‘Starbound’ Pulls In Half A Million In A Weekend

United Kingdom-based game developer, Chucklefish, had a good weekend. A very good weekend.

This past Friday, Chucklefish opened pre-orders for Starbound, a space exploration platformer. As of Monday afternoon, the team has collected over $570,000 in pre-orders.

“500k in just a couple days (and climbing)! The whole team is amazed and incredibly grateful,” Chucklefish said on the official Starbound Twitter account.

Pre-ordering is being facilitated through a tiered system, akin to what is seen on Kickstarter with backer rewards. Based on how much is being spent on the price-tag, the buyer will get things in the range of the game’s soundtrack, up to the ability to create in-game items.

The first stretch goal ($500,000) has already been met, and thus the Novakids will be a part of the finished game. The second stretch goal ($750,000) will be the addition of rare, collectable fossils, into the game’s already vast item library.

In Starbound, players flee their home world, just as it is destroyed by an unknown alien species. By chance, the player happens across an abandoned space station, and from there, the adventure begins. The space station acts as a central hub, allowing the player to travel in search of various items and resources needed to improve and upgrade the ship. The planets in Starbound are procedurally generated, and everything from the weather to the gravity to the terrain and inhabitants are different.

Co-op will be available in Starbound, and players will be able to log their adventures and planets found, and share the coordinates with other players. Players will also have the ability to designate a home planet, and customize it to their liking.

Chucklefish plans to have the beta out, at some point in 2013. Visit the official Starbound website where pre-orders are being taken.