Vector Squared -- Community News! -- Issue #34

​

Introduction
Hello fellow Stargazers and welcome to Vector Squared Issue #34! This issue has been a tad bit delayed due to sickness, so sorry for that. Anyways, better late than never, right?

So without further ado, let us get started!


Table of Contents

• Daily Update Weekly Summary
• Art Feature
• Don’t Cross the Streams: Twitch Q&A - Katzeus
• Ask Us Anything: Thread Summary - LazerEagle1
• Suggestion Spotlight
• Science Trivia
• Weekly Puzzle
• Question of the Week
• Closing Comments

-Of Pos, Mechanical Spiders and Repair Bots

• 4th September - A new unique mob called the Po was added, resembling a semi-anthropomorphic (i.e. having some human characteristics) pile of excrement. More serious additions included double-jumping and work on the dungeon teased in the last few updates.

"Get a load of this crap."

• 5th / 6th September - More unique NPCs, including a mechanical crab. Work was made on constellations (though they aren’t implemented yet). Some new costumes were also added. Balancing of content also continued.

"Not sure if Dwarven Spider from Skyrim, or Mechanist Spider Bot from Thief 2…"

• 7th September - Work was made on starmap navigation, as well as tech including double-jump and dash. Animations were also improved, and new monsters were added (such as the Dirvern pictured below). Dungeons are also being worked on further.

"Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water…"

• 8th September - Various areas were worked on. The focus was tech, with double-jump and dash almost finished, save for some animations. An example of dash can be seen below.

"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

• 10th / 11th September - Omni made some, quote, “Massive changes were made to the core library to unify some types that had been weirdly different” . Improvements wee made to tree cutting particles and sounds. It is now impossible to beam down while using FTL travel. Some multiplayer item animations were also improved. Bugs were fixed, and more unique NPCs were added to the game.

"Red Dwarf of the Apes?"


"Hey look, buddy, I’m a repair bot. And that means I solve problems. Not problems like “What is beauty?”, because those would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. I solve practical problems."

• 12th September - More unique items can now be supported as a result of some back-end changes. Particle effects (and related art assets) for death / near-death situations have been added. Work has been made on the navigation system and object scripting. In addition, more unqiue NPCs have been made for dungeons (with the human and Apex sets finished).

"Mrs Tweedy! The chickens are revolting!"

By Jonesy



Everyone loves a well done animation. Everyone loves some nasty and deadly looking sci-fi weaponry. Everyone loves when an artist offers to draw suggestions for free. So how about all in one? Well, that’s where guvy comes in!

In his forum topic here he offers anyone the possibility to suggest a weapon, and he’ll pixelate, draw AND animate it. Sound to good to be true? Let me present the proof:

His friend drew this:


So he pixelated it into this:


And animated it into this:


Here’s a few more he pulled out of his own imagination:




EDIT:
Even more! All of these were suggested by users!










So what are you waiting for? Go to his topic, give his posts some well-deserved likes, and throw him a suggestion of your favorite dream weapon!

It’s always great when people do stuff for free like this, it really just goes to show the best in the Starbound Forums. Guvy, keep on being awesome!


- WackyWocky


Don’t Cross the Streams: This week on Twitch
Bartwe, Chucklefish’s ponytailed programming powerhouse, continues to share regular Twitch streams of Starbound development. His streams are very code-heavy and don’t feature a lot of gameplay. This past week Bart opened the floor to some community questions!

Reddit user 9joao6 has become the development streams unofficial reddit ambassador, he was generous enough to record some of the answers there for those who couldn’t catch the streams. Big shout out to him for all his work!

Development Objectives -

• Allowing to choose in which layers the particles are rendered
• Dash run support
• Status effects
• Double-jump tech
• Making liquids deal damage to the player
• Highlighting Recipes with available materials in the crafting window
• Working on how liquid 'flows' over slopes
• Testing synchronization between two clients in multiplayer
• Inventory Management (splitting stacks)

Starbound Related Q & A-

• “No beta in the next month”
• Bart does have the i49 Hunger Games session on his computer; the team will post it whenever.
• The time of day is planetwide; running fast enough to follow the sun won't do a difference.
• The team is hoping for lots of mods.
• Lava is to be a heat source for machinery and alike.
• Rain currently does not collect in containers, but may happen in the future.
• Mechs do not use durability; instead, they use energy and fuel.
• There will be references to other games, but so obscure that the chances of finding them will be next to none.
• There will be items (modifiers?) that allow you to tweak items behavior (like guns), but not in beta.
• There will be a server-list.
• There are "large" monsters, but due to how scaling works, they don't look too good, so they are turned off for now.
• Flying creatures spawn even really high up; if you build a tower, you will still be able to find them.

Are programmable cinematics and cameras a possibilty?

• We do have some admin features like flight, invisibility and smooth movement, that's how we did the Biome Diversity video. It may happen.

Is Starbound close to beta?

• Close-ish.

What do you think of the 'new' lighting engine?

• I only profiled it, Kyren worked on it, and it looks amazing.

Will the beta be on Steam?

• I'm not sure.

What do you need complete before beta?

• More functionality, more things, more tiers.

Can you dash in the water?

• Yes, but it's not very useful.

What is your favourite feature?

• My favourite feature must be the wiring, I programmed it and I'd like to add more things to it or just improve it even.

What do you think that was most challenging feature?

• Too many to say, but having the game ready for release is a pretty big one!

Can you mine a whole planet?

• Although I don't understand why, yes.

Can you do a modding stream in lieu of the modding panel?

• Oh, that's a good one... yeah, we can do that. Armagon could probably do it, the problem is we're not together ATM, so making a stream would be difficult, but possible.

Will beta have multiplayer?

• Yes, but may not be up for it (ask Tiy).

Misc. Questions -
Favourite game?

• It's not my favourite game, but I got Gone Home recently, and it was pretty cool.

What do you think that shouldn't be in the game?

• ...I am not good at platformers

Do you have multiple kids?

• Yes, I have 2.

What do you run on?

• Sleep.

Are you excited or scared for beta?

• Yes?

You can checkout his channel at . Please keep in mind he’s requested viewers do not share screenshots or video as much of what he’s working on is ‘in progress’. Streams are not saved on his channel page for the same reason.

~Katzeus


Tiy's "Ask Us Anything" Q&A
Last Thursday, Tiy decided to open up the "Ask Us Anything" thread for the first time in several months! While some of the information was already known, we did get some new announcements, and it's always nice to hear the team's opinions on things! While we didn't get a whole load of entirely new information, Tiy did give us a lot of things that the team is looking at for post-release features! An "event system," a deeper system for summoning mechs and vehicles, an NPC or machine that changes your appearance "up to a limit," space battles, and metropolis cities, among others, were all stated as possibilities for post-release features! Also, according to Tiy, there are exactly "a wubillion" planets in the game. I'm not sure what that means, but I'll take it anyway! They also said that as of right now, they want as many tiers as they can get into the beta, and there are approximately 5 or 6 tech items per tier.

Overall, this Q&A session was really interesting! In order to make sure this article was clear and concise, I simply summarized a lot of what he said, and didn't address every single question. If you want to check out the whole thing, click here!

~LazerEagle1




I bring you today the greatest work humanity has ever produced. Besting the awesomeness Michelangelo, Picasso, and the inventor of agriculture combined, we must now offer our respects to Aiuron, overlord and new leader of the Chucklefish forums.

Oh, and his suggestion has lots of pictures.


"Hypnotizing."

Anyways, the suggestion spotlight for this week is Hazardous Environment (Liquids/Weather)! This top-notch suggestion offers everything you could seek in one of these things. Filled with pictures (very good ones too, despite the disclaimers the author gives), you get an idea for the kinds of things the suggestion seeks to add in Starbound very quickly -- and you just keep on going.

All sorts of amazing and creative events are offered. From sandstorms to glass hail, each have tantalizing pictures and a kingly effects to boot. Take, for example, the “infamous meteorite rain”. Found more commonly on planets surrounded by rings or other debris-filled structures, they fall and explode with the strength to tear any average structure apart. But to offer a carrot with the stick, they have a chance at breaking apart to give rare minerals.

Or my favorite, the planetary firestorm. Befitting only the most deadly of places, the blazing inferno will where my first inferno fortress shall make its mark.

Besides all that death-’n’-damage stuff, he also added several suggestions for liquids. Super-dense water, rain-fog, lava bubbles, a lot of neat things -- and with even more pictures. Here, have another gif.


"Now only to invite the serial killer."

Thank Airuon for this great contribution to the community, giving us a nice read for several minutes. Don’t forget to vote as well!

~nababoo





DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid, better known by its acronym “DNA” is a very important building block of all earth’s known living organisms. It is a molecule that is used to store genetic information. It is composed of the nucleobases guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine along with a backbone made of alternating sugars and phosphate groups. The nucleobases are attached to the backbone.

There is a lot of complicated details about them, so there will only be limited information about them here. (Check the links to learn more)

The DNA of an organism determines many of it’s characteristics. It determines the size, strength, speed, color, durability, shape, and many other things. The reason that you can walk on two legs, talk in various languages, and build almost anything is because your genetics have made you a highly intelligent bipedal hominid.

Human DNA is almost exactly the same as chimpanzee DNA. Which is why scientists believe that they are our ancestors.

Human DNA rarely varies at all. This is likely because during the last ice age the human population was almost exterminated, leaving relatively few fertile women. There is less differentiation between someone from Alaska and someone from Africa than two cousin chimpanzees. This is why inbreeding is a serious issue for humans. The lack of variety can cause many genetic diseases.

To learn more on the subject check these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_genetics

--harnackam


Best Answers to the Previous Question of the Week
leonD:
“-“What is the freakiest, scariest, deadliest monster you could add to Starbound?”-

it gives a lot of "freaky" monsters out there. but freaky and DEADLY could be something which comes out in the dark.

SO i would say this "monster" should come out really in the dark(so nighttime). In "Dont Starve" as sample, the whole "darkness" is your enemey. IF the night comes, all turn dark(black) and you cant see sh*t. if you dont was fast enough to light a torch or make a camping fire (or kind of) you will ~slowly~ get killed by a "monster" (or something) in the dark.
The reaction from the guy you play in the game is kind of that:
"Its getting dark" "i cant see anything" *deadly, scary noices; first warning* "W-What was that??" *more now louder fuckin scary noices; Second and last warning* "W-W-W-Whos there!??" *a VERY f*ckin loud freaky deadly noice, loud hit sound; Player gets hit out of nowhere, losing 20%~ of health* "ARGG! Somthing hit me!*" *after a short wile of waiting again a very deadly, loud and more brutal noice, loud hit noice; Player gets hit again out of nowhere, losing this time more that 50%~ of health* "Arggg!! that HURTS! somebody help me!" *this time and LAST time A very scary deep freaky and loud deadly sound plays, very loud deadly sound plays; Player gets insteed-death. You only hear this one very loud and freaky noices and some other noices sounds like "eating and bitting" into somthing and WHAT they eat...we could think now....still you cant see what it was...*

* rember you cant see anything.

I guess this is -for me- one of the scariest parts in a game. You know you are totally helpless and you cant do anything, even you have good ammor, weapons and what not but you cant see your enemy and you will slowly hurt and the pain get you into the death. I guess something "like" this whould be for me the scariest "monster". You know its outside and you know you -CANT- do anything against it. Maybe something like whould be cool for Starbound too, if you dont own a flashlight or kind of and if you walk to far away from home without light.

I would respectly call it simple "The shadow".”

Terran:
“Scary monster? How about this:
Ground Burster

Only spawns in Florian or Avian dungeons, only hostile at night:
It has a thick, three segment, carapace body, three spiked legs on each side of the bottom segment, two scythed claws on the end of its two arms which are at the middle segment, and is topped off by a preying mantis like head that has two, red poisoned fangs/mandibles. The Ground Burster tends to coil into an "S" when it walks around, the head at the top of the "S" and the legs on the bottom of the "S". It leaves a trail of pretty lights that give off a nice effect. These lights are eggs it laid while it was out of it's burrow during the day. It lays eggs around it's home, which is a moist burrow in the dungeon's walls or ground, and is covered with a disgusting cellulose web which has bricks and stone that it had dug up while making the burrow to disguise the entrance. The Ground Burster has "roots" that grow from it's back, and burrow into the surrounding ground. These are very vibration sensitive, and can sense when an adventure is walking above it. When it strikes, it bursts through the floor, and latches it's poisoned fangs into the victim's body. (It can strike anywhere on the body, but usually aims for the legs.) The poison is a fast acting one that works like tetanus, within five seconds, your joints seize, and are unable to move. It slowly drags the victim into it's burrow, and covers them thoroughly and completely with a disgusting, fast hardening resin that formulates in it's mouth. The resin slowly degenerates the human mind, and transforms the victim's cells into Ground Burster cells, and effectively transforms the victim into one of them, killing the victim's previous life and memories. When the newly transformed Ground Burster is strong enough, it will eat its way out of the resin cocoon, and climb out of the burrow to make its own.
(Note: Ground Bursters only need sunlight to produce food. That is why they go outside their protective burrow during the day.)”



Quite a simple on this week. How do you want to play Starbound?
Will you be going Singleplayer? Multiplayer? Roleplaying? PvP or PvE? Explorer and Survivalist, or are you more of a Creative Builder? Comment below on how exactly you will be playing Starbound!


Closing Comments

• Sorry for the short issue, and the lack of the Gameplay Feature. We’ll make it up to you next week with a community contest and another interview possibility. Keep a look out!
• As usual, expect formatting errors until Wacky gets the hang of this! Sorry for anything eye-sore!
• Thanks for reading!

Contributors
WackyWocky - Space Banana
Jonesy - Master of the Obscure Pop-Culture Reference
harnackam - The Puzzled Mind
nababoo - The Homeland
Shardival - Ink Mage
Strife - The Scriptor
MahBucket - The Unidentified Object
Katzeus - Sirius Business
LazerEagle1 - The Pumpkin King


Previous Issues:
Issue #1 [] Issue #2 [] Issue #3 [] Issue #4 [] Issue #5 [] Issue #6 [] Issue #7 [] Issue #8 [] Issue #9 [] Issue #10 [] Issue #11 [] Issue # 12 [] Issue #13 [] Issue #14 [] Issue #15 [] Issue #16 [] Issue #17 [] Issue #18 [] Issue #19 [] Issue #20 [] Issue #21 [] Issue #22 [] Issue #23 [] Issue #24 [] Issue #25 [] Issue #26 []Issue #27 [] Issue #28 [] Issue #29 [] Issue #30 [] Issue #31 [] Issue #32 [] Issue #33

Blue’s Fanmade Newspaper Archive

 

Nice

 

Thanks, very helpful thread

 

I think your article was a new record for amount of references...

 

Agreed.

 

Also, Jonesy, you say you are the master of the "Obscure Pop-Culture reference." Is that an intentional oxymoron?

 

Jonesy, I thought you were awesome before, but daaayuum

 

Eh. Irony/oxymorons are just as great when they're accidental as well. Carry on.

 

Dem References. Nice issue. Can't wait till the next one.

 

Me and my friend have been eagerly waiting for starbound, and we have come up with way too many play styles to choose from, but we settled on the idea "We will travel everywhere together until tier 10, then once we hit tier X (The Pvp tier) we will each choose one random planet and must stick to it. We will fight for planet domination by finding and stealing eachothers flag. Needs a bit of work but sounds like fun to me, and that's what this game is about. FUN

 

Thank you for mentioning me! Glad I could help

(To whomever doesn't know, I'm 9joao6 over at Reddit)

 

Love The Princess Bride reference!!

 

I will play solo. I'm thinking about RPing a Floran archeologist type character. Fly around the galaxy looking for the ruins of ancient civilizations, settle on a dead world beneath a dying sun. That kinda stuff

 

Yeah me too. It's been like, 5 or so years since I've seen it last.

 

Great article I am surprised how quick these are made.