ATV Interview: Erin Roberts

Transcript — every row opens the video at that moment

1. 00:00:15

   [Music] thanks guys on this week's ATV interview we're sitting down with Foundry 42 Studio director and Global head of production Mr Aaron Roberts Aaron how you doing man it's good to see you again good so thanks for taking the time to be on the show here uh you're only in town for this week uh and you've been very busy you've been in meetings with Ricky and and and and Tony and And discussing all manner of yeah we have we have t in town as well just doing going bunch of design stuff on the persistent Universe side of things very cool so um working on working on on everything like that and um yeah it's been great been here and um and seeing the the new office

2. 00:01:03

   take shape it's fantastic it it's getting there I I I think we're we're not quite in final art yet I think we're past gray box but we're getting there we'll be flight ready here real soon um so I wanted to talk to you about Foundry 42 uh since you guys came on board we've gained hundreds of thousands of new citizens and we don't always get to showcase the work that you guys do because our community department is located here in La so I wanted to take the time to to Really let people know what Foundry 42 is uh what they contribute to start a citizen and then maybe at the end of this take a peek forward so why don't just let's start at the very beginning okay what were you doing before Foundry 42 so I was working for before I joined um um the great team here um I was working for

3. 00:01:51

   10 years on the Lego games um uh we were working on you know all the games such as Lego Star Wars Lego indana Jones that's kind of what I was doing and and that was uh I came back to the UK from the US about 10 years before that's I started working with um Travelers tales and um having a great time there um doing stuff with them I remember like the very first time we met Ben gave me crap because we was in a room with you and Chris and he was like I'm like Chris Roberts yeah Chris Robert's a cool one and then I found out you made the Lego games and I made a beine to you to talk to you about the Lego games I don't I don't expect you to remember that and then like do you like The Lego games like I love the Lego games so it was like it was like my win well not quite my win command for M but nothing's like his weak Commander for Ben um now before that even going back you've worked with Chris on many games um the private tier series specifically I started I started

4. 00:02:40

   working with well way way way back um he you know originally was he used to make games on the BBC micro and the guys in the UK will know what we're talking about there and before he went to the US and then he made um games a game called times of law for the commodor and um um um I I helped out a little bit on that not much the game I really did most of my uh I guess real sort of work on was win the original Wing Commander uh where I I did a lot of scripting for the AI um and uh and a bunch of testing work back when origin was a very small company and we were just getting things going um and then after that then yeah from Wing Commander I then worked on Privateer um and um and and and finished that up uh later on and and then it was um strike Commander I believe that I worked on uh and then after strike Commander I then I

5. 00:03:29

   believe electronic can't bought origin and I then transferred back to UK for a while I've been back and forth in the UK and us a few times and I that's where I I'm basically produced and directed priv to to the darkening um and then went back to America when when um Chris started um um digital Anvil I joined him to do that and that's worked on Star Lancer and stuff like that actually a few of the guys who work with me now uh in the UK office on the star s all right so you were working on the Lego games and it's time Chris decides or you decide to tell me how how did it come about we wanted to create a UK studio so it was let me think about it now it must have been 2013 it would have been August because it was just after games come and Chris just come back from

6. 00:04:15

   Gamescom when I think they first showed the hanger so it was probably about um uh it just about 12 months less just less than 12 months in I guess starting and so Chris came back through to the UK and came through to visit me and basically we just started getting talking and um uh and just talking about it all showing the stuff and thought nothing about had a nice weekend um you know doing stuff together and things like that and then I was actually driving to the airport and just as pulling to the airport um Chris literally I'm stop off I drop him off we were at the La by and of course you're not allowed to wait and chrisis opens the door and just says to me oh you know why don't you come and join us and I'm just saying you can't you could have had this conversation two days earlier when we actually had lots of time and he just said that he said well you know have a think about it and then we'll talk when I get back to the

7. 00:05:02

   States and so it was kind of one of these funny moments where I was going okay and then we just start we got the conversation going and then it all came from there and the more I thought about it um um you know I mean I really enjoyed working on the Lego games and I didn't think I would leave doing um doing that but this was just such an opportunity to go and do something um special uh in a way it's not been done before was a challenge you know in terms of doing of doing of doing it in this way and I just kind of felt like I had like you know getting on a bit a bit longer in the tooth now and I felt like there's one last big challenge in me and then this is a challenge and I love challenges and I like I kind of do enjoy the stress and of making sort of stuff work and I've built a few companies up and I do kind of get the kick out of doing that cuz I've built up my studio and Lego and the Lego games up as well from literally the seven verse and then

8. 00:05:50

   we grew it to like 200 OD and I just kind of enjoyed that trying to get the team together working on stuff like that and so um and it was just going to get and work with Chris again as well I always enjoyed working with Chris Chris because um although he's a very hard Taskmaster in terms of what he's demanding of what he wants to see but that's why he makes that level of game he does because he's not just trying to you know hit a certain level he's going he's not he's shooting for the he's shooting for the Stars right not Star Citizen and so and I like that because it pushes people to do work harder and better and if you you know and and if you just try and hit 50% of what he wants then you've got this incredible um you know level of detail and and Imagination and and the games you're making and so and I quite enjoy that and we work well together because um um you know I'm I'm I'm very you know obviously I've done a bunch of Direction design

9. 00:06:37

   myself and stuff but I'm actually you know quite folding quite easily into much more on the sort of the production and procedure sided stuff of making sure when we have all these issues is then you know my job is to go and make sure right we have the right structures in place build the stuff go around and make sure we're coordinating properly between the studios make sure we've got the right teams and that kind of stuff and that's what I spend a lot of my time doing and then every now and then I get to just sit down and do some design which I got to do today and the last few days and stuff that which I really enjoy as well but a lot of it just at the moment is quite a lot of travel going round and making sure the organization supports the needs of of of the game gotcha now I'm a person I have three brothers mhm um it would give me pause if if I if I ever decide one of my brothers asked me to come and work for them I've worked with my brothers before um so Chris has asked you to start a UK Studio yep um did the brother thing come

10. 00:07:26

    in how does the brother thing work um it so when we were younger uh we thought like cats and dogs like really you know you couldn't our parents couldn't leave us in the house together it was that bad I mean uh but you know but it was funny when I think I more probably from my side but when we hit when we hit about uh when I hit about 167 then our relationship changed completely and we actually gotten really well and so that s usff really good um you know we you know we can have we still argue but you know it's a it's a you know an adult argument about you know you know sometimes it gets a bit passionate and of course it always does and when I think something's not right and so forth and the great thing is we listen to each other and so forth and at the end of the day Chris is the CEO so he makes the final decision but I'm quite happy to you know have my opinion known as well so but but uh but that relation that works pretty well actually um you know

11. 00:08:14

    and that kind of stuff um you know whereas when when I was a bit younger and Chris Chris was always two years older than me so he was always the older brother so it's kind of like always a bit difficult gotcha gotcha all right so you're you're creating a company um Foundry 4 yep why not Cloud Imperium games UK so um because we wanted to um cuz so the reason why Chris bought us in uh um bought and plac but you know has to come on board in the first place was um uh to um concentrate on Squadron 42 and so we kind of wanted a name which was to do with 42 and so forth and things and so we just like the idea of Foundry because you're building something things like that we called it Foundry 42 it was the UK entity um and stuff and also the is there's um you know there is already a um a a cloud

12. 00:09:03

    Imperium um games um UK as well which is a different part of the company and so forth so we're the development arm um and then basically which and then the development arm basically don't to get into too much detail it goes it you know basically is owned by the publishing arm and so forth it's just all um you know stuff I very so so the developing s was called Foundry 42 and Foundry 42 is not just the UK office now it's also the German office as well um is part of the same company um so the whole European development arm is basically Foundry 42 and there's now um I think about 220 210 220 of us now um in the two offices so it's quite a big big chunk so you've agreed to start a company you've got a name what's that process like like where do where do you

13. 00:09:51

    start obviously you have to find a place to work you're so basically we had a discussion I then made the really hard decision to hand in my notice um uh and leave a bunch of guys I really enjoyed working with um uh and then I just started you know the location we had I had set up the original company was in whims slow we loved the location I like that's the reason I picked there in the first place got good transport manester airport is literally a 5 minute drive away or you know can walk it in probably 15 20 minutes there's a there's a Mainline train station which goes through the country to London up to Manchester which is literally a two-minute walk you know from the office and so we decided to stay in whims slow so I just basically went around looked for um building which were available um contacted um um a surveyor England surveyor someone who guys helps you know get um the property sorted and then just took it from there and built it out when

14. 00:10:39

    I left there was a core group of about four guys who who really wanted to join um who've been working for me for years um Nick Elms who C director Dereck Senor who's a tech director Phil Miller who's the um lead designer on Squadron 42 um uh and so we all kind of um we got together and and um and so we kind of left um travels at the same time uh and then fortunate enough that um a a few more guys from Travelers you know once we' left contacted us and and and you know want to join us and so forth and so originally the the course of maybe 20 people were um some guys from from from the Lego games um but then now the company is is you know we're like said I think in our office now about 170 in in the UK office and there's probably I mean there's you know now it's the vast vast majority all people from a lot of

15. 00:11:27

    different companies from a lot of different countries we've brought people back from Canada from the US who've come over from um you know all over Europe and so forth and things we've got a really good um development crew there that's now we announced found year 42 at citizen con that year which was October so between August and October uh where was the company when we announced it okay so uh so well obviously from August I basically well we hand my notice and you take four weeks and so um I didn't leave until and so I handed my not beginning of September for member and so I was actually I finally left um working um uh Travelers in beginning of October and then the company ran from my office at home um for about uh two three months so I I have a and so and so there was basically five of us working out of the

16. 00:12:17

    office when we got going and then if people remember and go way back there might you might remember there's one or two shots we might have done in this sort of very small area if you go way way back to the to the old stuff and that was in the old offers and so and and and the the first guy to join us there was um um David Gill who we know is bone who's who's our our lead um UI um programmer and he was there as well with the office and we getting getting the code base and working working the stuff from home and then we were working there while the office was getting built out and of course as soon as we get into the office we did and we got in so fast that literally the builders were still working around us and we just we just got one little room sorted and we just all dove in there and just put all the desks in there and by then we had about another three or four people joining us and there was a little thriving group of us in this one room and then you know and then I think when we finally got on the floor there's maybe about 14 of us and then we just built from there really

17. 00:13:05

    now this this is one of those things that gets often forgotten that whole first year it's we're building the game but we're also building the company oh yeah we still building the company I mean yeah I mean and you and it's not just about it's not just getting people in it's getting the right people in and finding them and then you once you get them in you've got to get them trained up they've got to spend time learning the code base um you know and that kind of you know that sort of stuff so yeah I mean we grew GRE from 14 to like 170 in the space of what just a little bit over two years um and and we've been and and we are very selective about making sure we get the right people because if you get the the wrong people in it can really set you back in a lot of ways because your F stuff's been covered it's not you know it hasn't been you have to fix stuff up and so forth and things so yeah but it was like so we building the company I mean you know we started on one floor of the building in which is um you know in whims slow we we then got

18. 00:13:53

    the second floor last year and now we've just got another floor um which we just moved into a few months ago so we're on three floors now um and you know it's just it's never and then we we basically decided to um you know uh you know obviously got into the team structure the whole pretty much the whole audio group apart from um there some support in Austin is all based in in the UK and so we then had to we then when we we moved the floor we had to then rebuild out and get proper audio Suites and you know audio rooms in there and so forth I know some of the some of the backers who've done visits around their office will have seen it all the layout and so forth and things but it it's um so it's always over changing and just getting things sorted and you grow and then you have to kind of make room for people and then we go through phases where everyone's just crammed in and it's like you know like some sort of sweat shop and then we get another floor and we can just like sort of like spread so when did you move into that building was you

19. 00:14:41

    said you were in the you're mov in the building in December 2013 okay so December 2013 we're talking 14 months since the original Pledge campaign started uh We've we've got an Austin office we've just built out an LA office we're just getting the UK office going and you guys are about to take over Squadron 42 to yeah the original idea was we would go and run Squadron 42 yeah so what what condition was Squadron 42 when when you took it over like well I mean it was it was it was obviously you know uh very basic of you know be burn stuff and things of like the whole project I mean you can't you you know that's what you know when you're dealing even even having the the leg up of having the the CCH obviously the technology needs and has needed and as everyone knows I mean we spent a huge

20. 00:15:28

    amount of resource and time last year um um you know basically making sure it could run the way it needs to do to run the game and so forth so we have like um uh you know like you know just in terms of like all the 64 you know bit changes we have to made all that kind of stuff there's a huge amount of work we have to go through and so you're you're building the Cod base out you're making all these sort of changes to to make the you know to make the game work uh and Squadron 42 is the same because obviously it's a shared code base and so we're working on it so we basically started working on the assets we came out with what the story plan was and worked that with Chris and Dave hadock and and then will came on as well working on the stuff and things to get the story fleshed out and then we have a we have a large design then we started hiring designers to start getting all the levels broken out so we have like a you know different levels that to play through and so forth you've sort of led me into this now we've talking we're talking about different departments there's the audio there's the designers uh give me a give me a just a short breakdown of the of

21. 00:16:18

    found year 42 what departments exist in found year 42 so we have uh found 42 now um we have the obviously the whole the AUD Department's there um we have the um the uh the environment um pipelines read out of that is is Led Out of of out of the um UK so we have about I think it's about 18 environment artists in the UK but then also we have environment support um in um uh in calendar as well um from behavior from Behavior right um and then we have the ship pipelines LED out the UK as well and we have about I think it's about 178 ship artists in the UK and I tell you what you need them when you're making Capital ships I mean I guess you guys are um seen the star Fara but when you see some of the siid the other ships we're making and and and the Addis by the way which looks amazing

22. 00:17:06

    and is is is is pretty much done U but then we have a javelin we have a Bengal we have a stuff like that pretty much done not done guys but it's like so we have all so we have teams so that's LED out then we also have obviously have a ship team here in LA and the ship team in Austin as well smaller but like that uh we have the the props pipeline is out of the UK so basically all the of props and stuff LED out there as well as Behavior once again helps with that um the uh what else we got in the UK it's pretty much a lot I mean the the the UK has obviously the largest body of of of employees and so forth and so we basically do um kind of do a lot of um the sort of um uh horsepower uh in terms of like just making sure a lot of the assets and stuff come out from the teams

23. 00:17:53

    and not just for Squad 42 for Star Sy yes it's it's it's Global so all the environment and ships and basically for the you know for the Pu and stuff and like that and those pipel are are are basically pushed for the UK and then also we have a bunch of there a bunch of Animation work that comes out there as well as Austin does a bunch of Animation work and um uh and then the German office got some animation as well and the German officers part 542 they do they have the cinematics and pipeline team and also they sort of run the um the FPS side of things although a lot of they work very close to UK the German office in UK I said the the same company basically and so we work same time zone so we're very close so a lot of even though some of the Productions LED out of Germany for that stuff there's a lot of the people in the UK who work on that stuff with the German office and and then once again it's the other way around as well and of course Germany does a load of the ctech because we're

24. 00:18:42

    very fortunate to pick up a bunch of the guys who know who pretty much wrote the CR in the first place and they they basically have been doing a bunch of work and you guys have seen that with stuff like the procedural planets um and and things like that so cool now 2014 uh mostly building infrastructure building the company up building uh uh the foundations for squadron 42 getting the tech stuff um one of the popular terms that gets thrown around a lot that most that many people may not understand is vertical slice you can you talk to us about what a vertical slice is so vertical slice is basically taking one part of the game and making sure that it is uh it it it it hits up all the different areas of what you're trying to achieve in that game you know I mean you don't get everything typically but you try and say right so say a vertical slice for squadron 42 would be you're out flying and so you

25. 00:19:30

    work out you you'd have a you'd have you'd basically pick a mission which basically has you flying around getting out Eva doing some some in space landing on a on you know you know a structure uh going into the structure wandering around having a big FPS battle that kind of stuff and then you're basically trying to hit up all the elements space ground and then also you'd have um interative so big thing in in Squadron is the whole idea that you live in the living brething ship so a vertical slice would have you you know also wandering around you know the ship you you live on talking to people doing stuff as well as well as then the story elements and the cinematics and stuff like that so that's kind of what it is and you taking a little section and saying this is the this is basically the game uh in this little section and this basically proves that we can get all this sort of stuff done and then you sit there and if you look at it and go wow that's awesome then you know C all we're doing now is

26. 00:20:18

    going dang is knocking out all the other rest of the stuff gotcha so anything else you were working on in 2014 vertical slice getting things getting the technology ready 64-bit conversion 2014 uh no lot of 2014 um so basically said we we know we came on to do Squadron 42 work um but then um uh there was a and originally when we came on the team was we weren't planning actually having a large studio that was not the plan it was we were maybe be 40 50 people we're going to work on some stuff we're going to do some Outsource and so forth things um one big thing happened in the UK which was um which actually then changed this what you know changed around the way we do some development is the UK government brought in a tax credit uh which basically meant that um you know for development for games and so forth in the UK that if basically um

27. 00:21:06

    you know to incentivize to bring back because the games into the UK has been you know pretty rund down and stuff like that especially where I live Northwest even more so and so forth and so it's been really good for for the UK in terms of lot of things is you know um great like I said we've been bringing people back to UK as usual but they basically gave you this tax credit where they'll give you money back for the money you spend and so it just all of a sudden became you know a really uh you know you know obviously you know of course you're going to know when you have that sort of ability to not only you know obviously we're very lucky to have all the support from the backers but then if we can use the backers money to get more support so we can put more money into the game because the Govern with tax credits which meant that we decided then we were going to expand the workforce in the UK and it made much more sense to basically put more bodies in the UK than in other areas where there wasn't the sort of

28. 00:21:52

    incentive from from the um you know from the government so that's kind of what happened so we built the whole team up for that kind of stuff and as we built we then said well okay well it's not just Squadron 42 which we'll be doing in the UK then we should actually be supporting um the Pu and so now we do I mean in the UK yes we are you know heavily do Squadron 42 but we and the same thing is we get a lot of support Squadron 42 from the US as well and from the German and from you know the Frankfurt office as well as Austin here so everyone works together on Squadron 42 and everyone works together on theist Universe um but then we also do a lot of um you know so we do the FPS stuff like we talked about German office we do that kind of stuff but we do a bunch of stuff and on everything together as one company and um I think originally when it was interesting Dynamic when we first started because you you can have this um between the studios because you have an ability to um work really well together

29. 00:22:42

    if you do it right because basically we're working on something in the UK and then like now I'm in the US now obviously over here and then they do a handoff and so I'm here we'll have the handoff and then if there's any issues we get to fix those stuff and then we do a handoff back to the UK and it works really well so you can you're almost getting 24-hour development and support and so forth however if it's not organized right it can go the other way cuz then you're waiting a day to hear back from someone and so forth and I think you know and so we we worked through a bunch of those issues you know in the early days you know early 2014 of how we're going to work together as an organization and then getting people and then also really um working out who owns what in a lot of ways because it's really important that like you don't feel you know that that everybody understands what their ownership is what they're in charge of because if you get a situation where two people aren't sure what them who's doing what or or who's in charge of what then you know it can

30. 00:23:30

    it can lead to you know you know discussions and you know problems and morale issues and so forth and things so it's very much so a lot of the stuff that I've been doing uh you know we've been working out like exactly who's in charge of what and it's very clear production responsibilities with different producers in different Studios and even if there's people they're working with another studio if they're the guy in charge of that sort of stuff then they know that they're the people coordinating it so you don't have stuff because it's not only just the fact that people might just get upset oh they're treading on our toes but it's also the fact that sometimes stuff just doesn't get done because goes oh I thought you were doing that they go oh thought you were doing now and so now you know we've been just as an organization as we grow we've been basically working through all these issues making a lot better and now it's like really great the way the organization works together and just it's really solid and we didn't have the benefit of being a company that's existed for 5 years before we started this project so we're having to discover these procedures write these protocols

31. 00:24:18

    building everything organ You're Building you know you know is that it's everything to do with that so so so we're trying to we're trying to build a game we're trying to fund a game that's never the way it's never been done before we're trying to build it in the way it's never been done before trying to build an organization at the same time and it's it's a lot of fun and uh and you know and but we are really fortunate cuz I have to say we we have I have never worked such a Ted bunch of guys they they're just like this group of people just from all over the world just really good so it's it's a lot of fun well you're welcome Aon I do what I can all right so 2015 now we're getting ready for the performance capture shoot for squadron 42 uh what was that like how do you set up something like that how did we get bed with imaginari so that was more um uh once again uh cuz originally we were thinking about doing

32. 00:25:05

    it was going to make sense to shoot in La um but once again because of the tax credit situation um you know once again as I said Master Stroke by the by the government as far as I'm concerned we decided to move it to the UK because once again any sort of money that's spent in Britain is is you know 2 back so also so we're working imaginary working healing Studios and um and so you get that tax incentive back again so that was basically the reason for for doing the UK um and Imaginarium was because we went and um we spent some time going around talking to the different houses and the people who we really um you know felt uh you know were in syn with us and um you know felt really good to work with and you know and you know have very good conversation with and stuff like that and we really seem to be like you know shared our sort of you know um ideas of what we want to do but also in terms of where technology was going and how we maybe could work together and do stuff we Imaginarium and

33. 00:25:53

    so we had very good conversations with them um and so we decided to basically you know go that route and then John Shimmel obviously who's who comes from the background of linear production then put the whole thing together we got the people in you it's a bit of a you know you know getting getting the get getting the right people in building the team and and then and a a um a performance capture shoot is not unlike a film shoot it's pretty much you need the same people doing the same sort of stuff you're basically filming people but in a different way and so it's very so that side of the business is kind of pretty much people know how that works what was it like getting those emails from John schmer or whoever that oh yeah we've got Mark Hamill oh yeah we've got Gary Oldman with with with with those with those good moments where you I mean I think I think um I think uh with some of those guys um um yeah I it

34. 00:26:40

    fantastic the cast was was was was a really really great cast to have and so that was a lot of fun and it really helps because Chris has got some good relationships with some of those guys from from his past and stuff and so and and it's was kind of like and it was fun just when they get in the set as well just you know um you know seeing um you know seeing the guys there and um I think they kind of had a lot lot of fun coming on there and doing and and you know working on the um and doing this as well so it it was yeah it was all around A great experience so we do three or four months of the initial shoot I don't remember exactly three to four months I think it was um no was about eight weeks okay the ACT then the setup that the production I'm I'm thinking the time that Christmas yeah I mean you always have you always have like um you always have to have like the production teams running beforehand to make sure it's all

35. 00:27:27

    set but the actual actual time on stage I think was I think it was six seven weeks I think something like that and then so that that that stuff comes back to found to Foundry UK I guess well it goes to everybody whoever needs it right what Happ what do we do with that footage so when all the footage goes in it then um it gets processed so we can use it and it goes to the animation team and there's two lots of there's obviously the body side of it and there's the facial side we have one team of guys um which is led by um Jon Jones who's in um uh um uh in Derby and he basically has a crew of guys who basically get all that all the facial stuff and then he they work with cubic motion who basically go and take and get all the camera stuff and and bring it back and make sure that the facialist stuff working on the characters and stuff and then you have the body guys and that all that all the

36. 00:28:15

    body stuff comes back to our teams in Austin in the UK and in Germany and then they take um all that information and then we get it in the game and then we have all the facial scans which go off um to three lateral um for for team and then they basically the ones who come up with the faces and so forth which then we then take all that information and um and play the stuff on uh so we've got the performance capture shoot done uh we we're processing the animations what's what's the last half of 2015 for 542 what are we working on now uh well I mean obviously Squadron um and and also um you know that was the big big um heavy lifting for 2.0 and getting that stuff out that was that was a mammoth effort from a lot of people um not just because of the huge technology

37. 00:29:03

    can you imagine you basically got all this work going behind the scenes and then you get it running and then I mean you know I me that was probably the longest um PTU cycle we were on with people uh but basically you're just you're basically throwing out a whole new codebase and so you're just working through and working through and working through and so that was that was a good amount of work so the decision is made to create the mini puu the baby pu uh uh had an interesting name for it I can't remember what it was now not the mic protoe he wanted to call it the protoe whatnot uh when did that decision come about when did we decide we were we were ready to start the baby peu that well that was always the plan I mean that was always the plan once the tech was involved but we couldn't do that without this you know the 64 bit um so you know so we could have the huge the huge spaces um uh and then also um uh and

38. 00:29:52

    there's a lot of other Tech and stuff that had to be built for that um but as soon as we had that then the idea was what we were going to do is get actually the the seed of the experience of what Star Citizen is out there and we're going to start with basically doing a little corner of um the Crusader um uh and so that sort of area and then we're going to build out Crusader uh you know to uh to basically become the first sort of like system um with um you know with all you know and stuff and so we have all different planets in there um and then the the system is Stanton Stanton thank you talked about this before and I it always slips my mind and so basically what we what we're building out Stanton system and we're going to build out all the locations of Stanton system we're going to get it get the players doing lots of stuff you know how the the the systems are so huge there's huge amount

39. 00:30:40

    of gameplay I mean there's more more gameplay in one system in our game than there'll be in most games out there and so and so now what we're doing is we're seeding in all the different locations and we're putting in you know we'll be putting in the ability to you know to you know do missions you can always kind of do but we're going persistence goes in very soon and with persistence then basically have the ability to go in and earn money and do stuff and buy stuff and play and trade and you know obviously things will be will lay these in but you'll be able to trade and you'll be able to go mining and earn stuff and you'll be able to do different missions and you'll be able to do things like that and so forth and so this is what we're doing so so right now you know this year what people are going to see is a huge you know they're going to see the whole what star system just taking shape and the ability to do that along with obviously all the sort of capital ships that are coming online so people can really just do cool things together and and and on that sort of level as well so uh shopping is going to

40. 00:31:30

    come online here soonish no dates uh shopping uh and that's not just for AR Corp there will be some component of that eventually no no this is this we will be putting shopping in in in the in terms in Crusader gotcha so so there'll be a little B system you'll go there you will you will basically be able to Yes um so you can go down you're playing the game and you win some um uh you know what we're going to call Alpha um you know um um um you know u u um and you'll go to go in and you'll be able to go and play the game and you literally will play it like you would play a game and you go and trade you learn some money you'll spend some money you'll go there'll be items you a to buy and so forth and things like that and we're going to run this Alpha U um cycle for probably a long long time and then every time we come with a new version we'll probably wipe it and start people again and then we'll adjust stats again

41. 00:32:18

    and and so we're going to use this a huge balance pass and keep on going with people but all the time people will be able to play and actually go and experience and build stuff up and buy new stuff and weapons and components to put in their ship and buy clothes and do all those kind of things like that and buy armor and and weapons and actually earn and do stuff and get together with people and do things like that and to clarify for those we are in Alpha and we have ueec but what we're talking about is a new temporary currency that we're at the moment calling Alpha UE yes so basically anything ueec is something at the moment that people have paid their good hand C go good you know good hard in cash on and that and if you buy anything with that then you get to keep it you get to use any time so stuff that so if you if you bought it with you know your actual U then you'll have that when you go into Crusade and you'll be able to use those sort of items all we're talking about here is is you know um

42. 00:33:06

    you're we're going to give the ability which finally which a lot of people looking forward to so basically when you go in you'll now start earning UEC in the game but it won't be the same as the that money you you paid for because because yes it's it's funny money because basically um we want it in there so people can go there and test it and do the system and buy stuff and build themselves up but obviously once like I said obviously at some point they'll get one when we may do sometimes we may not wipe it sometimes we may and so forth but the idea is when we have big new upgrades then then we'll probably wipe it and then get people starting again to test us because we might we may well be changing prices we may be doing this sort of stuff we may be adding new features or items and so forth New Missions and things and all kind of stuff and so forth and so so basically yeah the alpha U is basically just for people to go in and play that so so if you've just got your Aurora and that's it and you're going to get to you going have to go in and if you work really

43. 00:33:53

    hard and go and do a lot of missions and then lots of credits you're going to be able to upgrade your aora you you know get buy a new ship all that kind of stuff although buying a new ship in the game is you know quite expensive you know you don't it's like if you went and bought like a aircraft carrier you know nowadays you know it's you got to it takes a long time to get there and so forth and things like that so it's a thing that we can use we we can dump a bunch into the market we can pull a bunch out of the market it's it's how we're going how we're going to figure out the entire economy basically and and the great thing is we're going to have our community with us helping us you know uh explore that balance it you know get the feedback I mean already on the on the PTU stuff we do it's fantastic I mean just right now in in the middle of you know getting 2.3 out and the feedback we get is is immense because every morning uh you know I mean you know I'm not said it before but we literally are on the forums and and on a daily basis we have guys who

44. 00:34:40

    specifically just go through look at the issues get them down look at you know you know okay are some issu is just like a single thing or is a lot of people and so forth we get that sort of feedback we get the feedback every morning and then we go through it and then we get to implement that stuff and that's why we can have really fast turnaround and stuff which we just wouldn't you don't get anywhere else and we can't afford to hire like you know 100,000 testers right so it's like it's great having this community which supports us you know not only financially but actually um you know just to come and and basically you know work with us to give us the feedback we need to make the game as good as it's going to be okay so we're adding shopping we're adding cargo because that's necessary for trade I assume U mining um I I assume that'll that'll be some part of the of yila in the asteroid field I imagine um we had Luke Presley on the show a couple weeks ago he talked

45. 00:35:27

    about boxal asteroids eventually coming to support that um what don't forget our procedural stuff ised the corner I noticed Crusader moved a lot closer to the space station in 2.3 so procedural we're going to be able to fly down to Crusader you're going to be able to fly down to well um uh uh maybe not Crusader but you'll be able to fly down to areas and planets and stuff like that so forth the moment but yes yes that's the whole idea and that's um and like said you know that was that was actually one of the one of the awesome things about getting the German Office on Board it's not only because they know the tech really well which really helps in a lot of different areas and really helped actually um getting 2.0 out but I mean is because we procedural stuff for us was like a stretch goal which was like I mean it wasn't it wasn't even was

46. 00:36:14

    like yeah we'll get to that when we get the game out and so forth in fact but then the guys came aboard and this amazing stuff and we're like and now already because we have that it's not just the fact that we can be able to fly down the planet that procedural stuff allows us to do loads of other stuff because it allows us so we have asteroid bases in space which would be procedurals you can build them I can go do stuff and things like that as well and so forth and things so so and all that Tech and allows us to do a lot of other things which is going to people are going to see um the goodness of um pretty soon so I remember the day Chris came we're in different half halves of the office he do doesn't usually come to our half unless he's leaving for the day and he comes over with a flash drive he comes to my desk I'm like Chris is walking to my desk what is going on he goes put this in and watch this he was so happy it was the very first iteration of pupil the planet it we just showing Ben come here we all gathered around and we watched it we were all just flabbergast like we're here already it's

47. 00:37:02

    like we're here no no I mean the funny thing is it's like cuz it it was uh it was Christmas time just before and Marco has been working with some of the guys over there just said I think we should just show this and I didn't really know what to expect and then it's like wow okay and then and then they had all the tech working and then and then um and then yeah and then then and Sean did a lot of work on that and um as well and getting stuff and that but it was it was yeah it was it was pretty amazing stuff Marco's fantastic we i' I've I've tried I've sent him a couple requests for interview stuff and he's just like I just want to make the game yes the the German office the German office are not big on to be honest we're not in the UK either no we're not I think it's a European thing with the cameras are not not our friends so we try and stay away as much as possible it's worth it for you guys to make the game that you guys

48. 00:37:48

    are making so we we we're we're happy you know some folks are like why don't you get them on camera off it's like they're making the game you know let let the uh we're we're us Americans are a little uh we're a little C we're a little celebrity happy so we're happy to be on front of the camera hi Mom this gets asked a lot so I going to ask you what happens when Squadron 42 is done when Squadron 42 is done then we basically move on to um episode two and um and then obviously a bunch of other work of the Pu I like said the teams it's one co-base the teams very interchangeable so so people will be working on um you know the different things and stuff like that but because we we right a lot of the work we do now for the persistant universe is we drive it all with Squadron 42 features and assets um and uh and then basically when those come online then the persistant

49. 00:38:37

    Universe guys can then take that and then put it into the game gotcha and so like as you so you know when we see updates will come and and then you know stuff will start working like oh look the radar and scanion is doing lots of cool stuff and of course this is all stuff for squadron 42 but then it's been used in a position universe and the great thing then is people in a position Universe are using it and then we're we're work looking out okay this is how they use it or this is cool this isn't cool and then we make those changes back in but the great thing is it just enhances experience for squadron 42 because basically you know all the fixes everything they're doing all the feedback we're getting means that when we actually ship Squadron 42 um it it won't be you know we'll have had we'll have had like a couple years of feedback on what works and what doesn't work which is why I'm really excited about it because I think we've got this opportunity to make this game which is going to be really well fought through a lot of the systems and way things work

50. 00:39:25

    because we'll have to s r of feedback about about stuff yeah I'm super excited about Squad 42 I'm not I'm more a multiplayer guy personally I I haven't played a lot of single player games in the last couple years but everything I've seen for Squad 42 and I've tried to stay away I've tried it's which is hard working here but I tried to stay as spoiler-free as I can but it looks when you're you know wandering around the Bengal carrier yeah uh you know as one chaplain all those kind of stuff so it's funny for because a lot of the we got like I said we got this huge ship team and they're working on stuff and but the vast majority of assets we working on the RO Squadron 42 assets and we use a lot of the Pu stuff will be in Squadron 42 as well but there's a lot of assets there which are not in the Pu now won't be into Squad 42 ships and so although yes you know got the star ER out which is in Squad 42 as well and

51. 00:40:12

    people believe that and obviously the address and stuff like that will come out but there are so many other ships there which you won't see and of course at some point though then we will start putting into pu but that'll be pretty that'll be pretty impressive when you you go to a system and then you just you jump in and there just like a huge Bengal carrier sitting there with like his Fighters around it and stuff and you better not be a parrot at that point which leads me to my last question for you uh this is a a big one from our community so I I have to ask it the Idris MH are we going to see it in the persistent universe in our hanger obviously not in our hangers but are players going to get access to it before Squadron 42 that's still up for discussion um there's two chains of thought on that and I don't think we've really it's going to be ready um like soon but whether we I mean it's

52. 00:41:04

    we're using SC 42 now um you know it's been set up in game there's a lot of stuff going on for of that it's actually and actually you know I think some of the backers backers who come to our office we love showing them everything and they've seen it they walk around seen this it's just more about whether because it's a big part of Squadron 42 and it's actually going to be the ship you start on and living for a while it's whether we just want to if we feel like we may be spoiling it for the players if they you know the first if if we put it out there and everyone knows this inside out and all that kind of stuff when it comes to Squadron 42 it's not going to be such a novelty so it's we're going to have to make a call thing on that I mean about what we do there are virtues on both sides of the argument obviously I know people have played for their interest and want it we go I want my address and I want to do my kind of stuff and things like that but yeah there is there is that stuff and there is there are other areas where it would be um although the ship will be done and it'll be working for what we

53. 00:41:51

    need for squadron 42 because it's a single player campaign Squadron 42 and because you are not actually palting the ship yourself and so forth and things it it completely flies properly that kind of stuff but a lot of the seat action stuff there'll be because it's a big capital ship and the way we do seats for for larger ships and you'll start seeing that for the STA era and you and stuff like that are kind of different and so there's a lot of there's a lot of UI drill down on what HC can do and so there's a little bit of work around that as well but yeah it's going to be I can't give a you know right now it's we're holding on to it uh that may change depending you gave exactly the answer I was w so so we're still completely completely ambiguous no just we wanted to get that information out there that that a call had not been made yet so so Aron thank you so much for taking your time to chat with us that was a very long interview we had to

54. 00:42:39

    split it into two pieces but we'll put the whole thing up after the fact on our YouTube so people don't have to watch it in two pieces uh thank you so much no thank you very much it was being here yeah have a good flight back and uh back to you guys see [Applause]