Chris Roberts’ incredibly ambitious space sim, “Star Citizen”has raced past $79M, raising the sum from almost 900,000 backers and inching ever closer to reaching the $100M mark. As the game rakes in the cash, the studio has laid out its plans and design goals for its promising FPS module, which is set for a beta release soon.

News of the new funding milestone comes via the “Star Citizen” funding page, which confirms the game’s status as the most successfully crowd funded project of all time. Roberts is on record saying that he believes the game will break the $100M mark before the end of 2015, a prediction that looks all but certain.

The details regarding the “Star Marine” FPS module are divulged in a lengthy blog post on the “Star Citizen” website. The blog post outlines the teams intentions for the design of the FPS module, touching on stances, the HUD, breathing, stamina and much more.Right off the bat, it’s clear the developers intend to revamp and improve upon the commonly accepted FPS formula.

“In designing and engineering Star Citizen’s FPS mode (which players will first test in Star Marine), we’ve made a conscious effort to throw out systems that have become standard in first-person shooters in favor of taking an entirely new look. We’ve gone back to the drawing board to look for ways not only to set Star Citizen apart, but to add more balance to gameplay,” says Roberts in the blog post.

Roberts goes on to add that unlike most first-person shooters, “Star Marine” and “Star Citizen” will feature three stances, rather than two. The goal is to add a new level of realism and realistic weapon handling that Roberts says will have an immediate impact on gameplay. The three stances include Lowered, Ready and ADS.

The Lowered Stance allows gamers to move more quickly and freely, as well as respond to contextual inputs. However, combat reaction times are reduced in this stance as it takes the player longer to raise their weapon. In the Ready Stance, the marine’s movement is slowed and the weapon raised to the player’s shoulder. This allows for a quick transition to combat, and firing from this stance is fairly accurate. ADS Stance, or Aim Down Sights will be familiar to most players of modern first person shooters. The marine’s movement slows further, and since the weapon is braced, spread, sway and recoil are greatly reduced.

Roberts goes on to explain how the HUD changes during gameplay, as well as how stamina and breathing affect aiming and firing efficiency. The director closes out the update by stating that the team is still working hard on improving the FPS module. He adds that they are working on how to apply the same systems to melee combat and brawling. As noted by Polygon, a beta release of the “Star Marine” FPS module is expected in the Spring, alongside a beta of the Planetside/Social module.

(Credit: YouTube/StarCitizen)

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