Jagex reveals Stellar Dawn MMO

By Robert Purchese Published 14 July, 2010

RuneScape maker's "most ambitious" yet.

Wealthy RuneScape creator Jagex has revealed a new science fiction MMO called Stellar Dawn.

"Public launch", as it's being called, will happen next year. Closed beta sign-ups are happening right now on the Stellar Dawn website.

Stellar Dawn fills the crater that scrapped project MechScape left late last year.

The game appears to offer spaceship-based exploration on various worlds of wacky imaginings.

Like Jagex's flagship fantasy MMO RuneScape, Stellar Dawn will offer a "sizeable chunk" of the world for free. The rest you'll have to pay to unlock. Micro-transactions are probably likely.

Stellar Dawn also uses Jagex's snazzy browser-based game engine which means any old Tom, Dick or Harry with a PC or Mac can play.

That's lucky, because Jagex is calling Stellar Dawn its most ambitious release to date. But, then, so was MechScape.

Eurogamer will be speaking to Jagex at the Brighton Develop Conference later this week.

Here's an artwork sandwich to keep you going until we find out more.

Not to be confused with a Stella dawn.
Not to be confused with a Stella dawn.
Not to be confused with a Stella dawn.
Not to be confused with a Stella dawn.
Not to be confused with a Stella dawn.

1/6 Not to be confused with a Stella dawn.

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Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Bravestinsane #1 2 years ago

    Those images annoy me, we all know it will be java based in the browser why not show us genuine screenshots rather than pointless concept art that will not actually ever look like that in the game.

    Christ it pisses me off when companies show you concept art, now i have the expectation the graphics will look like that when they wont and will just end up being disapointed.

  • Koozer #2 2 years ago

    Yeah, damn those artists for trying to create a consistent art direction!

    Also, I get a whiff of Starfox from this for some reason.

  • butler` #3 2 years ago

    probably likely ftw

  • AphoticCosmos #4 2 years ago

    Concept art looks really good IMHO, I like it's palette and the style of the technological elements.

    It kind of looks like it's channelling Mass Effect's early art direction before that became a bit more "sleek" and eighties-sci-fi later on in development.
    Edited by 1 at 14/07/10 @ 11:25

  • LondonSquare82 #5 2 years ago

    I agree with the above post regarding the Mass Effect direction. Even the game's logo reminds me of Mass Effect.

  • Kikizosan #6 2 years ago

    There's absolutely nothing wrong with showing concept or mood art. There will be in-game screenshots at some point before launch, no doubt, but if launch is a way off then it's obviously too early to show anything.
    Edited by 1 at 14/07/10 @ 11:33

  • bdc #7 2 years ago

    Looks like it might be a direct competitor to Eve Online.

  • Scopeh #8 2 years ago

    Sneaky Advertising on the 3rd slide picture. Shame on you Eurogamer.
    Edited by 1 at 14/07/10 @ 13:08

  • darleysam #9 2 years ago

    Sounds interesting..

  • Bravestinsane #10 2 years ago

    I dont have an issue with concept art, but unless the background are still images with sprites moving around in front of a static background image the concept is misleading, i would rather see concept like i saw for mechscape (before it was anounced it was cancelled).

    Those concepts were detailed yet not complicated so you could see them being made in java, i just cant imagine anything like those concepts ever appearing anything close to what they look like there in the final game. They look more detailed than the latest full retail mmos. It just wont look anything like that.

  • Kikizosan #11 2 years ago

    Yes, but this isn't concept art, it's mood art.

    It's not meant to convey what anything in the actual final product will look like, it's to give the graphics developers something to aim for and to inspire them. I'd imagine versions of the things seen in this art will make their way into the game in some form.
    Edited by 2 at 14/07/10 @ 18:02

  • pinebear #12 2 years ago

    Artwork sandwich looks delicious. Almost M&S-like.