Race Well, What's Missing?

Technically, we don't even know what they are officially called yet because they haven't been introduced. However, I asked the devs on the IRC chat and they confirmed that they will be called Hylotls. The equipment shown in the streams includes katanas and samurai armor, so I think that's a pretty strong hint that they are asian.

I'm terribly arachnophobic, and I'm the one suggesting the race. I was literally shaking while researching those damn Burrowing Sand Spiders for this idea, but you know what? It's one of the only things missing that I can think of that is also radically different from what we already have, so it was worth it. The reason I think spiders are better is mostly because I think a very humanoid shaped, cute looking race is easier to make using them. You'll see what I mean, I'm adding some prototype sprites at the end of this post. Basically, cartoony images of spiders don't really bother most arachnophobics, it's more like the actual things being near you, or seeing close-up images of them. Ugh, I already am feeling sick again just thinking about it.

Here, the creator of the Anodynes can put it better than I can.

I think they will be stopping short of actually making them a fusion of wild west and greco/roman.
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Anyway, here are some sprites I made!


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Okay, so these are just prototypes and the final product will likely be improved.
I have no experience with pixel art at all, this is the best I could do in MS Paint.

Anyway, I started with the Florans as a template and changed the eyes. I wanted to keep them simple. The Floran accents naturally make them look segmented like an arthropod, which is really nice. The leaves around the chest gave me an awesome idea, though. What if the spider race had vestigial legs left over that became useless once they evolved hands and learned to walk on two feet? So I split the leaves in half, shortened them a bit, and added in some segments to make them a bit more spidery-looking. Not perfect as-is, but it works as a prototype. At one point I added mouth parts (called chelicerae) but decided they looked better without them.
I Frankenstein'd some hair styles from other races onto them, and made some minor changes to make them work well together. The clothing was the biggest challenge, though. My favorite is definitely the dress in the bottom right image, which was also the first one I made.

EDIT: I can't believe I'm going to put this here... but:

 

Love those sprites! Especially the last one!

 

Starbound needs a bear race, because bears are just plain awesome.. and well, who's better suited for cold planets?

 

We need: Lizard people, Cat people, Elf of some sort, A fat race, and NOT ponies. No.

 

How about this?
Viking bears!
http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/for-the-glory-of-the-urzan.17926/


I need help with sprites though :/

 

Big fan of a Bug race, and there are a lot of choices for theme

 

Haha.. I love it. Reminds me of Dovahbear!

 

Funny you should say this,
I'm actually in the process of editing one of my races to be middle-eastern in theme.

 

We need ponies. Just, not as a playable race. As a random pregenerated kind of monsters. That way, those that like them can tame them and those that don't like them can have a nice pony gorefest.

On a less silly note, all the races need to follow the same basic body model, so a fat race would be less than likely...

 

Pony gorefest? From the videos TIY posted on twitter there will be no blood nor guts in starbound. The monsters will just explode in many blocks :/

 

You seem to be lacking information.

 

I still keep imagining a middle-eastern styled cat people to be a good idea.

Though not a fan of the more cat than person style (such as Khajiit or Vah Shir), plus having that much fur on a desert-like planet would be bad.

 

I shouldn't be talking though, I just suggested oxes to be egyptian.

EDIT:
Cactus people, anyone?

 

do it

 

We already have two mammal races (Human, Apex), and Tiy said he doesn't want his game to be Furrybound.

I'm not opposed to reptilian or amphibious races, but they are difficult to make cute and still be able to wear the same armors as the others. No long tails or snouts, for example. Scales are not the easiest thing to make in pixel art, especially for characters this size. For example, I really hate the sprites for the Glunaughts and Cerpine. Don't even get me started on the others. Also, see above for why cat people aren't okay (but I'd love them, I'm a major cat-fan). Elves are just humans with pointy ears, and a vanity item can do that. Fat race has the same armor problems as the reptiles or amphibians. Ponies shouldn't even be mentioned.

The Florans have several cactus-style heads, although they are not as prickly as they could be.

Sorry to be a downer, guys.

 

Well you indeed are a downer xD
My race fills the gap of viking/scandinavian culture but they are bears. What better way to depict a non-human viking other than bears, wolves or crows? Cant make wolves, there is already the lycan race, cant make crows, there is already the avians.

The only other thing i can come up with would be insects but that is for an egipcian themed race. And i just love vikings...

 

Subterranean insect people are a great idea.

 

Kinda like these guys?

 

What gap? Nordic/scan culture is part of northern Europe. They had the same architecture as the rest of medieval Europe (stone and mortar castles as one example), shared the same sorts of weapons (straight edged swords and polearms, war hammers, axes, maces, etc...), and even had the same general systems of government (monarchy).

I mean, I honestly think that if they included a "viking bear" race, they'd just be the Glitch, only bears with horned helmets instead of robots. It just really doesn't feel like a gap to me.

Also, for those who are begging for a dragon-like race (most reptilian races), the Hylotl are water and asian themed. Dragons originated from Chinese myth, and were water spirits who lived in rivers and seas. The Hylotl can also move about on land, so technically they are already reptilian or amphibious (not sure which, we may have to wait for them to be officially introduced.). Who knows? Maybe they'll even have tech that allows them to breath fire.

Anyway, I really don't want to debate over who's race is best or whether this feature or that feature is missing. What I do want is feedback on my idea, or suggestions for what could be included in the Mid-Eastern theme.

Also, moar prototype sprites!

 

Or a freaking steampunk race.