.
It's done when it's done. Until then I'll play some Hearts of Iron 4, wait for Mount and Blade 2 - and check out a few other titles of interest in the interim 
(I'll probably forget, again...)
