Starbound: You may find yourself waiting for a better game.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Starbound: You may find yourself waiting for a better game.

Babe Magnet: Jun 2, 2008

note: pictures are mostly out of date, though they're still accurate enough to represent the game as it is now. As more people play the newest version and upload screenshots, I'll update the OP.

:siren:

LATEST VERSION :siren:

Upbeat Giraffe

What is Starbound?
Starbound is a videogame created by Chucklefish Games that is fun and good, or at least has the potential to be. It fluctuates wildly depending on the update. You could be reading this line of text in the future and the game could be the greatest piece of entertainment ever released, or you could be reading it right now and the game could be kind of lovely with a couple of good ideas implemented poorly, much like my posting. Something to keep in mind is that the game is in early beta still, so it's going to be a little rough around the edges.

That sort of answers my question, I guess.
Starbound is a multiplayer 2D action platformer and space-exploration game with a feature set that promotes gathering loads of various materials in order to upgrade your equipment and construct bases/towns/whatever on procedurally generated planets that you visit with your upgradable and (mostly) customizable space ship. It has a lot in common with games like Terraria and Minecraft at its core, though it's starting to spin off in its own direction as of late, with a focus on different "paths" of progression other than mindlessly slapping palette-swap enemies with increasingly stupid looking swords. Players will eventually be able to create settlements of NPCs, gigantic farms with dozens of different crops, or scour the endlessly unique worlds for artifacts that allow them to progress. But not right now. Right now, in the game's current incarnation, you just mindlessly slap palette-swap enemies with increasingly stupid looking swords.

Should I buy this game?
There isn't an obvious answer to this question, believe it or not. In a perfect world, where the game actually lives up to most of its promises, this would be a definitive "yes", but right now I would try and get the opinions of people who've sunk some dollarydoos into it already. Opinions are across the board at the moment. That being said, if you've got 15 bucks to blow and you enjoy the style of gameplay found in Edge of Space or A Valley Without Wind or Terraria, you'll probably like Starbound.

How fast does the game update? When is the next Stable going to be ready?
any day now lol

^{that are mostly not implemented yet}
There used to be a roadmap detailing what the developers feel like the game needs to have in order for it to be "feature complete" but it's been thrown out, so ignore it if you stumble across it or someone links it. A short list of some of the big features implemented, promised or alluded to:

-Functionally infinite, unique, and highly detailed universe for you to explore.
-7 races, each with their own distinct architecture, aesthetics, lore, and technologies.
-Large amounts of equipment such as swords, guns, and armor, with an even larger selection of aesthetic blocks for base-building and ship-prettying.
-Special "techs" or powers that allow you to access abilities such as quick dashes, limited flight, or teleportation.
-Food crafting system that lets players craft short-term buffs in order to prepare themselves for specific obstacles and adventures.
-Customizable, upgradable space-craft used to travel the stars.
-Dozens of unique biomes to be found on planets, with hundreds of hand-crafted mini-dungeons and jumping puzzles in addition to larger and more dangerous locations.
-In-depth quest system with procedurally-generated missions alongside important story-related objectives.
-Multiple paths of progression, from monster slaying and hunting to farming and colonization.
-Hundreds of diverse monsters and beasts, procedurally generated alongside their home planets.
-ABC Notation-based music system, where players can upload ABC files in order to play music from one of several different musical intruments.
-The game is built around mod support, allowing almost every facet of its composition to be tweaked, expanded, and destroyed by its large modding community.
-A bunch of other crap that is less important

Not all of the above are currently in-game, though they are being implement thick and fast.

^{is dead, and we killed it}
Starbound takes place in a procedurally generated universe that pulls from a generated seed that determines the placement and type of every planet, moon, and star. Each planet has its own unique creatures, structures, and challenges, increasing in variety and difficulty as you explore further out into the reaches of space.

In addition to the scenes and features presented above, there exists a "hub" asteroid/space mall called the Outpost, filled with various NPCs that give you quests and shops that sell you stuff.

-cool scenery, interesting dungeons, quest objectives, and other such points of interest will eventually go here when people start discovering them

^{is boring}
Combat is Starbound is your standard 2D Platformer affair, where you try to dance just outside an enemy's attack range while keeping them just inside yours. Starbound mixes this up by not allowing creatures to harm you just by bumping into you; they have to actually be attacking you, complete with tells and animations, allowing you to react appropriately and dodge out of the way or block. A variety of weapons allow you to slaughter your way across the galaxy, such as two-handed swords that allow you to block, two slots for single-handed weapons and items allowing you to dual wield flashlights or equip shields, and a variety of guns with ammo types ranging from bouncing projectiles to grenades and missiles. Further combat abilities are available in the form of techs, special moves that augment your prowess at maneuvering around a battlefield like shields, super-jumps, and even pilotable mechs and vehicles.

^{currently doesn't really have any real uses other than mass storage}
If you don't want to be a space hobo for some reason, or you've beaten the game by collecting 1000 of every block and you need a place to store them, you can find yourself a nice place on some backwoods planet and build yourself a big dumb castle. Dungeons and towns and such can be wantonly looted and robbed of all of their precious building materials and furniture, which you can then use to decorate your palace of larceny. Or you can craft most of the items, but that's less fun. Some furniture items, like anvils, crafting benches, and storage containers like wardrobes and chests, have uses other than looking pretty. The game also contains a wiring system so you can hook your lights and doors into switches and pressure-plates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU56Kh731Q0

^{only have customizable interior tiles, but at least they can be upgraded now}
Ships are used to travel the galaxy once you've gathered enough fuel to jump between star systems. Planet-to-Planet is free, thankfully. Each race gets its own ship, though initially they're all the same shape and size, in terms of playable area. As you upgrade them however, they become quite large and ridiculous looking. If you don't feel like creating a home base on some random planet, or you don't feel like going back to that planet every time you want to chill, you can pimp out your ship as well! Sort of!

^{proves that hell is other people}
Kill your friends.

Silento Boborachi posted:

Server's back up for the update, made a thread for the server in private games. Please continue to not play this game.

IP: 24.230.42.128
Account: guest
Pass: alpaca

^{will keep you from going crazy}
-Shift-click to quick-move items
-Shift-click to shrink block placing and digging
-Press E (Or Middle Mouse) to interact (THIS INCLUDES CRAFTING)
-Left-Click to affect foreground, Right-Click to affect background
-See that bar at the bottom that's going down? YOU ARE FREEZING TO DEATH FIND SOME HEAT
-The coordinates of a planet are the seed, which you can share
-You can't sell things as of yet
-I suggest putting things like your anvil and crafting table on your ship. You'll always need them and you won't need to replace or take them with you when you fly to new planets.
-To collect plants, tap e while near them.
-If you're getting dunked on by poorly tuned content, use /admin to become god

Fermented Tinal posted:

Some additional tips:

You can warp to your home planet no matter where you are, so until you start upgrading your ship's size it might be a good idea to use your home planet as a small base for stuff like farming, leaving more space on your ship for your crafting kit and storage lockers.
Pickaxes now cost 2 bars of the material they are made from and cannot be repaired or upgraded, but don't go hog wild with gold picks at first, copper ones work just fine and you'll stop making picks once you've upgraded the MM a few times.
Save 10 copper bars and 10 silver bars for the initial two upgrades for the matter manipulator, this increases range and gives you the ability to harvest liquids, a necessity for progression.
Core Fragments are located deep underground, they glow and are easily found once you've dug deep enough.
Mining camps on Lush worlds are a great way to get copper and iron ore without having to mine for it.
Coffee seeds can be bought at Terramart on the Outpost or found on Forest worlds.
Coal and wood are not fuel anymore, you need to either buy fuel from the gas station at the Outpost or suck up delicious moon goo once you've finished the Moonbase quest. Radioactive ores still count as fuel too, they are found on Radioactive planets.
Oil is found in tar biomes on Desert planets, and necessary for making steel, don't forget to collect some sand while you're there and make a glass mug, you'll need it.
Yes, you do need to make a bug net and collect a bug for progression.

XboxPants posted:

Oh, another tip: "R" is a hotkey for matter manipulator, and the other slots under the hotbar have hotkeys too that you can check by looking at their tooltip.
"X" quick-equips your weapons.

Turtlicious posted:

Z switches your L/R hand, and now there is a keybind menu that you should definitely take a peek at. You can quickly exit out of chests with ESC

Supernorn posted:

I was posting updates and stuff, but yeah. Honestly, it takes like three seconds to type playstarbound.com into your internet browser, but even easier to endlessly post every day for months about a game you're trying to fool people into believing you're not interested in.

Starbound Website
Chucklefish Forums
Tiy (lead Dev)'s twitter
Official Wiki

IRC:
#starbound
irc.synirc.net

Babe Magnet fucked around with this message at 10:53 on Dec 9, 2015

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:14

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 03:02

Babe Magnet: Jun 2, 2008

^{will fix this dumb bad game}
Starbound has very nice support for mods and modders, complete with its own mod hosting site and forums. The modding community is very active, especially around update times, and you can find a wide variety of mods, such as content expansions, new biomes and planet types, entire new races and even detailed gameplay system additions. There are even a few talented goons modders skulking around in the shadows just outside of your peripheral vision. To install a mod, put the folder in your \Starbound\giraffe_storage\mods\ folder. If you don't have a mods folder in your giraffe_storage, make one.

Quality of Life/Essential Mods
Little things that most feel like they should be in the game proper in some capacity, due to the frustration they ease.

-Illuminated Ores: makes ore glow so you can see where it's at while digging. Ore generation is kind of balls right now so this helps find those small pockets.

Fun Mods
Stuff that's not that important, but nice to have either way.

-Block Crafting Table: lets you can craft loads of decorative blocks using materials instead of pixels, so you don't have to ransack existing structures. You can still do that if you want, though, you terrible person you.
-Block Replicator: adds a new crafting table that lets you pay to duplicate building materials so you don't have to spend so much of your time gathering them.
-Pixel Goods Store: slick mod with a custom interface that introduces over 300 new furniture and decoration items. Good spritework.

-Prismatic Stars by Vib Rib: see quoted post for additional information, but don't use the downloads at the bottom, as they are not the latest versions.

Vib Rib posted:

Prismatic stars are unique star systems that contain Prismatic planets. Prismatic planets can be any biome and any difficulty level, so Extreme Lush planets and Harmless Volcanic and everything in between are possible. Further, I've scrambled up the biome, sub-biome, and sub-surface systems. As a result, you can get crazy mixed up planets.

-More Caves by Turtlicious: Amps up the cave gen to the next level. Super cool and useful

-Faster Backstep by Turtlicious: Now you don't slow down when you walk backwards. Simple, convenient.

please be nice to each other in this thread, this is a warm and welcoming community of gamers!

Supernorn posted:

You guys don't like Alpacas I guess. Huh.

Babe Magnet fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Feb 5, 2015

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:14

Angela Lansburial: Feb 9, 2005; Nothing to see here.

Oh boy I can't wait to collect all the instruments and start my own birdman orchestra!

And then I'll make a castle out of meat and bones!

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:20

Babe Magnet: Jun 2, 2008

anything your heart desires

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:20

XboxPants: Jan 30, 2006; Steven doesn't want me watching him sleep anymore.

Babe Magnet posted:

^{that are mostly not implemented yet}
There is a roadmap detailing what the developers feel like the game needs to have in order for it to be "feature complete" but the accuracy of it is debatable.

Less "debatable", more "openly thrown out":
http://www.reddit.com/r/starbound/comments/2u32ut/the_starbound_roadmap_a_visual_guide_to/co513lv?context=3

OmnipotentEntity posted:

It's been scrapped and won't be updated unless further notice.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:21

Babe Magnet: Jun 2, 2008

I figured, I couldn't find anything on it, but I never checked reddit. I'll remove it from the OP.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:22

Tin Tim: Jun 4, 2012; Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Reporting in

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:23

Jackard: Oct 28, 2007; We Have A Bow And We Wish To Use It

XboxPants posted:

Less "debatable", more "openly thrown out":

Why would they leave it on there....

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:24

Kly: Aug 8, 2003

remember when they took months to make that roadmap?

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:24

Vib Rib: Jul 23, 2007; God damn this shit is
fuckin' re-dic-a-liss
🍖🍖😛🍖🍖

Babe Magnet posted:

^{currently doesn't really have any real uses other than mass storage}

But what about aesthetics?
Isn't that the entire point of building in games like this? Isn't that why you'd ever build anything more than prison cells in Terraria or a tiny dirt cubeshack in Minecraft?

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:24

AHungryRobot: Oct 12, 2012

Any day now.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:25

Turtlicious: Sep 17, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?resources/morecaves.2484/

I fixed the line problem!

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:26

Babe Magnet: Jun 2, 2008

Vib Rib posted:

But what about aesthetics?
Isn't that the entire point of building in games like this? Isn't that why you'd ever build anything more than prison cells in Terraria or a tiny dirt cubeshack in Minecraft?

"real" uses. Everything can be done for aesthetics so I didn't count it as a real use. Also there apparently will eventually be a use for them when/if they implement the whole "lead a bunch of NPCs" feature

VVV added to the OP VVV

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:26

Fermented Tinal: Aug 25, 2005; by Pragmatica

Some additional tips:

You can warp to your home planet no matter where you are, so until you start upgrading your ship's size it might be a good idea to use your home planet as a small base for stuff like farming, leaving more space on your ship for your crafting kit and storage lockers.

Pickaxes now cost 2 bars of the material they are made from and cannot be repaired or upgraded, but don't go hog wild with gold picks at first, copper ones work just fine and you'll stop making picks once you've upgraded the matter manipulator a few times.

Save 10 copper bars and 10 silver bars for the initial two upgrades for the MM, this increases range and gives you the ability to harvest liquids, a necessity for progression.

Core Fragments are located deep underground, they glow and are easily found once you've dug deep enough.

Mining camps on Lush worlds are a great way to get copper and iron ore without having to mine for it.

Coffee seeds can be bought at Terramart on the Outpost or found on Forest worlds.

Coal and wood are not fuel anymore, you need to either buy fuel from the gas station at the Outpost or suck up delicious moon goo once you've finished the Moonbase quest. Radioactive ores still count as fuel too, they are found on Radioactive planets.

Oil is found in tar biomes on Desert planets, and necessary for making steel, don't forget to collect some sand while you're there and make a glass mug, you'll need it.

Yes, you do need to make a bug net and collect a bug for progression.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:27

Internet Kraken: Apr 24, 2010; slightly amused

Can't believe this loving game still isn't anywhere near done.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:29

stuntwaffle: Mar 7, 2007; I wish Starbound was a dick so I could put it in my ass and mouth!

Greetings, I love Starbound.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:29

XboxPants: Jan 30, 2006; Steven doesn't want me watching him sleep anymore.

If you want some more build screenshots, they just had a contest on twitter:
https://twitter.com/MSipher/status/560449888618442753
https://twitter.com/Bolderiiz/status/560451247741104128
https://twitter.com/Nebilim2/status/560449486246641664
https://twitter.com/Thorndancer/status/560441354283933696
https://twitter.com/TheDeccoy/status/560443740779995136
https://twitter.com/marmthokson/status/560445688752791553

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:30

Babe Magnet: Jun 2, 2008

dang, those own

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:31

LazyMaybe: Aug 18, 2013; oouagh

I'm mad that that lovely coffee quest with like 10 different fetch-quest steps is somehow still in the game after almost 2 months

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:32

Afraid of Audio: Oct 12, 2012; by exmarx

This is a bad game.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:34

oddium: Feb 21, 2006; end of the 4.5 tatami age

This game is bad

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:36

Grognan: Jan 23, 2007; by Fluffdaddy

Afraid of Audio posted:

This is a bad game.

Afraid of Audio thinks this is a bad game. Downloading now.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:36

Vib Rib: Jul 23, 2007; God damn this shit is
fuckin' re-dic-a-liss
🍖🍖😛🍖🍖

Babe Magnet posted:

"real" uses. Everything can be done for aesthetics so I didn't count it as a real use. Also there apparently will eventually be a use for them when/if they implement the whole "lead a bunch of NPCs" feature

But again, my point is that if you're going so far as to judge building in a game like this solely by function, you could say the same for Minecraft and Terraria, right?

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:37

Babe Magnet: Jun 2, 2008

Minecraft maybe, but terraria buildings have uses in that specific building requirements are required to house and attract NPCs, which give you quests, sell you things, give you access to stuff you normally wouldn't be able to get, and ward away monsters just by existing. So no, I wouldn't compare it to Terraria really lol

also please do not be rude to each other in my thread thank you

E: turt I will add your mod to the OP once I get around to working on the modding section soon

Babe Magnet fucked around with this message at 01:40 on Jan 30, 2015

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:37

Turtlicious: Sep 17, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Can people try my mod and give me feedback?

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:37

Gentwise: Sep 12, 2003; Gentwise Bankfourthe, Esquire.

I like this game but holy crap the toolbar is awkward and unintuitive.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:40

XboxPants: Jan 30, 2006; Steven doesn't want me watching him sleep anymore.

Fermented Tinal posted:

Oil is found in tar biomes on Desert planets, and necessary for making steel, don't forget to collect some sand while you're there and make a glass mug, you'll need it.

Specifically, before you hand in the bug quest, make sure you also have on hand a glass mug and a steel stirring spoon. You'll need second-tier anvil to make the spoon, but it's only one piece of steel. Also create a "cool jacket" with some fabric with a yarnspinner, because that quest is shortly after. For the lost jokes manuscript quest, they're in the bathroom trashcan on the upper floor.

There's a hidden quest on the underside of the hub, you'll need techs or maybe ropes to get under there.

Haven't tested this for myself, but shortcut to the end of the Mining mission:

quote:

Make sure you have the dash tech equipped. After you drop down the shaft that opens after triggering the monsters, go left. There should be a big pile of gravel. Crouch and dash, repeatedly. You should force yourself through and to the other side. Now you're at the last miner holdout before the infected miner!

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:43

Vib Rib: Jul 23, 2007; God damn this shit is
fuckin' re-dic-a-liss
🍖🍖😛🍖🍖

Gentwise posted:

I like this game but holy crap the toolbar is awkward and unintuitive.

I like the quick-switch key but it needs to switch back properly and also the scrollwheel should skip over the L/R/Matter Manipulator/etc slots.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:45

CATTASTIC: Mar 31, 2010; ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now is the winter of our discount content

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:46

Babe Magnet: Jun 2, 2008

well the game IS on sale

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:47

Dandywalken: Feb 11, 2014

Turtlicious posted:

Can people try my mod and give me feedback?

Taking a gander and will post in a bit with my review

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:47

XboxPants: Jan 30, 2006; Steven doesn't want me watching him sleep anymore.

Oh, another tip: "R" is a hotkey for matter manipulator, and the other slots under the hotbar have hotkeys too that you can check by looking at their tooltip.
"X" quick-equips your weapons.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:48

Babe Magnet: Jun 2, 2008

good tips guys

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:50

Turtlicious: Sep 17, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Z switches your L/R hand, and now there is a keybind menu that you should definitely take a peek at. You can quickly exit out of chests with ESC

# ? Jan 30, 2015 01:53

Space Skeleton: Sep 28, 2004

A friend found an awesome grenade launcher in a crate during the moon mission and just blew away those superminers. :mad:

# ? Jan 30, 2015 02:00

Fargin Icehole: Feb 19, 2011; Pet me.

Time to pick up and play this again. I hope this was worth the trouble, because it was certainly worth the laughs.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 02:05

XboxPants: Jan 30, 2006; Steven doesn't want me watching him sleep anymore.

Turtlicious posted:

You can quickly exit out of chests with ESC

You can't change this horrible thing with the in-game keybinding, but if you go into steam -> right-click Starbound in your library -> Properties -> Local Files Tab -> Browse Local Files, you should see a folder called /giraffe_storage/. Open starbound.config.

Then find this entry:

code:

      "GuiClose" : [ {
              "mods" : [  ],
              "type" : "key",
              "value" : "Esc"
          } ],

And replace "Esc" with a suitable entry. I suggest switching values with the "drop item" command. This one:

code:

      "PlayerDropItem" : [ {
              "mods" : [  ],
              "type" : "key",
              "value" : "Q"
          } ],

Just switch it so "GuiClose" has a value of "Q" and "PlayerDropItem" has a value of "Esc". Then you can close windows with Q, and drop items with Esc on the very rare occasion you may need to do that. Let me know if you try it and it works.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 02:09

DeepQantas: Jan 13, 2008; Ah, to be a Hero... Keeping such company...

Wee Tinkle Wand posted:

A friend found an awesome grenade launcher in a crate during the moon mission and just blew away those superminers.

Same. Is it even randomized?

# ? Jan 30, 2015 02:26

Space Skeleton: Sep 28, 2004

DeepQantas posted:

Same. Is it even randomized?

I dunno, if the loot isn't random then that might have been the one crate I skipped.

# ? Jan 30, 2015 02:27

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 03:02

Dandywalken: Feb 11, 2014

The syntax for the mod packer is [packer location] [folder you're making] [name of file in folder you're making] right?

# ? Jan 30, 2015 02:41

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Starbound: You may find yourself waiting for a better game.

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