The crowdfunding campaign for Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts’ upcoming PC space sim Star Citizen has now reached $56 million, up by $1 million since last week’s $55 million mark. Roberts revealed the new funding milestone through the game’s website, saying that this new milestone “confirms my feeling that a working universe is much more interesting that just a battlefield.”

Going forward, Roberts pledged that Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games will continue to focus its efforts on adding “interesting gameplay mechanics” to the game that encourage cooperative play. If the developer is successful, players should be able to “pursue many diverse roles” in Star Citizen, Roberts said.

Now that funding has reached $56 million, Star Citizen backers (who pledged before hitting the milestone) have unlocked the J-Span Cry-Star ship upgrade for the game’s Arena Commander mode. This will come to the game through a future patch.

“Thank you for your continued support! Your belief in the world we’re building together is what makes everything possible,” Roberts said, teasing that Cloud Imperium Games will make some kind of Star Citizen announcement on Friday, October 10 during the second annual Citizen Con community event in Los Angeles. “Be sure to check back then. And tell your friends: the Best Damn Space Sim Ever is coming!”

This year’s Citizen Con begins at 7 PM PDT and is expected to last two hours. If you can’t attend in person, the event will be streamed live, presumably through Twitch. The event promises to give fans a look at “how far we’ve come…and a chance to show you where we’re going next.”

For more on Star Citizen and Roberts himself, check out part one and part two of GameSpot’s interview with the legendary designer.

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