The meteoric pre-release crowdfunding for space combat MMO Star Citizen continues to power on, and as the project passes the US$29 million-dollars-raised mark, the Cloud Imperium Games team has committed another chunk of that funding to its narrative-driven single-player component, Squadron 42.

Enhanced Mission Design for Squadron 42 – The team at Foundry 42 has big plans for Squadron 42, and we’re going to provide extra funding to make it a true spiritual successor to Wing Commander! Squadron 42 can go above and beyond anything you’ve seen before. From opening with an epic battle instead of a training patrol to missions that seamlessly combine boarding and space combat, we aim to put you right into the action! Additional funding will let the team realize this, with enhanced mission design and more resources and animations to enhance fidelity.

Cloud Imperium Games was founded by Chris Roberts just prior to launching the initial crowdfunding campaign for Star Citizen, with offices in both Los Angeles and Austin, and has since also expanded to Robert's home town of Manchester, England, with a new team led by his veteran game developer brother Erin Roberts.

A new video goes behind the scenes at the Manchester studio, with the Cloud Imperium Games team that will be primarily working on the Squadron 42 single-player game --affectionately referred to as Foundry 42, and counting several veterans of the likes of Wing Commander, Privateer 2 and Starlancer among its ranks.

Speaking on the single-player component, Chris Roberts encouragingly notes: "Squadron 42 is going to be what I would be making a next-gen Wing Commander as, so it should be --just buy itself-- as good as any $60 retail AAA console game, then you're going to have the whole Star Citizen Universe on top of it". Watch the clip below.