Sandbox MMORPG Stars Reach really is just about to move into its next major stage of development: That’s the takeaway from the latest developer livestream, which outlines some of what needs to happen and a general timeline of its move from pre-alpha to alpha.
After the stream opened with the Playable Worlds devs running through the game’s most recent update while piloting a character who looks like a giant gorilla man wearing basic-ass J. Crew clothing, a slide from the stream declared that SR is “probably an update or so away from alpha status.” The devs claim that some “big signs like chonky updates” and a move of the pre-alpha tag on-screen will confirm the sandbox’s alpha state.
As far as what needs to happen to get to alpha, another slide notes foci such as server stability, game performance, adding things like more loot and more character clothing (ideally not by J. Crew), the return of wild wormholes, and improving the game’s economic loop, among other things. “If we knock out all of these things, which I think is going to happen over the next couple of updates, then we will be at alpha and ready for early access,” says Raph Koster.
The stream then grants a look at some of the updates in the works, including UI tweaks like a more intuitive crafting interface and a place where Kickstarter backers can enter keys for entitlements, several new crafting stations, a rebuilding of the starter city of Haven, buildable dome structures, updates to weapons and their particle and shot mode effects, world generation improvements, and progress on the Fae race. The full livestream awaits below, followed by a mobile device-aspected synopsis below that.
