Vector Squared -- Starbound Community News, Issue #9

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In this New Year's issue of Vector Squared, we cover many interesting topics. Last week, we explored farming, community response to a "report card", an interesting suggestion, and an article on the wintry-themed holidays. This time around, we're covering several intriguing topics in the Starbound Community today -- contest controversy, the winter holiday contest, a voluntary DDoS by our friendly resident staff, and .

Stand back, stay calm, and prepare to plunge into another issue of Vector Squared!


Table of Contents

• Winter Holiday Contest
• Hit him harder - Web Character Creator
• Controversy over Contest
• Roleplay Section
• Art Feature
• Resizing Images
• Island ‘Vacation’
• Forum Titles
• Suggestion Spotlight
• Science Trivia
• Question of the Week
• Newspaper Feedback
• Closing Comments

Winter Holiday Contest
Well, the Winter Holiday Contest has finally wrapped up! Congratulations to all of the fine contestants who gave their blood and sweat to craft a marvelous entry for this wintry wonder we have just now experienced. The contest has finished, and no more entries are being accepted, so better luck next time to those who wanted to join. With a grand total of 74 entries, this is making out to be a smaller, but awesome contest.

This time it centers more on the literary-minded folk of Starbound, even making separate categories for Short Stories and Poems. However, that doesn’t mean that the other, more art-related entries aren’t good; they’re all very fine entries, with some in particular that we want to “show off”.

Short Story
The Time-Traveller, by Garneac, is the somewhat chilling tale of time-dilation and what-could-bes. The story centers around the actions of a person called Ander, and his relationship with an Avian ambassador -- with nature and corporations.

The story draws some inspiration from Ender’s Game, something that you science fiction geeks out there should have noticed right away. Along with being well-written, it contains a riveting moral and a sad tale to boot. It’s a recommended read, if anyone’s interested in sitting down and reading some fine literature.

Art
The Airforce didn’t stand a chance, created by Suika Ibuki, is a piece of art centered around the general feeling of New Year’s (because that’s a holiday, too, right?). The people in the picture are several characters of the artist. This piece of art is quite well-drawn, and it has an interesting background to it as well. Checking it out is most recommended.

Poem
All I want for Christmas, by Crazyon, is a short and sweet poem about how Starbound is longed for so. Along the way, the staff and the community is commended for their awesome quality, and how they only serve to add to the anticipation. Poems are quite hard to do, so give your appreciation to Crazyon.

Pixel
The pixel art featured here is Chucklefish.org is looking festive!, by Angry Muffin. It is a series of three pictures, all variations of the familiar Chucklefish.org website art. The christmas-y feeling in this is quite apparent, and it makes you want to go in the display and lay down on one of the plush, velvet chairs... enjoying the crackling warmth of the fire.



Song
The Song feature is quite an interesting one -- it’s a set of lyrics overlayed over a song. The original video is already funny, but if you add on the new set of lyrics, it becomes absolutely amazing. Starbound Tribute, by Keeper, is enough to keep you entertained for five minutes -- the length of the video. It even comes with several pictures, for those who wish for further visuals.

Keep in mind, this is only but a fraction of the 74 entries out there -- keep browsing, let your mind go free at the amazing amount of work put into these songs. Don’t forget to drop a like, or follow the creator of the entries you enjoy the most. They deserve it
~Nababoo


Hit him harder - Web Character Creator
Developer OmnipotentEntity created a topic this Thursday where he asked people to give that thread one million views, hence Omni’s humorous topic title Hit me harder. The reason for such request was to actually test how the forum would hold against the traffic it’s likely to get when Starbound is released. Well, people sure did what was asked of them and the mission was successfully accomplished within merely an hour! Plenty of users refreshed the page by whatever means they had at their disposal, causing the forum to error several times, thus allowing the developers to successfully figure out the issues and fix them. The need for mass-refreshing is now over. Good job, guys!

But hold on, that’s not everything! The web-based Starbound character generator is ready and that task asked of the community was actually the “catch” to allow the generator to be made public! Official information about the character creator can be found right here. One of the things Tiy mentions there is that this web generator is not exactly the same as the one in-game and, as such, certain elements might differ. Nevertheless, the feature is quite interesting, allowing you to browse the many different styles and colours of the six races’ appearance. One of the things uncovered through this feature is that it seems that our fellow Robots will be having a medieval vibe to them! Nice twist, Chucklefish. Furthermore, you may even download your character as a png with a transparent background by clicking the button “Create Character”, thus being able to show your Starbound-self to your friends. Don’t forget to add .png to the file’s name.

It’s worth mentioning that the event truly increased the website’s activity for quite a while - so, if you have experimented any trouble connecting to playstarbound.com at any point during then, that might have been why.

OmnipotentEntity, in the name of the staff, has praised the Starbound population for the joint effort and, as a result, we are now free to generate as many characters as we please!

To discuss the current web character generator, you may visit this topic. To show your characters and see those created by other users, you may check this topic instead.

Have fun!
~Keeper


Controversy over Contest
Recently, there’s been some controversy over the judging processes of the recent contest. §hifter has raised the issue of objectivity in the current judging system -- whether there existed invisible criteria that may or may not have caused certain entries to not get the winning position.

The main issue was that there was no way of seeing how things were judged, or how possibly they would’ve been omitted from judging. It all remained invisible. This raised another point, of whether this could possibly lead to some sort of abusing of power -- playing favorites, or arbitrarily giving a high or low score to certain things for “good presentation”. Collaboration was furthered when OmnipotentEntity released a spreadsheet with the judging criteria of the top 40 entries, with comments from the judges.

However, there are still some complaints about how the spreadsheet was organized, and how the judging occurred. According to several members, there was a lack of objectiveness associated with the contest, and that there was no “rubric”, leading to what might have seem like to some certain judges casting their decisions in a controversial matter. It’s still important to note, though, that the spreadsheet was not meant for the public’s eyes, and that there were other means of communication. So we don’t exactly have the complete picture at this point.

The community has hopefully learned from this incident, and they’ll use it for future contests -- how to achieve a unified effort at objectivity, and to ensure that the judging will not be compromised in any manner. Vector Squared would also like to praise people who have brought forth feedback and also thank the staff for answering it.
~Nababoo


Roleplay Section
The staff, in response to several complaints about the lack of a differentiated fanfiction section and a roleplay section, have created a section entirely dedicated to roleplaying. In a subforum of the fanfiction section, there are two parts: The area for “In Character” and “Out of Character” threads. This should allow for some easy access, and a lot less headaches for all those involved. It also allows for convenient organization, seeing as roleplays have a sub-forum exclusively for Out of Character threads.

Well, what is roleplay? It’s basically the art of telling stories with other people, and you take charge of one or more characters in order to do so. Sort of like a collaboration, only significantly different in the fact that the story is led by a Game Master, or some other figure of power.

Several guides on roleplaying have been created, one by Mercenary Lord, and one by Suika Ibuki. Hopefully they’ll allow the newer roleplayers to have some semblance of direction, and learn some roleplaying tips along the way. All in all, the forum is experiencing activity that is regular for it’s supposed status -- several roleplays started up, each with a unique idea. Interestingly enough, it appears that they don’t have to be about Starbound...

Drop by, perhaps give a try at this “roleplaying” business, and give some more thanks to the forum staff for being so attentive to user feedback.
~Nababoo



Hello again, Starbounders! It’s been awhile since we’ve featured a bit of art - two weeks - so it’s certainly time to remedy such a grievous oversight! This week, we turn our collective eyes to mrMish’s fantastic picture. His thread only has a single picture in it, but it tickles my eyes with vivid colors and expert shading - all with color pencils!

So please, head on over to his thread and feast your eyes on the expertly crafted Avian, which appears to be dressed in ceremonial garb. What that stone structure is behind him, who knows - maybe a temple; the non-sacrificial kind, I hope. Drop a comment in his thread and maybe we can get him to draw more amazing works for us!
--Strife


Resizing Images
Have you ever experienced trouble uploading an image to a website due to size issues and felt clueless about what to do? This section is dedicated to those who struggle with the matter and to those who would simply like to know some more in regards to this.

Forum member WoxandWarf, with the aid of other users, has created a thread with several easy-to-follow tutorials in resizing images by using different programs, such as Paint, GIMP and Adobe Photoshop. Moreover, a link is also provided in that topic - clicking it will take you to www.picresize.com, where you are able to resize, crop, twist and drag around images as you please by uploading them to that website, rather than using one of the programs. Even though the topic has been created about a month ago, its information is quite useful and, as such, Vector Square felt the need to spread the word.

A big digital thanks to WoxandWarf and his associates in establishing such thread.
~Keeper


Island ‘Vacation’
A gentle, cool breeze relieving you from the sun’s warm caress; some delicious alien beverage to sip on in your hand as you listen to the rhythmic pulsing of the waves breaking on sand. Then you wake up - the cool breeze and tasty treat simply a daydream. Unwavering heat? Yeah, still there. At least, this is what strikes my mind when I see these fantastic screenshots posted by resident forumer Stargazer.

What we have is a beautiful example of the type of craftsmanship waiting for us when we get our grubby little hands on the game. Vibrant colors all around, including the sky and how dynamic it looks during different phases of day and night. Sun rays and a great depth perspective view of the ocean add little details to the game that lend to an overall atmosphere for Starbound.

On the left side of Foreveralone Island is a tree, seemingly of Floran origin. In the middle, a lone cactus - let’s hope this unfortunate adventurer doesn’t trip on it. We’ve even got little rocks strewn throughout! Amidst all this, I find one thing interesting: there are seemingly three different types of sand; the implications of this are quite interesting.

Over and over I keep looking, combing the pictures with my eyes and I cannot locate one very important thing - where is Wilson?
--Strife


Forum Titles
This thread/guide created by forum member Kiofspa is an amazing repository of all the community’s knowledge of the titles and trophies out there. As of the July 20th titles update, the forums were updated with a huge number of interesting, new titles -- gone was the boring old “New, Active, Well-known” title system, and now we have a very fine set of titles, both inventive and creative. Some examples: Cosmic Narwhal, Space Spelunker, Void-bound Voyager. They certainly give a Starbound vibe to the whole idea of being well-known.

Along with this, there’s also included a list of trophies, with color-coded point values for ease of usage, and a list of single-point titles (for those of you who thought you got custom titles ). There’s also the old ranks, as well, if anyone would wish to access those.

Currently we as a community are still exploring this system, and we have yet to get some single-point titles and a large amount of point ranks. Do your part and contribute, if you want. Alternately, you can post on the thread for some discussion and/or information regarding this -- new things you found, all that kind of stuff. There’s still titles being added to this system, and it’s quite interesting to see what things can possibly be cooked up...
~Nababoo


Suggestion Spotlight
In this week’s Suggestion Spotlight, we cover the suggestion of rare “Prize” planets, created by Aesthetic-Defile. It was originally a small suggestion that was riddled with flaws, but with user feedback, it managed to become quite a healthy-sized one, with plenty of depth to it. The bulk of the suggestion is composed of what users think would work well, all under a large umbrella of the original post.

Well, anyways, the suggestion is centered on the existence of hidden or rare “resource planets”. You get the hidden coordinates for these planets by finding some sort of navigational component -- items that give you coordinates to the prize planets. However, a safeguard against just going to that coordinate set in singleplayer would be to either have some sort of cosmic disturbance preventing you unless you have the navigational components, or some sort of NPC you talk to when you have the items.

All in all, an excellent idea, adding a whole new dimension to the concept of space travel.
~Nababoo


Science Trivia
Rocket Boots

In the 1970s a Soviet engineering student by the name of Viktor Gordeyev decided he was tired of running. So, he decided to create something that would do the running for him, and thus the rocket boots were created. But in 1994, the Soviet government (being the kind of government it was) classified the boots as a military secret; with these boots their foot soldiers would be able to outrun their enemy’s tanks.

Rocket boots is actually a pretty misleading name, since the closest thing the boots had to a rocket is an internal combustion engine, and a small one at that. The boots used the engine to power a piston that moves up and down at a constant pace. All the user had to do was match their pace with the movement of the pistons and they could achieve running speeds upwards of 25 miles per hour. The boots also turned out to be very fuel efficient, achieving an impressive 70 miles per gallon.

Unfortunately, the boots were also incredibly dangerous; if the user’s pace fell too far out of sync with the boots they would end up breaking at least one of their legs. The Soviets soon discovered that the boots would probably cause more casualties than they would save, and it didn’t take long for the project to be scrapped. The world may still see usable rocket boots someday as a university in Ufa, Russia picked up research on the boots for both civilian and military purposes in 2000.

Questions, comments, concerns? I’ll gladly answer them all. And if you’ve got any suggestions or ideas for future topics feel free to post those as well.
~Active Link


Question of the Week
Q: What kind of “hidden lever” best fits the Starbound theme?
A: Post them in the thread!


Newspaper Feedback
Opinions can be such fickle things, so fluid, always changing, quite diverse. Even so, the staff of Vector Squared hold such opinions in high esteem and we would absolutely love to hear from you - our readers!

For such an occasion, we’ve prepared a special - and short - survey for the taking, which can be found HERE. Since this newspaper is here to serve the community, it only makes sense to cater to that community - which is you! By completing that form, it will help us determine what we can change and improve about our service. Thanks for the opportunity to help serve the community, we hope to hear from you soon!
--Strife


Closing Comments

• Give a shout out to Blue, who added us to the “Fanmade Newspaper Archive”. It appears we’ve become a staple of information and propaganda spreading in this fine conurbation
• We're still looking for a header artist, if anyone's interested.

Staff
Nababoo -- Manager/Writer
Keeper -- Wordsmith
Mercenary Lord -- Lector Ficta
Active Link -- Scientific Consultant
Strife -- Mysterious Stranger
Slaticus -- Author from the Shadows

Credits
blind sniper -- Banner

Previous Issues:
Issue #1 [] Issue #2 [] Issue #3 [] Issue #4 [] Issue #5 [] Issue #6 [] Issue #7 [] Issue #8

 

Another week; another great Vector Squared!

I am glad you took the time to highlight some of the entries. Hopefully people returning from a holiday hiatus will take the time to look them over.

 

Starbound roleplays? If we wanted that, we would be roleplaying on Ghostar's profile page.

Reference to Ghostar not liking people rping on her page.

 

IndentedExcellent job to everyone behind this paper. Glad to see it going strong. (I should probably start reading from the first issue!)
IndentedAlso, much thanks for featuring my story along with the other Winter/Holiday entries. There really has been damned good work put into some of them.
IndentedAnd good on the team for its neutral but critical take on the Create-A-Hat kerfuffle. Sweet summation, bringing to the fore crucial points and conflicts without losing sight of the current contest's position as a clean slate. (Seriously, though, great job on the level-headed briefing.)

 

Or... what if the sign is the lever?

 

Thanks again, for NEVER featuring me EVER.
I really appreciate it.



I'm kidding, btw. Do whatever you like.

 

So says most of the forum XD

 

These are so awesome, why do i not read these when they pop up in the new feed!! It makes me actually feel like im reading a newspaper.

Edit: oh and what do you mean by hidden lever, like some kind of well hidden object that activates something?

 

Hey now, your being listed is a credit to the good work you do. People enjoy these kinds of things to keep them occupied while waiting for more official info. Keep up the good work!

 

Wow even coverage of the "Controversy over Contest" you really went all out to cover EVERYTHING. I'm impressed.

 

Yeah, that sort of item.

Thanks! We hope to bring you guys the best of news coverage

 

argh, just now I think of a line I could have used for the Island article ...

"Oh no - the ocean is leaking! Just kidding, no need for alarm, just pictures of them are leaked."

 

Congratulmifications on being added to the fanmade Newspaper archive!
Also, in the "Island 'vacation'" section, do I spy a reference to Castaway? If so, someone's getting a beating.

 

Quick update regarding the survey:

We've gotten two replies on it so far. It's entirely anonymous, so whoever you two are - thanks for the feedback!

We would really love some more replies, so PLEASE, fill out the survey if you have a bit of time. Thanks!

Don't hurt me ... too badly.

 

My name is Wilson, you have no idea how many times people crack the castaway joke at me.
I even had to make my facebook avatar Wilson the volleyball to tell people how painfully aware I am.

 

Telling me that may not have been very wise. So much ammunition ...

Saying it publicly? Oh goodness ...



I'll try to resist the temptation.

 

I had to wait until I had a night off for dial-up peak hours. Thanks for the reminder!

 

I think that that the best hidden lever would be a penguin/poptop that roams around in a small area that you might have to chase down.

 

Some kind of biological lever. That moves. It'd be a pain to open

We'd really love some feedback regarding the newspaper -- after all, it is some time after New Year's, isn't it? Well, anyways, criticism would hopefully let us organize priorities.