Wing Commander Designer Returning With New Space MMO

If you remember classic games such as Wing Commander and Privateer from the 90s, then you might be happy to hear that the designer from both games is making a triumphant return by working on a new space-based MMO called Star Citizen. Legendary game designer Chris Roberts spent the last several years producing movies like Lord of War, Lucky Number Slevin, and The Punisher.

Roberts says that Star Citizen will "change the way people perceive games for the PC" and it will "breathe new life into space combat games." The game will feature a sandbox world like most MMOs, but it will also have an offline single-player mode like we saw in Wing Commander. There will also be support for user-generated content and various modding tools.

Star Citizen will be set in a futuristic style, but will resemble the Roman Empire in some ways. It will focus around the idea of "citizenship", which must be earned through various civic duties and military service in the game. Roberts says that Star Citizen "is meant to be everything you ever dreamed you could have in a Space-Sim."

The game is also said to have "10 times the details" of current mainstream titles on the market, which is why Roberts is only offering the game on PC. He mentions that PC gamers like being on the cutting edge, so he plans on giving dedicated PC gamers their fair share of awesome graphics.

The game has already been under development for the past year. However, in order to move on with further development, the company is looking for $2 million in crowd-funded donations. The first 200,000 backers who give at least $30 will be able to play an early alpha version of Star Citizen, which should be ready sometime next year. When the game finally does release to the public, it will be available for $60 with no additional monthly fees.

[via Ars Technica]