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14/4 AMA - New Game Info [Updated]

Discussion in 'Starbound Discussion' started by Bacon, Apr 14, 2013.

  1. I'm adding the more Starbound Related Questions and what They answered to them. Only Non-Know Info. Post If I Missed Something.

    • Will there be planets with multiple biomes? Will we be able to dig down into the cores of planets? Can planets be wiped of all life?
    Tiy Reply: The engine handles planets of multiple biomes and we actually used to have multiple biomes enabled. In the end we decided to give each an individual biome so the planet had more of an identity (think jungle/desert planets in starwars). To make up for that we added sub-biomes. An example of a sub biome would be an oasis in the desert. You can indeed dig down into the core. Planets can't be wiped of all life at the moment as monsters continue to spawn, but enough people are asking for it that we might have to work something out that enables that post release.

    • HOT! Can you clarify whether or not everything that's shown on the roadmap progress bars will need to be at 100% before beta? Also, can you comment on if there will be any easy way to tell that a section of the roadmap has been updated without us dissecting each screen every time?
    Tiy Reply: Not everything has to be at 100%, I guess 100% would mean completely bug free and I think it's ok for beta to have some non game breaking bugs. I think I'm going to add an update log to the roadmap, or find some other way of indicating which markers have changed since the visitors last visit.

    • What's your favorite feature going into Starbound?
    Tiy Reply: The game is full of features, but actually my fav part of the game is probably the atmosphere. Torches crackle, kyren did an absolutely beautiful job on the lighting, the wind howls, trees sway, the environment feels very alive and it's very enjoyable just to spend time in the world.

    • When do you anticipate the beta going live, first, second, third or fourth quarter? Will there be mining?
    Tiy Reply: There is indeed very in depth mining, each planet is built of multiple layers compromised of different materials. There are a whole bunch of different tools to mine with. Many different ores and materials to find.I don't want to promise a quarter right now, just because it'd be my head if I turn out to be wrong.

    • Question about hunger. I know it's optional, but how is it going to work? Is it going to eventually damage you if you don't eat, or will it heal you over time (like minecraft). If the second one, will there be food that heals you?
    Tiy Reply: When you get too hungry you starve and die, simple as that. There is food that heals you too though.

    • What's the plan for the Starbound Modding API? Will it be available at beta? At release? After release? How extensive will it be? Will it be powerful enough to support coordinated mods in the vein of something like IndustrialCraft or BuildCraft?
    Tiy Reply: The API will be available post release, but some forms of modding might be possible from beta, adding content will be possible and very easy. New guns, npcs, armors, objects and so on are extremely easy to add to the engine as it's all data driven. Exactly what you'll be able to do with the API is hard for us to say at this point, but the plan is to make it extensive.

    • I think you really should make some kind of let's play or trailer for Starbound soon?
    Tiy Reply: We're working on it :)

    • The beta, will it be single player only?
    Tiy Reply: No :) all the multiplayer components will be there

    • Considering just how diverse everything is with unique planets, monsters, etc. How will more "unified" elements, like fuel, be handled ? Can you make the same fuel from different ressources ?
    Tiy Reply: A lot of planets share some of the same basic materials, coal can be used as a fuel for instance. The major unified element is the games currency. The idea is that 3d printing technology has advanced so far that '3d printer fuel' has become a Universal currency. The currency is called pixels and it can be used for trading and crafting.

    • HOT! When Are you guys planning to release preorder also from steam?
    Tiy Reply: We're hoping we can bring the beta straight to steam, probably without a preorder.

    • How has server management and reliability improved (comparing to Terraria), and/or how do you plan on improving them?
    Tiy Reply: Kyren did an amazing job on our server architecture, I'm in the UK and our sound/dungeon guy Stephen is in Australia. We regularly play together with no issues like that at all. I'm very happy with the netplay. We spent forever tweaking it.

    • HOT! When I host a server, is it hosting a galaxy? Can I have maybe 20 people that would rarely run into each other, or would it be very limited on the number of planets?
    Tiy Reply: You would be hosting a Universe, and it's totally plausible that 20 people could play on the same server and never see each other once. Of course there are features that allow you to find each other if you want to.

    • HOT! How re-playable do you think/want/hope the game is going to be?
    Tiy Reply: Replayability is a huge goal for us. There is a ton of game content that fosters ongoing play. Generated quests, level 100 planets that are never going to be easy, regardless of your equipment. An optional DayZ style end game where players make the rules. A huge number of items to unlock, monsters to catch, tech to find, There's a huge amount to do.

    • HOT! Will there be space combat? Like boarding and starfighters maybe?
    Tiy Reply: We'd like to do a kind of multiplayer FTL style combat system post release. With each player manning different systems on the ship, putting out fires, fighting boarding invaders, etc. I've got it all mapped out in my head. We just need to finish the game first :p

    • Will monster capturing and taming still be in the game?
    Tiy Reply: Yes.

    • How does Starbound handle progression?
    Tiy Reply: There are various lines of item and equipment progression, there is exploration progression as you unlock additional sectors of the Universe. Crafting progression, quests, and more. By release there will be a mission system too.

    • Will certain races have certain pros/cons?
    Tiy Reply: Different races will have different crafting options in the early game and those crafting options will give them unique abilities.

    • How many Unique item effects do you intend on placing on weapons and such?
    Tiy Reply: I've been intending to show off a video soon of some of the crazy things guns do. There's a whole lot :)

    • HOT! What happens when you first start playing Starbound? Where do you start, what are the first things you should/have to do?
    Tiy Reply: You start out with some backstory and end up stranded above a pretty peaceful planet. Your first task is to learn some basic survival, then it's getting your ship running again :)

    • HOT! How long will pre-orders go for?
    Tiy Reply: They'll be going all the way up until we launch the beta.

    • Is there going to be bows(weapons) in the game?
    Tiy Reply: Yes.

    • Will starbound boss fights be sorta like megaman, with the needing to dodge things while fighting ?
    Tiy Reply: That's the idea, we're actually designing "boss rooms" so we can make the fights very structured.

    • How will world rendering happen in Starbound?
    Tiy Reply: Worlds are rendered in chunks. :) (it wont RAM all the world in a client/server)

    • Will the Novakids emit a glow in-game because they're made of plasma?
    Tiy Reply: They'll emit a feint glow, they won't light up a cave however.

    • Will the planets be cyclic or will they have left/right borders?
    Tiy Reply: You can indeed run all the way around a planet and end up in the same place. Size wise the engine is capable of infinite planets in every direction, but we have a bunch of set sizes to match the size the planet appears in space.

    • Will there be Grappling hooks?
    Tiy Reply: Grappling hooks seem like a must, we'd like to do something a bit different with them though.

    • How in depth are the boats in the game?
    Tiy Reply: The boat will mostly be a way to cover the water in ocean biomes, because mashing space for long periods of time can be a little annoying. Post release it'd be fun to add fishing, and it'd be great if you could do that from the boat.

    • Will PVP be only Sandbox or Arenas?
    Tiy Reply: Sandbox PVP support will be in at release/beta, but we'll be adding tight gamemodes post release.

    • How will you find guns? Will it be easy to find new guns, or will it be a rare happening?
    Tiy Reply: We'll keep them rare enough that they're still special. But not incredibly rare. You'll find them in dungeons, villages and chests. You'll be able to buy them and craft some of them.

    • Are all planets going to have environments with life? Any dead planets? What about Terraforming?
    Tiy Reply: We will have some dead planets Terraforming is a much requested feature, we're going to look into it as a post release update.

    • What will be at the bottom of each planet? Lava? Hell? Bedrock?
    kyrenn Reply: Lava, and a special core biome.

    • Terraria had this problem that you could pirate it and still play online no problem, no drawbacks really. How did you solve that in Starbound?
    bartwe Reply: Server owners (if they want to, it is optional) require players to have a valid account. A valid account protects against impersonation and allows for robust whilelisting and banning. It is a lot like minecraft in that regard, except that we are a bit more robust against auth server downtime.

    • Can we essentially walk in a full circle and go back to your starting point? There isn't Left/Right Borders?
    kyrenn Reply: You can indeed walk in a full circle!

    • Will research/unlocking higher level items and gear be based on the server or the individual player?
    Tiy Reply: We've kind of adapted the research system and it's become part of the crafting system. So each player progresses solo.

    • Will there be any re-customization available after you create your character?
    Tiy Reply: I'd like to add the ability to change your characters appearance on being cloned (respawned) for an in game fee (isn't it sad that I had to write "in game" there).

    • How high can you build, will there be skyworlds with treasures again?
    Tiy Reply: You can build a long way upwards, until you reach space.

    • Will BETA be under DNA? (can't share content)
    DEV Reply: No, you are free to share, stream, print, etc.. in BETA.

    • HOT! Will I need to use a wiki to play this game?
    DemanRisu Reply: Hopefully not. I definitely feel that it's going to be very user-friendly compared to, say, Minecraft - there will be a tutorial and a main questline, and the crafting menu tells you what you need to make things.

    • How much of that backstory will we be able to uncover, and how?
    DemanRisu Reply: I'm writing a whole buttload of books - I'm expecting the whole Lore Document to be 80-100k words long when I'm done - and there will also be dialogue, logs, little one-liners from interactive items in the environment... lore nerds will be very happy with this game.

    • How in-depth are you planning for quests to be?
    Tiy Reply: There are going to be a ton of side quests that aren't at all related to the main story. These quests will be somewhat procedurally generated and unlimited in number.

    • How "populated" with "stuff" are the underground areas of the planets?
    Tiy Reply: They're full of ores, plant life, monsters, 'smashables', liquids, stuff we haven't revealed yet :)


     
    Téra, Gellelao, Aeon and 158 others like this.
  2. Leokins

    Leokins Subatomic Cosmonaut

  3. TheKillerNacho

    TheKillerNacho Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Good information, about what I would expect.
     
  4. Tetrisash

    Tetrisash Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Oh, there's starvation?! I love that!!! :coffee:
     
  5. UBERDOMINATOR

    UBERDOMINATOR Orbital Explorer

  6. gaminji

    gaminji Void-Bound Voyager

    Exciting! I'm really glad that Chucklefish still isn't saying anything about a release date or a beta date; it adds to the whole suspense of it all and gives us a nice surprise when they do say something about it other than "no"!
     
  7. ZamShadow

    ZamShadow Aquatic Astronaut

    Are there going to be other optional things like hunger that can be turned on individually to customize the difficulty for players? Or is it going to be an all or nothing thing with a "realism" mode and then the base game underneath that?
     
  8. KEEP F5 THE TOPIC. More Info Every Minute!

     
  9. gaminji

    gaminji Void-Bound Voyager

    Thanks for keeping us informed! I'll be sure to keep an eye on this thread.
     
  10. Active Link

    Active Link Master Astronaut

    There is also a warmth mechanic that can be individually toggled on or off. If there are any others they can probably also be chosen individually.
     
  11. TOPIC UPDATED
     
  12. gaminji

    gaminji Void-Bound Voyager

    Hooray! Well, now we know that we'll be able to goof around with our friends when we first get our hands on the game.
     
  13. Leokins

    Leokins Subatomic Cosmonaut

    And here's the best one.
     
  14. MaceToTheEyes

    MaceToTheEyes Astral Cartographer

  15. HyperActive

    HyperActive Star Wrangler

    I like what i see. Starvation will add a very cool mechanic to the game. I wonder if we will be able to have farms to grow food and stuff. it would be a little disappointing if the only way to get food was to have it dropped by mobs
     
  16. TOPIC UPDATED

     
  17. Zidonuke

    Zidonuke Pangalactic Porcupine

  18. gaminji

    gaminji Void-Bound Voyager

    That's pretty interesting, it looks like they're giving us some really good information on the game with this AMA.
     
  19. Topic Updated
     
  20. TheLoanArranger

    TheLoanArranger Ketchup Robot

    There's a bit on the roadmap about growing crops.
     

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