Vector Squared -- Starbound Community News, Issue #28

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Hello, and welcome to the 28th issue of Vector Squared! It’s yet another interesting week of news, daily updates, and more. Last week, we reported the introduction of Risk of Rain in to Chucklefish’s arms, the Monster of the Week results, and some trivia regarding gravity. This week, the daily updates faithfully, Strife covers contributors to Starbound, an interview with mollygos, and some “grid-based minimalist art”.

Soar into the world of Starbound news again this week.


Table of Contents

• Daily Updates Continue
• Helpful Contributors
• Interview with Mollygos (by TFGoose and Vendetta)
• Suggestion Spotlight
• Art Feature
• Science Trivia
• Weekly Comic
• It’s All Fun and Games
• Closing Comments

Daily Updates Continue

More daily updates have been released, showing off even more game elements and providing details on to what the devs are up to. The links are located below.

http://playstarbound.com/14th-may-progress/

http://playstarbound.com/may-15th-update/

http://playstarbound.com/16th-may-progress/

http://playstarbound.com/17th-may-progress/

http://playstarbound.com/18th-may-progress/

http://playstarbound.com/19th-may-progress/
http://playstarbound.com/20th-may-progress/

Some interesting highlights:

• Work on the codex system is coming along.
• Blueprints and recipes are still being made.
• New, secret biome added.
• Further modifications to GUI.
• Nametags have been added and given a certain behaviour.
• 3D printing has been added, in order to make lower-value copies of items.
• A lot of work on AI.
• Mod loading mechanics have been added.
• NPCs now spawn properly.
• NPCs can spawn in packs.
• Speech bubbles have been worked on.

By Jonesy


Helpful Contributors
Several people within our community have taken their dedication just a step further than the average user. These people are Starbound Contributors - those who directly help the Development team by using their time and talent to contribute to the game’s success. Spotting one of these folks can be done by the lovely light blue name, and the shiny badge!

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Let’s take a few moments to get to know what these people do for the game we already love.

thefluvirus - A member since March 10th of last year, he works with the art team as a spriter. Some of his contributions can be seen with armor, furniture and hair styles. Most of his time is dedicated to working valiantly on the many diverse monsters that can be found in Starbound. thefluvirus was able to provide us with an example of one such monster that he has helped work on:


Affero - The newest member of the bunch, he has only been around since March 1st of this year, but he certainly hasn’t wasted any time as it took only 13 days to become a contributor! His contributions can be seen in the deep sea plantlife and various biomes within the game. His favorite thing to work on? Take it from him: “My favorite thing [...] I would have to say to(sic) work on the forest biome, as a person I enjoy being in the forest so that for me, was the most fun to work on. But overall just working on biomes, I love starting out on a brand-new biome and watch it progress into something astoundingly beautiful.”

demanrisu - With an affinity for writing, he has been a member with us since February 22nd, last year. Not only does he frequent the writing section of the forums, he contributes to the Starbound Chronicle in addition to work on writing for the game itself, constructing all sorts of lore.

tramsan - Also joining last year, he has been with us since June 25th. While he is another Starbound Chronicle contributor, you all probably know him from the Online Character Creator that caused so much excitement several months ago. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a hold of tramsan for further information.

There you have it Starbounders, four people that have helped Starbound by contributing directly to it! It’s people like them that help make this game release just a little bit faster, so please take the time to thank them if you ever cross paths!

--Strife


Interview with Mollygos (by TFGoose and Vendetta)
Forum user and YouTuber TFGoose has recently brought us something pretty interesting. Alongside his friend Vendetta, TFGoose has performed a pretty casual, yet informative, interview with a member of Chucklefish, namely community manager Mollygos.

The interview is split up into two videos, each with a duration of roughly twenty minutes. They may be found in this topic right here, authored by TFGoose himself. As clips of Starbound gameplay are shown, we get to hear the conversation taking place between the three of them. I’m glad to say that it’s pretty interesting and easy to follow. The interview goes by in the blink of an eye and manages not only to inform viewers to some level about the development of Starbound and how Chucklefish operates, but also delves into other areas, such as a bit about Mollygos’ background and even gaming in general.

As mentioned, we get to learn several things about Mollygos in this interview, like the story of how she’s joined Chucklefish:
Knowing Tiy to be a game developer, Mollygos had been following him on Twitter for some time. One day, he announced that voice actors were needed. Afterwards, Mollygos showed her interest by announcing that she was up for the task and, gladly, ended up being accepted as a voice actress, thus joining the team at around March of 2012. According to her, she then talked gibberish into a microphone for a while, some sort of “fake” sounds, not actual English as that was not what was needed. Later on, certainly with the aid of her background at moderating other forums, she was able to branch herself out and managed to become community manager.

Moreover, we also get some insight in regards to Mollygos’ Starbound contribution: Besides being community manager in the official forums, her main task in the actual development is to put objects, recipes and crafting items in the game itself when they are ready for that stage.

Mollygos is also kind enough to share with the viewers a couple of Starbound’s aspects that get her pretty excited. The most prominent of them is how the whole space travelling process, i.e. hopping from system to system, works and looks like. The second aspect is the fact that when on a specific planet, the player is able to see the other planets in that star system in the sky, which actually sets a pretty fantastic mood. It shows that the developers were pretty considerate to add that detail.


Furthermore, some information about Starbound’s official trailer is also shared. Chucklefish is currently working on it, but they require certain Starbound features to be working in order to produce something of proper quality. They truly want to put forth a trailer that will get people really excited about the game, so they are taking their time with it, understandably.


These are just some of the many pieces of data you can get from this pretty nice interview. Several other things are talked about, like Mollygos’ views on the increasing number of people joining the forums, a bit of information in regards to Chucklefish being composed by people from around the globe, some chatter about indie companies vs bigger groups, among other things. If you are interested, be sure to pay the topic a visit. It’s definitely able to raise (more) excitement towards Starbound and grant a decent amount of entertainment.

A big thanks to Mollygos, TFGoose and Vendetta for bringing us this lovely piece of information.

By: Keeper



Facethelight takes us for a bit of studying. The suggestion discusses the precise mechanics of how small and heavy ordinance would work -- specifically in two categories, beam weapons and laser cannons.

He goes into smaller details such as pixel length and range of the weaponry, among other things such as fire rate and the duration of attack. One of the more interesting portions of this suggestion is the speech regarding the tactical usage of these weapons.

Not to mention all the crafting and materials required discussed. All in all, it sheds light on how complicated and what possibilities lie in such a simple yet powerful system.

~Nababoo



Hello there traveler! Ever thought of relaxing in between your great quests and battles? Just lay back in your cockpit armchair, grab a CosmicCola and enjoy some quality time with your Quantum PC... but you notice something. Your background is boring, and plain. Just a fizzy dark green backdrop with receding lines. Well no more, adventurer! Qbicfeet to the rescue!

In his barely month-old forum topic he has provided us with a unique wallpaper in a style that he calls “Grid-based minimalistic art”.
This image below is what started it all. A simple, comic book-ish strip of characters. The crisp colors and sharp edges work well with the characters, really bringing out the robotic features of the Glitch, the sharp, thorn-ridden edges of the Floran and the plasmatic, fiery wisps of the Novakids.


From this small strip, Qbicfeet has made a multitude of wallpapers such as:


So Traveler, looking for a brighter backdrop for that PC of yours, wait no longer! Head over to Qbicfeet’s topic and grab one!

- WackyWocky



Decomposition and Fermentation
Decomposition is the process by which organic substances break down into simpler substances. This process is greatly aided by certain types of bacteria and insects. It is crucial to the cycle of life, because it allows nutrients within the decomposing organism to be released and used by other organisms.
Fermentation is the process in which sugars are converted into acids, gases, and/or alcohol through anaerobic respiration. It is used to create some alcoholic beverages. When muscles use up all readily available oxygen they use fermentation to inefficiently break down glucose.

By harnackam





~ReverseShadow


It’s All Fun and Games
Question of the Week
Q: What do you think the roll tasted like? *badpokerface*
A: Write your guess in the comments

Riddles:
Q: Why did the Poptop buy a comb?

A: To brush her teeth!

~Riddle by MahBucket

Q: I live above a star, and yet I do not burn
I have eleven neighbors, and yet none of them turn
I am visited in sequence, first or last or in between
PQRS are my initials, now tell me what I mean.

A: The number 7 on a phone.

~Source: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080124025112AADlEUy

Wired:
Connect the wires in the puzzle using only straight and bend cables assuring that no cables are cut off. Wires cannot pass through blue walls.


IMPORTANT-ISH:

1. From now on the solution will be published in the next issue along with the name of the first person to solve it. Submit your solution as a conversation to MahBucket with the subject “[issue number] Solution”. For example, this week the conversation should be titled “#28 Solution”.
2. You can now submit your own puzzles! First create your own puzzle, then send it as a conversation to MahBucket with the name “Puzzle Submission”! You may only send one puzzle a week so make it a good one! Give it a cheeky name for bonus points!
3. Have a fun riddle/joke for us? Send it as a conversation to MahBucket with the name “Riddle Submission” for a chance to get featured on the next issue! We will pick our 3 favorite each week and add them to this section for the entire community to enjoy!

~MahBucket


Closing Comments

• No pictures this week, unfortunately. shardival’s been having a difficult time with his Internet, so we’re all on standby until that resolves.
• Also, I'm stepping down from my position as "manager" of Vector Squared to allow a more democracy-type thing that'll hopefully share the rewards (and burdens, ) among the members more equally, and hopefully allowing for further innovation here. Thanks for sticking with me so long, everyone!

Staff
Nababoo -- Lord Bacon McHam Von Porkchop Meatstein de Sausagion’s Shadow
Keeper -- Jeepers Keepers
Strife -- ???
WackyWocky -- Space Banana
ReverseShadow -- Comic L0lcats
shardival -- Legend of the Brush
Jonesy -- He Never Asked For This.
harnackam -- All-Knowing Eye
MahBucket -- Puzzle Lord

Credits


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 #22 [] Issue #23 [] Issue #24 [] Issue #25 [] Issue #26 []Issue #27

Blue’s Fanmade Newspaper Archive

 

Huzzah!

 

Really nice, seems kind of short for all the info we got, but it's summarized pretty well.
Also, you forgot to spoiler the riddle answers.

 

If it's going to be a daily thing, I don't really want to have to do seven issues a week for that XD

 

Lol, I wasn't suggesting that, but I was really pointing out that there was another update from Tiy earlier today and I thought you might want to add at least a link.
Though, I think the most important part of my previous post was the second line.

 

Dat wallpaper...oooh man I like it. Also, it wouldn't be a burden to me to just type out some short articles on the updates. I know its redundant, but writing for the sake of writing is still good writing (I think )

 

Pretty pictures.

 

Another great issue! Fantastic read. Good job, Team Vector

Good luck with whatever you're doing next, Nababoo, it must be a ton of work to keep the wheels rolling.

 

Wish I'd have heard about the voice acting. I have a nice mic and have done voice work in the past for Pendant Audio and Darker Projects podcasts. I'm a nurse on the Enterprise F in Lost Frontier and used to be a bandit in Catwoman, Queen of Thieves, before it was retconned from the interweb.

 

Ah, all the things I forget. Well, I've fixed 'em. Enjoy, everyone

 

I think the roll tasted sweet.

 

Too bad I stole it.

 

I win at puzzles?
Bleh I missed the whole "submit as a convo thing"


Great issue as always

 

Cool issue this week

 

That wallpaper is fantastic, though it would have been nice to have a link to the original thread included

 

Awesome issua and a nice insight into the contributors Keep up the high standard!

 

Nice issue. Comicception

 

That comic was pretty funny lol silly community!

Its a real shame that i posted a topic on the roll on Sunday saying the Beta is coming MWAHAHAHA!!!

 

I added two throughout my article...seems they didn't make it through the transfer from Google Docs to the forums. Sorry!