I, also, am trying not to get too excited about this, for fear of being terribly disappointed when it comes out.

Having said that, I keep my Citizen Card in pride of place on my desk, gleaming at me from under my monitor.... 😀

auryx

Star Citizen hit $13 million last night. and another huge email from them this morning.

SC Economy https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/engineering/13128-The-Star-Citizen-Economy

So the factories will generate the mission themselves.

Freaking $14 million now :O https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link//13130-Thank-You

Greetings Citizens,

We can hardly believe it – we’ve already hit the $14 million level! The grace period has ended and the limited ships available during this promotion are back in the hangar. Anyone who pledges from this point forward will receive a different insurance package than the one offered to Original and Veteran backers. We can’t thank you enough for all of the support you have given Star Citizen in recent months. Rest assured, we will be back at work Monday creating the space game of our—and your—dreams. Fans are making Star Citizen the first-ever crowdfunded AAA game and we’re very excited about the fact that we get to share the process with you. Together, we are exploring new territory in game development.

If you haven’t pledged yet, there are still plenty of packages available and there will be plenty of great promotions in the future. Please continue to consider Star Citizen; we believe it’s going to be an incredibly worthwhile game, one worthy of the incredible fanbase that has already formed for it. We knew that space sims and PC games both needed a return to their former glory… but we had no idea so many people would support is in this endeavor. Stay tuned, because the best is yet to come!

With the $14 million unlock you’ve added Hibernation Mode to the game, allowing explorers to shut down their spacecraft in deep space and resume the game safely later. We will also be putting together a professional-quality “Behind the Scenes of Star Citizen” documentary and adding the much-discussed fourth land out option on Earth (city TBA.)

As previously revealed, the $15 million goal is next:

$15 million

• Additional flyable ship class: escort carrier
• The Upgrade Handbook: an extra 42-page manual that walks players through the process of customizing and overclocking their ship systems! (PDF free to all backers before $15 million)

And now we’re excited to reveal the $16 million additions:

$16 million

• Arena mode: The next generation of Wing Commander’s TrainSim allows pilots to test out their combat skills against friends or strangers in a simulation. Gain valuable combat experience without the downside of losing your ship in the game universe! Place bets on competitions across the galaxy.
• A laser pistol for every pledger before this point. Keep your ship safe from boarders with a pistol by your side.

Thank you for the amazing support. YOU are making Star Citizen happen!

 

That handbook on ship overclocking sounds interesting and useful.

It dose sound interesting I will have the book in the Freelancer package but I though it meant modding in the game  as in creating add on but it looks as if you will be able to tinker with you ship systems.

New update https://robertsspaceindustries.com/

More news about the Gamecom event but you have to log into your SC account to read about it.

Also Roberts will be attending a talk on the 30th of this month https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link//13144-Attend-A-Chris-Roberts-Talk

Want to meet Chris Roberts? Here’s your chance! The Computer and Communications Chapter of the IEEE San Fernando Valley Section has asked Chris to present at an upcoming event… and you’re invited!

The talk, titled “The Art of Indie Video Games: How to use Crowdfunding to achieve your goals,” will take place July 30th from 6 to 9 PM in Los Angeles. It will include the presentation and a Q&A session with Chris. The event will also stream live for anyone unable to attend in person.

You can learn more about the event and RSVP for free here.

 

$15 million now https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13159-15-Million and a free digital 42-page Upgrade Handbook manual and some more stretch goals announced, no stopping this train.

It’s unbelievable: Star Citizen fans have helped us reach the $15 million mark without any special promotion! Ten years ago, big publishers decided space games weren’t profitable… and you are proving them very, very wrong!

The $15 million unlock adds another flyable ship class to the game, the oft-discussed escort carrier. Every backer will also get a free digital 42-page Upgrade Handbook manual with their game which goes through the process of customizing and overclocking ship systems! We’re excited about putting this one together, since it goes right to the heart of what’s going to make Star Citizen unique.

The previously-announced $16 million stretch goals are:

• Arena mode: Arena mode is a simulation within the game, although it is not the simulator itself. Players will have access to an actual training simulator in their hangars, which will be used for the dogfight alpha. The Arena is something bigger. It is a galaxy-wide event, where players come to specific locations, pay their entry fees, and jump into space battles to prove who is the best dogfighter of all. Think of it as a combination of a sports tournament and modern-day gaming contests. Each winner will receive credits for the victory, and the best of the best will meet in higher and higher rounds until a grand champion is crowned.

• A laser pistol for every pledger before this point. Keep your ship safe from boarders with a pistol by your side.

With today’s achievement, we’re happy to unlock the $17 million rewards:

$17 million

• Ship upgrade package for every pledger containing an engine modifier.
• Additional flyable ship class: battlecruiser

Thank you all for your continued support. Tell your friends, Star Citizen is coming!

 

Avenger WIP https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/engineering/13161-Avenger-WIP-Update

During the recent livestream event, we took a break from tradition and showed you Star Citizen’s latest ship in the earliest stages of creation. We’re going to continue with that background and show you the Avenger as it continues to develop. Today you can see the latest pass at the model, with a special focus on where the ship’s thrusters are mounted. Since Star Citizen simulates proper physics, model designers need to place retrorockets at realistic points on a ship’s hull!

 

Whats this a shuttle or a fighter?.

<chortles> That ship reminds me of the 'style' of E: D ships. What's with all this 'white hulls' are cool?

<chortles> That ship reminds me of the 'style' of E: D ships. What's with all this 'white hulls' are cool?

There dose seem to be a trend for them at the moment, maybe because the space shuttle has been retired or the ship from Avatar is on their minds.

<chortles> That ship reminds me of the 'style' of E: D ships. What's with all this 'white hulls' are cool?

It's a RIP OFF. CIG ran out of ideas, they have resorted to stealing them!! /jk

Perhaps since it looks banana shaped, it might look better in yellow?

Only kidding, it does look like a nice little ship.

Perhaps since it looks banana shaped, it might look better in yellow?

Banana-shaped? Where do you buy your fruit from?

Look at the side view Cody.

Looks nice, but I can't wait to see bigger ships 😀

And it's definitively banana-shaped; like a peeled banana. 8)

New ship specs page from SC https://robertsspaceindustries.com/ship-specs

looks like E:D not the only game with problems with designing small ship.

According to this on Eurogamer http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-08-22-star-citizen-begins-rolling-out-next-week we may getting to see a little bit of SC next week.

Also look like they wont be taken any money from their investors now.

Star Citizen begins its long journey towards a full release next Thursday with the launch of the first slice of content to backers of its phenomenally successful Kickstarter campaign.

The small slice, which gives players a hangar they can freely navigate using an avatar, is the first of several releases planned over the coming months. A dogfighting module, where players can fight other AI ships in an enclosed arena, is planned before the year's out, while a planetside module is due for release next March.

The hangar is split into three tiers - one of which can be explored with a drivable buggy - and any ships backers have pledged for can be entered and examined.

 

Bit more about the hanger module https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13214-Letter-From-The-Chairman-The-Hangar-Module

Greetings Citizens,

The first release of the Hangar Module is coming! We will be making the very first revision of the Hangar online exclusively for backers the week following its unveiling at Gamescom at our event on the 24th of August. The presentation will stream live on RSI from 2 to 3 PM CST. The module itself will be available for download for all backers starting August 29.

I’d like to take a moment to discuss exactly what you’re getting. First and foremost, the Hangar Module you will load next week is by no means a finished product. It is the earliest build of anything I have ever shared with the public. In fact, it’s at an even earlier stage than I would feel comfortable giving to any publisher I’ve worked with in the past and long before I would be sharing builds with QA in a traditional game development schedule! But Star Citizen is all about trying new approaches in game development.

The Hangar Module was not something we promised during the initial crowdfunding campaign. We had originally promised to share how the game was made with regular updates on our website and give early backers access the full game’s Alpha and Beta builds. But once we started development we came upon the idea of taking the constant public iteration that you get with a “live” online game and applying it during the game’s development to allow us to engage and involve the Star Citizen community of backers in the process of the making of the game. The Hangar Module seemed like a natural choice for our first public facing deliverable. While it may not be as glamorous as the Dogfighting Module which we aim to deliver by the end of this year, it requires a whole bunch of content and functionality that the final game will use, from the ships and their data structures, to communicating with your account to installing and patching the client. The Hangar Module will be the base foundation that everything is added as we release additional modules, eventually cumulating in the full persistent world alpha / beta.

Revision 1 of the Hangar will be very simple. You will be able to walk around, enter the initial pledge ships and explore a ground level in CryEngine that shows the kind of detail we are putting into the full game. It is intended as a very basic example of our direction that we are putting out to reward our backers, something to give you a chance to view “your” ship for the first time. Be warned, we have only just begun the QA process. This is the first stable build, not a slick “open beta” or anything designed as a promotional tool. We’re letting you in on the ground floor because we want to open up the process. Expect to encounter crashes, rendering bugs and other issues. Your feedback will help improve Star Citizen.

We need your help to test the hangar, just like you will be testing the game itself. After release, we will open a special forum for reporting and tracking hangar bugs. Your reports will go directly to the team, who will act on the bugs. Please don’t report them to the support e-mail, as our CS staff won’t be able to walk through hangar issues just yet!

In the coming months, we plan to release additional “major” Revisions of the Hangar, where we add more functionality and content. Things like detailed customization of your personal hangar, persistence of the state of all your items (what is equipped and where), in client item purchasing and the ability to invite your friends to your hangar will be part of later revisions of the Hangar Module.

Just because we’ve launched a module to the community doesn’t mean that it’s completely done. It just means its ready for the community’s feedback and stress testing! Our plan is to update each module (Hangar, Dogfighting, Planet, Ship-boarding) multiple times as new features and content are completed before the full integration into the persistent universe.

Over the coming months additional ships and upgrades will become available (as they are completed) and we will continue to enhance the level of interactivity. The goal is for the Hangar to go from a very simple pre-alpha build to a full featured module before your eyes! It’s something no one has done with an AAA game before. It’s a little daunting, but it’s also another new way to share the development process with our backers.

 

$16 million now https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13226-16-Million

Greetings Citizens,

We have just hit $16 million in pledges for Star Citizen! The entire Cloud Imperium team is humbled at your dedication to our game, space sims and the PC. With the imminent release of the first Hangar Module we are going to show our dedication to sharing game development with our fans by giving them the earliest ever look at a AAA game… and with this new funding achievement you have shown your dedication to this project once again!

With this milestone you have unlocked the following stretch goals. You will learn more about each in a more detailed post later in the week!

• Arena mode: The next generation of Wing Commander’s TrainSim allows pilots to test out their combat skills against friends or strangers in a simulation. Gain valuable combat experience without the downside of losing your ship in the game universe! Place bets on competitions across the galaxy.
• Every pledger who backs before $16 million will receive a laser pistol. Keep your ship safe from boarders with a pistol by your side.

We are also now pleased to reveal the $18 million goals:

• Exclusive star system for pre-launch backers. Only players who support the game before its

  launch will receive the computer coordinates needed to allow their jump drives to access this system.

 

Interesting bit about exclusive star system although with over a 100 thousand backer it may not be that exclusive.

A star system for elitists? I hate the smell of that. I hope there will be a way of hiding your "early backer" identity, just in case.

Hanger module is out log into you account on SC.

Apparently I have two game packages no idea what that means unless it's referring to squadron 42.

It's a 16 meg download with a 3 GB patch, WTF IS IN THAT PATCH?.

$17 million reached https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13241-17-Million must be the new sop they have opened.

The $17 million mark unlocks a special ship upgrade pack for every pledger who has donated prior to this point. An engine modifier will be added to your account shortly and in the near future you should be able to see it in your hangar! You also unlocked an additional flyable ship class in the finished game: the massive battlecruiser!

 

And new goal

$19 million

• Know your foe with a Jane’s Fighting Ships style manual free in PDF form to all pledgers.
• Manage Space Stations – Players will compete to own and operate a limited number of space stations across the galaxy.
• RSI Museum will air monthly, with a new game featured each time!

I am just amazed by the number of backer this game keeps attracting around 240 000 last time I saw the number, for a game genre  that all the majors said was dead less then two years ago it has just been phenomenal.

$18 million now it's just going up by the week now 😯 https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13249-Letter-From-The-Chairman-18-Million

Also they have cleared up the confusion over that bit about the backer system.

For hitting $18 million, you unlock the “exclusive star system for backers.” There’s been some confusion about what exactly this means. To clarify, what it means is that backers that got us to the $18 million goal will have the ability to start their journey in a system that is unavailable to others as a starting point. The only home base hangars there will belong to those that supported us early in the process! It would be immersion-breaking if backers couldn’t eventually share the jump coordinates of the system with other users… but no one else will have the option of starting a character there.

 

This is just incredible. They will also have FPS combat on the ground at the $20 million dollar stretch goal. I don't think "game" really defines this anymore, this is going to be so much to do and so many different roles. 

This link kind of sums up more of what I was trying to say.

http://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2013/09/22151-star-citizen-18-million-rsi-pr-strategy/

This is just incredible. They will also have FPS combat on the ground at the $20 million dollar stretch goal. I don't think "game" really defines this anymore, this is going to be so much to do and so many different roles. 

 

This link kind of sums up more of what I was trying to say.

 

http://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2013/09/22151-star-citizen-18-million-rsi-pr-strategy/

Truly is just amazing what they have been able to achieve in the last year also that they have about a quarter of a million backers for the game which is just mind blowing.

Forgot to post about the stretch goal about the on planet fighting, looks like it might be aiming for something like Eve's Dust game.

Also their an early video of what we will see out side of the hanger