Interview: Stars Reach Is Playable Worlds' Upcoming MMO, Set In A Fully Simulated Sandbox Galaxy | M

System · June 28

Interview: Stars Reach Is Playable Worlds' Upcoming MMO, Set In A Fully Simulated Sandbox Galaxy | MMORPG.com

Playable Worlds has finally pulled the veil back on its upcoming MMO project, Stars Reach. We sat down with CEO Raph Koster to talk about what this new MMO is and what players should expect in the next sandbox MMO from the legendary developer.

Read the full story here

Angrakhan · June 28

Well, I'm glad he's expecting skepticism because he's going to get it in spades. It's one thing to write this all out on paper and quite another to actually implement it in functional, performant code. Just ask the Star Citizen dev team. I hope this works out because it sounds pretty amazing, but again it's largely cocktail napkins and whiteboard sketches right now. I'll keep an eye on it for sure but I have a whole salt block worth of salt next to me (ok ok not literally) that I'm taking with this announcement.

Scot · June 28

Graphics are good enough, but too cartoony and garishly coloured. I did a search on the page and was astonished to find the word "cozy" was not mentioned, but that's a plus!

"As Raph explained the role the Servitors play in Stars Reach, from enforcing PvP rules" - hmm that could go badly wrong, depends what the actual system is, sounds like tagging.

Single shard good, but "soft grouping" sounds like a solo first philosophy. The SF setting is a breath of fresh air, loads more I like the sound of but to paraphrase Ralph "we shall see", well that's what I always do.

Only thing we know for sure, it'll be out before Star Citizen.

Dattelis · June 28

I'll believe it when I see it release

[Deleted User] · June 28

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Scot · June 28

Kolokoftis said:

I used to love the word sandbox now I am very skeptical.
It usually means little to no actual content

It depends, old school sandbox tended to still have some quests, new school sandbox is more likely to mean nothing but a toolbox or even worse survival. But nothing Ralph said indicated survival to me at least.

cameltosis · June 28

Looks and sounds pretty damn amazing to me!

Having read a couple of Raph's books, this really sounds like the culmination of a lifetime of learning about MMORPG design. He isn't just repeating what he's done in the past; he's taking the lessons of the past and then taking the next step, iterating forwards. I'm really impressed so far!

He's had sensible answers to all questions, already addressed people's fears about PvP. The economy stuff also sounds pretty great, I'm very happy to hear that there will be player shops and there won't be a global auction house.

The only thing I remain worried about (and have been since the beginning) is the combat mechanics. Combat is something Raph has never seemed to have much interest in, and he still doesn't seem to have much interest in it. But it's something that the playerbase does care about, deeply. So far, it looks like he's going down the action combat route. For me personally, this is a very bad thing as I know that I'll get bored with it within a few days (well, maybe not the space combat, assuming I can use my HOTAS setup...). I also don't think that action combat is very good for long term retention, something that'll be essential for a full sandbox game.

But, the game's still a long way off, there's a chance the combat mechanics might turn out to be more tactical with some depth to them.

(that said, SWG had very shallow combat too, even though it wasn't action combat. but, the rest of the game had such depth to it that I could vaguely ignore the shit combat because i enjoyed the rest of the game. maybe this'll be the same way?)

strawhat0981 · June 28

Graphics remind me of Wildstar.

aslan132 · June 28

Im excited by the prospect, but very skeptical. I do hope they can make most of their goals into reality, because it could be a very fun game. But, I am seeing some of the same promises being made that others have tried and failed at, so like others, I am taking it with a grain of salt. I am not always a "believe it when i see it" person, but in this case, I think its only prudent. Good luck to the team, and I will follow the game, but while I am excited, I wont be buying into any hype.

Sovrath · June 28

Scot said:

Graphics are good enough, but too cartoony and garishly coloured. I did a search on the page and was astonished to find the word "cozy" was not mentioned, but that's a plus!

"As Raph explained the role the Servitors play in Stars Reach, from enforcing PvP rules" - hmm that could go badly wrong, depends what the actual system is, sounds like tagging.

Single shard good, but "soft grouping" sounds like a solo first philosophy. The SF setting is a breath of fresh air, loads more I like the sound of but to paraphrase Ralph "we shall see", well that's what I always do.

Only thing we know for sure, it'll be out before Star Citizen.

Once again, western art design has taken a turn into goofy. Can't stand it.

[Deleted User] · June 28

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Sovrath · June 28

Kolokoftis said:

Sovrath said:

Scot said:

Graphics are good enough, but too cartoony and garishly coloured. I did a search on the page and was astonished to find the word "cozy" was not mentioned, but that's a plus!

"As Raph explained the role the Servitors play in Stars Reach, from enforcing PvP rules" - hmm that could go badly wrong, depends what the actual system is, sounds like tagging.

Single shard good, but "soft grouping" sounds like a solo first philosophy. The SF setting is a breath of fresh air, loads more I like the sound of but to paraphrase Ralph "we shall see", well that's what I always do.

Only thing we know for sure, it'll be out before Star Citizen.

Once again, western art design has taken a turn into goofy. Can't stand it.

Goofy and ugly if you want beautiful art look toasian games

Absolutely. Of course they have no issues with varying degrees of tone. So amazing and beautiful art design with players also wearing tennis outfits and driving an ambulance mount.

[Deleted User] · June 28

The user and all related content has been deleted.

GrimDogGaming · June 28

Bahahahahahahahahah!!!

Sorry, legit reaction.

Raagnarz · June 28

Gives me a Wildstar vibe but in a sandbox setting. A lot of promises, but we'll see when it launches. Almost feels like they are going for a much more multiplayer (at launch at least lol) No Mans Sky. I'll pay more attention to it when it goes early access or launches. Until players get their hands on it, its empty promises.

Terazon · June 28

I dont want a sandbox mmo.
I have plenty of sandbox games.

Angrakhan · June 28

Kolokoftis said:

Sovrath said:

Kolokoftis said:

Sovrath said:

Scot said:

Graphics are good enough, but too cartoony and garishly coloured. I did a search on the page and was astonished to find the word "cozy" was not mentioned, but that's a plus!

"As Raph explained the role the Servitors play in Stars Reach, from enforcing PvP rules" - hmm that could go badly wrong, depends what the actual system is, sounds like tagging.

Single shard good, but "soft grouping" sounds like a solo first philosophy. The SF setting is a breath of fresh air, loads more I like the sound of but to paraphrase Ralph "we shall see", well that's what I always do.

Only thing we know for sure, it'll be out before Star Citizen.

Once again, western art design has taken a turn into goofy. Can't stand it.

Goofy and ugly if you want beautiful art look toasian games

Absolutely. Of course they have no issues with varying degrees of tone. So amazing and beautiful art design with players also wearing tennis outfits and driving an ambulance mount.

Yeah they have alot of stupid stuff but on character design and world building they are just superior to the west

There's western artists that are top notch. Gaming companies just typically can't afford them or they don't want to work in gaming. Frank Frazetta inspired most of what you see as modern fantasy art.

Note I also love Eastern artists.

Raph · June 28

Angrakhan said:

Well, I'm glad he's expecting skepticism because he's going to get it in spades. It's one thing to write this all out on paper and quite another to actually implement it in functional, performant code. Just ask the Star Citizen dev team. I hope this works out because it sounds pretty amazing, but again it's largely cocktail napkins and whiteboard sketches right now. I'll keep an eye on it for sure but I have a whole salt block worth of salt next to me (ok ok not literally) that I'm taking with this announcement.

I would expect nothing less than skepticism, particularly here.

We are quite a ways past cocktail napkin sketches. Every tree you saw in those videos grew there. The water you saw flows and puddles and freezes. You can level up in combat, crafting, harvesting. Most all the features we want from the living world all work already, and we are at the stage of piling in gameplay and progression now.

Raph · June 28

Scot said:

Graphics are good enough, but too cartoony and garishly coloured.

We have a lot of work to go on the graphics yet, for sure.

Tokken · June 28

I'm okay with the cartoon graphics, reminds me of Wildstar...... The game has potential and I like what I hear so far! I love to play in sandboxes.

Babuinix · June 28

Raph said:

Angrakhan said:

Well, I'm glad he's expecting skepticism because he's going to get it in spades. It's one thing to write this all out on paper and quite another to actually implement it in functional, performant code. Just ask the Star Citizen dev team. I hope this works out because it sounds pretty amazing, but again it's largely cocktail napkins and whiteboard sketches right now. I'll keep an eye on it for sure but I have a whole salt block worth of salt next to me (ok ok not literally) that I'm taking with this announcement.

I would expect nothing less than skepticism, particularly here.

We are quite a ways past cocktail napkin sketches. Every tree you saw in those videos grew there. The water you saw flows and puddles and freezes. You can level up in combat, crafting, harvesting. Most all the features we want from the living world all work already, and we are at the stage of piling in gameplay and progression now.

Hey Raph, looking good and ambitious on the world building and living front.

It reminds me of EQ NExt a bit.

That game suffered from performance issues due to the world mutation by players are you guys over that hurdle?

Also reminds a bit of the new Hello Games mmo lite: Light no Fire

Gameplay wise how you guys see a 2-3 hour gameplay session going in the early stages in terms of progress and activities?

[Deleted User] · June 28

The user and all related content has been deleted.

cameltosis · June 29

Sovrath said:

Scot said:

Graphics are good enough, but too cartoony and garishly coloured. I did a search on the page and was astonished to find the word "cozy" was not mentioned, but that's a plus!

"As Raph explained the role the Servitors play in Stars Reach, from enforcing PvP rules" - hmm that could go badly wrong, depends what the actual system is, sounds like tagging.

Single shard good, but "soft grouping" sounds like a solo first philosophy. The SF setting is a breath of fresh air, loads more I like the sound of but to paraphrase Ralph "we shall see", well that's what I always do.

Only thing we know for sure, it'll be out before Star Citizen.

Once again, western art design has taken a turn into goofy. Can't stand it.

I can understand your point of view, and whilst I am not a huge fan of the "goofy" aspect, the cartoony / stylised art style is probably the right way to go. Realistic styles just don't age well, so I think this choice is a good one for a game that will (hopefully) be running for the next 20+ years, just like UO and SWG.

On the plus side, I am really happy about it being bright and colourful, rather than dark and depressing like the usual western style. I'm excited to actually explore this world/galaxy, which is unusual for me as I usually only get excited to explore existing IPs.

I've signed up for the limited summer beta (i refuse to call it an alpha, i remain a traditional software engineer).

KnightFalz · June 29

Raph said:

Angrakhan said:

Well, I'm glad he's expecting skepticism because he's going to get it in spades. It's one thing to write this all out on paper and quite another to actually implement it in functional, performant code. Just ask the Star Citizen dev team. I hope this works out because it sounds pretty amazing, but again it's largely cocktail napkins and whiteboard sketches right now. I'll keep an eye on it for sure but I have a whole salt block worth of salt next to me (ok ok not literally) that I'm taking with this announcement.

I would expect nothing less than skepticism, particularly here.

I see you're familiar with the terrain.

Scot · June 29

Sovrath said:

Once again, western art design has taken a turn into goofy. Can't stand it.

Raph said:

We have a lot of work to go on the graphics yet, for sure.

The problem is cartoony garish graphics has become a trend as much as grim dark. Now I am not saying this game would suit grim dark, not at all, but I think of this as a childish trend because it is children that it would most appeal to. I have spoken before on here about the infantilization of gaming, so I will spare you banging on again about that.

I see the direction of thinking, 'colours equal fun'! But even WoW which was the precursor to this trend is not that garish, though Stars Reach is thankfully not more cartoonish than WoW possibly somewhat less in fact.

Vrika · June 29

cameltosis said:

Sovrath said:

Scot said:

Graphics are good enough, but too cartoony and garishly coloured. I did a search on the page and was astonished to find the word "cozy" was not mentioned, but that's a plus!

"As Raph explained the role the Servitors play in Stars Reach, from enforcing PvP rules" - hmm that could go badly wrong, depends what the actual system is, sounds like tagging.

Single shard good, but "soft grouping" sounds like a solo first philosophy. The SF setting is a breath of fresh air, loads more I like the sound of but to paraphrase Ralph "we shall see", well that's what I always do.

Only thing we know for sure, it'll be out before Star Citizen.

Once again, western art design has taken a turn into goofy. Can't stand it.

I can understand your point of view, and whilst I am not a huge fan of the "goofy" aspect, the cartoony / stylised art style is probably the right way to go. Realistic styles just don't age well, so I think this choice is a good one for a game that will (hopefully) be running for the next 20+ years, just like UO and SWG.

I think they are trying to already do so much with their game that their budget, development time, and user's hardware simply can't do good realistic graphics on top of everything else.

Which left them with option between doing realistic graphic that looks outdated or choosing to do stylized graphics.

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