#playable worlds

Here's why sandbox online worlds are the evolution of static themepark games -- and also how we often get them wrong. Come take a stroll through the history of where the terms came from, starting in primordial MUD and up through today. :)

I just watched a couple of videos about sandbox vs themepark games (in particular one by NerdSlayer and another by Josh “Strife” Hayes)… One thing that struck me about the ways players often talk about this (because at this point the history is so old) is that people think of sandbox as the older version of MMOs, and themeparks as newer. But that’s not right – sandbox is not the older…

It has been a bit since I looked in on Stars Reach.  That was largely due to both the random availability of access and the fact that things were being reset often enough that starting from scratch had ceased to be interesting. Stars Reach But since they announced that early access was coming soon the team has been on a tear to make the game… well, a game.  Way back, when Raph was trotting out…

SOON! -Stars Reach Early Access Announcement Yesterday I got notified over a variety of channels that Stars Reach was going to land in early access on Steam “SOON!” Stars Reach – Early Access “Soon!” My gut reaction… and the general vibe from responses I have seen… has been some concern as to whether or not it is ready for this level of real world exposure based on how early access tends to go…

Wasn’t I just on about the Kickstarter curse the other day when news broke about Ashes of Creation getting shut down and staff being laid off?  So I was feeling a bit of that again as we got news last night that Playable World, Raph Koster’s company, which is developing the online game Stars Reach, was laying off some staff. Stars Reach – To Be Continued The announcement came at the classic “I am…

It has been a bit since I peeked in on Stars Reach.  There is always the problem of the windows of availability needing to correspond with my own free time. Stars Reach – Continued Testing I have seen some headlines about changes in the game and that maybe they are going to be able to go to longer test cycles that the current few open hours every week.  But I will admit, even following the game…