the problem is, the game has been in development since 2012, and is still

nowhere near finished. development since 2012, and is still nowhere nearfinished. so what's going on? even with that mega budget, is this game just too ambitious? martin has been in search of the rain behind the star citizens. this previously, we couldn't have done a planet like this before. when i was done a planet like this before. when iwasa done a planet like this before. when i was a kid done a planet like this before. when iwasa kidi done a planet like this before. when i was a kid i wanted to be an author or not, i ended up being a dentist.

star citizen is important because it's a chris roberts game. chris roberts started out the wing commander franchise in the ‘90s. it's almost like he's the george lucas of space games. star citizen came around because chris roberts wanted to create the ultimate space sim that hadn't existed. he'd made wing commander and he wanted to make the biggest follow—up to that. but i don't want to build any old game. i want to build a universe. i want to build a game i always wanted to build, but i didn't have the tools to do until now. so when people then saw it, they saw what he was selling, they saw what he wanted to create, they wanted to invest in that. and invest, they have — so far in excess of $250 million, with $37 million raised in the last year alone. all this for a game which is still in the testing phase and isn't a finished product. star citizen's crowdfunding began back in 2011, with development starting in 2012. since then, the team making the title, cloud imperium games, has grown to 500, with five studios in three different countries.

one of which is here, in los angeles. this is an unusual title in the world of video games because even though the team here is busy still making the game, it is playable and being played by gamers at the moment. this game goes out every three months. but it's, of course, it is very, very early alpha so, to a degree, they're having the exact same experience as somebody that would be working on a game as, like, a qa guy or even as a developer. but this is a game which, from its inception, has proved to be controversial. since the original kickstarter campaign, its scale has dramatically increased, becoming a much bigger game in the process. as the crowdfunding grew, so did the scope. what began as an ode to wing commander gradually grew into this giant persisting universe, and, you know, that's a very different product. as a result of changes to the game, earlier this year, roberts space industries, a subsidiary of cloud imperium, was taken to court by a backer

seeking a refund of almost $4,500 — money he'd spent backing the game. a california judge dismissed the case without prejudice, due to a clause in the star citizen end user license agreement which prevents anyone from taking roberts space industries to court for a refund. the games company says it does issue refunds within a 30—day window. this brings us to the issue that seems to have generated the most headlines for star citizen. ca-ching! money. $250 million sounds like a lot of money, but when you think the movie avatar cost $237 million to make, and most estimates put gta 5 costing $265 million to make, it's not a crazy amount of cash to put into a game. reports in the press have appeared, suggesting micromanagement of certain aspects of the game's development has contributed to star citizen's delays.

we've spoken to several former employees at cloud imperium. all spoke positively of their time making the game, and although many admit that there have been delays, the sheer size of the project seems to be the main reason for its lengthy development time. from sunny southern california to grey, wintry manchester. while development on the game continues, here in manchester, citizencon — which is a convention dedicated entirely to the video game — is kicking off. citizencon is where fans and backers of the game can meet each other, as well as the game's development teams. one of the aspects of the game which has attracted a lot of attention is the ships. there are a plethora of different ships in the game, big and small, that can be purchased with in—game currency, or backers can use real cash, which cloud imperium says goes towards further development. rumours are rife of some backers spending thousands on ships. most of the people i meet at

citizencon have more modest budgets. how much money have you spent so far? it's only about $75—$100. probably invested about £250 into the game. maybe like £60 or something like that. there's always exceptions to the rule, though. yep, that definitely doesn't look friendly! i've spent about $7,900 on the game. run! $7,900?! 7,900 us dollars, yeah. now, we should say that you are a streamer. iam. so this is yourjob — this is your living, isn't it? it is, yeah. we do these crazy battles, like 50 players going to war, sci—fi battles. like, that's what we do. what the...? someday send the back—up! it's here in the midst of citizencon that i catch up with roberts. applause. we last spoke in 2016. star citizen has been in development... that long ago! yeah! for quite some time. it's still being worked on. what's going on? well, i mean, we're trying to build a universe at, like, a level of detail that no—one's done before, and so it's taking, you know, longer than we were anticipating

when we first announced it. there's an awful lot of online negativity around star citizen. why do you think that is? it's easy to be an armchair quarterback or an armchair developer. people aren't used or don't really know how much work goes into making these games. i mean, there's been some, you know, stuff like red dead redemption 2 or — but, you know, that was seven—plus years. it takes time to build games of the sophistication and simulation detail that gamers expect now. i mightjust have a gig that i could use you for. so, what's new? the new planet technology we have, which is much, much, much higherfidelity. we've been working on dynamic weather. you're walking outside, it's like there is slosh on your visor, there'll be slosh on your canopy, the wind is pushing you around. the other really big thing that we'e showing — the first time we're going through a jump point, or a wormhole. basically, as we carry on, we'll be opening up more star systems. next year, we've been promised the release of squadron 42, the single—player campaign aspect of the game.

but for now, development continues on the main star citizen experience. it seems this game's journey is far from over. that was star citizen marc. now, christmas is nearly here, which traditionally is the time when we all lay off the exercise and pile on the food. not lara, though. she's not waiting until january to get fit. she's getting on the case now, with a little help from a friend. right. i've got my gym kit, i've got my trainers. now it's just time to meet the robot that i've got an appointment with. hello! yep, it's putting me through my paces on the treadmill. the idea here is that i am going to be trained by ai, with a spot of help from pepper here. this bristol robotics lab trial aims to teach a robot the empathy and motivational skill of a human personal trainer. ok, i'm not quite sure what it's got in store for me. think about getting ready to start running. speed up now and run for one minute.

along with reacting to participants' heart rate data and facial expressions whilst they try to build up to running 5k, it considers personality type in its quest to perfect its patter. that robot, to begin with, knows nothing. and then don, ourfitness instructor, he tells the robot, in real—time, "right, now it's time to have a joke" or "now it's time to sympathise" or "now it's time to challenge." and every time he does that, the robot learns from that example. so after a few sessions, the robot then starts suggesting things. the estimated speed of a t—rex is 27 miles per hour. i can't go as fast as that! i had to write what kind of behaviours the ideal robotic personal trainer should have, yet still keeping that as simplistic as possible for the robot assist and coders to implement. it's quite unnerving when it leans forward. ifeel like i'm in trouble.

the key human aspects in psychology go in to analysing what that client needs at a given time. ten people took part in the trial, some totally at ease with the concept. 0n the day of a session i would be thinking "0k, well, pepper's standing there, waiting for me." kind of the longer you do this, the kind of — you get used to it a lot more. and probably if i was to run on a treadmill now, i'd be wondering "where's the robot?" they didn't just see it as a tool, as an object. it wasn't just a robot. each of them developed, i would say, a relationship. they would talk to it in different ways. the bot could be trained by different people, giving it different personalities and styles. but the general idea is that the gym of the future could be a very different place. nice work! well done for today! thank you. i hope to see you again soon! goodbye. give me five. 0h, maybe not. 0oh, denied!

that was lara and pepper, and that's it for the shortcut of click for this week. the full—length version is available for you to watch right now on iplayer. next week, it's the click christmas special, which means tons of serious journalism and sensible clothing. in the meantime, you can contact us social media. we live on facebook, youtube, instagram and twitter at @bbcclick. thanks for watching and we'll see you for clickmas. once again, showers are developing quite lively. wintry over higher ground, another covering of snow

into tomorrow. showers continue overnight and increasing ice was towards dawn as well. no big picture this evening, it is really through the hills of wales, northern england, central and southern england, central and southern england was likely to see a coating of snow once again. greatest risk of ice in the north. while we still have gales across the west, slightly lighter winds further east, temperature is widely down into single figures, if not below freezing, as we start the new week. it just that on freezing, as we start the new week. itjust that on a chilly note, a little dry weather around to begin with, it will turn what it is when the more widely later in the week. into monday morning, we will see icer isjust into monday morning, we will see icer is just about anywhere, a few showers still dotted around the morning, shall was most frequent in western scotland and northern ireland, some hail and thunder. while there are more morning jobs in england and wales, fewer of an old converted today, the winds will be

much lighter as well, it's still going to be a pretty chilly day by at—large. sunshine turns hazy across the south later, when gets close to the south later, when gets close to the channel islands as we finish the afternoon, into the evening and overnight, rain will start to advance out of france. new rain arrives on monday evening, then it should hopefully clear a little bit earlier as we head into tuesday. but, either way, it earlier as we head into tuesday. but, eitherway, it will still earlier as we head into tuesday. but, either way, it will still be a fairly damp and cloudy start in east anglia and the south—east. elsewhere, there could be dense fog patches to begin with, some breaks developing, sunny spells throughout the day, still a fairly chilly day, temperatures in single figures for many. a fog is that he witnessed the. while many north and east area stayed dry and stanley, sunny, heavy rain towards the west. the temperatures rise a bit, even though eastern areas are still only around 3or4

eastern areas are still only around 3 or 4 degrees. the wetter weather because she becoming more extensive, we will see is that i think winds across the board too.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 7... the labour leadership says sorry. jeremy corbyn and john mcdonnell apologise to supporters for labour's heavy defeat in the general election. it is only, i own this disaster, i apologise not just to it is only, i own this disaster, i apologise notjust to the mps who worked so hard. nicola sturgeon renews her call for a second referendum on scottish independence, saying the people of scotland mustn't be kept in the union — against their will. you cannotjust lock us in a cupboard and turn the key and hope that everything goes away. a marathon un climate summit in madrid ends in a compromisem in madrid ends in a compromise, leaving many delegates unhappy. a british man has been killed and his son wounded, after being shot during a suspected

robbery, outside a five—star