Star Citizen crowdfunding surpasses $30 million, Squadron 42 to receive upgrade

[Russ Boswell]

If you haven't heard about Star Citizen, the space-simulator epic is the newest project from Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts, launched back in 2012 when a teaser website by "Roberts Space Industries" popped up. The website hoped to secure crowdfunding for a two part project, a massively multiplayer online space adventure set in a persistent world, and a single-player (cooperative included) campaign dubbed Squadron 42. 

It's been just over a year since the process began for Star Citizen, and Cloud Imperium Games has managed to rack up a whopping $30 million in funding. This extra income isn't just for profit though, and has been pumped into "stretch goals" which can be viewed on the RSI website. The latest milestone means developers will focus more on Squadron 42, upgrading it to start with a massive space battle. The new upgrades will turn Squadron 42 into a "true spiritual successor to Wing Commander," according to the website.

Developers plan to put players right into the action, opening the campaign with an epic dogfight, rather than prattling through a boring set of training patrol missions. The additional funding will allow them to create enhanced mission designs, and allocate more resources in order to create a better game experience overall.

The milestone also sees the release of the Origin 890 JUMP craft. According to the website, the 890 JUMP is an "interstellar super-yacht with exquisite styling and an array of high quality upgrade options." In short, it's a luxury item, one with customization that will allow players with a lot of cash to cruise in style, showing off their earnings. Only two stretch goals remain, and the website cuts off at the $32 million mark. It will be interesting to see if Cloud Imperium can secure another two million before the project is completed.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/54801-star-citizen-crowdfunding-surpasses-30-million-squadron-42-to-receive-upgrade.html

 

[avioza]

*Keeps fingers crossed.

This could be the biggest flop in recent histroy... but I hope not. In Chris we trust.

 

[madboyv1]

Either the biggest flop ever, or the greatest success in crowdfunded gaming, possibly ever. I hope for the later, as we've given enough money to qualify to be in the AAA gaming category. And with no publisher (aka EA............) they are accountable to no one except the gamers.

I cannot wait.

 

[oldikes]

So is this going to be like an MMORTS (in which case I don't care that much) or a flat out MMORPG, like WoW or rift or ESO or TOR except different?

 

[MrAnderson]

All I can say is happy thoughts... I have really wanted to play in a virtual world with space sim action, and a great single player campaign. ::happy thoughts::

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

Why do I have a feeling this will be cancelled and then they disappear with 30 million...

 

[Xasrai]

So is this going to be like an MMORTS (in which case I don't care that much) or a flat out MMORPG, like WoW or rift or ESO or TOR except different?

Neither. It's a Space Simulator with very basic RPG elements.

As an update to this article, the website shows that in the past day, over $750,000 has been raised, and the total is now at 31.25 million dollars. I'm confident that it will reach $32 million in less than a week.

 

[Xasrai]

Also, RSI only releases two stretch goals at a time, so you always see the current stretch target, and the next one. So, contrary to the article, the $33 million stretch target is now live, and once $32 million is hit, we will see an update with the $34 million stretch target.

 

[WangDangDoodle]

I have high hopes for this game, and I sincerely believe in the developers. Publishers are the devil of the gaming industry, and these guys have managed to completely avoid them. If anybody has any doubts about what these people are doing and whether or not it's a scam, just watch the videos on their website. These guys are true believers. /respect

 

[Capaill]

I loved the Wing Commander games. My old USB joystick is sitting at home gathering dust - I wonder if it will finally come out of retirement as we go hunting Kilrathi again (or whatever the new enemies are).

 

[oldikes]

Neither. It's a Space Simulator with very basic RPG elements.

As an update to this article, the website shows that in the past day, over $750,000 has been raised, and the total is now at 31.25 million dollars. I'm confident that it will reach $32 million in less than a week.

Im basically asking how the space simuator works. Is it like, move ships from here to here, or move a character from here to here and do this, or what

Like, name an example of a game this will resemble. Im sure I know what you are talking about and I have seen it before I just never gave it a definition

 

[baN893]

The author obviously hasn't followed the game very much by saying: "Only two stretch goals remain, and the website cuts off at the $32 million mark. It will be interesting to see if Cloud Imperium can secure another two million before the project is completed."

They just hit 32 million, and keep releasing more and more stretch goals. Over the past week it was normal to see 1 million raised in one or two days.

 

[Guest]

...And they already hit 33million.

 

[thelatestmodel]

[quote="ikesmasher, post: 1362139, member: 223979"
Im basically asking how the space simuator works. Is it like, move ships from here to here, or move a character from here to here and do this, or what

Like, name an example of a game this will resemble. Im sure I know what you are talking about and I have seen it before I just never gave it a definition[/quote]

The genre has many names. Space combat, space trading, space exploration... it's too broad to fit into just one or two words. Freelancer would be the best example, also see Wing Commander, FreeSpace, and X3 Reunion / Terran Conflict.

Basically you're given a small, weak spaceship and are told to go out into the galaxy to seek your fortune. You can fly missions for people, go out and mine asteroids, buy and sell trade goods, explore derelict space hulks, whatever you can find basically.

It's in good hands - when it comes to space sims Chris Roberts just "gets it". He made Freelancer and Wing Commander, and I reckon this is going to be orders of magnitude better than either of them.

Go grab Freelancer, and if you like it, get excited for Star Citizen.

 

[Xasrai]

Im basically asking how the space simuator works. Is it like, move ships from here to here, or move a character from here to here and do this, or what

Like, name an example of a game this will resemble. Im sure I know what you are talking about and I have seen it before I just never gave it a definition

The game will involve both the moving of your character from point a to point b and also the movement of a ship from point a to point b. Examples of games that are space simulators are: Star Wars: X-wing (and Tie Fighter), the Wing Commander series, the X series and Eve Online.