Wait, Starbound on Ouya?

No idea I think maybe it can but its really weak because they did not use any of their extra money to improve it.

 

Hello everybody,

I have returned to this forum now that the beta seems to be coming along nicely because I felt the need to put the OUYA version back on the agenda. While I'm aware that, of course, that is far out of the range of things I can actually do, I thought I'd still chime in to make it a little more likely.

The OUYA got a lot of bad press. Some of it, it deserved (laggy controllers, I'm looking at you), others seemed a little harsh (did any Kickstarter hardware ever make it on time? I didn't think so). More importantly, the overwhelming majority of these points have been addressed, and the OUYA has turned into a nice little machine that people use for emulation, movies, and of course games. The UI has received an overhaul that was needed and pays off, and you now can save more than 8GB of games because USB storage finally works.
We have some great games on the system - Towerfall needs to be named, but Clark or Zombie Driver HD were really impressive, too, we have Ittle Dew, Hero of Many or small pearls like Munch Face or Boost 2 (admittedly phone ports, but they work great on the big screen).
Ouya, Inc. managed to get a deal with Target stores in the US, and has been made available in many european countries the last weeks (in Germany, where I'm from, units were quickly sold out). The hate in forums and on facebook is getting less, and deservedly so. Sure, it can't compete with next gen consoles, but then, it never wanted to. It's a system that has wide open arms for devs, it empowers the publication of games that otherwise wouldn't be published at all or not for a console audience. Also, it makes android something not only to develop phone/ tablet games for, but something that can serve a whole living room: Big screen and many people at the same time.

Starbound would be great on the OUYA. There are lot of users who love pixel art, and the community would embrace the title readily. Also, local multiplayer couldn't be nicer than with everyone on the couch in front of a big screen. Personally, I said goodbye to gaming on a computer, which I use for work with all that entails (slow graphics card and it's on my work desk), so games that don't see console light usually pass me by. I'd hate that in case of Starbound.

I ask everyone who was (understandably) skeptical to reevaulate the little unconsole in it's newly found glory. For 99 USD, you get a really impressive box for games and media. And I honestly hope the OUYA version of Starbound will come out sometime!

Kind regards,

Jan

 

I'm going to be completely honest here. I don't even think the OUYA could run Starbound. And you have the fact that Starbound is coming to the PS3 (4?) and Vita and I have no idea about Microsoft.

Also OUYA lost Towerfall as a exclusive and released on steam with a expansion.

Now for what I think.

The OUYA while good at what it does is not a viable platform for a indie to launch on. The buy rate (For games on the system) is abysmal and its specs are pretty bad. The amount of money you could make on the OUYA is very low that I don't think Chucklefish will profit and will instead lose money from the time they spent tailoring it for the OUYA. If Starbound did come out for the OUYA I would estimate three or four years after release maybe even more. Overall OUYA is a bad system to launch on and it would make more sense to not launch on it at all or a couple years after the Sony launch.

 

I agree that the userbase is small until now, which of course presents a catch 22: Why would any dev bring their game to a system with few users, and then why would users come to a system with few games. Of course, every new console (or other comparable item) faces that problem. But still, youre right, that is an economic factor.

Regarding Towerfall: I read the story differently. I don't see how the OUYA lost it, it's more like Towerfall, by being on Ouya, won the great prize, gained respect and acclaim and is now making its way, demonstrating how much sense it can make for a game to come out on OUYA. The steam release is still for the OUYA, by the way, and the expansion will be coming as a free update to OUYA users. Nothing lost, there (and the exclusive deal was made out for 6 months from the get go, I believe).
Of course, Starbound presents a different case, it's already having all that acclaim. It doesnt need a cozy platform to launch from . Chucklefish will definitely make more money on the PS3/4 (didn't know that it would be released there, by the way, thanks for the heads up). But depending on the export capabilities of their development environment, it might still be easy.

Wether it can run it... I have no idea about the needed specs, but the OUYA runs 3D games like Zombie Driver HD and videos in 1080p without problems, I don't see Starbound being problematic. Probably depends on stuff like memory handling and UI and number of sprites. No idea, really. But if the Vita can handle Starbound, I don't see how the OUYA could run into problems.

I'm just here to state that there is an interest for it, and to shine some current light on the OUYA.

 

The thing is though the Vita has more power than the OUYA many OUYAs even.

Anyways I hope you don't get the message that I don't want Starbound on the OUYA I just don't think it will be right to release it so soon on the OUYA. OUYA is launches new varients of the system that is more powerful each year so it would be smart to wait till they can run games without a hitch.

Once Chucklefish is comfortable and time has passed then they should maybe develop for the OUYA.

 

In numbers, that is partly correct.
Vita: 2GHz processor, GPU with 1000 MHz, 512 MB RAM
Ouya: 1.6GHz processor, GPU with 512 MHz, 1GB RAM
The OUYA doesn't need to bother with heat, though, since it's cooled. I'm told that makes a difference in actual power.

I think we can't settle it, really, since none of us knows wether Starbound would run on the Ouya. I can't imagine it doesn't, I've played games that looked way more powerhungry.

And I hope your guess about the business strategy isn't coming true I want to explore the universe!

 

Ouya's dead. Can't say I didn't see it coming.

 

I personally can't see them doing support for Ouya until full release, since it could split the team otherwise. And who knows if Oyua will even be a thing anymore by then. Seriously the only games I've heard about being worthwhile on Ouya are Towerfall and Amazing Frog? (Blame game grumps for the latter)

 

I can't deny that towerfall was a great game on the Ouya. Even more fun than "No brakes parking valet" (when the controllers weren't bugging).

 

Thanks for the info Bartwe, I was surprised to read the OP's link since I have an Ouya

 

Tiy on Twitter:

To clarify: Every Ouya is a dev kit. There was confusion at the startof this thread, but if you have an Ouya, you can develop. That was one of its selling points for devs.


I don't understand why Bartwe doesn't have it... Maybe Tiy does?
Anyway, I totally see how other versions will not be a priority until after launch on the biggies (split teams, need to make money fast after all the dev time, need maximum exposure to gain momentum...). You're right it won't (and shouldn't) happen soonish.

But the Ouya isn't dead, sir. Actually, the last few weeks it really started off for the first time. Have you seen the white edition coming out for christmas? It's beautiful and a very smart move.