Curious about the non-graphical star map

I think a mix of both would be nice, the graphics part wouldn't really be necessary but it would be nice to have. As long as there's a way to find different planets and maybe find a certain type of planet you may be looking for, perhaps something similar to what Bine said.

 

Part of me thinks that it will be like that, but instead of going to a menu you go back to your space station. and you dont load another map, you just select another planet. seems that with a non-graphical star map (and i dont think there is any way to pilot your ship) i cant see any other option really.

 

Yes! The menu should be like fancy pants!
http://armorgames.com/play/553/the-fancy-pants-adventure-world-2

 

Unfortunately, yeah nic329. I hope the devs at least read Eve or my post. Either one of our ideas will do a great job of keeping people focused on the game rather than breaking the flow by forcing a quit or something akin to that.

 

i agree. i dont want to have to exit out to a menu every time and would much rather have some sort of graphical map. i guess we will just have to play the waiting game i guess. lol

 

There can't be a starmap because the current coordinate system concept makes it impossible. If any player can instantly travel to any planet of any other player by punching in coordinates, that basically means that there is no such thing as distance and no such thing as travel time based on that distance. If there is no distance, then star maps are impossible to render and there is no actual space exploration. Yeah, it kinda sucks, but it's probably outside of the expertise of the devs to integrate actual space exploration into the game without increasing their workload. I think they're trying to make the best game that they can based on what they are familiar with (the Terraria structure).

I suspect there would be a way to integrate a fairly simple map if the devs were willing to shoulder the extra labor, but only if the current coordinate system was reworked. Instead of all servers and players hypothetically being in the same Universe, you could assume that each server exists in its OWN Universe. The catch, though, is that there is a dimensional shifter on your starting space station which allows players to "shift" to other player's stations in other Universes (aka, switch servers). This opens up a whole new range of possibilities. Coordinates would now represent set location in each "parallel universe" and each Universe would be procedurally generated as the players explore. Planets now have distance from one another, so the player might be limited by how far they can travel based on the "level" of their transport ship. They might need to build "refueling" stations on the surface of a planet in order to move further from their starting location. The players would now have choices as to how they would explore. Do I build my refueling base on planet A, B, or C in order to get to that exotic, distant planet that I scanned? From preliminary, deep space scans it looks like planet A is chock full of life forms, planet B is loaded with resources, and planet C is a wacky ocean world. Which one should I take a crack at in order to progress toward planet D? And once you are on planet A, B, or C, you might actually need to dig around on planet B to find the right components to assemble the fueling station. Maybe one of the planets already has a refueling station, but that refueling station is in the hands of pirates...

And a basic map shouldn't take too much extra labor. There still is still no manual ship piloting or anything to that extent--- its just point at the planet you want to go too and you go (provide you are not limited by range). You would just have one extra overarching "layer" to the game and each planet would be plugged into a specific coordinate in that layer. The algorithm for procedurally generating a Universe as the player explores should be vastly simpler than the algorithm for generating ACTUAL worlds.

Yeah, it's extra work to add a starmap, but its critical if the devs want Starbound to stand out from the minecraft/terraria crowd. Without some kind of space exploration component (as opposed to just planet exploration), Starbound is in peril of appearing gimmicky. A Meta-game in the form of a starmap will definitely do the trick. With a starmap like I mentioned, it gives the player a sense that they are (literally and figuratively) moving in a bigger direction.

 

You have seen the solar system views from Mass Effect 1 I hope? If not, a simple google can fix that! It was mostly a 'click on the planet you want to look at' ordeal. You saw a star, several planets, maybe a few moons. Maybe the devs could 'string' together planet coordinates so that they make 'solar system's? Im not sure how the code for the world seeding works or how it would have to be changed to accomodate a solar system view as my original idea for it was. "Input seed -> Solar system view -> planet." I can understand why there wouldnt be a universe view. Essentialy being infinite... Though i do enjoy the idea of 'refuling' stations. But that would hamper people who want to go to solar system (or planet) 238234890.9939230. Being as big a number as that is, that might be a difficult thing to reach.

Or the gas stations would severly hamper people wanting to go to a world a friend found. Say example, friend found planet 2781.2119 and thought it was -awsome-. Built a base and everythin cuz the planet was so cool. He gives friend B the coordinates and friend B goes there. There wont be a base or anything. It will look like it was never even touched! But if there were refuling station requirements to reach out to distant coordinates, it would make this process a wee bit more difficult if friend B was homeworlded on the above rediculously big number coordinate.

However, for the dimension thing. I do not believe that would be a good idea. My reason being is for when you move to another players server, i would personally like to keep single player items out of it. As well as other server items out of other servers. Might be a little bit of a barrier, but it would be nice for those of us that want to be a bit more open with our games, without having those of the playerbase who are at difficulty level 100 not SMASHING everything for those of us who are at difficulty 25. (Though, if you arrived -naked- apon exiting the dimensional travel thing, that would be entertaining :>)

 

Okay, I may have the wrong perception of what the devs are planning regarding going to other planets that were discovered by players. So I guess you would basically just be punching in a generation seed when punching in a coordinate. I can see where it would be nice to always be able to visit planets that other people discovered AS they were discovered. But it gets back to the fact that, if distance doesn't exist, starmaps are purely cosmetic. Sure, you could string together random planets into random solar systems, but it doesn't really mean anything. It would be like drawing a map of the United States with all of the states dangling at random, disconnected from one another and with no distance legend. I guess I'm in the school that suggests making an actual space exploration component but, of course, by doing so you would lose the ability to explore any planet of your choice at any time.

With what I have in mind, there would be a natural progression to what planets you would be exploring. You couldn't just go to the hard or super exotic stuff right away. It's kind of like how, in Terraria, you can't just go to hell or the final bosses right off the bat.

 

... In terraria you -can- go straight to hell right off the bat. Its just, your butt would be on the roast very fast .

The thing I want to avoid with the idea is just a cosmetic tool that gives you a feeling of 'looking' at something. Id like to be able to see the solar system that that planet resides in. I dont need to see the universe. I am fine and dandy with a handful of planets orbiting a star.

On the topic of 'progression'. I would like the option to jump to planet 23890038.1099928873. Scan it, see if its a difficulty 1 or 100 planet. And go there if i think i can handle it. If there were a progression, chances are that the string of planets im hopping... there have been multitudes of other people hopping along them because its an enforced path that you MUST go from near planets to reach farther planets. It would take away some of the thought of 'im the first to be here!' With the progression, that nagging feeling someone else has seen this is there.

But thats simply my personal feelings. I like the idea of hopping somewhere others havent been and i can be pretty damned sure they havent!

Edit: Spelling
Edit: Afterthought: I just imagine the whole system would be you walk up toa terminal at your shuttle and input the coordinates. The screen fades out and brings up a simple solar system map. Displays a few planets and a big orange glow in the middle. Your United States map is a -perfect- example of how this should seem. The universe is essentialy unending in this. So distance -is- irrelevant!

 

Maybe upon first entering solar system it would let you change its coordinates/seed or a specific planets coordinates/seed to that of your friend, and if it detects another user using the same seed with some sort of "share" tag on it, you would be able to download the data and join with your friend, athough I guess that method would have some overall multiplayer problems.

And if it is a non-graphical coordinate selection menu, I would atleast like for it to be for star systems and not random planets.

EDIT: Wow Bine, that was unsuspected, the aftertough is almost the same idea I had!

 

Thanks Urist. Your idea to 'download' your friends data is a nice one. But, if you were to do that why not just connect to a friends server? That way you could actualy play with them. Though if you were to jion a friends server, i still am of the opinion no singleplayer items should go with you. Just your character and his birthday suit

 

If they are going to all the trouble of procedurally generating the planets, why not just procedurally generate the galaxy so that you have the experience of exploring a different galaxy each time you start a new game, and then allow people to input custom coordinates if they want to see a cool planet that a friend found. The game could then insert that custom planet somewhere on the edge of what you have explored. This shouldn't be that complicated...but it is up to them.

 

Idk how about a choice between both?

 

Just because the seed may not specify distance, doesn't mean it can't render made up distance. It doesn't need a scale, or anything of the sort, just something that shows planets and other celestial bodies on a picture. If I tried, I could probably write the darn starmap myself...

 

the starmap gonna be like in terraria planets = worlds you click create,type in the name then the coordinates(world seed like in minecraft) or none to make it random.
The starmap was never meant to be anything graphical. I don't understand why people are so exited about it....

 

We're offering suggestions on -how- to make it graphical Darkninjx. Im pretty sure most of us understand that the current plan is 'insert random arse number to go to planet'. I would personally preffer 'insert random arse number to get a -solar system-' and from there picking one of the planets that pop up after scanning them for some minor details.