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The slowly dying sandbox

Discussion in 'Starbound Discussion' started by LilyV3, Jul 28, 2016.

  1. LilyV3

    LilyV3 Master Astronaut

    I kinda feel sad.

    There was once a SB which had complete randomnes and loads of dirt colors to built, fully customized mobs with customized attacks and totally mixed customized trees.

    Annyoing was to figure out which planets have meteorites as this was major problem with crafting inside the sandbox.
    So we were asking for some weather radar.

    When we got that, we also got a heavy reduction of planetary possibilities in the mix, and weather started to be biome bound. as well as sizes being now restricted to some planets. So someone took a part of our sandbox away. In fact the volcanic planets due to their meteors or cinder are unbuildable to most parts and materials, unless you like constantly repairing your stuff. Further randomised backgrounds don't exist anymore too.

    anyone remembering these beautiful ones?

    [​IMG]

    Now ontop of this they seem to have put that portal thing on EVERY lush planet and it cannot be removed. -.-
    barren planets are the only ones atm that can be used for proper building as they are basically empty, but their background is just the most boring one can find in a game.

    right now I feel like sitting in a sandbox plastered with signs saying:

    Do not build here!
    Don't use that shovel there!
    Don't touch this elemet!

    Now thanks to having holiday and your surprise reelase after 4 days, I am again at the point where making a settlement is the one thing left, and on the search for a nice lush planet, but its massively lacking what the game once was. Once there was said:

    "12.667 quadrillion planets in the game currently. 422.22 quadrillion planets expected for release"
    now I feel already fed up with the probably 100 ones I have seen and "explored" .

    Seriously? This is the game you RELEASED. YOU killed so MANY of the random content its procedurally generated monotony now.

    That really wants to make me shed some tears as this is not the game Starbounds deserve to be nor it's players to have.


    Give this game weather randomness back
    Give planets size randomness back
    Give the game tree randomess back
    Give the game full background randomenss back
    Give all threats for all planets back, I think within this quadrillions of possible planets we surely have the space for this.
    Give this game more biome randomess back (why should there not a bit of a volcanic part on a lush planet?
    Heavily reduce the undeground biome frequency. finding them should be a reward for exploring yet they are literally everywhere and repeat WAY too often.
    Give monsterparts their unique attacks back.


    please please please make starbound great again, because that should not require mods to be, that should be the vanilla and it did had this in the past.




    Edit: Also please give us a namespace of at least 32 characters (if thats somehwat bound to bit count) because a Sandbox that people use for RPG purposes too, needs a proper namelength so that people can name their characters with a proper lengthy name which often includes titels and professions. And 16 is hardly sufficient for this.
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2019
  2. Odai

    Odai Void-Bound Voyager

    Everything is true. Once you upgraded you EPP to max you have seen all planets and what there is to explore and the "im bored from exploring" feeling kicks in after 10-20 planets which is a shame, because i remember pre 1.0 i had endless fun exploring all the stuff there was.

    Apart from that, so much content got cut (or changed so it doesnt make sense anymore) from the game and i dont really understand why. The game feels like a casual Terraria with some ideas that that rolled of the Table and got forgotten. :/
     
  3. Darkspinesupersonic8

    Darkspinesupersonic8 Pangalactic Porcupine

    This. all of this.

    Not to mention that we should not have to rely on mods to fix what shouldn't be broken in the first place. Mods can be used to ENHANCE the game experience, people shouldn't have to go after them to /fix/ an experience that is broken and dull because it was made that way.

    I really can't say anything else much than I agree with this entire post.
     
  4. Falx

    Falx Void-Bound Voyager

    Starbound on EA launch was better in many ways than the 1.0 release, all of above, the hotbar, the artificially quest gated content etc. All take away from the game I put 400 hours into and planend a lot more.
     
  5. Momopovich

    Momopovich Pangalactic Porcupine

    Meh, the main reason i never started to build something big on starbound was the fact the universe was likely to be erased in the incoming beta version. I would be slightly upset if the universe wiped again few weeks after the release.

    I have always seen people complaining about exploration being monotonous at some point, I personally think that its a very limited aspect no matter how randomized the universe is.

    Having played a bunch of hours the last 6 days i am a bit concerned about what's coming next in the updates. Definitely not going to build until i know the fate of the universe. It would obviously be nice to have more variety, but i would not be particulary happy to sacrifice a well advanced build for that.
     
  6. Sean Mirrsen

    Sean Mirrsen Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    In the past, when new things were added to the universe rather than changed in such a way that stuff broke, all that happened was that you'd need to travel outside of the space you've explored to start finding the new content. I'd imagine that major fundamental changes are not likely to happen soon - but content could still be added.

    A very cynical part of me suspects that that's the reason why so much content and features have been "cut" from the game at release. Because as we all know, Chucklefish is evil. They've obviously developed lots of interesting content and features during the pre-release phase, and intentionally removed them for the first major public unveiling, just so that they can wow all the new players with the rate of updates and addition of new content, and screw the old guard. The equivalent of taking a bigger loan than you actually need, so that you could use the excess money to make the first few monthly back-payments, when you know you otherwise have no way of making ends meet in that time.

    The above is only mostly in jest. I don't honestly think that anything of the kind is indeed going on, but... I honestly wouldn't be surprised at this point.
     
  7. LilyV3

    LilyV3 Master Astronaut


    thats my concern too, if SB would have back what it was before it wouln't require any wipes, but with limited and "small" it feels now I cannot see how the game is going to be a big success and that would basiclly mean a lot new features have to come in and with this possibly a Universe wipe again. The realease came too early and the game feels too unfinished.
     
  8. Momopovich

    Momopovich Pangalactic Porcupine

    I hate to keep an old map when the game version changes. It is generally impossible to prevent things from being broken. This is my minecraft experience, but i imagine starbound universes are quite sensitive too.

    I bought starbound during alpha, came back few times. Some things went away but a lot has been added and the game feels less "technically broken" than it was imo.

    But sure, it would be great to add content and fix issues. This is a bit obvious tbh.
    --- Post updated ---
    Well, a reason of the game not being played could be those constant wipes and a never ending beta, don't you think ? That is the reason I did not play as much as i could.
     
    Flake13 likes this.
  9. Darkspinesupersonic8

    Darkspinesupersonic8 Pangalactic Porcupine

    They need to bring back what they 'cut out' to make the game whole again... a lot of content was removed that had no reason to be...
     
    Sylxeria, Flake13, The MechE and 2 others like this.
  10. LilyV3

    LilyV3 Master Astronaut

    yes and the less finished the game feels like the less intention people gonna have to built stuff again. The game currently is missing more than ever before and I don't belief in this "release" being somehwat finished because if, then player numbers will surely drop, at this point terraria sadly does the sandbox thing a LOT better. While SB had the entire potential and was in some time of it's development far ahead of Terrarias sandbox.

    stable giraffe dragged in like 40k players on steam the release like 62k peak. So you can guess a lot of these are old ones now checking the release. I do curently expect the game to have a similar drop in 3 month. as it has with said giraffe release. Then the possible christmas sales may bump it up again. But all in all the game lost a lot of it's true endlessness it had and a lot of the sandbox. And thats what worries me most, it coold to be a huge sandbox but when there is not that much to do within it, it makes people soon go to the other games again doing it better.

    CF fiddled around too much with armor tiers and stuff, then removed some and reintroduced them then removed some again.
    Same with fuel. That were all rather unnecessary changes that costed just a lot of time and also money and have not imporved any of the gameplay at all.
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2016
    Flake13 and Pingeh like this.
  11. Momopovich

    Momopovich Pangalactic Porcupine

    What makes people want to build the most is seeing other people doing creative stuff. You can google anything and find minecraft builds representing what you typed. If more people were building bases, designing farms and machines and sharing it more people would be likely to do the same. On youtube i found only one channel with a guy regulary posting videos about afk pixel farms and that sort of things in starbound. The game still has the same creative and technical potential, even if it lost some planet backgrounds. Problem is, players have to be creative here, devs can't do a lot. And a lot of creative people who would accept things like a lack of planet background diversity would not be ok with having to reset their map every 4 months.
     
  12. LilyV3

    LilyV3 Master Astronaut

    its not just some planet backgrounds, its weatherconditins hundreds of treecombinations and laods of dirt colors simply being gone. And with the old version trees were put in background too so even hundrets of backgrounds were erased that way. Thast not even close to the "same creative technical potential" wanted a cool apex lab with a metal tree having brains hanging at it? seriously a cool setup, now just gone. Creativity needs a diversity of tools and they simply took a lot away and thats sad. And the background is a major part as it is one of the always visible things in a game unless you build compeltely underground.
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2016
  13. Aurakiel

    Aurakiel Space Spelunker

    I wrote a review ages ago about the game and made a point of talking about the different variations of dirt alone. I completed the primary questline the other day, so it was time to start building and I went on a hunt for green dirt and that's when it hit me...I only had 'dirt' in my stores. One color. For a minute, I was bummed because I remembered the boxes of different colored dirt I used to keep in my cargo hold...then I thought to myself, "I can just paint the dirt. This isn't a huge deal and it's actually going to save me from having to sort so many different colors when I had this paint tool the entire time I rarely ever used."

    I love that fact that I can craft most of the blocks I'd used to have to hunt days to find. That wasn't an option before and I really really really don't like using /admin commands to summon things and I'm a purist so I do not use mods. I've enjoyed the new biome variants and I don't feel exploration has lacked because of the new changes...if anything it's made it more exciting. I have been to planets with little to nothing on them & I've been to planets that seem to be bursting at the seams with activity. Planets still have weather effects like they did before and I love that you can see what ores will be on the planet right along with the weather type before you even beam to the surface.

    The npc interaction has been really fun and immersive and I feel like I'm more involved in the 'new' Starbound Universe. For the first couple days though, I was mourning the things that were removed or had changed but I kept playing and you know what? Those things really weren't as important or 'deal breaking' as I thought they were because at the end of the day I still love this game & I can see why changes were made even if I don't agree with them.
     
  14. Momopovich

    Momopovich Pangalactic Porcupine

    There is still a diversity of tools even if some of those you were used to disappeared. Trees with brains are cool but not having them anymore does not erase the game's creative potential. There are also new things. I don't remember having the hylotl dungeons materials when i played on the beta for example. I think it is a better option to really explore what you can do in the game before thinking you have seen it all which is far from true.
    Of course there are issues like the dirt color that need to be fixed but you can definitely do a lot of things on the current universe, things that have not been done before.

    I am currently removing a ton of blocks trying to get a good spawnrate in a future possible mob pixel farm, because from what ive seen going in the sky doesnt work anymore (no mobs spawn there). I am possibly the first person to do that in starbound while a ton of persons try this kind of designs every day on minecraft.
     
  15. LilyV3

    LilyV3 Master Astronaut

    when is that "before" because weather is surely nto as before, the initial weather ystem was entirely random, now it's biome fixed and I think only meteors on volcanics cna be an off/on choice by generation. the rest is fixed to biome.

    yes NPC stuff was amajor improvement, as well as now all materials beeing craftable (but seriously why this didn't existed much earleir is a myth on it's own as this isn't a hard to do thing at all). But these are the only mjor imporvements that SB has gotten at all since then.
    --- Post updated ---
    going to the sky still works and mobs spawn there (so much towards exploring and knowing what I have seen so far - just ebcaue oyu haven't seen them). And there is not much new to be done that wasn't there to be done like half a yera ago, or even further in the past so no sry you may not even have explored as much as we did in the past. they added a lot minor decorational stuff but nothing mods didn't already.

    "mob pixel farms" are old as hell even in SB. you are not the first one they are just not worth to be mentioned in SB as money is hardly of much use in large quantities
     
  16. Aurakiel

    Aurakiel Space Spelunker

    I wouldn't say it was entirely random. As a matter of fact I never had destructive weather types in 'gentle' (and if you want to go back as far as quadrants we can) systems but maybe RNGesus always smiled upon me. You could always look (at least for a long time now) at the planet information and see what weather would be on the planets. It was usually never a surprise unless you failed to pay attention to what the information display said.
     
  17. Momopovich

    Momopovich Pangalactic Porcupine

    I did not see a grounded pixel farm in starbound on the internet, that's why i saied that. I went in the sky and made a big platform, had 0 spawns. It may be related to the biome or planet. I will try in different places.

    There is always room to find better designs on old concepts.

    trees with brain are "minor decorational stuff" as well.
     
  18. muxaun

    muxaun Subatomic Cosmonaut

    I would rather have my progress wiped out if that is the price for good and interesting content.

    Otherwise the game will not exist for me as I don't find it entertaining enough to spend time on.

    Yeah, I've spent only like 30 hours on it and got bored, and I believe the majority of customers were disapponted even faster (according to steam achievments only 1 out of 9 people who acquired matter manipulator actually attracted an npc)
     
  19. LilyV3

    LilyV3 Master Astronaut

    then you have not played the game much then, gentle planets could have these effects and you could even get meteor bombed like a boss. The problem was meteors even if existing in the weather of a planet were rare to happen and many poeple had problems when after 2 days of playing and building they suddenly striked and ruined evertyhing and they had to move to another planet. Thats why people wanted a weather radar to see what the generator put in there. Now the weather radar is actaully rather obsolete as well as the threat indicator as they are both bound to biome.

    because first, no one needs them, and second mobs and their spawns are only done with the player in the area, thats why you cannot make a proper farm aside from being forced to be afk in that area (which won't work anymore if you play the survival mode due to hunger). They work at specific spots where mobs spawn well, and are so simple to make that no one needs any special construction. third just turrets is what you need, not much more. Fourth even with a buggy spawn area where too many mob spawn the outcome/time ratio is low. pixel generators are by game mechanics unecssary and ineffiecient thats why there is nearly no interest in them.

    trees with brains may be minor, but fully generated random trees are not a minor anymore.
     
  20. Momopovich

    Momopovich Pangalactic Porcupine

    1) You can buy everything with pixels in starbound, to build big things with a lot of ressources using pixels would be the fastest way to gather what you need.
    2) You can avoid hunger staying in a bed, tho you can't move anymore. I already made a fully afk farm using po golems (pixels don't despawn in the little lava trap, i believe the pixel entity keeps being updated each time fresh pixels come.) I will see if i can get non despawning pixels like that using natural spawn platforms.
    3) Mobs used to be able to spawn even with lava on them, which was a way better way to kill them than turrets. I need to see if that still works.
    4) with my small setup with 3 po golems i made 250000 pixels in a full night+ part of the day of afking. This is slow but interesting enough. I used to have WAY faster farms using natural spawn platform.

    trees are still decorating things, even a bunch of them.

    I know you are just going to contradict me and unfortunately you don't really have much to say about pixel farms, so i think its a better idea let it go and end the conversation.
     

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