Sci-Fi VS Fantasy: Which direction do YOU want to see the game take?

Eh, I'm fine with science fantasy. Maybe a little more science/explanation than now, but all in good time I guess.

Besides, how did that quote go? "Any technology of a sufficiently advanced level is indistinguishable from magic."

 

This is pure space opera. What did you expect?

 

Ive always wanted a good inter-planatary fantasy game, but this one wont be that, at least not without mods, either lots of small ones or a few really big ones.
Anyways, Science Fantasy w/ science emphasis. Some zombie/dragon stuff is cool, but it should stick to science mainly. Like Jonesy or whoever said, something like Psionic powers would be nice.
But no matter the path it takes, mods will change it.

 

Science Fiction.

If I wanted to play a Fantasy game where I go around building things and fighting bosses in a 2D plane I'd play Terraria. I'm playing Starbound because I want a SCIENCE FICTION game.

 

Couple people have brought that up, but that isn't really a factor here. The difference is that one violates the laws of science (i.e., creating energy by thinking about it) and one doesn't (harnessing energy via chemical reactions, etc). Whether or not we can understand the science behind it, the question is whether or not it's presented to us as some form of high-tech device, or as magic.


*not to be confused with illusionism, which is RL 'magic'.

 

Having heard that there wouldn't be any magic elements in the game I was first a bit disappointed, because I'm more of a magic-person than a sci-fi person.

However, during the encounters with the likes of Po, butterfly tech, legendary bone dragons and bubble swords, I honestly feel they don't quite belong here. They are fun designs indeed, but horribly misplaced in all these sci-fi settings. Scientifically explainable or not, they just look wrong. Maybe they would be a bit more acceptable if the devs hadn't clearly stated there wouldn't be magic-like elements in the game, or had blended them in more smoothly (think Starwars).

 

Ooh, I wasn't aware of that! Any chance you could dig up a link to that statement?

 

Even the best magic systems in books are actually scientific in nature (at least loosely). They adhere to laws of science regarding their particular world. Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, the Wheel of Time series...both epic fantasy with magic based around the science of the world. So I guess technically it'd be hard to distinguish between "magic", technology, or innate abilities of various races throughout the galaxies of Starbound.

But they have the Medieval themed Glitch, so I'm happy.

 

I like the game the way it is. If they want to add odd and unexplained fantasy stuff like dragons and demons, meh. I won't scream. But if i could decide what to do, i'd say go sc-fi all the way. And when i say sci-fi, i don't just mean replace fantasy items with sci-fi items
, like cyborgs instead of zombies, robo dragons instead of bone dragons and flamethrowers but no fireballs. No, I'd like the gameplay itself to be more scientific than just casual.

I'll just make some examples now:

Right now when you minre ores, you will automatically get 1 ore item and 1 terrain block item when you mine 1 block that has ore on it. If i wanted to make the mining gameplay itself more scientific i would do it like this:

When you mine a mineral rich spot which has ore on it, they have different density values. To simplify that we could limit that to 3 different values: poor, good and excellent. If you dig out poor ore, it will give you 0.5 ingots per smelted block. good is 1 ingot per block, and excellent 2. At the first and lowest tier, we can smelt our iron and copper in our simple stone furnaces we already have. we put the ore in it and then only when the smelting is complete the ingot/ore is separated from the terrain block. To make mining feel even more sciency, you can add items like a mineral scanner. It illuminates ore deposits underground so you know where to dig. (like that treasure hunting potion in terraria ). Maybe later you can replace the old scanner with an advanced model, where you can specifically decide which metal to scan for.

You could make it so that desert planets mostly have low density coal spots, but more good and excellent platinum spots. and if you want luck with excellent coal spots they could be more common on jungle worlds. the planetary scanning device could also give hints/readings for that. I think things like that would make the game feel much more sciencey than removing bone dragons and po's.

 

That gentle *plink* you just heard was the term "casual" losing what little meaning it had left.

Anyway, some people seem to be after a hard sci-fi game, but I wouldn't push that far myself (mainly because it's all too easy to make hard sci-fi settings as dry and dull as a poorly-written geography textbook. I'm looking at you, Last and First Men. How did you manage to make the story of genetically engineered humans with brains so big they had to be supported by specially built towers boring? But I digress). The prevailing consensus for "sci-fantasy, heavy on der science" works for me.

 

In the end, this is much more a question of how the game lore presents itself, as opposed to what's actually in the game.

Clarke's Third Law states:

And Niven's Law ammends with

I'd prefer to see Starbound leaning to the Sci-Fi side of things, but this just means structuring the fantastic elements in a rational setting. Even a bone dragon would fit, provided it was sufficiently explained on scientific (or pseudo-scientific) terms.

 

It was so long ago. I couldn't find the original source, although I'm pretty sure Tiy himself said that.

I put 'no magic in Starbound' and several threads regarding the topic showed up. You can try reading them.


Maybe 'no magic-like elements' I used in the previous post is not the right phrase, more like plain 'no magic', which is pretty different I suppose.

 

Went Science Fiction.

I actually probably fall more between that and Science Fantasy, with Emphasis on Science. The thing is, I don't want the force. I don't want sci wizards, or psionics, or the emperor of mankind. I just want a blaster and a steady hand. I don't think everything needs to be explained outright. I don't feel like we need to know about tachyon pulses or warp bubbles or anything like that. It can be Soft Sci-Fi. Soft as hell. Star Wars soft, really. Just no magic, psychic powers.

I'd prefer to avoid those altogether.

 

I'm fine with the way things are. The devs have their vision of what they want the game to be, and I'm trusting that the result is something I can have hours of fun with within the universe (with its unique rules and quirks) I'm ultimately given. There are other games elsewhere that can cater to either extreme if I want to, so my opinion is that they should be left to make what they want. I certainly don't want games being made by first having polls as to what gamers want their theme and other universe elements to be; as long as things make sense within the physics and lore of the world I'm given, I can excuse almost everything.

 

A bit more fantasy because sci-fi usually isn't hard enough for my taste.
You can explain anything with magic, while you can only explain real things with (real) science.

 

Magic is just science we don't understand yet. I think a sense of mysticism is integral to the pursuit of science. So Science-Fantasy with an emphasis on awesome.

 

Therefore, vote for fantasy

 

Whimsical sci-fi/science fantasy. as it is now. I don't mind the seussical environments, the weird critters, like the poo monsters, and the slightly-wacky races.

I've got enough options out there for more serious sci-fi tales. Star Trek, Star Wars, Mass Effect, etc. I kinda like the idea of a sci-fi universe that's just a little silly without diving headlong into insanity.

 

In it's current state... which is beta, and prone to change.

 

Give me a space opera. Give me sci-fi. Give me awesome tech (that can be similar to magic).