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Stars Reach – new social sandbox MMO by Raph Koster announced

29 points by hooby 2y ago

littlestymaar 2y ago
I dont know who Ralph Koster is or why this announcement deserves the front page, but I have to say the art direction is surprisingly dull: there are plenty of indie games made with just free asset packs that have more personality than this…
- hooby 2y ago
  This game is definitely gonna be known for it's systems, mechanics and simulation, and not for it's graphics - that much is sure.
- smusamashah 2y ago
  The lighting, textures on the characters has a weird feel and lighting on them.
  - hooby 2y ago
    Yeah it does - but it is early work in progress, and is gonna see several more passes before getting close to release. According to Raph the goal is for the visuals to end up somewhere between Genshin Impact and Wind Waker. Roughly.
- meheleventyone 2y ago
  Raph is a prominent game designer, one of the designers of Ultima Online and writes a lot about game design. This is interesting at least because people have high hopes that he will build another good systemic sandbox MMO. I agree though that this looks surprisingly dull and also that the trailer doesn’t do a great job selling the systems side of things either.
  - cobertos 2y ago
    Is there a better resource that talks about the systems side of things? It looks like there might be something interesting there but it's too opaque to figure out what that might be The things I could tease out: * Fully modifiable worlds * "living worlds", or at least grass grows and other ecosystem-y things * No partitioning of player base, all in same realm
    - hooby 2y ago
      The Discord is currently the probably best place with the most information... https://discord.gg/starsreach https://discord.gg/starsreach Check "A brief, subjective history..." in "community-forum", for a rough summary of what is known so far.
- yett 2y ago
  He did a Q&A on MMORPG subreddit "creator of Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies" https://old.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comments/1dqodoo/im_raph_koster_creator_of_ultima_online_and_star/ https://old.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comments/1dqodoo/im_raph_kos...
- ergonaught 2y ago
  "I don't know why this deserves the front page" When you catch yourself writing that, just go ahead and delete it. Eventually, you'll prevent yourself from even thinking it in the first place. Life will improve.
Alex3917 2y ago
I'm surprised the webpage and FAQ doesn't answer the single most obvious question: does this support player housing?
- hooby 2y ago
  Full player housing, with building options similar to Landmark. Also player-cities, and even player-governed planets.
- smusamashah 2y ago
  One of the tweets from official account said that it does.
- meheleventyone 2y ago
  The trailer shows some house building in it.
Vecr 2y ago
Logo looks kind of Star Trek. So does the ?cat? creature. The early animated show I guess? Is Stars Reach a unique enough name though? I'm getting results with and without the apostrophe.
ergonaught 2y ago
Just last week I was wishing that another MMO in development would consult with Raph because they desperately need his input, wondered what he was up to these days, and then bang, this. At the least I think he has a much higher chance of delivering than Garriot has done.
deleted 2y ago
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29 points by hooby 2y ago

I dont know who Ralph Koster is or why this announcement deserves the front page, but I have to say the art direction is surprisingly dull: there are plenty of indie games made with just free asset packs that have more personality than this…

hooby 2y ago
This game is definitely gonna be known for it's systems, mechanics and simulation, and not for it's graphics - that much is sure.
smusamashah 2y ago
The lighting, textures on the characters has a weird feel and lighting on them.
- hooby 2y ago
  Yeah it does - but it is early work in progress, and is gonna see several more passes before getting close to release. According to Raph the goal is for the visuals to end up somewhere between Genshin Impact and Wind Waker. Roughly.
meheleventyone 2y ago
Raph is a prominent game designer, one of the designers of Ultima Online and writes a lot about game design. This is interesting at least because people have high hopes that he will build another good systemic sandbox MMO. I agree though that this looks surprisingly dull and also that the trailer doesn’t do a great job selling the systems side of things either.
- cobertos 2y ago
  Is there a better resource that talks about the systems side of things? It looks like there might be something interesting there but it's too opaque to figure out what that might be The things I could tease out: * Fully modifiable worlds * "living worlds", or at least grass grows and other ecosystem-y things * No partitioning of player base, all in same realm
  - hooby 2y ago
    The Discord is currently the probably best place with the most information... https://discord.gg/starsreach https://discord.gg/starsreach Check "A brief, subjective history..." in "community-forum", for a rough summary of what is known so far.
yett 2y ago
He did a Q&A on MMORPG subreddit "creator of Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies" https://old.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comments/1dqodoo/im_raph_koster_creator_of_ultima_online_and_star/ https://old.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comments/1dqodoo/im_raph_kos...
ergonaught 2y ago
"I don't know why this deserves the front page" When you catch yourself writing that, just go ahead and delete it. Eventually, you'll prevent yourself from even thinking it in the first place. Life will improve.

Alex3917 2y ago

I'm surprised the webpage and FAQ doesn't answer the single most obvious question: does this support player housing?

hooby 2y ago
Full player housing, with building options similar to Landmark. Also player-cities, and even player-governed planets.
smusamashah 2y ago
One of the tweets from official account said that it does.
meheleventyone 2y ago
The trailer shows some house building in it.

Vecr 2y ago

Logo looks kind of Star Trek. So does the ?cat? creature. The early animated show I guess? Is Stars Reach a unique enough name though? I'm getting results with and without the apostrophe.

ergonaught 2y ago

Just last week I was wishing that another MMO in development would consult with Raph because they desperately need his input, wondered what he was up to these days, and then bang, this. At the least I think he has a much higher chance of delivering than Garriot has done.

deleted 2y ago

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