Sea of Stars

Created by Sabotage Studio

A retro-inspired turn-based RPG

Latest Updates from Our Project:

The Backer Survey Will Be Sent Out Today
almost 3 years ago – Mon, Jun 05, 2023 at 07:52:19 AM

Hi again backers!

The time has come, we’re finally ready to send the backer survey.

It will be sent out to everyone today at the email address associated with your Kickstarter or BackerKit pledge.

**YOU HAVE UNTIL JULY 3RD TO FILL YOUR SURVEY**

We wouldn’t advise waiting at the last minute to fill your survey. The sooner the surveys are completed, the sooner we can get to the next step of fulfillment and make sure everyone gets their rewards as soon as we possibly can.

Please take the time to read the following carefully to make sure you have all the necessary info to fill it out correctly. If you have any questions after reading this, the official support channels are listed down below.

HOW DOES THE SURVEY WORK?

The survey will be linked in an email sent to the address associated with your Kickstarter or BackerKit account. It will allow us to gather all the necessary information for the delivery of both digital and physical items.

The email will be sent from this address: [email protected].

Once you’re in the survey, the process is a bit different whether you pledged during the initial Kickstarter campaign or later on via the BackerKit post-campaign shop.

Let’s begin with Kickstarter backers. If you pledged via BackerKit, you can skip to this section and go directly to the BACKERKIT PRE-ORDER BACKERS section.

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN BACKERS

The survey is divided into four sections:

1. Questions

First, you’ll be asked survey questions associated with your pledge level.

The first question type will ask to pick the platform(s) for the item(s) already included in your pledge, if applicable.

Note that if you select Nintendo Switch or PlayStation 4/5 for your digital copy, you’ll also need to pick the right region option.

Simply select the right options and click “Next”.

The second question type allows you to enter the name to appear in the backer section of the credits, if that reward is part of your pledge.

IMPORTANT:
For uniformity purposes, please use your full name in latin characters only. Avoid numbers and special characters.

The text field doesn’t have a character limit, but please do not exceed 35 characters, including spaces.

Any offensive or inappropriate language will be removed and won’t appear in the credits.

When you’re done, click the “Next” button.

2. Add-ons

Once you’ve answered all the questions, you’ll get to the “add-ons” section. Here, you can add extra items to your pledge. In the case you purchase extra digital or physical copies, you’ll then get to pick the platform(s) in the follow-up questions.

In case you over pledged during the campaign, the extra amount will appear here as credits that you can use to get the add-ons.

You can obviously skip this section altogether if you don’t wish to add anything to your order.

Once you’re satisfied with the content of your cart, click “Next”.

3. Shipping

This section will only appear if your order contains physical items.

This is the address that will be used for shipping, overriding the one that was given when you first pre-ordered.

IMPORTANT: The phone number is mandatory, and only for shipping purposes.

4. Confirm

The last step is order confirmation. We strongly suggest reviewing carefully each item and add-on you have in your cart to make sure you picked the right options. You can still go back to earlier sections of the survey and edit anything at this point.

If you added any add-ons, you’ll need to complete your payment info. There are two payments methods available:

- Credit card: Your card won’t get charged right away. The funds will be collected when we close the pledge manager on our side. We don’t have an exact date for this yet, but it should happen soon after the deadline for the surveys on July 3rd.

- PayPal: If you choose to pay via Paypal, the funds will be collected right away.

Once everything’s in order, you can click the “Place My Order” button.

And that it’s, you’re done! Again, if you need any further assistance, the support channels are listed at the end of this post.

BACKERKIT PRE-ORDER BACKERS

If you're a backer from the Kickstarter campaign, you can skip this section.
 

The survey is divided into 4 sections:

1. Questions

This first section is only there to give a few instructions about the following steps of the survey. Once you’ve read it, you can select the “Understood!” option and click the “Next: Add-ons” button.

2. Add-ons

When you get to that section, the first thing you should notice is that the items you already pre-ordered are listed as add-ons in your cart on the right part of the screen.

Here, you can also add additional items to your order. 

When you’re satisfied with the items in your cart, click “Next”. If more information is needed for one or multiple items, you’ll automatically be brought to the questions page.

The first question type is to pick the platform(s) if you purchased digital or physical copies of the game.

Note that if you select Nintendo Switch or PlayStation 4/5 for your digital copy, you’ll also need to pick the right region option.

Simply select your preferred option and click “Next”.

The second question type allows you to enter the name to appear in the backer section of the credits, if you got the “Solstice Warrior Package” when you first pre-ordered via the BackerKit store (it’s not available as an add-on in the survey.)

IMPORTANT:
For uniformity purposes, please use your full name in latin characters only. Avoid numbers and special characters.

The text field doesn’t have a character limit, but please do not exceed 35 characters, including spaces.

Any offensive or inappropriate language will be removed and won’t appear in the credits.

Answer all of the questions listed there and click “Next”.

3. Shipping

This section will only appear if your order contains physical items.

This is the address that will be used for shipping, overriding the one that was given when you first pre-ordered.

IMPORTANT: The phone number is mandatory, and only for shipping purposes.

4. Confirm

The last step is order confirmation. We strongly suggest reviewing carefully each item and add-on you have in your cart to make sure you picked the right options. You can still go back to earlier sections of the survey and edit anything at this point.

If you added any add-ons, you’ll need to complete your payment info. There are two payments methods available:

- Credit card: Your card won’t get charged right away. The funds will be collected when we close the pledge manager on our side. We don’t have an exact date for this yet, but it should happen soon after the deadline for the surveys on July 3rd.

- PayPal: If you choose to pay via Paypal, the funds will be collected right away.

Once everything’s in order, you can click the “Place My Order” button.

And that it’s, you’re done! Again, if you need any further assistance, the support channels are listed at the end of this post.

PRODUCTS DETAILS

Here’s what you need to know about each available items:

Digital copy of the game

The digital keys will be distributed via email when the game launches on August 29th. All the launch platforms are available to pick in the survey (Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.)

Backer-exclusive physical edition

The backer-exclusive physical edition comes with an exclusive cover art and a high-quality instructions booklet.

The physical copies will be delivered after launch. They need time to be manufactured and shipped once the gold master build is ready. Evaluating options, we opted to release the game digitally as soon as it is ready, which means physical copies will arrive at a later date. But worry not, for every physical copy pre-order will be given a free digital game code usable on day one.

As an additional treat to backers, digital codes do not need to be for the same platform as the physical version you are picking. Feel free to take this opportunity as a free copy on an additional platform, or a way to keep your physical copy sealed!

The backer-exclusive physical edition is available as an add-on in the survey for all launch platforms (Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.)

OST Vinyl

This is a double-vinyl containing tracks hand-picked by our composer Eric W. Brown. The cover is exclusive to this edition.

Just as the physical copies, vinyls will be delivered later on. Our top priority is letting everyone play the game as soon as possible, but we will be putting in all efforts to get them to your door as fast as pressing will allow.

Digital artbook & DRM-free version of the soundtrack

These aren't available as add-ons in the survey, but are included with some pledge levels.

We don’t have an ETA for when they will be delivered yet. Our top priority is letting everyone play the game as soon as possible, but we will be putting in all efforts to send them to you as soon as we can.

REMINDER: YOU HAVE UNTIL JULY 3RD TO COMPLETE YOUR SURVEY

We recommend doing it as soon as you get it. Please do not wait until the last minute.

The sooner the surveys are completed, the sooner we can get to the next step of fulfillment and make sure everyone gets their rewards as soon as we possibly can.

We’ll send multiple reminders in the following weeks to make sure no one’s missing out.

SUPPORT

If you need help at any moment during the final phase of fulfillment, please refer to the survey FAQ and the BackerKit support first. It’s accessible via the “Need help?” button that’s present on every page of the survey. 

If you need further assistance, here are the support channels to prioritize:

We’re confident everything is going to go down smoothly, but with as many backers we’re bound to get a lot of support requests. We guarantee that we’ll do our best to get back to everyone in a timely manner.

THAT’S IT FOR NOW

Three years after the end of our Kickstarter campaign, this is obviously a big milestone for us and we couldn’t be more grateful for your patience and support.

The finish line is getting closer by the day and we can’t wait to finally put Sea of Stars into your hands.

We’ll be back with some development updates very soon.

All the best,

-Saboteam




FOOTNOTES

As we are self-publishing,  growing awareness is paramount throughout production. If you have a moment to help us even more than you already have, here are a few ways you can can do so in 30 seconds or less:

The Backer Survey Will Be Sent Out Next Week
almost 3 years ago – Wed, May 31, 2023 at 12:03:45 PM

Hi dear backers!

Here we are, ready to kick off the final phase of fulfillment with the delivery of the backer survey.

It will be sent out next week to the email address associated with your Kickstarter or BackerKit pledge.

We’ll publish some more thorough guidelines in another Kickstarter update just before the survey is officially sent out but we wanted to give you all a heads-up and a few reminders beforehand.

WHAT'S THE BACKER SURVEY?

Most of the backer tiers contain pledge rewards for which we need to collect extra information, such as platforms for copies of the game or names for the backer section of the credits. You’ll find all the necessary information relevant to your own pledge in the survey.

Backers from the Kickstarter campaign and from the BackerKit pre-order shop both need to fill out the survey.

It’s also your last chance to add some of the backer-exclusive items such as the physical edition or the vinyl of the soundtrack to your order. The final shipping address for all physical items will be also collected in the survey.

A SMOKE TEST WILL BE SENT TODAY

As a way to test out the overall flow of the survey before sending it to everyone, it’ll first be sent out randomly to 5% of backers, today. So, if you get the email with the link to the survey, that’s not a mistake. It is your official survey, so please go ahead and fill it out.

We would then appreciate hearing from you if you have any feedback so we can make the necessary adjustments before we officially send the rest of the surveys next week.

Please carefully read the instructions for each step of the survey. If anything feels confusing or could be improved, we’d like to know. The preferred support channels are listed below.

SUPPORT

If you need help at any moment during the final phase of fulfillment, please refer to the survey FAQ first. It’s accessible via the “Need help?” button featured on every page of the survey.

If you need further assistance, here are the support channels to prioritize:

We’re confident everything is going to go down smoothly, but with this many backers we’re bound to get a lot of support requests. We’ll do our best to get back to everyone in a timely manner.

THAT’S IT FOR NOW

As always, thanks for your patience. We’ll be back with more information early next week.

The overwhelming support continues to boost the team’s energy throughout the last stretch of development, and we couldn’t be more grateful.

All the best,

-Saboteam





FOOTNOTES

As we are self-publishing,  growing awareness is paramount throughout production. If you have a moment to help us even more than you already have, here are a few ways you can can do so in 30 seconds or less:

Xbox Announcement + Game Informer Cover + Demo Feedback
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Mar 15, 2023 at 11:05:33 AM

While the team is progressing steadily towards the Beta (content complete) milestone, we have one last platform announcement for you, along with some exciting news you might have missed. Let's jump right in.

SEA OF STARS IS COMING TO XBOX

Talk about an announcement that was long overdue!

Since the very beginning, we were secretly hoping to be able to cover all current and previous generation consoles. With production being a world of curve balls, we had to leave the messaging at "PC and Consoles" to avoid having to walk some things back. With the big unknowns now in the rear view, we are delighted to finally confirm the addition of Xbox to the party!

This puts the bow on platform announcements until launch. Sea of Stars will be available day and date on August 29 on PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation (4 and 5), and  Xbox (One and Series X/S), with cross-buy enabled where applicable.

Oh, and in addition to being currently available on Nintendo Switch, the playable demo will be coming to the other launch platforms  later this year!

(If you want to help bring more eyeballs to Sea of Stars, please RT this post!)

THE FINAL BACKER SURVEYS ARE COMING IN A FEW WEEKS

Now that all platforms have been confirmed, you can expect the backer surveys to be sent out very soon! We will do a full update including all relevant information the moment everything is ready. There will also be multiple reminders to make sure no one misses out.

Physical copies need time to be produced and shipped once the gold master build is ready. Evaluating options, we opted to release the game digitally as soon as it is ready (August 29, 2023), which means physical copies will arrive at a later date. But worry not, for every physical copy pre-order will be given a free digital game code usable on day one.

As an additional treat to backers, digital codes do not need to be for the same platform as the physical version you are picking. Feel free to take this opportunity as a free copy on an additional platform, or a way to keep your physical copy sealed!

The same goes for vinyls. Our top priority is letting everyone play the game as soon as possible, but we will be putting in all efforts to get them to your door as fast as pressing will allow. This also helps since the soundtrack is bound to contain a spoiler or two.

More details coming soon!

SEA OF STARS MADE THE MARCH COVER OF GAME INFORMER!

That'll be one to look back on in our autumn years!

Along with inviting us to be the cover for the March issue, Game Informer crafted a 10 pages-long, in-depth cover story with exclusive in-game content. It contains interviews with our creative director Thierry, composer and audio designer Eric, lead animator Bruno, and guest composer Yasunori Mitsuda.

Physical copies of this issue are now available in GameStops in the US, and the digital version is available here.

There’s also a Gold Edition! This one is a rarer print and not for sale, but should you be interested, here’s a quote from Game Informer on how to get your hands on it:

“To learn about places where you might be able to get a copy, check out our official Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.”

Rumor has it that some copies may be shipped to our studio, so we might get a few copies to give away in the near future as well so… stay tuned!

Both amazing artworks by our concept artist Bryce Kho are available as hi-res wallpapers here:

WE'RE OVER THE MOON WITH THE DEMO'S RECEPTION

In just a couple of weeks, over 200 000 people played the demo on Nintendo Switch! We read through countless feedback and gathered helpful insights for the road as we tackle the closing stages of production. Overall, we were blessed with an overwhelmingly positive response, which gave the team a lot of energy for what lies ahead.

The #sos-demo-feedback channel on Discord is still open if you’d like to share your thoughts!

THAT’S IT FOR NOW

As mentioned, we will be in touch for the next phase of fulfillment very soon.

 In the meantime, we thank you all once again for your overwhelming positivity and support <3

All the best,

-Saboteam



FOOTNOTES

As we are self-publishing,  growing awareness is paramount throughout production. If you have a moment to help us even more than you already have, here are a few ways you can can do so in 30 seconds or less:

SEA OF STARS LAUNCHES ON AUGUST 29 + SWITCH DEMO
about 3 years ago – Wed, Feb 08, 2023 at 02:36:59 PM

Hello dear backers and supporters!

 As you might have seen, Sea of Stars was featured in today’s Nintendo Direct bringing two major announcements.

It goes without saying that receiving an invite for something as prestigious as a Nintendo Direct is a huge honor for Sea of Stars, as well as a big highlight for our careers.

While we finish pinching ourselves, here’s the release date announcement trailer in case you missed it:  

AT LAST, SEA OF STARS LAUNCHES AUGUST 29!

We officially locked it in, Sea of Stars will release on all target  platforms on August 29th 2023, precisely (even though not intentionally) 5 years after the launch of our previous game, The Messenger.

So much has happened since we first announced Sea of Stars, and it all started with the overwhelming support from early believers. Once again, thank you!

As production wraps up, we are ramping up efforts in QA, localization, marketing and optimization. We remain committed to offering the best experience possible to as many players as possible across the world.

PLAYABLE DEMO AVAILABLE ON NINTENDO SWITCH!

The button has been pressed. Time until availability may vary depending on your time zone, but as of this post, the demo has been shipped to be live on Nintendo Switch!

You can download  it on your Switch by going to the  Sea of Stars’ eShop page.

As you may remember, we were already looking at the potential for a public demo late last year. Let's just say that, when we received a formal invitation to drop it during a Nintendo Direct, it became a no-brainer..

While the demo features areas that will be part of the final game, we made sure to pick a slice that did not reveal any major spoilers from the main story. It is designed to give a hint of context, but mostly showcase some gameplay systems and mechanics around dungeon crawling and combat.  It aims to provide a sense of the tone and vibe without giving away major points of the journey.

    There is still too much work ahead of us to call it final, but we feel this playable slice is a good representation of what we are shooting for. We hope you will enjoy it!

The demo will be available on other platforms later this year. Going for a single platform is a decision we had to make in order not to delay the release date. We will roll it out to other platforms as soon as possible.

PLEASE SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK ABOUT THE DEMO!

We’ll be more active on our Discord in the following days to gather as much feedback as we can on the demo. Feel free to come talk to us and share your thoughts in the #sos-demo-feedback channel!

DEMO + Q&A STREAM THIS FRIDAY AT 4PM EST / 1PM PST

For the occasion, we will close this  week with a long overdue stream where Thierry will play the demo while answering questions from the community!

    We will send notifications on Discord and social media before going live on Friday. Until then, you can ask your questions in the “#dev-questions” forum on Discord or upvote the questions you’d like to see answered.

THAT'S IT FOR NOW

Time for us to get back to dev. We are currently in the midst of the final stretch of production- the BETA (content complete) milestone is in clear view, and we are happy to report that the game sings in all the ways we were hoping it would.

The team's morale is soaring and everyone is doing well, save for the sting of grief creeping up with an occasional reminder that we will one day not be working on this dream project anymore.

In the meantime, we thank you all once again for your overwhelming positivity and support <3

All the best,

-Saboteam


FOOTNOTES

As we are self-publishing,  growing awareness is paramount throughout production. If you have a moment to help us even more than you already have, here are a few ways you can can do so in 30 seconds or less:

A word from Yasunori Mitsuda
about 3 years ago – Mon, Dec 26, 2022 at 06:26:37 PM

Hello again everyone!

Hot off the heels of yesterday's update, we have a bonus round for you: a word from Mitsuda himself!

Follow this link where Mitsuda shares some thoughts on Sea of Stars and production, while his beautifully named first track, "Coral Cascades", plays in the background.

That's it for this mini update, we hope you enjoy and have a wonderful time during the holidays <3

See you next year,

SaboTeam

FOOTNOTES

As we are self-publishing,  growing awareness is paramount throughout production. If you have a moment to help us even more than you already have, here are a few ways you can can do so in 30 seconds or less:

Once again, thank you for everything.