Ideal Starbound: The Greatest Game Ever

Now, when I first saw Starbound, my mind went into a frenzy of thought, and these are the core ideas of what I'm suggesting

-Procedurally generated everything ; creating a few things for each part of a whole and then allowing them to be procedurally generated so as to give millions of combinations of Planets, Monsters, NPCs, Weapons, Armors, Mounts, etc.

Thread with Details: http://community.playstarbound.com/...erated-monster-combination-permutations.2774/

-Extensive creature-capturing; I'm talking bona-fida flipping Pokemon here. Pokemon was amazing because of the variety of Pokemon; now take that variety, put in Procedural generation, and you could have up to a BILLION different creatures to tame and fight against your friends.

Thread with Details: http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/orbital-colosseum.1398/

-Mod Support like no other; with procedural generation, if some-body wants to create a new weapon, for example, they can simply enter an OFFICIAL Starbound-Mod-Thingy, where they could enter the sprite, the stats, the parts used to make it, the stats and sprites of those parts, and voila! You have a new weapon! The same could be done with creatures, etc. and this would also allow planet-generation-tools, such as infinite planet generator, or planet-level-editor!

(doesn't really need a thread)

-Legitimate planet-like terrain generation; layers such as high-up, surface, jungles, volcanoes, deserts, plains, swamps, seas, oceans, caves, deep caves, the underworld, etc. that in combination with procedural generation, would always give an amazing and unique exploration experience!

Post by Fishbertus w/details: "Great idea, I already kindof said this in a thread where someone asked how they would make procedurally generated backgrounds, so I told them say there were 5 different layers, each with 4 variations.

Layer 1 (In the front): Large Plains, Large Forest, Large Plains with Lake, Large Forest with Lake
Layer 2 (Behind 1): Medium Plains, Medium Forest, Medium Plains with River, Medium Forest with River
Layer 3 (Behind 1 and 2): Small Plains, Small Forest, Small Hilly Plains, Small Hilly Forest
Layer 4 (Behind 1-3): Medium Mountains, Medium Mountains with some Trees, Medium Mountains with many Trees, Medium Tree covered Mountains
Layer 5 (Behind 1-4): Small Mountains, Small Mountains with some Trees, Small Snowy Mountains, Small Snowy Mountains with some Trees

This already makes it possible for 4x4x4x4x4 combinations, which is more than ONE THOUSAND combinations for a great looking forest planet background, and the engine can randomely color the trees (maybe light saturated green, light unsaturated green, dark unsaturated, dark saturated,) and if there's 64 different colors (it's not that hard for the devs to pick some random colors) for rocks and 64 different colors for plants (grass/trees) that is now more than FOUR MILLION possible combinations for a forest planet background, with only 20 (22 with the color ones) sprites. And THAT is how powerful a procedural generating engine is. If the devs only have to make 22 sprites per planet type, and the only make these types (swamp, forest, coniferous forest, desert, rocky, mountains, ice, snowy forest, tentacle, candy, tundra, jungle) which is only 264 sprites, not too hard for a team of 3 (is it 4?) spriters to make within say a week, and then there are this many possible combinations for a planet's background:

OVER FIFTY MILLION!

The devs would only have to make that amount of sprites OR LESS for each weapon type, block type etc.. and then the game would be able to have TRILLIONS of possible ways to play.
Amazing, right?"

-Spore-Style tribes/civilizations and species; each planet, depending on its climate and terrain, automatically uses the results of the terrain procedural generation to determine species that could inhabit the world, and then plant them. If left alone, these species will multiply and eventually form into tribes, which can lead attacks against you, and then civilizations, which can develop into massive threats! However, you can also make peace with these species in the same way that you would tame a creature, allowing for extremely immersive gameplay

Details: In le workus.

-Different 'levels' of interaction; first you have the down-to-planet level, where you are actually interacting with the planet yourself, then in the space between two planets where interspace warfare could occur between you and other civilizations, then solar-system civilization building, then galactical combat, and finally a universal scale. This would allow you to mold an empire like no other, and basically turn Starbound into everything that Spore could have been and wasn't.

Details: In le workus.

-Realistic physics; enemies already destroy dirt, but take it to a whole new level with civilizations and allow for catapults, launch mechanisms, and complicated gravity mechanics! If different planets have different levels of gravity, the physics could adjust as well!!!

http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/physics.2449/

Also a post by Klok on Variable Gravity/Friction:

"I hope gravity varies per planet, along with the size of the sun sprite in the background. For example, a small sun sprite indicates the sun is far away, leading to low gravity. A huge sun sprite means high gravity. And maybe no sun at all indicates zero gravity, so the smallest jump will launch you a mile and a half.

Now only that, but variable friction would be intriguing. Imagine some planets having air so thick that you instantly come to a stop when you let off the button, and it takes a second or two to build up momentum to move at regular speed. Also, your falls might be slowed because of this, making some falls harmless.

Combine the two, and moving about on a gravityless and frictionless planet is deadly without getting something to anchor yourself to the ground, ie: grappling hook."​

-Genetics; capture monsters, then breed them in your mad-scientist-esque lab via procedural generation, and voila! Suddenly, instead of a billion different slightly different monsters, you get a trillion unique monsters!

http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/dna-mixer.465/

-Absolute multiplayer; essentially since there are going to be quests, raids, clans, etc. could be OFFICIALLY possible, not just an in-forum thing

(doesn't need much description)

-Interaction system; essentially a friendship meter, allowing you to see what relations you have with creatures and NPCs alike

http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/family-sistem.412/

-Legitimate Technology; I'm talking you can build space stations, satellites, unique machinery, and even invent things!

(in le works)

-Adaptation and Evolution; This is also a bit like genetics; other species evolve with their environment, and so do you! (this idea does clash with the spore-style 'choosing' species that could feasibly live on a planet with a climate, but this works in the next suggestion

http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/evolution.1537/

-You are God; at a certain point, or with a certain item, you can create a planet from the ground up! You can mold the very planet itself (maybe in detail, or maybe just the general shape), send species to the planet, and watch the evolution process occur! Or simply use it as an incredible map-generator! (even if this is not implemented, I have faith that somebody will mod it)

Now, I won't bother going into specifics, because I know that the developers will undoubtedly think of a way to implement these things better than I, but if all of these things were implemented mechanic-wise...Wow. Simply wow. It would be like combining From Dust, Minecraft, Terraria, Skyrim, and Spore into one amazing-everything-amazing-everything-holllllly-awesome.

Le Bump? Working on Legit Tech.

 

You have some legit ideas working here.

 

Sounds like a 2D, even more expansive, Borderlands.

 

Thanks. This is essentially modeled on the game that I've been hashing out in my brain for the past...god knows how long, which was essentially designed to be the most immersive and expansive game ever, one that would never get boring or you could 'complete'. @KamikazeDuck: Compliment? o.o

Bumpu?

 

One thing that really has me excited about Starbound is definitely the gravity mechanics. If catapults are indeed possible, like, I would make the greatest traps. I ache for PVP with legitimate "More than just a pit" traps, because terraria lacks so much in the pvp department it's just ridiculous. Even King Arthurs Gold has better traps, and it's actually pretty simple in that regard, though it does admittedly focus on PVP and less on single player.

Also... bumping a thread that hasn't even been ignored for a full day... xD

 

I know, I saw 'planets' and went 'HELL YES, MAKING A LEGIT CATAPULT' and I think having procedurally generated gravity would also be...a possible idea. I mean, I 'kinda' like the idea but it would eventually just get inconvenient.

 

I hope gravity varies per planet, along with the size of the sun sprite in the background. For example, a small sun sprite indicates the sun is far away, leading to low gravity. A huge sun sprite means high gravity. And maybe no sun at all indicates zero gravity, so the smallest jump will launch you a mile and a half.

Now only that, but variable friction would be intriguing. Imagine some planets having air so thick that you instantly come to a stop when you let off the button, and it takes a second or two to build up momentum to move at regular speed. Also, your falls might be slowed because of this, making some falls harmless.

Combine the two, and moving about on a gravityless and frictionless planet is deadly without getting something to anchor yourself to the ground, ie: grappling hook.

 

Hmm, I don't know. I mean, certainly it would be a fun thing to do end-game, but early-game it would just be annoying...Though, of course, you can simply go to another planet. I like.

 

You sure deserve your name, sir, thinking about catapulting a PLANET!!!

Seriously now, i guess each point that TheDeviant started, and don't have yet a thread will need... so, let me give it the first kick in discussion:

• Mod Support: a MUST have, except that it kind of mess with some other things.
  
  Let's suppose that in my game, i have a mod that adds ALL Pokemon to the universe, and i have a Squirtle as a pet. The mod adds behaviors and attacks that the vanilla doesn't, so what happen when i take this character to a multi-player vanilla server? My Squirtle becomes something else? Can't enter in it? The informations regarding the Squirtle are temporarily added to that server?
  
  Also, quests between players. If i have a mod that adds more types of terrains to the game(commonly seen in Minecraft) and my friend doesn't, that potentially creates different planets with the same coordinates. So, if i have a quest about getting X material in planet (123, 321) and pass it to my friend in his game, maybe he will NEVER do it, since the X material in his game IS NOT IN THE PLANET.
  
  
• Spore-Style tribes/civilizations and species: why i never reached galatic mode in Spore...
  
  How we would talk with different civilizations members? Plain english? Necessity of a translator? The Sims language? Also, the species could, when found, stored for choices as a starter race for playing, similar to what Dwarf Fortress does when creating a new world, but not having everything at once.
  
  
• Different 'levels' of interaction: How the space between two planets would be playable? Top-down? Lateral 2D? Square-based field? Turn-based? Real-time?
  
  
• Absolute multiplayer: and with this you mean servers with thousands of players, or even multiple servers and battles between different universes? Considering the always commented ablility do destroy planets, and hopefully the possibility to create new ones, things will be very chaotic ^^ But in this case, some rules must be placed, as all connected servers having only certain mods usable, or even the servers has lots of mods, but only SOME ACTIVE.
  
  That would make going to other servers in the same multiverse a very exciting experience, with players being able to get stuff never findable in their home servers and experimenting with it!
  
  And sure, things as Infinite Lands of All Itens forbidden, or else good bye economy!

 

Mod Support:

The Devs mentioned toggling on and off mods in the LiveChat on servers, so this wouldn't be a problem.

Spore-Style:

Well, until the species reached 'civilization' you would be unable to communicate them; I can see a 'translator' item becoming part of your, say, helmet so that you can interact with species no matter what they are.

Different levels of Interaction:

Well, unfortunately, the developers completely debunked this in the live chat. ((

Absolute Multiplayer:

Again, developers debunked server-to-server wars. ((

 

At such times, i look to mods... and so, hope comes back. o/

 

Well, unless FULL (as in open-source) Mod support was released, the latter two would be nigh-impossible as they would actually rework the game's code in a major fashion.

 

I thought of having procedually generated everything in minecraft, but no-one listened to me in the minecraft forum. :C

These are good ideas, but some might be a bit hard to code.

 

good ideas indeed. You have my vote on those. I'm really 100 pro for freedom and expanding possibilities. The more the better.

procedural generation is a really great tool and should be used for as much stuff as possible. This really would skyrocket a game. And adding vast amounts of different mechanics and giving players as much freedom as possible could very well make this game legendary.

 

-Procedural Generation: ...easy
-Mod Support: ...easy
-Genetics: Fairly easy
-Civilizations: Go copy Spore.

???
Procedural Generation is the one I want in the most.

 

Starbound will be absolutely mind blowing awesome. About what Klok said though... Stars aren't actually the cause of a planets gravitational field, it is that mass of the planet (which would be a better indicator). Instead, a sun would determine things like lengths of year and heat intensity to an extent. Also, mod support isn't that easy, Jeb has been trying to add it for a while now. It is actually a lot of work trying to get it to work with the rest of the game.

 

Minecraft has mod support.
As in, "It is open source".

And I know that mass is the cause of a planet's gravitational field.

 

Sun distance has almost no influence on gravity on the planet... so it's dimension on the background should depend only by its size and distance of the local star from the planet.

 

It is not a very official mod support and they break very frequently especially during updates. What I was talking about is proper mod support that works without frequent crashing.

 

We already know that. >_______________<
@Alpha Squad: That's true, though whether or not Starbound is going to update..