Kickstarter campaign for multiplayer RPG StarCraft Universe reaches goal

The ambitious Kickstarter campaign for StarCraft Universe—a multiplayer RPG built and based on StarCraft 2—is coming to an end, and the campaign seems to have limped over the finish line. With 19 hours to go at the time of writing, the campaign has gathered up $83,793 of the original $80,000, meaning that it has been fully funded and will go into development soon.

Sadly enough, this means that the campaign couldn’t hit any of the stretch goals, the first of which meant a playable Zerg character class if it had earned $100,000. As it currently stands, the developers will be able to make only the first act. In the first act, players will be able to pick from two races—Terrans and Protoss.

An example of multiplayer boss raids

The studio behind the mod, Upheavel Arts, has been quick to point out that it is in no way affiliated with Blizzard. However, the company has given the studio its blessing to make the mod. Since StarCraft Universe is a mod and not a full-fledged game, Upheaval Arts won’t need to spend any money on getting the StarCraft license from Blizzard.

“While Blizzard is not directly affiliated with this project’s production, we do communicate with them to submit bug reports and make technical request,” reads the post. “They have given their blessing/permission for us to launch this Kickstarter, and they are supporting our efforts by featuring SCU as an Arcade Highlight.”

StarCraft Universe will be a free-to-play mod based on the StarCraft 2 engine. It will work through Battle.net and will play from StarCraft 2, but a purchase of the game won’t be required. This means that those interested can use the “Try it free” copy of StarCraft 2 on their Battle.net accounts if they don’t already own a copy of the game.