May 2026 Blog: Summer Daze, Style Riders Show & Trailblazer Track
Summer Daze
By Ella (Narrative Designer)
Hey there, Starfam! You got a blog interruption there by my fellow narrative designer, but your friendly neighbourhood dumpster critter is back. Me!
Can you feel that? The warm summer sun on your skin, the fresh scent of flowers in bloom, a nice cooling ice cream… Or perhaps that’s just me, wrapped in a blanket in front of the TV, miserable with hayfever, and a pint of ice cream in my lap. Regardless of how it looks to you, summer is here! And with that, Summer Daze is taking over Fort Pinta beach in just a few days!
As you may know, I’ve been spending my days at Fort Pinta beach for a couple of months already, and boy, do I have a scoop for you! So, remember Ben and Bruce? It wouldn’t be Summer Daze without them, so of course they’re back on the beach this year. But do you remember the smoothie guy, Shibby Tim? You won't believe just how jealous he’s been. I mean, I get it, he was Bruce’s main man until that “Ben” showed up, saying he’s that Beach and claiming to be Bruce’s best friend! He doesn’t even acknowledge the history that Tim and Bruce share.
On the other hand, being Beach simply is Ben’s job! He was hired specifically to take care of Bruce, it’s not unusual to form special bonds with that kind of partnership. In any case, there’s been a rivalry brewing between the two beach boys, who truly is Bruce’s best friend? I’m not picking sides, but let me tell you, this drama is really, really starting to resemble a reality show. You know, triangle drama, trash talk, challenges, someone profiting off of it… classic stuff.
To get away from all of that, I’ve been chatting to Brooke about her favorite way to spend time during summer. You bet ya I’ll be spending a couple of hours cruising down the river with my best friends. I don’t seem to be the only one yearning for some peace and quiet in the water. Bruce has actually invited me to hitch a ride around the fort with him. Who would I be to say no?
There’s also this girl, she’s dressed in bright colors and droning on about the midnight sun. It seems like she wants to bring some more color to a dock on the beach. Perhaps I’ll head over there to help out after I’ve finished this tropical smoothie Rhea gave me, ooooor I’ll just have one more… And check out her race… Woof, Jorveigians expecting me to help out, what’s new?
And on that note, it might also be time for me to head off of Fort Pinta Beach and onto Starshine Ranch to help out over there. Wear sunscreen, eat ice cream, and enjoy summer! Laterz!
Style Riders Show
By Daniel (Game Designer)
Howdy! From the rear of a horse to the front lines of fashion, it’s good to be back on the blog since our last encounter in the Winter Village.
This time, for a bit of a new project! About a year ago, me and a few other designers took note of our immense clothing collection. And yet, our way of sharing things between players was entirely outside the game. We started thinking: how can we bring fashion into the gameplay?
And thus, we landed on the first idea of Style Riders Show.
Since our announcement of the event, I’ve seen so many questions about the location, name, availability and many other things. Therefore, I’ll take the time to explain some of this.
To start with, this event will be available for all players, Star Rider or not, as long as they have unlocked Fort Pinta. As for the location, let's address the Raptor elephant in the room: the mall. Why didn’t we put it there? Well, we saw three big concerns about using the old location:
It takes too long to get there. The mall was my first idea as well! “We already have this location, let's use it!” However, we quickly realized that once there, players wouldn’t have much else to do besides the Style Riders Show – which would cause a lot of players to skip it entirely.
The art style is not updated. Not only that, but updating a location like that takes a lot more time than what we had for this project. This is usually the limiting factor when using old assets.
Horses! We needed horses to be part of the experience. After all, this is a horse game. Without some MAJOR reworks, bringing a horse into the mall and then into the Fashion Week location was simply not doable.
Beyond these points, we also want to make sure that Fashion Week and Style Riders Show are not confused. We don’t want people to expect concerts and role playing when we’re doing multiplayer competitions. Yes, you read that right, actual multiplayer experiences in SSO! This also brings its own set of challenges, such as what information to show players during a competition. Where do we draw the line between clarity and overwhelming? It’s not easy. We can only learn by doing and then improving.
This project is what we call an MVP: a version of a feature that, while complete, is pretty bare-bones. You go straight to the point and back, and that’s it. We do this to try things out without demanding a lot of time from a lot of people for something that is so new.
The really cool thing about this project and its flexibility, is that we won't have to wait for another year until the feedback is implemented. Yes, you also read that right! This event will come back a few times in the year with different themes, and continuously bring us feedback from you, the players. So tell us what you think, what you liked, and disliked. Let’s build this show together! The next version will come quicker than you’d think.
That’s all I have to say for now. Hopefully I’ll be back in another blog to talk about whatever cool thing I get to create for you next!
(I also want Raptor to come back. I’m trying, okay?)
Trailblazer Track
By Stacy (Game Director)
Hello again from Stacy, Game Director for Star Stable Online! While the team is gearing up to take their well-deserved summer breaks, I’m here to drop a line regarding the topic on everyone’s mind lately - the Trailblazer Track!
First, I’ll start by saying that yes, we will be reverting some changes for the next Trailblazer Track. The daily cap is being removed, and points for gatherables will return. We did hear your feedback and find it important to continue iterating on the feature, but we are limited in how we can do so given how the system is currently built.
In previous blog posts, I’ve mentioned that the Trailblazer Track you enjoy now was built as a proof of concept. We want to add features, functionality, and a better user experience, but this requires a rebuild, which is ongoing and will take time. Meanwhile, we had hoped to make tweaks to address more play styles, but ultimately, until the rebuild is ready, we aren’t able to meet those needs as we had hoped.
So, while we saw many more players complete the most recent tracks than the older ones, it still wasn’t quite right. We are grateful you shared your thoughts and feelings, as that input will help us with our designs going forward! Feedback is incredibly powerful, and giving it in a kind, constructive way helps us in our jobs to make the game enjoyable for all types of players. We see just about everything players share, and I saw lots of folks voicing their thoughts in honest yet effective ways.
Trailblazer Tracks will continue to be released while we rebuild the system, and we need your help! It’s important to share your thoughts when you’re frustrated or unhappy, but we also need to hear what you love about Trailblazer Track or what you'd like to see added. Tell us what else about Trailblazer Track would make you super excited to play it. (That goes for all of our content, of course!)
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post, and I look forward to you seeing all the fun stuff we have in store this year!
