What Happened with Star Marine?

Star Marine is the portion of the Star Citizen project that should have been a warning to backers and outside observers. If you clicked this article thinking I would tell you the release date of Star Marine, you’re in the wrong place. The release date of Star Marine would just finally put an end to the long road of broken promises that is the Star Citizen module’s legacy.

The way Star Marine was presented to the public was designed to bait people into the project by giving them something popular and relatable. Advertising something similar to Team Fortress 2 or Call of Duty was a guaranteed way of attracting the gaming audience’s attention. This is why it was presented as if it was it’s own game in itself. Someone who didn’t like space games could see Star Marine and think of it as a cool enough feature to get involved in the overall game.

On the other hand, it needs to be said that the hard work and effort by the people who Star Marine shouldn’t be forgotten about. Chris Roberts arranged Illfonic to make the initial Star Marine vision. The group, along with the help of Jason Hutchins, and Star Citizen‘s programming, art, and QA staff, worked day and night on this FPS module. The release date of Star Marine does not matter at this point, as the amount of time and backer’s finances that have went into it has excessively ballooned to extremes. Nothing can fix the money that went down the drain.

Now it’s time to jump into the tale of Star Marine. A project within the Star Citizen project. The journey to the idea of a final product, and the efforts made trying to get there.

What was Star Marine?

Let’s start with the basics of what the Star Citizen FPS Module, later given the formal title of Star Marine, exactly was. The core of what it is defined as is best described to be the “brother” of Arena Commander (a simulation mode which centered around space flight), taking players into first-person shooter game battles.

In short, the video narrator calls it the framework for the Social Module: implementing game aspects like zero-G movement, boarding other ships, planetary exploration, cargo loading. “Basically everything that’s not you flying or manning a station on a ship,” the narrator says. A “test bed” to set the base for Squadron 42 and the Persistent Universe.

Most (pretty much all)  of what’s discussed comes from posts on robertsspaceindustries.com. The main one that provides the general Star Marine outline is here. I’ll do my best at going over the basic vision for the FPS module.

Two modes, each with their own map.

The classic recreational mode, Sataball, would be played in the astro Arena map. Two 8 vs. 8 teams navigate a zero-gravity arena in order to control a ball and take it to the opposing team’s gate. Seven rounds total, with each round culminating when a player scored a point. To move, players would either use their arms and legs or a grappling hook for propulsion movement. You could grab the ball with your grappling hook if you wanted. No lethal weapons, but you could stun enemy players.

Team Elimination was going to be one of the FPS game modes.  Basically two opposing 8 vs. 8 player factions would fight to the death in a similar fashion to Team Fortress 2 or Call of Duty on the in-game Gold Horizon Station.  Players use actual lethal weapons and equipment from their arsenal in order to dominate their opponent. The big twist advertised with this mode was the promise that you’d be able to turn off the artificial gravity of the station. If this happens, players would need to adapt: magnetized boots, thrusters, or grappling hooks would be needed to navigate the area.

Customization was also detailed. Although weapon customization wouldn’t have been in at launch, Roberts reportedly promised to patch that in. But the weapon types offered would have apparently included: assault rifles, ballistic/laser pistols, electric shotguns, combustion pistols, submachine guns, sniper rifles, burst cannons, and microwave cannons. Six different armor sets were allegedly created for Star Marine, 3 were for U.E.E and 3 for outlaws. Each of the light, medium, and heavy armor sets had their own weapon restrictions, but also their own passive benefits. Grenades were going to have their own types: EMP, Fragmentation, Force-propulsion, and then two different area scanner grenades meant for small and large scale analysis. Other random gadgets intended to be included were an “area of denial” device that shot explosives, a hologram decoy device, a healing pack meant to tend to your buddy’s battle wounds, and a personal shield. Self-explanatory.

The last aspect of Star Marine is the “Fidelity” department. Star Marine was set to have three different stances. The first one to set your gun in a lowered fashion, essentially hip-fire. The second one has the weapon in a “ready” position, up close to the shoulder and ready to go. The third and final stance has the player aiming down their weapon sights, moving at a slower walk but able to shoot with maximum accuracy. The first two stances activate automatically, while the third stance must be player activated. Breathing and stamina is also a highlighted key point. Star Marine players would have to watch their personal stamina when they sprint, vault over objects, or breathe. Run out of stamina and you can’t run as far, or aim as good. The armor type players had on affected their stamina. When it came to firing from weapons, players would have the ability to hold their breath to reduce weapon sway to zero. Finally, physics based momentum would’ve been a mechanic in Star Marine. A player running around and then stopping wouldn’t transition between the two states automatically, rather gradually go from one to the other. The “jukes” system meant players would have a brief pause before turning different directions.

Now that you understand the module, take a journey through the ups and downs of its announcements.

Promises, Promises

At PAX Australia in 2014, Roberts says getting shot in Star Marine at various parts in your body has an effect on gameplay. He gives the example of your character limping if you get shot in the leg, or being unable to use your arm if you get shot there. If you got hit enough, you’d fall to the ground and your comrades would have to drag you to safety for revival.

He calls the footage shown off as being in the “first person branch” of the build, promising that it would have it’s own specifications for animations and features. Roberts shows off first person view, with the character walking around the hanger with a helmet visible in part of the screen with their breath fogging up part of the glass towards the bottom edge.

When it came time for PAX East 2015, the FPS module had resurfaced. The change that the viewer will easily notice is the character’s headbobbing is more noticeable, as the helmet’s HUD elements move around with each bob. More importantly, we see indicators of a “Team Elimination” mode among that helmet’s display.

Roberts cites “work to do” on the module as “one of the reasons why we’re not giving you the FPS this week,” as if at that time it was nearly finished for release. On March 9th 2015, in this presentation, he said the game was three weeks from release. He said the transitional animation work that needed to be done was putting the animations into CryEngine. In terms of consistency between here and PAX Australia, Roberts goes into detail about how getting hit at different places in the body would have different effects on gameplay.

But again here, look at what’s presented at that point in time and make note of it. Hold onto it tight because it’s going to slip away later. Roberts finished the Pax East 2015 presentation by officially calling the FPS module Star Marine, giving it an in-game fiction name and backstory.

The cherry-on-top came in June 2015, when Chris Roberts did an interview with Redbull gaming (Star Marine: Bringing crowdfunding to a gun fight). In it he talked about Star Marine and presented it in such a way that was meant to lure in people who liked Call of Duty and Battlefield FPS experiences.

Chris Roberts specifically tells Red Bull it’s “not a Call of Duty or Battlefield imitation,” but proceeds to make the direct opposition implication in every other section of the piece.

“We want to make sure that the combat that you get in Star Citizen isn’t just a dumbed-down version of an FPS. We also want to make sure our FPS has its own personality.”

It’s a direct contradiction that he went out of his way to make  in order to draw more of the gaming community in, outside of space simulator enthusiasts. But time and deadline extensions were wearing thin.

Delay Alley

June 27th, 2015. Letter from the Chairman. This segment of how the Star Citizen developers roll out news is centered around written thoughts from Chris Roberts himself. In this particular edition, he formally delayed Star Marine indefinitely.

“When will we see Star Marine? Tonight, I don’t have an absolute answer for you,” he writes.

The idea of Star Marine as it was shown in presentations and discussions to backers was done. The intent of talking about it in the first place was getting people to believe Star Citizen had something deep to offer FPS gamers, making them pledge money into the overall “dream”.

The next few days had numerous gaming outlets reporting on the status of Star Marine, as the gaming community had expected Chris Roberts to release the full-fledged FPS module by this point. Polygon, PC Gamer, Cinema Blend, and Gamespot all published articles about it.

In July 2015, community manager Ben Lesnick makes an extensive blog post about Star Marine and the overall state of the Star Citizen project. The guy has a tendency to ramble, but there’s an actual section or two worth quoting.

“the short story is that Star Marine was not ready for launch when we had hoped (and planned.) We spent several weeks expecting that resolving a then-current crop of blockers would allow a PTU publish. When this didn’t happen, we conducted a full review of the module lead by our top technical folks from around the company. What they determined was what you read in Chris’ letter two weeks ago: we need to rebuild several ‘boring’ backend pieces and we need to fix serious animation issues before there would be any benefit to a release.”

He states an observation that was probably the cause of writing the post in the first place. “Anyone (and apparently this is a great many people) reading clickbait headlines will believe we’ve cancelled Star Marine. This is not the case, to the point that it implies the absolute opposite of what’s actually happening,” Lesnick wrote.

The Star Marine debacle at this point is what caused Derek Smart to come into the picture here in the first place. One of his first extensive blog posts on the Star Citizen project (Interstellar Citizens, July 6th 2015) had a few key points about the state of Star Marine within it.

“The RSI devs have all the same insurmountable problems that I have encountered over two decades of chasing this whale, and which have not only led to their delays, but also the recent announcement that the first person module was on hold came as no surprise to me.

I have it on good authority that it’s not even on hold, but that they’re probably not going to finish it both because it won’t work within the current framework and it wasn’t in the original design as spec’ed, since it has ballooned to what it is today. So naturally, it’s the first thing to go, or put on indefinite hold while they figure things out.

Remember: the game, first and foremost, is a space combat game, not a first person combat game.

At least you will still have your hangar (which is completely and 100 percent detached from the game framework, by the way), in which you can still walk around in first person mode to look at your ships. And Arena Commander.

Why wasn’t I surprised that they’ve started cutting things out, starting with this? Well, because after spending over two decades making a game like this, you pretty much know what to expect.

Right from the start in 2012 when they said that they were using CryEngine3 as their baseline, I was skeptical. But if they kept the scope, and scene sizes manageable, I felt that it was totally doable.

Once the feature creep and increased scope started to unfold, I knew they were in trouble.”

Derek Smart was right. It’s inconvenient that the truth about Star Marine happens to come from someone who also happens to be the developer of a space game, but that’s how it played out.

A July 18th 2015 interview with GamersNexus, titled “Chris Roberts Interview on FPS Module Delays, Progress, & New Timeline.” Again, Roberts makes it seem as if the module’s release was only a few weeks away. “In reality, we’re probably weeks off. We’re shooting to have FPS on the PTU round-about Gamescom or slightly after Gamescom. We’re really talking about people getting to play FPS in a matter of 3, 4, maybe 5 weeks.” There’s video of this interview, if that’s your fancy.

August 7th 2015, Gamescom Presentation. At this point, Chris says Star Marine would release “hopefully next month,” seeming more and more unsure of himself compared to his March 9th announcement that Star Marine was a mere three weeks away from then. He says there was a development challenge of getting first and third person animations to seamlessly work together. The footage shown off looks pretty complete to the casual observer. In of itself, if this presentation footage was representative of the final product’s gameplay, he could’ve released the build the very same day of the Gamescom Conference. Star Marine looked like it was ready to launch. But Chris laments on the animations and their fluidity during the demo he shows the audience, that getting hit needed “more fidelity” to it’s impact. The overall feeling of the presentation is awkwardness, as both Chris and the demonstration players in the Star Marine multiplayer match they played on stage acting confused as to what was going on screen.

He finishes by promising Star Marine v1 – The Battle for Gold Horizon would release before that year’s CitizenCon event in October 2015.

Let’s jump back to the initial “Delayed Indefinitely” letter. “There will be challenges that we struggle to overcome, and we will never be able to predict all of these with certainty…but I can promise you we will keep you informed and that we will not stop working until the game is done right. ”

Chris Roberts delivered on that specific promise with Star Marine. When it came to updates sent out to backers, there was an almost weekly article about what kind of progress was made with the Star Marine FPS module. July (1, 2, 3, 4), August (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), September (1, 2, 3, 4), and in the beginning of October (1, 2) before their annual convention, CitizenCon.

But when CitizenCon arrived, Star Marine did not. What was released the day before the show was an informal teaser of the module that “was made by a couple QA testers and a Producer just today while play-testing a build. This was not meant to be a grand trailer for FPS, but more-so some fun clips we put together in excitement for tomorrow,” according to a developer’s statement.

People were expecting new content and an official release at this point. It was something that the backers were promised. But CitizenCon came and went, with Star Marine pretty much a total no-show. Roberts announces that much of Star Marine was being added into the PU, in a piece-wise fashion.

The final noteworthy blow to Star Marine came about on January 25th, 2016. During Episode 75 of 10 for the Chairman (a video series in which Chris Roberts answers questions), someone asks about the plans for the module’s release.

Roberts delivers his response.

“So yes it is still in the pipeline. I do actually kind of like to say something because I sort of get annoyed sometimes when I see this pop up in comments like “Oh Star Marine is cancelled or Where’s Star Marine!?” Star Marine was just a game mode for people to play the FPS elements of Star Citizen until we could combine everything together: Flying, walking around, shooting, doing all the rest of the stuff, all together, that is what is in 2.0, that’s what it’s 2.1.

With SC Alpha 2.0 onwards, you have basically what we were planning to do from Star Citizen and from the very very beginning. If you could back and look at the original pitch we didn’t say “Hey we’re doing Star Marine“ We said we will have FPS and Board, well you have FPS and you have boarding right now and so what’s really happening is there will not be features that will only be for Star Marine outside a sort of competition match and scoring that isn’t going to be in the game and so we’re actually rolling out the FPS features.”

Chris Roberts is annoyed that backers are asking for updates on something he promised to release. He indirectly states that the defining features of Star Marine are never going to be released to backers, and they just salvaged what they could from the game’s code to use in the Star Citizen mini PU product they rushed out the door.

This is supported by the fact that Star Marine content made it’s way into the 2.2 “Public Test Universe” release, as seen here on a February 23rd, 2016 Reddit post. A very eager Star Citizen player posted his discovery to the community, and the only response from the developers was to declare it a “bug” and patch it out. The aspects that were initially promised by Roberts, such as modes and loadouts, slipped into the public. A video of this is available here.

“Star Marine was originally our idea of how to get people to play the FPS before we could put everything together, but since that obviously took longer than we expected to get FPS to the level that we are comfortable with,” Roberts further explains.

In short, he confesses here to Star Marine being a marketing strategy in order to get first-person shooter gamers interested in backing Star Citizen. In the end, that’s what happened to Star Marine. As it was originally presented to backers in order to get them to pledge money, but given the infinite flip-flops back and forth of this project it could still happen. A meteor could crash into the Earth and wipe us all out as well. My boss could win the lottery and quit gaming journalism, too.

These faint glimmers of hope are what Chris Roberts uses to string the backers along. “So there you are, we will have Gold Horizon, we will have Star Marine, but that will come online once all the basic FPS features are out in and live in the mini PU,” he finishes off his answer with.

It’s there, but it’s not there. Just a month ago, there was a reddit thread that actually got into an argument over what Star Marine is, or was. The backers don’t even fully understand for sure among themselves.

Timeline

Let’s put it all together here. The public’s confusion about Star Marine becomes clear when you trace the history of it.

Illfonic’s FPS Module

8.15.14: FPS teaser. “REDACTED is hard at work on the FPS module”
10.24.14: FPS Development Team answers questions on RSI, Twitter, Reddit
11.1.14: RSI directs attention to upcoming PAX Australia for FPS demo
11.1.14 (video): Illfonic unveiled as REDACTED team working on FPS.
11.5.14: Star Marine’s footage introduced at PAX Australia.
12.4.14: “still much work to be done before the FPS module is ready for prime time”
1.9.15: “design team has been working on blocking out the first few levels for the FPS module release.”
2.7.15: “lots of bug-fixing has been happening. Mostly for the FPS module”
2.19.15 (video): “Art Sneak Peek: Gold Horizon station that is coming with the FPS module.”
2.21.15: “we are entering into the tightest schedule we’ve ever had for public releases. In short order, you will see Arena Commander 1.1 (now with REC!), the FPS module and the so-called ‘social module,’ our first foray into the persistent universe.”
3.7.15 (1, 2, 3): “find out how everything from the imminent FPS module to the Persistent Universe is shaping up!” + “We have also been busy testing the upcoming FPS Module. Glenn Kneale in our Manchester studio and Tyler Witkin in our Austin studio have done a great job ensuring the FPS Module is continually tested by the QA team. At the end of each day, they provide a full report on the state of the FPS Module, report any new issues found and provide relevant feedback.” + “Here at IllFonic we’ve been working feverishly to get the FPS module in a good state for showing at PAX East.”

Illfonic’s Star Marine

3.9.15 (video): the FPS will release in “3 weeks time,” NAMES IT STAR MARINE.
3.14.15: “our next major release is Star Citizen 1.2, which will add Star Marine to the mix.”
3.20.15: “Hangar is now equipped with a SimPod that will let you play Arena Commander and, soon, Star Marine.”
4.11.15: Schedule Roadmap. “Alpha 1.2.0 – Star Marine”
5.2.15 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) : “There was a lot of work to do to help bring these characters up to speed with the rest of the amazing work Illfonic has been doing to make Star Marine look the best it can.” +  “Melissa also headed up an initiative to log all errors found in the game logs which will be a huge help in ensuring we have a cleaner game for the release of Star Marine.” + “checklists have been updated to include more Star Marine and Squadron 42 features as well as deeper checks to the editor.” + “continually testing Star Marine.” + “spent some time internally on creating some plans on what we’re going to need to support future modules, namely the upcoming Star Marine module” + “created some cool logos this month for “Interdimension Software“, “Electronic Access” as well as a “Star Marine” logo animation”
5.4.15 (video): An Entire “10 for the Producers” about Star Marine
5.9.15 (1, 2): Long update about Star Marine. SIGNS OF DELAYS. “Where Star Marine differs from Arena Commander is that we’re not launching it in its most basic game. Instead, we’re trying for something more.”  + “We hope this update has helped you better understand all the pieces going in to Star Marine.. We will continue to provide regular updates on the Comm-Link and during Around the Verse until we’re ready to kick off the first public release”
6.4.15 (video): Star Marine Plans with Travis Day.
6.5.15 (1, 2, 3, 4): “Star Marine (now being readied for its PTU debut)” + “testing new builds of Star Marine” + “Our FPS specialists have been very busy ensuring Star Marine is properly tested each day” + “I’m sure most of you saw the massive post concerning Star Marine, and the reason why it’s taking a little longer than expected.”
6.13.15 (1, 2): “focus in recent weeks has been on Star Marine” + “Scythe and other changes can’t be added until Star Marine (which features necessary updated animation code) launches.”
6.20.15: “SOON. Star Marine is in review!”
6.27.15: The letter from the chairman includes updates on Star Marine, but no release date is made known.
7.3.15 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7): “a push to get not just the Star Marine FPS module out, but to start sharing more about multicrew and the persistent world.” + “Rex has extensive QA experience and is already a huge help with specialized Star Marine testing.” + “We have also been performing an iteration on the visor displays for Star Marine,” + “We also began to focus on Star Marine’s weapon VFX,” + “Star Marine has had a lot of focus in order to root out major multiplayer bugs and try to find any general polish issues.” + “In addition to core locomotion, they have also created rules for Star Marine so that it reports stats in the same way that Arena Commander does” + “just as eager to see Star Marine release as the rest of the community”
7.3.15 (1, 2): Star Marine centric report. “Chris Roberts updated you on the status of the Star Marine module. As part of our promise, we will be issuing weekly reports on our progress until the PTU release.” + “Jason Hutchins from CIG-ATX is spearheading the production on the Star Marin module since Travis Day has moved on.”
7.8.15: CIG publishes response, calling Polygon’s “Indefinite Delay” title clickbait
7.11.15: Star Marine Status Update. “goal is to keep the focus on our core gameplay systems and character locomotion.”
7.18.15: Star Marine Status Update. “currently working to get Star Marine to the PTU!”
*7.18.15: “people getting to play FPS in a matter of 3, 4, maybe 5 weeks.”
7.20.15 (1, 2): Chris Roberts calls Star Marine media incident “Drama”. Goes on to address delays. “Don’t worry, it’s not! We’re hard at work on the FPS – as you can see from our update on Friday – and you will have it in your hands sooner rather than later.” + “Star Marine, which will be available shortly”
7.20.15 (video): “00:19:39 – What is the status of Star Marine?”
7.24.15: Star Marine Status Update. “spent a lot of time focused on general gameplay and the animation system. As Chris discussed on 10 for the Chairman, getting the animation matching the vision is one of our biggest challenges”
8.1.15: Star Marine Status Update. “continued our focus on animation-related issues, as we see getting the unified first/third-person animation as our biggest goal.”
8.7.15 (1, 2, 3): “continually testing Star Marine.” + “good times exploring and learning some of the Star Marine modules during our internal playtests” + “Aside from ships, we’ve also been working hard on Star Marine effects.”
8.10.15: Star Marine Status Update. “the FPS update this week is a little lighter than usual: we slowed down in some places in order to achieve stability for the demos Chris Roberts used in Cologne”
8.11.15: “Star Marine is still a priority and the team is working hard to get it to a place that we are happy releasing.”
8.15.15: “This will tie into the gameplay we intend to introduce with Star Marine! We envision a future where there will be a need to deliver marines to hot landing zones or for boarding larger ships.”
8.15.15: Star Marine Status Update. The demos from Gamescom put a halt on Star Marine progress. “Todd Papy, the FPS design director from F42 in Frankfurt is at the Illfonic studio this week to work with the designers and engineers on some key gameplay features. Jason Hutchins, the Senior Producer from ATX Austin will be joining Todd at Illfonic next week as well, to work on the upcoming release plans and the changes we want to make to a new game mode we will release on the Gold Horizon map.”

Cloud Imperium’s Star Marine/FPS

8.18.15: Cloud Imperium bringing more Star Citizen development internal, cut ties to Illfonic.
8.22.15: Star Marine Status Update. They claim to have fixed the animation retargets in two weeks. “At this point, we have a full feature list for the Star Marine launch”
8.22.15: “This month’s Jump Point features the development of equipment for Star Marine!”
8.29.15: Star Marine Status Update. “good progress with the animation work needed to get the first release of the module finished”
8.29.15: “Star Citizen’s code base split back in March when Star Marine – the FPS module – was targeted for release.”
9.5.15 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6): Illfonic acknowledges reports.  “Coming straight outta Denver, it’s the monthly IllFonic studio report! I’m sure you all have probably heard the news, that the team here has been scaled back as Star Marine transitions to be internally developed at CIG. This is true, and was always the plan. However, we do still have a smaller, lighter team working on the FPS module to help wrap things up. Read below for the nitty gritty details.”  + “completed art for Star Marine such as helmet interior line work” + “finished some loadout screen renders to get ready for Star Marine.” + “fixed the base male character model weight simulation issues, and player skin exposure issues for not only Star Marine, but the social module as well.” + “energized us to work even harder to get Social Module, Multi-Crew and Star Marine out to everyone as soon as possible.” + “comprehensively testing Star Marine”
9.5.15: Star Marine Status Update. “newer is not always better when streams diverge, but we’re getting it done, and pushing every day towards putting Star Marine in your hands.”
9.19.15: Star Marine Status Update. “For the most part, this week has been spent stabilizing game-dev and getting everything back in order there after the merge, which is still ongoing.”
9.19.15: “This month’s Jump Point features the second half of the development of equipment for Star Marine!”
9.26.15: Star Marine Status Update. “Another week where devs across the company are working hard on stabilizing our development branch.”
9.30.15: “comprehensive overview of how Cloud Imperium Games’ artists have created armor for the upcoming Star Marine module”
10.3.15: Star Marine Status Update. “it’s been another week of solid progress. We get closer and closer to putting this into your hands.”
10.10.15: Star Marine Status Update. ” I can’t tell you too much about what we were testing this week without ruining what we have in store for you at CitizenCon… so tune in tomorrow to see what we’ve been working on!”
10.10.15: Citizencon. Star Marine is no show. Roberts announces that it’s being integrated into the PU more directly. This leads to confusion as to if it was scrapped or not.
10.10.15 (1, 2): “Tyler Witkin and Andrew Rexroth have been very busy testing the newly implemented character rig and ensuring that all animations play correctly” + “providing engineering support for Scoreboards that appear throughout Star Marine matches.”
10.13.15: Jump Point Rehash. “comprehensive overview of how Cloud Imperium Games’ artists have created armor for the upcoming Star Marine module”
**10.14.15: “getting Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 in shape to share with all of you in the near future, and we’re in the process of closing down Star Marine as well.”
10.17.15: “work on Star Marine proper continues. Some of the deeper features are taking a back seat”
10.23.15: “What about the Star Marine-related portion of the release? With boots on the ground we’re seeing some noticeable improvements in the FPS reload animations, ADS and Stop-Start so we’re very pleased to that is all really taking shape, and not only are the characters feeling better, but the environments are too.”
10.27.15: This talks about the in-game backstory of Star Marine.
10.30.15: “Expect to hear more about Star Marine proper after 2.0 is released, but know that much of the FPS work happening right now will apply to both releases.”
11.7.15: “fixing various Scoreboard Issues for Star Marine.”
*12.12.15: Star Marine isn’t even mentioned by name anymore.”Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 includes our first drop of first person combat”
1.25.16 (video): “Just a game mode.”

To understand the perils that befall Star Citizen as a project, Star Marine is the foundation of much of that.