The development team of Star Citizen consists of hundreds of people, working on making the game a reality in a distributed development process. From the west coast of the United States to Frankfurt, Germany, highly-skilled, passionate people toil, making breath-taking progress all the time. On top of Cloud Imperium Games' in-house studios, many contractors and partners have contributed into the project.
As of 2020-12, CIG has a total of 695 staff. 512 of whom are developers.[1]
Studios
Cloud Imperium Games, LLC
Located in sunny Los Angeles, California, CIG LA is Cloud Imperium's flagship studio. Home to Chris Roberts and much of the company's leadership, CIG LA represents a cross-section of the company and includes the ship development pipeline, technical designers, high level engineering, community, marketing and more.[2]
Notable members
- Mark Abent - Lead Gameplay Programmer
- Elwin Bachiller - Lead Ship Artist
- Sandi Gardiner - Vice President of Marketing
- Jared Huckaby - Creative Content Lead
- Ben Lesnick - Director of Community Engagement and Content Strategy
- Pete Mackay - Game Designer
- Chris Roberts - Chairman & CEO
- Forrest Stephan - CG Supervisor
- Chris Smith - Lead Vehicle Artist
- Sean Tracy - Technical Director, Content
- Will Weissbaum - Senior Writer
- Eric Kieron Davis - Studio Director LA / Production Lead U.S.
- Josh Herman - Character Art Director
- Kirk Tome - Lead Systems Designer
- Elwin Bachiller - Lead Ship Artist
- Dave Haddock - Narrative Director
- Steve Bender - Animation Director
- Steven Hosmer - Senior Systems Designer
- John Pritchett - Senior Physics Programmer
- Justin Wentz - Concept Artist
Cloud Imperium Games Texas, LLC
The team at Cloud Imperium Games Texas' Austin studio (Bee Cave, Texas) is responsible for making the Star Citizen persistent universe a reality! From character artists to engineers, CIG ATX is a creative hotspot tasked with making an entirely new kind of game. The crack DevOps team is also located in Austin, keeping servers running and building out the infrastructure that will be needed to make Star Citizen sing.[3]
As of 2018-02-16, CIG Austin has a total of 71 staff working on Star Citizen.[4]
Notable members
- Tony Zurovec - Director of Persistent Universe
- Rob Reininger - Lead Technical Designer
- Elijah McNeal - Former Concept Artist
Cloud Imperium Games Ltd.
Formerly known as Foundry 42, Ltd. The heart of Manchester, England is also the heart of Star Citizen's Squadron 42 single player game. This fully-equipped development team is responsible for creating a unique cinematic experience in the Star Citizen world. A AAA game in itself, Squadron 42 is using groundbreaking cinematic techniques and best-in-the-industry game design to craft a narrative you won't want to put down.[5]
As of 2018-02-16, F42 Manchester has a total of 234 staff working on Star Citizen.[4]
Notable members
- Erin Roberts - Studio Director & Global Head of Production
- Todd Papy - Star Citizen Live Director
- Paul Jones - Art Director
- Zane Bien - Global UI Creative Director
- Joe Neville - Senior Vehicle Artist
- Corentin Billemont - Systems Designer
- Derek Senior - Programming Director
- Nick Elms - Creative Director
- Nathan Dearsley - Squadron 42 Art Director
- Phil Meller - Lead Designer
- Lee Banyard - Audio Director
- Mike Snowden - VFX Director
- Alistair Brown - Director of Graphics Engineering
- John Crewe - Lead Technical Designer
- Zoe Collier - Associate Producer
- Ben Parr - Associate Producer
- Simon Vickers - Lead Level Designer
- Jens Lind - Lead FPS Programmer
- Steve Turberfield - Senior Systems Designer
- Clive Johnson - Lead Network Programmer
- Robert Johnson - Lead Gameplay Programmer
- Ricky Jutley - Senior Producer
Cloud Imperium Games Ltd.
Formerly known as Foundry 42, Ltd. Frankfurt, Germany is home to Cloud Imperium's latest internal development studio. Staffed with top CryEngine development experts, Foundry 42 Germany is responsible for developing the pioneering backend technologies that will allow Star Citizen's persistent universe to shine![6]
As of 2018-02-16, F42 Frankfurt has a total of 80 staff working on Star Citizen.[4]
Notable members
- Brian Chambers - Development Director
- Chris Campbell - Lead Lighting Artist
- Francesco Roccucci - Lead AI Programmer
- Hannes Appell - Director of Cinematics
- Christopher Bolte - Principle Engine Programmer
- Tobias Wanke - Lead Weapons Artist
Cloud Imperium Games Ltd.
Formerly known as Foundry 42, Ltd. An official satellite studio of Foundry 42 Manchester, the Derby office is a small team looking after all aspects of the facial pipeline. From taking delivery of the Face Rigs from 3Lateral, implementing them in-game, taking all the face animation from Cubic Motion and also creating all the Facial animation for the PU that Cubic aren't doing.[7]
As of 2018-02-16, F42 Derby has a total of 15 staff working on Star Citizen.[4]
Current Partners
Turbulent
Turbulent works with Cloud Imperium Games to develop web platforms such as Spectrum, the Starmap, Issue Council, the website and the launcher.[8] They have been with CIG since 2012.[9] In 2019-12-03, CIG went through a mutual investment with Turbulent. Cloud Imperium UK Ltd. purchased 22,250 shares of Turbulent (25%) directly from their co-founders Marc Beaudet and Benoit Beausejour, and acquired two seats on the Turbulent board. Meanwhile, Turbulent founders Marc Beaudet and Benoit Beauséjourv each acquired 1,170 shares (2,340 combined) in Cloud Imperium UK Ltd.[10] In 2020-11-24, Turbulent announced that the company will open a Montreal game studio focusing on building star systems for Star Citizen. The studio will be directed by Benoit Beausejour (CTO and co-founder) and industry veterans Guillaume Voghel (Producer), Pierre-Luc Boulais (Art Director), and Louis Rousseau (Lead Game Designer).[11] As of 2020-04-05, Turbulent had 42 people and growing working on Star Citizen.[12]
Notable members
- Benoît Beauséjour - CTO and Co-Founder
3Lateral
3Lateral works with Cloud Imperium Games on character faces in Star Citizen.[13]
Amazon
Amazon works with Cloud Imperium Games on the development of Amazon Lumberyard since 2015, which is what Star Engine based on. Amazon also provides game servers for Star Citizen on a cloud-based service called Amazon Web Services (AWS).[14]
Faceware Technologies
Faceware Technologies works with Cloud Imperium Games to develop the Face Over Internet Protocol (FOIP) feature that was built with Faceware's LiveSDK. A facial motion sensor specifically for Star Citizen is also in the work. However, since late 2018 no mention of the product has been made by either CIG or Faceware. [15][16]
Firesprite
Firesprite is contracted to Cloud Imperium Games in 2017-01-11.[17] On 2021-03-18, CIG and Firesprite publicly announced the collaboration on the PvP combined-arms multiplayer mode, “Theaters of War”, which has began in early 2019.[18]
Intel
Intel works with Cloud Imperium Games to promote the Optane series SSD for desktop users and workstations. They also sponsored hardware to CIG and also their conventions.[19]
Perforce
Cloud Imperium Games utilize Perforce Helix to support its DevOps.[20]
Tobii
Introduce official head and eye tracking support for the Tobii Eye Trackers.[21]
Gamerizon
Gamerizon developed the interactive 3D part of the front-end javascript client for the Starmap.[22]
As of July 2022 they are helping build Quantum.[23]
Other Partners
- David Ladyman - Editor @ Incan Monkey God Studios (responsible for publications such as Jump Point)
- Geoff Zanelli - Composer for Squadron 42
- Jan Urschel - Freelance Concept Artist @ Hendrix Design
- Pedro Macedo Camacho - Lead Composer for Star Citizen
Past Partners
Advanced Micro Devices
AMD partnered with CIG to promote their Radeon™ R9 or R7 Series graphics cards with Mustang Omega, as a part of the AMD Never Settle Space Edition promotion.[24]
Airship Images
Airship Images is specialized in character arts and worked on characters, hairstyles and R&D tasks for CIG in the years 2016/2017.[25]
Atomahawk Design
Atomahawk design did concept art for Foundry42.[26]
Behaviour Interactive
Behaviour Interactive (BHVR) is responsible for art production for Star Citizen since 2012-12-12.[27][28]
CGBot
CGBot was responsible for the early concept arts and assets production for Star Citizen and Squadron 42.[29]
Confetti SpecialFX
Confetti SpecialFX are a thinktank for advanced graphics technology that worked on a capital ship damage system and nebula effects for Star Citizen between the end of 2013 and end of 2014.[30]
Crytek
Crytek was the game engine developer of CryEngine, the base game engine for Star Engine before the switch to Amazon Lumberyard in 2016.[31] In 2017-12, Crytek filed a lawsuit against CIG on breach of the game license agreement (GLA). As of 2018-01, both parties are still engaged in the lawsuit.[32]
IllFonic
IllFonic was responsible for the initial FPS module and the FPS components of the game.[33]
Massive Black
Massive Black did concept art and ship design for Star Citizen, including the design for the 300i in 2013.[34]
Moon Collider
Moon Collider was responsible for the Kythera AI development prior to the development of Subsumption. CIG started working with Moon Collider in Spring 2013.[35]
Rmory
Rmory was responsible for early weapon concept arts for Star Citizen and Squadron 42.[36][37]
Streamline Studios
Streamline Studios worked on SQ42 art assets, such as the Vanduul ship models in 2014 and 2015, a number of their assets were leaked to the public in 2015 as part of the "Lando Leak".[38]
The Imaginarium
The Imaginarium was responsible for the motion capture mainly for Squadron 42, but also for the Persistent Universe.[39]
Wyrmbyte
Wyrmbyte was responsible for early network engineering for the Persistent Universe in 2014.[40]
Virtuos
Virtuos was responsible for the early ship and prop assets in 2014.[37]
voidALPHA
voidALPHA was responsible for environment art till the end of 2015.[41]
References
- ↑ Cloud Imperium Financials for 2020
- ↑ Los Angeles Office on Cloud Imperium Games
- ↑ Austin Office on Cloud Imperium Games
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Star Citizen and Squadron 42 Staff Grows to 475 Employees Working on the Game
- ↑ Manchester Office on Cloud Imperium Games
- ↑ Frankfurt Office on Cloud Imperium Games
- ↑ Development comments on Foundry 42 Derby
- ↑ [Replay] Un développeur Star Citizen sur la chaîne ! #1 Interview in French with a Turbulent technical artist
- ↑ Turbulent - Case Studies: Star Citizen
- ↑ Cloud Imperium & Turbulent Extend Their Long-Running Partnership Through Mutual Investment
- ↑ Turbulent creates new game development studio in montreal to make worlds for Star Citizen
- ↑ How many staff work at the Montreal Studio? Sandi Roberts Twitter
- ↑
Monthly Studio Report: January 2017. Transmission - Comm-Link
- ↑ Star Citizen and Squadron 42 Utilize Amazon Lumberyard Game Engine. Press - Comm-Link
- ↑ Cloud Imperium Games and Faceware Bring Real-Time Character-to-Character Chat to Star Citizen
- ↑ Faceware Technologies Announcement. Transmission - Comm-Link
- ↑ Get to know Firesprite, a new CIG contractor. on Reddit
- ↑ UK-based Developer’s Key Role in Development of Star Citizen Combined Arms Multiplayer Mode Confirmed Ahead of Community Playtest
- ↑ Blazing-Fast Gaming with Intel's First Client Optane SSD
- ↑ Case Study: Cloud Imperium Games on Perforce
- ↑ Tobii Eye Tracker 5. Transmission - Comm-Link. Retrieved 2020-12-22
- ↑ Gamerizon worked with Turbulent and Cloud Imperium to produce the Web Starmap for Star Citizen. Our contribution was the development of the interactive 3D part of the front-end javascript client.
- ↑ Star Citizen Live: All About 3.17.2
- ↑ AMD Never Settle Space Edition promotion, Archived 2014-09-06
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Star Citizen Portfolio
- ↑ BHVR Portfolio - Star Citizen. Archived 2018-01-24
- ↑ Behaviour Interactive teams with Cloud Imperium to help create new space sim game with legendary designer Chris Roberts. Archived 2015-05-19
- ↑ CGBot Portfolio - Star Citizen
- ↑ Confetti SpecialFX Star Citizen work
- ↑
Clarification by Chris Roberts on the switch to Lumberyard
- ↑ Crytek CIG lawsuit documents
- ↑ IllFonic Portfolio - Star Citizen
- ↑ Star Citizen among other portfolio work
- ↑ Moon Collider Case Studies - Star Citizen
- ↑ Rmory Portfolio - Star Citizen
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 Monthly Report: July 2014. Transmission - Comm-Link
- ↑ Streamline Studios post about the Vanduul Void Bomber
- ↑ Inside CIG: Imaginarium. Engineering - Comm-Link
- ↑ Monthly Studio Report: April 2015. Transmission - Comm-Link
- ↑ voidALPHA's tweet on departure of SC