Game has huge potential - but am I the only one who feels I am wasting my time?

He wants alien planets. That's an 's', making the word 'planet' plural.

There's only one unusual/strange/alien planet. We should have more than tentacle planets. We could have entire planets owned by specific races, planets made of technology or metal, planets filled with volatile gases (but not gas giants), planets made of a single biome. I wanna see a huge jungle filled with wonderful planets and plenty of life. I want to see a terraformed moon owned by the Apex. I want to see a planet which is hollow on the inside, or a planet with extreme gravity. Something like that.

Even if they don't really make sense, they'd be cool. The cool factor is important, isn't it?

 

- yup!

I've heard of talk of a hell planet, a candy planet etc - but these concepts are very naff. I want something UNUSUAL, y'know, like ALIEN???

NOT some theme we all instantly recognise!

 

You want alien? We got alien...bacon!

Anyway, what things could help make planets feel different to you? Currently, there are some different types of planets (Asteroids, Moons, Regular) where the Regular planets have different environments (Lava, Grass, Snow, etc). Are the differences between Regular planets not very exciting? If so, how would a Candy Planet change that?

I don't mean to discourage you, I agree that the planets feel very similar right now, but I can't quite figure out what would be enough to make them feel different.

 

Did you see Suika Ibuki's Eye Planet suggestion? There's also Ghostar's Neko Planet idea. Those are two examples. The base idea is simple, but they are quite unique and interesting in the end. There are other ideas too.

 

Wasting time? Nahh.

This is beta. Literally. Reason to be here is to give feedback, criticism and suggestions. Reporting bugs and discussing about gameplay features, etc. I hardly see how that is waste of time. Pointing out flaws is useful too, but not as productive as also suggesting how to fix that problem. It may get to the point (and has been sometimes) where you are just presenting your problem and demanding the devs to fix it, even if it's only your subjective view. Devs have the responsibility of course, but they can never please all of the people all of the time. Saying that some of the game's features are inadequate, such as quests, while they're working on them is not productive.

I do agree with the OP about the planets, quests and npcs, mostly. Concerning the planets, why not make the difference with terrain generator, weather and day cycle rather than objects. High mountains, water falls, flying islands (Like in the Avatar movie), "swiss cheese" -biome, world entirely made of dungeons, ringworlds, planets stuck in dusk or night forever...

 

The regular planets (Lava, Grass, Snow, etc) are a good start, but are very safe in terms of imagination and experience. I was expecting that the further out I traveled - the less and less I would recognise.

The solution to the problem of planet variation isn't to have novelty planets and themes like candy lands etc.

But rather to create worlds that are truly alien and behave in ways we wouldn't intuitively expect (again the opposite of novelty themes). This of course is a very difficult task - but would satisfy many I believe.

How about planets made up entirely of liquid? Or planets where the ground is constantly shifting? Planets where you are a giant or extremely small? Planets where you can fly through pockets of gas and there is no ground?

Planets that are ABSTRACT and CHALLENGE our ideas of the norm.

These are hardly great suggestions - but the point is that the planets need to play entirely different, as well as appearing different.

 

In game books in Starbound. Starbound has great lore but it's hidden.

 

I case you didnt google it yet, OP = Original Poster...Ummm..Its a term commonly used in Reddit and Imgur, and 4Chan... great places haha.

On Topic: I just hope the next update is big, cause we've been waiting for long now! Thats my only complain...

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/starbound/comments/1sfbyj/starbound_planets_could_be_far_more_unique_heres/

 

I'll admit that I've stopped playing, but that's mainly because of the future planet wipe and my ship is already too cramped to save everything I've done.

What's wrong with gas giants? Make it composed of floating islands kept aloft by hydrogen/helium filled gas "trees," (and if you chop them, they lift into the sky instead of falling) and where you really, really don't want to fall.

Bonus points if you include a friendly native race that refer to you as "fluid sack" and accidentally programmed their peaceful first-contact probes to harvest you for raw materials.

 

For Sci-Fi I would imagine a floating structure on the gas planet. Islands and helium trees not so much.

Also what would they refer the Glitch as?

Also this is StarBOUND we need more Sci-Fi desperately.

 

We already have FTL in the game. Naturally occurring floating islands in a gas giant are no more fantastic than that, and have the benefit of at least being physically possible.

 

@Ol' Grey Face No double/triple posting please. You can hit the "reply" button to multiple people in a single post. Also, there is a handy edit button in case your forgot something.

 

FTL has the benefit of being possible unlike gas islands with gas trees.

I would say and no offense but being able to essentially land on a gas planet is the dumbest idea I ever heard. It's impossible. Even in SB it would be strange.

 

Actually, it is physically impossible for FTL to exist. You cannot go faster than light itself (without rewriting a few physics books. Which probably happened is this game's setting).

And is it really that much more impossible for life to have evolved in a gas? For there to be lighter than air lifeforms that eventually evolved into balloon-like plantoids, and then to sky-island supporting trees as the local gases condensed into... well, ground might be pushing it, but something.

 

Yup the game is shallow, and the variety in it need variety...
I'd like more interactive npcs, different monster behaviours and attacks and not justs reskins, and I'd like lemons too c:
What are some of your suggestions for more varied "alien planets"?

 

When I think about the abundant variety that this game initially boasted in regards to content, I sometimes go back to my time spent playing Skyrim. It is a great game, but ultimately led me to be somewhat bored with the seemingly endless "stuff" which most were pointless or "things to do" which, unfortunately, seemed repetitive after a bit. Really only committing to the main plot of the story is all that was needed for general satisfaction. All the extras were nice at first, but became very much unnecessary in some regards. I won't go into too much detail about this, instead just link this for anyone else curious about this idea to peruse.

I'm not looking to cause an argument or derail the thread, but it's just something I always think of when I think of the potential of how large starbound can be, how much dissatisfaction some have come to regard it in it's current state, and how difficult it can truly be to establish a solid balance in gameplay (in all things, really) to ultimately satisfy everyone.

I am still firmly holding on to the fact that a very well-written story/lore can really make or break a game like this. It can add meaning and soul to something if it is borne out of sincerity and passion. That's just my 2cents on this topic.

 

Um, no. It requires an infinite amount of energy to get to the speed of light, so FTL is flat out. We have math to prove it.

Gas islands, however, are simply a matter of buoyancy, and we've created them on Earth so many times that instances are unimpressive; we call them blimps.

I would say that you have been fortunate to have never heard of any dumb ideas before if that's the dumbest you can think of. Also, it's not impossible to land on a gas giant, as they eventually form a liquid surface. You just need to build something that can survive the pressure. It's a tremendous engineering problem, but unlike FTL the whole of physics doesn't cry out in agony if you suggest it.

But I'm not even saying we go that far. These gas islands wouldn't exist in the crushing depths of the planet. Instead, they could exist where the pressure is, say, 10 atmospheres. That's the equivalent of being under 300 feet of water. To handle that, you'd just need something in line with technical diving equipment.

 

I think you bring up a good point, one which I've been thinking about but couldn't really find the right words to describe.

Starbound right now has a lot of stuff, meaning vanity items, weapons, monsters, planets, etc. But part of the problem is that a lot of stuff doesn't make a game great or memorable, it is simply untapped potential right now. I do believe that CF will find ways to add good quality to their good quantity of stuff, but it isn't there right now. I don't think this is a bad or horrible thing, because it's Stage 1 of the beta, but I think that they will need at least some "core" gameplay elements added or improved before the end of Stage 2.

They've got plenty of time to add the stuff that's worth playing for, and I'm optimistic that they'll add enough of it to make the released game good, but I'm going to be selfish and hope that they add enough of it to make the released game great, even though I feel I've already got enough entertainment for the $15 price tag.

 

No, not really.
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