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#gametalk

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Raph Koster

One week of Stars Reach Kickstarter

Wow, it has been an intense six days.

We launched on Tuesday, which feels like an eternity ago. It's a mad scramble to get everything done, make sure you have all the content ready, to answer the huge inflow of questions, find all the spots where you weren't quite clear enough... but you just sur

raphkoster.com/2025/03/03/one-

Raph's Website · One week of Stars Reach KickstarterWow, it has been an intense six days. We launched on Tuesday, which feels like an eternity ago. It’s a mad scramble to get everything done, make sure you have all the content ready, to answer…
#GameTalk#Gamemaking#kickstarter
Public
Raph Koster

STARS REACH Kickstarter funded in 1 hour

I can't tell you how much of a rollercoaster yesterday was. We hoped to see a strong Kickstarter but reaching our goal is less than one hour is just amazing, and a real expression of support from the community. Thank you all so much. (You can check out the Kickstarter here!)

We're not stopping here. As I write

raphkoster.com/2025/02/26/star

Raph's Website · STARS REACH Kickstarter funded in 1 hourI can’t tell you how much of a rollercoaster yesterday was. We hoped to see a strong Kickstarter but reaching our goal is less than one hour is just amazing, and a real expression of support …
#GameTalk#Gamemaking#PlayableWorlds
Public
Raph Koster

STARS REACH Kickstarter is live now

Today we are launching the Kickstarter for Stars Reach.

Why a Kickstarter? Well, the funding climate is rough. But we have seen that players love what we are making.

So we want to prove to the industry that people want a modern sandbox. An alternate world that feels alive, not like a static cardboard set. A game where different sorts of playstyles come

raphkoster.com/2025/02/25/star

Raph's Website · STARS REACH Kickstarter is live nowToday we are launching the Kickstarter for Stars Reach. Why a Kickstarter? Well, the funding climate is rough. But we have seen that players love what we are making. So we want to prove to the indu…
#GameTalk
Public
Raph Koster

Old movement stuff for STARS REACH

When it comes to interim stages of game dev, I am a bit of a packrat. I have paper maps from when I was doing Ultima Online, and UI sketches for Star Wars Galaxies... of course, for my current thing, Stars Reach, I have a whole pile of images and videos going back to the very earliest d

raphkoster.com/2024/08/28/old-

Raph's Website · Old movement stuff for STARS REACHWhen it comes to interim stages of game dev, I am a bit of a packrat. I have paper maps from when I was doing Ultima Online, and UI sketches for Star Wars Galaxies… of course, for my current …
#GameTalk#Gamemaking#GameDesign
Public
Raph Koster

The first players land in Stars Reach

GIF courtesy of hooby, showing sunrise on the test map

This past weekend was a huge milestone for us -- the very first regular players landed on an alien world in Stars Reach and ran around and had some fun!

This was a pre-alpha test aimed mostly at testing our login systems, infrastruc

raphkoster.com/2024/08/21/the-

Raph's Website · The first players land in Stars ReachGIF courtesy of hooby, showing sunrise on the test map This past weekend was a huge milestone for us — the very first regular players landed on an alien world in Stars Reach and ran around an…
#GameTalk#Gamemaking#PlayableWorlds
Public
Raph Koster

The neverending griefing discussion

I've been doing MMOs and online worlds a long time. And that means that I've written and said a lot of things on the Internet over the years, about designing them.

One of the funny things about reactions to the various vision blogs for Stars Reach is the number of people who have

raphkoster.com/2024/08/07/the-

Raph's Website · The neverending griefing discussionI’ve been doing MMOs and online worlds a long time. And that means that I’ve written and said a lot of things on the Internet over the years, about designing them. One of the funny thin…
#GameTalk#Gamemaking#GameDesign
Public
Raph Koster

SR Pillars three: the vibe!

The third post in the series on the game pillars for Stars Reach is up. This one is all about the vibe of the world, and the thematic goals for the game... and how those things then reflect into the game mechanics.

Stars Reach is a game about hope and optimism. The real world is grimdark enough. We want to cap

raphkoster.com/2024/07/24/sr-p

Raph's Website · SR Pillars three: the vibe!The third post in the series on the game pillars for Stars Reach is up. This one is all about the vibe of the world, and the thematic goals for the game… and how those things then reflect int…
#GameTalk#Gamemaking#GameDesign
Public
Raph Koster

SR Pillars Part 2: Easy Surface, Much Depth

Yup, another week so I wrote another long post about the design pillars we are using for designing Stars Reach. (If you missed last week's, it's here, and I expanded on it on the blog here.)

This week, it's all about the second set:

The Ease of Nintendo Meets the Depth

raphkoster.com/2024/07/18/sr-p

Raph's Website · SR Pillars Part 2: Easy Surface, Much DepthYup, another week so I wrote another long post about the design pillars we are using for designing Stars Reach. (If you missed last week’s, it’s here, and I expanded on it on the blog h…
#GameTalk#Gamemaking#GameDesign
Public
Raph Koster

Stars Reach Pillars

I have written a blog post about the core pillars of Stars Reach over on the SR website.

We have three big pillars, each of which decomposes down into a series of goals -- three each -- and then those provide a host of more specific design rules or guidelines that the game has to follow. It's core to how we manage a

raphkoster.com/2024/07/10/star

Raph's Website · Stars Reach PillarsI have written a blog post about the core pillars of Stars Reach over on the SR website. We have three big pillars, each of which decomposes down into a series of goals — three each — a…
#GameTalk#Gamemaking#GameDesign
Public
Raph Koster

Announcing Stars Reach

It's been years of work, and we are far from done, but I am super happy to finally reveal what I have been working on at Playable Worlds: Stars Reach.

This is the game I have wanted to make for nearly thirty years. It is the spiritual sequel to Ultima Online and to Star Wars Galaxies. It

raphkoster.com/2024/06/28/anno

Raph's Website · Announcing Stars ReachIt’s been years of work, and we are far from done, but I am super happy to finally reveal what I have been working on at Playable Worlds: Stars Reach. This is the game I have wanted to make f…
#GameTalk#Gamemaking#mmorpg
Public
Raph Koster

GDC talk: Revisiting Fun

My GDC 2024 talk Revisiting Fun: 20 Years of a Theory of Fun is now posted here.

Once again, I had a lot of fun drawing cartoon heads of lots of people who feature in the talk.

The talk really is a direct sequel to the one from a decade ago, Ten Years Later. Unlike last time, there is no updated edition just yet, though I was asked by lots of

raphkoster.com/2024/03/28/gdc-

Raph's Website · GDC talk: Revisiting FunMy GDC 2024 talk Revisiting Fun: 20 Years of a Theory of Fun is now posted here. Once again, I had a lot of fun drawing cartoon heads of lots of people who feature in the talk. The talk really is a…
#GameTalk#fun#GameStudies
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