The Stars Reach Kickstarter continues to climb since its debut last week, as Playable Worlds has now pulled in over $550,000 from players eager to jump into the MMO sandbox. And that $550,000 mark is no random number: It’s the threshold for the latest stretch goal unlock, which just so happens to be the guild alliance system.
“In Stars Reach, guilds aren’t just about numbers,” the Raph Koster-led studio says. “They’re about strategy, identity, and forging meaningful relationships across the galaxy. While some players enjoy the scale of megaguilds, we know that others prefer tighter-knit communities. That’s where Guild Alliances come in. Guild Alliances allow small-to-medium guilds to team up, collaborate, and gain strength without merging into a single entity. Whether you’re building a trade collective, a defense pact, or a political coalition, Alliances give you the tools to expand your influence while keeping your own identity intact.”
The dev post clarifies that the alliance system will include alliance chat for all guilds in the alliance, nameplate tagging, alliance branding with logos and uniform colors, a visible alliance roster and “newsnet,” and custom alliance mission boards and banking. In other words, it’s quite a bit more than a chat channel as it has been in some older MMOs.
The accompanying post on the official site also clarifies that players can organize themselves into guilds, armies, and companies, with some special functions; for example, armies can declare war on each other. And that’s all separate from planetary governments. Alliances are meant to be an alternative to the “megaguild,” made up of multiple smaller guilds.
As we’ve previously noted, all of the stretch goal features in the Kickstarter were already destined for the game, though now they’ll make it in ahead of launch rather than after.
Meanwhile, Playable Worlds is continuing to crank out massive interview streams, the most recent with Stars Reach’s art director.
