Starbound, New Space Exploration Game

About

Starbound is a brand new game undergoing active development by Chucklefish, an indie game company made up of a lovely group of dudes and dudettes.  It’s expected to be released towards the end of Summer 2012, but we’re willing to take the extra time to get things JUST right.

If you like what you see, please feel free to leave a comment or tell your friends.  We hope this blog can be an insight into the trials and tribulations of the development process, the people behind the game, and what we hope to achieve.

A story within a sandbox

Starbound begins with you fleeing your homeworld in a space shuttle, just as it’s destroyed by an unknown enemy. With nothing to guide it, the escape pod shoots into space without direction, becoming hopelessly lost in a sea of stars. As luck would have it, the space shuttle makes contact with an abandoned space station and an adventure begins that will take you hurtling across the universe. Starbound contains both quests and story driven missions, buried inside its vast sandbox universe.

The Space Station

The space station in Starbound is sprawling and full of potential. Throughout your travels you’ll find ways to upgrade and repair it, restoring it to its former glory. You’ll need to find a crew, conduct research, catch rare creatures, and unlock its multitude of facilities. From a factory capable of producing mechs to labs where captured enemies can be studied and trained, the space station contains everything you need to explore the universe.



Endless Planets to visit

Planets in Starbound are entirely procedurally generated and filled to the brim with unique content. We went into the planet generation with one simple goal: no two planets should be the same. By procedurally generating even the smallest details, we’re doing just that. Not only is the terrain of the planet procedurally generated, but the weather, the gravity, the difficulty level, the plant life, the behaviour and appearance of alien creatures, and much more all contain random or procedurally generated elements.

We want you to feel like an explorer!

Because we’re working so hard to make each planet unique, we want to give you the tools to catalogue the things you find and make sure absolutely everything you find has depth in the world. Much like old school point and click adventures, absolutely every object in the world, right down to the trees and flowers, can be examined for a description.

See a weird alien tree? Examine it! Maybe you’ll discover something about its use! For any explorer, sharing discoveries is important. So whilst the game is fully coop (Bring your friends along! Form an expedition!) you can also record your findings in an electronic logbook. Not only that, but each and every planet has unique coordinates in the Universe that you can share online, so other players can check out exactly what you found!



Finding a new home

Exploring is wonderful, but everyone needs a place to call their own. That’s why we’re letting you claim an entire planet!

When you claim a planet as your new homeworld, a whole new aspect of gameplay opens up. Everything that makes a planet unique is at your command. Feel like changing the weather? Build a weather centre! Don’t like the terrain? Terraform it! Every aspect of the planet is under your control. Once you’re happy with it, start populating it with characters you’ve met in your travels and take care of them! They’ll have needs and desires and won’t hesitate to ask for your help if they require assistance.

This is only just scratching the surface of what we have in store for you in Starbound.

Make sure to visit often for news updates, reveals of new features, and other goodies.

We’ll be announcing more exciting features on the dev blog soon, so stay tuned!

[17:02] <@Tiy> Nodscouter, you will be able to play as species besides human

[17:23] <Nodscouter> By the way Tiy, will each planet have several biomes or always just one?
[17:24] <@Tiy> Nodscouter several

[17:24] <@Tiy> Nodscouter, you can capture almost any monster in the game and use it as a pet / train it

[17:36] <Nodscouter> Rho_ , will we be able to explore more of the space station the more we upgrade it?
[17:36] <@Rho_> sort of Nodscouter
[17:36] <Nodscouter> Rho_ how so?
[17:36] <@Rho_> the idea is when you first encounter the space station, most of its facilities will be out of commission/abandoned

[17:36] <Gamegamer0> What is the best room in the space station
[17:37] <Gamegamer0> In your opinion?
[17:37] <@Rho_> the bar
[17:37] <@Rho_> definitely

[17:39] <@Rho_> also Nodscouter, there's the possibility of adding extra rooms as DLC

[17:40] <@Rho_> Nodscouter, weapon crafting will be done through the factory NPC

[17:41] <Nodscouter> Rho_ will we have any say in how it looks or its stats?
[17:41] <@Rho_> no, it's dependent on the NPC
[17:41] <@Rho_> if you don't like the weapons an NPC offers, replace him

[17:42] <Nodscouter> Rho_ In multiplayer, will the players share one space station or will everyone have their own?
[17:43] <@Rho_> players share one space station, it's a communal thing
[17:43] <@Rho_> else it'd get really lonely i think

[17:43] <@Rho_> i did have that idea DoctorG33K
[17:43] <@Rho_> of opposing space stations i.e. invasion mode
[17:44] <@Rho_> but, something like that
[17:44] <@Rho_> would be waaaaaaay post release

[17:47] <@Rho_> i'm probably going to do space hobo armor

[17:48] <Nodscouter> Rho_ are we going to be able to duel-wield pistols and such?
[17:48] <@Rho_> pistols and machine pistols yeah
[17:48] <@Rho_> those are the only one hand weapons
[17:49] <DoctorG33K> No swords?
[17:49] <DarkDXZ> But no shotguns?
[17:49] <Gamegamer0> swords
[17:49] <@Rho_> oh, and swords
[17:49] <@Rho_> everything else are two handed

[17:49] <@Rho_> there'll be energy swords yeah

[17:50] <@Rho_> i helped put together a really really complex gun stat system

[17:50] <@Rho_> guns are going to have a range of values...individual bullet damage, rate of fire, reload time, magazine size
[17:51] <@Rho_> the system takes those values
[17:51] <@Rho_> and calculates a median level out of all of them

[17:51] <@Rho_> there are sniper rifles

[17:55] <@Rho_> there's already tons of space marine armors
[17:55] <@Rho_> we already have a working dynamic thing for marine/military armors
[17:55] <@Rho_> not warhammer space marines
[17:56] <@Rho_> like, halo space marines
[17:57] <@Rho_> Ghost656, the space marines i drew were pretty much based on the guys from aliens

[17:56] <@Rho_> you'll be able to dye things


[18:07] <Gamegamer0> Rho: Will there be gender option? =D
[18:07] <@Rho_> yeah
[18:07] <@Rho_> there's a girl graphic that all things are compatible with

[18:32] <@Tiy> like you donate X amount, and in return, we will put an NPC of you in the game, to be found on random planets

Click to expand...

Tiyuri said to us before that Starbound is to be “a mix of diablo, metroid, castlevania, terraria, pokemon + some new stuff no one has ever done before” and “maybe borderlands too” – the guy wasn’t joking!
Multiplayer
“The whole universe will be available in both single and multiplayer. We’re looking at scaling the difficulty for multiplayer, but aside from that there’s no difference.”
The complete story, quests and universe will all be available in multiplayer; so you can do the whole game with friends
Multiplayer numbers should be per server and go up to large numbers
“Our test server is running on a terrible connection and we’ve had around 10 people in with zero troubles”
“Latency is pretty well handled at the moment; I play with a friend from Australia and I’m in the UK”
There will be PVP – “we’re looking at creating premade “Arena asteroids” that you can visit to play in an organised game mode that will keep score, etc”
NPC’s
There is no limit to the amount of NPC’s you can have as part of your crew
There is a limit to how many NPC’s can occupy the Space Station as each has a specific role to fulfill
Any surplus NPC’s can be placed on your home world where they will “set up base, have needs, and send you on random quests”
There may or may not be factions – humanoids of certain similarities will work together though
Saving NPCs is a big part of expanding your space station
“There are times you will have to actively carry NPCs off of a planet with your hands full, so you won’t be able to use your guns. Your friends will really need to help you”
NPCs will have their own homes and will send you on quests like sending you “across the entire galaxy to find a special kind of pot plant to decorate their home”
You will be able to evict NPCs – “it’s a secret just how you’ll do that at the moment”

Equipment And Customization
“We have a procedural item system that produces items on the fly. I’ve got the rocket launcher stuff open right now, and there are MILLIONS of combinations of rocket launcher”
“The game even procedurally generates the graphic used for the guns, right now there are 21,000 different visual styles for rocket launcher. Then, each of those styles can be coloured individually. By release time, there will be many, many more; that’s just for rocket launcher”
Vanity slots will be available and will be full of wacky stuff
“There are so many different visual styles for armor (we’re using the same random generation system as weapons) that you won’t need “costumes” as such, because armor will cover everything. But! You can equip armor to be purely visual, just like in World of Warcraft”
You’ll be able to obtain weapons beyond picking them up from enemies
Ships will be customisable – “you’ll probably be able to paint it different colors, have different color schemes, attach decals”
You can use any weapon you find but can only manufacture ammo for a researched weapon – “that lets us place things at key locations for missions and set pieces”
“There won’t be skills or traits, but items will give you skills and items will get better as the game progresses”
“Tech slots augment your character in certain ways. Jetpacks, short range teleporters, stomp boots”
Weapons come in one and two handed varieties
“When you equip two weapons, the left mouse button activates one, the right mouse button activates the other. So you could equip say, a sword and a pistol and use them in combination”
Some items require battery power which you’ll need to recharge
Construction/Destruction
There will be mining
“The terrain is fully deformable, so you can go underground. Managing your city is going to be really interesting. You’re going to have control over pretty much everything”
There will be a UFO attached to the player’s home world which can be used to pick up and place NPC’s, as well as terraform on a large scale
“There are going to be facilities you can place down, that may take the form of buildings. For example a weather control station on your homeworld”
You’ll be able to build block by block
“Crafting is rather different in this game to anything else. NPCs you rescue will have knowledge of certain plans and blueprints. You’ll also be able to open a research lab on the space station, which will lead to a tech tree”
There will be tiers of crafting – “most of it will be done via the manufacturing facility on the station, which will reflect the various tiers of crafting, i.e. it will have levels”
You will be able to do basic crafting on worlds – torches and basic tools, nothing extravagant like mechs

Gameplay And Progression
“We never want the game to get so easy that it’s boring”
“Ideally we want to give players a purpose, a goal to work towards, rather than just being a sandbox”
“Gameplay until end game is pretty long. It is sand box based so you could rush through it at breakneck speed if you wanted to. But the concept here is for the end game to be limitless and endlessly entertaining.”
Each planet in the game has a threat level, from 1 – 100
“Planets with a threat level of 100 will always be difficult, no matter what equipment you have. When you’re at end game, NPCs will send you on quests to threat level 100 planets”
“In terms of mech control, we’re still looking into if you’ll be able to pilot mounts with your friends. It’s a technical challenge, but hopefully one we can overcome”
“Because we knew we wanted vehicles to work in the game we spent a long time making sure the terrain was easy to navigate. Things like hills can be walked up and down, no jumping required”
You will be able to capture enemies, take them around with you and train them to fight for you (think Pokemon)
“We wanted to keep the monster system relatively simple to start with. Most monsters can be trained to use ranged/melee attacks, some can be taught to fly or swim. They have inbuilt stats like defense, attack damage, speed, etc that will increase with kills”
Travelling from world to world will be done via a star map
“Our engine supports any size for planets, they can even be infinite”
There will be bosses
Money plays as a huge part in the game so the death penalty may be a monetary loss
Orbital Strikes can be called to wipe the surface of a planet clean
There will be different materials to mine and use in your factory
You can rename your home planet
Other planets can be “bookmarked” so you can find your favorites easily
Story missions take place on pre-generated worlds “hand crafted for specific gameplay – we want some really good platforming/combat gameplay during the missions”
“Quests” are different from story-based “missions”, quests will take place on random planets
“I want the combat to be really tight for instance, similar to Castlevania/Megaman, where you really have to think about the enemy behaviour to combat an enemy”
“There is both melee and ranged combat. We’re also hoping we can include shields for blocking enemy attacks”
Editor
“We’re looking for a really easy way for players to create their own missions, in the engine”
There will be an in-game mission editor, that you can use with your friends (think Little Big Planet)
Created missions will be playable online
“The editor may or may not be post-release though”
“Traditional” modding is planned

Aesthetics
“We’ve got a couple of awesome musicians working with us. We want it to be retro style using modern synths”
Dirt can be displaced; monsters can kick dirt chunks at players and explosions will send it flying
There are random events for each planet, so something may randomly fall from the sky for instance. Chucklefish will look how to expand the universe after release
Release
“It’s difficult to tell when the game will go into beta, but we are relatively far along. We’re still deciding how to do beta testing”
Hoping to release on Steam as well as other places to make it available to everyone
If it happens, Steam release will come with Steam support, Steam friends, achievements etc