Star Solo Release Phases – A General Timeline

If you didn’t get a chance to see it, it was Free RPG day over the weekend! There were some incredible games that were released for free – one of which was the newest update for Star Solo.

As of me writing this article, Star Solo has been downloaded a total of 404 times since the update was released two days ago for Free RPG Day (adding to the already 1,600 downloads I had recorded by the end of 2025). Additionally, I received 6 small tips through itch due to the update.

First – THANK YOU! I am always blown away, amazed, humbled and energized when I see people enjoying my games.

Second, this tells me something I already knew – I need to get a plan together to finalize Star Solo.

Why It’s Free (Currently)

Star Solo was first released in 2020 during COVID, as a way to give people something to do during lockdown. However, the version I released was kind of crappy and very much an internal playtest version.

I think it was in 2023 or 2024 when I finally published an updated free version of Star Solo. My idea at the time was to publish the game, get feedback on the core mechanics, and improve the game over time to eventually get it to a 1.0 release.

The game is huge, and I didn’t feel I could find the playtesting resources needed to ensure the game was fun. To help, I decided to crowdsource this by releasing the game for free.

Since I released it, an incredible amount of people have played, and I’ve received some really good feedback from people playing the game. A few mechanics already implemented in the current version were directly suggested by fans of the game (see the Overdrive ship modification at Grease Junction).

Despite the game being free for the last half-decade, I do have a long term vision of finishing the game. I’d like to turn this long term vision into a short term vision. In other words, it is time for me to share my plan on how I am going to finish Star Solo. I’ll do it in 4 phases.

Alpha – The First Phase

As an aside, I am using video game development language because I think a lot of people understand this language.

The first phase is the Alpha phase. The goal of this phase is to add enough content for the game to be fun and test the core mechanics to see if they are fun.

This is where I am right now. From the feedback I am getting, the game is fun, people just want more to do in the game. That’s perfect – it was my hope that the core game would be fun.

There is one thing I need to be careful about, and that is rules complexity. This game is different than a lot of other RPGs. Gameplay and theming was heavily inspired by Star Smuggler from the 1980s. As I continue to develop the game I have to make sure I balance rules complexity with ease of entrance and gameplay.

Either way, the rest of the Alpha phase will be “going vertical.” That is to say, I will be adding content and mechanics to one planet – Gurry Down, to test the rest of the ideas that I have.

This is already in progress. Gurry Down, for example, has a revolution track completed. This is a storyline that changes how you can interact with the planet and the system. I still have work to do though, including adding more locations to Gurry Down, more jobs, restricted areas, and then a few more core mechanics to the game overall that I want to test.

Once the “vertical” slice of the game with the planet Gurry Down is complete, I can move on to Beta.

Beta – The Second Phase

Moving on to Beta indicates that most of the core mechanics of the game are complete, fun, and easy (enough) to understand. The core focus when development of Star Solo moves to Beta then, is content.

In Beta, I’ll be adding a ton of content to Star Solo. This includes filling out jobs and locations for the existing planets, as well as adding more space events and space news for each sector. I’ll also be adding a “Fringe” sector where other planets will exist. If you played the 2020 playtest version, for example, you already will have encountered the planet Aon 4.

The good news about development during the Beta phase, is that I have been designing this game for over 10 years now. So I have a lot of this content already written, and in many cases, playtested. It’s still a lot of content, and will take time to put together.

In addition to adding content, I’ll be working on gathering the final art for the game during this phase.

Because Star Solo is by far the largest game I’ve attempted, it will need the most art. Artists deserve to get paid, so I’ll need more money to pay the artists for Star Solo than any other game I’ve made.

Due to this, I am planning to release Star Solo as a paid game starting in the Beta Phase. It will likely start out at a discounted price.

I think that’s fair, given the free version won’t disappear – so people can always access it and try it for free. I also think it will reflect the amount of design time and content, and expertise from the artists as it gets closer to being a complete game.

1.0  Launch – Third Phase

Once content is complete, I’ll launch the game! The 1.0 release will reflect the completion of all planned content for the game – multiple planets and locations across three different systems (central, colonized, and fringe), along with completed story tracks for each main planet, full space events and news for each system, full job lists for each planet, and a ton of fun to be had throughout the game.

I’m excited just thinking about how fun this will be by the time it gets to 1.0 – but it is a long way off, with a lot of work for me between now and then.

Post Launch Updates

If you’ve played my games before, you’ll know that one of my favorite things to do as a designer is continue to support my games after release with free, built-in expansions that I add post-launch.

I did this with Dwarf Mine, with Fantasy Civ Solo, and am planning to do it with Star Solo.

There are a lot of ideas I have that don’t quite fit into the core vision of the game – but they are fun. So I’ll want to include them eventually, but I need to stay focused on the initial launch of the game first.

I also love responding to player feedback. I fully anticipate making updates, changes and corrections based on the feedback of players throughout this entire design and development process.

Okay, how long do we have to wait?

This is the most important question for me – how long do you all have to wait, and how quickly do I think I can get this game completed?

As of right now, halfway through 2026, I think I can safely say that Star Solo will be in the Beta Phase sometime in 2027.

I can’t yet commit to launching 1.0 in 2027 – I’d like to, but it all depends on how quickly I can get the game to Beta.

I’d like to make a bit of a melodramatic statement here for you all: I’ve been designing this game on and off for over a decade. I want more than anyone to release this game and watch people having fun playing the finished version.

Follow Along

If you are at all interested in following along with the development of Star Solo, here are the three best things you can do.

• Join the Star Solo Newsletter. I share game updates and ask for feedback from everyone who has joined the newsletter!
• Join my Patreon. I share more in-depth design diaries and status updates through my Patreon. If you are interested in playing early access updates or providing feedback (and helping me name locations!), you can join the paid tiers of Patreon.
• Follow me on itch.io. Because of the rules around DriveThruRPG, Star Solo is currently only released on itch.io. So you can only access the Alpha, and eventually the Beta releases of the game on itch.io. Once the 1.0 is released, it will be accessible on both DriveThru and Star Solo.

If you’ve made it this far – THANK YOU so much for reading, for playing, and for being a fan of games. I can’t wait to see you out among the stars.

-James