Havenhold News

First of all. Let’s preface this dev blog with a HUGE thank you to all of our playtesters who have taken part in our small-scale playtests so far! We are overwhelmed by the positive reception that our playtests have received so far and love being able to spend time with everyone, be in-game together and listen to all of the feedback everyone has to give.

Over the last three months, we have invited members of our community to experience parts of the game for the very first time! If you have not yet been invited to any of our playtests then do not worry. We are continuing to roll out small-scale playtests over the coming weeks and months. If you have not signed up for our playtests yet, be sure to do so over here and join our Discord server for updates.

During development, it is incredibly important for us here at Wolfpack Games to be active, attentive and engaged with our community (that’s you all!). Whether that is through keeping our question-and-answer opportunities open; being active on our social channels and, of course, through our playtests. We have always had at least one member of the Wolfpack Games team in every playtest to join in with everyone, answer questions and have fun with you all.

We still have plenty of work to do when it comes to implementing all of the feedback that our Pre-Alpa testers have given us so far but we are excited to share some of this feedback, and what we are doing to address them. We hope that you enjoy this bit of insight into Starkeepers, though do bear in mind that everything is still a work in progress.

Our earliest playtests were conducted with members of some incredibly passionate and experienced MMO communities. We are incredibly thankful to have worked with these knowledgeable communities and for their members lending their time to help us with our early tests. We hope to continue working alongside everyone and, if you are a member of a community who you think might be interested, do reach out to us and we shall see what we can do!

[h2]Fluidity of Combat[/h2]
Being an action combat game, combat is an integral part of Starkeepers so we are focussed heavily on testing this aspect of the game during our current phase of Pre-Alpha. We learned from playtesters that movement speed and how fluid our animations feel are areas that we should continue to polish. The detailed and specific feedback we have gathered has allowed our team to tweak areas of our combat to make gameplay feel more punchy and exciting.



[h2]Playability & Accessibility[/h2]
Building playability and accessibility into the game early on matters. Rebindable controls, clearer visual cues for telling players apart as well as creating more intuitive UI features were some of the key feedback points from playtesters. There is still plenty for us to do on this front and it will be a key focus in the following months. It is also a field where we will continue to seek input from our playtesters as we do not want accessibility to feel like an afterthought.

[h2]The Balance Between Vision & Gameplay[/h2]
Our playtesters helped us to reinforce our understanding of being able to find the balance between our creative vision for Starkeepers and what makes for good gameplay. We found this to be especially true when it came to some of our critical game design decisions. Friendly fire in PvP combat is a notable example that required finding creative solutions to avoid accidental collateral damage when fighting in close proximity with teammates.

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Keep your eyes on your emails for when we send out further invites to our future rounds of playtesting! Also, if you have made it this far, you should go check out the pets channel in our Discord server. It is the best place to be.

Once again, a massive thank you to all of our playtesters who have taken part in the Pre-Alpha tests so far. We are looking forward to our future playtests together!

Drew & Angela
Community & Marketing

...

Wishlist Starkeepers on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2015760/Starkeepers/

Discord: https://discord.gg/starkeepers

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlayStarkeepers

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@playstarkeepers

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playstarkeepers

Website (sign up for future playtests!): https://starkeepers.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmRqaLdiusy5FKg4dk2New

Starkeepers takes place in the vast, mythical world of the spirits, their gods and creators. Beyond our mortal plane, there lies the vast magical realm of the stars, where all great mortal oracles are recorded and remembered.

This place is the Astral Plane, and it is here that our story begins…

The world of Starkeepers is full of lore and stories of epic proportions and you, the player, get to be a part of it all. As a player, you are an Astral - beings that have the power to become gods in their own right but have not yet grown into their full power and potential.

As an Astral, you will be able to embody any one of our incredible heroes. Keep your eyes out for future blog posts that will give you a look into the stories of some of these heroes. Hopefully, you will even end up with a favourite that you will be able to look forward to playing in Starkeepers.

While we don’t want to give too much away, we decided to speak with our Narrative team to see what they could share about the game. With the project growing and progressing, and with many new faces in our communities, we also wanted to re-introduce the members of our Narrative Team to everyone.

We even recorded the whole thing and made it into an accompanying development update video, which you can find linked below!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Where do you envision the story of Starkeepers going?[/h2]
We pitched this question to Rudolf, Narrative Producer at Wolfpack Games to see what he had to say.

“We developed an expansive story world with a lot of depth beyond its face value. I intend to introduce the struggles of various godly entities to the players and hint at a bigger story with each new instalment!”

Players will meet many different godly entities and learn about their past and future struggles. As an Astral, players are considered deities themselves and the trials and tribulations of the gods may very well end up being the player's own.

Rudolf also hinted through a Tim Curry reference that the story for Starkeepers will end up being out of this world. Bonus points if you know which reference it is. Let Drew know, he’ll keep track of the points.

[h2]Different world themes?[/h2]
At launch, we will focus on one world theme, with more to come in each new season. We call our seasons ‘Epics’ which will include exciting content for you to get stuck into from the very beginning.

Each Epic will bring new themes and new content to explore. Encounters and quests are designed to be replayed multiple times, each time possibly resulting in different outcomes. The choices of the player will have a tangible impact on their experience.

Outside of the overarching world-building that ties everything in Starkeepers together, we can safely confirm that one of the first Epics that is being worked on is based on ancient Norse mythology. Very exciting stuff!

[h2]Making quests exciting[/h2]
Players will be able to come across interactable ‘things’ in the world. A player’s initial interaction may be a little mysterious at first. Along the lines of “what will happen if I do this?” rather than it being clear from the start what might happen.

There will always be a trade-off as to what the outcome of that interaction will be, with those trade-offs not necessarily being known from the start. You will have to discover these interactable points in the world for yourselves.

Don’t be surprised if any subsequent events end up being quirky or a little silly. We still want to have dashes of light-hearted fun without being all serious business.



[h2]What makes Starkeepers different?[/h2]
Starkeepers is a character-driven action combat multiplayer. You get to switch between different characters, level these characters independently, and give them all different attributes. If you have played a few different MMOs in the past, you may find that you need to have different, alt-accounts, if you wanted to approach the game from a different direction or try out different paths. In Starkeepers, you have the freedom to try out different paths. All this on a single account-wide experience.

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We hope you enjoyed hearing what our keepers of the Lore, otherwise known as the Narrative Team, had to share in our developer update video. As said at the end of the video, we are always available on our Discord server and love hearing everyone’s questions and feedback. If you have anything you want to ask, share or if you want to post any cute photographs of your adorable bundles of fluff (pets), then you know where to go.

We shall catch you all in the next one!
Drew & Angela
Community & Marketing

...

Wishlist Starkeepers on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2015760/Starkeepers/

Discord: https://discord.gg/starkeepers

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlayStarkeepers

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@playstarkeepers

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playstarkeepers

Website (sign up for future playtests!): https://starkeepers.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmRqaLdiusy5FKg4dk2New

Attention all gamers and fantasy enthusiasts, Starkeepers is kicking off its first rounds of pre-alpha playtest, and we're looking for passionate and excited players to be a part of it!

Playtesting is an essential part of game development. It helps to ensure the game feels good to play and provides a way to identify any issues that may easily be overlooked. After spending many hours, days and weeks working on parts of a game, it is possible to grow accustomed to any ‘quirks’ that the game has and not recognise how they might impact the gameplay experience.

This is where working with playtesters is incredibly helpful. It brings fresh eyes, fresh perspectives and fresh ideas to the game. The more people you are able to have playtest the game and provide feedback, the more information you have to work with and the better you can make a game!

Recently, we have been collaborating with passionate MMO guilds to conduct small-scale, closed playtests. We have already implemented changes to Starkeepers based on the feedback we have received.

Do you want to join us for future playtests? We are looking for more people to help make Starkeepers the best it can be. Currently, these playtests are conducted under NDA, which means information obtained through the playtests are to be kept confidential. Each playtest will bring us closer to the public release.





If you would like to take part and give your feedback, follow the link below to sign up. We will contact selected individuals with email invitations for upcoming playtests.
https://www.starkeepers.com/sign-up

Remember to also join our Discord server as it is where we communicate with playtesters and make all of our relevant announcements. If you ask really nicely, our community manager might even share cat photos in our pets channel. Any excuse to share pet photos.

You can find all of our social channels below!

Drew & Angela
Community & Marketing

...

Wishlist Starkeepers on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2015760/Starkeepers/

Discord: https://discord.gg/starkeepers

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlayStarkeepers

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@playstarkeepers

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playstarkeepers

Website (sign up for future playtests!): https://starkeepers.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmRqaLdiusy5FKg4dk2New

It’s been a busy year for us all here at Wolfpack Games. We are so proud of all that the team has achieved and equally grateful for the support from all of you. Here’s a quick summary of some of our highlights in 2022!



[h2]Title Announcement[/h2]
The big one! We announced Starkeepers to the world during the IGN Summer of Gaming in June 2022. We had our initial press push alongside showing off our first-ever teaser trailer. This teaser received over sixty-three thousand views on IGN’s official YouTube channel. This year we shall have some more fantastic content and new trailers to share with you. We can’t give you a timeline yet but we cannot wait to show off just how amazing Starkeepers is shaping up to be.

For those who have been keeping up to date with our development updates, you might have seen the one about our art direction. Our new trailers will show off this new art direction in all its glory!

[h2]Opened our Community[/h2]
Every game needs a fun, passionate and active community so we opened up our Discord in September! A place for everyone to gather together and talk about all things Starkeepers and beyond. Want to come in and chat about your favorite breakfast? You are always more than welcome.

We share sneak peeks into upcoming assets; you can find some of our devs and our Community Manager there and willing to chat. There is also our monthly Discord Q&A where you are welcome to ask any burning questions that you may have for the team.

As we continue to grow, we will involve our community more. Anything from playtesting; further Q&As; bringing content creators on board and more! It is the place to be if you are curious in finding out and following the development journey of Starkeepers.

There are some incredibly enthusiastic members in our community who regularly contribute to our Q&As and keep us on our toes with answers. Keep those questions coming and we shall keep up with answers! We might not be able to answer the big questions such as “when is the release date for Starkeepers” but we have been able to provide insight into many different specifics about the game. Whether that is talking about our music; the overall story for the game or the nitty-gritty of PvP. If you have any questions then it is always worthwhile to drop by our monthly Q&A in our Discord server. Even outside of our Q&A, our Discord server is the place to be if you want to be as involved as possible with Starkeepers!

[h2]Honed in on our Art Style[/h2]
A game’s art style dictates so much more than just a look. It directly impacts everything from the storytelling for our epic quest lines, to a specific ambience that we want to convey in a scene, right down to the finer details of how our characters express themselves through their clothing.

We are not afraid to admit that some of the assets you may have seen around in our social media materials did use several placeholder assets. In the early stages of development, we were dedicating the majority of our efforts towards the core functionality of the game. We want to make sure that our combat is fluid and engaging.

You may have seen on our social channels towards the end of 2022 that we started sharing more of our recent concept art pieces. This is because we have properly got the ball rolling with regard to honing in on our art style. We are excited to show off more of the assets that our teams have been working on. Hopefully, you’re as excited as we are!

We are shifting to a more mid-poly and stylized art direction that we envision will truly stand out when compared to others. The low-poly style that you may have previously seen in assets did look good, however it sometimes fell short of what we wanted to convey in our art with Starkeepers. Our worlds, characters and objects all take cues from different parts of ancient mythology from all over the world. We want our art style to be capable of paying homage to all of them.

[h2]Grew as a team![/h2]
Over the past six months, we have grown the team sizably. Across multiple areas of the studio (even hiring me, the Community Manager!). Our marketing materials like to mention how we are all a team of passionate MMO players who have come in with a wealth of experience in the industry. That is all true and, in fact, there is even more to it! We are a global team and have hired employees from all around the world. As we continue to develop Starkeepers, we will always be looking for talent, wherever they are!

[h2]Looking forward... Playtests and more![/h2]
You might already know this, but our first rounds of playtests are on the horizon! We are looking forward to involving members of the community in giving us early feedback on some of the game’s core systems such as combat and building. If you haven’t already, sign up for the playtest here and don’t forget to join our Discord to be eligible to participate!


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2022 has been an incredibly exciting year! 2023 is only going to bring more excitement and we invite you along to join us on the journey. From everyone here at Wolfpack Games, thank you. Thank you for all your support so far and we cannot wait to bring you something amazing.

Drew & Angela
Community & Marketing

...

Wishlist Starkeepers on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2015760/Starkeepers/

Discord: https://discord.gg/starkeepers

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlayStarkeepers

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@playstarkeepers

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playstarkeepers

Website (sign up for future playtests!): https://starkeepers.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmRqaLdiusy5FKg4dk2New

For this month’s dev update, we have a huge and exciting update for you all. You might have noticed a change in the assets we have been posting across our social media channels. That’s because we are upgrading the overall art style and direction for Starkeepers. Establishing our own unique and amazing style, so expect us to really be taking our art up a notch!

Making changes to the art direction of a game is a huge decision that will affect the look and feel of everything that you see and do in-game. We wanted to make sure that we were making the right decisions and that these changes are something for everyone to be excited about!

A large reason for these changes is so we can establish a stronger identity. Something unique and fantastical to make Starkeepers truly stand out.

Up until now and being in the earlier stages of development, we have had to use placeholder assets in a few key areas. This is so we can focus on building out system mechanics and core gameplay features, while our art team have been hard at work behind the scenes.

Main fortress concept art


Our Art Director, Zazen Zhang joined us earlier this year and took up the role of being the art mastermind behind Starkeepers. We approached him to find out what he is most excited about the game, as well as what light he can shed on the new art direction.


[h2]When did you join Wolfpack Games and what is your main role in the project?[/h2]
I officially joined Wolfpack Studios in August as the Art Director. The overall art style of the game and everything that requires artistic inputs, from characters, to landscape, to VFX and animation falls within my purview. It's definitely a great responsibility!

[h2]What are you most excited about Starkeepers?[/h2]
What I’m really looking forward to is the fact that there will be a range of different game environments as well as hero characters, each with different backgrounds and personalities! We get to design everything from their features to their skills and really bring them to life. There is also the sandbox-building aspect of the Starkeep involving many different buildings and structures which means that I get to be imaginative with my work.

Main fortress indoors concept art

[h2]What are some of your favorite projects from before Starkeepers?[/h2]
I’ve worked on a large number of games and movie projects in the past. For games, I worked on ‘Reworld’ as well as some outsourced design work for Dota 2 and Sword Art Online 3. I have also worked on film projects such as ‘Rampage’ and ‘The Great Wall'.

My experience in game projects helped me to understand different game engines and how different tools impact the art output. My experience in film projects made me pay much more attention to how art and design best fit into the plot of a project and how they can elevate storytelling. How a character’s outfit shows off their personality or how the overall scene design will work best for in-game cinematics.

[h2]How are we upgrading the art style for Starkeepers? What changes will we see?[/h2]
All of the art assets in Starkeepers will be upgraded following the new art style, including character and environment designs. The main change is going from a simplistic low-poly art style to a more refined, stylistic art style. We will pay more attention to how an art asset can contribute to the overall atmosphere and theming in Starkeepers, ensuring that every element in the game is able to exist together in a holistic world.

Open world environment concept art

[h2]What are you most excited about with the new art direction?[/h2]
I’m most excited to see the new art assets for our characters being implemented in-game. We are still in the process of further refining our character models and material assets, but I believe that the new characters will bring more flare to our game world.

[h2]What sort of look and feel do you want our heroes to have?[/h2]
The redesign of characters will focus more on their overall cohesiveness, bringing together their appearances, backgrounds, and personalities. We want to show off the uniqueness of each hero, and make them feel like an integral part of the living, breathing game world. We will also be adding some details, such as VFX and animation within character gears as finishing touches.

Heroes concept art

[h2]Some of our characters, such as Utsi, looks different in the new art style. How different do we expect our characters to look?[/h2]
The redesign of Utsi will effectively transform him into quite a different hero compared to the previous version. The changes in design will reasonably reduce the number of unnecessary details, and place the design focus on the overall look and feel of the character, rather than individual intricacies. What a character wears will be cleaner, and unique features of the hero will be made more pronounced, but not through excessively exaggerating shapes and forms, or depicting copious amounts of details.

Utsi 3D model

[h2]Will there be a range of characters with different appeals and aesthetics?[/h2]
There will be many heroes added to our character roster, each with different traits, skills, stories and backgrounds. One of my favorite characters based on their character stories is Encore. I am currently working on their character redesign, which has been a lot of fun.

[h2]What would best describe our building mechanics?[/h2]
Our building mechanics follow a blueprint system and is designed as building blocks, with elements being more simple and geometric. This will give more flexibility to players when they are building up their Starkeeps. The exterior design of our Starkeep buildings will look more "battle-ready" with more attention put into the design and use of wooden and masonry structures that these Starkeep buildings will be comprised of.

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We hope you are as excited as we are after hearing from Zazen about our art direction and what that means for Starkeepers! We cannot wait to share with you an in-game look at how all of these elements and upgraded assets will come together.

Keep an eye on our social media channels for more updates, concept art and assets that we will be sharing! We are also gearing up for our future playtests, so join our discord for the most updated information on that! You can find all of our links below this update.

Hope you enjoyed the insight into our new art direction. Have a wonderful new year and we shall be back with the next one in 2023.

Drew & Angela
Community & Marketing

...

Wishlist Starkeepers on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2015760/Starkeepers/

Discord: https://discord.gg/starkeepers

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlayStarkeepers

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@playstarkeepers

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playstarkeepers

Website (sign up for future playtests!): https://starkeepers.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmRqaLdiusy5FKg4dk2New