Starside Weekly - 09.19.2025

[p]AMAZON WEB SERVICES CASE STUDY ON STARS REACH[/p]

[p]How can one offer engaging gameplay across space and worlds, with significance and permanence, at MMO density and scale, without requiring that players own powerful computers?[/p]
[p]Playable Worlds worked with Unity and AWS on this case study of how we are achieving this level of detail at this scale set in a living simulation. [/p]
[p]Read this case study to learn hints about how we allow you to join your friends in space and build a new civilization. https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/playable-worlds-unity[/p]

[p] [/p][p]TOP TEN QUESTIONS FROM NEW PLAYERS[/p]

[p]Such a great idea for a video. Huge thank you to Grumpy and Glitch for posting this on YouTube. [/p]
[p]They make a good point about how many people don’t want to read answers in an obvious Discord post. They want someone to tell them the answer in Discord or in a video. [/p]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]PLAYTEST SCHEDULE[/p][p][/p]

[p]Playtests are currently starting at 9:00 AM on Thursdays and running until 8:00 AM on Tuesdays. To look at it differently, the playtest is running everyday except Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Fun note: the playtests used to start at 10:00 AM and we had a developer livestream on [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink] from 9:00-10:00 AM. We moved the start time earlier so players could join us in game and play together.[/p]

[p][/p][p]PLAYING WITH THE DEVS LIVESTREAM[/p]

[p]We had a test run this week. We met at the Transplanetary League base by the mission kiosks. We asked everyone to accept two missions from Akacala which we would complete together. Then we moved together to the Akacala portal.[/p]
[p]We started with closest mission locations and worked together to clear them all. Then we went back together and turned them in earning klaatu.[/p]
[p]Then we asked “who still needs a gravmesh?” We had been traveling with just ground movement and grapplers up until then. We went through our bags, collected enough ore to make the metal parts. We harvested enough materials for Leric to manufacture laboratory diamonds, then crafted the gravmeshes and handed them out. Everyone left equipped. [/p][p][/p]
[p]https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2563815849[/p]
[p]Next week we are going to try continuing this adventure with participation from players. If you are free to join us in game, you are welcome to come. We will tell you where we are and help you complete missions and build a gravmesh.[/p]

[p]
CATCHING THE DEVS BY SURPRISE[/p]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]KICKSTARTER LATE PLEDGES ENDING[/p]

[p]The late pledges have remained popular after the close of the Kickstarter campaign but these will be ending on September 30, 2025. You have approximately ten days to purchase them either on Kickstarter.com or on StarsReach.com/store at the same price but with a couple additional payment options.[/p]
[p]Backer Invites + Discord Backer Badge. Almost all of the backers have submitted their survey, but if you haven’t then search your email box.[/p]
- [p]New testers received an invite from FirstLook with a playtest schedule and instructions. (Check your spam folder if you don’t see it!)[/p]
- [p]Existing testers will not get a new invite, your Discord role should now show a Backer badge. Not yet? Log into FirstLook.gg and sync.[/p]
- [p]Can’t find it? Click here: https://playableworldshelp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us[/p]

[p][/p][p]NEW LOGO MERCH[/p]

[p]We updated our game logo last week. A new game logo also means that new game logo merchandise arrived in the store! [/p]

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[p]Screenshots of the Week: [/p]
- [p]Who knew you could tame ten creatures at the same time?! PoisonGirl knew, that’s who. And she invited them down to the portal for a party.[/p]

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