Starbound in comparison to Terraria?

Hey guys, im kind of new here and while searching for a space game, sandbox game, I found Starbound. I have to say that it is looking very promising, and as an oldschool Minecraft player (played one of the earlier versions, havent played any of the 'new' stuff) and liking Terraria quite alot aswell, I have to say Starbound is definiately looking to be one very promising game.

So I love space exploration, sandbox games are awesome, and you could say I'm a bit of a fan of Freelancer -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(video_game) - Starbound has this as a mayor 'theme'. You got your own spacecraft, even space station?, and you can land on all kinds of planets, asteroids, whatever. Now after watching some video's on youtube (yes, it's still alpha, I know) the space crafting and exploring looked very minimalistic. I did love the way your own spacecraft looks and how you can customize it and later upgrade it as well, however it looked like the big part was on planets themselves. Now apart from the, I admit, awesome lightning and shadow effects (for example used by the flashlight) the game looks just like Terraria. Building a house for example with the different layers is exactly the same, same for all the digging and what not. Considering this is the gameplay we got shown on videos I have to raise the question on how different Starbound is from Terraria?

I'm just afraid we get a slightly modified Terraria clone, that might be better then Terraria but by such a small margin that it's just not worth to wait for. Do mind this is not my 'final' view on the game, as I said I am excitingly looking forward for more news about the game and a possible "beta" release, it's just that the info on space exploration or anything apart from "world building -like in terraria-" is very scarce.

Thanks!

 

So far they have focused a ton on terrain generation, lighting, mechanics, building, painting, that kind of stuff. They're working on clever enemy AI so that each enemy you come across will be unique in their attacks. There will also be a story (which I'm quite sure Terraria was lacking) and tons of world to explore, with random dungeons and monsters and plants and materials and oh my god I'm getting excited again.

Long story short, they're only showing off the stuff they have done right now. There's still quite a bit to be added.

EDIT: Oh, also, you can catch the monsters to make them your pets, and probably be able to mutate them too. That's fun, right?

 

That does sound awesome! I also just found this specific video:

- that shows off a proper comparison and I have to say it looks a ton better then Terraria!

Just looking forward for more info about space-stuff, c'mon let me explore!

 

This might help shed some light on all of the things you might expect from Starbound. I think you'll agree it's much more than a 'slightly modified Terraria clone'.

http://community.playstarbound.com/...nnounced-game-information-updated-jan-28.450/

 

Thanks! Will read it through

 

Space exploration is mostly just a lore/flavor reason for generating worlds and ties in with the Main Quest line.
They've said that there might be space combat in future, maybe as a multiplayer version of FTL (Faster Than Light) with players having to run around the ship to man the right stations at the right time.

In gameplay Starbound is a ton about planetary exploration!
Since enemies, weapons and armor all come in a TON of flavors you'll constantly find creatures and items you haven't seen before.

In Terraria you could generate multiple worlds but they didn't differ THAT much from one another.

In Starbound one planet might be nothing but desert and an another be nothing but ocean.
"Nothing" as in the general theme.
Oasises, dungeons, hidden laboratories, villages and different enemies all can even make two Desert planets feel very different.

In Terraria all the worlds always have a grassy area, a dungeon, a corruption area, the underworld and two oceans.

 

There will be a z-axis composed of awesome.

 

Whoa, be careful what you say. If you say there's a z-axis in this game, you're implying some of the game is in 3D... that's not what you're implying... is it?

Because 3D Starbound would probably break most people's brains with the awesomeness.

 

Not at all. I'm saying that Starbound has depth where Terraria and Minecraft don't.

 

That's one of the things I'm most looking forward to. A good story is my favourite part of a game!

 

Touché, demanrisu. Touché.

 

oh, shit
prepare for impact
somebody made a thread about comparing starbound and terraria

 

It's also worth considering that Terraria characters were roughly 3 blocks tall. In Starbound, characters are about 4 blocks tall, which gives some more room for appearance, as well as it allows them to climb 1 tall blocks as if they were steps. I just find that a funny aspect and wanted to share it. *edited*

Anyways, it's indeed worth going over the links shared here. Lots of juicy info.

To me, Starbound feels like much more than Terraria. Whereas Terraria strikes me as a stout oak, Starbound is more of a large, healthy forest in my view.

 

The only similarity is that they are both based on the same genre. Other than that...

One does not simply compare Starbound and Terraria

Mainly because Starbound is just better, and you can see this at the first look There are numerous reasons why Starbound is better. One reasons is that the game feels "never ending".

 

As far as we know right now, space exploration isn't exactly a feature. The main function of it is to connect your worlds (think Terraria without having to "Quit" and rejoin a new world). The difference being each world will be quite different so there is a reason to seek out new celestial bodies, where in Terraria every world was essentially the same.

I have an analogy that I think sums up the differences between Terraria and Starbound, which I can illustrate with these two pictures.

Terraria




Starbound

 

That's what I was thinking

 

The Terraria characters are 3 blocks tall as well.

 

My mistake - I meant Terrarians are about 3 blocks tall, while Starboundians are roughly 4. It can be seen in game footage, as well as doors and what not.

There's clearly a difference in how they are made, though, and the larger size in Starbound allows for what I mentioned in my previous post.

 

Plus, you are all forgetting:

STARBOUND... HAS... BACON!

 

That's not really kosher though. ^^

But yes, the "never ending" appeal and storyline are awesome. I forgot about that in Terraria, it basically had NO story.

I'm also wondering something now, since I didn't see this anywhere. Will you be able to make/obtain movable turrets? I just had this great idea of building a base with turret defenses around it in preperation for some attack wave of monsters. Kind of like that certain "hostile environment" planets have these waves of spawning monsters, which would make it really hard to setup a base there but once you got something build with turrets and are able to survive you will find great riches on those planets (by mining, digging, etc). Cool no?