Playable Worlds’ Raph Koster is back with yet another batch of Stars Reach game pillars, the driving concepts behind the MMORPG sandbox’s design. We’ve covered the first few sets of pillars already, but this week’s move away from high-minded concepts and dig into the game’s setting and visuals – and how that affects mechanics.
First, the game is meant to be an “endlessly explorable fun retro sci-fantasy universe” – a coherent world meant to capture a retrofuturistic enthusiasm for science and humanity’s potential, not a depressing, grimdark setting. That means it’s a game about “hope and optimism,” with “wit, caricature, and gentle humor” but not cheap comedy to guide players through serious and darker storylines (and yes, there will be plenty of that too).
The lore of the game is central to its design, as past denizens of this galaxy have ruined their homeworlds. As players, we have a second chance to rebuild, with terraforming literally an option within our grasp, all as we explore the galaxy and tackle the mystery of the Old Ones. “We’re going into space, and it’s going to be awesome,” Koster says. (His personal blog has a follow-up piece on some of the specific lore influences on the game, if you’re curious.)
Moreover, Star’s Reach aims to be “welcoming and fun and beautiful” – and Koster does acknowledge that not everyone loves the graphics as they stand, but the team isn’t finished there. He isn’t interested in edgy graphics or their edge-case audiences; he wants a mass-market MMO audience like WoW’s, which responds to “fairly sunny and brightly colored” visuals, but not cartoony. (Also suits the retrofuturist themes.)
“One of the challenges with a hyperrealistic style is telling all the games apart. As rendering capability has increased, realism is starting to get… kind of boring. From a business standpoint, we need to stand out in the market. We also need to keep costs down, and our technology that allows us to stream content down on the fly works more cost-effectively with less load in terms of highly detailed textures. But lastly, high realism tends to tell broader audiences ‘this game is not for you.’ It signals to people that the game is complex, unapproachable, and often specifically chases away women players.”
Finally, Koster reiterates that the game will “constantly generate new content” both from the developers and players. And he doesn’t mean that the players (i.e., players murdering each other) are the content; he means built-in quest systems, the player-driven economy, opt-in combat that isn’t necessarily core to the game loop, social systems, and communication, all focused on roping in a wide audience with lots of playstyles since “it takes all sorts of people playing in their own ways to build a world.” This also means “[leveling] the playing field” between old vets and newbies so that the first people into the sandbox can’t control it forever.
“The bet we are making is that the range of playstyles in one game will appeal to people who get tired of one-note play,” he says. “If you get bored of one way to play, you can go try another.
