Star Citizen celebrated the one year anniversary of what has become a juggernaut of a successful crowdfunding campaign last Thursday during its Citizen Con 2013 livestream. One thing that was pretty obvious during the livestream was that the visionary behind the project, the legendary Chris Roberts, is just as excited now about the project as he was one year ago with its announcement. And that excitement seems to be powering the project forward as shortly after the broadcast the project shattered the $22 million stretch goal, which also brings the benefit of another new feature to Star Citizen with a facial capture system and a new player-ship design competition.

Facial Capture System: We’ve researched a technology that uses a series of cameras to capture real heads and import them into the game. This will let the team more easily create a variety of realistic characters. In addition, the technology is mobile enough to allow us to take it on the road and capture select fans during special events! You can learn more about this technology at Infinite-Realities.

The shattering of the $22 million milestone isn’t the only good news this weekend. Star Citizen also released its new Hangar patch, which introduced the Aegis Dynamics Avenger in the hangar module. Additionally, there are two final tidbits of news. First, as of this writing, Star Citizen is already sitting at 37% of its $23 million stretch goal, which will earn players the Xi’an Scout light attack craft.

Xi’an Scout Unlocked! The Khartu is the light attack craft of the Xi’An military. Contrary to Human ship design, the Khartu doesn’t have a traditional main thruster, instead featuring an array of maneuvering thrusters on articulated rigs. This design allows for incredible agility, making them the bane of UEE pilots, who bestowed the nickname ‘Quark’ because when all of the thrusters are firing, the ship looks like a spark flying through space. The Xi’an Aopoa corporation also manufactures an export model, the Khartu-al, for sale to human civilians as a dedicated scout/explorer. The export model features the same Xi’an maneuvering rig, but control surfaces modified for human use and a more limited armament. (Designer: Aopoa)

Lastly, Chris Roberts also announced the $24 million stretch goal, a goal that will likely be hit soon given the rapid pace that Star Citizen is creating money. The $24 million goal will see a new Public Transportation System added to Star Citizen.

Public Transportation System – Need to get from one place to another but don’t have a starship? We’re building a galactic transportation system. You can travel via transport from system to system in Star Citizen and even ship items (like a ship you need move to another hangar.) With this stretch goal, we’ll expand this system: star liners, long range transports, charter ships and flyable shuttles!

If you missed Star Citizen’s Citizen Con 2013 livestream, you can watch the full video here.

Source: Star Citizen Letter from the Chairman