Vector Squared -- Community News! -- Issue #40

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Greetings, and welcome to the 40th issue of Vector Squared (woot for reaching arbitrary multiple of ten). We’ve been having a great boon recently with lots of improvements in the way we write and create these weekly issues; hopefully the quality is starting to pay off. Last week, forum-business we covered included an interview with an aspiring server creator, new roleplaying forum rules, and a reader feedback survey. This time we'll be covering the newly released Beta info from Tiy the man himself, daily updates, we answer last week's Stay Awhile and Listen question, and we have our usual articles such as Art Feature, Gameplay Feature, Suggestion Spotlight and more!

Don your exosuits and prepare to take the drop!


Table of Contents

• Daily Update Summary
• Stay Awhile and Listen
• Notable Topics of the Week
• The Mysterious "Rogue-like" Thing
• Beta Stage Details
• Gameplay Feature
• Art Feature
• Suggestion Spotlight
• Question of the Week
• Closing Comments

Updates that come daily...

• 23rd / 24th October - In addition to bugfixes and the like, more bosses and monsters have been added. Bandits are configured to give battlecries when attacking. Also added tiles to minibiomes, changed the max hunger value, improved the Po Golem’s AI, added more lore to the codex, implemented rainbow wood, rebalanced food and finished another dungeon.

"Hehe...four eyes."


"Time to...raid some tombs..."

• 25th October - Status effects (notably gradual healing) and their icons have been worked on, in order to communicate said effects to the player as well as possible. Trees can now be spawned in places such as dungeons and villages, making them appear less barren. More blocks have been added, dungeons have been worked on and bugs were fixed.

"OM NOM NOM" *BANG*

• 26th / 27th October - The UI has been improved to better communicate status effects, such as freezing or drowning. Lore is being completed for the Avian, Floran and Glitch dungeons. Buffs were added to improve the player’s movement speed and jump height for a limited time. NPCs are also being configured.

"Sandvich...I mean, eh, burrito makes me strong."


"Arrakis...Dune...desert planet…"

As a bonus, an image has been released depicting a new ship. It is believed to be a remodeled version of the Apex ship.


"Next stop, Moon 4, Jita IV."

Jonesy wrote this.


Stay Awhile and Listen

This week’s topic was contributed by Quantum.

Jonesy - “Gaming is a relatively young medium, and has undergone a lot of changes over the years. The internet played no small role in this, and this is increasingly coming to the fore. Kickstarter is allowing us to vote with our wallets, allowing us the opportunity to help get projects we want off the ground. It allowed Chris Robert’s Star Citizen to reach over $20 million in crowdsourced funds alone. While modding is nothing new, it still allows us to create our own additions to a game, or rework it completely. Social media is allowing us to get closer to the development team, and to gain some insight into what they’re doing. Starbound is a good example of this, what with the daily updates, roadmap, Tweets, streams and miscellaneous news updates.

Now, I’m not sure as to what extent the game development process would be affected by this. Obviously, a good portion of it will probably stay the same. But the way things are communicated is vastly different now, and the use of betas, alphas and so forth is allowing the community to participate in quality assurance. If done well, this level of community involvement can be of great benefit to a project. If not, it can easily lead to controversy.

As for triple-A games, it’s a little more difficult to tell. Developers of such games can be quite communicative with the fanbase, but if they took it to new lengths things would certainly be interesting. Some also go out of their way to ensure their games are moddable, or even receive plenty of updates, patches and DLC. Crowdsourcing may be less of a necessity. After all, how would we react if EA started asking us to fund a game for them?”


Strife - “Technological and sociological advancement of gaming and game development has progressed so profoundly in such a short time. In just a couple years, certain methods of game creation and funding have cropped up that simply didn’t exist before, which has had effect in all facets of gaming. Personally, I find there to be several forms of community development present in the modern development stages. First, let’s discuss what I deem the “Facade Maneuver”. This method generally involves the use of crowd-funding or pre-order schemes that unlock additional content when certain - often financial - goals are achieved. In some cases, these unlocks are based on real financial barriers. However, that does not ring true in the majority of instances, where additional content is added or modified to the game even when it could have been done without this additional financial compensation. Many will argue the ethics of such of a strategy, but regardless of the moral standpoint, it can clearly be seen that the development of the internet and these crowdfunding campaigns has conditioned the general gaming public to accept that in order to experience additional parts of the game, the players must collectively pay more. In essence, it’s alright to receive a ‘lesser’ game if the conditions are not met. The end result of this is that development teams may, and sometimes do, intentionally leave out certain parts of a game in order to entice people to commit financially with the promise of additional content when reaching goals.

Another kind of community development process exists of course, and that’s direct feedback. With technology becoming easier to harness and more widespread among gaming communities, the collection and distribution of information has been refined immensely. For example, alpha and beta stages of a game used to be extremely enclosed and private functions, with the general public being excluded. Companies mostly relied on professional testing teams for feedback, with the game being molded accordingly. Within a very short amount of time, that’s changed considerably. Of course, some companies choose to still stick with that, but not everyone. Many companies and indie teams have embraced the concept of direct community involvement during the alpha and beta stages of their development. The advent of technology has made that possible. Creating websites, forums, and even game accounts has become so commonplace and understood, that it almost seems strange for a game or company to not have one, but these mediums also serve the purpose of receiving input from the community. When you get to play the beta of a game, it’s generally recommended you visit their forums or shoot them an email, or may even present a feedback submission method directly in the game itself. It’s this method that has lead games in directions the development team didn’t originally intend, but has created a ‘better’ game overall.

While both of the two main methods of community involvement in the development process exist, there are still many companies and franchises that don’t make use of them. The vast majority of these titles would be considered AAA titles. A good example of this would be the partnership that Activision and Infinity Ward have in making their Call of Duty franchise of games. While both offer up forums and emails, there is no crowdfunding to unlock parts of the game and there are no directly seen alterations of the franchises based on community involvement. Essentially shutting out the community from having direct participation in the development process has lead to franchises that have not evolved. They’ve made slight alterations, sure, but they as a whole have not changed - they remain the same each generation. Arguments break out all the time whether or not that has created a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ set of franchises, but that is not being debated here. Despite their level of ‘awesomeness’ or not, the fact remains that they have generally stagnated as a series. By allowing the community to take a more direct role in the development process, the franchise would take a different shape - be it for the better or worse - it would at least evolve. An important factor here, however, is to realize that if a team was to stay true to the contribution of the communities suggestion, game evolution would almost always take shape in the form that they, collectively, would approve of.

To summarize, there are a variety of methods in terms of the gaming community interacting with the development process, but no matter what form it takes, the result is the ever-changing progression of something different. It’s this unique creative process that needs to be refined and experimented upon, because if used properly, could entirely redefine how games are created on a scale of unimaginable proportions.”

WackyWocky - "Well, personally, I believe the secret to creating something great all comes down to feedback and criticism. The Internet provides this in such a large amount. Forums make it easy to reach developers, Twitter, Facebook and the likes work as publicity for the developers, Youtube and Reddit make it easy to review various games. All in all, the Internet connects the two parties together, the creators and the buyers, and because of this, games are being more and more tailored towards what people want. ...and if something is missing, you can always trust mods.

I see the Internet as a great medium in which the creators and buyers can together create something awesome.”


Feel free to submit a topic for us to discuss next week!

By Jonesy


Notable Topics of the Week

A Starbound Release Party
http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?forums/general-discussion.3/
Forum-creeper BlastRed has decided to host a Starbound Release Party the first Saturday after the Beta Release (Whenever that may be). He’s looking for people to help him set up a server, back-up server and some mods to get the project going, and is inviting everyone to join when it’s up! This’ll be a night to remember ladies and gentlemen...unless you try Floran Ale. Then you won’t remember anything.

Remodeled Spaceship
http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/remodeled-spaceship.31753/
Bludud101 has posted a screenshot from one of Bartwe’s streams, showing off a whole new design for the Apex ships. This is a must-see!

Design Hiraki Corale - Hylotl Adventurer
http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/design-hiraki-corale-hylotl-adventurer.31754/
Well, well, well, it seems that Razey, the person who writes Starbound, has made a forum account, and right off the bat announced a contest to design one of the quest NPCs! An adventurous, fearless Hylotl female who roams the galaxies doing exactly as she sees fit. Interested in designing this badass? Head over to the topic and post your suggestion!


The Mysterious "Rogue-like" -Thing
Not long ago, in a Daily Update, we saw this:

As forum-user Toastation posted in his topic here, he found out via one of Bartwe's Streams exactly what this spinning thing is. You click on it, and it provides a random status effect, everything from burning, to poisoned, to healing. Is it worth the risk?



- WackyWocky (Comic by Shardival)


Betawatch!! First details announced!!!
This week we got some early details about how beta will work. Tiy broke down a timeline of three planned stages of beta development. The post can be found here, and should be required reading for anyone who plans to play beta. The post is very clear, with ‘DO’ and ‘DO NOT’s for each stage. Here’s a brief summary;

Stage 1 will have some features disabled and unresolved, unlogged bugs. Players will be encouraged to report bugs and problems, as well as prepare for possible save wipes/invalidations. This won’t be the ‘pure perfect Starbound’ intended for release, but an evolving, actively changing early glimpse.

Stage 2 will see most of the major features done. The sandbox will be all there, and player saves will be ‘safer’ (no guarantee, it’s still beta). There won’t be the main quests or Novakids, but players will be able to see a much more stable build free of major game-breaking bugs.

The final stage will be about the final touches, Novakids, fossils and the main story quests. Players will be able to see the near final game before the last details are added for release.

This post is important to understand for those who are participating in the beta. Evaluating the pros and cons of each stage will prepare players with what to expect. It’s good food for thought the last few weeks before beta. Expect more details in the next few issues as beta gets closer!

~ Katzeus



The backbone of any sandbox games user interface is the hotbar, the slots where items, weapons and objects are placed to be quickly retrieved. Here’s a brief overview of how Starbound’s hotbar works...




The hotbar is the player toolbar for weapons, tools, items, and consumables, items with a one-handed designation can be bound to either the left and right mousequickslots, which reside in the center of the HUD. If desired they can map the same one-handed weapon to both buttons, wielding it in both hands at once. Some weapons/items are designated two handed, and take up both the L and R quickslots at once. Pressing 1-10 (0) will equip out the corresponding item to the players left hand, while Shift 1-10 (0) will switch items out to their right hand, and the right mouse button. The hotbar can also be scrolled through using a mousewheel.

The center L and R 'quickslots' are what the default equipped item will be when another is not selected. Pressing X will also default the players equipped items back to the center slots. This allows a default weapon or weapon/shield combo that can be quickly toggled to if combat is encountered. Clicking X a second time will swap back from the quickslots to the previously equipped item in the hotbar.

Items and objects can be dragged from the players inventory and dropped in the corresponding 'slot' where they'd like that item to be mapped. Whatever slot is active will be highlighted.

~ Katzeus


Art Feature
Today in the art-sy corner we’ll be showcasing some pixel art! Drcra has shown off his pixel art, accompanied by a speedpaint video showing it’s creation.


“If it bleeds, we can kill it.”

Some people might see pixel art as an easy drawing technique, but that is far from the case. To get a good, smooth image out of blocks requires a lot of skill. Shadowing and coloring are the main methods of bringing out edges and curves, and this is something Drcra obviously has mastered. Even while keeping the color-count low, and keeping that old timey pixel style, Drcra is still able to make the image have a deep sense of perspective. Hopefully Drcra will keep up his amazing work, personally, I’d love a wallpaper made in this style.

- WackyWocky



Have you ever been worried of eventually growing bored with exploration, building, etc. that Starbound has to offer? Is that even possible? Well, maybe after having logged a small 500-600 hours in Starbound you might be looking for a new mechanic, this is where Pseudoboss’s suggestion comes in.

Titled: “Chemistry: infinite, procedurally-generated compounds.”, his suggestion is to add a chemistry mechanic to Starbound, one that would provide endless hours of entertainment and many useful properties. I’ll attempt to summarize his suggestion, but he has gone all-out with a detailed and long description, so if you want the in-depth explanation, you should go visit his topic.

In his suggestion you can mix two chemicals together, which will result in a new one, which can be mixed with any other chemical. To get the first, “base” chemicals, you can run material such as dirt, meat, wood, or anything else you find through a Refiner, which will make one of the five base chemicals.

Once you have these, you can start mixing them together to get new chemicals, which can also be mixed with each other, or one of the base chemicals. This’ll lead to even more. In the start, you have 5 chemicals, which provides 25 possible outcomes, they can be mixed, giving you 900 various outcomes, then they can be mixed, giving you 864 900 chemicals, and so on.

Each chemical has an effect, some useful, some harmful, and some just weird. Pseudoboss has even provided lists of effects, sorted by “Good”, “Bad”, “Weird” and “Rare”. Some of the possible are: Health Changes, Invisibility, Explosion, Poison, Blindness, Become Giant, Become Tiny, Emit Light, Color Change, Teleportation, etc.

Chemicals will also have various activation methods. There is a list for this too. Some require you to eat them, some need to be thrown in a fire, some must be applied to an item (Thus granting the item the chemical effect), etc.

Pseudoboss’s suggestion would be a very advanced buff/de-buff system, providing endless entertainment as you sit in your lab mixing liquids in hope of getting the exact one. You want the Health Buff, you want it to be item applicable, and you want it to be a powerful heal. 45 minutes, and two burned eyebrows later, and you have it! Pseudoboss also suggests factories which can automate the creation of chemicals once the process has been found, thus making an entire empire worth of trade. On top of it all, this would be great for fighting, allowing you to buff your weapons, and make PvP even better. You’d never know why your enemy’s gun was glowing purple until it was too late. Damn, teleportation vials. Oh, well, you wanted to be on the moon anyways.

- WackyWocky


"If you could add a status effect to the Spinning Orb of Randomized Doom (Name still pending) we talked about above, what would it be?" (Note: It can be anything, negative, positive or neutral. As long as it's creative, unique and funny!)


Closing Comments

• We're sorry for the delay! Some of the writers had other priorities such as school tests, and we ended up getting backlogged!
• We know there's a missing comic up there, we're fixing it atm!

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 - "Vote Lazer for moderator 2014" ...Nothing to see here folks.


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Blue’s Fanmade Newspaper Archive

 

Aww, I'll post something.
My status effect would be...that solid blocks acted as liquid and liquid as solid, within a certain area.

 

Where did the Weekly Question go?

 

Great issue as always VS. I enjoy reading every week as a lot of others do I'm sure. Still trying to wrap my head around the chemistry bit, but will be interesting if it is ever implemented. Keep up the good work.

P.S. Great reply to Quantum's question, Jonsey.

 

A status affect that makes your head twice as big.

'nuff said. Goonight

 

Don't really come here everyday anymore. Most people hanging around on the Forums, at this point, are more or less waiting for Update/Beta posts.

Editing as I go: Brilliant answers for 'Stay Awhile and Listen'. I enjoyed that very much.
My status effect would have to be an immediate dose of floating into the sky, just long enough to scare the player or throw them off-guard. No idea of what to call it.

 

Thanks for the information.

 

Orb effect random: gravity control but with the defect of motion sickness and flash paralyzation (you freeze for a few seconds)

Water walking but a 20% chance to spontaneously combust

Hot effect : allows you to explore frozen areas without the need to keep warm however gives a negative affect in hotter areas

Camo/cloak effect : basically turns you invisible but with a 30% chance at any moment you might suffer skin poisoning

 

It's odd to think of gaming as a "young medium" as I have been playing computer games since the early 1980's. However it is truly young when compared to the ancient forms such as music, pictorial art (or even sculpture); decades versus many millennium. How time flies.

 

An effect that makes your armor and weapons shinier.

 

Awww man, you're appreciated none the less

And my status effect would be.. it would enlighten you think the prothean beacon in mass effect (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OffXFVJtQH0#t=258)
I don't know HOW it would work.. but it would be sweet anyway. Maybe you learn some of the mysteries of the universe? Maybe there's some reaper type enemy in it?
BUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT!

 

This new forum update seems like it will make posting these things easier (oh god the formatting issues of the past).

Less burden on your back, comrade Wacky.

 

My effect would be - a cloak thingimibob. You'd be cloaked, unable to be seen by anyone, and every 3 or so seconds, a static hologram type decoy thing would appear at your position, almost as if you were lagging terribly

 

"For all of the technological innovation of decades, and perhaps millenia of research, scientists in both the Starbound and Star Wars universe were unable to remove the occasional flicker from 3-D projection systems..."

 

I'll comment just because I had a hard time finding this because it doesn't get the attention it deserves.

Extremely nice of you to keep doing these. Thanks for that.

 

It's people like you that make us want to continue doing this. Thanks a lot!

 

Great newsletter guys, Really enjoy reading these