Starbound sells over one million copies

Available in a playable beta version since early December, Starbound's take on procedurally-generated exploration has at least one galactic-sized milestone to celebrate in 2014. The indie adventure game has sold over 1 million copies, according to a tweet today by developer Chucklefish Games.

Starbound's sales success mirrors another molten-hot, early-access hit of recent weeks, namely the DayZ Standalone alpha. DayZ creator Dean Hall published an update on Reddit over the weekend revealing that the alpha version of the zombie survival game has sold nearly 800,000 copies in less than a month. While both games have some pretty radical differences in tone and setting, they both emphasize open, sandbox-style experiences and are finding huge audiences in spite of their still-evolving development.

The Starbound beta can be snatched up for $15 either through the game's official website or through Steam's Early Access program. If you're hearing about Starbound for the first time, check out our recent look at the beta version, where we learn about Cassandra's journey of “exploration, survival and bloody stupid ways to die.” And just like DayZ, we know there are a lot of changes on the way for the game. You can read up on some of Starbound's future plans here . The developer mentions something about planet-sized "spaceship dungeons," which have me, almost without thinking, reaching for my wallet. Ah, I see what it did there.

Thanks, Games Industry International .