Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games has published a huge update about the state of the space game's upcoming FPS module, now called Star Marine.
Star Marine is the next major update for the game. Much like the dogfighting module Arena Commander was designed to both give backers a taste for what space combat is like and help Cloud Imperium Games test different things for the game's full release, Star Marine will do the same for the first-person portion of the game.
"Where Star Marine differs from Arena Commander is that we’re not launching it in its most basic game [sic]," Wing Commander creator and Star Citizen developer Chris Roberts said. "Instead, we’re trying for something more. It includes animation fidelity and attention to detail that you wouldn’t normally expect in an 'alpha' gameplay module. There’s even an entire sci-fi sports game with zero-G movement fully simulated and animated in there! (And don’t worry, there’s traditional FPS action too… with some new ideas that aim to set Star Citizen apart from the crowd.)"
You can read more about Star Marine's characters, animation, audio, art, and environment in great detail on the game's official site. The update also delves into the finer point of SATA Ball, a zero-G sport mode, and matchmaking, which Cloud Imperium Games said is built from the ground up to better handle higher player loads.
Cloud Imperium Games also had a general update about the game's stability.
"Development for Star Citizen has scaled extremely quickly and there are difficulties with a project of this scale, which averages 1500 check-ins per week, to keeping builds stable for our players, testers as well as internally for our developers," the developer said. "Major changes were made to the development flow of features internally and the process in which they make it out to release builds. Whilst this might sound a bit boring, to maintain the tempo of development Star Citizen demands it’s important this stability is built into the development process which is what is being done internally."
The crowdfunding campaign for Star Citizen continues to soar. The "game's total funding now stands at just under $82 million.