There are few upcoming titles that promise to be as ambitious as Star Citizen. The space epic from Cloud Imperium Games, which is a spiritual successor to the much-loved Wing Commander series, is set to give players the chance of become part of a simulated universe of space combat and trading. The title also promises gamers first-person shooter elements with zero-gravity combat and planetside sections with the ability to explore the surface of planets.

It isn't just the players of Star Citizen who are set to be all-conquering, either. The crowd-funded title itself has been an absolute smash hit, and all years before a full commercial release. The gaming community was clearly enthralled by the possibility of taking part in outer space dogfights, as the Kickstarter backing for the title has jumped from milestone to milestone. Star Citizen has broken the Guinness World Record for the largest crowd-funded effort ever, and has now flown past an incredible $63 million.

Now, those who have backed the multi-million dollar project have a chance to play an updated version of Arena Commander via the newly-launched Public Test Universe. Cloud Imperium Games has revealed that the  Public Test Universe, which was once available to a limited number of backers prior to the launch of Arena Commander 1.0, is now available to all Star Citizen backers. With it comes the test build of Arena Commander 1.0.1.

Backers beware, though. According to a post by Cloud Imperium Games on Roberts Space Industries, the now-available Public Test Universe is "not for the faint of heart." The PTU offers players a version of the game with experimental versions of upcoming patches. Those taking to the universe will be amongst the first to test the new builds of game modules, and all the instabilities that come with them.

The post asks that those who are serious about helping the development of Star Citizen access the PTU and report any bugs they can find, but admits that those "looking for a clean dogfight" should stick with the standard build of Arena Commander module. The launch of the universe was apparently a priority for Cloud Imperium. The developer wanted to include backers in the development process as early as possible.

The Public Test Universe will not be around forever, though. Cloud Imperium Games will use the PTU for moments when Star Citizen's community is needed for testing patches, and will then be deactivated after the patch goes live. However, the developer will keep backers informed of when the PTU will be available with new features and patches to test.

Star Citizen is available in early access for PC and Linux, with the full game expected to launch in 2016.

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Source: Roberts Space Industries