I may just be speaking from feelings here, but – to be brutally honest – this seems a bit hypocritical. Why? Mechs. Mechs and everything surrounding them feel "tacked on" to me more than anything. Mechs exist solely to explore all the random instances you can find in space, yet those random instances also exist solely to give mechs a purpose. There is nothing I can find on planets to affect my mech experience. There is nothing I can find in space to affect my planet experience. Once I worked my way up the mech tiers and unlocked all of the parts, finally able to build my dream mech . . . . . . I had no reason to use it for anything. Even if bounty hunting in the state that you had it felt detached from the rest of the game, I can guarantee that its level of detachment was nothing compared to that of mechs. Perhaps, if you could share with the community the state that bounty hunting is in and why you feel that it is so tacked on, we could discuss ways to improve it?
Pretty sure you're confusing cause and effect here. They realized the bounty hunter update was at risk of feeling tacked on as a result of feedback regarding the mech update feeling tacked on.
At the wrong time, In the wrong order, while they where already busy with something else they where suppose to give us. instead of waiting until after they where don with that. They had already started on the first update long before they said they where gonna port it to xbox. Why mechs?! what kinda question is that? 'Daddy why did i get a tame T rex best friend as my birthday gift?' Mechs are one of the best parts they have added to the game it gives us something to do when we don't feel like exploring planets. its not forced on you, you don't have to use them if you don't like it. And The mechs are very usefull on planets too, to get around with before you unlock any of the techs (as long as there are no buildings in the way or mountains in the way. we should have gotta a climbing function on the mechs. but a single platform can solve that)
Mechs feel tacked on precisely because they're too awkward to use on planets: Planets have no threats against them, Mechs cannot be recharged there, and Mechs have far worse mobility than a player on foot (Specially as buildings and mountains are common for the most part). In general, it's often more trouble than it's worth to bring them to planets. It doesn't help that most of the Space Encounter rewards don't provide items that aren't related to Mech progression, apart from a few weapons.
The fact that one entire aspect of mech progression is not actually usable for anything doesn't help either. No mech dungeons of any kind anywhere, and no other reason to use your mechs planetside either. Plus, the fact that there are no randomly generated mech parts kind of makes mech parts lack the Starbound feel, which furthers the disconnect.
For all the people who complain about Mechs and that they feel "tacked on", they are forgetting one big thing: Mechs were seemingly a modder's sandbox, like the rest of the game. Yes, the Mech content seemed bare-bones, and that's because it was meant to be a foundation for modders to build off of, and some modders very much did exactly that. It was also a requested feature, time and time again. They had mechs in the original game but they were meh compared to the actual mechs we have now. And people were like "where's my mechs?!" Well here's the mechs. Maybe they had trouble tying them into the rest of the game, but that didn't stop modders from adding cool things into those mech areas in space. And besides, Starbound is a game that's lacking content, that's lacking things to do already. Are you seriously going to complain about more content just because it "feels tacked on"? And how exactly would you tie Mechs into character progression when character progression is already laughable? Fly to new tier of planet, mine up a bit of ore, make new armor, kill newest boss, rinse repeat 4 more times and your character is now top-tier with the best armor. Maybe do some farming to look for a legendary weapon if you want. There is no character progression in Starbound; it's very bare-bones. If we added new progression through the mech system, then you'd either be skipping the whole 'mine ore for new gear' phase of the rest of the game, or you'd add new stuff that'd make your characters overpowered. Frackin'Universe fixed this in two ways: 1). They added more content that DOES affect mech and mech combat; there are areas where you can find ore and items, and other neat tidbits that helps you progress, 2). They added more progression (that whole science lab, more weapons/armor thing), 3). They made bosses harder so that you actually care about getting better gear, 4). They added more mechs and more mech equipment for you to go find the blueprints for. Suddenly, mechs feel like a part of the game that you very much want to do along with your other activities. You find mech parts in non-mech combat sometimes, and you find ore and character items while doing mech content. It works. The bounty system could have been similar. I feel that Sayter could have made it work, like he did the mechs.
I shouldn't have said ''genius'' in a sarcastic way sorry for that to who ever it was. i just got a bit angry after all. but my point still stands
I think we're all frustrated (at least those of us who are loyal PC users). Some of us (myself included) spent a lot of time and energy defending Chucklefish against the naysayers, and for them to do this... well it is frustrating and I don't think that our frustrations are all that unfounded really. But yes, people are only human, we get frustrated, we throw our jabs when we're frustrated. Any sensible person should be able to realize this. In the end, though I guess the console people will get their Starbound, but... at least know that they can't come crying to us when they inevitably can't do mods though I know some of them Will complain that there's "not enough content" in the game. But hey, it's what they asked for...... I don't know how many of you are active over at Terraria's forums, but they got a rule over there, that posting ANYTHING about modding Console Terraria is forbidden because they had to actually enter into a contract with the console companies that they will NOT allow anything like that on their official forums whatsoever.
At least I learned a lot while waiting for the update 1.4, excited, doing my translation, 210 images edited pixel by pixel for the change of language, thousands of translated sentences, I can say that now I'm good at designing something in the pixel art style thanks to the weeks that I dedicated, that I understand much better how to manage the game code to do many things, edit, add, replace ... At least it has not been a total loss of time this wait, for my part I have no hope that it will get something interesting in the future, the port will come to console, they will take some update with irrelevant, aesthetic "details" and little more . I hope I'm wrong and someone tells me: "you're a loudmouth" xD but at the moment zero expect to see something interesting already, even with everything, the game gives for many hours of fun, but it would have been nice to see something new
I still hope Starbound eventually gets a minimap. Specially since consoles are less likely to rely on mods that could do that, and mods that do that tend to do it in disappointing ways. Maps are really a very important feature a game like this needs to have in vanilla.
That Could have been something we put on or in our ship so we use it as a satellite to monitor movement and surroundings but you would have to upgrade it to follow you underground.
Again, just adding the mechs themselves was like adding an extra foot or two onto the sandbox for modders to play around with. Starbound, like I keep reminding people, is designed to be a "framework game". It's a game, that's got some nice premise to it, it's got just enough content that you can call it a full game, but yet it leans very heavily towards modding. It's a framework that you can build on, to create your own experience. Install whatever mod(s) you like. The mech update added APIs and assets and the entire Mech system, which allowed some mods (again, Frackin'Universe) to expand upon the framework that's there. And as you mention planet-side mech combat, yeah, FU improved that too. But FU couldn't have done that if CF hadn't added the whole mech content to begin with. And that's why I am disappointed in them scrapping the bounty system. Yeah, okay, it might feel "tacked on", but I know people like Sayter could turn that around, use the APIs and stuff that were added and make something awesome out of it. And yanno, if it is "tacked on" and you don't like it... then don't do it which is my same response to anybody whining about the Mech update. Don't like Mechs and Mech Content? Don't *bleep*ing do it then. Nobody is forcing you to hop into your mech and nobody would force you to do Bounty Hunting. Meanwhile, the rest of us who would have been perfectly happy to do so, could have been enjoying said content if it weren't for the people whining about the Mech Update. So yeah, I'm just as irritated with the whiners as I am frustrated with CF's decision to scrap a large part of 1.4. EDIT: And I am of the opinion that CF could get a little thicker skin too: They need to realize that sometimes you just have to ignore the whining and do what you want with your game. Yeah, people whined about the Mech Update being "Tacked on", but you know what? It was just whining. Whining they should have ignored. I mean, be open to listen to feedback, but there's a line between feedback and senseless whining about stuff. "It feels tacked on" is not valid feedback, because you could just as easily choose not to do the content if you don't like it. Something like "I wish mechs worked better on planets" sounds more like valid feedback that could have been addressed, but... again, it probably got drowned out in the whining.
let CF do what they want. ultimately, it's their game, and they're people just like the rest of us (i hope). they're doing what they think is best, and in the end, we'll probably be rewarded for our patience
This is what happens when you listen too much to the masses, which does not end well, to me the mechs and all their content I love them, I am aware that planets are not so useful, but with an improved mech to the maximum you can be a long time on land, and there is no enemy to step on you xD Everything that the game has I love, everything adds up to have more content, that a person feels that it does not go well with the game is "your personal opinion", it is not a general opinion, CF pays too much attention to people, it is never good, a group of people can be coherent, a mass of very large people becomes ... let's leave it there xD I was really looking forward to this update, the user above me says "let them do what they want", but I have paid for a product, they can do what they want to a certain extent, I do not have to pay for the broken dishes of others, now I do not I have what I was supposed to have, a decent update xD
Mechs do feel tacked on. But there’s a way to reverse that - A bigger threat that gives a purpose to having them in the first place. Your mere mortal character needs to suit up to match a bigger universal (or galactical threat), which could be tied in to the story as an expansion, alongside Bounty Hunting. Mechs could be upgraded and customised to counter difficult and challenging scenarios, boss fights, heavily armed and defended criminals and outlaws, environmental trap hazards set up by them (Poison gas fields, electrical deathrooms, explosive minefields etc). Ramp up the story as bigger threats in the Bounty system all tie together with a force in the galaxy/universe with bigger plans to conquer, enslave, destroy. Demigod or giants or even a cyborg or mechanical god race who care little for fleshy beings - like the mass effect reapers. Maybe with bounty hunting, enterprising criminals popped up to loot and profit off the new bad guys invasion, and just follow those beings path of chaos as they enslave and/or conquer the galaxy/universe. Maybe also with the Bounty hunting, you could capture and enlist the criminals as an army (if you wish) to wage war against the villains. Mechs would be a good use too. Let us customise them like your random furniture- so you can have the look of a galactic cop, an outlaw, a particular gang, or the look YOU as a player wants, all in a special mech workshop you unlock from defeating a particular outlaw gang. You find the workshop in their base, and then can make plans for creating your own. Cosmetic applications as well as practical ones such as weapons and other add ons. May vary based on outlaw groups visually. Think how ‘middle earth shadow of war’ has its Uruk gangs in a visually notable sense, maybe Starbound can do something that, narrative driven gangs have visually identifiable themes, outside of the endlessly random gen outlaws and criminals. Introduce a notable bad guy that looks cool and we can eventually recruit him/her as our crew if we wish. Every decent story driven rpg let’s us do this. Maybe s/he can be useful in teaching us how to enlist others and gain influence to turn the tide, so S/he’s more than just a useless NPC. Or be the good cop, and just imprison him/her and make him/her say funny things for the rest of his/her life. ***Maybe have 3-5 characters like this*** ^ Offer opportunities like that, so we can have more than just ‘tacked on’ features.. Also, instead of being a Galactic bounty hunting cop, maybe go Rogue? Let the player decide. It is space after all, anything goes in sci fi. Be an outlaw/criminal. What a twist.. well, this is a sandbox after all. That’s what SB is about and why people are disappointed that they aren’t getting their sandbox, but I’m not advocating for divisive people here.. In the narrative, the outlaws of the bounty hunting game system are parasites to the bigger problem, that looming threat wreaking havoc around the galaxy/universe. Bounty hunting will help unravel the story, and pick up on clues to help find out where to start looking, because the crims know, they follow and loot. Eventually you’ll merge into the narrative of it, and as you pick off bounties, you cross paths with the race in the process. Script that encounter on a world like the new beginning of the game. The issue is, CF, is that you are having trouble with the concept because you aren’t providing a compellling narrative to support it, that should be your first port of calling when you decide on content. Speak to us if you need ideas!! Here’s how any content should work, in a checklist: *Big bad - check *Supporting mini bosses - check *Compelling narrative to make us care to arm up and hunt them down - check *Why they’re a threat, and how it affects you - check *New gameplay loop - check *Improving shallow content to work into the gameplay loop and narrative - check No offense, just constructive criticism from an artist. There are so many ways to go with this. It just needs a bit of inspiration from, wait for it, the community! Feel free to keep ALL of those ideas as your own, Chucklefish, as a trade off for my disappointment. Make use of them legally as your own. You don’t need to try and be original with it, make it yours. Hell, I’d help you for free under contract if you wanted. We’ve all been there when we are burnt out and the essence of passion gets lost, hell I’ve been there as a producer of music and movies, but sometimes outside inspiration and nudges can help. There’s a future outside of your closed SB story narrative, if you are financially finding it hard to want to develop it, then what about putting it (with more features) into an expansion. If that’s not the issue, as noted, we’re here to help. Maybe a good initiative to get the community back on your side is to involve them have a say in the development of it in some way. You started out that way with Kickstarter, perhaps reignite the old spark again on this game and let the community decide things that fit into the 1.4 scope, or submit and do competitions to include some modders and community ideas. Just my two cents. P.S Good to see the Xbox One version is going ahead. P.P.S I hope it can be designed to let mods work with it in the same way that Bethesda did. That’d be a huge community win.
