Great Engine. Skeptical about Flavor

I've been seeing a lot of back and forth between two camps in the suggestion threads. Basically:
1) I want a fantasy game IN SPACE. With pickaxes and swords and a standard fantasy ore progression and Diablo-style loot and boss monsters. Sometimes with werewolves, vampires, and magic.
2) I want a harder sci-fi game with standard sci-fi tropes - plasma guns, laser drills, energy shielding. (This is what I want, and I don't see it going there)

NOTE: Hard sci-fi is this: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness. Right now, we're at like... 0, and I want to see us around a 3.

It's pretty obvious to me that no matter what game Starbound ends up being, someone's going to be disappointed. But... that' not to say that it's the end of the world. The team has built a really nice game engine, and after looking at some preliminary modding, it looks very moddable. The entire item system is way open, even including projectiles and effects. The dungeon generation seems to be moddable too. Maybe most importantly - this is a 2D sprite game. There are a lot more people who can create good art content in this format than in a high def 3D game.

Just hoping that the final game stays as moddable, and incorporates the framework from the hard sci-fi suggestions so that someone can mod them in.

 

Why not both? I read this book called "Ready Player One". It takes place in the future where life pretty much sucks and most people spend time in a game. This game has places in space that have either magic or technology and even both. World of warcraft has steampunky sci-fi stuff along with magic and they make it work. So again, why don't they add both? Terraria has rocket boots, laser guns, phase sabers and magic.

 

I'd really like to see starbound with more sci-fi elements.

 

I really don't want pickaxes at all in this game, that's what Terraria is for... -.- I was disappointed when I saw pick axes ... STARbound.. .-.

 

I agree that certain materials make bad choices for armor and weapons.

I understand we have to start somewhere. But I see no reason why we can't have (depending on race) some basic tools to begin with for resource gathering they would of course be slightly different?

I mean we start with pickaxes and eventually get drills (perhaps too late?)
We have all these strong metals that a re not used for pickaxes/drills which could be used.

I see the matter manipulator more of a tool for building and not one for destroying things.

 

Both sounds nice. After all, I'm sure some planets would have basic, earthbound civilizations with basic tech while others would have sprawling sci-fi metropolises.

 

"We have to start somewhere"
Has matter manipulator
Has space ship

I don't see why the matter manipulator can't just be upgraded.
Having a bunch of tools for separate actions whores my hotbar, and makes me feel primitive.

 

In Risk of Rain, the Miner still uses Pickaxes...

So far we've only seen the first half of the progression.

I expect the second half to be much heavier on the technology.

 

I don't think I've seen anyone asking for fantasy. There are people that think you should start with nothing and build up, but that is an entirely different thing.

 

when you are lobbying for a gold pickaxe to be anything but a mining trophy, you are asking for fantasy.

 

So many of the current game elements are fantasy, so people who want to keep the status quo pretty much fall into that camp. That includes using melee weapons throughout the game, unless there's a good justification for them not being eclipsed by even the simplest firearms.

 

I think the game caters to both crowds no problem. People can play as a low tech race like Floran or Glitch, and have a fantasy type experience by avoiding the higher tech gameplay elements.

The people who want the more sci-fi stuff, gotta remember that the earlier tiers of stuff are more fleshed out than the higher tiers. Which is where we'll be seeing all the flashy equipment. So that content just isn't ready yet.

 

Ok, you're making zero sense with your choice of the 1 and 2 "styles".

I love, love DIablo 2 randomization, and I love difficulty. Where are you coming up with the separation of difficulty and NOT Diablo 2 randomization? You have a clear absence of "player style" in your explaination. You say you want a harder game... but with.... what? There is no detail. Diablo 2 is infinitely more difficult than a sandbox game, so I have no idea where you are coming from.

 

A low-tech start is perfectly justified in the lore. Every player character is basically a fugitive of some kind or is otherwise not well-prepared for their journey. We don't start with a space ship and a matter manipulator because we have the capacity to build these things, it's because we bought or stole them. So the first thing we have to do is start with low-tech tools to build up to high-tech stuff.

The only thing I don't agree with is using soft metals like silver and gold for tools and armour.

Tons of science fiction settings use melee weapons to a bigger or lesser degree with more or less justification. Lightsabres in Star Wars, Klingons using Bat'leths in Star Trek, Warhammer 40k with its myriad versions of melee weapons, Dune has melee combat - and those are just the ones a casual reader of science fiction like me knows. I'm sure there's more out there.

Writers don't always need a justification. Look up the Rule of Cool.

 

Not harder game. Harder sci-fi. Hard sci-fi means more science, less handwaving.

 

To be fair, I took a scifi class, and the prof described both Star Wars and Star Trek as fantasy IN SPAACE.
All of those have good justifications for existing though. Lightsabers can deflect blaster fire. Bat'leths are the weapon of a warrior race - so not effective so much as cultural. W40k vibroswords etc. are appropriate because the marines can back it up with super-strength, but even then they are niche weapons with most combat just using bolter fire. Dune has its slo-mo shields that prevent the use of firearms.

Look, if we want to have the Glitch use swords and crossbows, I'd totally understand that. It's like the Wookie boltcaster, and the Klingon bat'leth. And medieval robots using vibroswords does hit the rule of cool. Not so much the rest though.

 

I have to agree with the party that says it is both. You're a member of an advanced civilization who, for one reason or another, has to set out on your own and try to survive without all the amenities you've grown to take for granted. You've got very little besides your ship and your Matter Manipulator which is about as useful as a swiss army knife would be in a survival scenario. It's a jack of all trades, master of none device that nevertheless grants you the ability to gather resources to make better tools and better weapons. You're not going to go from making a spear to a laser weapon overnight.

Furthermore the Hylotl, Florans, Avians, and Glitch all look to have cultural reasons as to why many or most of them might use melee weapons. The Apex and Humans I'm not sure about, but most of the melee weapons their NPCs use look to be fairly high tech.

And anyone who thinks the game should lean even further in any direction can of course turn to mods like you suggested.

 

Starbound is a bit Dr. Who/Buck Rogers if anything. It's rooted in that goofy 70s/early 80s style Sci Fi, the type with hammy bearded villains and silly robot sidekicks.

 

Comrade trope user, you're forgetting one important factor: Rule of cool. That is all!