StraX #17 – Interview with Arcen Games
Rob and Nate speak with founder of Arcen Games, Chris Park, about their upcoming 4X hybrid, Stars Beyond Reach. They learn about how the game plays, what their time line is for release, hints about the story connection between SBR and AI War and The Last Federation and much more!
C’mon Arcen! Give us more details on this! Even if you are not ready, it’s always good to tell us where you are at, even if there is a delay! Excited to support you and your awesome design philosophies!
-Mal
Sorry that I’ve been slow on the update news on the blog! If you check out the forums for the game on our site, there is an absolute constant flurry of discussion, release notes, and so forth. I’ll be doing more organized blob post updates soon, but so far I’ve been just trying to keep abreast of the first 31 testers and all that’s going on with their and my testing experiences.
The TLDR of it is: things are going really well overall, but there are a few ancillary mechanics that I don’t like in practice and that are going to be revised or cut. There has also been a big problem with the military in terms of not having enough of a maneuvering phase prior to combat actually commencing. Combat itself is great, but having a reason NOT too shoot on sight was a big issue. That’s the thing I’m working on right now, and I think I have a good handle on it.
I should really write up a blog post about everything that has gone humorously wrong during the early beta period, like mall shootings and unexpected riots and people dying of 6 diseases at once, etc. A lot of those were early bug/balance things that (in beta terms) are “long since” resolved, but I think I and the redshirts both found them hilarious to an extent (mainly because they were resolved quickly but make great stories of Woe).