Stars Reach Unveils Two New Races on the Way, After Kickstarter Stretch Goals Reached

The Stars Reach Kickstarter campaign took almost no time at all to reach its original goal, and Playable Worlds is introducing two races made possible via stretch goals: the Hansian, made possible when the campaign hit $300k, and the Hyugon, unveiled at $500k.

In both announcements, we get a look into the behind the scenes development process and what the Stars Reach team looked for, as well as the feedback they received along the way. For both races, they had to be humanoid for the sake of development, to be able to fit the customizations and gear and other things that needed to be taken into account. Playable Worlds is a small studio and they acknowledge the limitations to variety. They also wanted all of their races to be cosplay friendly and on a budget at that. they're looking into the social aspect as well, which isn't surprising given how much interdependence is woven into Stars Reach.

The Hansians, a nomadic, adaptable race hailing from the world of Bonsurf, went through some changes into a fishlike people, but still ended some adjustments to not feel too alien. Through experimentation and research, they came upon what they're calling the “princess take”, inspired by a cosplayer who applied glitter makeup though netting to look like scales. They wanted to have a species inspired by colorful tropical fish, but captured the spirit to support different varieties of hairstyles and features and still look unique.

“Feedback showed that relatively few people actually want to play as something quite that alien,” they said about the earlier designs.

For the Hyugons, originally from Poe Guin, and science and innovation minded, the dev team ran into some similar issues because they wanted a race that took from the classic alien ‘grays and greens’ and fit their retro sci-fi vibe. At first, big black alien eyes looked insect-like, so they ran with it. Next, they realized they needed another take. “Turns out, people don’t like the idea of playing as a bug, if it gets too insectile. And it got insectile pretty quick,” they said.

Like the Hansian development, There were a number of phases they worked through to not make them too compact or chibi, to preserve the alien inspirations while still having good customization options. One of their breakthroughs came by adding some plant-like elements to their designs. This also lets you customize things like leaves or thorns or antenna shapes.

They note that both of these races are not necessarily finished yet, but these are what they've settled on for now as they continue to develop the game and to finish it, they are welcoming feedback on their new races.