Vector Squared -- Community News! -- Issue #32

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In the time of writing, it has been over 6 weeks since Vector Squared last posted. The cause of this is that many of the writers felt they needed a break, others had exams, some were moving and a few had personal issues. In the end we ended tried to get Vector Squared #32 up and published, but our shortage of writers grounded our mission. Let it be known, this has not been an easy decision for us. We felt like we were cheating the community, giving up on a project and gift we had been working so hard on, but not any more.

Without further ado, without further issues, and without further breaks, Vector Squared is back. We’re going to continue and revive our weekly mission to give you, the community, the best of comics, articles, pictures, contests and, of course, the cheapest, most soul-crushingly bad puns this world has ever seen. Ladies and mentlegen, welcome to Vector Squared, Issue #32!


Table of Contents:

• Insomnia Summary
• Demo Play by Yogscast
• Daily Update weekly summary
• Community Interview
• Gameplay Feature
• Art Feature
• Science Trivia
• Suggestion Spotlight
• Weekly Question
• Vector Square is now hiring!

Insomnia Summary

The Insomnia Gaming Festival is an Expo focusing on gaming both for the average gamer and the developer. It’s hosted by Multiplay which have been around since 1997, they host expos such as Insomnia and the Minecraft Convention that was in Paris last year. They also host servers for over 25 000 players.

The Insomnia Gaming Festival has multiple “attractions” such as a gaming hall where players could bring their own PC, set it up, and play endlessly through the weekend. There was also a lot of various presentations, streams, trailers and such up on stage, one of which was the Starbound Demo Stream which is covered below.

Chucklefish got the opportunity to participate in the festival this year, and wasted no time as they set up a demo version of their current build for the well-known Yogscast to play on-stage.

Despite their worries of crashes, bug and problems, the stream was a huge success and will, without doubt, be the talk of the forums for many months to come.


Yogscast Demo Stream



As part of the i49 expo, prominent Let’s Play group YogsCast was invited to play an hour of Starbound live and on-stage. The resulting video is full of twists and turns as they play through the early stages of the game.

Shown during the stream are the opening quests, serving as something of a tutorial and warm-up for players. Each race’s quest has a different backstory; the Apex are fleeing the failed rebellion, the Glitch have gained sentience, the Avians are fleeing the Stargazers, the Floran grew tired of their race’s savagery, the humans are fleeing the now destroyed Earth and the Hylotl are searching for a planet to explore. The latter quest may be a placeholder until Hylotl lore has been fleshed out, but we’ll have to wait and see.



The first task is to open the ship’s storage locker (which serves as convenient built-in storage) for the Matter Manipulator. This versatile tool allows players to move objects and blocks, and also serves as an early-game axe. With this handy piece of kit in hand (along with other items found in the locker), the next step for players will be to go down to the starting planet, find some wood and make a simple wooden crafting table. Subsequent quests involve simple tasks like cooking meat, making a furnace and smelting an iron bar, all the while exploring the strange new world.

But at the next quest, things get interesting. The player is tasked with constructing a rescue beacon, in the hopes of contacting a larger ship. Upon crafting and placing the beacon, it does just that. There is, however, a drawback; the ship it flags is the elusive first boss. We won’t spoil it for you, but suffice to say it is going to be something of a running joke.

by Jonesy


Update:

And for those of you who were freaked out about the “Pre-Alpha” comment, it has been confirmed to be false, caused by stage jitters. Tiy himself confirmed that the game is in Alpha. Forum user DeadlyLuvdisc posted a well-written topic thoroughly explaining the difference and definition of Pre-Alpha, Alpha and Beta. For those who are slightly confused about what each stage brings in development, I’d suggest you go take a quick look there.
http://community.playstarbound.com/...the-software-development-cycle-exactly.28665/


Daily Update Summary

It’s been a few weeks since Vector Square’s last edition, and over the course of these many days, there have been daily updates. So let’s go ahead and summarize them.

• Bug fixes. Many, many bug fixes.
• Between the 4th and the 11th, a good variety of content was worked on; mobs, items, art, etc. Mechanics and user interfaces were also tweaked. General performance was improved.

~ "By the light...of the silvery moon…"

• Between the 12th and the 19th, a lot of work was made on the user interface (notably the main menu, hotbar, character selection, etc.). Terrain features like microdungeons were also worked on, with some interesting flora popping up such as eyeball trees and giant mushrooms. A couple of additional music tracks were also made, in addition to a wide range of assorted content such as items, crafting recipes and tooltips. Much of the work was focused on Tier 1 content, gameplay and quests.

~ "All these moments will be lost in time...like tears in the rain…" ~

• Between the 20th and the 27th, things slowed down a bit for i49. Even so, the devs were happy to report on how the expo was going, from setting up the Chucklefish booth through to the Global Premiere.

More photos from i49 at Serenity’s photo thread.

by Jonesy


Community Interview

We at Vector Squared decided to host a contest a few days back, in which everyone who joined choose a number, and we pulled three random ones out via a random number generator. Those lucky three were then interviewed with a variety of questions, and the full interviews can be found below:

Finsol:

1. How, and when did you come across Starbound?

• I first heard about Starbound when Redigit had posted that support for Terraria was going to come to a stop back in early 2012, and Tiy had gone to make Starbound. I gave it a brief look over then and actually forgot about it for the better part of that year, early 2013 the game was brought back to my attention so I've kept up on it and a week ago I finally decided it was time to join the community and be a part of it.

2. What, in your opinion, is the best feature of Starbound?

• Hands down the randomization, there is so much randomization from forms of life to terrain, to planets, weapons, armor etc.. Also in terraria and Minecraft you are stuck in the world you are spawned in, but Starbound encourages you to leave that world and explore a vast universe with endless possibilities.

3. Which race is your favorite, and why?

• My favorite race which will also be my first character is the Glitch with the Apex as a close 2nd. I've always rooted for sci-fi cyborgs & robots in TV & movies, good or bad lol. I also loved Philip K. Dick's 'Do robots dream of electric sheep?' I like the Apex because of the games lore and also the Americana tv history it hints at. Paging Dr. Zaius.

4. What will you name your future pet-to-be, and what purpose would he/she/it serve?

• The name of my future pet will be 101010 which is 42 in Binary, and we all know what 42 means. The answer to life, the universe and everything.

5. If you were to say one thing to the DEVs, what would it be?

• I would like to tell them that they are not only absolutely amazing at what they do but are also role models to other future developers out there and fans alike. They are examples what can be accomplished if one has the drive to not give up and turn their dreams into reality. Hats off to them and can't wait for the Beta release!

6. What’s the “Starbound dream environment” that you wish you could chance upon?

• I'd have to say a lush jungle planet covered in trees, or a baron ice planet with an aurora borealis sky, pretty polar opposite but both beautiful. Both pocked with cave entrances leading to mystery, riches & adventure.

7. If you were a member of an intergalactic organization, what would your role in it be, and what would its purpose be?

• The I.C.P.O. a.k.a. Intergalactic Criminal Police Organization, purpose self explanatory. My title would be Detective URL - Aww yeah.

ZangooseSlash:

1. How, and when did you come across Starbound?

• I came across starbound in late 2012, while I was browsing some terraria things. I listened to some of the music and watched gameplay, and forgot about it after a little while. After a few months, I rediscovered starbound and made a forum account.

2. What, in your opinion, is the best feature of Starbound?

• The procedural generation. I love how you'll be able to find many different kinds of planets, different guns, melee weapons, armor, and monsters. Especially monsters. I can't wait until I can capture monsters and trade them with other users.

3. Which race is your favorite, and why?

• The Avians and Novakids are my favorites. Avians because of their bird-like design and modernized tribal weapons. Novakids because of the fact the community reached a goal to get them, and they look pretty unique. I think i'll play as avian in beta and a novakid in full release.

4. What will you name your future pet-to-be, and what purpose would he/she/it serve?

• I usually name things on appearance, so I can't say a name now. I would probably use them for fighting and collecting materials (if that's a feature with pets)

5. If you were to say one thing to the DEVs, what would it be?

• Keep up the good work and get the beta out as soon as you can! We're all looking forward to it.

6. What’s the “Starbound dream environment” that you wish you could chance upon?

• The best environment I could see in starbound would be a plain forest (Maybe with some special trees with spikes or such) with a village and old ruins close to it. The villagers would tell you small bits of information about the ruins, and there would be a quest to find the end of the ruins, and find what's in it. After finding what's in the ruins, you could trade some of the old parts with the villagers for valuable items.

7. If you were a member of an intergalactic organization, what would your role in it be, and what would its purpose be?

• If I was in an intergalactic organization, It would be dedicated to the training, trading, and selling of captured monsters. I would be a monster catcher.

Spokewizard:

“This user has yet to answer the PM regarding the interview. His answers will be edited in when he provides them.”
1. How, and when did you come across Starbound?


2. What, in your opinion, is the best feature of Starbound?


3. Which race is your favorite, and why?


4. What will you name your future pet-to-be, and what purpose would he/she/it serve?


5. If you were to say one thing to the DEVs, what would it be?


6. What’s the “Starbound dream environment” that you wish you could chance upon?


7. If you were a member of an intergalactic organization, what would your role in it be, and what would its purpose be?



Gameplay Feature

The Gameplay Feature is a new article we’ll be covering every week. What it essentially is, is that we take one gameplay feature from the game, such as “Taming”, “Farming” or “Melee Weapons”, and write a lengthy article about it. We’ll cover all aspects we know about the feature, with any pictures and videos we can get our hands on. So, with that in mind, let us begin!

For this weeks Gameplay Feature, we’ll be going through a very anticipated feature, but one we know far too little about. “Tech”.

“Tech” is basically upgrades for your character, which, when equipped, will give you new abilities. Much like the equipment slots in Terraria, where you would put “Cloud in a Bottle” or “Hermes Boots”. In Starbound their slots can be found directly under the character image in your inventory.


As far as it’s known, they work a lot like the “Pet Slots”. You can only have so many equipped, and they can only be equipped, un-equipped and switched in your ship. Therefore requiring some planning before you beam down to a planet.



As well as those in the screenshot there, we’ve also heard of “Tech”s that give the character the ability to ledge grab and double jump. Though, it has been a long time since we’ve last heard anything about this, therefor making any information uncertain and, as always, prone to change.

“Tech”s would provide an interesting preparation aspect when it comes to planets. If you’ve scanned the planet, or already been on it, and you know it contains a lot of cliffs and lava, a ledge grabbing “Tech” will probably come in handy. A lot more handy than that Happy Cube “Tech”. This adds a lot of variation to characters and planning which not only will make the game interesting and varied, but also provide goals (“I NEED to get a water walking Tech before I can go down on this planet!”) and a LOT of PvP variation. As far as we know, “Tech”s add no visual aspects, therefor making predicting your opponent's abilities impossible before they actually strike.

According to the Roadmap: “The Tech window has been designed and the graphics are available, awaiting implementation.” This tells us that the UI (“User Interface”) part of it is finished, but whether or not they've finished the actual items and their abilities is unknown. For all we know, “Tech”s might not even be in the Beta. Nonetheless, “Tech”s will be a huge part of Starbound, probably having a vast market covering many, many factions based purely around them.


~ WackyWocky


Art Feature

Ok guys, question time, who here has an OC? All of you? Figured.

Well, remember Andre Kent? The guy responsible for one of the amazing monthly wallpapers? Yeah, well, he’s drawing people’s characters. Did I mention they look amazing? Like, I’d pay 20 dollars for this amazing? And it’s free? Yeah, he’s basically Gandhi within the world of OCs. So far, 16 images are finished. I’ll be posting 3 of them here, but for the rest, go to his topic, here!







There’s even a wallpaper of the first 7 characters.



So what are you waiting for, go apply for a character! And while you’re there, be sure to pat him on the back and take a look at that game he’s promoting.

~ WackyWocky


Science trivia: Electricity II
Now that we have spoken about what electricity is, we can discuss means of producing it, how to electrically charge objects/substances, and etc.
To electrically charge an object/substance you must add or remove electrons from that object/substance. There are many methods for electrically charging objects. Some are static electricity, electromagnetic induction, electrochemistry, and the photoelectric effect.
Static electricity: When two surfaces touch and separate, with one surface being an insulator, there is the formation of a static electric charge. That is because there is a transfer of electrons from one object/substance to another.
Electromagnetic induction: Electrons are negatively charged subatomic particles. They are affected by magnetic fields. If a conductor is exposed to a magnetic field the electrons will move in a direction perpendicular to both the magnetic field, and the direction of travel.
Electrochemistry: Redox or oxidation-reduction chemical reactions are reactions where electrons are transferred between molecules. This can be used with a circuit between a cathode and anode to create an electric circuit. Electrons will travel from the anode to the cathode, with the substances at the cathode and anode becoming their respective ions.
Photoelectric effect: When electromagnetic radiation (light) of sufficient energy (at least one megaelectron volt) hits a high atomic number element, electrons may be emitted. There are many ways to take these electrons and use them in circuitry.
Converting various forms of energy into electricity is not difficult, but can be complicated at times.Here are some links to more in depth explanations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_charge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron

~harnackam


Suggestion Spotlight

In one of the most inspiring suggestions to yet grace the forums, Titaniumgives a breathtaking vision of taking the procedural generation Starbound is so famous for and adding a good dose of that !!SCIENCE!! we all love.

Based upon the premise of an evolutionary similarity between different creatures, it provides a truckload of food for thought. For example, in the suggestion, Titanium points out the similarities between the organisms on Earth, and how their similar ancestry (going back those billions of years) led to their similar structure. And then, the author posits, what would that do to the character of Starbound?

Just think on that for a moment -- every planet would truly be its own self-contained setting, complete with its own set of unique characters. And after all, isn’t a cast of them more memorable than a single on on their own? Think what you can do with the “Planet of the Apes”.

And not only that, but other users started to engage their science brain-muscles and joined in on the conversation, suggesting adding parameters and how to successfully execute the actual concept in-game. Join the captivating group in their quest for adventure, here.

~nababoo


Question of the Week

If you were giving the possibility to add a “Tech” to Starbound, and had to make it as unique and interesting as possible, what would you add? No copying a “Tech” from another game, this has to be 100% unique!

The most creative and amusing answer will be chosen and showcased in next week’s Vector Squared!


Vector Squared is now hiring!

Vector Squared is always in a shortage of skilled writers, and we’re interested in making said shortage a tiny bit smaller. We’re in need of a skilled writer who is willing to lurk the forums for interesting information, write articles and work with us as a team to make future editions even better. Think you’re interested?

On a related note, we’re also looking for a person who is willing to cover a weekly article called “Code Corner” which would be a lot like the Science Trivia, but focusing on programming instead. After release, it would also cover elements of modding and similar community-based pieces, possibly covering guides and tutorials along with regular features. Requirements for this would be that you can write a nice, juicy article, and know enough about programming to cover said article.

Other positions within Vector Squared are also open, such as comic artist.

Just send a PM to WackyWocky to apply for any of the positions.


Closing Comments

• We will be posting every Wednesday from now on!
• Thanks for reading!
• This is my first time converting a Google Doc to a forum post, it took me about 40 min and lot's of re-writing. There are bound to be font problems both in color, size or position that I missed. I apologize for this beforehand. - WackyWocky
• As you may notice, there are no article banners. They are currently ALL being re-done by Shardival and will return in the next edition!

Edits:

• Fixed an issue with font size and a few typos.
• Added a new comment to the closing features.

Contributors
Wackywocky - Space Banana
Jonesy - Wizard of the Words
harnackam - The Puzzled Mind
nababoo - The Pig of Doom
Shardival - Ink Mage
ReverseShadow - Cosmic Comedian
Strife - The Scriptor
Keeper - Lurker Mk. 3000
MahBucket - The Unidentified Object


Previous Issues:
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Blue’s Fanmade Newspaper Archive

 

Liked the issue I am enjoying how it's expanding on more topics, also love the addition of community member interviews. Thanks for the shout out the more people that see the pictures the better it's always cool to see behind the scenes photos.

Edit: A tech I would like is one that increases enemy item drops.

 

This is fantastic guys, I hope you'll have the time to keep it up even when Starbound gets released!

 

We most certainly will! Actually, after release, our issues will get a whole lot BIGGER. We'll be adding new articles such as "Mod Spotlight", "Featured Wiki Article" and continue our new ones such as the "Gameplay Feature". It's only uphill from here! :whistle:

 

I still can't believe I got drawn in that name generator.

 

Same here! It was a pleasure getting to speak about the game!

What a great issue! Very well done and full of info, looking forward to contributing to the next issue . I don't think I'm gonna get any sleep after staring into those lidless eye trees lol.

 

Glad you liked it!

 

God I cannot stand the Yogscast any more. They used to be funny but they're just dire now. Excellent magazine though, the art on those OC's is fantastic even if they are all Mary Sue's as far as I can see.

 

Great article VS!!! I missed you guys. Keep up the great work.

 

You actually included that friendship picture, huh...

Anyways, it's great to be greeting you guys from the Vector starship again. Was reading these and then the nostalgia goggles hit me. I strangled it to death and am now working here, planning my coup from the inside.

Watch Dogs in space? Twelve-way starship collision? Entertaining, especially if we get some of those experimental nuclear-powered craft from the 2050's.

 

Just slap some omnigel on it.

 

"Mind invader" - nifty trinket that allows you to take control over any encountered non-boss critter Your character is vulnerable during use.

 

Sounds cool

 

Haha. I forgot about Old Man Harbinger. DIRECT INTERVENTION IS NECESSARY!

 

I have quite a weird idea for a tech.
If and when you die, a small explosion occurs. If any enemy is killed with said explosion, you are revived at quarter health, but with no energy remaining. Can only be used every 5 or 10 minutes? How does that sound?

 

It sounds cool, but they already have a tech that upon dieing you get shocked with electricity and it brings you back to life. a bit similar but I get what you mean, I just don't see the practicality in it if your guaranteed to come back to life with the jump starter vs. crossing your fingers and hoping to kill and enemy.

 

Liked the news issue. Got some info that I didn't know about; such as techs.

 

"The Tribute Signal" - When your character dies a group of space penguins beams down and they all play sad music.