Vector Squared -- Community News! -- Issue #41

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Hello there fellow space marines/cosmic mages/asteroid miners and laser-guns for hire, and welcome to Vector Squared Issue #41! First off, we've did it again, we had to skip a week. Partially due to a sudden drop of info, and nothing to write about, and partially due to some of the team being busy/unable to get a hold off/kidnapped by Avian extremists. BUT after a successful rescue mission to Delta VII - 47e51, and a few motivational speeches (Read: "Sharp kick to the behind") we got the team up and running, thus giving you Issue #41! What do we have in store for you this week? Our Daily Update Summary, a community interview about a Starbound novel, info about the Starbound Chronicle, info about Steam and DRM-free version + more! So strap on your fancy space helmet, charge your Sonic Screwdriver, fill your cloning vat up with stem-cell soup, and embark on a journey through Issue #41!
Content:

• Daily Update Summary
• Options Regarding Steam and DRM-Free Versions
• Starbound Chronicle November
• Interview with Time-Lord Borges
• Notable Topics of the Week
• Art Feature
• Suggestion Spotlight
• Gameplay Feature
• Stay Awhile and Listen
• Question of the Week
• Closing Comments

Daily Updates - And various new images.

• 2nd November - In addition to monster tweaks and general balancing, the devs have been configuring tech. Some “work in progress” ones are shown below. More NPC dialogue has been added, included race-specific greetings for merchants.

"Butterflies? What is this I don’t even."


*hic*

• 3rd / 4th November - The animations and AI of pre-rendered monsters continues. The devs are reworking the ship designs (and released the new Hylotl one, seen below). They have also been working on a Floran dungeon, complete with player-damaging hot coals. Work is also being done on bugfixing and treasure pool distribution.

"The Floran Dungeon. Where you’re always guaranteed a warm reception." *giggles maniacally*


"Next stop, Kusari space."

• 5th / 6th November - More work on monsters and their AI, naming weapons, fixing balancing and adding / configuring tech (such as the morphball tech shown below). Apparently the devs are getting ready for the beta. They are also considering doing comprehensive weekly updates in lieu of short daily ones.

"Rollin’ on down."

• 11th November - Mostly beta preparation, including balancing, NPC behaviours, dungeon items / NPCs and more NPC dialogue. The random name generator is also being fixed up.

"I’ve got the touch! I’ve got THE POWAH!"


"Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see."


"Donament, we hardly knew ye."

• 11 - 15th November - The first of the new weekly updates. A lot of work has been done on random encounters, such as bandits, a house in the woods, cultists and people wearing silly hats (maybe a typical Team Fortress 2 server?). The recently implemented fire is also getting some attention.

"Defy all gods!"


"Death to...wait, what?"

And, as a bonus from GerogeV’s Twitter:


"Da. This will work."

And another Tweet:


"From the new spaceship, the Flynn."

There’s even a new image of a mech.


"Meanwhile, at the border station."

Fire has also been confirmed/


"Need a light? Wanna turn up the heat? Let’s burn."

We also have this neat one.


"Film Noir atmosphere confirmed!"

By Jonesy

Options Regarding Steam and DRM-Free Versions
A new announcement from Molly details some of the options the devs are considering in regards to the non-Steam / DRM-free version of the game. As you probably already know, those who pre-ordered have access to both a Steam and non-Steam version of the game. However, the latter will be more difficult to update. Hence, the devs have come up with three possible processes.

1. Steam and non-Steam are both kept up to date. This is least favourable to the devs, as it will require more time managing updates and will ultimately slow down development and updates.

2. Non-Steam version is updated less frequently. This would likely mean that it will not be compatible with the Steam version.

3. Provide the non-Steam version later on, when the beta is more stable and the updates less frequent.

There are pros and cons to each, so they’re asking for our feedback. There is also a discussion thread and poll here, where it seems the third option is the most popular thus far. Stay tuned for additional developments.

By Jonesy

Starbound Chronicle November Edition!
So, it’s been another month, and you know what that means! That’s right! A new Starbound Chronicle! This month’s issue is (mostly) about: drum roll… Status Effects! They make sure to tell us that they’re “gearing up for the beta,” as most of you guys reading this already know. The article is pretty technical, but still intelligible to a person with absolutely no knowledge of coding, such as myself. Molly describes how to add a status effect to an item; it’s as simple as copying and pasting some code! The fact that they’ve already figured out how people will be modding the game just goes to show that they’re almost done, and Beta will be out soon! Mark my words! Even though I’m not really into modding, I’m sure a lot of people who are would get a lot more out of this article than I did. BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! We also got a new story, giving us more insight into the Apex lore. The story, titles “Big Ape and the Beanstalk,” is an Apex take on the popular folk tale that I’m sure 90% of us have heard. The story is pretty humorous, and I personally love the look into what Apex propaganda is like.



"All hail glorious leader Kim Jong Un Big Ape! He is watching!"

Also, we got this picture of a dance machine. (?) I would reference “Safety Dance” or something, but that’s Jonesy’s shtick, so I won’t do it.



Overall, not a whole lot in this issue, but that’s probably because the team is so busy working to make sure that the Beta gets released so soon. I won’t guess when I think it’ll be released though, because we all know how that goes…

-Lazer

Interview with Time-Lord Borges
So we here at Vector Squared were contacted by Time-Lord Borges about his idea for a project, a community-driven novel, written by and with you, the forum. He has a discussion topic here with info, intros and character prologues, but we felt we needed more info then that to really show the beauty of his project, so we invited him in for an interview.

Time-Lord Borges is an 18 year old, living in São Paulo, Brazil. He’s just graduated from the New York Film Academy’s Screenwriting Course this past summer and has even published his own 468-page novel. He’s also auditioned for a role in Star Wars VII, and has been awarded a 7.5k Talent-Based Scholarship for Acting in NYFA. To sum that up, he’s got a knack for writing and drama, and if anyone can make a Starbound novel happen, it’s him.

Hello Borges, great to have you with us! You came to us with this idea of yours "The Fall of Earth", which you described as an "-an ambitious project, that will count on the Starbound forums community to keep it going and bring fresh ideas to the table." Would you mind explaining to us what "The Fall of Earth" is?

“So, "The Fall of Earth" is a project I'm working on with a small (yet extremely reliable) team of people here from the Starbound Forums.

You see, when I came about Starbound, I was so hyped! I've always been a sci-fi fan, and this game sure got my attention.

I signed in to the forums a few days after finding the game, and I began to wander around the many threads and posts until I came about the "Fan-Work" section. I scrolled through the many stories and I was like "Hey, maybe I can write something for this game!"

I had recently finished the editing process of my first published book, and I was, in a way, unemployed.

So I created a thread and started to work my way around the forums to get people to see it. After a while, a guy named Headphoner joined me on the development of the story. We've been working together since March. So, after 3 months of arduous writing, I went to Los Angeles for a Screenwriting course. I came back in August, ready to put my pen to the paper.

Even though it had been quite a while since I had talked to Headphoner, he was still thinking about the project, and was ready to leap back into it as soon as I called him.

The Fall Of Earth is going to be a series of Machinimas that follow the story of Commander Borges and his many adventures through the Starbound universe. The series will use a junction of Multiplayer Role-Playing and Scripted Scenes written mainly by me. The thing we'll need the most help from the community is: We need suggestions for things that can happen within the story! This is a story for you, and everyone in the forums, and also for the Devs! It's our way to thank Tiy and the team for giving us such an amazing experience.”

That sounds awesome! You've obviously prepared quite a bit for this! So how can the community get in on the fun? How can they help out, participate, or even just spread the word?

“As of right now, we're still in the middle of pre-production, and will be until Phase 3 of the Starbound Beta, because that's when we'll start recording. Now, we do have a plotline that we will follow, but between the big events that we call "Raids", there will be a lot of minor events (side-quests if you will) called "Instances". Now, Instances are mainly written by our fellow Community Member Moon Star. Instances are written, then presented to me and Headphoner, and we give the final greenlight for them.

The Raids are mainly written by me, and I discuss them with Headphoner, Burthstone, and FlibFlub. They all hold special places in the team (Though the entire team is special in every way!)

The Community can help by creating these little "What If x happened to the y character and z happened then?" Just the cool speculations that people do about series.

We'll be hosting little Community Contests in which the winning Instances are decided by the number of likes the Instance's Post has. We'll also include the character of the creator of the Instance in the story for the episode in which the Instance happens, as well as many other references and goodies.”

Ok, so there is a main plot, or a meta plot as some would call it, in place, but the community can participate to decide smaller events, characters, corporations and stuff like that? Kind of like an RPG, the main quest is decided by you and your core team, but side quests can be decided by the community. That seems like a very nice way to do it! Would you mind giving us a small spoiler of the main plot, or a character story, to give the community a small taste of the writing style?

And since we're talking about the plot, what is it going to be like? Are you going for a gritty, dark story of a homeless traveler, or a comical story about a happy-go-lucky adventurer traversing the Universe?

“Well, the plot?

After being sent into an unwanted future, the newly-appointed Commander must take up arms against an entire universe, as he struggles to come to terms with his own existance, among new species and civilizations that he had never dreamed of.

His ultimate goal? To fulfill the promise he made to his dying great great grandson as Earth was reduced to ashes by an unknown enemy. The promise?

To find the ones responsible, and make them pay for The Fall Of Earth.

But let's remember, that it's not just about the Commander!

It's about every living being that comes across his way. Every enemy, and ally will have an important role to play during his journey.

Each of them doing what they believe is right for their own people.

What is right? What is wrong? That will depend on which side you choose to root for.

Between cataclysmic events such as interplanetary wars and risking the entire universe's destruction, the story leaves room for a lot of character development, as well as for comedy and laughs. Because you can't travel the universe without some laughs.

To be honest, I am going for that wondrous Star Wars feel of "Whatever is out there: I'M COMING!"

But make no mistake, our team is working very hard to ensure that every choice, every decision, every victory, and every defeat will take the story closer to the end of its season, ultimately presenting both the Commander and his Arch-Nemesis with a single, impossible decision that encompasses the past, the present, and the future of everything that was, is, or will be.”

So there you have it guys, a community-driven novel about your favorite game! If you want to be a part of this, even if it’s just suggesting a character name, or a sweater color of the villain, go take a look at the topic thread. Don’t forget to watch it, as you’ll probably want to know when they release chapters too.

We at Vector Squared would like to wish Time-Lord Borges and his team the best of luck, and thank them for their interview, it was a pleasure!

Time-Lord Borges - Creator / Main Writer / Director - Plays Commander Borges (Human)

Headphoner - Co-Creator / Co-Main Writer / Assistant Director / Cinematographer - Plays Headphoner (Human)

Burthstone - Gives suggestions and ideas + decides a lot of stuff - Plays Sapphire (Kinda Human)

FlibFlub - Gives suggestions and ideas + decides a lot of stuff - Plays Skorge (Apex)

Moon Star - Main Instance Writer / Assistant Cinematographer - Plays Celestine (Glitch)

The others who are characters, but are not within the Team's "Inner Circle" are as follows:

Whatsup747 = Billy (Human)

Frostybubbles = Ken Sukisaki (Hylotl)

Fantastic Mr. Legion = Alnian (Glitch)

Zamna = Roronoa (Floran)

aceofheartsu = Lynn (Human)

lethem010 = Lethem (Hylotl)

Neptz = Greener (Glitch)

Notable Topics of the Week
http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/new-spaceships.31906/
A thread showing off the newest ship designs tweeted by Tiy. If you want to discuss, or just grab a quick peek at the eye-candy, this is the place!

http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/the-starbound-release-party.32038/
We mentioned last week that BlastRed wanted to have a Starbound Release Party and is setting up a whole server with admins and everything. Well, he’s joined forces with Left2Die to make this happen, and in return have created a new thread. Containing information and applications to fill out for builders, mods, etc., this is the place to go if you want in on what will possibly be the biggest Starbound celebration ever!

http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/complex-encounters-from-rhos-twitter.32082/
Today Rho tweeted about her experience when she teleported down to a planet and ended up right in the middle of a battle between bandits, cultists and monsters. She barely escaped, running to a Floran dungeon, where the pursuers fell into a lava pit. More at noon, now to John with the weather.

http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/zombies.32015/
Zombies are a bit of a divisive topic, as can be seen in this thread. Would they make a welcome addition to the game? Are they overused and cliched? Or would they need to be handled in a way that stands out from the horde crowd? The views expressed in the discussion vary a lot, but there are some interesting insights into the state of the undead appearing in games.

http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/whats-new-on-this-update.32049/
As everybody reading this knows, the Forums recently had an update! Forum member Bacon is here to save the day by explaining things that the update changed! You can finally rename your post titles without a Mod! Hoozah! (Also, apparently I’m not a notable member… )

http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/morphin-ball.32983/
A video recently released by Tiy, showing off a new Tech which let’s you morph into a ball Metroid-Style (Or Sonic, whatever man).

Art Feature

Quick, what is the sexiest race? Humans? Florans? Hylotl? Whatever your choice, I’m pretty sure Apex wasn’t at the top of your list, being all hairy and ape-like. Well, DawnOfNights isn’t putting up with your prejudice the banana-loving race that is the Apex. He’s made it his personal mission to convince us all otherwise. How, you may ask. A fanfiction? A lengthy, in-depth topic? Nope, how about a drawing. A really good, very well done, totally-not-sexy drawing of an Apex.


“Mission Completed” - DawnOfNights

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, which is the equivalent of a ranty discussion on why Apex are sexy, so I’d say DawnOfNights succeeded. Well done, we here at Vector Squared are loving this piece of work. Not because of the “sexiness” or anything. Pfft. It’s the...uh...amazing...uhm...shading! Yeah, that’s it. Great work there, such detail. *drool*

- WackyWocky



This week we take a look at a new race suggestion by Autzome. The race is known as the Frostborn, with the name derived from “First” and “Frost”. They originate from a series of trials on barren, uninhabitable worlds focused on the use of nanotechnology in place of biological cells. The trials bore limited success (and notable failures in cold climates) until a group of devoted scientists went all-out to create new life. They succeeded, and the Frostborn were born.

The race is humanoid in appearance, with a body consisting of nanites, a layer of ice forming their skin and a “core” located in their chest (that serves as their brain, heart, stomach, etc.). In order to maintain the nanites, they must constantly eat to replenish their energy. The stages of their life varies from snowball-like babies to elders that feed constantly (and may even be killed to conserve resources). Their religion is based off the scientists that created them, who they now view deities. They also live of a series of basic rules to ban theft and murder, and even go as far as face execution for treason.



I used to be a nanite cannister like you, but then I took a scientist to the existence.

The Frostborn’s overall theme is a Nordic culture of vikings. They are focused on working as a tribe and taking care of their surroundings. They can be accepting of strangers if they prove their worth. They also tend to be argumentative in matters of diplomacy, as they prefer to be direct.

Gameplay wise, the Frostborn have two armor variants for ranged and melee combat. Each has different bonuses based on the corresponding playstyle. Both are focuses on providing a frost-based debuff that slows enemies down.

All in all, this is a pretty good race suggestion. There’s a decent level of detail, and the idea is unique enough to stand out against the other races already in the game. After all, who wouldn’t want to play as space vikings?

By Jonesy



Ships - Your base of operation. Your safehouse which provides transport, storage and safety. Your own little box of nuclear-powered coziness. With the newest screenshots of the reworked ship designs, we figured it was a suitable Gameplay Feature topic. So without further ado, let’s take a look at ships, and why they’ll be your most important tool in Starbound.


Let us begin by describing the newest update we got about ships. As you can see above, the old ships were kind of bland. Just grey hulls, with basic details. Well, they’ve had a rehaul, and their new appearance is not only amazingly detailed, but also race specific, which is a nice touch. Hylotls have ship based of Koi, with multiple fin and other aquatic touches. Glitch have a stone and wood fortress which defies physics and has a waterwheel and a cannon. Avians have a ship based off Aztec and Egyptian architecture, featuring cut stonework, and pyramidal shapes. Florans have a ship which looks a lot like the Apex ship, but with some new welded metal plates and giant vines roping around the hull. Humans have a huge, metal lump of a beast, with quite the brow, sprouting two large guns. Apex have a slick, clean, sanitized ship with sharp edges, following their futuristic style.


But if we set aside appearance, what else is there to ships? Well, ships provide means of transportation around the Universe, as well as being your spawn point. In the ships cockpit, one will find the Navigation Console, which opens the map of the Universe for you to plot your route in. Not far behind the cockpit is the Teleportation Pad, which, as the name stats, teleports you. Near the Teleportation Pad is the Fuel Hatch, which you can put whatever burns into to run your ship. Warping via the Navigation Console uses this fuel, requiring you to stop at planets for refills every once in a while. Further back in the ship is the Ship Locker, which is a chest with 60 slots. In the beginning of the game it contains some basic starting items, and will be useful throughout the game if you die and need a quick survival kit right there at your respawn point. Ships can be built in, and decorated to amazing extents as shown in one of Molly’s old gifs, not that this is the old ship design, but the building and decorating is just the same.


Other than that, not much is known about the ships. There used to be a feature where you built your ship into a large space station, but that has been scraped. Whether or not Factions can combine their forces to one large station is also rumored, but not confirmed. We’ve also seen teasers at the possibility of extending our ship, with extra rooms and the like, but Tiy has stated he has yet to come up with a method of doing this he liked.



- WackyWocky

Stay Awhile and Listen
This week’s topic was chosen by the staff, since we didn’t get anything from the readers. Get with it, guys.

Jonesy - “For me, modding has always been one of the big drawcards for Starbound. Here’s a game that will have a LOT of content, and yet will allow fans to add to it. The possibilities for this are unlimited. A whole new range of content and experiences will open up with new items, NPCs, races, dungeons and quests, to name a few. Even long before the first mod will be released, some brilliant ideas get thrown around the Suggestions forum, so I hope to see that those that deserve it do make it in as mods.

For the effect on gaming as a whole, there are a couple of parties you need to look at. Obviously, there are the modders, who are responsible for mods great or small. Those who stand above their peers can even attract their own cult following. While this may not be to the extent of a commercial studio (even an indie one), a couple do make it into the spotlight. The best example in recent years would be Dean Hall, who reignited sales of ArmA 2 and its expansion following the release of the zombie apocalypse survival mod DayZ. There are also studios themselves, who may (or may not) take steps to support those who would modify their games. This may be as simple as releasing official mod tools, right through to hiring modders (such as the aforementioned Dean Hall, who now works for Bohemia Interactive on a DayZ standalone). In the past, developers like Firaxis (with their Civilization games) have even included fan-made mods in official expansions. It is also worth mentioning Valve’s use of the Steam Workshop; a service that allows for users to download and install mods for supported games without fuss or technical hassle. Finally, there are gamers themselves, who have access to a whole new range of content for their favorite games. At the end of the day, this group are easily those who benefit the most from a well-made and enjoyable mod.

For my favorite mods, The Nameless Mod springs to mind immediately. It’s a total conversion for the original Deus Ex, and follows an ex-moderator on a Deus Ex forum. The concept allows for both humour and homages to what made the original game so good, and has plenty of room for the excellent writing and design that was put into it. Another notable mention is The Dark Mod, which started out as a Doom 3 conversion but has since gone standalone. It reworks the game into a gothic / steampunk stealth game mirroring the classic Thief series. While the quality varies between levels (since all but two of which are fan-made and downloaded through an in-game client), it nails the atmosphere and gameplay. There are also plenty of good Civilization IV mods (some of which even came with the game and expansions), such as Next War (which adds near-future content, civs and scenarios), Final Frontier (allowing the player to take control of a space-faring empire), Dune Wars (set in the universe of Frank Herbert’s classic Dune novels) and Road to War (fairly accurate recreation of the World War II, complete with playable Australia!).”

Lazer - “I think Starbound will be affected by modding in a similar manner to Skyrim. I mean, Starbound is without a doubt going to be a great game with an already mind-numbing amount of content, but the ability to add on to that will surely boost the game’s longevity significantly. Think about Skyrim; in less than a week, we’ll be celebrating Skyrim’s 2-year anniversary. 2 years. And Gamespot is still making “Top 5 Skyrim Mods of the Week” videos every week. The ability to create and play with user-made content is a surefire way to make sure that people will be playing your game for years to come.

I think that modding is overall very beneficial to the gaming industry. I think that mods are to a game as the indie gaming community is to the gaming industry. A game can add content via patches and updates, much like new games being released, but for the most part, it won’t be outstandingly groundbreaking or game-changing, like how in general, new game releases won’t change the industry drastically. Mods are there to add niche experiences to the game. What mods do the best is to add something very special to the game. That isn’t saying that the game itself isn’t special, however the modding community works to make mods that can change the game in very specific ways. Just like the indie gaming community to the gaming industry!

Personally, I don’t have a lot of experience with mods, because whenever I’m playing a game with them, I can’t escape the feeling that I’ve tainted the game. I don’t have a problem with mods, it’s just a weird feeling that I can’t get rid of. However, I would have to say that of all the mods I’ve played, the Clay Soldiers mod for Minecraft is the one I’ve had the most fun with.


"What is your opinion on the new forum layout?"

Closing Comments

• The game isn’t out yet, in case you were wondering.
• Fixed a few mishaps in the interview.

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

 

Great work! Keep it up, guys!

 

Oookay. Content now.
Well, this update showed me a lot of photos and images I missed. I didn't get the starbound newsletter, so I didn't see the lore. Going to try to get it now.

 

The artwork people continue to make around/about this game continues to astonish me. DawnOfNights is truly talented. It's, by far, my favorite part of your articles. Don't get me wrong, the rest of the article is great as usual, but I find myself scrolling down as soon as the new article comes out to check out the Art Feature before looking at anything else. Maybe it's because I can barely draw a stickman without my 3 year old grabbing my pencil, drawing a superior stickman and then laughing at me, that I enjoy it so much. Keep 'em coming!!!!

Now that you mention it, I didn't get it either..........@#$@%#@$@#

 

Ugh, this is so awesome. Thanks for keeping this going!

 

Personally, the new layout is good and bad. The vibrant new background brings a whole new light to the forums, but the bland black forum needs to change somewhat. I think it would look good if they maybe incorporated some of the 'Chucklefish' logo's colours into the darkness. Also, one more thing to add, the colour of links it actually quite difficult to look at. Here's an example. Lel-link-poopydoopydoop. Isn't that just an eyesore?

 

Quite a meaty issue -- awesome job, guys!

An option for the links would be to manually color each link blue, or somehow highlight them. That sounds very difficult for post-editing, though.

 

No, you're so awesome!

Thank you for reading!

 

This was so awesome!! It's been an honor to be a part of this issue! The Fall Of Earth is under some strong pressure, and we're working hard to deliver a quality series that the entire community can enjoy!!

 

The new layout isn't very good for me. I'm using the theme under 'Platform' again.

 

So this is where you where I missed you in the last episode

 

Such spaceships

very lame

so hylotl

boo

grumpatar

 

Am I the only one who wants the big ape to be named Kim kong un?

 

I guess some oxygen mask (crafted of iron and glass or something) to work on you spaceship in space would be nice (and lore firendly)

 

Cool..

 

So is the "space station" feature scrapped due to it being too difficult or might it be added later on? I don't spend time on ground bases at all since I am moving around so much.
A big mobile base is the key in this case and the spaceship so far isn't really that big.

 

I really like the idea of being able to expand/modify/upgrade/personalize your spaceship. Seeing as it's the one place in the game you are going to have to return to over and over again, it makes sense to be able to make it as useful and friendly as possible.

 

I love these guys!

is this new news or old news?