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Raph Koster

@raphkoster.bsky.social

Videogames: ULTIMA ONLINE, STAR WARS GALAXIES, METAPLACE, STARS REACH (coming soon!), among others. Tabletop: WADDLE. Books: THEORY OF FUN, POSTMORTEMS, SUNDAY POEMS. Music: AFTER THE FLOOD. Also at @raphkoster@mastodon.gamedev.place

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Raph Koster@raphkoster.bsky.social · 2w ago

This is a good talk. It also echoes some things I have been saying for years (I stole @bruces.bsky.social 's line about musicians long ago, probably back when we hung out in Austin)... Back in 2005, I wrote a blog post called "The Future of Content" that ended with:

Molleindustria FUTURE? NO THANKS! DEMO OUT@molleindustria.org · last mo.

I posted my History of Games keynote: - A materialist reexamination of the canonical game crises from a developer's POV - Thoughts on the ongoing game industry restructuring - Indiepocalypse, AAApocalypse, deprofessionalization, games at the knitting stage www.molleindustria.org/HistoryOfGam...

/noclip@noclipvideo.bsky.social · 4w ago

[EARLY ACCESS] The History & Evolution of Massively Multiplayer Games For Early Access Patrons (our 2nd most popular tier) is our second video with @raphkoster.bsky.social, about the history of play, and the evolution of MMOs. Support /noclip and give it a watch. www.patreon.com/noclip/posts...

[EARLY ACCESS] The History & Evolution of Massively Multiplayer Games | /noclip

[EARLY ACCESS] The History & Evolution of Massively Multiplayer Games by /noclip on Patreon. Join /noclip's community for exclusive content and updates.

patreon.com

Hayes Madsen@solfleet.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I also got to play a bit of Stars Reach, and see its impressive simulation elements. It's exceedingly hard to preview an MMO, always has been, but I genuinely dig what I've seen and heard www.consolecreatures.com/stars-reach-...

Stars Reach Wants to Bring MMORPGs Back to Their Sandbox Roots, and It's Got All the Right Ideas | Console Creatures

Stars Reach is an ambitious new MMO from the creator of Ultima Online that hopes to bring the genre back to its more creative and open-ended roots.

consolecreatures.com

Console Creatures@consolecreatures.com · 2mo ago

“It Isn’t the Way You Influenced the Next Designer to Do What You Did, It’s How You Influenced Those Who Got to Play” — Raph Koster on the Legacy of Star Wars Galaxies, the State of MMOs, and His Ambitious New Game Interview: www.consolecreatures.com/raph-koster-...

"It Isn't the Way You Influenced the Next Designer to Do What You Did, It's How You Influenced Those Who Got to Play" — Raph Koster on the Legacy of Star Wars Galaxies, the State of MMOs, and His Ambi...

We talk to Raph Koster, the creator of Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, about his ambitious new MMO and how the genre at large can survive.

consolecreatures.com

Daniel Cook@danctheduck.bsky.social · 8mo ago

My obsession for a decade: Parts of games are real, not fiction. Like, you are not really becoming a powerful knight when you gain a virtual level. That's fiction, fantasy. But you DO gain real skills. In manipulating buttons, game tactics etc. In multiplayer games, the friendships are real.

Daniel Cook@danctheduck.bsky.social · 8mo ago

BTW, Spirit Crossing is coming to Steam. The goal is to create a major Cozy MMO with a huge population of folks making friends in a safe and welcoming space. I deeply believe we can make the world a better place. If this interests you, please wishlist! store.steampowered.com/app/2321960/...

Raph Koster@raphkoster.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Recommended posts, 2017-2025 It's been over five years since the last time I gathered up recommended posts in one place and added them to the menu above. I figured I was due. As usual this will include talks and interviews as well as articles. Just think of it as "my take on what the best stuff to…

Recommended posts, 2017-2025

It's been over five years since the last time I gathered up recommended posts in one place and added them to the menu above. I figured I was due. As usual this will include talks and interviews as well as articles. Just think of it as "my take on what the best stuff to look at on the site is."

raphkoster.com

Raph Koster@raphkoster.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I never posted widely about the public health simulator design I wrote as Covid was shutting down the world. Until now.

Looking back at a pandemic simulator

It's been six years now since the early days of the Covid pandemic. People who were paying super close attention started hearing rumors about something going on in China towards the end of 2019 -- my earliest posts about it on Facebook were from November that year. Even at the time, people were utterly clueless about the mathematics of how a highly infectious virus spread.

raphkoster.com

Raph Koster@raphkoster.bsky.social · 9mo ago

This is unexpected. Not one, but three versions, and of course I am far from the only author whose quotes are for sale on canvas prints. Looks like three different manufacturers, and no, I do not get a cut. Fair use, I assume :D

Bild
Raph Koster@raphkoster.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Game design is simple, actually. Except when it isn't. Here are the 12 things you need to know.

Game design is simple, actually

So, let’s just walk through the whole thing, end to end. Here’s a twelve-step program for understanding game design. One: Fun There are a lot of things people call “fun.” But most of them are not useful for getting better at making games, which is usually why people read articles like this. The fun of a bit of confetti exploding in front of you, and the fun of excruciating pain and risk to life and limb as you free climb a cliff are just not usefully paired together.

raphkoster.com

Raph Koster@raphkoster.bsky.social · 9mo ago

We've been working on overhauling the visuals in STARS REACH for a while. Here's a look at what's coming up!

Stars Reach visual upgrades

For months now, we have been working on a big overhaul to the visuals in Stars Reach. This has involved redoing most of the shaders in the entire game, and going back and retouching every asset. We started by redoing all the plant life and flora, and we have hundreds of those assets that had to be redone. Further, they all need to grow, change in response to seasons, be able to catch fire and burn, freeze, shed leaves and die, and so on.

raphkoster.com

Raph Koster@raphkoster.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I've been bad about blogging when stuff got added to my site. So here's a catalog of the last couple of years including a bunch of podcasts and talks!

New stuff on the site

I really have been neglecting the blog lately. But that doesn't mean I haven't been adding content to the site all along. I figured it might not hurt to do a little summary of items that have been added over the last year and a half or more. The last talk I posted up was my GDC talk from 2024…

raphkoster.com