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Star Citizen achieves Kickstarter goal with 26 days to spare
Chris Roberts' Star Citizen title is well on its way if the project's Kickstarter performance is any indication. Wait, Kickstarter? Didn't Roberts set up a crowd-funding initiative directly on the game's official website earlier this month? Why, yes, yes he did, but due to the overwhelming demand generated by thousands of starving space sim fans, the site had trouble handling all the traffic. Roberts Space Industries thus opened an ancillary Kickstarter project with a $500,000 target. When coupled with the $1.3 million raised so far on the main site, Star Citizen is within striking distance of its original $2 million goal with a lot of time left on the clock. Check out yesterday's Massively Speaking podcast for an interview with Chris Roberts himself.
Star Citizen achieves Kickstarter goal with 26 days to go
Chris Roberts' Kickstarter for Star Citizen has surpassed its half-million goal, with 26 days left to go on the clock.The Kickstarter is actually a secondary funding location for the project, opened after Chris Roberts' Roberts Space Industries site had difficulty handling donor traffic. That site currently has $1,348,900 in donations with 16 days of crowd funding left to go.So, if our basic addition skills are working -- and we aren't saying they are -- the Kickstarter's current $517,000, plus the $1.349 million on the official site, means the game has received around $1.87 million in donations of its $2 million goal.
Roberts talks Star Citizen boarding parties, customization, and more
Can't get enough Star Citizen news? We can't either, which is why we cajoled Chris Roberts into joining us on this week's Massively Speaking podcast to talk about his new labor of love. That's later today, though, so in the meantime you'll have to content yourself with a transcript of Roberts' recent AMA session on Reddit. There's a lot to digest, as Roberts talks up features including ship boarding parties, private real estate, ship customization, and more. Don't forget to check in with us this afternoon as we ask the Wing Commander and Privateer creator about his Star Citizen investors, crowd-funding, the economy, and PvP!
Star Citizen adds Kickstarter to crowdfunding drive
After its official website (and only source of crowdfunding income) went offline due to server-crushing amounts of traffic, Chris Roberts' Cloud Imperium Games have opened an ancillary Kickstarter project to support Star Citizen.The main difference between the Kickstarter and the website itself – beyond the stark difference in fundraising goals – is the Kickstarter's special $5.00 donation level, which grants the ability to change a ship's hull design to players that have already donated on the main site. The rest of the game's registration process, as well as all of the other donation rewards, remain the same regardless of where the donation originated.As of press time, the official site has reached approximately $1.13 million of its $2 million goal, while the Kickstarter has earned $208,370 of its $500,000 target. Funding on the official site continues for another 21 days, while the Kickstarter remains active for another 30.
The Firing Line: On Star Citizen, DUST 514, and DayZ
Welcome back to The Firing Line, folks. While I don't have any nifty sequel announcements or contentious community issues for you this week, I do have some interesting tidbits on three upcoming shooters that you might have missed. Join me after the cut for a chat about Star Citizen's hardcore aspirations, DUST 514's PC potential, and DayZ's upcoming standalone client.
Star Citizen crowdsourcing moves to Kickstarter
Are you excited about Chris Roberts' Star Citizen project? Get in line, space jockey: Roberts said that "overwhelming response" to the proposed space sim ended up crashing the game's site. As a result, he launched a Kickstarter campaign to continue raising funds for the game. The good news for interested parties is that the game is already halfway to its fundraising goal, as one out of two million dollars has been raised through pledges. The Star Citizen Kickstarter is attempting to pull in $500,000 by November 19th. For his part, Roberts is bowled over: "It's a testament to the will power of our amazing fans. At a time when most would have given up, some dedicated fans kept trying to log on and eventually were able to get through and make a pledge. We appreciate all those efforts, and now with Kickstarter, we believe we have an answer for everyone." [Source: Cloud Imperium press release]
Star Citizen FAQ outlines modding, micropayments, hardware requirements
If you're looking forward to Chris Roberts' new Star Citizen title, you'd best be saving your pennies for a PC upgrade. Much like Roberts' 1990s-era Wing Commander series, the new game will push the limits of your hardware, this time courtesy of the CryEngine 3. The space combat sim's website has updated with a new FAQ that outlines the game's projected system requirements (it recommends an i7 CPU and a GTX 670 or better graphics card, but keep in mind that launch day is two years away). The FAQ also mentions Star Citizen's modding philosophy and its payment model. Modding is encouraged, as Roberts says that players are free to tweak the game however they wish on private servers. The devs also "hope to institute a mod approval process that will allow the best of the best player-created ships and other additions to be integrated into the central persistent world as well," according to the FAQ. In terms of payments, you'll need to buy the game initially and that's basically it. There will be no monthly fee, though "some in-game items may be available as microtransactions." Unlike most free-to-play titles, Star Citizen's cash shop "will never sell anything that can't be acquired through honest (and fun!) gameplay."
Star Citizen has raised almost half a million dollars
Chris Roberts' new space sim Star Citizen has already raised over $455,590 from its crowd-funding drive, despite being called Star Citizen. Pledge counts are not yet available on the website, but Roberts sent out an update today containing that number. "Seems everyone wants the RSI Constellation and physical goodies," he noted, suggesting that many buyers have paid more than $250 for access to the "RSI Constellation spaceship."Technical problems have held some pledges back, Roberts notes, entreating potential buyers to try again. "We still have a ways to go but I have no doubt with your support we will get there." Half a million in two days seems like a good sign.
Chris Roberts returns with open-world Star Citizen sandbox
It's a good day to be a hardcore gamer, folks, particularly if you grew up playing Wing Commander, Freelancer, or any number of similar PC-exclusive space sims. Genre heavyweight Chris Roberts has finally unveiled his new project, and it looks to be a sprawling open-world title called Star Citizen. Roberts has released an 11-minute video detailing various aspects of the ambitious game (it's been in development for a year now), which include a co-op fighter pilot campaign and a huge Freelancer-style cosmos that allows players to pursue their own goals. Wanna be a pirate? Go ahead. A trader? Sure thing. Oh, you want absurdly immersive details like full working cockpits, flightsuit wrinkles, and physics-based spaceflight too? You got 'em. "I'm building the game, and a universe, that I would like to play, so it's for gamers like myself," Roberts explains. "I wouldn't say that I'm a social, casual gamer who plays Farmville. I like sophisticated experiences." Roberts goes on to explain why he's chosen the route of PC-exclusive in an era when consoles and mobile platforms are all the rage, and he also touches on the subject of crowd-funding. His goal is a relatively modest $2 million, and he's aiming to achieve it directly on the game's own website rather than via a third-party intermediary like Kickstarter. He's also got quite a bit of in-engine footage to show already, and you can see it in the clip after the cut. Is Star Citizen an MMO, though? That's hard to say at this juncture. We know it's massive in scale, and we know it's multiplayer, but thus far we don't know much about the server setup or how many concurrent users are in the cards. [Thanks to Scott for the tip!]
Chris Roberts' new game is Star Citizen
Chris Roberts, creator of Wing Commander, has revealed his new project, first teased last month. The game, he says, will "breathe new life into space combat games," and is set to be be fully unveiled today at GDC Online in Austin, Texas.Star Citizen has been in development on PC for a year now, and promises several components Roberts' games are known for, notably a detailed world, "sophisticated story," and "visceral, heart-pounding space combat." Whether or not the game will feature talking lion-people remains to be seen.Roberts is using crowd funding to finance the game, via his own website. The game will likely need another two years of development, though users who back the project will have access to "a version of the game" next year. Star Citizen will be sold as a one-time purchase, though players will also be able to purchase in-game items.Check out the first trailer above.%Gallery-168015%
