Sea of Stars News

That'll be one to look back on in our autumn years!

Along with inviting us to be the cover for the March issue, Game Informer crafted a 10 pages-long, in-depth cover story with exclusive in-game content. It contains interviews with our creative director Thierry, composer and audio designer Eric, lead animator Bruno, and guest composer Yasunori Mitsuda.

Physical copies of this issue are now available in GameStops in the US, and the digital version is available here.

There’s also a Gold Edition! This one is a rarer print and not for sale, but should you be interested, here’s a quote from Game Informer on how to get your hands on it:

“To learn about places where you might be able to get a copy, check out our official Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.”

Rumor has it that some copies may be shipped to our studio, so we might get a few copies to give away in the near future as well so… join us on Discord to stay in touch!



Both amazing artworks by our concept artist Bryce Kho are available as hi-res wallpapers here:

- Standard Edition
- Gold Edition

Cheers!

Hi everyone!

We officially locked it in, Sea of Stars will release on all target platforms on August 29th 2023, precisely (even though not intentionally) 5 years after the launch of our previous game, The Messenger.

As production wraps up, we are ramping up efforts in QA, localization, marketing and optimization. We remain committed to offering the best experience possible to as many players as possible across the world.





You might have heard already that a demo is available on Nintendo Switch. Good news, the demo will also come to Steam eventually. Going for a single platform is a decision we had to make in order not to delay the release date. We will roll it out to other platforms as soon as possible, so stay tuned!













For the occasion, we will close this week with a long overdue stream where Thierry will play the demo while answering questions from the community!

We will send notifications on Discord and social media before going live on Friday, February 8. Until then, you can ask your questions in the “#dev-questions” forum [on Discord] or upvote the questions you’d like to see answered.

Join us on Twitch!



Time for us to get back to dev. We are currently in the midst of the final stretch of production- the BETA (content complete) milestone is in clear view, and we are happy to report that the game sings in all the ways we were hoping it would.

The team's morale is soaring and everyone is doing well, save for the sting of grief creeping up with an occasional reminder that we will one day not be working on this dream project anymore.

In the meantime, we thank you all once again for your overwhelming positivity and support
All the best,

-Saboteam

Hello again everyone!

Hot off the heels of the yearly wrap-up, we have a bonus round for you: a word from Mitsuda himself!

Follow this link where Mitsuda shares some thoughts on Sea of Stars and production, while his beautifully named first track, "Coral Cascades", plays in the background.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

That's it for this mini update, we hope you enjoy and have a wonderful time during the holidays
See you next year,

- SaboTeam

Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since our latest big announcement for Sea of Stars and it feels like an update is long overdue. For the past months we have been fully dialed in on concrete milestones to take this dream production home, and we're happy to report that both the team and the game are doing great!

While everyone's patience and support has been felt by all of us, we want you to rest assured that getting closer to launch also means slowly reemerging from the depths of gamedev to communicate more, starting of course with our community.

So, here’s a wrap-up of the highlights of 2022!



While there is still a lot of work left, the path to launch is clearer than ever. The whole team is aligned and on pace to complete the production for Sea of Stars to release in 2023.

Working towards the infamous BETA milestone, technical unknowns are now behind us and all gameplay systems are locked-in. We are hard at work completing content, balancing and fine tuning the game's moment-to-moment experience.

While we cannot provide a specific release date yet, we want to reaffirm that 2023 will be the year Sea of Stars is released.



Four years ago, a small team began work on the level design tools and renderer code that would be required to deliver the vision for Sea of Stars: unshackled traversal, dynamic lighting, and seamless turn-based combat.

As of writing this, the game's main path is fully playable from title screen to end credits. Game mechanics sing the way we were hoping they would, and the story has been finalized with all levels fully playable.

In case you don’t follow us on social media, here’s a few updates you might have missed.

First, a look at the cooking menu.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Here’s a quick stroll through Zenith Academy, with Valere and Zale as kids.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Oh, and here's a big boss just for fun!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



A bit of optional content, a lot of NPCs, localization, a whole lot of bug fixing, and an impossible amount of polishing. We are currently operating on a weekly build-review schedule, covering every segment of the game with the finest brush, ensuring readability of the levels, balanced combat, and properly paced cutscenes.

To reach BETA, we need every and all moments and elements of the game to be at the highest quality we can produce.



Once the game reaches BETA (content complete), we will work towards the last milestone, GOLD (bug-free), making sure Sea of Stars offers the best experience for everyone, on all its supported platforms. This implies performance optimization, accessibility, compliance, localization and quality assurance.

As a reminder, the game will be available in English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese.



As 2023 approaches, it is clear that we have a big year ahead of us. For now, it is time for the team to take some well-deserved time off, recharge and spend time with loved ones before we all get back together to finish this journey at last.

Again, your support, patience and optimism means a lot to the team. It carries us in these efforts, and after all this time has never failed to mean the world to us. We can’t wait for the moment you all finally play Sea of Stars!

Until then, thank you once again for everything, and we wish everyone a happy 2023!

With love,

-SaboTeam

As we are nearing an important production milestone, the road to launch materializes and we have important updates for you! Let's jump right in.



It was always the plan to bring Sea of Stars to as many people as possible, but as with all things, planning and timing were key. Through PlayStation's Indie Spotlight event, we are happy to confirm today that Sea of Stars will be available on both PS4 and PS5 on launch day, cross-buy.

For over a year we have been working with PlayStation dev kits to make sure it ran as smoothly as on our other target platforms. To avoid spoilers, we showcased the same content as the Nintendo Switch trailer, but still made a point to recapture everything on PS4 and PS5 directly!

(If you want to help bring more eyeballs to Sea of Stars, please RT this post!)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



Emphasizing our two main priorities (quality of the finished game, and a healthy work-life balance for the team), production remains a road where the unexpected occurs a lot even if the destination is set. Where there is a wall we tear it down, where there is a tree we walk around it, and where there is a gem we pick it up. The vision remains clear, but seeing the response and hype we made the conscious decision to make sure to leave no gems on the floor. Something special is happening here, and we are committed to making the most of it.

We also want to make sure Sea of Stars is the best experience possible for everyone, which implies considerable efforts in terms of performance optimization, accessibility, localization, QA and porting.

A precise release date will be announced as soon as we pass the Beta milestone.

Once again, thank you all for your overwhelming positivity and patience.



With virtually all technical risks already tackled, the team is focused on finalizing the game's content.

In closing, we want to once again thank you for your patience. It’s a long ride, and your overwhelming support goes a long way in keeping the team's motivation high. We feel truly blessed, and can’t wait for you to experience Sea of Stars in its final form.

With love,

-SaboTeam