We’ve seen the flow of news slowly dry up these past two weeks, while anticipation for the release of SAGE Labs continues building. This past week, the main spotlight undoubtedly shone on the SAGE Labs ship specs that were shared by Chip (Director of Game Systems Design). Besides that, surprising news came in the form of Dan Park announcing his departure from ATMTA. Lastly, it looks like StarPath V2 could be right around the corner!
After the information-packed last weeks, the past week was again a more quiet one. The Atlas Brew was filled with lore from José (aka ZeSKK – Star Atlas official Penguin) on the various systems we’ll get to explore in SAGE Labs, and how this lore ties into the other lore that is already out there. In other words, a lot of lore-alpha was dropped, but nothing regarding gameplay or timelines. Fortunately, Chip (Director of Game Systems Design) was feeling generous, answering many SAGE Labs-related questions on Discord. This led to some interesting insights into how different ships behave in that game, which you can read about below.
Once again, the Atlas Brew from last week did not disappoint! Chris (Head of Game Economy) and Michael (CEO) were back for round two on SAGE Labs, while Chip (Director of Game Systems Design) was in the chat answering questions as well. We did not just get more details (which we promptly added to our guide); we also got some screenshots this time around! On top of that, we got a sneak peek video of the Starbased UI, MoonPay integration, a DRiP-ing collaboration, and the first winner of the Photography Career Competition. Finally, Michael also shared the target release window for SAGE Labs.
Last week was very much a copy of the week before. The week was relatively low on news, and then the Atlas Brew happened. This time the topic was the Economy in SAGE Labs, for which they brought on a special guest: Chris, the Head of Game Economy. He shared a good deal of new information on SAGE Labs! Also in attendance was Michael (CEO), who piled some more alpha on top, making the last week a treasure trove of new information! Though, in all honesty, there were a few other interesting bits shared last week, including an update on CORE (collectible) hardcovers and an update of the Ship Configurations!
Last week saw a surprise visit from Michael (CEO) at the Atlas Brew, which turned it into an alpha-leek bonanza! We’ll get into everything discussed there below! Other than that, a few clarifications were given on Discord in response to questions, but nothing major was announced through any of the official channels. Not a problem; the Atlas Brew was enough to fill this newsletter with!
This past week has been a true rollercoaster! We reported on the bombshell announcement in last week’s newsletter, which was followed by mild panic among the community. But then, this past Wednesday, the team hosted a special “Townhall” meeting where Michael (CEO) shed some more positive light on the new reality going forward, including the team’s runway and their product lineup. Danny (CPO) then elaborated on some of the upcoming features for Showroom R2.2 that they previously kept under wraps.
As expected, last week was one for the history books! It was a blockbuster of a week, despite the only actual product release being the first issue of CORE Act 2. However, we did get a lot of information on SAGE: REC (henceforth known as SAGE: Starbased) and the team’s partnership with Meta Gravity. And to top it all off, the team announced the purpose and function of their upcoming Mobile Companion App! And then, right before sending out this newsletter, the team dropped a bombshell of an announcement…
Compared to the past few weeks, last week was pretty quiet. But it’s the tempest before the storm, as we expect a torrent of news coming this week! So, we’ll use this opportunity to look ahead at what we can expect over the next few days!
Last week saw the much-anticipated launch of the Governance Application and the very first Polis Improvement Proposal, PIP-1! On the other end of the spectrum, we experienced the team sunsetting Escape Velocity, and Michael sharing a good deal of information on its successor: REC. Most of this information was released by Michael during an impromptu AMA this past Friday on the Star Atlas Discord server. This was the second time in a row, so you may want to keep an eye out this Friday!
The last week was action-packed! Destination Starbase was kicked off, with the release of three new dedicated mining ships! The end of Escape Velocity was announced in conjunction with a crack-down on bots. The new Governance App page was almost released. On top of that, we received a new quarterly Economic Report and Atlas Star newsletter!
We almost had another week that was going to be low on newsworthy topics, but then the team suddenly threw in an impromptu Townhall last Friday! With the Lore Wiki announced during the Atlas Brew, there is suddenly a lot to cover!
After a few intense weeks, the team seems to have taken a short break from launching (sometimes surprising) new releases. With everything out there, the community is buzzing, and has been heavily engaged in Escape Velocity, the Never Alone campaign, trying to optimize their R4 supply lines, and, -let’s not forget- having a good deal of fun with Showroom R2.1! With the imminent launch of the Star Atlas DAO formalization process on the horizon, and a good amount of releases planned for Q3, there is also plenty more to look forward to!
The Economy is here! The team just moved the needle in a significant way, overnight kickstarting the player-driven economy! This is clearly the biggest headline from last week, but there is more! ATLAS offerings from the team are back on the Marketplace as well!
The team is on fire! We received our 3rd big release of 2023 last week, and it sure is garnering a good deal of attention outside of the dedicated Star Atlas community. It’s also good to see Michael (CEO) show up in interviews like he used to back in the early days of this project, in 2021. The media are writing articles, Twitter is buzzing, and most of you will no doubt agree: It was a good week in Star Atlas!
Last week would have been a quiet week, were it not for the surprise Townhall the team hosted last Friday! Santi had the honor of announcing this surprise event during the Atlas Brew event on Wednesday, including its special guest: Danny Floyd (CPO), also known as Bunthius!
After a few interesting weeks, last week was again a bit lighter on the news. Definitely worth mentioning, however, is that the player base seems to have embraced the Never Alone campaign, which also led to an uptick in Escape Velocity activity. Meanwhile, Twitter has been filling up with threads and videos about Star Atlas, proving to the team this is a viable way to involve the community in their future marketing efforts. Fortunately, we did receive a new Atlas Star on Friday (issue 18) to provide some much-appreciated news regarding the team’s progress.
The Social Campaign is live! Now, next to Escape Velocity, and dogfighting/racing in the Showroom, there is another activity you can take part in! This one allows you to earn loot, and requires you to make some difficult decisions along the way! Good stuff! Meanwhile, Escape Velocity had its first Surge event, which resulted in a second ship being found from the Gold Tier!
Escape Velocity has been available for over a week now (close to 12 full days, to be exact), and the team has clearly made it the focal point of their communication. This means that the majority of news in this issue will be about the movement test, its rewards, and upcoming events!
The day we have all been waiting for has finally come! Whether you were waiting for your first taste of on-chain gameplay, or to navigate a ship in the foundation of what will grow to become SAGE, late last Wednesday night (for those in the US, for those of you in the EU, it was very early morning after), on April 26th, the day finally came! It was the moment we could jump into Escape Velocity and captain our ship(s) through the Movement Test. There was one other release that had difficulty staying in the spotlight for very long, which was the IP Licensing agreement. Perhaps less sexy to most, the services & fan-made products this enables might very well one day eclipse your enthusiasm for this early on-chain Movement Test!
Most weeks, there is little news, and then some weeks, there is a ton. Last week falls squarely into the latter category. After two and a half months, the team finally organized another Townhall, and it came with a major milestone achievement: The pending release of the very first module of SAGE, the Movement Test! And, of course, right alongside that, the Scavenger Hunt.