How Does Starbound Compare? What Terraria Fans Should Know

Discussion in 'Starbound FAQs, Q&A, and General Help' started by LadyAijou, Mar 4, 2012.

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  1. LadyAijou

    LadyAijou Phantasmal Quasar

    Hello Terraria Fans! Welcome to the Starbound community! I have been here since the forum started, and also been in the IRC since the original Q&A. I've noticed many many very common questions from the Terraria community in general, so I thought I'd take a stab at answering some of those here for you. As opposed to the more general FAQ, this will seek to answer some specific things for you. If I miss anything, please ask it here, and I'll update the first post to include it.

    Q: Is Starbound a sequel to Terraria?

    A: No, Starbound is definitely not a sequel to Terraria. It will be a very unique playing experience, but one that Terraria fans should really enjoy. The similarity you might have thought you saw in the screenshots is simply that the graphics in Starbound will also be in the classic 2D, side scrolling style. Tiy, whom you all know as the lead artist on Terraria, is the lead developer on Starbound. Aside from that link however, Chucklefish is a completely different team, composed of the people you see here: http://playstarbound.com/team/.

    This is an ongoing source of debate in both communities, so I would like to share this with you: Straight from the horse's mouth, as it were:

    Q: But Starbound seems like Terraria, only in Space!

    A: The only true similarity is that Starbound is a 2D side-scrolling game. At first glimpse one might think Starbound is another sandbox, or a Terraria clone but in actual fact it is so much more! Starbound will actually be far more an adventure than a sandbox, and feature a deep story and countless quests, an infinite universe with randomly generated and unique worlds, items, weapons, armor, mobs, and so much more. You will be exploring, mining, crafting, questing, battling, researching, capturing and taming creatures, and many features yet to be announced!


    Q: Can I mine and build in Starbound like I could in Terraria?

    A: Absolutely! We have been informed that entire WORLDS will be able to be taken apart block by block, or even on a massive scale through a ship in orbit! It will be quite a bit more in depth than simply building a shelter, you can build towns, cities, even civilizations. In the words of the development team "there will be plenty of shiny things for you to mine." Another fantastic feature to Starbound will be the inclusion of PRE-BUILT structures, such as weather stations, that can allow you to take full control over life on your homeworld. From there, the sky is NOT the limit, you can expand to colonize as many worlds as you want!

    Q: Starbound killed Terraria, I HATE YOU!

    A: Honestly, it didn't! You as Terraria fans have it in your power to keep the game alive and well through mods and community support. Tiy had a dream, and that dream is Starbound. He wanted to pursue this dream, and here you are! Don't lose heart and let go of a game you enjoy simply because development is finished. Give Starbound a chance, and you won't be sorry!


    Q: What is there for Terraria fans to love about Starbound? We already HAVE Terraria!

    A: The simple answer is everything! You're already a fan of 2D gaming, and Starbound will take that to a whole new level. In addition to the things you grew to love about Terraria, in Starbound you will find many new and exciting ways to expand on that. In fact, we will even be able to write our own misisons and quests, customize our home worlds and other planets, run and develop our own space station, and countless other new experiences. We will still have the freedom of the sandbox genre, filled to the brim and bursting with content. We'll get to travel among the stars and meet NPC's across the galaxy that can come home with us, and provide an amazing variety of support on our space stations and homeworlds. We will be able to capture and train creatures across the galaxy, to populate our home worlds, or aid us in battle against a wide variety of mobs and baddies. This really will be an experience of its own!

    Q. What about combat? Will that be the same as Terraria's?

    A. Definitely not! The combat system for Starbound is going to be MUCH deeper. While there are not "classes" as we saw in Terraria, where by equipping a certain set of armor one took on that role, there will be tremendous variety in team roles and in the choice you make for weapons and armor. One will not simply be able to carry around several sets of armor, you will have to choose carefully. Additionally, rather than a set number of pre-determined weapons with a handful of available stats, the generation system in Starbound will feature MILLIONS of variations of countless different weapons. Shields will also play a role, and have a massive number of effects on the player and the combat depending on what you equip. No longer can you button mash your way to end-game, you have to think about the mobs you are up against, who will definitely be plenty frightening!

    Q. Can I create my character like I did in Terraria?

    A. You'd better believe it, and not only that, but with many many more options to customize, including your ethnicity! You can choose from a wide variety of hair, skin, eyes, etc. When asked how much we could customize the characters on a scale of 1 to 10, the team's response was 8. Definitely something to look forward to! Where your base character doesn't give you the look you want, you can expect plenty of vanity items and armors to find that special look!

    Q. I don't know, I burned through my Terraria world so fast! Will multiplayer be so easy to beat?

    A. Not by a long shot. While Terraria's maps gave a feel of being "used up" after one had beaten all the bosses, there will be no such worry with Starbound. Especially when playing in large groups, Terraria lacked the depth in terms of being able to entertain a large number of players at once. I'm sure I can't be the only one to become frustrated when my friends would be beating the Eater of Worlds, while I was still wearing copper. Thankfully, Starbound will have SO much more to offer. In addition to infinite planets, in an infinite universe, the progression in this game will be much slower, and require a great deal more effort. You will NOT be on a level 100 planet on your first day. Planets will be rated by difficulty, from 1 to 100, and a person with level 1 rated gear will die quickly if they exceed that level without obtaining better equipment.

    Q. Will we be able to "recognize" elements of Terraria in Starbound?

    A. You will notice only some very superficial elements that remind you of Terraria. There will not be any NPC's, mobs, or other items from Terraria found in Starbound. What you WILL see, is an original universe alive with its own variety of lifeforms, and you're not likely to see the same thing twice. Starbound is definitely going to be a treat for sheer variety, and so much to explore along the way. Like traditional point and click adventures, you can mouse over just about everything in the game, allowing you to learn important things about its use and other helpful information. You could theoretically make a Starbound career out of simply discovering plant life, or finding that next rare creature.

    Update: 3/12/2012: This is the first video of the game in action, featuring the amazing lighting engine. A picture is worth a thousand words, and one cannot watch this video and see anything but that the two games are a universe apart. Starbound stands alone, and now you can witness it firsthand:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=F5d-USf69SU

    I hope that this will answer some of your more common questions about how the two games stack up, and that by getting this information out there, everyone will see that both games stand alone for what they are. The Starbound community totally understands your loyalty to Terraria, and we hope that those who are coming to us from Terraria Online forums will enjoy your time with us and find your place here at Starbound. See you in space!
     
  2. Jermex

    Jermex The Stampede Forum Moderator

    Excellent post Lady!
    Hopefully all the fans will read this.
     
  3. Zenuel

    Zenuel Cosmic Narwhal

    It's like a previous post of mine, Clone is an incredibly harsh word for something like this, it's a new genera of game, just like Minecraft was when it came out, but thanks to the innovation a billion brilliant idea's are pouring out into the industry and we as consumers couldn't be better off for it. It has it's similarities but Clone is definitely the wrong word. I'm glad you took the time to separate the differences, thank you~
     
    Rian121 likes this.
  4. Space Sphere

    Space Sphere Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    This should be mandatory reading.
     
  5. WhenAjaxAttacks

    WhenAjaxAttacks Aquatic Astronaut

    I think the Pokemon-inspired collection mechanic ALONE makes it way different...
     
    Arch-Mage Zandor likes this.
  6. Ser_Jeff_of_Highgarden

    Ser_Jeff_of_Highgarden Master Chief

    What I mean when I say I want it to be like Terraria (and I've said this in an earlier post, too) is the atmosphere. Terraria was goofy, yet terrifying at the same time. The scariest moment of my Terrarian life was seeing an evil bunny monster charge during a blood moon. I don't mean it will be a clone; it's quite different. It might seem that it's the same at first glance, but this thread should be mandatory, like Space Sphere said. Thank you for this!
     
    I_Play_Terraria and Sors like this.
  7. Nithilus

    Nithilus Big Damn Hero

    Amazing post Lady, I myself was a terraria fan, but I found myself searching for something new/similar (unfortunately with Terraria once you beat the hardest bosses and get best gear theres not much else to do) and for a long time I did not know what i was looking for. And after a long time I finally found it "Starbound".

    Its just my opinion of course.
     
  8. Zenuel

    Zenuel Cosmic Narwhal

    Honestly Starbound looks and feels like it's everything Terraria could have been, but never lived up to, I'm really excited~
     
    CyberDog, hellow27, Shot846 and 10 others like this.
  9. Ser_Jeff_of_Highgarden

    Ser_Jeff_of_Highgarden Master Chief

    I hope the hype levels for this game get as high as Skyrim's. Then I'll be able to put on my hipster glasses.
     
    CyberDog and DevonDe like this.
  10. A.N.T.I.

    A.N.T.I. Spaceman Spiff

    I think this needs to be put on TO... anyone else agree? >_>
     
  11. Froggiolis

    Froggiolis Big Damn Hero

    This is a great summary of starbound vs. terraria so far. Another thing is that terraria will not be recieving any more official updates, so this game seems like it would pick up where terraria left off, at least a little bit. What would be kindof cool is the start of the game being on a terraria basd world that gets destroyed (by eater of worlds maybe LOL) and then you go into space. There was talk between the devs earlier in terraria of space, and once redigit left tiy just decided to make a whole new game for that. Terraria was apparantly the dream game of the developers, but with only one left it would make sense to do this. Frogy99 out!
     
    hellow27, space ranger and Sors like this.
  12. Daitenshi

    Daitenshi Giant Laser Beams

    Awesome Summery. ^w^ Starbound is sure to be more then terraria ever was!
     
    Shot846 likes this.
  13. Crimson

    Crimson Subatomic Cosmonaut

    Say what you say, Terraria will never be replaced by another game for me.
    Instead, Starbound looks like what Spore could have been. In 2D though.
     
    Stompopolos likes this.
  14. Adib

    Adib Aquatic Astronaut

    :O nice thread!
     
  15. LadyAijou

    LadyAijou Phantasmal Quasar

    Well, yes and no at the same time. Yes, in that Starbound will be showing up to sort of fill the void where Terraria stopped being developed, but no, in that its NOT the same dev team, and the two games are completely separate. The Terraria team HAD mentioned space for a possibility in Terraria, but the idea never came into being. Starbound isn't going to feature any sort of Terraria world, or any of the Terraria mobs or anything because those belong to the company that developed them, not to the team doing Starbound. the story for Starbound starts with your planet being destroyed, but that will be a unique world in an infinite universe, literally, the generation system for planets HAS no limit.
     
  16. Madmarlon

    Madmarlon Pangalactic Porcupine

    Great! We shall redirect every raging Terraria fan to this page!
     
  17. Jaylar

    Jaylar Aquatic Astronaut

    Man, i'm glad someone put this out there. Every terraria fan on the forums needs to read this.
     
    Shot846 and space ranger like this.
  18. ThatDonut

    ThatDonut Orbital Explorer

    Thanks for this very good FAQ :) I am a big Terraria fan myself and I hope, that Starbound introduces many ideas that are missing in terraria, like quests :) Thanks
     
  19. NotRedigit

    NotRedigit Guest

    This really does clear up some things between Terraria, and Starbound.
    Good FAQ, and I would say that Starbound and Terraria are going to be very different things, but will both have similarities that we will all know and love.
     
  20. LadyAijou

    LadyAijou Phantasmal Quasar

    Mhm, there are elements they will share in common, but I don't think either game benefits in any way from the constant comparisons. That's why I wanted to sit down and write this up. People need to realize that both stand on their OWN merits, not either of them standing only because of the other, or FAILING because of the other. Terraria is a great game because it is Terraria. Starbound will be a great game because it is Starbound. :3
     
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