Chucklefish has detailed how each stage of its impending Starbound beta will go down.
Starbound, the space-themed spiritual successor to Terraria opened up Kickstarter-style “crowdfunding pre-orders” earlier this year, to a resounding success. One of the carrots dangled in front of earlier purchasers was an invitation to the game’s beta, which, according to a recent blog post by developer Tiy is “not very far off”. In the post, he detailed how each of the beta’s three stages would work, and offered some advice on what players can expect from them.
Here’s the breakdown of Tiy’s suggestions as to when and why fans should participate in each stage of the beta:
Stage 1: Progenitor
Do take part in this stage of the beta if:
- You enjoy testing buggy and unfinished code
- You enjoy providing feedback
- You want to leave your mark on the game
- You just can’t wait any longer
Do not take part in this stage of the beta if:
- Bugs infuriate you
- You don’t like spoilers
- You can’t stand losing your save
- You want the full Starbound ‘experience’ the first time you play
Stage 2: Automaton
Do take part in this stage of the beta if:
- You enjoy reporting bugs/bughunting
- You have a low spec computer and want to make sure the game is optimized for it
- You want a complete sandbox experience
- You tried to wait a bit longer but failed
Do not take part in this stage of the beta if:
- You want to play through the main quest line
- You want to be a Novakid
Stage 3: Bio-organic
Do take part in this stage of the beta if:
- You want to give feedback on what will become the finished game
Do not take part in this stage of the beta if:
- You’d rather wait a litttttle bit longer and play the polished final version
- You’re still busy playing Pokemon X/Y
Especially given that Pokemon X/Y comment at the end, it looks like the beta is just around the corner!
Check out the full blog post here.
