This week was all about Performance Improvements
Flora improvements (both visual and performance)
Item limits and lighting limits on homesteads
Wipes of existing worlds and reseeding them better
But there were other Game Improvements as well!
Testing a new version of “tailings” ejected from your mining excavator tool. These new tailings are initially ejected as a slurry which moves like a liquid to fill in crevices and holes, avoiding piling up into an unsightly pile. Then they quickly solidify and begin to age into dirt with any nearby grass spreading on top of them. This should improve the landscape a great deal.
Meteor swarms were completely renovated to avoid leaving a mess across the landscape. You’ll need to try the new ones and tell us what you think.
The new player initial tutorial has been updated. Please create a new character and try it.
What's dynamic about Dynamic Update?
Wild wormholes are now a dynamic event instead of a static portal to a new world each day.
The wormhole will stay open a random amount of time each time it opens and even the Servitors don’t know how long that will be. But the Servitors have tech to monitor the basic stability of the gateway and can give us some indication of its health on our HUD:
Green = stable
Yellow, blinking slowly = starting to destabilize
Yellow, blinking moderately = becoming more unstable
Yellow, blinking rapidly = wrap it up! Time to head home!
Red, blinking furiously = the wormhole is about to collapse!
Steady red = it’s too late now. Prepare to go back the hard way.
If you don’t make it back to known space before the wormhole closes, you are forced to reconstitute your life form to your last saved ReLife pattern back in Servitor space. You will find that you no longer have anything you collected on the other side.
There’s a lot more to try out in the Dynamic Update debuting at the playtest on Saturday, September 6, right after the Fireside Chat.
Playtesting
This is a 70-hour playtest, a short break on Tuesday & Wednesday, followed by a 118-hour playtest, our longest yet.
Fireside Chat
Saturday, September 6, Dave Georgeson and Rick Reynolds will host Fireside Chat #47 to introduce the Dynamic Update. We have moved the Fireside Chat from the Discord auditorium to the Twitch.TV channel. Please join us at 9:00AM Pacific/Noon Eastern at View game page
A Grand Tour
Rod Haza jumped into Discord and took us on a grand tour of various build sites and constructions created by players for one last look before the wipe.
Thomas/Frommy took over yesterday’s Thursday livestream for a look back at the evolution of art in Stars Reach. We started in 2019 and worked our way forward through Raph’s art archive, looking at successive generations of videos, concept art, and screenshots. We’ve come a long way, baby. Temporary VOD link here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2558629154
The Stars Reach Infinite Worlds series merchandise has been a big hit. Check out our licensed merch in our Web Store! https://starsreach.com/store
We also have late pledges available on payment plans at our store
Backer Invites + Discord Backer Badge. Almost all of the backers have submitted their survey, but if you haven’t then search your email box.
New testers received an invite from FirstLook with a playtest schedule and instructions. (Check your spam folder if you don’t see it!)
Existing testers will not get a new invite, your Discord role should now show a Backer badge. Not yet? Log into FirstLook.gg and sync.
Can’t find it? Email [email protected]
Kickstarter late pledges are still available but this may wind down soon: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/starsreach/stars-reach
Screenshot of the Week:
Club Jericho is likely to be rebuilt once more:
