Star Citizen surpasses $20 million, secures first-person combat

Cloud Imperium's space combat and exploration sim Star Citizen surpassed $20 million in funding, securing first-person combat "on select lawless planets."

"What this means is that we're expanding the FPS mechanic we've already created for the ship boarding system to apply to more areas of the game," Chris Roberts, creator of Wing Commander and Cloud Imperium's founder, wrote on the game's official site. "Join an ongoing battle on a contested world, launch an attack on a pirate base, come to the rescue of distant colonists and fend off Vanduul raiders ... the possibilities are endless."

Roberts revealed that the community will receive an extra reward, a fish tank decoration for hangars. Fish tanks will be added to accounts "very soon," along with the hangar in an upcoming patch.

"Included in your fish tank is a rare gold Midas fish, found on the planet Cassel in the Goss System (pictured above)," Robersts wrote. "Star Citizen will allow you to add more fish to your tank by exploring distant planets and collecting new species."

The next stretch goal sits at $21 million for the addition of a salvage mechanic, a career that features its own story elements and "universe-shaping endgames." The career is exploration and scavenge-focused utilizing the game's flight and first-person shooter features to scour the game's universe for its secrets.

A $22 million stretch goal will introduce a facial capture system, which uses a series of cameras to capture real heads for in-game characters.

"This will let the team more easily create a variety of realistic characters," Roberts wrote. "In addition, the technology is mobile enough to allow us to take it on the road and capture select fans during special events!"

Funding for Star Citizen began on the site in October. A week later, Cloud Imperium launched a Star Citizen Kickstarter campaign to contribute to the crowdfunding efforts. For more information about Star Citizen and Cloud Imperium, be sure to read our recent interview with Roberts.