Stars Reach News

It’s been a bit since the last update, but we wanted to make sure it was chock full-o-goodness.

So here goes:

[h2]SEASONS (PART 1)[/h2]
Getting our worlds to have active seasons turned out to be a thornier problem than we thought it might be, but the first part is done now, so we’re rolling it out.

This initial part is purely visual. It’s also highly accelerated in time so that you can see the passing of the seasons in each playtest. Later on, we’ll make the timeline much more realistic and customize it per planet.

[h3]RIGHT NOW:[/h3]

A game day is eight minutes long (4 minutes of day and 4 minutes of night)
A season lasts three game days (so 24 minutes)
There are four seasons in a year, so a “year” lasts 96 minutes.
Therefore, in a two-hour test, you’ll see all four seasons.
This isn’t how the game will end up later on. This is just for testing.

“Spring” : Grass grows back after the harsh winter and gets thicker. Foliage reappears on the trees. The trees eventually get to the lushest green of any of the seasons.
“Summer” : Grass starts to get browner and the trees are still green, but not quite as lush.
“Fall” : Grass starts to fade back and the foliage in the trees gets more sparse (if the trees are deciduous or don’t like the cold).
“Winter” : Deciduous trees get barren, the grass turns white and brittle and things look a lot more dead.
What’s coming in Seasons, Part 2?

The world simulation will respond to the temperature variations happening in the seasons and water will freeze in the winter.
Rain and snow will fall periodically in the appropriate seasons.
Different planets will have different seasons and temperature curves.
We’ll improve on the foliage appearing/disappearing.
But enjoy the first part for now!

[h2]SKIES[/h2]
There’s not much to say on this one, but the art team has been busy! Go visit the various planets and see the differences that skies, fog, and new celestial bodies can make for each of the planets. We think you’ll like it!

[h2]PUBLIC EVENTS[/h2]
We built a bunch of new underlying game infrastructure to let us roll out a wide variety of public events in the future. These events happen periodically (not constantly) while you’re in the world, adding variety to your normal activities.

The offerings in this update are just the start, but even so, we think you’ll enjoy them.

[h3]METEOR STORMS[/h3]
There are a lot of different kinds of “meteor events” that can occur: Cosmic ray barrages, acid rain, ice storms, hot hail, anti-gravium falls, regular ol’ meteors, and the dreaded megarock events. Some of them have devastating effects on tunnels and overhangs, some deposit huge chunks of resources on the planet and some are just plain old wreckage. Duck for cover or run to be the first to take advantage of the windfalls they bring. You decide!

[h3]BOSS SPAWNS[/h3]
The bosses on the planets have been removed from their permanent spawn positions…but they aren’t gone from the game! Instead, they now come into the world as public events, either from underground, out of hibernation, or even descending from space. When they do, the TPL will send out a broadcast warning that one of these new terrors is rampaging and they’ll set a waypoint so you know where to go to help destroy it (or you can just avoid that spot if danger isn’t your thing).

Be warned. We’ve tinkered with the bosses a bit. You may get a couple of surprises.

[h3]REFORESTATION[/h3]
The TPL is being monitored by the Servitors on a constant basis. When a planet starts to fall below an “acceptable” threshold of health, the Servitors warn the TPL to “do something about it before they are forced to do so”. Right now, when the TPL is warned about the number of trees being too low in the world, they sponsor a Reforestation event. Players are rewarded with Ranger XP for participating in the Reforestation event, as well as normal Forestry XP for planting trees. The event runs for a duration, and if the forests are brought back up to par, the event ends successfully.

If the event fails, the Servitors will make a red mark in the log…and that will come back to haunt you later (after we get the chance to add more systems in a future update).

There will be other “planetary health” events later on. This is just the first in a series.

[h2]BUG FIXES AND GAME IMPROVEMENTS[/h2]
We’ve done a LOT since the last update. In no particular order, here’s a list of bug fixes and improvements we’ve made to the game since then:

• You now have a Title Object in your inventory. If you right-click it, it opens a UI widget that allows you to select from any title you have earned and display it proudly for all to see.
  
  
  • You have the option to “Remove Current Title” so you display no title at all.
    
  • You can earn titles by defeating bosses in Boss events and participating in a successful Reforestation event.
    
  • The Servitors also granted you one complimentary title so you don’t have an empty list.
    
  • If you gift the Title Object or delete it accidentally, you can make a new one at any Toolmaker station.
• You can now craft Drone Lights!
  
  • Drone Lights are a recipe that all players know. You can make it at any Toolmaker station.
    
  • You (currently) need five Tier 4 Metal and one Anti-Gravium to make it.
    
  • You right-click it in your inventory and it auto-equips. It lasts for five minutes and then expires.
    
  • It lights up the area around you! (And now that we have it, we can make nights and caves darker again in a future update!)
• Survey nodes are visible at a shorter distance, but audio cues while using the Pathfinder have been greatly enhanced to make the task of finding a survey node a more interesting and fun experience. So turn up your sound and go find those nodes!
  
• We now do client prediction on movement and projectiles! More work is to come, but you should notice significant improvement on most projectiles and specials (although we still have work to do to predict homing projectiles).
  
• Day/night cycles are now synchronized by the server. If you see daytime, then so does everyone else.
  
• There is now a text search field on many screens (like crafting terminals, inventory, etc.) where you can sort the results seen by what you type.
  
• We killed the dreaded targeting bug that plagued us during the last update.
  
• The tutorial text has been updated to be a bit easier to read and with lore based on the TPL having written it rather than the Servitors. (Expect more dramatic first-time user experience improvements in near-future updates.)
  
• The Paver can no longer be used on a Homestead you do not have permission to edit.
  
• If you’re not sure what world you’re in, you can type “/world” or “/whereami” in chat and it will tell you.
  
• A new alien tree has been added and is visible on Gaiamar.
  
• You get Botany or Forestry XP when planting seeds from a Xyloslicer (depending on what you plant).
  
• You can now see climate information on the HUD when you have the Harvester equipped and if you have the “Farming” node unlocked on the Botany skill tree. (This will be more useful later when we roll out the Farming skill tree branch, but it’s functional now.)
  
• When someone gifts you items, you’ll now see those items registered on the left side of your HUD (where you see gathered resources listed).
  
• The Gravity Gun no longer affects other players. (Preventing unwanted PvP in PvE-only areas.)
  
• Planting radii have been added to trees (like with plants) to avoid overcrowding. (This was an oversight when planting was added for bushes and flowers.)
  
• Creature loot drops were improved (previous implementation had a lot of them dropping only one of each item…this is fixed now).
  
• Creatures are more aware than they were previously and will react to you more often.
  
• Goji Berries (the fruit) are now harvestable.
  
• Goji Berries, Strawberries, and Cactus Fruit now have individual inventory icons.
  
• Field of View can now be enlarged up to 90 degrees. (The previous maximum was 75 degrees.)
  
• The chat pane no longer scrolls to the top if you hit ESC to close it.
  
• Mushrooms are now harvestable.
  
• Feline friends are now inhabiting the portal areas. (Taming them will come soon.)
  

[h3]KNOWN ISSUES[/h3]

• Oops! We left the stub of the Farming skill tree in the build. You can play with it if you want, but honestly, it does nothing useful in this version. We recommend just avoiding it for now.
  
  
• Space around Zaraxa seems to be unstable and travelers might experience difficulty traveling to the planet. (In other words, you may crash when portaling to the desert planet. If that happens, just restart and you’ll be there. You won’t have to portal again. We’re going to kill this bug someday soon. We think it’s caused by all the shifting sand, but we’ll find out.)
  

The clock is ticking, explorers.
Only 18 days left to back Stars Reach on Kickstarter. With seasons rolling in, meteor storms raging, and bosses emerging from the depths or descending from space, the universe is evolving fast. You can be part of shaping it.

Join the adventure. Shape the world. Secure your place before time runs out.

[Link to Kickstarter]

When players get together into friend groups, they often form a Guild in order to share common goals. The guild structure lets them communicate and share resources more easily, and in many games, it also lets them share a guild hall and guild logo.

[h3]GUILD TYPES IN STARS REACH[/h3]
Our plan is to support several types of player organizations. Regular guilds are the sort you are used to from other games, and we see the function of these as primarily social. Because of this, we let you join more than one!

We are also planning on having two more guild types: armies and companies. You can only belong to one of each of these new types of guilds. Both require exclusive membership in order to minimize obvious cheats and keep things fair.

Armies can declare war on one another and companies compete economically instead, and have some special functions related to that.

Lastly, players can also form governments, which are sort of like guilds, but they are based on where you declare your citizenship.

In Stars Reach, we don’t really have the concept of a “guild hall”, but guilds will often organize to govern an entire planet. They can create a visual identity for themselves (via clothing, armor, and/or spacesuits) and they can also visually brand their spacecraft and equipment.

In many games, there is also the concept of a megaguild, which may have hundreds or even thousands of members. It is extremely likely that these organizations will be present within Stars Reach also.

[h3]ALLIANCES AND BENEFITS[/h3]
But megaguilds are not to everyone’s taste. That’s where Guild Alliances come into play.

Let’s say you’re a small- or medium-sized guild running a single planet (or even a couple of planets), but your guild wants to start a trade collective beyond your current reach or a self-defense force to protect your solar system, something that would normally require the coordination and resources of a much larger guild (like a megaguild). With Alliances, you can reach out to other guilds and formalize friendships and bonds between your groups, becoming recognized publicly to any outside forces that your guilds cooperate with, while still retaining their own individual identities.

The Alliances structure provides you channels to formally contact other guilds, start conversations and agree on Alliance identities. This gives your trade discussions more weight, allows you to set up mutual pacts of your choosing, and eventually, when PvP is prevalent in more solar systems, even create military agreements.

It also lets you unify those different organization types into one larger entity: a player organization might have a social guild at its heart, but also include an army and/or a company.

Direct benefits to Alliances include:
An alliance-specific chat channel
Alliance tagging on your character’s nameplate so it’s visible to others (when you so desire)
Alliance logo and colors that can be branded on any guild’s equipment, uniforms, spacesuits, or starships. Even settlement buildings can bear their signature logos.
An alliance roster so that alliance members can be contacted by any other alliance member.
An alliance-specific newsnet channel.
Alliance-specific mission boards, banking functions, and more.

Thus, you can participate in most of the recruiting power and political might of a megaguild while still retaining the cozy friendship of a small core of players, as long as you can balance the personalities and relationships between the guild leaders and keep your Alliance together…which is a game unto itself.

Now:

Clere sits on the marble bench in the echoingly large marble-and-bronze Grand Hallway of the Transplanetary League headquarters. Her hands are clasped between her knees as she leans forward, elbows on her thighs. Her eyes are fixed on a point somewhere miles past the wall she is staring at.

That wall is covered in a huge bronze frieze. Central to it is the figure of Shae Duvane, cast in fierce metal many meters tall. She stands boldly, holding up a metaphorical lantern illuminating the sculpted planets and stars around her, and her wings arch behind her, a bit more butterfly-like than they actually were. Artistic license, Clere thought. Her delicate antlers are well-crafted by the long-ago sculptor, but are not quite the right shape either. Down by her ankle is a spot where hands have rubbed the patina from the bronze and it still shines.

“Ahem,” comes a voice from behind her.

Clere turns. There’s a diminutive and bookish Gertan woman there, looking nervous and lost. She wears enormous round-rimmed glasses as an affectation, and clutches a box overflowing with materials clearly destined for a desk.

“I’m new here… it’s my first day? I’m supposed to find Commissioner Bunten’s office? And I know there’s a ton of offices there on the other side of those doors, only I can’t find a directory anywhere, and the hallways are endless?”

Clere grins. “It’s a maze, alright. But Commissioner Bunten is out at lunch anyway. Your best odds of finding her are when she walks right past here in about half an hour.”

“Oh!” the Gertan squeaks. “I suppose I may be early? I didn’t want to be late on my first day?” She gingerly sets down the box, a glowing potted mushroom wavering out of one corner. Then she sits on the bench primly, staring forward.

Clere leans her elbows back on her thighs. Had she ever been that young? Ever?

“Is that Commissioner Duvane? The Founder?”

“Yeah,” Clere says.

“Wow.”

“They unveiled this a couple of hundred years ago, I guess it was some anniversary of the TPL’s founding.” Clere squints at the dates on the bottom of the frieze, but honestly, she doesn’t really pay much attention to dates anymore.

“She’s so…”

Imposing? Stern? Not like Shae at all. Clere suppresses a grin, remembering.

“Big.”

That gets Clere to laugh. “She wasn’t, you know. Not at all. Shorter than you. Shorter than most. But when she came into a room, you knew she was in charge. Her twin was the big one. I think that when they shared their mother’s womb, he stretched out and got all the space.”

The Gertan looks at her curiously. “You seem to know a lot about her.”

Clere shrugs. “I know a lot of history,” she says. Easier that way.

The Gertan looks back up at the sculpture. “She did so much? And she saved us all? She must have been such an amazing person? So noble and high-minded!” The look on her face, her mouth just slightly open is one of awe and worship. Another true believer, Clere thinks.

“She was,” she says noncommittally.

“And she looks so regal and beautiful and put together and her dress drapes just perfectly and… oh, what am I doing here?” the Gertan exclaimed, throwing her hands out and nearly knocking her box off the bench. “I don’t deserve to be here, and I can’t live up to… to something like… like her!”

Clere laughs again, then reaches out an arm to steady the girl, who is clearly having a nervous crisis about her first day in the Department of Special Projects. “You shouldn’t worry. Here, let me tell you a story…”

*

Then:

Shae Duvane wiped the sweat dripping into her eyes from her unruly mop of lanky hair. It didn’t work very well; all she managed was to smear more engine grease across her face. It was hot in the organic metaformation chambers, really fucking hot, and if she leaned against any of the nutrient vats she’d probably blister within minutes.

The heavy clanking sound of a Servitor workerbot hex-wobbling across the chamber deck grew louder, then began to fade again as it rounded a corner past the next row of vats.

“Bram!” she hissed. “It’s gone. We have five minutes and twenty seconds. Hoist me up.”

Her enormous twin said nothing, as usual, just unfolded his huge bulk from the floor where he had crouched to hide. He was dripping with sweat even more than she was. His small translucent wings drooped in the heat.

She scrambled up his back, careful not to tug the wings too hard – they were surprisingly sturdy for all they looked like gossamer – and balanced her tiny body on his shoulders, as he lumbered up to stand tall. From here she could see over the edge of the nutrient vat. It was bubbling and purple, fragrant with the scent of protein. “Perfect,” she whispered downwards. “We picked the right one, it’s the purple goop.”

“Yum,” Bram said, and handed up the first of the buckets. Shae bent over the edge of the rim carefully, laying her belly on the heat-proof cloth they had brought. It was a stretch to reach the surface of the goop. And if she fell in, why, then someone else would get to eat her later.

She scooped out the warm liquid with a ladle, filled buckets and twisted the lids tight so none of the precious food would spill, then passed them back to Bram. As she did so Shae ran down the list in her head. Three scoops for the little ones that lived in the air vent, the ones whose mother was blinded by that laser matrix last year. They were always underfoot, and after she got stepped on by one of the granary Servitors, the mother was literally underfoot too. Oh, that was terrible, shame on her for thinking that up.

She giggled to herself, then flapped her wings a bit to keep her balance as she kept scooping and keeping count. Seven for the elders who huddled by the grates where the gases vented. Bucket full, hand it down. Five for the clannish folk over near the gearshafts. One for the brownie-fella in his hidey-hole, even though he was such an asshole. And two for her and Bram to share, though he’d slurp most of it and she’d only need half a scoop because she was only half-size…

A massive grinding sound began just as she dipped the ladle for the last time.

“Shae!” Bram rumbled from below her, reaching up with his huge arms. Too late though — all around them the vats were corkscrewing down into the ship’s bowels, giant lids sealing them off to keep the goop enclosed on its journey to… somewhere else in the ship. Shae clung to the rim of the vat and was swept away from Bram’s shoulders.

She was still leaning half-in to reach the liquid’s surface, folded over the rim. She flapped her wings frantically – by Goedwig, if they only actually worked – and watched the rapid approach of the crushing metal. Nothing to push against, and one hand was full of the ladle anyway. She tried pushing up with the other against the interior of the vat but all she managed to do was slide it down the hot metal and burn her hand. Too slick. She popped her fingers into her mouth, licked the goop off, and tried not to get too dizzy as the world whirled around her.

The lid was a handspan from her face. She stared the edge of the metal down. It didn’t retreat. She was going to get sliced in half, and one half of her would go to the stars in purple soup and the other half would fall to the floor and get cleaned up by a robot janitor later.

Then she felt a strong grip around her ankle, and Bram tugged her from the vat. She flew backwards, crashing into his face and chest. She tried to hold the ladle tight, but couldn’t keep hold of it.

They went down together on the floor, and purple goop went all over Bram’s face.

“Yum,” he gasped.

She started to laugh, but the new vats were descending already, blurring down from the ceiling. They rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being decapitated by the fresh vat, and came to a stop against the buckets.

Shae lay there, staring at the ceiling, panting. Above her, the incomprehensible pipes and gears of the Servitor ship made a vast ceiling.

Bram groaned and clutched his head.

“What’s wrong, are you okay?” She quickly checked him over. He wouldn’t take his hand from his head. She peeled his fingers back gently; he let her.

One of his antlers had gotten caught under the descending vat. Some had snapped off. It was gone into the vast machinery. He’d have a fierce headache, for a while, and it probably twisted his neck, but the vast force had made it happen quickly, with a clean break. Luckily, he was not in velvet.

She hugged her twin brother fiercely. “You’ll be fine,” she said, putting on a brave face. “It’s mysterious and handsome.”

Bram just groaned, sat up, and grabbed the heavy buckets.

Together, they walked. Or rather, Bram walked, eyes tight with pain, and Shae limped after him, wings drooping. They walked through mechanical tunnels, past grates and the sound of hex-wobble feet, under angular arches and through vents with hinges grown loose with frequent passage. Through the vascular system and the bronchial tree of giant mechanical life.

Beyond it all, there was probably a starry endless sky, but she wouldn’t know. She was a ship Fae after all. They lived like fleas on the back of the Servitor ships that tended the countless planets of the Old Ones. And sometimes they got crushed into red goop to go with the purple. She wiped her face angrily. The slime on her sleeve would be her only dinner.

A few days later, there was a Rendezvous. A Servitor meeting a Servitor, each of them full of other Servitors. And of Fae, their fleas.

The vast Servitor tenders moved between planets, replenishing genetic material and pruning away mutations that did not fit the Old Ones’ template. From time to time they exterminated worlds that were infected with their Adversary, scooping up vast screaming blobby masses of tentacles and flowers that insisted they did not want to die, then scouring the planet to the bedrock.

Shae suspected that the purple goop might be stewed Adversary, but she kept that to herself. It tasted too good.

Rendezvous was a time for Fae to pair off into couples, swapping ships. For families to migrate, to get on different stellar circuits and visit different worlds. When the Servitors reached a world that needed harvesting to keep the ecological balance, massive oblong threshers would descend. Fae would ride them down, gather fresh food, scavenge what they could, and try to make it back to the threshers before they took off.

Sometimes, they didn’t make back in time. The threshers didn’t care. All Fae knew the Servitors were perfectly aware they harbored these parasitical populations. They just largely ignored the Fae, unless they got in the way. And if they did, a different robot would be along later to clean up the mess.

Over the generations, Fae had mapped out the routes and the timings. They knew how to hop from ship to ship to reach specific destinations. And some Fae had decided they preferred to live hidden on solid ground rather than enclosed in flying metal boxes.

Now Bram had decided that too.

“I can’t anymore, Shae.” He shook his head. She had tied a scrap of cloth around his broken antler, as a joke, and it flapped around rakishly. “I miss the sky.”

“The sky? The sky, Bram? The sky that our mother was looking at when the thresher mowed her down? When our da tried to save her?” She was furious, furious that her twin was abandoning her.

“She loved the sky, and the birds, and the wind.”

“Staring at birds is what got her killed, Bram! She got caught up daydreaming again, got distracted, and…” Shae blinked away tears. “Staring at the sky is dangerous, Bram. You have to stay grounded, be practical.”

Around them there was the bustle of upcoming Rendezvous. The elders had decided to split up, and some would ferry the orphaned children to the other ship, where there were young parents who could take them in. Molecular compressor crates were being packed far fuller than seemed physically possible, and there was the excited buzz and chatter of folk ready to see relatives and friends.

He took her trembling fingers and pulled them into the grasp of his huge hands. “I’ll come back.”

She looked him in his big sad eyes. “You had better, Bram.”

“Queen Mab will keep me safe,” he said, quite seriously.

Shae rolled her eyes. “And she’ll open a door in an oak or a hawthorn and bring us all home to the world under the hill and past the veil.”

He looked hurt. Bram took that stuff far more seriously than Shae ever could. She punched him in the arm. “You’re a dreamer too, Bram. That’s what this is about, isn’t it. You’re on the quest for Tír na nÓg.”

He cracked a grin, shook his heavy head.

“Just need the fresh air.”

And with that, he stood, hefted a pack across his shoulder, tousled her hair, and left down the tunnel, striding after the chattering elders who were shepherding the kids. From there he would await yet another Rendezvous, then would ride a thresher down to an inhabited planet, where one of the many human cousins lived. He would live among them hidden. A ground Fae.

What goes into the art and style of Stars Reach?

And what can you expect in the future?

Join us as we interview Magnus Hollmo, the Art Director of Stars Reach, to uncover the creative vision behind the game!

https://youtu.be/QYTD0gENtSk

The Hyugon species has been one of the trickiest for us. We knew we wanted to have one “alien” species derived from classic Greens and Grays in some way, or for them to at least echo the spirit of older sci-fi back when special effects for aliens basically consisted of simple prosthetics and funky colors of makeup.

But Greens and Grays don’t have much to work with for character customization! And if we weren’t careful, we’d end up crashing into Andorians from Star Trek or Mantis from the MCU.

The big black eyes of course made us think of insects, so we market-tested down those lines. Turns out, people don’t like the idea of playing as a bug, if it gets too insectile. And it got insectile pretty quick.



On the other hand, there was something very much in keeping with our sci-fi inspirations in the Hyugons. The “vibe” of retro sci-fi that we wanted was there, when we played around with them. We did several takes on them that were basically very human, except for skin color and antennae.

Interestingly, they were great inspirations for clothing and fashion. In fact, eagle-eyed testers may have spotted a Hyugon long ago on our website, hiding in plain sight – one of the ones below! She’s gone now, but still there in our hearts.



Playing with marrying the green, the big eyes, and the notion of insectile antenna ended up promising. There’s a lot of variation you can do that can convey different silhouettes at a distance. And silhouettes is one of the most important qualities in creating a cool avatar. Especially in a game where you can dress any way you like, it matters that the body shape and unique characteristics convey something readable at a decent distance.



On the other hand, we have another couple of species that make use of head attachments – not antennae, but the Gertans for example have horns. So making sure that all three sets of head attachments were visually distinctive was a key thing.

For a while we explored making them “chibi,” but it didn’t feel right. Greens and Greys are elongated, not short. Players do tend to want at least one choice that is very short, so we’d have to find a different way to fulfill that desire.



Green also led us to explore plant-like qualities in them. This opened up new and (we think) fresh ways to offer distinctive touches. Little leaves, thorns, and different shapes for the antennae give a very different quality than insectile does.



Candidly, we don’t think we are done with the Hyugons! It feels like there is still more to explore visually, and we want your feedback. I’ll tell you though, the exploration yielded one of my favorite bits of concept work we’ve ever done. We did it fairly early on, when we had not yet really explored all the variations, and the Hyugons still looked more human than anything else. Even so, it landed so much of the vibe that I still love it.

Plus, it shows off some of the customization choices that our regions system allows in the clothing!