Starbound seems like it's going to be filled with all kinds of enemies, items and stuff to do and explore so to help players out, it would be great if they have access to a PDA that will log: *The lifeforms you encounter on each planet as well as items they may drop upon defeat. *Quest log. *Map that is created as you explore - Shows depth and coordinates. *Items found along with descriptions and possible uses (ores, plants, blocks, etc). *Item creation blueprints for the ones you've created or bought. *Atmosphere conditions (if it's possible to breathe on a particular planet or a respiration system is required). *Current weather/temperature (maybe having areas with extreme cold or heat might require special items to be able to travel safely through them). *Time. *Kill counts for each enemy type. *List of known planets and their locations. and more. It makes sense to eventually be able to have some kind of device that does this with the type of game this is, even if it takes a while for players to be able to make a device with such capabilities. They wouldn't even have to be added in all at once but be added in by a certain NPC for a price. That way players would be able to keep track of everything they need and have a direct reference in game. Added Feb 26 *To start off or early on, it might be possible for the PDA to record the terrain up to a certain radius from your character. But eventually, you are going to want something more advanced that can detect soil types, "ores" and other objects. What if there was some kind of technology that you could make that surveyed the land for you and was responsible for sending the data to your PDA? Not only when you place these things down do they give you all kinds of information but also cover a much larger radius as well. There could also be areas equipped with something that jams the signal that can or can't be turned off which would be awesome for mazes on any of the main questline planets It could also keep track of things like the speed and growth of special types of bacteria or plant life that may drastically alter the environment. Think a highly detailed version of the Dryad in Terraria. I'd say you'd start out with pretty much nothing, work your way up to the PDA, unlock more of it's features though discovering new technology or paying one of the NPC to upgrade it, then developing surveying tech to increases the usefulness of the PDA that can be placed around the planet. That way even though you will eventually gain the ability to see where things like "ores" and "chests" are, you won't feel like cheating because it's a part of the game ^_^ lol. They could even have to be wired and/or charged by a power source streamed from your base that would require up keep, maybe paying some form of currency to an NPC to take care of it. Suggestions added in by other members
From what I've seen of the screenshots (http://playstarbound.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/krabmikaze1.png) the logbook will serve as something like that. But informations is good. I like informations
yeah I had a feeling they might be adding something like this but wasn't sure and wanted to toss in some extra suggestions, if they haven't thought of them already of course.
I'm curious if Discussing this in General would be more appropriate. Or here we can discuss what we want to see.
Uh,to a game of exploring planets,i think it's weird,that where the player saves the data,are a book(or if that is only the icon of the window).
It would be cool to have a hologram projector object such as a watch that would serve as some other utilities. As for save i go with an option to do it when you are inside your own base.
They're good ideas. Here's one. A scanning feature. By scanning an enemy or an object, you get a list of the loot it drops. The more times you scan an enemy, the better chance at getting rare loot. Like, if back in Terraria, you scanned a lot of sharks, you'd get more diving helmets.
That does sound interesting. Scanning living things could increase the various -ology related skills in the game and give it the feeling that you are not just explore and terraforming the planets but understanding them as well. Not bad. that would be cool if you could use a machine to see a holographic image of the various life forms you see on the planet combined with Anemoi's idea you could scan the target then go back to your base to study it and get more detailed info on the creature. That would be an awesome way to do a monster codex. I just posted it here because this was the suggestion spot and figured it was the right place to put it. Didn't want to hear people complaining this belonged over here if I posted it in General, ya know? ^_^ Thanks for the replies, guys. You guys made me think of something else though to add. will update.
I'm not sure if this has been talked about since I don't keep up with the forums here, but I'm really hoping that they implement some kind of surveying tech like I mentioned, even if it's high tier equipment. That would really be great in this game.
