If for some reason were home on a Saturday watching a stream instead of playing a game, then you likely just got an eyeful from Stars Reach, whose developers held a fireside chat this afternoon to discuss rewards for the Kickstarter coming next week as well as some additional launch plans.
Most notably, the studio has clarified that most Kickstarter backers will indeed receive full priority test access from now until launch. That matters specifically because Playable Worlds is apparently planning to sell an early access pass to non-backers, so if you know you want that, Kickstarter will likely be the cheaper option in the long run as you get the pass as part of the crowdfunding pledge. The game itself, however, will be free-to-play at its full post-early-access launch, with an optional sub (called a “property pass”), supporter packs, a cash shop, all for cosmetics, not P2W items. “We’re not gonna break the economy for the sake of the Kickstarter,” Raph Koster says.
The devs don’t want players thinking of the property pass as a subscription – “We’re avoiding saying the word,” Koster admits – but it pretty much is; that pass will be required to own homesteads and to receive early access to new cosmetics. If you let the pass lapse, your house will just pack up and be ready for you to place again when you resume (Stars Wars Galaxies, basically). The devs also reiterate that the test phases of the game will continue to be genuine tests with wipes, so testing also won’t grant any perks that will matter in live.
Koster asks fans to throw in even a dollar in the bottom tier of the Kickstarter, even if they don’t want to back the project at a larger sum or partake of testing along the way, as that “gives [the team] velocity” in the first few days of the campaign. The $30 tier is most likely the package people will go for, as it’s the one that includes full test access up to launch, but it goes up from there depending on whether you want additional in-game perks, group/guild packages, and so forth. The top packages are $5000 and $10000 and are clearly being marketed to pre-existing guilds with multiple members buying into a package, and yes, they include things like planets and lifetime property passes.
The Kickstarter launches on February 25th, so you don’t have long to wait, but now you’ve got a video to help your planning along, especially if you’re angling for a group pack or an early bird tier.
