RIP Grace Acres

View from the top

The name of my house once the game goes live will surely be Moonshine Mansion. In beta, however, it was called Grace Acres. I put quite a lot of time and effort into making it interesting, and I did save it with the housing addon so when the game goes live I could in theory have it all back again.

I won’t do it though.

One of the first screenshots of the interior of my house. Don’t judge!

My house in the beta grew organically as I learned about the housing system and got inspired by friend and stranger alike. Each subsection was like a tiny experiment, a test of some bit of the system and its tools. It wasn’t until very near the end of beta that I truly started building based on a vision and a knowledge of what was possible. There were nooks and crannies inside my house by the end that were just the beginnings of where I want to go when the game is live.

The other factor at play here is money. In beta there was no reason not to spend every penny I earned on housing fluff. At launch? Suddenly there’s lots of other things to factor into my finances, not the least of which is supporting my architect profession! My plan for headstart is to level and enjoy the core gameplay first and foremost. I will have a house and I am sure I won’t be able to resist doing something fun with it, but I am going to try not to spend too much time on it until a bit later.

The final version of my downstairs bar

There’s an ulterior motive here too. The larger, fancier housing models don’t unlock until your character reaches higher levels anyway. Why spend precious hours fixing up your house just the way you want it, when you’ll be ripping it out and replacing it with a larger model in a few days? Unless you’re going to stick with your rocket house (TEMPTING!), in which case, go nuts!

I will certainly miss some of my favorite spots from my beta-version Grace Acres. I can’t wait to get started on the real thing very soon!