Hello everyone! I’ve been away from you all spending time being the Narrative Designer of Beyond These Stars, instead of your Community Manager. Now it’s time for me to swap back, so here I am, writing a post for my favourite community (I am not biased, it’s a simple fact, ok?!) [h2][b]The Building Showcase[/b][/h2] I’ve been working on a treat for you all - a Building Showcase! This includes tidbits of information about how the buildings work (wow!), plus in-game footage (gasp!). Let me introduce you to some early game buildings. [h3]The Home Spaceship[/h3] Some of you have seen this new friend before, but let me formally introduce you! The Home Spaceship is how you left your home, and how you arrived on the back of this massive, strange Space Whale. It will be your early-game lifeline in Beyond These Stars - it slowly produces everything the Peeps need to start a village. Also, isn't the music beautiful? Benedict Nichols, the composer for Before We Leave, has returned for Beyond These Stars! More on that later down the track, though. [previewyoutube=u79qZ2pCsFc;full][/previewyoutube] [h3]Huts, Gardens, and the Waterpump[/h3] For our second video, you’ll see some familiar tech and buildings with a new twist! Like in Before We Leave, the Peeps need help surviving after emerging from their Shelter (in BTS, this is the Home Spaceship). Build humble little Huts, sow Gardens teeming with… uh… potatoes? And, access the water flowing on the Space Whale’s back with the Water Pump. [previewyoutube=knqa2aX5mCE;full][/previewyoutube] I’ll have more building showcase videos for you in the coming weeks - if you want these sneak peeks sooner, join our Discord! [h2][b]Embracing Chaos: Our Managing Director Tests the Game[/b][/h2] Part of why indie development is so great is that you can discover things that need doing, understanding when they need doing, then leaping into action fast. Would it surprise you to know that can sometimes happen within the space of a quick, 15 minute meeting? Well that’s exactly what happened a few weeks ago! Anna undertook a day of playtesting under our Quality Assurance Analysts guidance, and she kindly kept a log of what her day ended up looking like. [i]9.54.[/i] Standup is over. There's a dev blog due soon, but the dev team has been testing and polishing for the last four weeks, so I haven't written one—incremental improvements to the game aren’t the most exciting things to show off. "I could do a diary of a day of playtesting" I say. "A manager tests the game" says our game designer MJ. Everyone laughs. What could go wrong? This will be my second day of playtesting, ever. [url=https://www.balancingmonkeygames.com/articles/embracing-chaos-a-manager-tests-the-game]Read the full blog over on our website! [/url] [h2][b]We’ll be at GamesCom! Sort of?![/b][/h2] Beyond These Stars will be at GamesCom (Wed, 23 Aug 2023 – Mon, 28 Aug 2023) in Cologne, Germany! Unfortunately since we’re on the opposite side of the world we can’t make it this time, but our lovely publisher [url=https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/HoodedHorse]Hooded Horse[/url] will be there to help you see our game and to answer your questions! Make sure you check out the other games Hooded Horse are publishing, too - their roster is pretty impressive, in my opinion. Thanks for reading and talk to you all again soon <3 Emily, Community Manager/Narrative Designer (PS - if you want these posts direct to your email, you can sign up for our newsletters [url=https://balancingmonkeygames.com/subscribe]here![/url])