Starbound: Preview (beta version)

The outgoing year can be safely called gold for indie projects. As if those times returned again when the floppy disks were large, the games were small, not numerous teams of programmers, designers and marketers worked on their creation, but a single enthusiast. True, now, in addition to “wide fame in narrow circles”, the authors of another indie have a good chance to get a million or two money if they can adequately realize an interesting idea.

A similar story happened with Starbound. Creation of a small studio Chucklefish It brought its creators two million dollars only on the pre orderly, and the first “lemon” was collected two and a half weeks after the game in Humble Store. The same army of fans of the fans of the fans, Chucklefish She promised beta version this year, and she joked for questions about a more accurate date: “This will not happen on Tuesday”. (The last day of 2013-it is Tuesday.) Finally, on December 4, beta Starbound appeared on Steam, which almost immediately replenished the wallets of developers for another amount with six zeros.

Creating a character. Six races, from people to robots, two sexes for each and countless options for clothing and hairstyles.

Of course, it is stupid to measure everything with money – multimillion -dollar sales do not promise at all that the product will be really worth the attention of the sophisticated consumer. There is no need to go for the examples for a long time – the box office Call of Duty Bits the record behind the record, but they feed us from year to year the same. But in relation to indie developments, such an approach to evaluating success takes place: after all, original gamed-design ideas are often the only thing that such a project can boast.

In this regard Starbound a little cunning – everything is in order with ideas, but it cannot be said that they are completely their own. Roughly speaking, this is Terraria (similarity is immediately striking) in the Sci-Fi setting, flavored with improved graphics, physics, a bunch of new opportunities and features. “Terraria” at one time appealed to many, so it is not surprising that hype that it arose around Starbound After the announcement. The authors skillfully fueled this Schumihuh, releasing daily development reports, teased screenshots, and sometimes streams, where you could look at the process of creating on the air. Thanks to such a stir, the game acquired a considerable number of fans long before the release-someone cherished hope to get a decent continuation of the same Terraria, frozen in place and not developing in any way, someone was attracted by the promises of everything (and skates in addition). As a result-Hyip gained momentum, like a snow avalanche, and once an unknown project could soon be called one of the most anticipated games of the year GTAV And Battlefield 4.

An endless journey

Of course, such success cannot https://casinosroom.co.uk/ be explained by the fact that we were offered another “terraria” with improved graphics. Developers promise so much that will be by willy for Starbound You start to monitor, checking the updates of the news. And judging by the beta version, the promises were not empty words.

A house of a merchant from which you can buy stimulants. You will not find the second one in this universe.

There is no clear goal here, after which we can say that the game has been completed. Adventures and research that never end – that is what awaits those who decide to go on a journey through a huge universe.

Each character has a personal spacecraft at the disposal, with the help of which it can move between the stars. In the orbit of each luminary – several planets, almost all of them are available for visiting, and two identical planets cannot be found. Thanks to procedural generation in this world, literally everything is created – from planetary bioms and landscape to the appearance and behavior of the flora and fauna. The scale is impressive – the number of star systems here is almost endless!

However, the path to the stars of the newly created character begins with one unremarkable planet, in the orbit of which our ship hangs. There is no fuel for interstellar flights, equipment and resources are the most minimum, therefore, in order to survive, it is necessary to go down to unknown lands (or oceans – here is how lucky).

Having landed on the terra incognita and carefully examining, we proceed to further action. But what they will be, it depends entirely on the player. You can engage in prey of minerals, buried deeper into planetary subsoil, you can arrange hunting for local animals, begin to develop agriculture and gathering or collecting a workbench from manure and sticks, opening access to the first step of a multi -level “craft” ..

Around the world in 80 minutes

Perhaps at first it is best to choose a researcher’s path, setting yourself the task of bypassing the planet in a circle. Predatory animals, abandoned and not very settlements of Aborigines, mysterious dungeons, rare ores, lying literally underfoot, can meet along the way. The first enthusiasm of studying the world cannot be conveyed in words – everything is VNOVA, each discovered object, whether it is a peaceful village or an abandoned research base, awaken research excitement, which makes you climb into each back of the found location.

However, from the study of the world there is a completely tangible benefit-each “Dange” does not do without a pair of three chests with wealth, hidden somewhere in the depths of the labyrinth of corridors and rooms. Of course, you can also come across protection, to cope with which at first it is not easy – the lack of armor makes itself felt in every battle, and our starting weapon causes very little damage. In addition, the character wants to eat, and at night or in the snow suffers from the cold, which can lead to death. It is also good that the negative consequences of death are limited to the revival on the ship and the loss of a certain number of local currency. It turns out that without preparing for the upcoming expedition, which includes farming, geological surveys, and “crafting” – nowhere.

Research is doubly fascinated by the fact that every campaign is unique. If you do not wander in the same places, then every time we are waiting for something new-all thanks to the same procedural generation that allows you to create completely different locations and creatures that inhabit them. However, there is c Starbound place for the storyline consisting of many quests. However, at this stage, this part of the game is in its infancy and is more like a training mode. Nothing prevents the execution of tasks for later and do whatever the soul wants. Do not forget that the Universe is not limited by one planet – there are millions and millions of them, and each is waiting for its discoverers.

House, personal transport and workshop in one bottle. Do not be surprised at the fire and an anvil in a starship – you would know what is used here as fuel!

As in all the “sandboxes”, the variety of leisure leisure depends on his fantasy, the benefit of the instrumentation for entertainment of their beloved developers prepared a very rich. Already now in Starbound You can (in addition to the mentioned classes like geological and battles) cook food, build your own dwelling, tame pets, ride on transport, “upgrade” the character, sing and play on musical instruments … All this, notice, works without any problems in the multiplayer. The plans are even more bold – over time they promise genetic research, improvement of their spaceship, terraforming, support for user modifications and much more.

The authors justified the credit of trust in full: the beta version looks quite worthy, weighty patches come out one after another, and Starbound confidently moving towards the release. Undoubtedly, a real masterpiece awaits us – if only Chucklefish I did not slow down.