https://hooby.blog/A blog about anything I'd like to write about. Mostly video games and especially Stars Reach. 2026-09-08T20:43:50+02:00 hooby https://hooby.blog/ Jekyll © 2026 hooby /assets/img/favicons/favicon.ico /assets/img/favicons/favicon-96x96.png 2026-09-08T19:58:00+02:00 2026-09-08T19:58:00+02:00 https://hooby.blog/posts/DD3-crafting-recipes/ hooby

Welcome to the third Stars Reach Deep Dive. This time we will take a closer look at some crafting recipes found in version 8.5.0.8701 of Raph Koster’s new, currently in-development MMORPG. I say “some” - because the game has a lot of crafting recipes, and I will only take a look at those, my sole character has access to. In fact, we will be mostly looking a things that are made with either the...

2026-09-04T09:20:00+02:00 2026-09-04T09:20:00+02:00 https://hooby.blog/posts/ea-should-be-alpha/ hooby

Over the last few weeks, I’ve closely observed the Steam Early Access launch of a game. Regardless of the game in question and whether that one game specifically was ready for EA or not - I strongly disagree with the general sentiment, that games in alpha state should not be in Early Access. And there were tons of negative reviews saying “feels like an alpha, should not be EA” or something alon...

2026-08-30T16:06:00+02:00 2026-08-30T16:06:00+02:00 https://hooby.blog/posts/DD2-ea-launch/ hooby

This is my second Stars Reach Deep Dive - a series in which we take a closer look at the intricacies, game design and gameplay mechanics of Raph Koster’s new, currently in-development MMORPG. “Wait a minute!” - I hear you say - “This one is titled ‘EA Launch’, that’s not about game design!”. Oops, you caught me there. This post is going to be a bit of an exception for this series - but we are ...

2026-08-23T08:57:00+02:00 2026-08-23T08:57:00+02:00 https://hooby.blog/posts/DD1-recipe-book/ hooby

In this first post of what could become a new series, we are going to take a closer look at the intricacies, design philosophy and gameplay effects of the Recipe Book (and it’s limit) in Stars Reach. Stars Reach of course being the new social sandbox MMORPG by Raph Koster (of UO and SWG fame) - which entered into Early Access a few days ago. The Design Philosophy Designing for Social Play is ...

2026-08-09T19:38:00+02:00 2026-08-09T19:38:00+02:00 https://hooby.blog/posts/PAT34-calm-before-the-storm/ hooby

This is it. The final PAT - the last pre-alpha update ever. The Stars Reach pre-alpha playtest is coming to an end, and less than two weeks from now, the game will officially start being in alpha - while simulatenously launching on Steam’s Early Access. As a direct result - this is going to be very last and final PAT “pre-alpha test report” I write on this blog. There will be more blog posts a...