Sci-Fi MMORPG Arrives on Android; PC Client Soon

Less than two weeks ago, Spacetime Studios launched a new cross-platform, sci-fi themed MMORPG called Star Legends: The Blackstar Chronicles. It's similar to the developer's previous fantasy-themed MMORPG, Pocket Legends, which offers a third-person perspective and a free-to-play/microtransaction payment structure. The game is currently up and running on the Android platform, but Spacetime Studios plans to release the PC client next.

"When we launched Pocket Legends on Android we were blown away by the response from the community. Android has since become the leading revenue driver and our primary focus," says Cinco Barnes, Chief Vision Officer, Spacetime Studios. "It is so easy to publish apps on their Market that it became a no-brainer for us to flip the standard mobile game strategy on its head and launch on Android before any other OS."

Gamers who were turned off by Pocket Legends' cuddly characters may find Star Legends a bit more mature. The structure overall is still the same although fans of Sega's Phantasy Star Online games may actually feel quite at home here (sans the Mags): players meet and team up, purchase supplies and weapons, and take on external quests via six different base facilities including the UCS Blackstar, the asteroid mining facility Delta-7, the planet Numa Prime and more.

As for character types, players can choose between Engineer, Commando (tank) and Operative (assassin). They can also join guilds which in turn have the ability to distribute weapons, armor and other items to each member. And despite its mobile-sized platform, Star Legends looks, acts and feels like any other MMORPG on the PC... possibly because Blackstar concept was originally slated as a PC-based title.

"In creating Blackstar, Spacetime Studios leveraged the Spacetime Engine," the company said back in February. "Founded on technology from the PC MMO world with more than $10 million invested in development, the Spacetime Engine allows production of high-quality games for iOS, Android, PC, Mac and Linux-based platforms. The first of its kind, the engine successfully manages the inherent processing, storage, and bandwidth issues of an MMO allowing seamless global play on mobile phones, i-devices, and tablets via Wi-Fi, Edge, 3G and 4G connections."

So given the game's PC roots, where is the PC client? Spacetime Studios CEO Gary Gattis told Tom's that they are currently "working on a Chrome port right now," and that "this will probably be the first one out of the gate, but a thin [separate] client will follow." There's still no sign of the iOS version: the game was expected to be out "within the next two weeks" back in July according to a forum update.

For those who are still hacking away at the original fantasy-themed Pocket Legends, Gattis told Tom's that a Chrome client is also in the works, but won't be released until the Star Legends version hits Google's browser.