We’re slowly approaching the release of alpha 3.3.0 for Star Citizen and Roberts Space Industries has released a new Around The Verse episode to discuss the development progress being made on the game.

Like many of the other recent episodes of Around The Verse, the video is just under 10 minutes, moving along at a rather snappy pace and only showing the progress in a quick and streamlined way. This has gone down well with some backers and not so well with others. You can check it out below.

Group messaging and contacting has been overhauled, allowing a three-panel commlink for players who want to be able to manage their contacts and communications for those within their friends list, group lists, party lists, and guilds.

This new system required a new UI overhaul for the Mobiglas for the contact feature, to streamline contacting other players.

The team is also working on the reticule stabilization so that the pip doesn’t bounce and jitter so much during high-impact and intense dogfighting. These new features will be present in the 3.3.0 roll out.

Environmental effects for Hurston is also being finalized, where wind effects, particles, and debris will affect the visuals of what players see while on the ground.

The episode is pretty short, keeping it tight and taut. I was kind of hoping to see or hear more about the actual development of some of the other tools and systems planned for 3.3, or how far along some of the features are.

BoredGamer, however, provided a more in-depth look into some of the upcoming 3.3.0 features regarding the medical gameplay.

The video covers the cost of medical services, how the medical services work, and covering some of the logistics regarding some of the nuances of medical services, such as bandits who attempt to commandeer a medical facility while being treated, or whether or not players will have access to their weapons while being treated on a medical facility.

There isn’t too much more to discuss from this week’s update of Star Citizen, which is kind of disappointing. Hopefully there will be more to share regarding the development in next week’s episode, as the countdown to the 3.3.0 release wears on.