Starbound – Exciting Informational Tidbits From Last Week’s AMA

As promised last week, I have taken the time to compile some of the information on Starbound that developer Chucklefish decided to toss out in a Reddit AMA a little over a week ago. Some new, some old — and all tasty.

I’ll be including information from the thread that most of Starbound’s followers are already familiar with, along with some “new” stuff. This way, those of you just as hyped as I am can have an easily available source of tasty information to show your friends and convince them to jump on the hype train. Choo choo!

As of right now, the game us at over $895,000 in pre-orders! Starter pets will be implemented into the game should pre-orders surpass $1,000,000.

(Note: The links in each point lead to the source post on Reddit.)

• The Chucklefish Starbound team promises that the game will continue to have dev support “for a long time after release”. Once the main team eventually moves from the project, a small secondary team will be tasked with continuing small updates.
• Users will be able to host their own servers, though the game will have some security. (Note: A post in the AMA states a single server will be able to maintain an in-game universe.)
• The pre-order money is going straight into development. Dev team members previously working second jobs can instead dedicate themselves to the project entirely. This speeds up the development process and allows them to add more content to the game without taking up more time.
• Starbound’s modding API will not be available upon release, though some aspects of the game may be moddable during beta. The game’s actual API is planned to be extensive.
• Characters will be able to have separate effective and cosmetic item slots.
• Many planets will have some of the same materials, such as coal for ship fuel.
• The Starbound engine supports planets containing multiple biomes, but planets will have one primary biome containing sub-biomes by default.
• Planets will have a core and will be fully circular, meaning players can walk in a straight line and end up where they started; as well as dig to the center of a planet.
• Environments will feel “alive” in sound, like, and environmental effects.
• Ship progress will be tied to a player’s character as opposed to being server or account-bound.
• “The universe, worlds, biomes, trees, guns, armor, melee weapons, npcs, dungeons, the sky, the weather, underground layers and more are all procedurally generated/have procedural generated elements.”
• Space combat may be added to the game post-release.
• Chucklefish would ideally like the game to use the Steam API for server hosting.
• The Novakid race emits a faint glow, but not enough to see in a dark cave.
• Instead of open-world boss fights, the development team is working on designated boss rooms for more structured battles.
• Characters will starve to death if they do not eat regularly. Some foods will heal as well. Players can choose to turn the hunger feature off.
• They are working on a wiring system for more advanced pieces of technology, such as the technologically advanced gate.
• PvP will be available, including an optional always-on PvP mode. Several PvP modes will be added post-release.
• Starbound may receive OUYA support later on down the line.
• In-game text will be relatively meme-free. Thank God.
• Dungeons will be indestructible until players remove a specific item from inside, after which players will be able to destroy dungeon areas.
• Players will be able to change their characters’ appearance upon death, for an in-game fee.
• Spaceships will be customizable and upgradable.
• “Within a biome, a whole ton of things change. Trees, colours, backdrop, ore distribution and a whole bunch more. But outside of biomes, the threat level, the temperature, some environment variables, enemies, dungeons, the terrain shapes, the style of caves, the underground layers and more.”
• Most planets will be full of life, but some will be dead planets.
• Vehicles are confirmed, but riding animals will not be seeing development until post-release.
• The game will be DRM-free, though Chucklefish may implement an account system for playing online.
• A single server will be able to handle as many players as the host’s computer and internet connection can handle.

A bunch of stuff spoken about in one post:

• 100% of what is seen on the roadmap is being worked into the game — though not everything being put into the game is on the roadmap.
• Separate main and story quests confirmed. Side quests will be procedurally generated and “unlimited in number”.
• Mountable mechs will old multiple uses and can be beamed down from a player’s ship.
• Every player will have their own spaceship.
• NPCs will be both hostile and friendly.
• The boat seen in screenshots will be the player’s mode of transportation over oceans. Fishing will possibly be added post-release.

From one post:

• Players will be able to catch monsters.
• Layers of soil will vary from planet to planet.
• Players will be able to build upward until they reach space.

From another post:

• The game engine supports a huge amount of procedurally generated star systems and planets. Players will be able to be head to a random planet if they don’t like the one they have landed on.
• Fluff text will be everywhere; from NPC dialogue and one-liners to interactive environmental items.

There may be some stuff I haven’t covered on Reddit’s Table, and there are some things not shown on that list that are seen here. Be sure to take a look over there if you think I’m as untrustworthy as I think I am. Akakak — er.. Choo choo!

(Official site)