What I learned from Starbound

I've beaten each of the three Hard Mode bosses. Admittedly, I haven't played much since the most recent update, but Starbound definitely seems to have more content that Terraria did at first release.

 

When I say "content", I don't include randomly generated, disconjointed scraps. Because it's completely randomized and everywhere and everyone is roughly equal, Starbound has no reason to go anywhere. Due to its random drop system and enemy generation, every location in the game of the same tier is pretty much the same place, it just has a different tileset.

Terraria obviously has some random elements but there is a specific reason to go to each area and a general order you are expected to do so (which can be spited if you're so inclined!) Starbound doesn't have any actual dungeons in it with specific rewards / materials you need for specific items and can only get from that dungeon. In Terraria, there's a reason you go to the Jungle (the first true mage armor / the first good boomerang / a really good sword), there's a reason you go to (or choose to skip) the Dungeon (Cobalt Shield and Muramasa), there's a reason you go to the Underworld (to start Hardmode). Terraria is effectively a series of dungeons in a variable order with clear end goals and a pool of distinctive enemies and reward items matching the theme of said dungeon.

Starbound is in such an early stage that it lacks that completely. There's no particular incentive to go to any particular location moreso than any other location other than to steal all its furniture, and that is why I say it has next to no content. It's just pretty graphics and water pressure, and little to no actual gameplay or satisfying exploration.

Exploration means discovering things.

Starbound has little to actually discover.

I don't feel like I'm accomplishing anything when I play Starbound. I expect that to change, but as it is, the game for me is better-suited for user creativity, ala Minecraft the Emptiest 3D Game Ever.

What Starbound needs more than anything is to give its content a reason for the player to care it exists, and it needs it with a swiftness.

 

I get what you're saying, and I can't outright deny it. It's a but infuriating taking the take to clear out a dangerous Tier 10 Floran Dungeon to emerge with nothing new other than a couple of new cattleprods and a gun or two. I don't consider that an issue with the amount of content, though. Ignoring the random nature of it, there's still a larger variety of dungeons and biomes in Starbound than there are in Terraria, though I will whole-heartedly confess that you're right in that Terraria does a much better job giving you reason and incentive to explore them.

How I view them right now, Terraria is a more straight-forward game with randomized worlds, while Starbound is more of a sandbox. The two definitely excel at different things, so it makes complete sense that someone could love one and hate the other, despite them appearing so similar on the surface. For me, even though I know everything is randomly generated, I have a lot more fun exploring and running through the planets in Starbound and finding cool things that were generated than I do in Terraria. At the same time, I have a lot more fun with boss battles, and just combat as a whole, in Terraria, wherein Starbound definitely needs some more work in that regard. But, that's why it's not a fully released game yet.

Minecraft is a whole different story. Groundbreaking at first, but so many games have gone off of its base structure, and in doing so improved on it in every way, that there's almost no reason to even play it anymore.

The vibe I'm getting from your issues is that you don't believe that a game can survive on its sandbox alone, by merely giving the players a huge world and telling them to use its assets to make their own fun. I can understand that, there are a lot of games that I just plain don't like because of their overreliance on the sandbox (read: Grand Theft Auto, Prototype, Infamous). For me, though, I think that the random nature of Starbound keeps it interesting enough to keep me going and having a blast the whole time. I will not disagree with you, though, that the game will benefit greatly from getting some more structure to it. A storyline to play through that amounts to more than 4 bosses and some ore, as well as the upcoming randomized quest system and better "home planet" options will do a ton of good for the game's replayablility and overall enjoyment factor, and I hope that these things are high on the priority list.

 

More like: He and his friends bought an early-access game advertised as being in 'beta' stage, while in actuality all he got is an early alpha build full of placeholders.

 

I facepalm every time I see someone post this on a game forums:

"[Developers] aren't very original for including [Mod] and [Feature] into their game because it was highly suggested by the community anyway"

So what's the point of a suggestions forum if everytime Chucklefish adds something from it, someone cries "come up with something original!" Should Chucklefish start implementing things that they think is cool and never implement things that everyone else wants?

You're essentially asking Chucklefish developers to be Hipsters, and treating the Starbound community as some sort of Copyright engine, whenever they come up with something, (which for the most part, isn't original anyway, it's been copied, either consciously or subconsciously from other games, media, and culture) they're the only ones who can use it.

P.S. Outposts are a new planet type, not a dungeon.

 

I apologize for not having been as clear as i needed to be, again. What i meant with that was less "ideas for features", but rather that CF incorporated an already existing code base. I'm not saying that making mods part of the game is a bad idea, by no means. But I've seen few things coming out of CF's own code forge at the moment. A new planet type (if you go into semantics could call it just another level or dungeon) and weather effects are the only thing you see having been done by them apart from the rest of their "mysterious doings of mysteriousness".

posting for the sake of postcounts, huh.

 

Seems like a complete waste of time to rewrite something just so you can say "we wrote it ourself!". If the code is the same whats wrong with implementing a mod into the game?

 

I feel like this set of complaints has been made over and over again and it seems like it was being made before I even purchased the game several months ago. It starts off with "I'm disappointed that it isn't done yet and it isn't what I thought it would be" and then devolves into all kinds of stuff that doesn't even make sense... like "they're making another game already." That is irrelevant and you should be smart enough to know that the teams are different and work on one project does not affect the other, companies don't just work on one project at a time... to think that way is juvenile.

You have innovated(escalated?) with the insulting photoshop, kudos. I wonder what your point is though? It seems like you are just angry and want people to agree with you that they will never support early access again... why? It is a great idea. Of course it can be abused, just look at Wasteland 2 at $60 up front. People are willing to pay that, I thought about doing so until I looked closely at it. That is a game to be wary of if you ask me. I hope it turns out well but some of InXile's decisions are really questionable to me.

Starbound's pricing is quite modest and you get a lot of game for your money, even now. They are taking their time to do the next phase right and I don't see why that is such a crime. They are also still in the process of adapting to a new consolidated office. There is no reason to believe the final product will be anything short of excellent, you have not been misled or exploited... yet you seem to think that is what has taken place. Development is not always on schedule and in any field you can expect something new and innovative will have setbacks, they have explained all of it yet people like you keep coming back with this stuff.

Personally I don't think they should allow these forums to be used as a soap box for malcontents like you. I'm kind of flabbergasted but the constant negativity from some on these forums tells me that there is a significant group of people here who would actually prefer to see the game crash and burn just because it is not what they want, how and when they wanted it. I cannot comprehend such an asinine way of thinking. It seems like this is the real trap of early access: It enables people with a profound sense of entitlement to act as though they deserve operational input into your company and insult you when you don't meet certain deadlines they have decided are very serious.

 

The problem here is that all of us took what CF said too seriously and felt that we had a right over a beta version of the game, but we don't, we have rights over the actual game and we should be adressing our complains (if we need to) towards the devs when it gets its "retail" version. They could make an hiatus and go to have fun in Eurodisney or wherever they would like, but that wouldn't matter at all (and we wouldn't have the right to complain against it) if the day that the game got launched everything worked flawlessly and all the content that CF had ever mentioned was part of the game. What I mean is, customers don't buy alphas or betas, because they are not meant to exist for the general public, they buy finished products and that is what all of us bought, in fact, Chucklefish could very well stop updating the game right now and we wouldn't have the right to complain. Nevertheless, it's a different thing when you talk about finished games...Some of us are bothered by Chucklefish's attitude (I include myself in this group), nevertheless, if you think about it thoroughly, you'll realize that most companies don't work this way. They sell a product, but they don't give access to any unfinished part of the game as an "extra".

 

I didn't vow anything.

I learned that the video game making process is neat, long, and arduous.

 

I'm sorry, that Minecraft joke made me chuckle, you are not without reason about minecraft (which survives thanks to modders, who should be paid the 50% of Mojang's benefits).

 

You don't get paid for using up free time to make unofficial content.

 

So much information was given out pre-release of the beta/alpha that you should have known full well what you were getting into. Using basic human intelligence at that point, you could have decided whether or not this is the type of game for you. Buying it, playing it then complaining that it isn't really your thing based off petty issues like the graphic style is asinine. It also isn't feature complete. So, that alone is enough reason to not complain about it and just be more patient. You don't HAVE to play it, and you don't have to come to the forums and tell everyone that you don't like it. That's just you waving your arms in the air calling for attention.

 

Starbound's graphics are really quite beautiful... other than the player sprites. =(

The larger sprites in particular are superb. Complaining about them just indicates being spoiled by too much Halo and Arkham.

 

Let's try to establish a middle ground between everyone's views. I understand people who are truly concerned about the game and people who think that ChuckleFish has the right to develop the game the way they see fit. But there is one more fact that all of us are missing, if we are talking about the game in these forums is because all of us give more than a f**k about it and since it's still in the design stage, I'd say we have the power to make it a little more 'ours'. I'm pretty positive that you guys have suggestions and opinions regarding how the game could get improved, so, VOICE THEM.
Chucklefish, as well as many other indie developers, tend to listen to their fanbase a whole lot. The fact that magic is going to be eventually pushed into the game in some way that it's not totally magical proves that they want to please magic fans and people who think that the sci-fi setting has to be pretty cereal and stuff.

 

If they try explaining with "because science" that will disappoint me.

 

this is beta so yeah the game still be work on

 

Since theres a changelog/WIP on this post I put it in a spoiler

Edit 0: Evil moderator censored metaphorical word which is used everywhere in the world :OOOO
Edit 1: Cleanup in progress. Grabbing a sponge.
Edit 2: Sponge not found, grabbing ethanol and a bit toilet paper.
Edit 3: Ethanol not found, getting gloves and cleaning it by hand.
Edit 4: Latex gloves all used up, going to find a Gardevoir doing this for me with telekinesis.
Edit 5: Right... wrong universe, going to find a way to gain telekinetic powers. WIP

Oh joy, I see again fights... and guess what?


I DONT GIVE A DAMN (redacted by Ἄνουβις) (That was rude it was meant metaphorically )


Guess working at university is my cure for caring for people and how deep humanity has fallen over the last 2 decades... wow... that was low sorry.

Anyways on topic:

If people are dissatisfied then let them be. If peopple are happy then let them be. Theres really no reason to fight eachother in that pattern like on the first page again where people always go and defend borderline insultiv. This gives bad reputation to CF aswell. And it might cause those "conspiracy theorists" to go apeshit. You just fill more powder into the cannon.

Its the OP's opinion and its totally ok to have this kind of opinion aslong its not insultiv (wow... seems like I smoked pod or so... wait its actually the work I did satisfying me). If its obviously insultiv then just hit that nasty button there where I reported TvK recently for not using the Azelf Blue color she stole from me (I am still using yours whatsoever TvK )

That what he says is true... whiteknights are as bad as people flaming on anyone because of "slow progress" and such.

 

Then you proceed to type out a block of text?

 

Uh shit... back to work <.<