One question has burdened the galaxy's top scientists for centuries, nay, millenia: To go left or to go right. Well prepare to feel that burden lift from your pixelated shoulders, friends. I present: The Surveyor's Telescope! http://gfycat.com/FancyCapitalIcelandicsheepdog Ponder over your directional indecision no further! It uses the "Hawkeyes" status effect when the player is touching it to greatly augment the camera pan range. Very simple code, but I'm pretty proud of it. Equally as proud of the sprite. A couple problems I came across during testing are that with the increase in camera pan distance, comes an unfortunate increase in camera pan speed. Usually the camera zips to the extent of its vision pretty quick so you only get a glimpse of what is between you and what you're viewing... which I suppose makes sense; a real telescope only lets you focus on your subject and less of whats in between. This also raises the problem of load times. At least on my prehistoric laptop the camera pans faster than unexplored terrain can generate. It catches up with the camera eventually but before it does you're left staring at a sheer cliff (with a spectacular view of the background). And the final flaw I've noticed is sometimes the battle music will play if you're looking at hostile creatures. I can only assume it's because staring at such hideous monstrosities fills you with hatred and bloodlust. Downloadable at your nearest internet soon! Just needs a little bit more tinkering and tweeking.
Shameless bump to announce that telescopes are now being shipped galaxy-wide! Grab yours here: http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?resources/the-surveyors-telescope.683/
