Editing Brighter Shores (section)

==History==
The game has been under development since September 2016, but some assets were taken from Fen Research scrapped ''Chasm Game''{{CiteTwitter|url=https://twitter.com/AndrewCGower/status/1819021220911673582|author=Andrew Gower|date=1 August 2024|accessdate=16 August 2024|quote=September 2016 Brighter Shores game started|archiveurl=https://archive.ph/VmmMK|archivedate=16 August 2024}} and was announced officially on 13 March 2024. An initial two-minute trailer was released, which depicts [[player character]]s engaging in [[combat]], several [[professions]], and a variety of different [[room]]s.{{CiteGeneral|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASIbNq_pLQQ|title=Brighter Shores Gameplay Trailer|author=MMOs.com|date=13 March 2024|accessdate=22 March 2024}}

Part of the reason that Brighter Shores took a long time to develop is because Gower decided to create a new game engine from scratch, as opposed to using a popular engine like {{wp|Unreal Engine}} or {{wp|Unity}}.{{CiteGeneral|url=https://www.gamesradar.com/runescape-creator-answers-our-biggest-questions-about-his-new-mmo-brighter-shores-classes-professions-monetization-and-a-ttrpg-open-world/|title=RuneScape creator answers our biggest questions about his new MMO Brighter Shores: classes, professions, monetization, and a TTRPG open world|author=Austin Wood|date=23 March 2024|accessdate=23 March 2024|archiveurl=https://archive.is/AxMwI|archivedate=23 March 2024|name=griv}} He had previously created his own engine for his previous MMORPG {{wp|RuneScape}} in the early 2000s, programmed in {{wp|Java}}. The engine that Gower built is called [[Fenforge]], and had previously been used by at least two games prior to being used for Brighter Shores. Gower has said that active development on Brighter Shores officially started in 2017.{{NamedRef|griv}}

Internal alpha tests with the first two episodes occurred in March 2024. The third episode was added to the alpha test in June 2024. Participants mostly consisted of staff, with a total of 12 people having Steam keys to access it.{{CiteTwitter|url=https://x.com/AndrewCGower/status/1819021220911673582|author=Andrew Gower|date=1 August 2024|accessdate=2 August 2024|archiveurl=https://archive.ph/FpqYj|archivedate=2 August 2024}}

A closed beta test occurred between the alpha test and the early access launch.

Early access to the game was opened on 6 November 2024, with the game still missing many key features such as player-versus-player combat, special attacks for epic weapons, and the fifth episode, [[Stonemaw Hill]]. Early access is planned to "maybe" last for 6 months. There won't be a save reset or price increases to [[Premium Pass]] at the end of the early access.{{CiteGeneral|url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2791440/Brighter_Shores/|title=Brighter Shores on Steam|author=Valve|date=6 November 2024|accessdate=6 November 2024|archiveurl=https://archive.is/Vas8O|archivedate=6 November 2024}}