Raph Koster is responsible for some of the oldest and most well-known MMORPGs in the world. With Stars Reach, the veteran has been planning his next game for several years. In a new blog post, Koster talks about what you can expect from the MMO.
What kind of new game is this?
- Stars Reach is a sandbox MMO that has been in development since at least 2019 and aims to use modern techniques such as AI and clouds.
- The gameplay is roughly supposed to correspond to the ancient MMORPG Ultima Online, just more modern and demanding. The core should be “player-driven interactions”.
- The ambitions are high: It is said that Stars Reach aims to do for science fiction what World of Warcraft did for fantasy.
Who is behind Stars Reach? The developing studio is Playable Worlds, which was founded in 2018 by MMORPG guru Raph Koster. Koster is an icon of the genre who was instrumental in its development:
- Koster was the lead designer of Ultima Online, the rock-solid foundation of sandbox MMOs.
- After that, Koster worked as a Creative Director on Star Wars Galaxies, one of the MMORPGs that you wish would return the most.
- The veteran is also known for his expertise in development: In an interview with MeinMMO, Koster talks about the development of MMOs and explains that WoW killers almost killed MMOs.
For his latest project, Raph Koster’s studio has already received over 25 million dollars in support, all in a single payment.
In a new blog post, the developer explains what exactly the “pillars” of Stars Reach are supposed to be.
Complex, but not complicated
In the long post, Koster addresses the development of MMOs as a genre. He admits that MMOs have felt stagnant in recent years. They have evolved into loot shooters, survival games, and such things that simply appeal to more players.
Stars Reach is therefore supposed to adhere to a few fundamental principles:
- The MMO should be as comfortable as a Nintendo game while having the depth of a sandbox MMO.
- Proven game mechanics should ensure that players can easily find their way into the game and dive deep enough to want to stay – similar to how the rules work in chess.
- Controls and UI should be intuitive, simple, and familiar.
- Stars Reach should run on many clients to function on as many devices as possible and connect players.
The developer also writes that Stars Reach is meant to be quite complex, but: “I always try to distinguish between complexity and complicating things. There is a lot of complexity in a card deck […] but the basic shape of the deck is not complicated. Chess has only six different pieces, Go has just one.”
The article continues: “We want to build a game that has real depth and complexity, stemming from the combination of simple things in unexpected ways.” Unfortunately, there isn’t much more information about his new MMO at this time. However, Koster probably knows what he’s doing: The MMORPG father explains what MMO means and what it involves
