Stellar Overload



Stellar Overload (formerly Planets³, pronounced «planetscube») is a 3D open-world voxel-based RPG in first person, from Cubical Drift studio. It was successfully funded through Kickstarter on April 3rd, 2014, and its campaign ended on April 5th, 2014, successfully raising $310,708.

The game is inspired by other games like Minecraft, Skyrim, Starbound or Zelda; movies like Star Wars; and even construction games like Lego.

Key features
The key elements of the game are:
 * The World & Story
 * Player evolution
 * Construction
 * Multiplayer gameplay

Milestones
Some important dates of Planets³ development:
 * Mar-Apr 2014: Kickstarter campaign
 * Mar 09, 2014: Planets³ Steam Greenlight concept
 * Mar 27, 2014: Prototype is released to the press
 * Apr 21, 2014 - Jun 22, 2014: Online store opens with Kickstarter equivalent rewards (except for add-ons and top tiers).
 * Jun 02, 2014: Backers can start registering, validating tier selection and optionally selecting add-ons with the remaining pledge amount.
 * Jun 30, 2014: Official forum is opened.
 * Aug 06, 2014: Official website is reworked, and now includes a development progress chart.
 * Sep 01, 2014: Technical prototype (v0.7.7) is released.
 * Oct 29, 2014: Decision to switch game engine from Ogre to Unreal Engine 4.
 * Jan 07, 2015: Pre-alpha version is released.
 * May 27, 2015: First alpha version is released.
 * Jul-Sep 2016: First building contest, used to select the spaceship for Steam game cover.
 * Jul 12, 2016: Game wins $15 000 via Unreal Dev Grants.
 * Oct 12, 2016: Game is released on Steam early access.

Roadmap




The intial roadmap from Kickstarter campaign has shifted by a few months, in particular due to unforeseen replacement of Ogre game engine with Unreal Engine

Race to Space
The first release, named Planets³: Race to Space, is to be finalized, with all features complete, for end of 2015 and will include all the goals up to 500 000$ (with the Planets³ editor). It will take place in the first solar system, with the storyline suspended beyond that...

The estimated timeline (as of October 2014) is:
 * End 2014: Race to Space pre-alpha
 * Begining 2015: Race to Space alpha
 * Middle 2015: Race to Space beta
 * End 2015': Race to Space release

Space Enemies
The release of the 'full game', named Planets³: Space Enemies, will open onto the universe and lead to a climactic story ending. Some clues will be scattered in the first opus, though mostly in annex quests and dungeons.

The estimated timeline is:
 * 2017: Space Enemies release

Cubical Drift


Current development team is composed of:
 * NeoM (Michel Thomazeau) - CEO, Co Funder
 * Cording Marmot (Fabien Perrot) - Dev Lead, Co Funder
 * Guyk (Guillaume Grodwohl) - Dev, Co Funder
 * Mick (Mickaël Parisot) - Dev
 * Altaus (Olivier Fouques) - Web Lead
 * ReyMantha (Alexandre Rey) - Lead Artist -
 * Martino (Martin Brunet) - 3D Generalist
 * Merakline (Kelly Recco) - 3D Generalist
 * Liwhem (Wilfried Nass) - Sound Designer
 * Lexi - Administration

Former team members:
 * C34 (Alex Vial) - 2D Artist

Trivia

 * The ³ can be done on Windows using Alt + 0179 keys.


 * Technically, if translated to English correctly, Planets³ should be pronounced «Planets cubed.»


 * The Mac stretch goal on the Kickstarter campaign was successfully reached on April 5rd, 2014.