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IamA Lead Indie developer on Indie game Starbound, we just launched a huge update AMA!
Hi there,
In the last few years I've gone from hobbyist to starting a successful studio and producing a hit indie game. It's been a crazy learning process full of successes and mistakes. Hopefully I can offer some insight.
To find out a bit more about the game head to www.playstarbound.com We've just launched a huge new update. Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6db4718sRY
My Proof: https://twitter.com/Tiyuri/status/636327459311517696
Splatulated26 karma
is ship to ship combat in Starbound still going to be a thing? and any chance the game going on sale anytime soon so i can get some copies to my friends ?
Tiyuri29 karma
If we ever do ship to ship combat it will be post 1.0. I like the idea of a team manning a ship like a multiplayer FTL.
LudovicM7 karma
How would this be handled? Currently every players have their own ship so would we see something like players having the options to "join up" as part of the crew of an already existing player ship when joining a multiplayer server(especially with how large upgraded ships can get)?
Tiyuri16 karma
Well players can already form parties and visit other players ships in order to travel together. During travelling perhaps those ships could be attacked and it's up to the current crew to jump into action.
Splatulated4 karma
what version are we on now o.o ? or how would I check that my self
also is there any way to change a character's name after it has been created (my friend made a stupidly long character name and it takes at least 2 minutes to invite them to any party we make if they're not host and would be awesome if could direct them on how to shorten it with out asking them to start over)
Tiyuri12 karma
I'm afraid there's not really a way to change a character's name at the moment. Some character save editors exist out there, you could try one of those, but be careful what you download.
We're on version "pleased giraffe"
Splatulated3 karma
any chance that a name changing station could be made some where at the outpost and you could change your name for 500 pixels ?
also i hope you don't switch from "x" giraffe to 1.0 in terms of build names I like the words more than numbers (would really be disappointing to come back to starbound one day and see its on build 1.2339 instead of excited giraffe or something)
Tiyuri10 karma
I'll talk name changing over with the team tomorrow (2:30am here at the moment!) but I like the idea. I'll make sure we keep adding animals. Though lots of people are asking for a number to go with the words.
Tiyuri31 karma
My favourite dungeon right now is one we've not included in any releases yet. It's a more traditional 'maze with various floors' dungeon that produces large, branching dungeons that end in mini-boss rooms. It creates very different layouts each time and it's length makes each dungeon feel like an adventure.
Faliceer13 karma
Are there any plans to increase the difficulty? I'd personally like to see the implants done away with in favor of something more immersive that isn't basically, "oh, you did a quest and now you can walk around and breathe radiation like a champ."
Maybe a hazmat suit, a diving suit, etc. etc. would be more appropriate?
Any plans to make it so we can create colonies on worlds without oxygen and have blocks that enable oxygen to be produced inside a building and be contained by airlocks or shield generators?
Tiyuri9 karma
Some of these ideas we're considering and will be part of the finished progression. Others I think we'd like to leave to the realm of mods. It's hard to add depth to survival systems without adding too much difficulty for people that would like to play casually
SweetMopy12 karma
Looking back on your journey would you do anything differently? If so, what would you do differently and why?
Tiyuri18 karma
I would take a really long hard look at going early access so early. Starbound has taken far, far longer to develop than we had anticipated and much of that is down to sacrifices we had to make to go early access.
When we first entered early access we realised early on that a game at 20% completion just wasn't fun to play. Few games that follow a logical, traditional development cycle are fun to play that early on. We ended up ensuring each early access release was playable by developing sideways. Producing features that didn't quite match our vision, that we intended to replace later, because they were easier or could be produced in less time and ensured that each release was more well rounded and playable.
At this point it feels as if we've developed Starbound 4 times over whilst trying to get every feature into the engine we required to make the game we intended to make in the first place.
Luckily we're finally at the point where the engine is almost complete and everything we're producing as of this point is final. I think it's really beginning to show in the way the game is far more robust and polished, with complex and interesting game systems becoming a part of the core experience.
LudovicM11 karma
By curiosity, with all the content seen in outposts, is there a possibility of seeing some of that content "leak" into regular NPC villages(like newly opened franchise for Frögg Furnishing)? And can we expect more content to be developed for villages in terms of gameplay or services they could offer?
Tiyuri10 karma
One of the major additions to villages coming in the next update is procedural quest lines. These quest lines will define and evolve relationships between village members. I like the idea of Frögg Furnishing and some of the other outpost shops expanding!
Dream_Vegas9 karma
What's a normal day in the office like for you and the people of chucklefish?
Tiyuri12 karma
I'm not sure there's a normal day. Some days are very quiet and we're all working hard at the work in front of us. Others are very loud as we get into passionate design discussions or debates on features.
There are some constants though, like dealing with George's crazy ideas.
xxswatelitexx9 karma
Any plans for variations of city location types later? Most if not all current "city type dungeons" are based on the planetary surface. Variations could be Sub Orbital \ Underground \ Under the ocean etc.
[ I understand full well the impracticality of having to find them in such odd locations, but exploration is about exploring and finding unique things in unique places also ]
I know its old but I just want to suggest Star Ship Troopers Warrior Bugs \ Hive planets would be a delight.
Tiyuri12 karma
We're going to have ocean cities and possibly floating island/asteroid cities. As well as a ruined city biome.
LudovicM7 karma
Ruined city biome sounds very awesome! Anything you can tease about these? (I might be a large fan of ruined multi-layered dystopian hive cities like a post-apocalypse Coruscant ; )
Tiyuri11 karma
We might have some preview images up on the blog this week :) we're finally using the "wrecked" assets in the game!
Harest8 karma
If i had one question, it'd be about underground terrain generation. Do you think you'll succeed to do something as appealing as it is in Terraria, or close enough ?
Last time i played Starbound was at the really beginning, ~15h during this period. And as far as i remember, i definitely not found what i loved in Terraria : The joy of exploring a planet. I know in Starbound the thing is : you're exploring a lot of planets. But i found the planets quite empties. The terrain generation is a huge strength of Terraria. Many improvements has been made since the beginning of the public alpha, but i'm not quite confident about my concern just yet.
Anyway, i wish to the team all the best.
Tiyuri7 karma
Take a look at Starbound now :) the planets are far far more full of life and interesting things to find, it was one of our focuses during this update, but it's been something we've been working on throughout development. Part of the next update is improving content underground and making it feel just as lively as the surface biomes but it's already far more interesting than it's ever been, with challenge rooms, microdungeons, etc all appearing undergrouned.
billwood097 karma
Where do you see Starbound being in about six months? How long do you think it'll be until you see it as a finished product?
Tiyuri18 karma
In 6 months or sooner I hope Starbound will contain a complete set of story quests that really reveal and wrap up the game's mysteries, an interesting procedural quest system that's rather unique to Starbound, a ton of interesting rewards that make exploring the sandbox feel more worthwhile, lots of combat changes, vehicles, mod sharing, workshop support and maybe even 'director mode'. We also plan to have hit console in that time!
LudovicM4 karma
That sounds awesome :) What can we expect from vehicles in the (far?) future? And what kind of rewards could we expect for exploration? I always enjoyed the idea of being able to claim and name planets we explore or even being able to name our colonies in a way that could be be displayed to others so I cannot help but being curious ;
Kastornak6 karma
Are there plans for more complex colonization-related events down the line, such as your colonies being attacked, construction of functional buildings beyond just housing (resurrection hub, communal spaces, etc), or anything else?
Tiyuri12 karma
Absolutely. Tom (one of our programmers) is currently working on a procedural quest system that ties directly into the Colony system. He's taking a really interesting approach (the result of a lot of research) and I'm hoping he can do a write up soon.
Not only does his proposed system generate quests, but it generates quest lines and drama between different NPCs in (and out of) a colony. These quests may involve the colony being attacked, but often they're about the characters and their relationships.
phpDie6 karma
What plans, if any, are there for better server maintainability and performance? I run a dedicated server and find it very difficult to get anything meaningful or useful done in my universe.
Specifically what i mean is that i have a ton of things i would like to build for public places, like a PVP arena, or a refueling station that harnesses the "Martinus Transormation" as a couple examples. What typically happens is that i get the build done and the planet becomes too laggy to have people visit. Or building doesn't finish due to the server becoming too laggy to play on with more that half a dozen or so people. I have a semi-beefy server (2xQuad Core Xeons, 32GB memory, RAID etc...).
Maintenance wise these built structures, if they do become popular places, will run into the griefing issue. Daily backups and restores are a band aid, as well as the simple dungeon id things we can already do. I do feel though that there is a layer of server protection that the owners are missing.
I believe that when those things are solved, actually server communities can be born and the true potential of the game furthered.
Thanks for reading, love the game!
Tiyuri9 karma
Multiplayer is something we plan to make super strong and stable by 1.0. We're constantly improving it every update, but as long as we're constantly changing core engine code and adding large new features stability and speed will suffer a little. Luckily all core engine code is almost complete and we'll be able to pump time into really perfecting server support.
We're also planning to add shield generators for admins to use if they need to protect structures. Those along side being able to control whether or not modded clients can connect to a server should solve a lot of the griefing issues.
HatsyaSouji6 karma
1st: Say, do we get to meet the Hylotls on the surface? Like even a little temple of theirs rose from the ocean.
2nd: I have to be honest here, but you just created an evolving world monster with a nearly jRPG-esque storytelling in a side-scrolling open-world game! So, what are your main inspirations (usually of popular Western & Eastern media) in developing Starbound?
Tiyuri6 karma
There will be a chance to meet the Hylotls, but it probably won't be on the surface!
A great number of games have inspired Starbound. The 16-bit era of gaming was likely my favourite era and one that's going to affect everything I make from here on out. Metroid, Castlevania, Sonic, Mario, etc have all been incredibly inspirations.
HatsyaSouji5 karma
3rd question: If I am to barge into the games industry, where should I start? I'm so far a pixel artist for Starbound mods, and an anime character artist for my online novel on Wattpad & Royal Road.
Tiyuri2 karma
Complete some projects, hone your craft and gather a portfolio to show an employer. With art it's honestly 90% down to the quality of your work and your ability to see things through. Good luck!
Tiyuri5 karma
Yup, it's one of the things we're hiring someone to work on for console, that will be put into the PC version too!
NotessimoALIENS5 karma
I've never played starbound before, what can I look forward to playing when I do play it?
Tiyuri6 karma
A huge open universe sandbox, with endless structures, items, creatures and dungeons to find. Great building mechanics, a colonisation system, multiplayer, NPCs full of life, missions, ongoing updates and a mysterious story that's just being explored.
Varixai5 karma
The Scifi Dungeon was recently removed. It was one of my favorites.
Will we see something similar again, or was it really just an experimental one off that was never meant to be in the final game? (as quiqksilver mentioned here)
(by similar I mean sprawling / mysterious / hi-tech .. it really fit starbound's theme I thought, was very unique)
haydeeho4 karma
Hey Tiy!
I created Galaxy Citizen, one of Starbound's largest and most active player community apart from your official community, and I just wanted to say thank you for the game that you created. It has been a pleasure running a server for your game over the last year and a half (even with the server problems) and we hope to keep going with getting players playing together in the game for a long time to come!
My question to you is: What inspired you to make the game?
Tiyuri6 karma
I know server perf and stability is probably the ultimate thing we can do for you and the community but if there are other ways we can help you out too definitely let us know.
My inspiration largely stemmed from playing games like Minecraft with wonderful sandboxes and open world content but feeling like I wanted the option of going on an adventure or staring a story within that sandbox. That's the goal ultimately and when 1.0 hits with a great big story and set of missions we'll see how well it works. I'm confident it's going to be awesome!
DangerQuinn4 karma
What will the name of the next update be, following the trend of "Pleased Giraffe" and the like?
Saklad54 karma
Could you improve the grind of sorting through inventories? Do you have such an improvement in the works?
Tiyuri8 karma
In this update we added auto sorting, new inventory tabs and a manual sort button :) the inventory also highlights new items and has extra slots!
Varixai4 karma
Speaking of, can you have it so that the object and block slots overflow into the first bag on the left when they are full and you pick up an item? A ton of people don't like that you don't auto pickup stuff when you clearly have bag space.
Tiyuri6 karma
yeah we've heard arguments from both sides on this, still trying to decide which way to go!
maskison4 karma
What's the most difficult part of going from having an idea for a game to actually making the game?
Tiyuri9 karma
Sticking with it until the end. Game development is often incredibly creative, fun and rewarding. But some of the time it's really not. You have to be willing to just slog away at a project until it works.
Facewizard4 karma
What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?
If you had to cook and eat a member of any sentient race from starbound, which would be tastiest?
Tiyuri6 karma
Raspberry.
I would use a Novakid to cook an Avian and garnish with a Floran.
Tiyuri5 karma
Yup, there are lots of changes to every weapon, even as far as the manner in which primary fire functions
dethnight3 karma
Do you guys have a plan to improve combat? I remember reading that combat changes were coming but I haven't really seen what the plan is for it.
Great game btw, excited to see how it changes over the next year.
Tiyuri13 karma
We've taken a few steps in the new update, bullets are faster, attacks are more responsive, feedback on hitting monsters is much better. It already feels a million times better than what was there in the previous update.
The next update is the combat update, it'll contain special attacks on two handed weapons, new armor stats, new monster types, unique items that take advantage of our scripted weapon system to do incredibly interesting and varied things.
http://gfycat.com/ObedientSecretFlounder here is one of many quick experiments
Katter3 karma
Hey Starbound team! Keep up the good work.
You've been in development for a while now. Do you ever get tired of working on Starbound? Is it hard to stay motivated to keep fixing and updating all of the systems involved? What keeps you motivated day-to-day?
Tiyuri3 karma
Working on Starbound is still great fun, we have a really cool supportive team and our constant interactions with the community really help to motivate us. I think we're all very excited about working on a new game one day and a Starbound sequel, but not yet!
CoffeeDragon163 karma
So, In Starbound I just made a cool colony (Sorry if there are alot of requests for coding) and on my planet it rains alot. I noticed sometimes my tenants leave the door open and flood there house, could you fix that? Plus, I picked a planet infested with enemies (I have around 12 turrets so far) and I'm getting spammed with, "Help me! I'm defensless!!" Can you make it so they say that when they get actually hit? Thanks!
Darkpursuer3 karma
What awesome feature do you wish you could add to Starbound but couldn't?
Tiyuri3 karma
If I had infinite time i'd implement the crazy monster generator we had planned that just ended up kind of out of scope. It'd make monsters and planets feel far more unique but I doubt we'll have time pre 1.0. That said, there will be a lot more monster variety by 1.0, just the insane spore-like system we were experimenting with might come a bit later.
Darkpursuer2 karma
Speaking of monsters, did the giant dinosaur monster you teased few months back make it into the game? If not, will it?
Tiyuri3 karma
It did and it works, I'd like to really polish it up a lot if we include it in a patch though.
Sungazer_the_Scribe3 karma
Will there ever be a Wasteland/Ruined planet biome or sub-biome? I'd really love to see planets that have evidence of having HAD a civilization on them, not to mention possibly the Mad Max/Fallout/Borderlands-esque sort of cobbled-together/misunderstood feel of the people still living on the planet's surface.
Tiyuri3 karma
Mentioned this in another answer but you might see some progress blog posts about exactly that this or next week
jzhang3963 karma
The employers station recipes were removed? What do I do with this useless table then?
Kastornak3 karma
Do you have any especially funny or ridiculous stories about things that happened during development? Did the office puppy ever submit code to the project?
Tiyuri2 karma
Our team is generally funny and ridiculous :P so it's hard to pick out any one thing. We've had an endless number of hilarious bugs given the nature of putting together such a large game with interlocking systems. Pets multiplying, NPCs spontaneously dancing, terrain unintentionally generating penis shapes. You name it.
Splatulated3 karma
Will hunger and cold/over heating return ? (hopefully as a toggle-able option for those that do or don't like this)
Tiyuri2 karma
Hunger definitely will, with some good changes. Cold and warmth we're still investigating :)
Splatulated3 karma
can it be toggle able please ? its a good feature for those that like the extra challenge but it gets in the way for those that just want to explore
grampipon1 karma
What are the teams' considerations about temperature, and what are your thoughts about it?
Tiyuri3 karma
I think if we put it back in it needs to be more intuitive, perhaps related to weather effects that obviously appear on the screen rather than a hidden stat. The tricky part is then figuring out how to do it underground.
Tiyuri5 karma
Id like to! Got the mechanic planned out, likely something we might be able to do with scripted items in this next update
ConfusingDalek3 karma
Will you make it so you can adopt other race's ship pets at the outpost, and you just start with the default for your race?
xilandro3 karma
With the hiring of at least one member of the StarFoundry team, can we expect to see features from that mod make it into the vanilla game?
Tiyuri3 karma
Metadept and Healthire are really pushing for it one day. I think to bring it to vanilla a lot of the Starfoundry systems need a lot of work in the accessibility department, but there are some great additions there
Sheittanis3 karma
Hey tiy,
Met you guys at egx and spent a lot of time talking about the game so you pretty much covered almost all of my questions. Just wanted to drop by and say a huge thanks for your time and for the effort you've put into the game all this time. Also, you mentioned a lot of vanity /fun items such as the gnome gun and their origin, will there be more coming? And mostly, how's your day?:D
Tiyuri2 karma
Hey there :)
My day is good (though up far too late IAMAing, going to feel it tomorrow!) there will definitely be more fun guns/toys. Look for lots of them in the next update!
xBoopies2 karma
What got you started on being a Game Designer and what were things that you did to help get you started and moving towards that?
Tiyuri4 karma
I started working on games in the Unreal Tournament modding scene, then moved from there into open source games. I think working on open source games was an incredibly valuable experience for me, it taught me a great deal about the development process and how to work with other developers.
Tiyuri3 karma
Yup! The artists are working on two new biomes at the moment. A ruined city and a midnight biome.
Splatulated2 karma
what is the most exciting thing you have personally found with in the game ? or what do you hope could be improved ?
Tiyuri2 karma
I think the major areas that need improvement right now are combat in the context of more diversity, better rewards that feel valuable when owned and a more interesting underground. We're addressing all of these things in the next patch and I think it's really good to make the game feel polished.
Heriol2 karma
Hey, Tiyuri, do you guys intend on adding Hylotl and Novakid villages to the game just like the other races? I know we have saloon set now, and Hylotl furniture is already ingame, but unobtainable. Those are my favorite races, and I'd really like to see them more often, just like any other race. Keep up the good work, team! :)
Tiyuri3 karma
Definitely intending too, they're sadly just not as fundamental to gameplay as the other things we're working on at the moment, but I'm desperate to get all of that furniture spawning and god knows a wild west themed village would be amazing.
CrystaIGems2 karma
Will we see more pet updates soon for Starbound? Such as being able to have more than one pet, having other race's pets, having pets follow you on planets, etc.?
Tiyuri6 karma
We have a bunch of plans for pets, some of them might make it into the next update. We need to get those pet slots working!
Varixai2 karma
Hi Tiyuri. Can you expand on or confirm for a specific update anything on the Upcoming Features wiki page?
I try to keep it very up to date, but there are tons of things on there that either very little has been said about or they were said over a year ago. (and therefore it's unknown whether they are still planned) You don't have to answer during this AMA, but I'd love it if you could give it a once over at some point.
P.S. I let the Starbound subreddit know about this, kinda caught us off guard.
Tiyuri2 karma
I'd be happy to sit down and go through it with you. It'd be a bit large for the AMA as you said, message me :)
Eduardogbg2 karma
Hi! I'm really into searching things about Indie studios, and it raised me a question: Don't you guys fear cracked versions of the game? They are out there (or here?) in the internet and anyone can easily download them. Glad for the attention.
Tiyuri6 karma
Not much anyone can do about them without inconveniencing paying customers. I just ignore them
shootermcgvn2 karma
I'm pretty burned out on survival craft games. What makes this project stand out among the likes of Terraria?
Tiyuri5 karma
Atmosphere and a lot of unique ideas.
Starbound excels, in my opinion, at producing atmospheric world's. Even with the limitations of 2D. It also contains a lot of ideas and features seen in few other games and you can watch these features develop and mould them through the early access program.
Slenderthe2 karma
Which features that are currently pretty complete looking are going to see the most drastic changes before the 1.0 release? I know you guys want to finish questing and multiplayer stuff, but I'm more asking about features players might think will be as-is at release that you plan to be like, "Surprise! We changed it to something even more awesome :3"
Tiyuri3 karma
Combat is probably the biggest one. The combat changes are going to be huge and really make the game feel fresh
lazarus782 karma
Modding question: will we get the ability to define custom star coordinates? Also, what about setting hard limits to the universe size. IE: for making custom systems in a controlled location for adventure/story style mods.
Tiyuri2 karma
Interesting ideas, likely not too hard for us to add either. Might be post 1.0 though as they wouldn't be features we'd use ourselves
Wow_Space2 karma
Tiyuri, are you ever planning on doing anything with instruments and songs in Starbound? Honestly I find them as pretty great. Especially how we can play our own songs but I personally think some instruments need polishing. Are you ever gonna add any more instruments? I was hoping in particular the ukulele.
One more question; IIRC, you guys are developing a way for players to share missions and worlds between each other? When will this feature/tool be available for players? How will it work exactly? Also, will the public ever get the tool like the one contributor quiksilver possesses for easy development on maps?
I may be asking too much but honestly I was very interested in Starbound's development quite some time ago and as of today. It's a game that enables the player to do so much of their own thing and has infinite potential of becoming a better and bigger game. That's what got me into it. I wish the best of luck to you and your dev. team!
Tiyuri3 karma
Id like the instruments to have some gameplay mechanics attached and Stephen is always adding new instruments in his spare time, so a ukulele may come. The version of the map editor were using will be released eventually, but I think without a tutorial from us it may be a bit of a nightmare to figure out at the moment. Maybe we can write some documentation and get it out sooner
Kingpwn2 karma
What can we (we being the starbound community) do to ward off the uneducated masses on the Steam forums & reviews who think the game just isn't being worked on?
Tiyuri5 karma
We try to post daily blogs full of content, we're streaming our work and answering questions directly several times a week and we're easy to reach on IRC. Trying our best to stay present and reachable whilst working hard!
Splatulated2 karma
Are you allowed to say anything at all about this door http://i.imgur.com/XHvHDaf.png in terms of its origins, purpose, or how to possibly open it ?
Tiyuri5 karma
That would be spoiling one of Starbounds biggest mysteries :) the clues are there though
TheRealSeabiscuit2 karma
Will we ever get pets that follow us? I don't mean the combat pets, but rather like the ship pets; it'd be nice to take our ship pets to our home planet, or something.:D
Tiyuri8 karma
The thing about ship pets is that their being tied to a single location allows us to do a lot more with their behaviour. They can be cross and choose to ignore you or stop following you, they can be playful and run off after their toys. If we have them following you most of these behaviours will become irritations. But some members of the team are definitely championing the cause.
We have discussed being able to bring pets to a world and have them tethered to a location so you can bring them into your colonies.
Tiyuri3 karma
The big plan for Starbound after 1.0 is 'Director mode', something I think is hugely unique and quite special. Someone compiled a chat log of my talking about it in IRC here:
http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/director-mode.5522/
LudovicM2 karma
Will we see at some point a way to "claim" a planet and maybe name it too, as an addition to colonies system?
Tiyuri4 karma
One of the long term ideas (post 1.0 maybe) we were kicking around for colonies involved planet ownership. If you have the largest colony on a planet, that planet would become yours and you'd gain a particular resource income depending on the difficulty and rarity of the planet. However, another player (depending on server settings etc) would be able to come in and attempt to build a bigger colony/sabotage yours and claim that resource for themselves.
Dretox2 karma
Did you consider adding small spaceships to fly in the planets and around their solar system?
PS. Sorry for my bad English.
ChillOutAndSmile2 karma
For someone looking into creating procedurally generated games, what kind of tutorials or documentation helped you learn?
Tiyuri2 karma
We learned a lot from some of the procedural games out there in regards to what does and doesn't work.
There isn't a great deal of meaningful material out there outside of the basics (perlin noise etc) when it comes to procedural games, I think it's a relatively unexplored territory and the majority of people looking at procedural generation right now are still experimenting.
letsmakemistakes2 karma
Does the Starbound team have any cool features for multiplayer in the pipeline? I'd love to see some cool community features baked in for larger servers!
Also, I once maintained a little player save editor and I might start working on it again if you guys are cool with that sort of thing. (are you?)
Tiyuri2 karma
One of the multiplayer features I'm most excited about is servers distributing mods to clients, so you'll be able to jump straight onto modded servers. That and steam integration for workshop and matchmaking/inviting friends.
Totally cool with you working on a player save editor :)
DoneZ2 karma
Are you focusing on open world mechanics or more on objectives like colonies?
Tiyuri5 karma
I consider colonies very much an open world mechanic, it ties into every aspect of the sandbox! :) That said, the missions and sandbox are both equally important to us. One will feed the other.
CyborgDragon2 karma
When can we expect the survival elements to be refined and added back in? Or will they be added back at all? And if they will be, would you mind giving us an idea of what the plan is with them?
Tiyuri4 karma
The plan is to reimplement hunger before 1.0 with some changes. Food will rot if left in the inventory for too long (refrigeration will keep it fresh!). Hunger will deplete slower and food may become unstackable.
Tiyuri3 karma
We had a bunch of problems with steam scripts not installing the VC re-distributable that some computers required as a prerequisite before starting Starbound. It should have fixed those install scripts, as well as a few bugs here and there.
Professor_Retro2 karma
Greetings!
Way back in your last AMA, I asked about the possibility of Elevators and moving platforms. Now that the big colonization update is out (and awesome, I might add) and we're one step closer to the "Vehicles" update, can you give us any more details about what we can expect from that update?
You needn't go into too much detail, maybe just share what you'd like to see or what your overall goals are in terms of vehicles / moving platforms. I can understand if you don't want to talk about things still in development given how the community behaves sometimes.
Tiyuri4 karma
The idea is to get the concept of server side entities with physics and collisions that the player can interact with. This means things like elevators and moving platforms, but it also means things like vehicles that can seat multiple players, or platforms that one player can stand on and another player can remote control. We'l likely only include a handful of vehicles in that patch and ensure they all feel really good to operate, but we'll likely make a lot of use out of various pseudo vehicles like platforms and elevators.
Tiyuri4 karma
Absolutely, we've got lots of ideas there and we definitely want to get those pet slots functional. Just how many of the ideas we can get into 1.0 I'm not sure, so I'm reluctant to go into too much detail. But it will see updates.
Johnoni0 karma
I'd like to see more of the Starbound lore in the game to discover how each race came to be and their history. Are there any plans to implement back stories to the races within the game some how? Or will it be left open ended ?
Tiyuri4 karma
When the story update rolls around with its set of missions you'll learn a lot more about the races. Also the story update will contain a whole bunch of new lore documents and quests that tie it together nicely.
jzhang3960 karma
Can you consider implementing more tools for farming? Like hoses or more widespread watering cans that can cover more ground? Players like me who have large farms may find it rather tedious to water 4 - 5 blocks a drop at a time. Maybe instead of every stage of growth fertile soil could be on a timer, which varies depending on how dry the planet is? Maybe the hoses and watering cans should use 1 water in your inventory per droplet? Idk if you think these ideas or dumb, but thanks for taking them into consideration.
Also have you thought of adding onto the wiki? Some information i search for is either a stub, unavailable, or confusing. And i think there's more than 1 starbound wiki, which further confuses me.
Tiyuri4 karma
More farming tools are coming, and katzeus is working hard to bring the wiki up to speed
Solour0 karma
Hey Tiy! Anything about more "In-Depth" armor customization? Like, instead of just coloring, you could do more to armor and clothing to really make it your own, special piece? It sounds good on paper :P
Tiyuri3 karma
Not sure if it'll be pre 1.0, but we'd like to do armor augmentations one day, changing the stats around somehow
Splatulated0 karma
Will this game go on Sale anytime soon ? I really want to buy like 3 friends a copy but its a little much at full price x.x
Professor_Retro39 karma
Any chance we'll be able to name our ships? Perhaps display the ship's name when you first beam aboard it, in the same way planet names are displayed when you first beam down to them?
Utterly pointless, but I think it'd be kinda neat.
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