I used to think that people being offended by things was a completely alien concept to me, that people should never be offended by anything at all because it's "illogical" and "doesn't help anyone". You could say I grew up somewhat idolizing science and reason. Whatever wasn't objective was extremely objectionable. I've also, at another point, used to ascribe to a sort of nihilistic/existential philosophy of deconstructing logic itself to morally validate my life, reducing every conceivable fact and experience to a subjective haze where, to quote something I sternly decided I was basing this philosophy on, "nothing is true, everything is permitted." Somehow, it also seemed to encompass the objectivity obsession above. It unfortunately addresses the very fact that this is completely contradictory by defining that contradiction as meaningless. Not fun. Well, it was to me then. Now it's just a hole in my chest. A couple years later I'm just a very confused person who gets offended by people using their ADHD as an excuse for their behavior (because I'm apparently a psychological hipster) and little else. So, to conclude, I've been in a somewhat similar situation to you. Only in part, but the opinion you have on offense (or dare I say opinions) is not something I'm unfamiliar with.
To be honest what we have seen image wise so far of the game looks to be rather middle ground between the two ranges of age friendliness. It looks like variation of what terraria has with the death animation of characters and what not (from the vids we likely have seen). And on the subject of the Florans being cannibals... If they eat meat they are not cannibals, they would be classified as some form of carnivorous sentient plant life (omnivores if they eat plants also). Though even if they ate plants they still wouldn't be cannibals (only if they ate other florans). Saying the Florans are cannibals for eating plants, would be like saying Humans are cannibals for eating animals. Both evolved, or were created (either one depending on whatever your belief is), and both (whatever the florans eat) feast on the less sentient organisms in the food chain for sustenance (with humans being mammals, and the florans being sentient plants).
Two thoughts on this from me. First, I like the design of the furniture, but I think using the exact pattern from their eyes is a mistake. I suggest instead just using the spherical red orbs, without the triangle pattern. The shape and color of the eyes is unique to the race, so using a pair on either end of the couch would reflect the same effect without the repetition. Either way though, nice design. Second, I am totally cool with keeping things age friendly. If I need bones lying around and bodies hanging on walls/in cages I can play all the skyrim I like. Really this is the exact same type of decission made in most or all games, we just happen to get semi-daily-ish updates, where-as with most games these calls are made behind closed doors and not posted up for the masses. Again though, I support keeping the game child friendly, but I would equally support an "Adult friendly Patch". Keep up the amazing work team.
Hiding it from the public doesn't make it any more good or acceptable. Art is about provoking emotion, and when an artist designs something based on their artistic vision of it, it's like they put part of their soul into it. If that design is forced to be changed against the artist's wish, then part of that soul is lost. Soullessness is the bane of modern games, and can be seen all over. There are far too many games being practically mass-produced - especially by big studios like EA and Ubisoft - that are practically designed specifically for the purpose of catering to the masses rather than according to any artistic vision. Starbound has so much potential, and I'd hate to see it turn into a soulless husk of what it could have been because the devs decided to redesign it to pander to children.
One could argue that we have this depiction of Cannibalism because we don't have any lifeforms who are at a similar level of sentience to us (dolphins and some of the apes being the closest). If there were other beings of culture and society like us it's possible we would extend the term 'Cannibalism' to include eating them, or them eating us as well. So yeah, in the strictest terms Florans would not be considered cannibals for eating other sentients. I suspect though that they probably are and they eat both their own species and other sentients. After all if they ate themselves and were omnivorous then the only race I couldn't see them eating (more than once) is glitch and that's purely because, well, nuts and bolts don't generally make good food. Then again, perhaps they like the iron (or other metal) content, all depends on how their physiology works (and am I the only one who would like to produce scientific documents on the digestion and reproductive cycle of the Floran? From the respawn animation we know they grow as some kind of fruit/egg thing from a tree and from the literature we know they are single gendered - most probably bigendered in one individual going by known plant life...)
Yes, I'm sure Tiy has Rho and Fetalstar chained up in his dungeon and he beats and flogs them every time they draw something he doesn't like. What a tyrant, what a subjugator. How dare he destroy their artistic vision. Maybe Tiy needs to check his privilege. Down with oppression! Fight the patriarchy! I'm going on a hunger strike until my demands are met and Tiy checks his cis privilege.
Nice that you're making it more age-appropriate, tho personally I would love some option to have the less age-friendly content on or off if it would be possible. Keep up the good work guys!
It would be rather interesting to learn that about them, though I wonder how they would eat other organisms to begin with. Assuming they can eat like plants, then it would likely involve the use of melting them into a slurry and drinking it (like pitcher plants in a way, along with some others that melt the organism with some variation of acid and then absorb the goop left over). That or they may just go the route of eating things with their mouths.
I imagine some form of mastication like an animal but with the pitcher plant as a 'stomach'. Or maybe some kind of grinding mechanism dropping small bits of material intoa nest of venus-flytrap type organs. In terms of reproduction although it would technically be sexual I don't think it would be very physical. As I mentioned somewhere on this forum before I imagine they simply release pollen and capture it in their 'hair'. Although maybe not. As their respawn animation is basically a tree growing and dropping them like a fruit maybe the fruit is the mobile sentient stage and they actually reproduce by 'dying'..... that said they DO look like flowers. As I think this isn't something the Devs have necessarily specifically thought about it might be fun for us to come up with our own backstory...
I just realized the pattern looks exactly like the one on the pommel of the Tenchi Sword from the anime Tenchi Muyo: I mean, it's not that surprising of a coincidence, but it made me wonder if maybe the symbol has some kind of significance in Japanese culture?
I'm not disappointed by this. I still see this being sort of like a Zelda game in the child friendliness aspect. The backstory is dark, but it doesn't abuse things like gore to make parts of the game seem that way. It wouldn't suit Starbound to be overly mature anyway.
A similar formation of circles (Three forming a triangle) appears on the emblem of the Mori clan, so I guess there might be some significance, if not just that it is part of the Mori Emblem
