I just watched the latest Bodycam dev update for Locked and Loaded, and honestly, it left me wondering: Why is a relatively small studio solving gameplay problems that CIG seemingly hasn't even thought about after 14 years? Obviously, I'm not comparing Bodycam and Star Citizen as games. They're completely different in scope. Star Citizen is attempting to build an enormous MMO universe, while Bodycam is a much more focused FPS. But the approach to individual gameplay systems is absolutely worth comparing. Take scopes. Bodycam's developers didn't want to use simple camera zoom because it isn't realistic, but traditional picture-in-picture rendering is extremely expensive. So they spent months working on a new rendering/shading technique to get the visual benefits of proper picture-in-picture optics at a much lower performance cost. Then there's the reload system. In Star Citizen, reloads can still feel extremely static. You press reload, the same weapon performs essentially the same animation, and you're done. Bodycam has multiple reload variations, different timings, and different animations depending on the situation. Your character has a stress state. Calm? Stable hands. Under fire? Your hands shake, movements become less precise, and you can even fumble things. Their revolver system is particularly cool: firing one round and firing the entire cylinder result in different reloads. Suddenly, how much ammunition you fired actually matters to the reload itself. That's the sort of thing I'd love to see in Star Citizen. And then there's the procedural stumbling system. Instead of simply playing a "shot" or "falling" animation, the character dynamically tries to maintain balance based on things like terrain, velocity, impact, damage and where they were hit. The results look incredibly convincing. Imagine that in Star Citizen: you get hit in the leg while sprinting down a ramp, your character actually loses balance, tries to compensate, stumbles and potentially falls depending on the physics. They've also built a true-body system, where the body isn't simply locked to the camera. Your camera is your viewpoint, while the body continues behaving independently. Add physical camera movement, weapon grip adjustments, stress, fatigue and all the other systems and suddenly the character feels like an actual physical person rather than a camera with arms attached. And here's what makes this especially interesting: Bodycam started development in 2022. It reportedly started with just two French developers and has since grown to over 100 people. CIG started Star Citizen development in 2012. Yes, I know the obvious responses: "But Star Citizen is an MMO." "But Star Citizen has server meshing." "But Star Citizen has persistence." "But Bodycam is much smaller." Yes. Absolutely. I'm not saying Bodycam is technically more impressive than Star Citizen. CIG has solved some ridiculously difficult technical problems that Bodycam doesn't even have to deal with. What I'm questioning is the mindset toward moment-to-moment gameplay. After 14 years, I want to see CIG look at systems like these and ask: "Why are we still doing this the conventional way?" Reloads don't have to take exactly the same amount of time. Stress doesn't have to be a relatively simple stamina mechanic. Ragdolls don't have to rely so heavily on canned reactions. Optics don't necessarily have to be a performance compromise. A character doesn't have to be essentially attached to the camera. Bodycam is challenging these assumptions in a way I find genuinely refreshing. And honestly, that's the kind of competition I want CIG to have. Not necessarily another space game. Just developers elsewhere asking: "Why can't we make this more realistic?" Because if a tiny team that started in 2022 can look at something as mundane as a reload and decide to completely rethink how it works, I'd love to see what CIG could do with that same mentality after 14 years of development and the technology they've built. CIG has built an incredible foundation. Now I want them to push the actual gameplay systems just as hard.